Alexander Serafimovich
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Alexander Serafimovich (born Alexander Serafimovich Popov; russian: Алекса́ндр Серафимо́вич Попо́в; O.S. January 7 ( N.S. January 19), 1863 – January 19, 1949) was a
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
/
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
writer and a member of the Moscow literary group
Sreda The Moscow Literary Sreda (russian: Моско́вская Литерату́рная Cреда, Moskovskaya Literaturnaya Sreda/Moskovskaja Literaturnaja Sreda) was a Moscow literary group founded in 1899 by Nikolai Teleshov. The name Sreda me ...
.


Biography

He was born in a
Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
village on the
Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...
. His father served as a paymaster in a Cossack regiment. He attended a grammar school, then studied in the Physics and Mathematics faculty of
St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the ...
. During his time at the University he became friends with
Aleksandr Ulyanov Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Улья́нов; – ) was a Russian revolutionary and political activist. He was the elder brother of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. Early life Ulyanov ...
,
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 19 ...
's older brother, who introduced him to
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. He was later exiled to Mezen, a town in northern Russia, for spreading revolutionary propaganda. While in exile he wrote his first story, which was published in ''
Russkiye Vedomosti ''Russkiye Vedomosti'' (russian: Русские ведомости) was a Russian liberal daily newspaper, published in Moscow from 1863 till 1918. Founded in Moscow in 1863 by Nikolai Pavlov, it was edited by Nikolai Skvortsov (1866-1882) and ...
''. It was then that he began using the pseudonym "Serafimovich".In the Depths: Russian Stories, Raduga Publishers, 1987. After his exile ended, he spent many years living under police supervision. In 1902, he moved to Moscow and became a member of the literary group "
Sreda The Moscow Literary Sreda (russian: Моско́вская Литерату́рная Cреда, Moskovskaya Literaturnaya Sreda/Moskovskaja Literaturnaja Sreda) was a Moscow literary group founded in 1899 by Nikolai Teleshov. The name Sreda me ...
" (Wednesday). During World War I, he was a war correspondent for ''Russkiye Vedomosti''. At the start of the 1917 Russian Revolution he joined the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s, and became a member of the Russian Communist Party (b). In 1918, he became the literary editor of ''
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes ...
''. His best known work of this time is the novel ''The Iron Flood'' (1924) set during the
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
and based on a real incident of the Red
Taman Army The Taman Army was an armed group within the Red Army, operating in the south of Russia during the Russian Civil War. It existed from August 27, 1918 to February 1919. The name derives from the Taman Peninsula, where the army was formed. Formation ...
escaping encirclement by the enemy
Whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as " ...
. He also wrote a stage adaptation of ''The Iron Flood'', which was produced by
Nikolay Okhlopkov Nikolay Pavlovich Okhlopkov (russian: Никола́й Па́влович Охло́пков; 15 May 1900, in Irkutsk – 8 January 1967, in Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian actor and theatre director who patterned his work after Meyerhold. Pat ...
at the in Moscow and was the subject of several film proposals by
Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...
. ''The Iron Flood'' was widely translated into a variety of languages, such as Korean and used to advance Soviet and Communist ideology. After ''The Iron Flood'', he published stories, sketches and plays about the building of the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
state and the growth of Soviet culture. In 1934, he was elected to the governing board of the
Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...
. He died in Moscow in 1949.


Legacy

Serafimovich's works were praised by many of his fellow writers.
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 ...
especially appreciated his talent, introducing him into the Sreda group in Moscow and publishing his works in the '' Znanie'' collections.
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
liked his short novel ''Sand''. The Nobel Laureate
Mikhail Sholokov Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov ( rus, Михаил Александрович Шолохов, p=ˈʂoləxəf; – 21 February 1984) was a Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for writing about life ...
said of him:
"Serafimovich was a great man, a real artist whose stories are near and dear to us; he was one of that generation of writers from whom we learned in our youth."Introduction to ''Sand and Other Stories'' by Serafimovich, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow.
Vladimir Korolenko Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko (russian: Влади́мир Галактио́нович Короле́нко, ua, Володи́мир Галактіо́нович Короле́нко; 27 July 1853 – 25 December 1921) was a Ukrainian-born ...
said of Serafimovich's first story ''On the Ice'' (1889):
"Splendid language, full of imagery, terse and powerful, the descriptions bright and lucid."


Awards

*
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
(1933) *
Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...
, 1st class (1943) - for long-term excellence in literature *
Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...
*
Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...
*
Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
According to Alexander Serafimovich article at Ru.wikipedia.


English Translations

*''The Iron Flood'', Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1956. *''Sand and Other Stories'', Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1956. *''Nikita'', ''The Little Miner'' and ''Bombs'', from ''In the Depths'', Raduga Publishers, Moscow, 1987.


References


External links


SovLit, encyclopedia of Soviet writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serafimovich, Alexander 1863 births 1949 deaths Soviet novelists Soviet male writers Soviet dramatists and playwrights Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Soviet short story writers Saint Petersburg State University alumni Soviet Marxists Bolsheviks Socialist realism writers Soviet magazine editors