Spiridon Mikhailov

Mikhailov, Spiridon Mikhailovich 

(also, S. M. Yandush). Born Nov. 16 (28), 1821, in the village of lungaposi, present-day Morgaushi Raion, Chuvash ASSR; died Jan. 3 (15), 1861, in Koz’modem’iansk. Chuvash historian, folklorist, and author.

Mikhailov was the son of a peasant. He taught himself to read and write. In 1851 he began to publish articles in Russian newspapers and in the journal Moskvitianin (The Muscovite) about Chuvash folk poetry, history, customs and rites, holidays, and folk music (The Legends of the Chuvash, 1852; Chuvash Songs, Proverbs, and Distinctive Signs, 1853). He also wrote essays and stories that denounced social injustice and the arbitrary rule of the imperial bureaucrats (“Conversation at an Inn,” “The Ill-fated Son,” and “The Sly Cat”).

WORKS

Trudy po etnografii i istorii russkogo, chuvashskogo i mariiskogo narodov. Cheboksary, 1972.

REFERENCES

Egorov, D. E. Spiridon Mikhailovich Mikhailov. Cheboksary, 1968.