Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak | |
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| Born | (1852-10-25)October 25, 1852 |
| Died | November 2, 1912(1912-11-02) (aged 60) St. Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Period | 1880s–1910s |
| Genre | Fiction, drama, children's stories, travel writing |
| Subject | Rural Life |
| Literary movement | Realism |
| Signature | |
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Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak (Russian:Дми́трий Нарки́сович Ма́мин-Сибиря́к; October 25, 1852 – November 2, 1912) was a Russian writer. He is most well known for his novels and short stories about life in theUral Mountains.
Mamin-Sibiryak was born inVisim,Perm Governorate in the Urals (in present-daySverdlovsk Oblast), into the family of a factory priest.[1] He was first educated at home, and then studied in the Visim school for worker's children. He later attended the Yekaterinburg Theological Seminary (1866–1868) and the Perm Theological Seminary (until 1872). In 1872 he entered the veterinary section of theSaint Petersburg Medical Academy. In 1876, not having finished the academy, he transferred to the Law Faculty ofSt Petersburg University. He studied there for one year and then left, due to health (the beginning of tuberculosis) and financial difficulties.
In the summer of 1877, he returned to his family in the Urals. His father died the following year and all the difficulties of the family fell on Mamin-Sibiryak.[2] In order to find work and educate his brothers and sister the family moved to the large cultural center of Yekaterinburg. There, he married Maria Alekseeva who became his literary adviser as well as his spouse and friend. During these years, he made numerous trips around the Ural region and studied its history, economics, ethnography, and daily life.
From the beginning of the 1880s, he was occupied with literary work.
In 1890, he divorced his first wife and married the actress Maria Abramova from theYekaterinburg Dramatic Theatre and moved to St Petersburg. Abramova died a year later in childbirth, leaving a sick daughter, Alyonushka, in the arms of a distraught father.
A series of travel sketchesFrom the Urals to Moscow (1881–1882) were published in the Moscow newspaperRusskie Vedemosti (Russian News). Then his sketchesIn the Mountains and storiesAt the Border of Asia andIn Bad Souls were published in the journalDelo. Many were signed with the pseudonym D. Sibiryak.
Sibiryak means "Siberian" in Russian. Dmitry later explained how his friends gave him the name:
"I first tried out the names 'Rasskazov' (from the word rasskazy, meaning story) and 'Tomsky' (from the word tom, meaning volume), but they weren't right! My name was an object of fun to my fellowordinands. Why were we 'Mamin' (momma's boys) and not 'Tyatin' (daddy's boys)? They decided the best pseudonym was Sibiryak. After all, Yekaterinburg is the other side of the Urals, and Russians regard everything beyond the Urals, including Siberia, as all one!"[3]
His first major work wasThe Privalov Fortune (1883)[2] which was serialized to great success in the journalDelo. The publication of the novelMountain Nest in 1884[2] in the journalOtechestvennye Zapiski (Notes of the Fatherland) cemented the reputation of Mamin-Sibiryak as an accomplished realist.
Repeated trips to the capital (1881–2, 1885–6) extended Mamin-Sibiryak's literary contacts. He became acquainted withAnton Chekhov,Gleb Uspensky,Vladimir Korolenko and others. During these years, he wrote and published many short stories and sketches. From 1899 until his death, he was associated with theSreda literary group, and theZnanie publishing company, ran by fellow Sreda memberMaxim Gorky.[4]
His last major works were the novelsTraits from the Life of Pepko (1894),Falling Stars (1899) and the story "Mumma" (1907).
In his novels and stories he portrayed the life of the Urals and Siberia in the reform years of the development of capitalism in Russia and the consequent rifts in public consciousness, legal norms and morals. His most well known works areThe Privalov Fortune (1883),Mountain Nest (1884),Gold (1892),Bread (1895), the novellaOkhonna's Brows (1892) and the collectionsUral Stories (1895) andSiberian Stories (1889).[2]
His widely known children's books includedTales for Alyonushka (1894–1896),Grey Neck (1893), andSummer Lightning (1897).[2]
