Background
Prishvin, Mikhail was born on February 4, 1873 in Khrushchevo near Elets. Son of a merchant.
Prishvin, Mikhail was born on February 4, 1873 in Khrushchevo near Elets. Son of a merchant.
Educated at Elets High School, where one of his teachers was V. Rozanov. Studied at Riga Polytechnicum, 1893-1897. Graduated from Leipzig University as an agronomist.
Arrested for taking part in Marxist student circles. Became known before World War I for his stories about his trips to the wilderness of Northern Russia (V Kraiu Nepugannykh Ptits, 1907, and Za Volshebnym Kolobkom, 1908). During World War I, front correspondent.
In the 1920s, worked as a teacher. Continued his literary career. Achieved the reputation of being the best writer on nature in Russia, and became immensely popular.
Remained totally outside of politics (and thus socialist realism), apart from once taking part in a collective writers’ trip to the Belomor Canal concentration camps (led by Gorkii). Wrote a long autobiographical novel Kashcheeva Tsep', which he began in the 1920s, published 1960. Collected works, in 6 volumes, 1956-1957.