Viktor Strazhev

Viktor Ivanovich Strazhev (27 October 1879, Usolye – 19 October 1950) was a bibliographer, translator, poet and literary critic.[1] He is the author of poetry and short stories for children, having participated in the creation of school textbooks in Russian literature.[2] Together with Aleksei Zerchaninov and D. Y. Rayhin, he wrote one of the best textbooks on literature of the 19th century, reprinted many times since 1940.[3]

Strazhev went to high school along with Georgy Chulkov, studying under the guidance of Professors Viktor Hoffman and Vladislav Khodasevich.[2] Graduated in Moscow in 1898, and from the historical-philological faculty of Moscow University in 1902,[2] he worked for the journals Morning of Russia, Russian idea, and Pass.[2] He had his first book of poems Opuscula (Little Stories) published in 1904, and three years later On The Holy Sadness. In 1907, he was elected a member of the Russian Society of Literature, had two collections of lyrics The Way of the Pigeon and Poems, published in 1908 and 1909 respectively, and a poetic response to Alexander Blok in 1919. From 1921, he worked in the People's Commissariat of Education,[2] being awarded the degree of Candidate of Philological Sciences without a thesis in 1944.[2] During the Soviet years, Strazhev engaged himself mainly in teaching.