Altaev, Al

Altaev, Al 

(pseudonym of Margarita Vladimirovna Iamshchikova). Born Nov. 22 (Dec. 4), 1872, in Kiev; died Feb. 13, 1959. in Moscow. Soviet Russian writer.

First published in 1889, Altaev wrote mainly for children and young people (about 150 books). She also wrote biographies of artists, composers, and writers (Briullov, Glinka, Beethoven, Turgenev, Lermontov, Schiller, and others), and historical novellas and novels. The latter include Jan Has From Husinec (1904), Under the Banner of the Shoe (parts 1–2, 1906) dealing with the peasant uprising in Germany, The Landowner of Trotsnovsk (1908), During a Great Storm (1913), Stenka’s Freedom (1925), Children of December (1926), The Rebels (1926), and The Semenov Rebellion (1926).

WORKS

Sobr. soch., vols. 1–16. Moscow, 1928.
M. I. Glinka (1804–1857): Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1955.
Povesti. [Foreword by L. Kassil’.] Moscow, 1957.
Moguchii slepets. Moscow, 1959. (With Art. Feliche.)
Leonardo da Vinchi. Petrozavodsk, 1966.
Mikelandzhelo. Petrozavodsk, 1966.
Rafael’. Petrozavodsk, 1966.
Pamiatnye vstrechi, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1967.
Pasynki akademii, 2nd ed. [Introduction by I. Rakhtanov.] Moscow, 1967.

REFERENCES

Letova, N. “Istoriko-biograficheskie romany Al. Altaeva o russ-kikh khudozhnikakh.” In O literature dliadetei, issue 11. Leningrad, 1966.
Letova, N. “Detskaia pisatel’nitsa i bol’shevistskaia pechat’ (K tvorcheskoi biografii M. V. Iamshchikovoi).” In O literature dlia detei, issue 12. Leningrad, 1967.