Alexei Purin
Encyclopedia
Alexei Purin (born 1955) is a Russian
poet and critic.
Born in Leningrad
, Purin graduated from the Leningrad Technological Institute
as a chemical engineer but soon turned to literature. In the 1970s he became part of the group around the poet Alexander Kushner
, who opposed the government's socialist realism
but also rejected the "underground poetry" often found in samizdat
publication.
said of him: "A poet of wide, organically digested culture, a poet of the rarest technical equipment, he sends his muse along two paths: complex classical stylizations based on rarely visited poetic regions (Alexandria
, the ancient East
, Greece
of the times of Pericles
and Alcibiades
, the early Middle Ages
), and the other, simpler path, that of lyric exercises, impressions from touristic Europe, normal love lyrics, sometimes with an exotic tendency." He has been in charge of the poetry section of the St. Petersburg literary review Zvezda (The Star) since 1989 and editor of Urbi, a literary almanac, since 1995.
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
poet and critic.
Born in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, Purin graduated from the Leningrad Technological Institute
Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology
Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Russia , it currently trains around 5000 students.-History:...
as a chemical engineer but soon turned to literature. In the 1970s he became part of the group around the poet Alexander Kushner
Alexander Kushner
Alexander Semenovich Kushner is a prominent Russian living poet from Saint Petersburg.- Biography :Kushner was born in Leningrad into a Russian-Jewish family; his father was a military engineer. He graduated from Herzen University, and later, between 1959 and 1969, taught Russian literature....
, who opposed the government's socialist realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
but also rejected the "underground poetry" often found in samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
publication.
For Purin and his circle the core concepts of literary art were the ‘everyday word’ of Innokentii AnnenskiYevgeny ReinInnokenty AnnenskyInnokentiy Fyodorovich Annensky was a poet, critic and translator, representative of the first wave of Russian Symbolism...
(1856-1909), who inspired the Acmeists, a group of early-20th-century poets reacting against the vagueness and affectations of Symbolism, and MandelshtamOsip MandelstamOsip Emilyevich Mandelstam was a Russian poet and essayist who lived in Russia during and after its revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets...
’s ‘nostalgia for a world culture’. Purin’s first book of poems contains the much-discussed cycle ‘Eurasia’ (1985), which deals with his years of military service in KareliaKareliaKarelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
on the Finnish border. ‘Never before has the Red Army been written about in this manner,’ said the reviewer of Novii MirNovy MirNovy Mir is a Russian language literary magazine that has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine Mir Bozhy , which was published from 1892 to 1906, and its follow-up, Sovremenny Mir , which was published 1906-1917...
... The combination of earthliness and literary condensation in Eurasia became Purin’s trademark.
Yevgeny Rein
Yevgeny Borisovich Rein is a Russian poet and writer. His poetry won the State Prize of Russia , Pushkin Prize of Russia, and Tsarskoe Selo Art Prize ....
said of him: "A poet of wide, organically digested culture, a poet of the rarest technical equipment, he sends his muse along two paths: complex classical stylizations based on rarely visited poetic regions (Alexandria
History of Alexandria
The history of Alexandria dates back to the city's founding, by Alexander the Great, in 332 BC. It was the seat of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, and quickly became one of the greatest cities of the Hellenistic world — second only to Rome in size and wealth. It fell to the Arabs in 641 AD,...
, the ancient East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
of the times of Pericles
Pericles
Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...
and Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...
, the early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
), and the other, simpler path, that of lyric exercises, impressions from touristic Europe, normal love lyrics, sometimes with an exotic tendency." He has been in charge of the poetry section of the St. Petersburg literary review Zvezda (The Star) since 1989 and editor of Urbi, a literary almanac, since 1995.
Poetry
- Лыжня (Ski Track), 1987.
- Евразия и другие стихотворения Алексея Пурина (Eurasia and other poems by Alexei Purin), 1995.
- Созвездие Рыб (The Constellation Pisces), 1996.
- Архаика (Antiquity), 1998.
- Сентиментальное путешествие (Sentimental Journey), 2000.
- Новые стихотворения (New Poems), 2002.
- Неразгаданный рай (Unsolved Paradise), 2004.
Essays
- Воспоминания о Евтерпе (Memories of Euterpe), 1996.
- Утраченные аллюзии (Lost Allusions), 2001.
External links
- Poetry International Web page
- Zhurnalny Zal page (in Russian)