Maximilian Voloshin

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Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (Russian: Максимилиа́н Алекса́ндрович Кирие́нко-Воло́шин) (1877 - 1932) was one of the significant representatives of the Symbolist movement in Russian culture and literature. He became famous as a poet and a critic of literature and the arts, being published in many contemporary magazines of the early 20th century, including "Vesy" ('Libra'), "Zolotoye runo" ('The Golden Fleece') and "Apollon". He was also known for his brilliant translations of a number of French poetic and prose works into Russian.

During the years of the First World War, the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War, Voloshin showed himself to be an author of profoundly insightful poems, engaging in a philosophically- and historically-based exploration of the tragic events of his contemporary Russia. He was known for his humanism, appealing "in the days of revolutions to be a human, not a citizen" and "in the disturbances of wars to realize the oneness. To be not a part, but all: not from one side, but from both."

During the latter years of his life, he gained additional recognition as a subtle water-colour painter. Many of his art works now belong to museums around the world, while others are kept in private collections in Russia and abroad.

Maximilian Voloshin by Boris Kustodiev (1924)

Voloshin's small village of Koktebel in Southern-Eastern Crimea, which inspired so much of his poetry, still retains the memory of its famous poet, who was buried there on a mountain now bearing his name. His "House of a Poet" (now a museum) continues to attract people from all areas of the world, reminiscent of the days when its owner served as the host of countless poets, artists, actors, scientists, and wanderers.

[edit] Source

Maximilian Voloshin and the Russian Literary Circle: Culture and survival in revolutionary times by Barbara Walker. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2005 [ISBN 0-253-34431-X].