Marietta Sergeevna
Shaginyan
1888-1982
Marietta Shaginyan was a Soviet writer, poet, historian, journalist, Doctor of Philology, professor, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR and Hero of Socialist Labour. She was born on April 2nd, 1888, in Moscow, in a family of doctors. She received her early education at home and then attended a private boarding school and later the Gymnasium named after Rzhevskaya, one of the best schools in Moscow at the time. In 1912, she completed the History and Philosophy Faculty of the Higher Women’s Courses. That year, she travelled to St. Petersburg where she met Z.N. Gippius and D.S. Merezhkovsky and became interested in the philosophical ideas of the Symbolist movement. In 1913, she published the book “Orientalia,” which brought her recognition. A major role in the development of the writer was played by her collaboration with the newspapers the Priazovsky Krai, the Kavkazskoye Slovo, and the Baku, where she covered events in the literary and artistic life of the country. From 1915 to 1918, she lived in Rostov-on-Don and taught aesthetics and art history at the Conservatory. During this time, she wrote her first major novel, “Her Destiny”. In 1922 and 1923, she enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution, and followed it with the publication of “The Change” and “The Adventure of a Society Lady”. Between 1923 and 1925, she published a series of adventure novels under the pen name Jim Dollar. These novels were very successful. In 1928, she published an unusual work, “Kik”, which combined different genres from poems to reports. In 1930 and 1931, she wrote “Gidrocenter”, a novel based on her experience working on the Dzoragesp project. In the 1930s, she continued to write and publish. She graduated from Gosplan Planning Academy, where she studied mineralogy, spinning and weaving, and energy. She worked as a lecturer, weaving instructor, and statistician at the Leningrad factories during the Great Patriotic War. She was a correspondent for the newspaper Pravda in the Urals, and for many years she wrote essays. In 1946, she defended her dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philology, and in 1950 she was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. Her life was filled with important historical events, and she always wrote about them with great interest and passion. Books about V.I. Lenin occupy a special place in her work. On May 3, 1976, Marietta Sergeevna was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labour.
Address: Moscow, Arbat St., 45/24
