(1760-1837) fable writer, poet
Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev was born on his family’s estate. His father was a wealthy Russian nobleman, and Dmitriev received a good education and, as was customary for Russian nobles at the time, joined the military in 1775. Dmitriev had a brilliant career: he became a senator, a member of the state council, and the minister of justice (1810). Throughout his career, he remained devoted to literature and used his satirical talents to highlight weaknesses in official measures.
Dmitriev’s early literary taste was influenced by French, Greek, and Roman classics. The decisive influence in Dmitriev’s life, however, was Karamzin, in whose house Dmitriev met all the important figures of the Russian literary world.
In 1791 a collection of Dmitriev’s works appeared in the Moscow Journal, published by Karamzin. The critics received his debut warmly, praising his fairy tale Fashionable Wife and his song “Little Dove.” The latter was immediately set to music and became highly popular. Dmitriev later published other works in the literary journals Aglaia and Aonid. In 1795 he released his first collection of poems under the title And My Little Things, followed by a popular songbook, Pocket Songbook, or a Collection of Best Secular and Folk Songs. His Fables, Fairy Tales, and Apologues went through numerous editions during and after his life, and both his poetry and prose brought a romantic spirit to Russian literature.
Dmitriev’s fairy tales and fables are favored for their light and elegant language and the musical flow of verse. While Dmitriev borrowed most of his themes from French literature, his use of satire makes his works unique. He aimed his well-known satire, Alien Talk, at the current fashion of writing pseudo-classical odes, which were often stiff in language and devoid of meaning. Because Alien Talk helped exterminate outdated literary forms and introduced a new approach to poetry, Dmitriev is counted among the great reformists of Russian literature.
English Versions of Works by Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev
Bowring, John, ed. Specimens of the Russian Poets, 2 vols. Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1822.
Pushkin, Alexander. The Bakchesarian Fountain. Translated by W. D. Lewis. New York: Ardis Publishers, 1987.
Works about Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev
Lincoln, W. Bruce. Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise ofModern Russia. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
Volkov, Solomon. Conversations with Joseph Brodsky: A Poet’s Journey through the Twentieth Century. New York: Free Press, 2002.
