YESENIN, SERGEI ALEXANDROVICH

(1895–1925), popular poet of the Soviet period, known for his evocations of the Russian countryside and the Soviet demimonde.

Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (also spelled Esenin) born in 1895 in Konstantinovo, a farm village in the Riazan province, where he attended school. He came to prominence in Petrograd in 1915 as part of a group of "Peasant Poets." His early work was noted for its elegiac portrayal of rural life and religious themes.

Yesenin was an ambivalent supporter of the October Revolution and the Soviet state. He tried to write on revolutionary themes, but his explorations of intimate relationships, urban street life, and the disappearance of old rural Russia were more popular. Yesenin was also known for his charisma, heavy drinking, and scandalous behavior. He was married three times, once to the American dancer Isadora Duncan. Yesenin committed suicide in December 1925, shortly after writing his final poem, "Good-bye, My Friend, Good-bye," in his own blood.

Yesenin's popularity continued after his death, as readers were drawn to his unconventional lifestyle and introspective poetry. This concerned the Communist leadership, who believed that Yesenin had both reflected and encouraged a growing sense of disaffection and "hooliganism" among Soviet youth. Numerous attacks on "Yeseninism" appeared in the Soviet press in 1926 and 1927. He was also criticized by the so-called proletarian writers for his anti-urban bias and individualism. As a result, official policy toward Yesenin's works was ambivalent, and no new editions of his work were published between 1927 and 1948.

There was increased interest in Yesenin's work in the 1960s and 1970s. His influence was evident on the rising generation of bard-singers, such as Vladimir Vysotsky, and also on the emerging "Village Prose" movement. One of Yesenin's illegitimate sons, Alexander Volpin-Yesenin, was an early dissident and human rights advocate. Major collections of Esenin's work include Radunitsa (1916), The Hooligan's Confession (1921), and Selected Works (1922).

bibliography

McVay, Gordon. (1976). Esenin: A Life. Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis.

Slonim, Marc. (1977). Soviet Russian Literature: Writers and Problems, 1917–1977, 2nd rev. ed. London and New York: Oxford University Press.

Brian Kassof