David Samuilovich Samoylov (, born Kaufman, (); 1 June 1920 — 23 February 1990) was one of the most notable representatives of the

War generation of Russian poets Poet-Fronliners (Russian: Поэты-фронтовики, lit: Poet-Frontliners, also known as the War Generation and Front Poets) is a name applied to the young Russian poets whose youth was spent fighting in World War II and whose best poems refl ...

and neo-

Acmeist poetry Acmeism, or the Guild of Poets, was a modernist transient poetic school, which emerged or in 1912 in Russia under the leadership of Nikolay Gumilev and Sergei Gorodetsky. Their ideals were compactness of form and clarity of expression. The term w ...

Biography

Samoylov was born in Moscow into an assimilated Jewish family. His father was the head of venereological hospital authority of the Moscow region. In 1938—1941 he was a student at MIFLI, the . He tried to volunteer for the army when the war with Finland broke out, but was refused for health reasons. At the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa he was refused again, this time for being overage. Instead he served in a trench digging brigade. There he contracted the typhoid fever and was evacuated to

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, where he studied at a pedagogical college after his recovery. After that he entered an infantry officers' school, from which he graduated in 1942, and was sent to the Volkhov front. He remained on the active duty until the end of the war and was wounded several times.Самойлов Д.С., Чуковская Л.К. Переписка: 1971-1990 / Вступ. статья А.С. Немзера, коммент и подгот. текста Г.И. Медведевой-Самойловой, Е.Ц. Чуковской и Ж.О. Хавкиной. М.: Новое литературное обозрение. 2004. During the second half of his life, he moved to

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

, known mostly as a resort-town. He continued writing in Pärnu and even published poetry dedicated to Pärnu. He lived in Toominga street. He has translated literature from Estonian authors such as

Lydia Koidula Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen ( – ), known by her pen name Koidula, was an Estonian literature, Estonian poet. Her sobriquet means '(Lydia of) The Dawn' in Estonian language, Estonian. It was given to her by the writer Carl Robert Jakobson. Sh ...

Jaan Kross Jaan Kross (19 February 1920 – 27 December 2007) was an Estonian writer. He won the 1995 International Nonino Prize in Italy. Early life Born in Tallinn, Estonia, son of a skilled metal worker, Jaan Kross studied at Jakob Westholm Gymnasi ...

Ellen Niit Ellen Niit (born Ellen Hiob; Ellen Niit since 1958) (13 July 1928 – 30 May 2016) was an Estonians, Estonian Children's author, children's writer, poet and translator. Over her lifetime, she penned more than forty books of both prose and poetry ...

Paul-Eerik Rummo Paul-Eerik Rummo (born 19 January 1942) is an Estonian poet, playwright, translator and politician who was the former Estonian Minister of Culture and Education, as well as the former Estonian Minister of Population Affairs. Rummo was born in T ...

and others, as well as from Polish, Czech, Hungarian and other languages as well as running workshops for young writers.

Death

David died on February 23, 1990, in Tallinn. He was buried in

(Estonia) at the Forest Cemetery.

Selected works

* '' When We Were at War'' (Rus. Когда мы были на войне)

References

External links

Официальный сайт поэта Давида СамойловаDavid Samoylov poetry
a
Stihipoeta.ru

Samoylov in English

1920 births 1990 deaths Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Jewish Russian writers Soviet poets Russian male poets Jewish poets 20th-century Russian poets 20th-century Russian male writers Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Star People from Pärnu {{Russia-poet-stub