Mikhail Kuzmin 1872to –1936
Russian poet, novelist, composer, and critic, and one of the leading writers of Russia’s Silver Age. Kuzmin came from a noble family, and studied music at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory before deciding to focus on writing instead. He was greatly influenced by his travels through Russia, Egypt, and Italy, and became inspired by the group of artists associated with the magazine World of Art, many of whom were queer. Kuzmin gained acclaim for his own writing in 1906, when he published the verse cycle “Alexandrian Songs” as well as his serialized first novel Wings, both in the influential Symbolist magazine Vesy. Wings, the semi-autobiographical story of a young man learning to accept and even celebrate his homosexuality, was without president. It was the first Russian novel to deal with gay themes explicitly, and one of the first modern gay novels in all of Europe. It caused a scandal, but was also immensely popular, and the masterful writing style earned praise from critics, which protected it from prosecution in the Tsar’s crumbling regime. Kuzmin soon found himself at the center of Russia’s literary world, socializing with other artists and performing the songs he composed for the theater at gathering places such as the salon The Tower, and The Stray Dog Café. Kuzmin was charismatic and well-liked, and the fact that he was open about his many relationships and trysts didn’t damage his social standing. In 1908 he moved in with the set-designer Sergei Sudeikin, but Sudeikin’s wife kicked him out when she discovered he and her husband were having an affair. In Kiev in 1913, he met the 17-year-old writer and painter Yuri Yurkun—the two would remain a couple until Kuzmin’s death. They lived with Yurkun’s mother, and when Yurkun married a few years later, his wife came to live with them as well. After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, homosexuality was decriminalized. But it was clear that Kuzmin’s writing was becoming less and less appreciated, and he mostly made a living translating Shakespeare and others. At his final public appearance in 1928, he read his poem, The Trout Breaks the Ice, to what was supposed to be a small audience. But to the shock of the organizers, St. Petersburg’s gay community attended en masse, giving him a standing ovation and throwing flowers at his feet. Kuzmin died of pneumonia in 1936. He lived long enough to see Stalin recriminalize homosexuality, but did not live to see Yurkin and many other gay artists executed by the regime two years later. For decades, the Soviet government tried to downplay Kuzmin’s contributions, keeping his salacious diaries off-limits to any Western scholars. But he is now re-emerging as an important queer writer of Russia’s past.