Biographical and fiction collection series
The Lives of Remarkable People (Russian: or the acronym, , commonly referred to as "жэзээлка") is a book series comprising both fictional and biographical works intended for a mass audience. It was initially published from 1890 to 1924 by Florenty Pavlenkov under the title "Жизнь замечательных людей". The series primarily features reprints of biographies published after the 1900s. Since its inception, there have been several attempts to revive the series, with Maxim Gorky being the most successful. Between 1933 and 1938, the series was reissued by the Association of Periodicals and Newspapers, starting with a new numbering system. After 1938, "The Lives of Remarkable People" was published by Molodaya Gvardiya, maintaining a continuous numbering system. As of 2001, the numbering was doubled to account for Pavlenkov's editions. By 2010, the total number of publications in the series exceeded one thousand five hundred, with total circulation surpassing one hundred million copies.
Pavlenkov's series was designed to be accessible to the public and aimed to "acquaint readers with outstanding personalities of past epochs." The genre format was guided by educational objectives, presenting popular biographical essays focused on the significant achievements of individuals who made notable contributions to world civilization. The biographies were authored by prominent publicists and journalists of the time, such as E. A. Solovyov and A. Skabichevsky. Some essays were penned by professional philosophers and writers, including V.S. Solovyov, and N.M. Minsky. Maxim Gorky introduced a new format of biographies featuring world-renowned figures in science, art, and revolution. Under the publishing house Molodaya Gvardiya, a public editorial board was established, which included academicians V. L. Komarov, E. M. Minsky. L. Komarov, E. V. Tarle, A. E. Fersman, professors Y. N. Tynyanov and P. F. Yudin, as well as writers A. A. Fadeev and A.N. Tolstoy.
In the 1950s, the editors of "The Lives of Remarkable People" established three main principles for selecting texts to be published, which have since been adhered to: scientific accuracy, high literary quality, and entertainment. For authors, publication in the series represented a recognition of their high social and professional status. Over the years, Molodaya Gvardiya invited notable figures such as Lev Gumilevsky, Sergei Durylin, Konstantin Paustovsky, Marietta Shaginian, Kornei Chukovsky, Juri Lotman, Alexei Losev, and Nathan Eidelman to contribute biographies. Many of these authors subsequently became subjects of new books in the series. During the 1960s and 1970s, the texts were influenced by ideological requirements, with the concept of "remarkable" often interpreted as "flawless." Consequently, most individuals selected for biographies were viewed as ideologically sound, which led to a limited exploration of the complexities of their lives.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the circulation of the series declined significantly, primarily due to competition from emerging media and the Internet. The number of published books did not increase for many years, and the genre of "classical" biography became restricted to scientific frameworks. The tradition of the narrative biography diminished, and professional historians and philologists began to dominate authorship within the series. At the same time, since the 1990s, the thematic range of the series has expanded considerably, encompassing biographies of tsars, Orthodox saints, émigré writers, figures from the White movement, and Soviet and foreign film actors. Additionally, the influx of translated literature has increased markedly.
Florentiy Pavlenkov's library of biographies and attempts of its continuation.
Between 1890 and 1900, the publishing house of Florentiy Pavlenkov produced a biographical library titled "The Lives of Remarkable People". The title was inspired by the French work "Vie des Hommes illustres", as well as the title of the translation of Plutarch's "Parallel Lives", which Pavlenkov highly admired in his youth. After he died, his executors completed the series with a total of 200 biographies, which were reprinted until 1924. This biographical library gained considerable popularity, resulting in at least 40 reprints and a total circulation of 1.5 million copies, with individual editions printed in quantities ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 copies. The biographies in Pavlenkov's series were relatively short, resembling popular scientific sketches, and were priced at about 25 kopecks, making them accessible to gymnasium and university students. They were noted for their high-quality writing, sometimes exhibiting a degree of artistry, and for their concise content. Among the authors of these biographies were notable figures such as Vladimir Solovyov, Alexander Skabichevsky, and the poet Nikolai Minsky. Many of the works in this series are regarded as exemplary within the genre. The bibliographer Nikolai Rubakin, one of the heirs of the publishing house, praised the quality and significance of Pavlenkov's biographical library. According to Rubakin's recollections, these books had a profound influence on prominent thinkers and writers, including Nikolai Berdyaev, Vladimir Vernadsky, Ivan Bunin, and Alexei Tolstoy during their student years.
