Bookcover of the biography of Dmitry Mirsky

D.S. Mirsky is the English pen-name of Dmitry Petrovich Mirsky (1890–1939), a Russian political and literary historian who promoted the knowledge and translations of Russian literature in Britain and of the English literature in Soviet Russia. Image File history File links Mirsky_Book_Cover. ... Image File history File links Mirsky_Book_Cover. ... 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, or literature composed in English by writers who are not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian. ... Soviet Russia is sometimes used as a somewhat sloppy synonym to the Soviet Union — although the term Soviet Russia sometimes refers to Bolshevist Russia from the October Revolution in 1917 to 1922 (Although Russian communists officially formed RSFSR in 1918). ...

Life

A scion of the Svyatopolk-Mirsky princely family, son of kniaz Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii, Imperial Russian Minister of Interior, he relinquished his princely title at an early age. During his school years, he became interested in the poetry of Russian Symbolism and started writing poems himself. He saw service in the Russian army during the WWI, joined the White movement as a member of Denikin's staff and eventually emigrated to Great Britain in 1921. Coat of Arms of Princes Sviatopolk-Mirskiis Nikolai Ivanovitch Sviatopolk-Mirskii and his descendants used BiaÅ‚ynia Coat of Arms Svyatopolk-Mirsky (Russian: , Polish: ) is a family of Russian and Polish nobility that originated from Belarus. ... Kniaz’ or knyaz (князь in Russian and Ukrainian; cneaz in Romanian fem. ... Pyotr Dmitrievich Image:Pyotr dmitrievich svyatopolk. ... Big Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire, adopted in 1882 Flag of Russian Empire Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean... Mikhail Nesterovs painting Vision to Youth Bartholomew (1890) is often taken as a starting point of Russian Symbolism. ... WWI may be an acronym for: World War I World Wrestling Industry This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... White Army armoured trains flag with To Moscow! slogan inscribed on it, now stored in the Moscow Red Army museum The White movement, whose military arm is known as the White Army (Белая Армия) or White Guard (Белая Гвардия, белогвардейцы) and whose members are known as Whites (Белые, or the derogatory Беляки) or White Russians (a... Anton Denikin on the day of his resignation in 1920 Anton Ivanovich Denikin (Анто́н Ива́нович Дени́кин) (December 16, 1872 - August 8, 1947) was one of the foremost leaders of the counter-revolutionary White Russian forces in the civil war. ... 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

While teaching Russian literature in the University of London, Mirsky published his landmark study A History of Russian Literature: From Its Beginnings to 1900, which still remains a standard English-language guide to classical Russian literature. Vladimir Nabokov recommended it to his students as "the best history of Russian literature in any language, including Russian". This work was followed with the Contemporary Russian Literature, 1881–1925, which was somewhat marred by Mirsky's prejudiced view of Chekhov and his inordinate liking for some of the Russian Formalists. Senate House, designed by Charles Holden home to the universitys central administration offices and its library The University of London is a federation of colleges which together constitute one of the worlds largest universities. ... Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Набоков; pronounced: vlah-DEE-meer nah-BAWK-awf) (April 10 O.S. [April 22 N.S.], 1899 - July 2, 1977) was a Russian-American author. ... Anton Chekhov, Russian writer Pavel Chekov, character in Star Trek Chekhov, town in Moscow Oblast, Russia Chekhov, town in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia Chekhovo, health resort in Bashkiria, Russia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Russian Formalism refers to a number of highly influential Russian and Soviet scholars (Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Boris Eichenbaum, Roman Jakobson, Grigory Vinokur) who revolutionised literary criticism between 1914 and the 1930s by establishing the specificity and autonomy of poetic language and literature. ...

Mirsky was a founding member of the Eurasia Movement and the chief editor of the periodical Eurasia, his own views gradually evolving towards Marxism. He also is usually credited with coining the term National Bolshevism. In 1931, he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and asked Maxim Gorky if he could procure his pardon by Soviet authorities. The permission to return to the USSR was granted him in 1932. On seeing him off to Russia, Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary that "soon they will put a bullet in his head". Her macabre prediction came true 5 years later, when Mirsky was arrested by the NKVD and died in one of the gulag labor camps. Although his magnum opus was eventually published in Russia, Mirsky's reputation in his native country remains sparse. Marxism is the social theory and political practice based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Flag of the National Bolsheviks. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was a political party in the United Kingdom, which existed from 1920 to 1991. ... Gorkys autographed portrait Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (In Russian Алексей Максимович Пешков) (March 28; March 16 Old Style, 1868–June 14, 1936), better known as Maxim Gorky (Максим Горький), was a Soviet/Russian author, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Virginia Woolf (January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941) was a British author and feminist, who is considered to be one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. ... Black Ravens by Boris Vladimirski, a depiction of the cars used by NKVD agents. ... GULAG (Russian: Glavonoye Upravleniye Lagerey, Main Camp Administration) was the branch of the Soviet secret police (the NKVD and later on the KGB) that dealt with concentration camps. ... Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum), from the Latin meaning great work, refers to the best or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer. ...

Trivia

There is an unfair aphorism about him: Mirsky had pulled off the unusual feat of managing to be a parasite under three regimes — as a prince under Czarism, as a professor under Capitalism, and as an homme-de-lettres under Communism.

Works

• Anthology of Russian poetry 1924
• Modern Russian Literature 1925
• Pushkin, 1926
• A History of Russian Literature: From Its Beginnings to 1900 in two volumes 1926, 1927
• A History of Russia 1928
• Lenin 1931
• Russia: A Social History 1931
• The Intelligentsia of Great Britain 1935, originally in Russian, translated by the author to English
• Anthology of Modern English Poetry 1937 in Russian, published under Mirsky's arrest without acknowledgement of his authorship

1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1935(MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Further reading

• Gerald Stanton Smith. D. S. Mirsky: A Russian-English Life, 1890–1939. Oxford University Press (August, 2000). ISBN 0198160062.

External links

• Red Prince, a Radio Liberty publication (in Russian)
• The Strange Case of D. S. Mirsky by Hilton Kramer, in English