Mikhail Leonidovich Slonimsky (russian: Михаи́л Леони́дович Слони́мский; – 8 October 1972) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

writer, member of the Serapion Brothers group. Mikhail was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

to the family of

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 ...

. His grandfather, father and aunt were professional writers. His uncle Semyon Vengerov was a famous philologist and literary critic. His older brother Nicolas Slonimsky became a famous composer. In January 1915 after graduating from his gymnasium Mikhail went as a volunteer to

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...

to fight in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He was awarded St. George medal, was wounded, returned to the front, wounded again and evacuated to the Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) hospital. Since 1917 Mikhail published his works regularly (his first publication was in the magazine ''New Satiricon'' of 1914). He was one of the founders of the Serapion Brothers group. The group met at his apartment and according to some memorises, he was the inventor of the name. Later Mikhail developed into a typical Soviet writer and an administrator of the

Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...

. He died in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1972. Mikhail's son, Sergei Slonimsky is a notable Russian composer.

References

External links

Works of Mikhail Slonimsky

Soviet writers 1897 births 1972 deaths Jews from the Russian Empire Russian Jews Writers from Saint Petersburg Soviet people of Polish-Jewish descent Soviet Jews {{Russia-writer-stub