According to Pavlenkov's vision, the series aimed to "acquaint readers with outstanding figures of the past." The term "remarkable" in the title was meant in its original sense: "worthy of note, attention, extraordinary, or surprising." The first biography published in late April or early May 1890 was that of Ignatius of Loyola. Among the most popular publications were Skabichevsky's essays on Lermontov and Pushkin; the last reprint of Pushkin's biography was dated 1924. The series was based on the classical literary topos theory, which presented ideals of creative individuals, politicians, inventors, and others. Ye. Petrova noted that most biographies conformed to the normative ideals established in the 19th century, as reflected in their titles. Newer types of biographies, which included the biographer's individual perspective and nuanced assessments of the subjects, were less common. Typically, the construction of personal images was based on psychological insights and the growing interest in the mental complexities of notable individuals. Evgeny Solovyov, who wrote essays on figures such as Dmitri Pisarev, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Karamzin, Hegel, Oliver Cromwell, Osip Senkovsky, the Rothschild family, and Ivan the Terrible, particularly embraced this approach. Solovyov actively popularized Nikolai Mikhailovsky's characterization of Dostoevsky as "a cruel talent", while also exploring the spiritual underpinnings of the writer's interests. The concepts of "martyrdom", prophecy, and genius in Solovyov's essays contributed to the popularization of the "Dostoevsky myth", which established a new normative rhetorical biography during the Soviet period.
In 1916, Maxim Gorky attempted to continue Pavlenkov's series through his own publishing house, Parus. He developed a new plan for the library, which included nearly 300 proposed titles. This project was also presented to Zinovii Grzhebin, but the revolutionary climate of the time prevented its realization. In 1921, independently of Gorky, the M. and S. Sabashnikov's publishing house started the series "Historical Portraits". The following year, the cooperative publishing house Kolos launched a "Biographical Library" In 1923, the Brockhaus-Efron publishing house introduced the series "Images of Mankind". In 1925, the "Biographical Library" was established by Gosizdat (Association of State Book and Periodical Publishers). In 1928, the series "The Lives of Remarkable People" was published by the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house. However, in none of these series did the number of published titles exceed half a dozen.
"The Gorky Series" (1930s–1980s).
A study by Ural literary scholars Tatiana Snigiryova and Alexei Podchinenov delineates three distinct periods in the development of "The Lives of Remarkable People", each identified by the notable name of its publishing house: "The Pavlenkov Series" (1890–1900), "The Gorky Series" (1930–1980), and "The Molodaya Gvardiya Series" (1990–2000). Each of these periods is characterized by different primary features.
1930-1940s.
