Sergei Chavain, also spelled Čavajn ( Mari: Серге́й Чава́йн, pronounced ; 6 October 1888, Maly Karamas – 11 November 1937) was a Mari poet and playwright, born Sergei Grigorievich Grigoriev (russian: Серге́й Григо́рьевич Григо́рьев). In 1905 he wrote the first literary poem in the

Mari language The Mari language (Mari: , ''marij jylme''; russian: марийский язык, ''mariyskiy yazyk''), formerly known as the Cheremiss language, spoken by approximately 400,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primar ...

, ''Oto'' (Ото – The Grove). In 1908 he graduated from

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzan is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and t ...

Teachers' Seminary. His first play was ''The Wild Duck'' in 1912, a satire of

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...

bureaucrats. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, Chavain wrote several plays for the first Mari mobile theatre, such as ''The Autonomy'' (1920) and ''The Sun Rises, the Storm-clouds Disappear'' (1921), inspired by the Revolution and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. Later he wrote plays for a Mari theatre studio, including ''Jamblat's Bridge'' (1927), the comedy ''The Hundred Roubles Bride-money'' (1927), the musical drama ''The Bee-Garden'' (1928), ''Kugujar'' (1929) (a play devoted to the

1905 Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

), ''The Live Water'' (about the formation of

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...

es), ''The Timber Mill'' (1930) (about

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

), ''Marii Company'' (1934) (on the battle for

in 1918)), and ''Akpatyr'' (1935) (about Mari participation in

Pugachev's Rebellion Pugachev's Rebellion (, ''Vosstaniye Pugachyova''; also called the Peasants' War 1773–1775 or Cossack Rebellion) of 1773–1775 was the principal revolt in a series of popular rebellions that took place in the Russian Empire after Catherine ...

). ''The Light of the Coin'' (1936) was a comedy based on Mari popular beliefs. He also translated into Mari several Russian classical plays. As a writer he is known for his novels ''One Can Hear the Noise of the Forest'', about the 1905 Revolution, and ''Elnet'', about the life of a pre-revolutionary Mari village. A victim of the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

during the "struggle with

bourgeois nationalism In Marxism, bourgeois nationalism is the practice by the ruling classes of deliberately dividing people by nationality, race, ethnicity, or religion, so as to distract them from engaging in class struggle. It is seen as a divide-and-conquer stra ...

", he was executed in

Yoshkar-Ola Yoshkar-Ola ( Mari and russian: Йошкар-Ола) is the capital city of the Mari El Republic, Russia. Yoshkar-Ola means “red city” in Mari and was formerly known as Tsaryovokokshaysk () before 1919, as Krasnokokshaysk () between 1919 an ...

on 11 November 1937 and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956. The

State prize State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Mari El The Mari El Republic (russian: Респу́блика Мари́й Эл, ''Respublika Mariy El''; Meadow Mari: ; Hill Mari: ) is a republic of Russia. It is in the European Russia region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga Rive ...

is named after Chavain.

Sources

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Short bio
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External links

* Ville Ropponen
reviewEnglish translation
of Finnish translation of ''Elnet'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Chavain, Sergei 1888 births 1937 deaths People from Morkinsky District People from Tsaryovokokshaysky Uyezd Mari people Great Purge victims from Russia Mari people executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations