Ivan Shmelev
| Ivan Shmelyov | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 3 October [O.S. 21 September] 1873 Moscow, Russian Empire |
| Died | 24 June 1950 (aged 76) near Paris, France |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Notable works | The Stone Age |
Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelyov (Russian: Ива́н Серге́евич Шмелёв, also spelled Shmelev and Chmelov) (3 October [O.S. 21 September] 1873 – 24 June 1950) was a Russian émigré writer best known for his full-blooded idyllic recreations of the pre-revolutionary past spent in the merchant district of Moscow. He was a member of the Moscow literary group Sreda.
Shmelev was born in the Zamoskovorechye to a merchant family; after finishing high school in 1894 he attended the law faculty of Moscow University. His first published story appeared in 1895; in the same year he visited Valaam Monastery, a trip that had a deep spiritual influence on him and resulted in his first book, Na skalakh Valaama ['On the cliffs of Valaam'] (1897). After graduating in 1898 he performed military service and spent several years as a civil servant in the provinces while continuing to write; his early stories were published by Maxim Gorky's Znaniye Publishing House. After the Russian Revolution of 1905 his popularity increased, and his 1911 story "Chelovek iz restorana" ['The man from the restaurant'] had tremendous success, making him one of the best known writers of the day; it "depicts, with moments of Dostoyevskyan power, the decadence of the wealthy, as seen by a simple waiter and pious father to whom son and daughter return after disastrous adventures in the world." Shmelyov's story was the basis for Yakov Protazanov's film of the same title, released in 1927, with Mikhail Chekhov in the leading role.
In 1912 Shmelyov organized the Moscow Writers' Publishing House («Книгоиздательство писателей в Москве»), which published Ivan Bunin, Boris Zaitsev, and other leading writers of the day, as well as his own work. His works from this period on "were remarkable for the richness of their popular (in the sense of narodnyj) language.... Particularly noteworthy was his brilliant use of the skaz technique."
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