Alexander Valentinovich Amfiteatrov (); (26 December 1862 – 26 February 1938) was a Russian writer, novelist, and historian.

Biography

Born a priest's son in

Kaluga Kaluga (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Its population was 337,058 at the 2021 census. Kaluga's most famous residen ...

, Russian Empire, he was trained as a lawyer but became a journalist and popular novelist. In 1902 he was exiled for writing a satirical article on the imperial family. He returned to visit the front during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, then returned to Western Europe, living in France and Italy. Amfiteatrov conceived writing a book on

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

and early

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

in the 1890s. An Italian exile provided him with plenty of sources and evidence, and exposed him to leading European scholars, and in 1913 he completed ''Nero: The Beast out of the Bottomless Pit'' ("Зверь из бездны. Нерон", referring to

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

11:7), a life story of Emperor

that evolved into a comprehensive encyclopedia of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

at the end of

Julio-Claudian dynasty The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. This line of emperors ruled the Roman Empire, from its formation (under Augustus, in 27 BC) until the last of the line, Emper ...

and a critical review of contemporary historical concepts. By 1913 Amfiteatrov's eyesight was failing to the point where he could not proofread and edit typographic print, relying more on his memory than on reading, thus the first edition was released with major errors and continuity gaps. His second Roman study ''

Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus (; ) is a 1st-century AD honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in 81 AD by Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to comm ...

'', dedicated to early Christianity in Rome, was not completed. In Italy he completed his most successful novels ''Vosmidesyatniki'' (The 80s-Niks) (1907–08) and ''Devyatidesyatniki'' (The 90s-Niks) (1911–13), dealing with the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

of the 1880s and 1890s, respectively. "Versatile and topical, but smartly superficial, Amfiteatrov catered for the general reader whose taste he knew to perfection" (''Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World Literature'', ed. S.H. Steinberg, p. 1680). In 1916 Amfiteatrov returned to the Russian Empire and became editor of the nationalist newspaper ''Russkaya volya''. Because of his attacks on the government he was sent into exile in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

at the beginning of 1917, but after the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

he returned to Petrograd, where he edited a Cossack newspaper and wrote articles attacking the Bolsheviks until the latter ended freedom of the press, whereupon he became a teacher and translator. He left Russia with his family in August 1921. Until the spring of 1922 he lived in Prague, then settled in Italy, where he wrote for many émigré journals. Amfiteatrov died in Levanto Italy in 1938. His sons were Vladimir Amfiteatrov-Kadashev, a writer and journalist (and a friend of

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

); Daniil, a composer; and the musicians,

Maksim Maxim (more accurately spelled Maksim assuming that "X" is not a consonant, but the conjunction of "K" and "S" sounds; “Maksym”, or "Maxym") is an epicene (or gender-neutral) first name of Roman origin mainly given to males. It is adopted in ...

and Roman Amfiteatrov.

English translations

*"Napoleonder (Folk Tale)", from
Folk Tales of Napoleon: The Napoleon of the People and Napoleonder
', The Outlook Company, NY, 1902. Translated by

George Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

. *"He" and "The Cimmerian Disease", from ''White Magic: Russian Emigre Tales of Mystery and Terror'', Russian Life Books, Montpelier, VT, 2021. Translated by Muireann Maguire.

Notes

References

External links

Amfiteatrov Collection
(brief biography)

(Russian biography)
Work available on Amazon
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amfiteatrov, Alexander 1862 births 1938 deaths People from Kaluga People from Kaluzhsky Uyezd Historians from the Russian Empire Novelists from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Writers of Gothic fiction Journalists from the Russian Empire Expatriates from the Russian Empire in Italy Soviet emigrants to Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak emigrants to Italy Levanto, Liguria

Biography

English translations

See also

Notes

References

External links