Vladimir Solovyov: His Life & Creative Evolution

The crowning achievement of Symbolist poet and philologist Sergey Solovyov, Vladimir Solovyov: His Life & Creative Evolution remains the most comprehensive critical biography of the great nineteenth-century Russian philosopher, mystic, and ecumenist Vladimir Solovyov. Intended for publication in 1923, this work remained in manuscript until 1977, when it was first published in Brussels, and then finally in Moscow in 1997. This complete English translation is based on both the Brussels and Moscow editions and includes a biographical introduction about Sergey Solovyov and the history of the manuscript.

SERGEY SOLOVYOV (1885-1942) was a nephew of the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. From a young age, Sergey was familiar with his uncle's personality and writings and helped prepare his uncle's complete works for publication in 1911-1914. Trained as a classical philologist, Sergey was admired for his translations of Aeschylus and Virgil, but was better known as a Symbolist poet and close friend of Andrey Bely and Aleksandr Blok. On the eve of the Russian Revolution, Sergey was ordained as an Orthodox priest, and then later, while working on the biography of Vladimir, made his final reconciliation with Catholicism at a time when it was illegal for him to serve as a Russian Greek Catholic priest. His final years were clouded by mental illness, constant fear of arrest, and the outbreak of World War II. Sergey Solovyov's greatest legacy remains Vladimir Solovyov: His Life and Creative Evolution.