Sergey Terentyevich Semyonov (; March 28, 1868 – December 3, 1922) was a Russian writer and a member of the Moscow literary group Sreda.

Biography

Semyonov was born in the village of Andreyevskoy, in

Moscow Governorate The Moscow Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, and the Russian Empire. It was bordered by Tver Governorate to the north, Vladimir Governorate to the northeast, Ryazan Governorate to the southeast, Tula Gove ...

, where his parents were peasants. He left the village because of poverty and worked as an errand boy, salesman, plumber, laborer, and even as a guide for a blind merchant. These experiences gave him material for his writings. His first story ''Two Brothers (1887)'' was praised by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, who supported and encouraged Semyonov throughout their long acquaintance. His debut, 1894 collection ''Krestyanskiye rasskazy'' (Peasant Stories) came out with a foreword by Tolstoy, who cited "sincerity, substantiveness, simplicity and seriousness, as well as the expressiveness of language, rich in folklore imagery" as the author's prose major features.Romanova, T.V
Семенов Сергей Терентьевич
at the Russian Writers Biobibliographical dictionary // Русские писатели. Биобиблиографический словарь. Том 2. М-Я. Под редакцией П. А. Николаева. М., "Просвещение", 1990 He published poetry, several plays, a book of memoirs called ''Twenty-Five Years in the Village'', and a volume of essays.Introduction to ''Gluttons'', ''The Salt Pit'', Raduga Publishers, 1988. The Collected Works by S.T. Semyonov in six volumes (1909-1913, via Posrednik Publishers) received the Russian Academy of Sciences' Award in 1912. In 1906 he was exiled for his revolutionary connections.Orlando Figes, ''A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution'', (London, 2017), p. 234. After the

Revolution of 1917 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 ...

, he took an active part in reorganization efforts. In 1922 Semyonov was murdered by bandits, an event that shook his friend

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

very deeply. Gorky said that the great significance of Semyonov's works had been recognized, and that nothing could be more precious to a man.

English translations

*'' The Servant'', (Short story), from '' Best Russian Short Stories'', Thomas Seltzer, Boni and Liveright, 1917. *''Gluttons'', (Short story), from ''The Salt Pit'',

Raduga Publishers Raduga Publishers (, English: "rainbow") was a Soviet publishing house of innovative children's books, which has been described as "one of the most important book publishers of its type" during the early twentieth century.Andrea Immel"Cotsen Chil ...

, 1988.

References

External links

* 1868 births 1922 deaths Novelists from the Russian Empire Short story writers from the Russian Empire Russian exiles Russian murder victims People murdered in the Soviet Union {{Russia-writer-stub