Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov ( rus, Вале́рий Я́ковлевич Брю́сов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈjakəvlʲɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbrʲusəf, a=Valyeriy Yakovlyevich Bryusov.ru.vorb.oga; – 9 October 1924) was a Russian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. He was one of the principal members of the Russian Symbolist movement.

Darko Suvin Darko Ronald Suvin (born Darko Šlesinger) is a Canadian academic, writer and critic who became a professor (now emeritusDavid JohnstonConvocation: Honorary degrees and emeritus professorships McGill Reporter, Volume 33, No. 05, November 2, 2000 ...

, "Bryusov,Valery" in Curtis C. Smith, ''

Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers ''Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers'' is a book by Curtis C. Smith published in October 1981 on science fiction authors in the 20th century. It is the third in the St. Martin's Press's ''Twentieth-Century Writers of the English Language'' ...

''. Chicago, St. James, 1986. (pp. 840–41).

Background

Valery Bryusov was born on 13 December 1873 (1 December 1873 according to the old

Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...

) into a merchant's family in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. His parents were educated for their class and had some literary associations, but had little to do with his upbringing, leaving the boy largely to himself. He spent a great deal of time reading "everything that fell into ishands", including the works of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

and

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, as well as various materialistic and scientific essays. The future poet received an excellent education, studying in two private Moscow gymnasia between 1885 and 1893.

Career

Bryusov began his literary career in the early 1890s while still a student at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

with his translations of the poetry of the

French Symbolists Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

(

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

, and

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...

) as well at that of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

. Bryusov also began to publish his own poems, which were very much influenced by the

Decadent Decadence was a late-19th-century movement emphasizing the need for sensationalism, egocentricity, and bizarre, artificial, perverse, and exotic sensations and experiences. By extension, it may refer to a decline in art, literature, science, ...

and Symbolist movements of his contemporary Europe. During this time Bryusov came under the influence of the philosopher

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (; 9 June 1829 – 28 December 1903), known in his family as Nikolai Pavlovich Gagarin, was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, religious thinker and futurologist, library science figure and an innovative ed ...

and the scientist

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...

. At the time, Russian Symbolism was still mainly a set of theories and had few notable practitioners. Therefore, in order to represent Symbolism as a movement of formidable following, Bryusov adopted numerous

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

s and published three volumes of his own verse, entitled ''Russian Symbolists. An Anthology'' (1894–95). Bryusov's mystification proved successful – several young poets were attracted to Symbolism as the latest fashion in Russian letters. With the appearance of ''Tertia Vigilia'' in 1900, he came to be revered by other Symbolists as an authority in matters of art. In 1904 he became the editor of the influential literary magazine ''

Vesy ''Vesy'' (; ) was a Russian symbolist magazine published in Moscow from 1904 to 1909, with the financial backing of philanthropist S. A. Polyakov. It was edited by the major symbolist writer Valery Bryusov. History Vesy was the leading literary ...

'' (''The Balance''), which consolidated his position in the Russian literary world. Bryusov's mature works were notable for their celebration of sensual pleasures as well as their mastery of a wide range of poetic forms, from the

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

to the

carmina figurata ''Carmen figuratum'' (plural: ''carmina figurata'') is a poem that has a certain shape or pattern formed either by some or all the words it contains. An example is France Prešeren's "Zdravljica", where the shape of each stanza resembles a wine ...

. By the 1910s, Bryusov's poetry had begun to seem cold and strained to many of his contemporaries. As a result, his reputation gradually declined and, with it, his power in the Russian literary world. He was adamantly opposed to the efforts of Georgy Chulkov and Vyacheslav Ivanov to move Symbolism in the direction of Mystical Anarchism. Though many of his fellow Symbolists fled Russia after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

of 1917, Bryusov remained until his death in 1924. He supported the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

government and received a position in the cultural ministry of the new

Soviet state The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...

. Shortly before his death he was involved with

Otto Schmidt Otto Yulyevich Shmidt (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, and academician. Biography He was born in the town of ...

in drawing up the proposal for the

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

. In 1924, shortly before his death, Bryusov posed for the young sculptor

Nina Niss-Goldman Nina Ilyinichna Niss-Goldman (, 19 September 1892, Rostov-on-Don - 30 January 1990, Moscow) was a painter, sculptor and a teacher of Russian Jewish, Jewish origin that was one of the founding members of the Society of Artists 'The Four Arts' (19 ...

(1893–1990). Now the portrait is in the

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...

of St. Petersburg in a collection of the work of

Russian avant-garde The Russian avant-garde was a large, influential wave of avant-garde modern art that flourished in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, approximately from 1890 to 1930—although some have placed its beginning as early as 1850 and its e ...

artists.

