Riurikov, Boris Sergeevich

Riurikov, Boris Sergeevich 

Born Mar. 20 (Apr. 2), 1909, in Geneva; died May 21, 1969, in Moscow. Soviet critic, literary scholar, and publicist. Member of the CPSU from 1932.

Riurikov graduated from the department of history and philology of the Gorky Pedagogical Institute in 1932. He was first published in the late 1920’s. He worked for the newspapers Pravda and Literaturnaia gazeta, serving as editor in chief of the latter from 1953 to 1955. He was also on the staff of the Central Committee of the CPSU. From 1963 to 1969 he was editor in chief of the journal Inostrannaia literatura (Foreign Literature).

Riurikov wrote articles on current problems of Marxist-Leninist and revolutionary-democratic aesthetics and the art of socialist and critical realism. The articles have been combined in collections, which include Literature and Life (1953), On the Wealth of Art (1956), Communism, Culture, and Art (1964), and V. I. Lenin and Questions of Literature (1970). Riurikov’s articles were distinguished by adherence to the party line, polemical wit, and a refusal to compromise with bourgeois ideology or allow dogmatic vulgarization.

Riurikov was awarded the Order of Lenin, four other orders, and various medals.

WORKS

N. G. Chernyshevskii, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1961.
O russkikh klassikakh. Moscow, 1972. [Introduction by I. Chernoutsan.]
Real’nyi gumanizm: Stat’i. Moscow, 1972. [Introduction by B. Suchkov.]

REFERENCES

Pertsov, V. “Ne tol’ko ob”iasniat’, no i izmeniat’!” Novyi mir, 1956, no. 7.
Zel’dovich, M. “Pafos sovremennosti.” Voprosy literatury, 1961, no. 7.
Iezuitov, A. “V. I. Lenin i voprosy literatury.” Voprosy literatury, 1972, no. 4.
Dmitriev, V. “Gumanizm znaniia i deistviia.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1973, no. 1.

V. A. KALASHNIKOV