Alexander Gizetti was a Russian critic, publicist, sociologist and a translator. He began being published in 1909. Illegally repressed. Rehabilitated posthumously.
Background
Ethnicity:
His father was Gisette di Capoferri, an Italian from an old family, counsellor.
Alexander Gizetti was born on February 28, 1888, in Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation. He was born into a noble family. His father was a statistician and a member of the student club of A.I. Ulyanov, his mother was a doctor and writer.
Education
In 1907, Alexander Gizetti entered the faculty of history and philology at the University of Saint Petersburg. His participation in the student movement led to his exile in 1911 to the Perm province under police supervision. Upon returning to Saint Petersburg, Alexander Gizetti graduated from the University in 1913.
Later engaged in literary work, for a while taught at the second Vasileostrov commercial school, participated in the work of the party of social revolutionaries.
Career
Alexander Gizetti began being published in 1909. He actively collaborated in the "Testaments", being, together with R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik one of the leaders of the group of intellectuals that rallied around the magazine. In 1915, together With P. Vityazev and P.A. Sorokin, Alexander Gizetti edited the magazine Narodnaya Mysl. In the article Three souls (1915), he tried to give a typology of "female poetry". He showed interest in the phenomena of modern literature. In the Monthly magazine Alexander Gizetti published many articles on literature, reviews of works by I.A. Bunin, B.K. Zaitsev, E.I. Zamyatin, and others. In the article Rebirth or degeneration? (1916) from a neo-national position criticized the pessimistic view of the magazine Chronicle on the prospects of social movement in Russia.
After 1917, Alexander Gizetti studied the worldview of P.L. Lavrov, was an editor of his works, and a translator. He wrote articles about contemporary writers in the journal Bulletin of literature. In the Free Philosophical Association, he led a club "philosophy of populism", making reports.
Until the mid-1920s, Alexander Gizetti worked in the Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Other works: The Struggle for freedom in Russia (1917), From the Decembrists to the present day (1917), What is public education and what should it be? (1917). Articles: Pisarev and G.L. Uspensky (1915), Elements and creativity. Russian literature in the face of the revolution (1918), the Lyrical face of Sologub (1925).
Personality
Extremely modest, in his gray jacket or black shirt, extremely shy and absent-minded. Alexander Gizetti was a true ascetic, always with a book, at work, deeply committed to the revolutionary movement. He was interested in problems of philosophy, art, literature, and history.
Physical Characteristics:
A tall, blond man with large features, more of the English type: a straight nose, a prominent chin, and a narrow, light beard.
Quotes from others about the person
Professor I.M. Greves: "At the university, he found mature ideas, solid knowledge and established the desire to make science the main subject of his life's work."
Connections
His wife was Elena Osipovna (nee Fleckel), an employee of the publishing house of the Society of political prisoners, in 1933-1934 a researcher at the Academy of art studies, she died in February 1934, when Gizzetti was in prison.