Mikhail Arkadyevich Svetlov (), born Scheinkman () ( – 28 September 1964) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

poet and playwright. Posthumous laureate of the

Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...

1967. Figures of speech and constructions of his works sometimes resemble those of

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

, for which he was nicknamed ''Red Heine'', as evidenced, in particular, by

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

‘s satirical poem “''To the Proletarian Poets'' ” (Message to the Proletarian Poets, 1926).

Biography

Svetlov was born into a poor

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family.Biography in ''Chronos'' Online Encyclopedia

He has been published since 1917. A member of

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

since 1919, Svetlov was sent to the First Congress of Proletarian Writers 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 ...

in 1920 and took part in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

as a volunteer

rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifling, rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction o ...

in the same year. Two years later, Svetlov published his first collection of poems, ''Rails''. The main theme of his works in the 1920s was the

. Probably the best known poem written by Svetlov, is ''Grenada'', published in 1926. Between 1927 and 1928 he studied at the

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 ...

. One of Svetlov's most significant works from the 1930s was the ''Song of

Kakhovka Kakhovka (, ) is a port city on the Dnieper River in Kakhovka Raion, Kherson Oblast, of southern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of the Kakhovka urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It had a population of Kakhovka has been under ...

'' (1935, composer

Isaak Dunayevsky Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky ( ; also transliterated as Dunaevski or Dunaevskiy; 25 July 1955) was a Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who composed music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film dire ...

), which became extremely popular among Soviet soldiers during the

Second World War 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 ...

. After 1935 Svetlov turned to

dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The role of a dramaturg in the field of modern dramaturgy is to help realize the multifaceted world of the play for a production u ...

, publishing several plays prior to 1940 and after the war. Between 1941 and 1945, Svetlov was a special correspondent of the ''

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

'' at the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

, and also worked for other Soviet front newspapers. The most notable work of that period was a monologue-style poem ''Italian Cross'' (1943), full of dreams of peace and the fraternity of nations. After a gap of about 14 years, during which Svetlov was writing only plays, he published several collections of poems, including the ''Horizon'' (1959) and the ''Shooting Box'' (1964). He also wrote songs for the 1958 animated film ''

Beloved Beauty ''Beloved Beauty'' (, Krasa nenaglyadnaya) is a 1958 feature-length stop motion-animated film from the Soviet Union. The film, which was made at the Soyuzmultfilm studio, is based on Russian folk tales. Plot Once upon a time, there were a Tsar ...

'' (Краса ненаглядная). In 1967 he was awarded the

posthumously for the book ''Verses of the Last Years''.

Legacy

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

3483 Svetlov, discovered by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

astronomer Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh in 1976, is named after him. In the Soviet-era film comedy ''

The Diamond Arm ''The Diamond Arm'' ( ''Brilliantovaya ruka'') is a Soviet crime comedy film made by Mosfilm and first released in 1969. The film was directed by director Leonid Gaidai and starred several famous Soviet actors, including Yuri Nikulin, Andrei Mi ...

'', the male lead takes a vacation abroad (a very rare occurrence under Communist rule) on an ocean liner named in honor of Svetlov. In December 2022 the Mikhail Svetlov street in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

was renamed to (part of the so-called ''

Executed Renaissance The Executed Renaissance (), or Red Renaissance (), was a generation of Ukrainian language poets, writers, and artists of the 1920s and early 1930s who lived in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and wеre kille ...

'') street.

Quote

* Eveybody's being rounded up, literally everyone. Commissars and their deputies are being moved to the Lubianka. But what is ridiculous and tragic is that we walk among these events without understanding a thing about them... We are just pathetic remnants of an era that has died... This isn't trial, but organized murder.

Donald Rayfield Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Jos ...

, ''Stalin and His Hangmen'', page 327. ** Commenting on

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Partial list of poems

*''Grenada'' (1926) *''Song of Kakhovka'' (1935) *''Italian Cross'' (1943)

Bibliography

*Mikhail Svetlov, ''Selected poems'', Russian texts and English translations, Moscow Raduga Publishers, 1983

References

External links

* *
Biography of Mikhail Svetlov (in Russian)Lib.Ru: Михаил Светлов
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svetlov, Mikhail Arkadyevich 1903 births 1964 deaths Writers from Dnipro People from Yekaterinoslav Governorate Jewish Russian writers Russian-language poets Russian male poets Jewish poets Soviet poets Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers Soviet Jews Moscow State University alumni Deaths from lung cancer in the Soviet Union Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Recipients of the Lenin Komsomol Prize Recipients of the Lenin Prize