Stepan Gavrilovich Skitalets (, born ''Petrov'', ; 9 November 1869 – 25 June 1941) was a Russian and Soviet poet, writer of fiction and folk musician. The name Skitalets means "wanderer" in Russian.

Early life

Skitalets was born in

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

Province to a peasant father who had once been a serf. After gaining his freedom Skitalets's father spent some time as a village bartender and later took to wandering through Russia, with his young son in tow, the two making a living together as street and barroom musicians for several years. Afterwards they returned to Samara province where Skitalets's father settled down as a

joiner Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...

. Skitalets's father taught him to play the

gusli The ''gusli'' (, , , ''husla'') is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in the Novgorodian Republic. ...

, and Skitalets was well known in later life for his skill with the instrument and for being a talented folk singer. He spoke of his early years with his father in a short poem: ''"His gusli my singer father left, / He left me songs my share, / To sow his peasant seed song gift / To grow in my native air''. During the years of wandering with his father he often experienced want and bad conditions, but he was also able to collect a wealth of experiences, meeting different people and travelling widely throughout Russia. After being expelled from the Samara Teacher's Seminary in 1887 under suspicion of political radicalism, he went out on his own in southern Russia, working as a clerk, actor, singer, writing for several papers, and taking part in the student revolutionary movement.

Career

In 1898 he met

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 ...

, whose fame was already on the rise, and the two became close friends. This meeting was the deciding point of his young life.
Skitalets came to Moscow with Gorky where he joined the Sreda, a literary group founded by the writer Nikolay Teleshov, which included many of Russia's most popular authors and artists, such as

Leonid Andreyev Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian literature. He is regarded as one of the most talented and prolific ...

Ivan Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953)Fyodor Chaliapin, Gorky and, when he was in town,

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

. In 1902 Skitalets's first collection of stories and poems was published by Gorky's company '' Znanie'' (Knowledge). During this time he published poetry, short stories, and novellas, most of which were read and discussed among his friends in the Sreda. One of his songs, which he first sang at a meeting of the Sreda, was included in the beginning of the second act of Gorky's play ''

The Lower Depths ''The Lower Depths'' (, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. It became his first ma ...

''. The song begins with the lines: ''The sun rises and sets / But my prison is dark, dark''. He was also the author of a popular folk song about

Stepan Razin Stepan Timofeyevich Razin (, ; c. 1630 – ), known as Stenka Razin ( ), was a Don Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia in 1670–1671. Early life Razin's father, Timofey Ra ...

. Skitalets's revolutionary poetry was praised by

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

among others. One of his revolutionary poems, recited at a charity event in 1902, can be found on the

List of Russian language poets This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language. Alphabetical list A B C D E F G I K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z See also * List of Russian architects * Lis ...

. His reading of this poem and several others caused an uproar of cheers and shouts, leading to the event being broken up by the police, and to the arrest of Leonid Andreyev, who'd been the event's organizer. Andreyev was eventually acquitted in court. Skitalets was arrested for his revolutionary activities in 1888, 1901 (with Gorky in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

), 1902 and 1905. He continued publishing his works separately and in collected editions through the years leading up to

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 ...

and the

Russian 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 ...

Later life

During World War 1 Skitalets served as a medical orderly, and published several works condemning the war. He welcomed and supported the 1917 Revolution. He lived abroad from 1922 to 1934 in

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

China where he worked for several newspapers, and contributed works to Soviet journals. He also spent some time in Australia on assignment. He returned to Russia in July, 1934, renewed his friendship with Gorky and again took part in literary and social life. He published the novels ''The House of the Chernovs'' in 1935 and ''Fetters'' in 1940. He died in Moscow in 1941, and was buried in the

Vvedenskoye Cemetery Vvedenskoye Cemetery ( rus, Введенское кладбище, p=vʲːɪˈdʲenskəjə) is a historic cemetery in Lefortovo District of Moscow in Russia. Until 1918 it was mainly a burial ground for the Catholic and Protestant communities ...

English translations

*''The Love of a Scene Painter'', from Short Story Classics (Foreign) Volume 1, P.F. Collier, 1907
from Archive.org
*''Icarus'', ''And the Fire Spread'', and ''The Blacksmith'', from The Salt Pit and Other Stories,

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skitalets, Stepan Poets from the Russian Empire 1869 births 1941 deaths Soviet novelists Soviet male writers Writers from the Russian Empire Soviet short story writers Soviet poets Russian military personnel of World War I Musicians from the Russian Empire White Russian emigrants to China