George Ivask (Russian: ''Yuri Pavlovich Ivask'', Юрий Павлович Иваск, Estonian: ''Jüri Ivask''; September 14, 1907 – February 13, 1986) 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
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and literary critic; in his later years he was an American scholar of Russian literature. Ivask was born to a family of an Estonian-German father and Russian mother and he identified culturally as a Russian.
Biography
George Ivask was born in Moscow, the son of Pavel Ivask, a merchant of
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also ...
origin, and his Russian wife. In 1920 the family moved to
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
, where Ivask enrolled in
Tartu University
The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country. In 1943 he was mobilized into the German army but never made it to the front due to poor health. In 1944, anticipating the advance of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, he fled to Germany and in 1946 entered
Hamburg University
The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen''), the Hamburg Colon ...
to pursue
Slavic studies
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...
and
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
. In 1949 he moved to the United States, where he earned his Ph.D. in Slavic languages and literatures at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. In 1955 Ivask received American citizenship. From 1969 to 1977 he taught at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
,
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...
, and
Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis is home to the College of Arts and Sciences and corresponding graduate programs across its many departments. The current Dean of the Faculty is Feng Sheng Hu, the Lucille P. Markey Distingui ...
George Ivask started publishing poetry in 1929, occasionally using pseudonyms (B. Afanasyevsky, G. Issako, A.B.), mostly in ''Put'', a magazine founded by
Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; ; – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who emphasized the existentialism, existential spiritual significance of Pe ...
, who exerted a major influence upon him, as well as Georgy Fedotov. Ivask's first book, ''Severny Bereg'' (The Northern Shore), came out in 1938 in
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
. He characterized his style as 'neo-barocco', while considering himself a follower of
Gavriil Derzhavin
Gavriil (Gavrila) Romanovich Derzhavin (, ; 14 July 1743 – 20 July 1816) was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are traditionally considered literary classicis ...
. His best-remembered work is ''Homo Ludens'' (Играющий человек, 1973), a free-montage autobiography in verse that remained unfinished.
Ivask compiled and edited ''In the West'' (На Западе, New York, 1953), an extensive anthology of the poets of the first and the second waves of Russian emigration, and he published books by Georgy Fedotov and
Vasily Rozanov
Vasily Vasilievich Rozanov (; – 5 February 1919) was one of the most controversial Russian writers and important philosophers among the symbolists of the pre-revolutionary epoch.
Views
Rozanov tried to reconcile Christian teachings with ...
, as well as critical essays and ''Konstantin Leontyev'' (1974), a monograph upon the controversial Russian religious thinker. His 1983 poem "A Greeting Word from an Orthodox Man" (Приветствие православного), published in the Polish magazine ''Kultura'' in Paris, made a great impression on
Pope Paul II
Pope Paul II (; ; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched fr ...
, who invited Ivask to the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Geography
* Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy
* Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City
* Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome
* Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
for an audience. The papers from George Ivask's estate are held by
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
.
Ivask died of a heart attack after collapsing near a pond on the campus of the
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
in 1986.
Select bibliography
Poetry
*''The Northern Shore'' (Северный берег. 1938).
*''The King's Autumn'' (Царская осень. 1953).
*''The Praise'' (Хвала. Вашингтон, 1967).
*''Cinderella'' (Золушка. New York, 1970).
*''The Conquest of Mexico'' (Завоевание Мексики. 1984).
*''I Am a Petty Bourgeois'' (Я — мещанин. 1986).
*''Homo Ludens'' (Играющий человек. 1973, Unfinished. First published in 1988).
Prose
*''Had There Been No Revolution'' (Если бы не было революции, ''Russkaya Mysl'', novel, 1980–1981)
*''The Conquest of Mexico'' (Завоевание Мексики, short novel, 1986)
*''A Tale About Poetry'' (Повесть о стихах, 1987)
Criticism
*''An Apology of Pessimism. K. Leontyev and Nietzsche'' (Апология пессимизма. К. Леонтьев и Ницше. Novy Grad, 1939)
*''Yuri Rozanov and Rev. P. Florensky'' (Юрий Розанов и о. П. Флоренский. 1965)
*''The Life and Works of Konstantin Leontyev'' (Константин Леонтьев. Жизнь и творчество. Bern-Frankfurt. 1974)
*''Things That Leontyev Revered, Valued and Loved'' (Что Леонтьев чтил, ценил, любил. 1974)
*''A Praise to the Russian Poetry'' (Похвала русской поэзии. ''Mosty''/''Bridges'', Munich; ''Novy Zhurnal'' / ''New Journal'', New York. 1983–1986.
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...