Alexander Grin | |
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 Grin in 1910 | |
| Born | Alexander Grinevsky (1880-08-23)23 August 1880 Vyatka, Russia |
| Died | 8 July 1932(1932-07-08) (aged 51) Stary Krym,Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | Russian |
| Period | 1906–1932 |
| Literary movement | Neo-romanticism |
| Spouse | Vera Abramova Nina Grin |
Aleksandr Stepanovich Grinevsky (Russian:Александр Степанович Грине́вский; 23 August [O.S. 11 August] 1880 – 8 July 1932), better known by his pen nameAlexander Green orGrin[a] (Russian:Александр Грин,romanized: Aleksandr Grin,IPA:[ɐlʲɪˈksandrɡrʲin]ⓘ), was a Russian writer, notable for hisromantic novels and short stories, mostly set in an unnamedfantasy land with a European or Latin American flavor (Grin's fans often refer to this land asGrinlandia). Most of his writings deal with the sea, adventures, and love.[1]
Alexander Grin was born Aleksandr Stepanovich Grinevsky (Russian:Алекса́ндр Степа́нович Грине́вский) inSlobodskoy,Vyatka Governorate (now inKirov Oblast) in 1880, the son of thePole Stefan Hryniewski (pronounced in Russian asStefan Grinevsky). Stefan was sent away to Tula as punishment after participating in theJanuary Uprising of 1863, and of aRussian nurse, Anna Lyapkova.[2][page needed] Aleksandr, after graduating from a school in Vyatka (in 1896), went toOdessa and lived the life of a vagabond.[1] He worked as a sailor, gold miner, and construction worker, but often found himself without a job and sustained himself by begging and with money sent to him by his father.
After joining theRussian army, he became a member of theSocialist-Revolutionary Party, was arrested, and spent time in jail for "revolutionary propaganda". He published his first short story in a newspaper in 1906. In the same year he was arrested inSaint Petersburg and sentenced to four years of exile in a remote area ofTobolsk Governorate. However, very soon after arriving in Tobolsk, Grin escaped and returned to Petersburg to live illegally. He was again arrested in 1910 and sent to live inArkhangelsk Governorate. In a small village calledKegostrov,[3] Grin and his first wife Vera Pavlovna Abramova (whom he married in 1910) lived from 1910 to 1912.
In 1912 he returned to Saint Petersburg and divorced his wife. At that time, Grin published mostly short stories; most of his larger works were written after the 1917October Revolution and enjoyed significant popularity in the first half of the 1920s. In 1921 he marriedNina Nikolaevna Grin [ru].[4] In 1924 they moved toFeodosiya to live near the sea. In his late days, Grin's romantic visions contrasted starkly with mainstreamSoviet literature; publishers in Moscow and Leningrad refused to consider his romantic writings, and Grin and his wife lived in extreme poverty. Grin suffered fromalcoholism andtuberculosis, which eventually ruined his health. He died ofstomach cancer in 1932 inStary Krym and interred in theStary Krym cemetery [ru].[5]
In his bookSculpting in Time, filmmakerAndrei Tarkovsky describes how Grin, when dying of hunger, "went off into the mountains with a home-made bow-and-arrow to shoot some sort of game". He offers Grin as an example of a poet in the deepest sense: one with "an awareness of the world, a particular way of relating to reality... a philosophy to guide a man throughout his life".[6]
Most of Alexander Grin's writings bear no direct relation to the reality ofImperial andSoviet Russia that he lived in. The setting of most of his novels and short stories is an unnamed land by the sea, apparently far from Europe but with all characters being Western European in name and appearance. Even his literary pseudonym (Grin) is a de-Russified form of his real last name (Grinevsky).
Described by some critics as "adolescent fiction",[7] Grin's works have many things in common with the reality of the early 20th century (such as automobiles and banks). Populated by sea captains, sailors, scientists, travelers, criminals, extravagant aristocrats, childlike girls, elegant villains, and strong-spirited heroes who always stay true to their dreams, Grin's world is often referred to asGrinlandia by fans. Some of his novels contain an element of magic – not as an established part of his world, but always as a miracle that changes the lives of those who encounter it.
The most notable of his novels include:
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