In the early 1930s, Maxim Gorky was able to realize his initial vision through the Journal-Gazette Association (Zhurgaz), which was led by Mikhail Koltsov. Correspondence from that period indicates that Gorky sought to enlist prominent writers and specialists with a flair for writing to contribute to a comprehensive series of biographies. Notable figures, such as Romain Rolland, were commissioned to write about Socrates and Beethoven, Fridtjof Nansen was tasked with a biography of Columbus, Ivan Bunin focused on Cervantes, Anatoly Lunacharsky was assigned the history off Francis Bacon, and Kliment Timiryazev was to write about Charles Darwin. However, the manuscripts submitted did not always meet Gorky's high standards, as he maintained a maximalist approach and supervised the project until his death in 1936. The first volume of the series was published in January 1933; it was a biography of Heinrich Heine by Alexander Deitch, followed by biographies of Mikhail Shchepkin, Rudolf Diesel, Dmitri Mendeleev, Heinrich Pestalozzi, Ivan Sechenov, George Sand and the Wright brothers. The last book published during Gorky's lifetime was a biography of Napoleon by Yevgeny Tarle. Gorky bequeathed the series to the Komsomol, addressing a letter to Aleksander Kosarev, the General Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee. After Zhurgaz was dissolved in 1938, the series was taken over by Molodaya Gvardiya, ensuring that the publication of biographical works continued as a means of educating new generations. Despite the didactic nature of the series, the interpretation of "remarkable" evolved to encompass terms such as "outstanding" and even "great." Among the early titles were biographies of Napoleon, Talleyrand, the capitalist figure Henry Ford, and the conquistador Pizarro. Gorky believed that biographies of negative characters were equally important for readers as those of positive figures. In 1934, a biography of Gogol by the exiled critic Alexander Voronsky was confiscated and destroyed, remaining unpublished until 2009, in celebration of Gogol's 200th anniversary. This work was the first in the "Small Series of The Lives of Remarkable People". Additionally, in 1933, Gorky rejected Mikhail Bulgakov's biography of Molière for its "non-Marxist approach" and "excessive emphasis on the personal attitude to the subject", delaying its publication in the series until 1962.
The publishing house established a public editorial board for the series, which included prominent academicians such as Vladimir Komarov, Evgeny Tarle, Alexander Fersman, professors Yuri Tynyanov and Pavel Yudin, writers Alexander Fadeev and Alexei Tolstoy. The subjects of the biographies were predominantly world-renowned figures in science, art, and revolutionary movements. By 1941, a total of 107 titles had been published in the series, with an overall circulation of approximately 5 million copies. With the outbreak of World War II, the series was temporarily suspended. In 1943, it was revived under the title Remarkable Russian People, producing a total of 14 small-format issues designed for easy portability. From 1944 to 1945, the series continued under the same name, with 28 additional volumes released. In 1945, the series resumed publication under its original title "Remarkable People's Live".
The average print run for the books in the series ranged from 40,000 to 50,000 copies, with each volume typically comprising around 200 pages. From the initial editions, the cover featured a pen-and-ink portrait of the subject, created based on sketches by artists such as Peter Alyakrinsky, Grigory Bershadsky, and Nikolai Ilyin. The format of the books gradually evolved, and the titles generally followed a standard naming convention: typically using the surname or the full name of the subject, and less frequently utilizing initials and surnames for Russian and Soviet figures. Artistic titles were quite rare. The series published biographies of both Russian and foreign personalities in roughly equal measure. The subjects considered "remarkable" included writers and poets (21 biographies), scientists (18), revolutionaries and reformers (18), inventors (14), travelers (8), among others.
In the 1940s, following the resumption of the series, the publication rate decreased significantly, with the release of only 3 to 7 new books per year, compared to the pre-war output of 8 to 20. By 1949, a total of only 53 biographies had been published, along with 7 reprints; however, the average length of the texts increased to 350 pages. The distribution of subjects remained relatively consistent with pre-war trends, including 14 biographies of writers, 11 of scientists, 7 of inventors, 5 of military leaders, and 4 of travelers. Between 1950 and 1959, the series published 104 biographies, with an average print run of 56,000 copies, although the length of the books varied considerably. After 1956, both the number of publications and the size of the print runs returned to pre-war levels, with reprints increasing significantly to a total of 27. Throughout the 1950s, the most frequently published biographies focused on writers and poets (27), scientists (27), and revolutionaries and reformers (17).
The Khrushchev Thaw's and the Stagnation's period.
In the 1950s, the editors of the series established three fundamental principles for the selection of published texts, which have been maintained ever since: scientific accuracy, high literary quality, and entertainment value. The quality of writing about pioneers in science