Stepan Gavrilovich Skitalets (russian: Степан Гаврилович Скиталец, born ''Petrov'', russian: Петров; 9 November 1869 – 25 June 1941) was a Russian/Soviet poet, writer of fiction and folk musician. The name Skitalets means "wanderer" in Russian.
Early life
Skitalets was born in
Samara Province to a peasant father who had once been a serf. After gaining his freedom Skitalets's father spent some time as a village bartender and later took to wandering through Russia, with his young son in tow, the two making a living together as street and barroom musicians for several years. Afterwards they returned to Samara province where Skitalets's father settled down as a
joiner
A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...
.
Skitalets's father taught him to play the
gusli
''Gusli'' ( rus, гусли, p=ˈɡuslʲɪ) is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Ru ...
, and Skitalets was well known in later life for his skill with the instrument and for being a talented folk singer. He spoke of his early years with his father in a short poem: ''"His gusli my singer father left, / He left me songs my share, / To sow his peasant seed song gift / To grow in my native air''.
During the years of wandering with his father he often experienced want and bad conditions, but he was also able to collect a wealth of experiences, meeting different people and travelling widely throughout Russia.
After being expelled from the Samara Teacher's Seminary in 1887 under suspicion of political radicalism, he went out on his own in southern Russia, working as a clerk, actor, singer, writing for several papers, and taking part in the student revolutionary movement.
Career
![Gorky-skitalec](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Gorky-skitalec.jpg)
In 1898 he met
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
, whose fame was already on the rise, and the two became close friends. This meeting was the deciding point of his young life.
Skitalets came to Moscow with Gorky where he joined the
Sreda, a literary group founded by the writer
Nikolay Teleshov
Nikolai Dmitryevich Teleshov (russian: Никола́й Дми́триевич Телешо́в) (November 10, 1867 - March 14, 1957) was a Russian/Soviet writer.
Biography
Teleshov was born in Moscow where his father was a merchant. His poems wer ...
, which included many of Russia's most popular authors and artists, such as
Leonid Andreyev
Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (russian: Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian liter ...
,
Ivan Bunin
Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953) was the first Russian writer awarded the ...
,
Fyodor Chaliapin, Gorky and, when he was in town,
Anton Chekhov. In 1902 Skitalets's first collection of stories and poems was published by Gorky's company ''
Znanie'' (Knowledge).
During this time he published poetry, short stories, and novellas, most of which were read and discussed among his friends in the Sreda. One of his songs, which he first sang at a meeting of the Sreda, was included in the beginning of the second act of Gorky's play ''
The Lower Depths
''The Lower Depths'' (russian: На дне, translit=Na dne, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902 under the direction of Konstantin ...
''. The song begins with the lines: ''The sun rises and sets / But my prison is dark, dark''. He was also the author of a popular folk song about
Stepan Razin.
Skitalets's revolutionary poetry was praised by
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
among others.
One of his revolutionary poems, recited at a charity event in 1902, can be found on the
List of Russian language poets
This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language.
Alphabetical list
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
Y
Z
Sources
See also
* List of Russian archite ...
. His reading of this poem and several others caused an uproar of cheers and shouts, leading to the event being broken up by the police, and to the arrest of Leonid Andreyev, who'd been the event's organizer. Andreyev was eventually acquitted in court.
Skitalets was arrested for his revolutionary activities in 1888, 1901 (with Gorky in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
), 1902 and 1905.
He continued publishing his works separately and in collected editions through the years leading up to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
.
Later life
![Russian Writers 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Russian_Writers_1.jpg)
During World War 1 Skitalets served as a medical orderly, and published several works condemning the war. He welcomed and supported the 1917 Revolution. He lived abroad from 1922 to 1934 in
Harbin China where he worked for several newspapers, and contributed works to Soviet journals. He also spent some time in Australia on assignment. He returned to Russia in July, 1934, renewed his friendship with Gorky and again took part in literary and social life. He published the novels ''The House of the Chernovs'' in 1935 and ''Fetters'' in 1940. He died in Moscow in 1941, and was buried in the
Vvedenskoye Cemetery.
English translations
*''The Love of a Scene Painter'', from Short Story Classics (Foreign) Volume 1, P.F. Collier, 1907
from Archive.org*''Icarus'', ''And the Fire Spread'', and ''The Blacksmith'', from The Salt Pit and Other Stories,
Raduga Publishers
Raduga Publishers (russian: радуга, English: "rainbow") was a Soviet publishing house of innovative children's books, which has been described as "one of the most important book publishers of its type" during the early twentieth century.And ...
, 1988.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skitalets, Stepan
Russian male novelists
Russian male poets
1869 births
1941 deaths
Soviet novelists
Soviet male writers
20th-century Russian male writers
Soviet short story writers
20th-century Russian short story writers
Soviet poets
Russian male short story writers
Russian journalists
Russian military personnel of World War I
Russian folk musicians
White Russian emigrants to China
20th-century pseudonymous writers