# Semyon Lipkin

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Russian writer, poet and literary translator

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Semyon Lipkin Lipkin and his wife, poet Inna Lisnyanskaya Born (1911-09-06)6 September 1911 Odessa, Russian Empire Died 31 March 2003(2003-03-31) (aged 91) Peredelkino, Russia Occupation Poet, writer, soldier Period 1911-2003 Genres Poetry, fiction, memoir, translations Subject World War II, History, Philosophy, Literature, Folklore, Jewish heritage, The Bible Literary movement Neo-Acmeism Notable works Kvadriga Memoirs, The Lieutenant Quartermaster (An epic poem)

**Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin** ([Russian](/source/Russian_language): Семён Израилевич Липкин) (6 September 1911 – 31 March 2003) was a [Russian](/source/Russians) writer, poet, and [literary translator](/source/Literary_translator).[1]

Lipkin's work gained wider recognition after the collapse of the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). He was supported by his wife, poet [Inna Lisnyanskaya](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F,_%D0%98%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9B%D1%8C%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0). Lipkin was a close friend of [Anna Akhmatova](/source/Anna_Akhmatova), [Joseph Brodsky](/source/Joseph_Brodsky) and [Alexander Solzhenitsyn](/source/Alexander_Solzhenitsyn). Lipkin's poetry explores themes of [history](/source/History) and [philosophy](/source/Philosophy).[2]

His poems reference his [Jewish](/source/Jewish) [heritage](/source/Cultural_heritage) and the [Bible](/source/Bible), and draw on his experiences in [World War II](/source/World_War_II) and the [Great Purge](/source/Great_Purge). Lipkin's opposition to the Soviet regime became public in 1979-1980 when he contributed to the uncensored almanac "[Metropol](/source/Metropol')." Subsequently, he and Lisnyanskaya left the [Union of Soviet Writers](/source/Union_of_Soviet_Writers).[3]

## Early years

Lipkin was born in [Odessa](/source/Odessa) to Israel and Rosalia Lipkin on September 6, 1911. He was of [Jewish](/source/Jewish) ethnicity.[4] His father, a tailor,[5] was active in the [Menshevik](/source/Mensheviks) movement.[6] Lipkin's early education included Hebrew and Torah instruction.[6] His education was interrupted by the [Bolshevik Revolution](/source/Bolshevik_Revolution) and the [Russian Civil War](/source/Russian_Civil_War). In 1929 he moved to [Moscow](/source/Moscow), where he studied engineering and economics, graduating from the [Moscow Engineering-Economic Institute](/source/Moscow_Power_Engineering_Institute) in 1937. He also studied various languages, including [Persian](/source/Persian_language), [Kalmyk](/source/Kalmyk_Oirat), [Kirghiz](/source/Kyrgyz_language), [Kazakh](/source/Kazakh_language), [Tatar](/source/Tatar_language), [Tajik](/source/Tajik_language) and [Uzbek](/source/Uzbek_language).

## Military career

Lipkin's military career began with the German invasion in June 1941, when he was enlisted as a war correspondent with the rank of [senior lieutenant](/source/Senior_lieutenant) at the [Baltic Fleet](/source/Baltic_Fleet) base in [Kronstadt](/source/Kronstadt). He later served with the 110th Kalmyk cavalry division and the Volga River Flotilla at Stalingrad. He participated in the [Battle of Stalingrad](/source/Battle_of_Stalingrad) and reported on it.[6] He received four military orders and several medals.

## Literary career

Lipkin published his first poem at 15, which was praised by [Eduard Bagritsky](/source/Eduard_Bagritsky).[6] However, the Soviet regime prevented him from publishing until his sixties. Wider recognition came when he was 70. His literary circle, which included [Anna Akhmatova](/source/Anna_Akhmatova) and [Joseph Brodsky](/source/Joseph_Brodsky), recognized his talent much earlier.

In the 1930s, Lipkin met influential figures like poets [Osip Mandelstam](/source/Osip_Mandelstam), [Anna Akhmatova](/source/Anna_Akhmatova), and [Marina Tsvetayeva](/source/Marina_Tsvetayeva), and prose writers [Vasily Grossman](/source/Vasily_Grossman) and [Andrey Platonov](/source/Andrey_Platonov), whom he described in his memoir [Kvadriga](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kvadriga&action=edit&redlink=1).

Lipkin was a renowned literary translator, often working from languages suppressed by [Stalin](/source/Stalin).[7] He also immersed himself in the cultures of the languages he translated, including Abkhaz, Akkadian, Buryat, Dagestani, Karbardinian, Kalmyk, [Kirghiz](/source/Kyrgyz_language), Tatar, Tadjik-Farsi and [Uzbek](/source/Uzbek_language).[8] He famously hid a [typescript](/source/Typescript_(manuscript)) of [Vasily Grossman](/source/Vasily_Grossman)'s [Life and Fate](/source/Life_and_Fate) from the [KGB](/source/KGB), initiating its journey to the West.[9][10] Lipkin's translations and literary work earned him numerous accolades, including the title of Kalmykia National Poet (1967) and Hero of Kalmykia (2001).[11][12]

### Poetry

### Prose

### Translations by Semyon Lipkin

### English translations of Semyon Lipkin’s work

- *After Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin*, translation by [Yvonne Green](/source/Yvonne_Green). London: Smith/Doorstop, 2011.

