Mikhail Leonovich Gasparov (russian: Михаи́л Лео́нович Гаспа́ров, April 13, 1935 in

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 ...

– November 7, 2005 in Moscow) was a Russian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

, renowned for his studies in

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and the history of

versification Versification may refer to: * the art of making poetry ** Metre (poetry), the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse ** Verse (poetry), a single metrical line in a poetic composition * Versification (Bible), process by which the bo ...

, and a member of the informal Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School. He graduated from

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

in 1957 and worked at the Gorky Institute of World Literature, the

Russian State University for the Humanities The Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH, RGGU; russian: Росси́йский госуда́рственный гуманита́рный университе́т, РГГУ, translit=Rossijskij gosudarstvennyj gumanitarnyj universit ...

, and the

Russian Language Institute The V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Институт русского языка имени В. В. Виноградова РАН) is the language regulator of the Russian language. It is b ...

. In 1992 Gasparov was elected a full member of the

Russian Academy of Science The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

. In 1995, Mikhail Gasparov was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation. In 1997, he shared the Little Booker Prize with Aleksandr Goldstein for their publications analysing

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Ag ...

from a historical-philosophical point of view. In 1999, Gasparov was awarded the Andrei Bely Prize for his essay collection ''Notes and excerpts'' (russian: Записи и выписки). Gasparov was also a poet. He published translations of classical and modern European poetry, yet only one of his own poems was published during his lifetime. Gasparov was a member of the editorial board of ''Literary Monuments'' (russian: Литературные памятники) book series, journals ''

Journal of Ancient History ''The Journal of Ancient History'' ( Russian: ''Вестник Древней Истории'', ''Vestnik Drevnei Istorii'') is a Russian bulletin founded in 1937. It publishes articles mainly on Ancient Orient, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and r ...

'' (russian: Вестник древней истории), ''Literary Research'' (russian: Литературоведение), ''

Elementa BioOne is a nonprofit publisher of scientific research. BioOne was established in 1999 in Washington, DC, as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization by five scholarly collaborators: the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Scholarly ...

'' (United States), and ''

Rossica Romana ''Rossica'' is an arts magazine published in London by Academia Rossica. The first issue of the journal appeared in 2001. ''Rossica'' is published on a biannual basis. The magazine covers diverse topics, such as contemporary Russian writing, the ...

'' (Italy). Mikhail Gasparov published about 300 articles, translations and other works, including the monographs ''Fable in Antiquity'' (russian: Античная литературная басня, 1971), ''Modern Russian Versification'' (russian: Современный русский стих. Метрика и ритмика, 1974), ''Overview of the History of Russian Versification'' (russian: Очерк истории русского стиха: Метрика, ритмика, рифма, строфика, 1984), ''Overview of the History of European Versification'' (russian: Очерк истории европейского стиха, 1989). During his last years Gasparov was actively engaged in publishing the collected works of the Russian poet

Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the A ...

. Commemorating Mikhail Gasparov, the Russian State University for the Humanities organises annual conferences dedicated to the main fields of Gasparov's academic research --

and Russian literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries.http://www.litkarta.ru/russia/moscow/persons/gasparov-m/ Михаил ГАСПАРОВ – Биография

Publications

*Gasparov M. L.
A History of European Versification
' (transl. by G. S. Smith & Marina Tarlinskaja). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. . :*West, M. L
Review of ''A History of European Versification'' by M. L. Gasparov; G. S. Smith; M. Tarlinskaja
''

The Classical Review ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'', New Series, Vol. 47, No. 2 (1997), pp. 431-432. :*Pensom, Roger
Review of ''A History of European Versification'' by M. L. Gasparov; G. S. Smith; M. Tarlinskaya
''

The Modern Language Review ''Modern Language Review'' is the journal of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA MHRA may refer to: Organisations * Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, UK * Michigan Hot Rod Association, US * Modern Humanities Resea ...

'', Vol. 94, No. 1 (Jan., 1999), pp. 284-285.

Articles in periodicals

* * *(with M. Lotman, P. Rudnev, M. Tarlinskaja) * * *(with M. Tarlinskaja) * * * * *

Contributions to books

* 'Columbus’s Egg, or the Structure of the Novella', in ''Persistent Forms: Explorations in Historical Poetics'', ed. I. Kliger, B. Maslov. New York, 2016, 392-396 * 'An Anthology without Names: 88 Contemporary Poems Selected by Z. Gippius', in ''Liber, fragmenta, libellus prima e dopo Petrarca: in ricordo di D'Arco Silvio Avalle: seminario internazionale di studi, Bergamo, 23-25 ottobre 2003'', ed. F. Lo Monaco, L. C. Rossi, N. Scaffai. Firenze, 2006, 405-409 * 'Quantitative Methods in Russian Metrics: Achievements and Prospects', in ''Metre, Rhythm, Stanza, Rhyme'', ed. G. Smith. Colchester, 1980. (Russian Poetics in Translation, 7), 1–19 * 'Light and Heavy Verse Lines', in ''Metre, Rhythm, Stanza, Rhyme'', ed. G. Smith. Colchester, 1980. (Russian Poetics in Translation, 7), 31–44 * 'Towards an Analysis of Russian Inexact Rhyme', in ''Metre, Rhythm, Stanza, Rhyme'', ed. G. Smith. Colchester, 1980. (Russian Poetics in Translation, 7), 61–75

Bibliography

* Wachtel, Michael (2006)
Mikhail Leonovich Gasparov (13 April 1935-7 November 2005)
'' Slavonica'' 12 (1), 73–76. * Emerson, C. ' In Honor of Mikhail Gasparov’s Quarter-Century of Not Liking Bakhtin: Pro and Contra', in ''Poetics. Self. Place. Essays in Honor of Anna Lisa Crone '', ed. C. O’Neil, N. Boudreau, S. Krive (Slavica Publishers, 2007), 26-49 * Kirschbaum, H. (2008)
The Poetics of Paraphrase: The Positivist Postmodernism in Mikhail Gasparov’s “Experimental Translations”
, in '' Russian Language Journal '' 58 (1): 47-68 * ''Frontiers in Comparative Prosody. In memoriam: Mikhail Gasparov '', ed. M. Lotman, M.-K. Lotman. Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, 2011 * Emerson, C. (2016)
Creative ways of not liking Bakhtin: Lydia Ginzburg and Mikhail Gasparov
. ''Bakhtiniana'' 11 (1): 39–69

References

External links