Lev Lunts
Encyclopedia
Lev Natanovich Lunts was a Russian/Jewish writer, playwright, critic, translator, and essayist. He was a member of the Serapion Brothers
literary group.
, the capital of the Russian Empire
, into a wealthy Jewish family on May 2, 1901. His father was a professional pharmacist
and seller of optical
devices. As a child, Lev was given a Jewish education. From 1918 to 1922 he studied history and philology at Petrograd University
. Overall, he acquired the knowledge of eight or nine languages, and after graduation he stayed at the University to teach Spanish and French.
He started his writing career at the age of 18, at the time of the Russian Revolution and Civil War
. He was soon noticed by the reading public, and his essays, fiction, and plays made him a celebrity by the early 1920s. His literary talent was praised by Maxim Gorky
and Yevgeny Zamyatin
, the top authors of the era.
Lunts became a member of the Serapion brothers, a literary group of Petrograd writers, where he played a leading role in the establishment of the group and the forming of its ideas. The group included Mikhail Zoshchenko
and Veniamin Kaverin
(who would become highly prolific authors of Soviet literature in the future), as well as many other notable persons. It was Lunts who proposed the group's name after E. T. A. Hoffmann's story collection called The Serapion Brethren. Hoffmann's literary heros, hermit
Serapion and his brothers, were proposed by Lunts as a model of salvation
found in literature
. He also produced the article Why We are Serapion Brothers in 1921, which somewhat unexpectedly became the group's manifesto. The article was critical to the realities of the new post-revolutionary socialist state
, the RSFSR. The publication drew official criticism, to which Lunts responded with the essay On Criticism and Ideology. Subsequently he wrote a second group manifesto entitled Go West, which was published by Maxim Gorky's Berlin
-based magazine Beseda (Conversation).
Lunts lived at the Petrograd House of the Arts, in harsh conditions. His health was deteriorating, but he continued to write fiction and plays, and to make translations, including one of the play Saul by Vittorio Alfieri
. Lunts's own first play Outside the Law was accepted for production in 1923 but was banned in the Soviet Union
. After this, his works were no longer published in the Soviet Union. However, Outside the Law was published in Europe and staged in several cities. In particular, it was published in Beseda and praised by Luigi Pirandello
, who claimed "it was the best play to come out of Russia in recent years".
In June 1923 Lunts moved to Germany, where his family had emigrated in 1921. He died in Hamburg
in 1924 of a brain embolism
, thought to have been caused by a congenital heart defect. Lunts was vilified by the Soviet establishment for his "cosmopolitanism" and apoliticism", along with his fellow Serapion brother Mikhail Zoshchenko. Lunts's works have been translated into English and other languages, and a volume of his works in Russian was published in Saint Petersburg in 1994.
Serapion Brothers
The Serapion Brothers was a group of writers formed in Petrograd, Russia in 1921. The group was named after a literary group, Die Serapionsbrüder , to which German romantic author E.T.A. Hoffmann belonged and after which he named a collection of his tales...
literary group.
Biography
Lunts was born in Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, the capital of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, into a wealthy Jewish family on May 2, 1901. His father was a professional pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
and seller of optical
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
devices. As a child, Lev was given a Jewish education. From 1918 to 1922 he studied history and philology at Petrograd 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....
. Overall, he acquired the knowledge of eight or nine languages, and after graduation he stayed at the University to teach Spanish and French.
He started his writing career at the age of 18, at the time of the Russian Revolution and 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...
. He was soon noticed by the reading public, and his essays, fiction, and plays made him a celebrity by the early 1920s. His literary talent was praised by Maxim Gorky
Maxim 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:...
and Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin was a Russian author of science fiction and political satire. Despite having been a prominent Old Bolshevik, Zamyatin was deeply disturbed by the policies pursued by the CPSU following the October Revolution...
, the top authors of the era.
Lunts became a member of the Serapion brothers, a literary group of Petrograd writers, where he played a leading role in the establishment of the group and the forming of its ideas. The group included Mikhail Zoshchenko
Mikhail Zoshchenko
-Biography:Zoshchenko was born in 1895, in Poltava, but spent most of his life in St. Petersburg / Leningrad. His Ukrainian father was a mosaicist responsible for the exterior decoration of the Suvorov Museum in Saint Petersburg. The future writer attended the Faculty of Law at the Saint Petersburg...
and Veniamin Kaverin
Veniamin Kaverin
Veniamin Alexandrovich Kaverin was a Soviet writer associated with the early 1920s movement of the Serapion Brothers. The immunologist Lev Zilber was his older brother, and the critic Yury Tynyanov was his brother-in-law....
(who would become highly prolific authors of Soviet literature in the future), as well as many other notable persons. It was Lunts who proposed the group's name after E. T. A. Hoffmann's story collection called The Serapion Brethren. Hoffmann's literary heros, hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
Serapion and his brothers, were proposed by Lunts as a model of salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
found in literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
. He also produced the article Why We are Serapion Brothers in 1921, which somewhat unexpectedly became the group's manifesto. The article was critical to the realities of the new post-revolutionary socialist state
Socialist state
A socialist state generally refers to any state constitutionally dedicated to the construction of a socialist society. It is closely related to the political strategy of "state socialism", a set of ideologies and policies that believe a socialist economy can be established through government...
, the RSFSR. The publication drew official criticism, to which Lunts responded with the essay On Criticism and Ideology. Subsequently he wrote a second group manifesto entitled Go West, which was published by Maxim Gorky's Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
-based magazine Beseda (Conversation).
Lunts lived at the Petrograd House of the Arts, in harsh conditions. His health was deteriorating, but he continued to write fiction and plays, and to make translations, including one of the play Saul by Vittorio Alfieri
Vittorio Alfieri
Count Vittorio Alfieri was an Italian dramatist, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy."-Early life:Alfieri was born at Asti in Piedmont....
. Lunts's own first play Outside the Law was accepted for production in 1923 but was banned in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. After this, his works were no longer published in the Soviet Union. However, Outside the Law was published in Europe and staged in several cities. In particular, it was published in Beseda and praised by Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, who claimed "it was the best play to come out of Russia in recent years".
In June 1923 Lunts moved to Germany, where his family had emigrated in 1921. He died in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in 1924 of a brain embolism
Embolism
In medicine, an embolism is the event of lodging of an embolus into a narrow capillary vessel of an arterial bed which causes a blockage in a distant part of the body.Embolization is...
, thought to have been caused by a congenital heart defect. Lunts was vilified by the Soviet establishment for his "cosmopolitanism" and apoliticism", along with his fellow Serapion brother Mikhail Zoshchenko. Lunts's works have been translated into English and other languages, and a volume of his works in Russian was published in Saint Petersburg in 1994.
English translations
- Native Land, (story), An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature: 1801–1953, M.E. Sharpe, 2007.
- Things in Revolt, Ardis Publishers, 2000.
Further reading
- Master and Disciple: Evgeny Zamyatin and Lev Lunts, from Modernism and Revolution: Russian Literature in Transition, Harvard University Press, 1994.