Alexander Serafimovich
Encyclopedia
Alexander Serafimovich (O.S. January 7 (N.S.
January 19), 1863, stanitsa
Nizhnekurmoyarskaya, today's Tsimlyansky District, Rostov Oblast
— January 19, 1949, Moscow
) was a Russian
/Soviet writer and a member of the Moscow literary group Sreda
.
village on the Don River
. His father served as a paymaster in a Cossack regiment. Serafimovich attended a grammar school, then studied in the Physico-Mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University
. During his time at the University he became friends with Aleksandr Ulyanov
, the brother of Vladimir Lenin
. Serafimovich was later exiled to Mezen
, a town in northern Russia, for spreading revolutionary propaganda. During his time in exile he became a Marxist.
At the start of the 1917 Russian Revolution he joined the Bolshevik
s, and became a member of the CPSU
. His best known work of this time is the novel The Iron Flood (1924) set during the Russian Civil War
and based on a real incident of a Red Army unit escaping encirclement by the enemy Whites. He also wrote a stage adaptation of The Iron Flood, which was produced by Nikolay Okhlopkov
at the Realistic Theatre in Moscow and was the subject of several filming ideas by Sergei Eisenstein
. After The Iron Flood, he published stories, sketches and plays about the building of the Soviet state and the growth of Soviet culture. He died in Moscow in 1949.
especially appreciated his talent, introducing him into the Sreda group in Moscow and publishing his works in the Znanie
collections. Leo Tolstoy
liked his short novel Sand.
The Nobel Laureate Mikhail Sholokov said of him:
Vladimir Korolenko
said of Serafimovich's first story On the Ice (1889):
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
January 19), 1863, stanitsa
Stanitsa
Stanitsa is a village inside a Cossack host . Stanitsas were the primary unit of Cossack hosts.Historically, the stanitsa was a unit of economic and political organisation of the Cossack peoples primarily in the southern regions of the Russian Empire.Much of the land was held in common by the...
Nizhnekurmoyarskaya, today's Tsimlyansky District, Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast has an area of and a population of making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia...
— January 19, 1949, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
/Soviet writer and a member of the Moscow literary group Sreda
Sreda (literary group)
The Moscow Literary Sreda was a Moscow literary group founded in 1899 by Nikolay Teleshov. The name Sreda means Wednesday, taken from the day of the week on which writers and other artists met at Teleshov's home. The last meeting of the Sreda took place in 1916...
.
Early life
Serafimovich was born in a CossackCossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
village on the Don River
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
. His father served as a paymaster in a Cossack regiment. Serafimovich attended a grammar school, then studied in the Physico-Mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....
. During his time at the University he became friends with Aleksandr Ulyanov
Aleksandr Ulyanov
Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov was a Russian revolutionary and a terrorist, convicted of attempted assassination of Alexander III. He was an older brother of Vladimir Lenin.- Life :...
, the brother of Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. Serafimovich was later exiled to Mezen
Mezen
-See also:*Administrative divisions of Arkhangelsk Oblast...
, a town in northern Russia, for spreading revolutionary propaganda. During his time in exile he became a Marxist.
Career
He began writing stories in 1889. His works of this period showed the hard living and working conditions of the peasants. During the 1905 Russian Revolution he continued to describe the brutal and unfair treatment of the peasants under Tsarist rule, and began to write stories about revolutionary men and women and their activities.At the start of the 1917 Russian Revolution he joined the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s, and became a member of the CPSU
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. His best known work of this time is the novel The Iron Flood (1924) set during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and based on a real incident of a Red Army unit escaping encirclement by the enemy Whites. He also wrote a stage adaptation of The Iron Flood, which was produced by Nikolay Okhlopkov
Nikolay Okhlopkov
Nikolay Pavlovich Okhlopkov was a Soviet actor and theatre director who patterned his work after Meyerhold.He was born in Irkutsk, Siberia and started his acting career there in 1918...
at the Realistic Theatre in Moscow and was the subject of several filming ideas by Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
. After The Iron Flood, he published stories, sketches and plays about the building of the Soviet state and the growth of Soviet culture. He died in Moscow in 1949.
Legacy
Serafimovich's works were praised by many of his fellow writers. Maxim GorkyMaxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
especially appreciated his talent, introducing him into the Sreda group in Moscow and publishing his works in the Znanie
Znanie (publishing company)
Znanie , was a publishing company based in St. Petersburg, Russia founded by Konstantin Pyatnitsky and other members of the Committee for Literacy. It operated from 1898 until 1913.-History:...
collections. Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
liked his short novel Sand.
The Nobel Laureate Mikhail Sholokov said of him:
"Serafimovich was a great man, a real artist whose stories are near and dear to us; he was one of that generation of writers from whom we learned in our youth."
Vladimir Korolenko
Vladimir Korolenko
Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko was a Ukrainian-Russian short story writer, journalist, human rights activist and humanitarian. His short stories were known for their harsh description of nature based on his experience of exile in Siberia...
said of Serafimovich's first story On the Ice (1889):
"Splendid language, full of imagery, terse and powerful, the descriptions bright and lucid."
Awards
- Order of LeninOrder of LeninThe Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
(1933) - Stalin Prize, 1st class (1943) - for long-term excellence in literature
- Order of the Badge of HonorOrder of the Badge of HonorThe Order of the Badge of Honour was a civilian award of the Soviet Union.It was instituted on 25 November 1935 and conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in production, scientific research and social, cultural and other forms of social activity, for promotion of economic,...
- Order of the Red Banner of Labor
- Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 Medal
English Translations
- The Iron Flood, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1956.
- Sand and Other Stories, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1956.
- Nikita, The Little Miner and Bombs, from In the Depths, Raduga Publishers, Moscow, 1987.
External links
- http://www.sovlit.com/bios/serafimovich.html