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Leonid Andreyev | |
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 Autochrome self-portrait, published in 1912 | |
| Born | Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (1871-08-21)21 August 1871 |
| Died | 12 September 1919(1919-09-12) (aged 48) |
| Resting place | Literatorskiye Mostki [ru],Saint Petersburg |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | Imperial Moscow University (1897) |
| Period | 1890s–1910s |
| Genre | Fiction, Drama |
| Literary movement | Realism •Naturalism •Symbolism •Expressionism |
| Notable works | The Seven Who Were Hanged,The Life of Man,He Who Gets Slapped |
| Children | Daniil Andreyev, Vadim Andreyev |
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Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (Russian:Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, 21 August [O.S. 9 August] 1871 – 12 September 1919) was aRussian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father ofExpressionism in Russian literature. He is regarded as one of the most talented and prolific representatives of theSilver Age literary period. Andreyev's style combines the elements ofrealist,naturalist, andsymbolist schools in literature. Of his 25 plays, his 1915 playHe Who Gets Slapped is regarded as his finest achievement.[1]
Born inOryol, Russia, to a middle-class family, Andreyev originally studied law inMoscow and inSaint Petersburg. His mother hailed from an oldPolish aristocratic, though impoverished, family,[2][3] while she also claimedUkrainian andFinnish ancestry.[4] He became a police-court reporter for a Moscow daily, performing the routine of his humble calling without attracting any particular attention. At this time he wrote poetry and made a few efforts to publish it, but most publishers rejected his work. In 1898 the newspaperKuryer [ru] newspaper in Moscow published his first short story, "Bargamot i Garaska". This story came to the attention ofMaxim Gorky, who recommended that Andreyev concentrate on his literary work. Andreyev eventually gave up his law practice, fast becoming a literary celebrity, and the two writers remained friends for many years to come. Through Gorky, Andreyev became a member of the MoscowSreda literary group, and published many of his works in Gorky'sZnanie collections.[5]
Andreyev's first collection of short stories and short novels (povesti) appeared in 1901, quickly selling a quarter-million copies and making him a literary star in Russia. In 1901 he published "Stena" (The Wall), and in 1902, "Bezdna" (The Abyss) and "V tumane" (In the Fog). The last two stories caused great commotion because of their candid and audacious treatment of sex. From 1898 to 1905 Andreyev published numerous short stories on many subjects, including life in Russian provincial settings, court and prison incidents (where he drew on material from his professional activity), and medical settings. His particular interest in psychology and psychiatry gave him an opportunity to explore insights into the human psyche and to depict memorable personalities who later became classic characters of Russian literature, such as in the 1902 short story "Mysl" (Thought).
During the time of thefirst Russian revolution (1905) Andreyev participated actively in social and political debate as a defender of democratic ideals. Several of his stories, including "The Red Laugh" ("Krasny smekh", 1904),Governor (Gubernator, 1905) andThe Seven Who Were Hanged (Rasskaz o semi poveshennykh, 1908), captured the spirit of this period. Starting from 1905 he also produced many theatre dramas, includingThe Life of Man (1906),Tsar Hunger (1907),Black Masks (1908),Anathema (1909), andThe Days of Our Life (1909).[6]The Life of Man was staged by bothKonstantin Stanislavsky (with hisMoscow Art Theatre) andVsevolod Meyerhold (in Saint Petersburg), two leading lights of Russian theatre of the twentieth century, in 1907.[7]
Andreyev's works of the post-1905 revolution period are often interpreted[by whom?] to represent the evocation of absolute pessimism and a despairing mood. By the beginning of the second decade of the century his fame began to wane as new literary powers such as theFuturists rapidly came to prominence.
Andreyev completed his most well-known work, the playHe Who Gets Slapped, in August 1915, just two months before its world premiere at theMoscow Art Theatre on 27 October 1915.[8] A critically successful Broadway production, using an English language translation of the original Russian by Gregory Zilboorg, was staged in 1922.[1] The work has been adapted into several films, a novel, an opera, and a musical, and is his most-performed play internationally.[1]
Aside from his political writings, Andreyev published little after 1915. In 1916 he became the editor of the literary section of the newspaperRussian Will [ru]. He later supported theFebruary Revolution of 1917, but foresaw theBolsheviks' coming to power as catastrophic. In 1917 he moved toFinland. From his house in Finland he addressed manifestos to the world at large against the excesses of the Bolsheviks. An idealist and a rebel, Andreyev spent his last years in bitter poverty, and his premature death from heart failure may have been hastened by his anguish over the results of theBolshevik Revolution of November 1917. He finished his last novel,Satan's Diary, a few days before his death.[9]
A play,The Sorrows of Belgium, was written at the beginning of the War to celebrate the heroism of the Belgians against the invading German army. It was produced in theUnited States, as were the playsThe Life of Man (1917),The Rape of the Sabine Women (1922),He Who Gets Slapped (1922), andAnathema (1923). A popular and acclaimed film version ofHe Who Gets Slapped was produced byMGM Studios in 1924. Some of his works were translated into English byThomas Seltzer.
Poor Murderer, an adaptation of his short storyThought made byPavel Kohout, opened on Broadway in 1976.
He was married to Alexandra Veligorskaia, a niece ofTaras Shevchenko. She died of puerperal fever in 1906. They had two sons,Daniil Andreyev, a poet and mystic, author ofRoza Mira, and Vadim Andreyev. In 1908 Leonid Andreyev married Anna Denisevich, and decided to separate his two little boys, keeping the elder son, Vadim, with him and sending Daniil to live with Aleksandra's sister. Vadim Andreyev became a poet. He lived in Paris.
During the 1914–1929 period, America was avid for anything relating to Edgar Allan Poe and, as Poe's Russian equivalent, translations of Andreyev's work found a ready audience in the English-speaking world. His work was extensively translated in book form, for instance asThe Crushed Flower, and other stories (1916);The Little Angel, and other stories (1916);When The King Loses His Head, and other stories (1920). Translation of his stories were also published in theWeird Tales magazine during the 1920s, such as "Lazarus" in the March 1927 edition.
Often referred to as a "Russian Edgar Allan Poe", Andreyev had an influence through translations on two famous American horror writers,H. P. Lovecraft andRobert E. Howard. Copies of hisThe Seven Who Were Hanged andThe Red Laugh were found in Lovecraft's library at his death. Howard rated Andreyev as one of the seven "most powerful" writers of all time.[10]
Leonid Andreyev's granddaughter, daughter of Vadim Andreyev, the American writer and poetOlga Andreyeva Carlisle, published a collection of his short stories,Visions, in 1987.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Colby, F.; Williams, T., eds. (1914)."Andréev, Leonid Nikolaevitch".New International Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 (2 ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. p. 625.
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