Gumilyov, Nikolay Stepanovich (1886-1921), a literary man

Subject / Literature. Mass Media./Personnel
Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov (1886-1921), a poet, translator, playwright, critic. N.S. Gumelyov graduated from the Nicholas High School in Tsarskoye Selo in 1906, during 1906-1908 he learned at the Sorbonne, during 1908-1909 he learned at the Saint Petersburg University Faculty of Law and during 1909-1911 he learned at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the St. Petersburg University but he did not graduate them. In 1905 Gumilyov published his first collection of poems "Put konkvistadorov" ("The Path of the Conquistadors". In 1911 Gumilyov and S.M. Gorodetsky founded the poets' group "Tsekh poetov" ("Guild of Poets"). In 1912 Gumilyov led the group of acmeists and participated in creating the magazine "Giperborey". He travelled to Africa several times during 1908-1913. Gumilyov was the chief of the ethnographic expedition at his last travelling to Africa. During World War I Gumilyov was a cavalry scout, he was awarded with two St. George Crosses. From June 1917 Gumilyov served under the chief of the Russian Expeditionary Corps in Paris and London. He returned to Russia in spring of 1918 and worked at the editorial offices of the "World Literature" Publishing House, revived the association "Tsekh poetov" ("Guild of Poets"), worked in different clubs and schools, gave lectures at institutes. In 1921 Gumilyov was elected the Head of the All-Russian Poets' Union Petrograd department. He was the author of collections: "Romanticheskie tsvety" (1908; “Romantic Flowers”), "Zhemchuga" (1910; “Pearls”), "Chuzhoye nebo" (1912; "The Forign Sky"), "Kolchan" (both in 1915; "The Quiver"), "Koster" and "Farforovy pavilion" (1918; "The Bonfire" and "The Porcelain Pavilion"), "Shater", "Ognenny stolp" (both in 1921; "The Tent", "The Pillar of Fire"), "K siney zvezde" (1923; "To the Blue Star"; it was published after Gumilyov's death). During 1909-1917 Gumilyov conducted the part "Letters about Russian Poetry" in the magazine "Apollon". On August 3, 1921 Gumilyov was arrested in Petrograd and out of court he was sentenced to be shot as a member of the so-called "Tagantsevsky conspiracy". On the next day he was executed in the Rzhev artillery range. The supposed place of shooting and buring is the so-called "Kovalyevsky forest" on the River Lubya bank in the area of the 4th kilometre of Ryabovskoye Road (the Vsevolozhsk District). In 2001 the memorial sign "To the Red Terror Victims" was installed on the wall of a powder-magazine building located close to the place of shooting. Margolis, Aleksandr Davidovich
Gorodetsky, Sergey Mitrofanovich
Gumilyov, Nikolay Stepanovich
Topographical landmarks/Lubya River, the
Николай Гумилев в воспоминаниях современников. М., 1990
Лукницкая В. Николай Гумилев: Жизнь поэта по материалам домашнего архива семьи Лукницких. Л., 1990
Николай Гумилев. Исследования и материалы. Библиография. СПб., 1994
Иофе В.В. Первая кровь: Петроград, 1918-1921 // Иофе В.В. Границы смысла. Статьи, выступления, эссе. СПб., 2002., С. 128-137
"Victims of the Red Terror", memorial sign