Background
Remizov, Aleksei was born on July 6, 1877 in Moscow.
Remizov, Aleksei was born on July 6, 1877 in Moscow.
As a student, arrested for revolutionary activity, exiled from Moscow in 1897. Spent 6 years in exile and prison. First literary work published in 1902.
Developed an original style and approach based on the oral tradition. Had a great influence on Belyi, later Babel’, Zamiatin, Pilniak and other modernists of the 1920s. Emigrated in 1921 to Berlin.
Moved to Paris in 1923. Continued writing in his unique style to the end of his life. After World War II, in the wave of nostalgia, and with Stalin’s promises of safety, took a Soviet passport, but refrained from returning to the Soviet Union.
Lived in his last years in extreme poverty, relying on help from friends and fellow writers. One of the main protagonists of the modernist school in Russian literature. Extended his mystifying style to life (founder of Obezvelvolpal, the High and Mighty Order of the Great and Free House of Apes — almost every Russian writer of note received a title and diploma in Remizov’s calligraphy).
Throughout his life, an eccentric who turned his flat into something like a sorcerer’s cave.