Sergei Nikolayevich Sergeyev-Tsensky (, December 3, 1958) was a prolific

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 ...

and Soviet writer and academician. According to the opinion of Sergei Sossinsky, although "Sergeyev-Tsensky does not belong to Russia's top classical authors, he might have

een Een ːnis a village in the Netherlands. It is part of the Noordenveld municipality in Drenthe. History Een is an ''esdorp'' which developed in the middle ages on the higher grounds. The communal pasture is triangular. The village developed dur ...

if he had not had the misfortune of living half his life under Communist rule."''A Riter (sic) Who Recreated Russia's Military Past.'' Sergei Sossinsky.

Moscow News ''The Moscow News'', which began publication in 1930, was Russia's oldest English-language newspaper. Many of its feature articles used to be translated from the Russian language ''Moskovskiye Novosti.'' History Soviet Union In 1930 ''The Mo ...

(Russia). YESTERYEAR; No. 43. November 1, 2000

Early life

Sergei Sergeyev was born on , in the village of Preobrazhenskoye,

Rasskazovsky District Rasskazovsky District () is an administrativeLaw #72-Z and municipalLaw #232-Z district (raion), one of the twenty-three in Tambov Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center of the oblast. The district borders with Bondarsky District in the nor ...

Tambov Governorate Tambov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic, and the Russian SFSR, with its capital in Tambov. It was located between 51°14' and 55°6' north latitude, north and betwee ...

. His father was a teacher and a retired veteran of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

of 1853–1856. At four, Sergeyev learned how to read and at five he already knew by heart many poems by

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

and

Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of ...

, as well as

Krylov Krylov (masculine; ) and Krylova (feminine; ) is a Russian surname, derived from the word "''крыло́"'' (wing). Alternative spellings are Krilov, Kryloff, Kriloff (masculine) and Krilova (feminine). People * Alexei Krylov (1863–1945), Rus ...

's fables, beginning to write his own poems at seven. At this time, his family had moved to

Tambov Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...

where Sergei's father received a post in the government. During his stay in the city of Tambov, Sergeyev enrolled in preparatory education course at the Yekaterininsky Teachers' Institute in Tambov. However, after the death of his parents in 1891, he could no longer continue his course and earned a living by teaching private lessons. In 1892, the future writer entered the Glukhov Teachers' Institute ( Chernigov province) at the expense of the state, from which he graduated with honors in 1895. In 1904, the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

broke out and he was drafted into the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. He served in

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

and

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

before being placed under house arrest and discharged from the army for political activities in 1905. He had spoken out against the

pogroms A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century attacks on Jews i ...

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

in 1905, testifying in a court inquiry about the role of the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and army in these pogroms.

Career

He published his first works in 1898, and his first book ''Thoughts and Dreams'' in 1901. The latter contained poems with strong civic undertones. In 1907, he published the novel ''Babayev,'' where he described revolutionary events in a provincial town. It was reportedly "later discovered that the story of the officer hero of the novel was actually the author's own experience in the revolution." During

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 ...

, the author was again drafted into the army, but was put into the reserve because of his age. Little was heard from the writer during World War I and the following

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 ...

with lean times forcing Sergeyev to sell off his possessions for food. A story goes that a neighbor who helped him milk a newly acquired cow soon became his wife, Khristina – a college graduate and a gifted pianist. The author turned to historical subjects in 1923, but with the communist rule, it became harder to write freely on any topic. With the rise of

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 ...

, however, who admired Sergeyev, things gradually improved. The work of his life was ''Russia's Transfiguration'' which consisted of 12 novels, 3 stories and 2 studies. This work is reportedly comparable with

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

's ''Red Wheel.'' Both are monumental works dealing with the period before, during and after the revolution. He died on December 3, 1958, in

Alushta Alushta (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and Russian language, Russian: ; ; ) is a city of regional significance on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula which is within the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a region internationally recognised as ...

, aged 83.

Awards

* Laureate of the Stalin Prize (1941) * Academician of the

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

(1943) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(1955)

Bibliography

Books

*''Thoughts and Dreams'' (1901) *''Tundra'' (1902) *''Babayev'' (1907) *''The Transfiguration of Russia'' (1914–58) - ussian: ''Преображение России''ref name=":0" /> *''Living Water'' (1922) - ussian: ''Живая вода''*''The Poet and the Mob'' (1925) - ussian: ''Поэт и чернь''ref name=":1" /> ovel version*''Sevastopol Strada'' (1937-1939) - ussian: ''Севастопольская страда''ref name=":0" /> *''Brusilov Breakthrough, A Historical Novel'' (1941) - ussian: ''Брусиловский прорыв, исторический роман''ref> *''Brusilov's Break-Through: a Novel of the First World War'' , translated into English by Helen Altschuler, Hutchinson & Co, London, 1945. *''Preobrazhenie Rossii'' (1955-1958), ussian: ''Преображение России''ref name=":1" />

Plays

* ''Death'' (1908) - ussian: ''Смерть''ref name=":0" /> * ''The Poet and the Mob'' (1934) - ussian: ''Поэт и чернь''ref name=":1" /> lay version

References

External links

*Selected Bi
from biography.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sergeyev-Tsensky, Sergei 1875 births 1958 deaths 20th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian short story writers People from Rasskazovsky District People from Tambovsky Uyezd Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Hlukhiv National Pedagogical University of Oleksandr Dovzhenko alumni Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Stalin Prize Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire Russian historical novelists Russian male dramatists and playwrights Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Soviet dramatists and playwrights Soviet male writers Soviet novelists Soviet short story writers