Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev (1912-1992) - Soviet and Russian scientist, writer, translator, archaeologist, orientalist, geographer, historian, ethnologist and philosopher.
He was arrested four times, and was also sentenced to 10 years of exile in a camp, which he served in Kazakhstan, Siberia and Altai. He spoke 6 languages and translated hundreds of foreign works.
Gumilev is the author of the passionate theory of ethnogenesis. His views, which run counter to generally accepted scientific ideas, cause controversy and heated debate among historians, ethnologists and other scientists.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Lev Gumilyov, which we will talk about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Gumilyov.
Biography of Lev Gumilyov
Lev Gumilyov was born on September 18 (October 1) 1912 in St. Petersburg. He grew up and was brought up in the family of famous poets Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova.
Childhood and youth
Almost immediately after birth, little Kolya was in the caring hands of his grandmother, Anna Ivanovna Gumileva. According to Nikolai, in childhood, he saw his parents very rarely, so his grandmother was the closest and closest person for him.
Until the age of 5, the child lived on the family estate in Slepnevo. However, when the Bolsheviks came to power, Anna Ivanovna fled to Bezhetsk with her grandson, because she was afraid of a peasant pogrom.
A year later, the parents of Lev Gumilyov decided to leave. As a result, he and his grandmother moved to Petrograd, where his father lived. At that time, the biography, the boy often spent time with his father, who repeatedly took his son to work.
Periodically, Gumilyov Sr. called in to his ex-wife so that she could talk with Leo. It is worth noting that by that time Akhmatova was cohabiting with the orientalist Vladimir Shileiko, while Nikolai Gumilev remarried to Anna Engelhardt.
In mid-1919, the grandmother with her new daughter-in-law and children settled in Bezhetsk. Nikolai Gumilyov occasionally visited his family, staying with them for 1-2 days. In 1921, Leo learned of his father's death.
In Bezhetsk, Lev lived until the age of 17, having managed to change 3 schools. During this time, Anna Akhmatova only twice visited her son - in 1921 and 1925. As a child, the boy had a rather strained relationship with his peers.
Gumilyov preferred to isolate himself from his peers. When all the children were running and playing during recess, he usually stood aside. It is curious that in the first school he was left without textbooks, since he was considered "the son of a counter-revolutionary."
In the second educational institution, Lev made friends with the teacher Alexander Pereslegin, who seriously influenced his personality formation. This led to the fact that Gumilev corresponded with Pereslegin until the end of his life.
When the future scientist changed his school for the third time, literary talent awakened in him. The young man wrote articles and stories for the school newspaper. An interesting fact is that for the story "The Mystery of the Sea Depth" the teachers even awarded him a fee.
In those years, biographies Gumilev regularly visited the city library, reading the works of domestic and foreign writers. He also tried to write "exotic" poetry, trying to imitate his father.
It is worth noting that Akhmatova suppressed any attempts by her son to write such poems, as a result of which he returned to them a few years later.
After graduating from school, Lev went to his mother in Leningrad, where he re-graduated from the 9th grade. He wanted to enter the Herzen Institute, but the commission refused to accept the documents due to the guy's noble origin.
Nikolai Punin, to whom his mother was then married, put Gumilyov as a laborer at the plant. Later, he registered at the labor exchange, where he was assigned to courses in geological expeditions.
In the era of industrialization, expeditions were carried out with extraordinary frequency. Due to the lack of personnel, no one paid attention to the origin of the participants. Thanks to this, in the summer of 1931, Lev Nikolayevich first set out on a hike across the Baikal region.
Heritage
Gumilyov's biographers claim that in the period 1931-1966. he participated in 21 expeditions. Moreover, they were not only geological, but also archaeological and ethnographic.
In 1933, Lev began translating the poetry of Soviet writers. At the end of the same year, he was arrested for the first time, having been held in a cell for 9 days. It is worth noting that the guy was not interrogated or charged.
A couple of years later, Gumilev entered the Leningrad University at the Faculty of History. Since his parents were in disgrace from the leadership of the USSR, he had to behave very carefully.
