Biography
Fyodr Sologub, pseudonym for Fyodor Kuz'mich Teternikov, was born in St. Petersburg in 1863. His father was a cobbler and a domestic servant. Sologub went on to become a teacher and inspector of schools along with a succesfully prolific writer of Symbolist prose and poetry. His most succesful and well-known work, The Petty Demon, allowed him the opportunity to quit his job as a teacher which he hated with a passion and retire.
He is remebered as a poet and writer who voice could be heard among some of the greatest Russian artists who spoke in opposition to the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and later refused to reconcile themselves to the new Soviet government. In 1920 Sologub and his wife attemted to emigrate from Russia, but the government refused to grant them visas to leave. Shortly after this denial, Sologub's wife comitted suicide and he remained in the Soviet Union, but proceeded to live as a recluse in remote areas of the country.
Sologub's poetry is overshadowed by his novel, The Petty Demon (1892-1902), in which Sologub's true symbolist style is revealed. The story is based upon a provincial Russian village in which all the characters are elevated to symbols depicting the Sologub's fascinating metaphysical system and morbid sensuality. His poetry is extraordinary also and has been compared to the "delicate structures and meanings of the finest poetry of Tyutchev." (Cambridge Encyclopedia, Russia)
Sologub's first volumes of prose and verse were published in 1896. He found morbid beauty in Satanism and he expressed in his decadent poetry, the romance of night and death and sex.
Only two editions of his work and a collection of his peoms have been published since his death. The limited amount of research and attention that has been given to Sologub is due to The Petty Demon. However, he was much more prolific than just creating this novel. Sologub not only wrote novels and poetry, he also produced an admirable amount of prose writing. He was in fact, one of the few symbolist writers who explored prose seriously. He wrote four other novels, a short novel, and a number of short fairy tales, articles, as well as a great amount of short stories. The short stories number in over one hundred and many are said to be of high quality, interesting, and typical examples of symbolist prose.(Carola Hanson)
Sologub was admired by the likes of Andrey Bely, a giant in the literary world of the time. Evgeny Zamyatin, author of We (1921) was quoted as saying: "Cruel time will obliterate many, but Sologub will remain in Russian literature." Sologub had a huge impact on his contemporaries. He evoked curiosity, if nothing else, in his readers. Bely wrote:
In your works alongside an enormous talent there is a special note which gives an unanalyzable charm to [them]: it is an understatemnt to say that you infect the reader with a certain experience; you hypnotize him, and thus your world-view penetrates the reader like contraband; I have experienced this witchcraft several times. Your position as a writer is exceedingly clear; one has to struggle with you. At least I have struggled with the "sorcery" of your words, but I, as a writer, pray to "other gods," not yours. (Rabinowitz, 10)
This struggle with Sologub was certainly not limited to Andrey Bely. Many more have complained or commented on Sologub and his, at times, seemingly aloof and cold nature. Peter Ryss commented on Sologub: "He was not loved, he was considered to be an evil person; people feared him, and even worse, they avoided him . . .He was cold in appearance, restrained, constantly sarcastic; his eyes had an icy look and were half-closed, as if out of contempt -F.K. frequently inspired hostility." (Rabinowitz,10) These feelings were associated with, not only Sologub's appearance, but also with the controversial nature of his topics and themes.