BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES FOR RUSSIAN/SOVIET LITERATURE

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This page contains annotations for some major biographical dictionaries on the subject of Russian literature. This list is not by any means comprehensive. For more titles of interest, see the section entitled Resources for Russian Literature. For more literary biographical sources, see in particular the section on guides to the literature, for guides often contain sections devoted to biographical resources. Fomin's Putevoditel' po bibliografii, bio-bibliografii, istoriografii, khronologii i entsiklopedii and Kandel's Russkaia khudozhestvennaia literatura i literaturovedenie. Ukazatel' spravochno-bibliograficheskikh posobii s kontsa XVIII veka po 1974 god are two guides that can serve as excellent starting points for this kind of search. Keep in mind that encyclopedias also are excellent resources for biographical information. For Russian literature see in particular Literaturnaia entsiklopediia and Kratkaia literaturnaia entsiklopediia.

N.B. This section includes mostly biographical dictionaries or sets that are not covered in the Russian biographical archive. Those few that are both in the RBA and included here are of particular signifance and are noted as such. Resources for Russian biography are extremely rich and the Biographical Archive doesn't even scratch the surface, so be sure to use it as a starting point only. In fact, the RBA lacks many of the main Russian literary sources.

Russkie pisateli. 1800-1917. Biograficheskii slovar'. T. 1-4.
Nikolaev, P. A. Moscow: Izd. "Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia, 1989-.
UIUC Call number: Russian Reference 891.70922 R921

Anyone seeking biographical information on a writer of the nineteenth century will find this a rich resource. The entries include not only the basic biographical data on the author under discussion, but also a sketch of their literary career, the critical reaction to their works and a thorough bibliography. Many articles include a photograph and all are signed. Most entries are lengthy and the one pictured here is not particularly representative but was used in the interest of space.

All entries include birth and death dates in the new style. The use of cursive in an article indicates a cross-reference to another article in the dictionary. The bibliographies at the end of each article begin with the major works of the author, which will be followed by references to letters, where relevant, citations to biographical material, critical publications, and finally archival holdings.

The source is unique in that it includes many émigré figures. Archival information on these figures tends to be limited to Russia or East European countries. The text of the entries provides a detailed literary biography, tracing an author's activities from his earliest publications in Russia. In this sense, the dictionary expands on the excellent sources of the late 19th and early 20th centuries by IAzykov and Gennadi, which were more heavily bibliographic in nature. The volumes are liberally illustrated with photographs or drawings of the authors and of their works.

Most entries include information on the location of the subject's archives, including fond and opis numbers, adding to the importance of this work for researchers.

Russkie pisateli XX vek: Biobibliograficheskii slovar' v dvukh chastiakh.
N.N. Skatov, ed. Moskva: Prosveshchenie, 1998.
UIUC call number:  Russian Reference 891.700922 R9214 v.1, v.2

Covering over 500 writers, playwrights, and poets, this biographical dictionary has very detailed entries on Russian writers (including emigres) of the twentieth century. The entries, which are usually several pages long, discuss the writer's career and most important works as well as his or her historical significance. All entries have bibliographical references for works by and about the author. Since this is one of the most recent reference works of literary biography, it has more current bibliographic references.Entries are signed by the scholar who wrote them. Portraits of some of the writers are included. See the entry on Nikolai Petrovich Maiorov.

Slovar' russkikh zarubezhnykh pisatelei.
Valentin Bulgakov. New York: Norman Ross, 1993.
UIUC call number:  Russian Reference 891.709 B871s

This dictionary was compiled in the 1930's by the founder and director of the Russian-Cultural-Historical Museum in Prague, Valentin Bulgakov. Although it was never completed, it is an interesting source of information on emigre writers because it was compiled by an emigre writer from that time. The editor has corrected some inconsistencies and added dates of death, among other things. Entries are fairly brief and include biographical data and major publications. Entries are arranged alphabetically by surname. Some interesting appendices include short entries for major journals, anthologies and newspapers as well as for literary groups and publishing houses mentioned in the dictionary. See the entry below on Lidiia Chervinskaia.

Dictionary of Russian Women Writers.
Marina Ledkovsky et al., eds. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.
UIUC call number:  Russian Reference 891.700922 D561

This English-language source contains articles written and signed by literary scholars. Many of the entries are lengthy with bibliographical references for works by and about the writers. The entries, which discuss the life, work and significance of the women writers, are arranged alphabetically by surname. The text is supplemented by a detailed index of names and subjects and several appendices including a chronology of the Russian women writers in the text and a time line of the writers in historical context. Unfortunately, this source is marred by bibliographical errors in some references. See the entry for Zoia Iakovleva.

Obzor zhizni i trudov pokoinykh russkikh pisatelei.
D.D. Iazykov. Sankt-Peterburg: Tip. A.S. Suvorina, 1885-1916.
UIUC call number:  Russian Reference 891.70922 Ia9o facsim v.1-9 + v.11-13 Main Stacks 491.706 AKO t.86, n.3 ; t.89, n.8; t.95, n.3 [UIUC lacks v.10]

Compiled by the famous Russian bibliographer D.D. Iazykov, this source is particularly valuable for its bibliographical references for 19th century Russian writers. Each volume contains entries for writers who died in a particular year beginning with volume 1 and the year 1881 and ending with volume 13 and the year 1893. Volumes 11-13 were published as part of the journal Sbornik otdieleniia russkago iazyka i slovesnosti Akademii nauk. Within each volume the entries are arranged alphabetically by surname. Each volume has a cumulative index to the previous volumes and volume 9 also has additional entries for the first 8 volume plus entries for writers who died in 1889. The later volumes appear under the title Obzor zhizni i trudov russkikh pisatelei i pisatel'nits. Later volumes also have additional entries for the earlier volumes that appear in appendices. See the entry on Orest Antonovich Dobrovol'skii which is one of the more brief entries in this work. It does not have the extensive bibliographical references that many of the entries contain.

