Valerian Fedorovich Pereverzev (Russian: Валерьян Фёдорович Переверзев; 17 October 1882 – 5 May 1968) was a

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 ...

literary scholar and critic. He and his associates published the 1928 collection ''

Literary Criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

,'' a controversial key text in what was called the "Pereverzev school."Scott HG, Hellie JL (1986). A Selected Bibliography of Works about V. F. Pereverzev. '' Russian Studies in Literature'' Volume 22, Number 2 - 3, Pages 188 - 192. Pereverzev was born in Bobrov (now

Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Voronezh. Its population was 2,308,792 as of the Russian Census (2021), 20 ...

). He studied physics and mathematics at the

University of Kharkiv The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

from 1901 to 1905 but was expelled and exiled to

Narym Narym (, Southern Selkup dialect for ''swamp'') is a village ('' selo'') in Parabelsky District of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Ob River near its confluence with the Ket River, from the village of Parabel. The village ...

for participating in revolutionary activities, being a member of

RSDLP The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

since 1905. In 1911 he returned to Moscow to study and lecture. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in 1917, Pereverzev worked as a teacher and scholar. In 1921 he became a professor at

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 ...

. His work examined the works of

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

, and

Ivan Goncharov Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov ( , ; rus, Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в, r=Iván Aleksándrovich Goncharóv, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡənʲtɕɪˈrof; – ) was a Russian novelist best known for his n ...

. Pereverzev maintained that an author's style is determined by class milieu. He was a professor of the

Institute of Red Professors The Institute of Red Professors of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) () was an institute of graduate-level education in the Marxist social sciences located in the Orthodox Convent of the Passion, Moscow. History It was founded in February 1 ...

and a member of the

Communist Academy The Communist Academy (Russian: Коммунистическая академия, transliterated ''Kommunisticheskaya akademiya'') was a higher educational establishment and research institute based in Moscow. It included scientific institutes of ...

. Pereverzev was also a member of the editorial board of the ''

Literary Encyclopedia ''Literary Encyclopedia'' (Russian: Литературная энциклопедия) is a 12-volume encyclopedia published in the USSR from 1929 until 1939. It contains more than 5000 entries with a focus on Russian and Soviet authors, as well ...

''. During the Great purge, Pereverzev was suppressed and sentenced to exile in Kolyma. He was released in 1948 only to be arrested in the same year and exiled to Krasnoyarsk Krai. He returned to Moscow in 1956 and was finally rehabilitated and continued his literary activities. Pereverzev died in Moscow and was buried at the

Pyatnitskoye Cemetery The Pyatnitskoye cemetery is one of the graveyards in the Russian capital Moscow. It is among the oldest and largest resting places in the city. History and name The Pyatnitskoye cemetery was established during the plague epidemic in 1771. Howe ...

Selected publications

*''Tvorchestvo Dostoevskogo'' (1928) *''Tvorchestvo Gogolia'' (1928) *''

'' *''U istokov russkogo realisticheskogo romana'' (1965) *''Literatura drevnei Rusi'' (1971)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pereverzev, Valerian Fedorovich 1882 births 1968 deaths People from Oryol Soviet literary historians Soviet male writers Academic staff of Moscow State University Nikolai Gogol scholars Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Great Purge victims from Russia Soviet rehabilitations