Mikhail Lozinsky

Who was Mikhail Lozinsky?

Mikhail Leonidovich Lozinsky is deemed to be the most accomplished Russian translator of the 20th century. "In the difficult and noble art of translation," said Anna Akhmatova, "Lozinsky was for the twentieth century what Zhukovsky was for the nineteenth." Lozinsky's granddaughters include writers Tatyana Tolstaya and Natalia Tolstaya.

Lozinsky was born in Gatchina and spent his life in St. Petersburg. His uncle was married to an aunt of Alexander Blok, who was one of the first to appreciate Lozinsky's highly polished verse. During the Silver Age of Russian Poetry he was close to the Acmeist circle of Nikolay Gumilyov; he was briefly arrested and interrogated following the latter's execution.

Despite his impeccable craftsmanship, Lozinsky's poetry failed to attract public attention owing to its lack of substance and originality. Lozinsky therefore began applying his literary skills to the translation of works by notable non-Russian literary figures such as Benvenuto Cellini, Lope de Vega, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and others.