Portrait by Mikhail Vrubel

Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov (Russian: Вале́рий Я́ковлевич Брю́сов) (December 1, 1873 – October 9, 1924) was a Russian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and historian. He was one of the principle members of the Russian Symbolist movement. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1179x1746, 657 KB) Mikhail Vrubel. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1179x1746, 657 KB) Mikhail Vrubel. ... Self-portrait, 1885 Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (Russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель;March 17, 1856 - April 14, 1910, all n. ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mikhail Nesterovs painting Vision to Youth Bartholomew (1890) is often taken as a starting point of Russian Symbolism. ...

Biography

Childhood

Valery Bryusov was born on December 1, 1873 in Moscow, into a merchant's family. His parents had little do with his upbringing, and as a boy Bryusov was largely left to himself. He spent a great deal of time reading "everything that fell into [his] hands," including the works of Charles Darwin and Jules Verne, as well as various materialistic and scientific essays. The future poet received an excellent education, studying in two Moscow gymnasiums between 1885 and 1893. December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ... Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist [1] who achieved lasting fame by producing considerable evidence that species originated through evolutionary change, at the same time proposing the scientific theory that natural selection is the mechanism by which such change occurs. ... Jules Verne. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Secondary education. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Literary Career

Bryusov began his literary career in the early 1890s while still a student at Moscow State University with his translations of the poetry of the French Symbolists (Paul Verlaine, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Stéphane Mallarmé) as well at that of Edgar Allan Poe. Bryusov also began to publish his own poems, which were very much influence by the Decadent and Symbolist movements of his contemporary Europe. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russian: Московский государственный университет имени Ðœ.Ð’.Ломоносова, often abbreviated МГУ, MSU, MGU) is the largest and arguably the oldest university in Russia, founded in 1755. ... ... Paul Verlaine illustrated in the frontispiece of , 1902 Paul Marie Verlaine (March 30, 1844 – January 8, 1896) is considered one of the greatest and most popular of French poets. ... Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, Belgian author Count Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (August 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949) was a Belgian poet, playwright, and essayist. ... Édouard Manet, Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé . Stéphane Mallarmé (March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) was a French poet and critic. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Decadence generally refers to the supposed decline of a society because of moral weakness. ... La mort du fossoyeur (The death of the gravedigger) by Carlos Schwabe is a visual compendium of Symbolist motifs. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ...

At the time, Russian Symbolism was still mainly a set of theories and had few notable practitioners. Therefore, in order to represent Symbolism as a movement of formidable following, Bryusov adopted numerous pen names and published three volumes of his own verse, entitled Russian Symbolists. An Anthology (1894-95). Bryusov's mystification proved successful - several young poets were attracted to Symbolism as the latest fashion in Russian letters. A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

With the appearance of Tertia Vigilia in 1900, he came to be revered by other Symbolists as an authority in matters of art. In 1904 he became the editor of the influential literary magazine Vesy (The Balance), which consolidated his position in the Russian literary world. Bryusov's mature works were notable for their celebration of sensual pleasures as well as their mastery of a wide range of poetic forms, from the acrostic to the carmina figurata. 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. ... An acrostic (from the late Greek akróstichon, from ákros, extreme, and stíchos, verse) is a poem or other text written in an alphabetic script, in which the first letter, syllable or word of each verse, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out another message. ... Carmina figurata is a term used in literary criticism to describe poems that have a certain shape or pattern formed either by all the words they contain or just by certain ones therein. ...

Later Career

By the 1910s, Bryusov's poetry had begun to seem cold and strained to many of his contemporaries. As a result, his reputation gradually declined and, with it, his power in the Russian literary world. He was adamantly opposed to the efforts of Georgy Chulkov and Vyacheslav Ivanov to move Symbolism in the direction of Mystical Anarchism. // Events and trends The 1910s represent the culmination of European militarism which had its beginnings during the second half of the 19th Century. ... Georgy Ivanovich Chulkov (1879, Moscow -January 1, 1939) was a Russian Symbolist poet, editor, writer and critic. ... Portrait by Konstantin Somov (1906). ... Mystical Anarchism was a tendency within the Russian Symbolist movement after 1906, especially between 1906 and late 1908. ...

Though many of his fellow Symbolists fled Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bryusov remained until his death in 1924. He supported the Bolshevik government and received a position in the cultural ministry of the new Soviet state. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political events in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the system of autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal Provisional Government (Duma), resulting in the establishment of the Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem: The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital (and largest city) Moscow None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev Establishment October Revolution   - Declared...

Other Works

Prose

Bryusov most famous prose works are the historical novels The Altar of Victory (depicting life in Ancient Rome) and The Fiery Angel (depicting the psychological climate of 16th century Germany). The latter, his most famous novel, tells the story of a scholar and his attempts to win the love of a young woman whose spiritual integrity is seriously undermined by her participation in occult practices and her dealings with unclean forces. It served as the basis for Sergei Prokofiev's fourth opera. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Russian: , Sergej Sergejevič Prokof’ev; 15/April 271, 1891–March 5, 1953) was a Russian composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. ... The Fiery Angel (Russian: Огненный ангел — Ognenny angel in transliteration) is an opera in five acts by Sergei Prokofiev to a Russian libretto by the composer, based on the novel by Valery Bryusov. ...

Translation

As a translator, Bryusov was the first to render the works of the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren accessible to Russian readers, and he was one of the major translators of Paul Verlaine's poetry. His most famous translations are of Edgar Allen Poe, Romain Rolland, Maurice Maeterlinck, Victor Hugo, Jean Racine, Ausonius, Molière, Byron, and Oscar Wilde. Bryusov also translated Johann Goethe's Faust and Virgil's Aeneid. During the 1910s, Bryusov was especially interested in translating Armenian poetry. Emile Verhaeren (May 21, 1855- November 27, 1916) was a Belgian poet writing in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Symbolism. ... Paul Verlaine illustrated in the frontispiece of , 1902 Paul Marie Verlaine (March 30, 1844 – January 8, 1896) is considered one of the greatest and most popular of French poets. ... Romain Rolland (January 29, 1866 - December 30, 1944) was a French writer. ... Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, Belgian author Count Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (August 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949) was a Belgian poet, playwright, and essayist. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, visual artist, statesman and human rights campaigner, recognized as the most influential Realist writer of the 19th century. ... Jean Racine. ... Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. ... Molière, engraved on the frontispiece to his Works. ... The poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron is often referred to simply as Byron. ... It has been suggested that Wildes Manuscripts be merged into this article or section. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 26, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Faust (Latin Faustus) is the protagonist of a popular German tale of a pact with the Devil, assumed to be based on the figure of the German magician and alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480–1540). ... A sculpture of Virgil, probably from the 1st century AD. For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... The Aeneid (IPA English pronunciation: ; in Latin Aeneis, pronounced — the title is Greek in form: genitive case Aeneidos): is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC (between 29 and 19 BC) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy where he...

List of Major Works

• Juvenilia, 1894
• Chefs d’oeuvre, 1895
• Me eum esse, 1897
• Tertia Vigilia, 1900
• Urbi et Orbi, 1903
• Stephanos, 1906
• All Melodies, 1909
• The Fiery Angel, 1908
• The Altar of Victory, 1913
• Rea Silvia, 1916

1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

External links

• Translation of "Republic of the Southern Cross"
• Britannica article

References

• Mark Willhardt, Alan Parker. "Briusov, Valerii Iakovlevich" in Who's Who in Twentieth Century World Poetry, Routledge, 2000, ISBN 0-415-16356-0, p.47