- *Testimony from the Literary Memoirs of Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin* translation by [Yvonne Green](/source/Yvonne_Green). (Hendon Press, 2023) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-739778-51-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-739778-51-4)

- *A Close Reading of Fifty-three poems by Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin* translation by [Yvonne Green](/source/Yvonne_Green).(Hendon Press, 2023) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-739778-52-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-739778-52-1)

### French translations of Semyon Lipkin’s work

- *Le Destin de Vassili Grossman* (L'Age d'Homme 1990) tr Alexis Berelowitch

- *L'histoire d'Alim Safarov, écrivain russe du Caucase* (Dekada [Decade]). La Tour-d'Aigues: Editions de l'Aube, 2008.

## Friendship with Vasily Grossman

In 1961, the manuscript for [Vasily Grossman](/source/Vasily_Grossman)'s [Life and Fate](/source/Life_and_Fate) was confiscated by the [KGB](/source/KGB). Semyon Lipkin hid a copy at his [dacha](/source/Dacha) and later gave it to [Elena Makarova](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0,_%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0) and Sergei Makarov for safekeeping.[13] (Elena Makarova was Lipkin's stepdaughter, and Sergei Makarov her husband.)[14] In 1975, Lipkin enlisted [Vladimir Voinovich](/source/Vladimir_Voinovich) and [Andrey Sakharov](/source/Andrey_Sakharov) to smuggle the manuscript to the West, leading to its publication in 1980. In 2013, Grossman's manuscript was released from the [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art](/source/Russian_State_Archive_of_Literature_and_Art).[15]

## Chronology of historical events impacting Lipkin and his writing

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Rayfield, Donald (2013). ["Review of After Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin; Regina Derieva: The Sum Total of Violations; Regina Derieva: Corinthian Copper"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/24585306). *Translation and Literature*. **22** (1): 133–137. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3366/tal.2013.0106](https://doi.org/10.3366%2Ftal.2013.0106). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0968-1361](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0968-1361). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [24585306](https://www.jstor.org/stable/24585306).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:1_2-0)** ["National voice unheard for decades"](https://www.smh.com.au/national/national-voice-unheard-for-decades-20030513-gdgr28.html). *The Sydney Morning Herald*. 2003-05-13. Retrieved 2024-03-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Meyer, Ronald (2015-10-01). ["Cold War Dress Code: Remembering Inna Lisnyanskaya"](https://pen.org/cold-war-dress-code-remembering-inna-lisnyanskaya/). *PEN America*. Retrieved 2024-03-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Semyon Lipkin (1911–2003)"](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315706474/chapters/10.4324/9781315706474-99). *An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry*. 2015. pp. 813–818. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.4324/9781315706474-99](https://doi.org/10.4324%2F9781315706474-99). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781315706474](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781315706474).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Semyon Lipkin. 'Cardinal Points' literary journal"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190905090048/http://www.stosvet.net/12/lipkin/info.html). *www.stosvet.net*. Archived from [the original](http://www.stosvet.net/12/lipkin/info.html) on 2019-09-05. Retrieved November 28, 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_6-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:0_6-3) Shrayer, Maxim D. (2019-07-31). *Voices of Jewish-Russian Literature: An Anthology*. Academic Studies PRess. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-64469-152-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-64469-152-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["World Literature as a Communal Apartment: Semyon Lipkin's Ethics of Translational Difference"](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262087893). *researchgate.net*: 404.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Yvonne Green. Finding a Path. Translating Lipkin"](http://www.stosvet.net/12/green/index.html). *Cardinal Points Journal*. Retrieved 2021-02-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Grossman, Vasily (2010). *The Road: Stories, Journalism, and Essays*. New York Review of Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-59017-409-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-59017-409-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Toker, Leona (2019). *Gulag Literature and the Literature of Nazi Camps: An Intercontexual Reading*. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 72. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-253-04351-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-253-04351-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["The Novel of S. Lipkin "Decade"; the Fate of Eastern Culture in the Soviet Culture and Historical Context – Student Theses – Higher School of Economics National Research University"](https://www.hse.ru/en/edu/vkr/342824986). *www.hse.ru*. Retrieved 2024-03-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Semyon Lipkin (1911–2003)"](https://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781618117939-069), *Voices of Jewish-Russian Literature*, Academic Studies Press, pp. 611–614, 2019-12-31, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1515/9781618117939-069](https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9781618117939-069), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-61811-793-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-61811-793-9), retrieved 2024-03-16{{[citation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation)}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_work_parameter_with_ISBN))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Popoff, Alexandra (2019). [*Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century*](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvd1c9fm). Yale University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/j.ctvd1c9fm](https://doi.org/10.2307%2Fj.ctvd1c9fm). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-300-22278-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-22278-4). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [j.ctvd1c9fm](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvd1c9fm).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Gessen, Keith (2006-02-26). ["Vasily Grossman's Path to Dissent"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/03/06/under-siege). *The New Yorker*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-792X](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-792X). Retrieved 2024-03-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Chandler, Robert. ["Vasily Grossman"](https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/57426/vasily-grossman). *www.prospectmagazine.co.uk*. Retrieved 2024-03-16.

## External links

Media related to [Semyon Lipkin](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Semyon_Lipkin) at Wikimedia Commons

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