Alexander Nikolayevich Afinogenov (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Афиноге́нов) (,
Skopin
Skopin (russian: Скопин) is a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyorda River (Oka's basin) southwest of Ryazan. Population:
History
Skopin is considered to be one of the oldest towns in Ryazan Oblast. A settlement named Lik ...
– 29 October 1941,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
) was a Russian and Soviet
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
.
Biography
Alexander was born in the town of Skopin, in
Ryazan Oblast
Ryazan Oblast ( rus, Рязанская область, r=Ryazanskaya oblast, p=rʲɪˈzanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities ...
. He joined the
CPSU
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
in 1922. He obtained a degree in journalism in 1924, the year that he published his first play. In the 1920s he was a member and later director of the
Proletkult
Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" (proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolut ...
's theatre. He turned away from the Proletkult in the late 1920s, and became in the early 1930s the chief drama theoretician of the
Russian Association of Proletarian Writers
The Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, also known under its transliterated abbreviation RAPP (russian: Российская ассоциация пролетарских писателей, РАПП) was an official creative union in the ...
. He wrote 26 plays, but he is best known for ''Fear'' (1931) and ''Mashenka'' (1941). His work was attacked in 1936 and he was expelled from the CPSU in 1937, but he was never
purged
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
, and was rehabilitated in 1938. He continued writing until his death in a German air raid in 1941. He was married with American ballerina Jenny Marling (Schwartz). Her first husband was
John Bovingdon
John Bovingdon (1890–1973) was a modern dancer-turned-economic analyst who performed regularly at the Kings Road House of architect R.M. Schindler in Los Angeles in the 1920s. He studied economics at Harvard and graduated with high honors in 191 ...
bureaucracy
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
,
protectionism
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
, and
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
Serafima Birman
Serafima Germanovna Birman (russian: Серафима Германовна Бирман, link=no; – 11 May 1976) was a Soviet and Russian actress, theatre director and writer. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1946).
References
Sources
* Solovyova, Inna. 1999. "The Theatre and Socialist Realism, 1929-1953." Trans. Jean Benedetti. In ''A History of Russian Theatre.'' Ed. Robert Leach and Victor Borovsky. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 325-357. .