At the university, the student turned out to be a cut above the rest of the students. The teachers sincerely admired Leo's intelligence, ingenuity and deep knowledge. In 1935 he was sent back to prison, but thanks to the intercession of many writers, including Akhmatova, Joseph Stalin allowed the young man to be released.
When Gumilev was released, he learned about his expulsion from the institute. The expulsion from the university turned out to be a disaster for him. He lost his scholarship and housing. As a result, he literally starved for several months.
In the middle of 1936, Lev set out on another expedition across the Don, to excavate Khazar settlements. By the end of the year he was informed of his reinstatement at the university, and he was extremely happy about it.
In the spring of 1938, when the so-called "Red Terror" was operating in the country, Gumilyov was taken into custody for the third time. He was sentenced to 5 years in the Norilsk camps.
Despite all the difficulties and trials, the man found time to write a dissertation. As it soon turned out, together with him in exile there were many representatives of the intelligentsia, communication with whom gave him incomparable pleasure.
In 1944, Lev Gumilyov volunteered for the front, where he took part in the Berlin operation. Returning home, he still graduated from the university, becoming a certified historian. After 5 years he was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years in the camps.
After serving 7 years in exile, Lev Nikolaevich was rehabilitated in 1956. By that time, the new head of the USSR was Nikita Khrushchev, who released many prisoners imprisoned under Stalin.
After his release, Gumilyov worked at the Hermitage for several years. In 1961 he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in history. The next year he was admitted to the staff of the Research Institute at the Faculty of Geography of Leningrad State University, where he worked until 1987.
In the 60s, Lev Gumilev began to create his famous passionate theory of ethnogenesis. He strove to explain the cyclical and regular nature of history. An interesting fact is that many colleagues harshly criticized the scientist's ideas, calling his theory pseudoscientific.
The historian's main work, "Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth", was also criticized. It stated that the ancestors of the Russians were the Tatars, and Russia was a continuation of the Horde. From this it turned out that modern Russia is inhabited by Russian-Turkic-Mongol peoples, Eurasian in origin.
Similar ideas were also expressed in the books of Gumilyov - "From Russia to Russia" and "Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe." Although the author has been criticized for his beliefs, over time he had a large army of fans who shared his views on history.
Already at an old age, Lev Nikolaevich was seriously carried away by poetry, where he achieved great success. However, part of the poet's work was lost, and he did not manage to publish the surviving works. An interesting fact is that Gumilev called himself "the last son of the Silver Age."
Personal life
At the end of 1936, Lev met a Mongolian graduate student, Ochiryn Namsrajav, who admired the guy's intelligence and erudition. Their relationship lasted until Gumilyov's arrest in 1938.
The second girl in the biography of the historian was Natalya Varbanets, with whom he began to communicate after returning from the front. However, Natalia was in love with her patron, the married historian Vladimir Lyublinsky.
In 1949, when the scientist was once again sent into exile, an active correspondence began between Gumilev and Varbanets. About 60 love letters have survived. After the amnesty, Leo broke up with the girl, since she was still in love with Lublinsky.
In the mid-50s, Gumilyov became interested in 18-year-old Natalia Kazakevich, whom he saw in the Hermitage library. According to some sources, the girl's parents were against the daughter's relationship with a mature man, then Lev Nikolaevich drew attention to the proofreader Tatyana Kryukova, who liked his work, but this relationship did not lead to marriage.
In 1966, the man met the artist Natalia Simonovskaya. A couple of years later, the lovers decided to get married. The couple lived together for 24 years, until the death of Gumilyov. In this union, the couple did not have children, since at the time of the wedding Lev Nikolaevich was 55 years old, and Natalya was 46.
Death
2 years before his death, Lev Gumilyov suffered a stroke, but he continued to work barely recovering from his illness. By that time, he had an ulcer and his legs hurt badly. Later, his gallbladder was removed. During the operation, the patient developed severe bleeding.
The scientist was in a coma for the last 2 weeks. Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov died on June 15, 1992 at the age of 79. His death occurred as a result of the shutdown of life support devices, by the decision of doctors.
Photo by Lev Gumilyov
