Slutskii, Boris

Slutskii, Boris Abramovich 

Born May 7, 1919, in Slaviansk, Donetsk Oblast. Soviet Russian poet. Member of the CPSU since 1943.

In 1941, Slutskii graduated from the M. Gorky Institute of Literature and published his first poems. He fought in the Great Patriotic War (1941-45). In 1957 he published his first book, Memory. It was followed by the poetry collections Time (1959), Today and Yesterday (1961), Work (1964), Contemporary Stories (1969), The Year Hand(1971), and Goodness of the Day (1973).

Slutskii’s dramatic war poems convey the authentic atmosphere of life at the front. Contemporary themes are given a factual, precise treatment, and events are viewed from the standpoint of an ordinary participant, a person concerned both with Russia as a whole and with his own everyday life. Slutskii’s poems are simple and to the point, topical in nature and verging on colloquial speech; their lyricism is restrained and severe.

Slutskii has translated works from the national languages of the USSR and from foreign languages; he also writes reviews and literary criticism. He has been awarded three orders and several medals.

WORKS

Izbr. lirika. [Introductory article by VI. Siakin.] Moscow. 1965.
Pamiat’: Stikhi, 1944-1968. [Introductory article by L. Lazarev.] Moscow, 1969.
Prodlennyi polden’. Moscow, 1975.

REFERENCES

Ehrenburg, I. “O stikhakh Borisa Slutskogo.” Literaturnaia gazeta, July 28, 1956.
Urban, A. “Stikhi i rabota.” Zvezda, 1965, no. 1.
Solov’ev, V. “Kak mchitsia vdal’ vsemirnaia istoriia.” Zvezda, 1970, no. 10.

A. A. URBAN