Literature

Alongside

Adelina Adalis Adelina Adalis (26 July 1900 – 13 August 1969) was a Soviet poet, prose writer and translator. Alongside Valery Bryusov (1873–1924) and Nikolay Gumilev (1886–1921), she influenced Malaysian literature Malaysian literature consists ...

(1900–1969) and

Nikolay Gumilev Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev (also Gumilyov; , ; – August 26, 1921) was a Russian poet, literary critic, traveler, and military officer. He was a co-founder of the Acmeist movement. He was the husband of Anna Akhmatova and the father of Lev ...

(1886–1921), he was influenced by the

Malaysian literature Malaysian literature consists of literature produced in the Malay Peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is typically written in any of the country's four main languages: Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. I ...

from the XIX and XX century.

Prose

Bryusov's most famous

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

works are the historical novels ''The Altar of Victory'' (depicting life in Ancient Rome) and '' The Fiery Angel'' (depicting the psychological climate of 16th century Germany). The latter tells the story of a knight's attempts to win the love of a young woman whose spiritual integrity is seriously undermined by her participation in occult practices and her dealings with unclean forces. It served as the basis for

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'' The Fiery Angel''. Bryusov also wrote some

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

stories, under the influence of Poe,

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

and

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction ...

. Several of these, including the title story, were assembled in his collection ''The Republic of the Southern Cross''.

Translation

As a translator, Bryusov was the first to render the works of the Belgian poet

Emile Verhaeren Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

and the lyrics of Armenian ashugh

Sayat-Nova Sayat-Nova (Armenian: Սայեաթ-Նովայ ( сlassical), Սայաթ-Նովա (reformed); ka, საიათნოვა; ; ; born Harutyun Sayatyan; 14 June 1712 – 22 September 1795) was an Armenian poet, musician and '' ashugh'', who ...

accessible to Russian readers. He was one of the major translators of

's poetry. His most famous translations are of Edgar Allan Poe,

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; ) was a Latin literature, Roman poet and Education in ancient Rome, teacher of classical rhetoric, rhetoric from Burdigala, Gallia Aquitania, Aquitaine (now Bordeaux, France). For a time, he was tutor to the future E ...

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, and

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

. Bryusov also translated

Johann Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

's ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'' and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

''.

List of major works

* ''Juvenilia'', 1894 * ''Chefs d’oeuvre'', 1895 * ''Me eum esse'', 1897 * ''Tertia Vigilia'', 1900 * ''In the Mirror'', 1902 * ''Urbi et Orbi'', 1903 * ''Stephanos'', 1905 * '' The Fiery Angel'', 1908 * ''All Melodies'', 1909 * ''The Altar of Victory'', 1913 * ''Rea Silvia'', 1916

Works in English translation

*''The Republic of the Southern Cross and Other Stories'', Constable, London, 1918
from Archive.org
Contains several science fiction stories. *''The Fiery Angel: A Sixteenth Century Romance'', Hyperion Press, 1978. *''Diary of Valery Bryusov'', University of California Press, 1980. *''The Fiery Angel: Dedalus European Classics'', Dedalus Limited, 2005.

Legacy

For his Russian translation of the Armenian folk epic “

David of Sasun David of Sassoun ( ''Sasuntsi Davit also spelled David of Sasun'') is the main hero of Armenia's national epic ''Daredevils of Sassoun'', who drove Arab Egyptian invaders out of Armenia. Background The ''Daredevils of Sassoun'' (also known as ...

,” Bryusov was designated People's Poet of Armenia in 1923.

Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences (), is a public university in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, operating since 1935. It is named after the Russian poet and historian Valery Bryusov since 1962. The university gra ...

, a public university in the capital of

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, has been named after Valery Bryusov since 1962. Ukrainian composer Inna Abramovna Zhvanetskaya used Bryusov's text for at least one of the songs in her vocal collection ''Romances''.

References

External links

* * *
Collection of Poems by Valery Bryusov
(English Translations)

A 10 page selection of English translations by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky, 1921

English translations of longer poem, "Danse Macabre" (scroll down)

"To a Woman" English translation
* Mark Willhardt, Alan Parker. "Briusov, Valerii Iakovlevich" in ''Who's Who in Twentieth Century World Poetry'', Routledge, 2000, , p. 47
"Brusov and The Poetry of Armenia"
on

Google Arts and Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryusov, Valery 1873 births 1924 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Russian male poets Russian male short story writers Russian historical novelists Science fiction writers from the Russian Empire Soviet poets Symbolist poets Russian male novelists Soviet literary historians Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian poets 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian short story writers Writers of Gothic fiction Imperial Moscow University alumni Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Translators of Virgil