Slovar' psevdonimov russkikh pisatelei, uchenykh i obshchestvennykh deiatelei.
I.F. Masanov. Moskva: Izd. Vsesoiuznoi knizh. palaty, 1956.
UIUC call number:  Russian Reference 014.7 M37s 1956 v.1-4

Compiled by I.F. Masanov over a period of 40 years, this is the standard Russian pseudonym dictionary. It was published posthumously after some preparatory work by Masanov's son, the famous Soviet bibliographer, Iu. I. Masanov. Have you ever read an article in Russian which is signed only by initials? This wonderful work will tell you who that author really is. It will also tell you in the index what the various pseudonyms are that were used by a particular author as well as giving birth and death dates of that author. The scholarly apparatus of the work includes the bibliographic sources of the information for each pseudonym cited after the abbreviation Ist.: which stands for Istochnik or "source". The first volume contains entries for A-I, the second for K-P, the third R-Ia and entries in Latin letters, plus a dopolnenie for the first three volumes. Volume 4 contains a new dopolnenie to the first three volumes and an extensive index that should not be overlooked. See the entry below from the index volume for Viacheslav Rudol'fovich Menzhinskii, the head of the secret police from 1926-1934, who published symbolist poetry as a young man. The entry gives two pseudonyms, Ilovaiskii and Stepinskii, that will appear in the main entries with citations to the works published under those names. If you are interested in his symbolist poetry, see Literaturno-khudozhestvennye al'manakhi i sborniki.

Free voices in Russian literature, 1950s-1980s. A bio-bibliographical guide.
Sumerkin, Alexander, ed. New York: Russica, 1987. ("Russica" bibliography series ; no. 4)
UIUC Call Number: Russian Reference 016.8917 St46f

This unique bio-bibliography details works for over 900 writers who lived in the Soviet Union or who emigrated after 1955 and whose writings were published in the emigre press between 1957 and 1985 with or without the knowledge of the author. Their works were not published in the Soviet Union due to censorship. Many titles that were samizdat are represented in these bibliographies. Besides fiction writers, also included are poets, dissidents, essayists, and some politicians. Works that were published in emigre newspapers are excluded from the scope of this book. Entries are arranged alphabetically by surname and begin with a biographical sketch which provides basic life data and also elucidates the author's difficulties with the Soviet regime. The bibliographies follow the biographies. A list of sources consulted is appended at the end. See the entry below for Marina Grigor'evna Glazova.

Russkie detskie pisateli XX veka. Biobibliograficheskii slovar'.
Moskva: Izd-vo "Flinta", "Nauka", 1997.
UIUC Call Number: Russian Reference 891.700922 R293

This dictionary includes 245 articles on well known 20th century Russian children's writers and illustrators. Entries include biographical data, a discussion of their works and significance, the genres they contributed to, pseudonyms if applicable, and bibliographical references for works by and about the figures. Only a person's contributions to the field of children's literature are emphasized in the articles regardless of how famous that individual was in other realms, thus, for example, in the article on Blok, very little is said of his vast contribution to Russian poetry beyond what is necessary for background information. Articles range from one to six pages in length. Hidden among the biographical entries is an article on 20th-century Russian periodicals for children (p.378-384). All articles are signed by their contributors. See the entry on Evgeniia Trutneva.

Pisateli nashego detstva. 100 imen. Biograficheskii slovar'. Tom 1-3.
Moskva: Libereia, 1998.
UIUC Call Number: Russian Reference 891.700922 P674 v.1 [UIUC lacks t.2-3]

300 children's writers from around the world are the subject of this biobibliographical dictionary. Compiled by librarians at the Russian State Children's Library in Moscow, the articles in Pisateli nashego detstva present biographical data, a brief discussion of their works, a portrait of the author, and bibliographical references. The references are divided into several sections: works by the author, works about the author, translations done by the author and translations of the author's works into Russian, screen adaptations for films and cartoons, illustrators, and other sections that may be relevent for only a few authors. The references, however, are not comprehensive. Rather they emphasize Russian editions and critical works. An interesting highlight in this dictionary is that there are articles for both L. Frank Baum who wrote the Wizard of Oz and his Russian adaptor Aleksandr Volkov. There are many illustrations from the children's books sprinkled throughout and two indexes, one for illustrators and one for translators. The list of contributors and the articles they wrote for the dictionary appears at the end of the book. See the entry on Petr Pavlovich Ershov.

The Soviets often produced biographical dictionaries of writers based on ethnic groups or regions. An example of just one such source is given below.

Pisateli Udmurtii: Biobibliograficheskii spravochnik.
A.N. Uvarov. Izhevsk: Udmurtiia, 1989.
UIUC call number:  Russian Reference 016.89453 Uv1p

Containing 179 biographical sketches for Udmurt writers from pre- and post-revolutionary eras, this dictionary was published on the centenary of the publication of the first original poem written in the Udmurt language. The introduction gives a very brief survey of Udmurt literary publishing. Entries contain a portrait, biographical data, and bibliographical references for works by and about the author. Most of the entries are two pages long and they are arranged alphabetically by surname of the author. At the back of the book is a table of the scholars who participated in the preparation of the dictionary and the entries that they wrote. Follow the link for the entry on Sergei Milovskii.

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