Kuprin, Aleksandr Ivanovich

Kuprin, Aleksandr Ivanovich

▪ Russian author

born Sept. 7 [Aug. 26, old style], 1870, Narovchat, Russia
died Aug. 25, 1938, Leningrad
 Russian novelist and short-story writer, one of the last exponents of the great tradition of Russian critical realism.

      Educated in military schools, he served as an officer in the army, a career he soon abandoned for a more lively and diversified life as a journalist, hunter, fisherman, actor, and circus worker. Literary fame came with Poyedinok (1905; The Duel), a realistically sordid picture of the emptiness of life in a remote military garrison. Its appearance during the Russo-Japanese War coincided with and confirmed a national wave of antimilitary sentiment. Kuprin wrote prolifically; his subjects might be best described by the title of one of his best known stories, Reka zhizni (1906; “The River of Life”). He is a fascinated and an undiscriminating observer of the stream of life and especially of any milieu that constitutes a world of its own—a cheap hotel, a factory, a house of prostitution, a tavern, a circus, or a race track. His best known novel, Yama (1909–15; Yama: The Pit), deals with the red-light district of a southern port city. It dwells with enthusiasm on the minutiae of the everyday life of the prostitutes, their housekeeping, economics, and social stratification. As Kuprin's spokesman in the novel puts it, “all the horror is just this—that there is no horror! Bourgeois work days—and that is all. . . .”

      Kuprin's style is extremely natural. He picks up the slang and argot that is peculiar to his subject and describes everything with zest and colour and with a goodness of heart that compensates for any shortcomings he may have in originality or intellectual depth. After the Revolution, Kuprin became one of the many Russian émigrés in Paris, where he continued to write, although exile was not fruitful for his essentially extroverted, reportorial talent. In 1937 he was allowed to return to the Soviet Union.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Aleksandr Kuprin — Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich Nacimiento 7 de septiembre de 1870 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Aleksandr Kuprin — Infobox Writer name = Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin caption = Kuprin birthdate = OldStyleDate|August 26|1870|September 7 birthplace = Narovchat, Penza Oblast deathdate = death date and age|1938|8|25|1870|7|7|mf=y deathplace = Leningrad occupation =… …   Wikipedia

  • Anton Ivanovich Denikin — Infobox Person name = Anton Ivanovich Denikin image size = 200px caption = Anton Denikin in 1918 birth date = birth date|1872|12|16|mf=y birth place = Włocławek death date = death date and age|1947|08|08|1872|12|16|mf=y death place = Ann Arbor,… …   Wikipedia

  • Κούπριν, Αλεξάντρ Ιβάνοβιτς — (Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin, Ναροβτσάτ 1870 – Λένινγκραντ [σημερινή Αγία Πετρούπολη] 1938). Ρώσος συγγραφέας. Μετά την ολοκλήρωση των σπουδών του σε στρατιωτικές σχολές, υπηρέτησε ως αξιωματικός του στρατού. Εγκατέλειψε γρήγορα τη στρατιωτική… …   Dictionary of Greek

  • Russian literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the Russian language, beginning with the Christianization of Kievan Rus in the late 10th century.       The unusual shape of Russian literary history has been the source of numerous… …   Universalium

  • List of Russian language novelists — Russian Writers by Sergei Levitsky, 1856. This is a list of authors who have written works of fiction in the Russian language. The list encompasses novelists and writers of short fiction. For the plain text list, see Category:Russian novelists.… …   Wikipedia

  • Alexandre Kouprine — Nom de naissance russe : Александр Иванович Куприн Activités romancier, nouvelliste, poète …   Wikipédia en Français

  • List of painters by name — The following list of painters by name includes nearly 1,900 painters from all ages and parts of the world. A*Pacita Abad (1946–2004) *Herb Aach (1923–1985) *Hans von Aachen (1552–1615) *Riza Abbasi (1565–1635) *Giuseppe Abbati (1836–1868) *Mary… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Russians — This is a list of people associated with Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russia of today. For a long time Russia has been a multinational country, and many people of different ethnicity contributed to its culture, to its glory, and to its… …   Wikipedia

  • Meanings of minor planet names: 3501–4000 — As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU s Minor Planet Center, and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU s naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”