Janko Lavrin (10 February 1887 – 13 August 1986) was a Slovene novelist, poet, critic, translator, and historian. He was Professor Andrej Jelenc DiCaprio of Slavonic Studies at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. An enthusiast for psycho-analysis, he wrote what he called 'psycho-critical studies' of

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

, Nietzsche and Tolstoy.

Biography

Lavrin was born in Krupa, White Carniola,

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

.Catalogue record for MS 806
at the University of Nottingham. He was educated in Austria, Russia and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, moving to St Petersburg in 1908 to study Russian language and literature. He was a journalist in St Petersburg before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1915 and 1916 he served as war correspondent for '' Novoye Vremya'' covering the Serbian army's retreat through Albania. Returning to Russia in 1917, Lavrin decided to stay in the UK. He found work as a journalist, becoming part of the circle around A. R. Orage. In 1919 Bernard Pares helped Lavrin to get a teaching job at the

, and he became Professor of Slavonic Studies there in 1923. Lavrin was a friend of the Russian critic D. S. Mirsky in London in the 1920s. In 1928 he married the artist and book illustrator Nora Fry. In 1934–1935 he edited '' The European Quarterly'' with Edwin Muir. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, broadcasting to occupied Europe. He rejoined Nottingham University part-time in 1944. He encouraged a teaching assistant, Monica Partridge, to begin a doctorate. In 1949 she was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer to Lavrin. After Lavrin's retirement in 1952 Monica Partridge would lead the university's department of Slavic studies. Meanwhile Lavrin continued to write and translate.

Works

* ''В стране вечной войны: Албанские эскизы'' (In the country in the spring of war: Albanian sketches), Petrograd, 1916. * "Dostoevsky and His Creation: a psycho-critical study", London, 1920 * ''Tolstoy: a psycho-critical study'', London, 1922 * ''Studies in European literature'', London, 1929 * ''Aspects of modernism: from Wilde to Pirandello'', London, 1935 * ''An introduction to the Russian novel'', New York and London, 1943 * ''Dostoevsky: a study'', New York, 1943 * ''Pushkin and Russian literature'', London, 1947 * ''Tolstoy: an approach'', London, 1948 * ''From Pushkin to Mayakovsky: a study in the evolution of literature'', London, 1948 * ''Ibsen: an approach'', London, 1950 * ''Nikolai Gogol, 1809-1852: a centenary survey'', London, 1951 * ''Goncharov'', New Haven, 1953 * ''Russian writers: their lives and literature'', 1954 * ''Lermontov'', London, 1959 * ''Russia, Slavdom and the Western World'', London, 1969 * ''Nietzsche: a biographical introduction'', 1971 * ''A panorama of Russian literature'', London, 1973 *

References

External links

Portrait
by William Roberts at the

Your Paintings site {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavrin, Janko 1887 births 1986 deaths Slovenian male poets Slovenian literary critics 20th-century Slovenian historians Academics of the University of Nottingham Slovenian emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century Slovenian poets 20th-century Slovenian novelists