Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin

Born Oct. 6 (18), 1875, in Yaroslavl; died Mar. 3, 1936, in Leningrad. Russian writer.

Kuzmin was a nobleman by birth. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His writings first appeared in print in 1905. Kuzmin’s main literary development occurred before the Revolution, when he was attracted first to the symbolists and later to the acmeists. Kuzmin’s poetry, plays, and prose works are focused on the world of things and objects; they evince a marked preference for stylization, a retreat into the past, and an avoidance of pressing topical problems. Kuzmin translated Boccaccio, Apuleius, and Shakespeare. He composed music for his songs, which he performed.