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Birthday anniversary of Mikhail N. Speransky, literary historian, Slaves specialist
April 19 (May 1) 1863, in the family of a military physician, was born Mikhail Nestorovich Speransky, historian of literature and theater, Slaves specialist, Byzantinologist, ethnographer, archaeographer, folklorist, professor at Moscow University (1907-1923), corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences (from 1902), member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1921-1934).
In Tver, where his father was sent to work, Mikhail graduated from high school. In 1881, he entered the literature department of Moscow University, where his teacher was a Russian literature historian, Professor N. S. Tikhonravov; attended literary soirees of academician F. I. Buslayev. Speransky was mainly attracted by Russian culture, namely the archaeological sites, the first pieces of writing, oral folk poetry, early printed books, Russian - Slavic literary connections of the 11th – 19th centuries, works by masters of Russian literature.
After graduation, Mikhail stayed at the department, and in 1889 went for a two-year trip abroad to work on his thesis. He worked in the archives of Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Italy and France; met an outstanding philologist, specialist in Slaves I. V. Yagitch, studied Slavic languages. On a trip Speransky wrote an article "Parchment fragments of Russian manuscripts in Prague" (1890), which was the first work in a series of articles about Russian- Slavic relations.
In 1893, Sperdnsky published “Apocryphal acts of the Apostle Andrew in the Slavic- Russian records: the experience of textual criticism." The same year he was admitted to the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at the University of Moscow and to the Moscow Archaeological Society.
In 1895, Mikhail defended his master's thesis "Slavic apocryphal gospels." In this paper, the scientist showed the fate of apocryphal gospels of the Bulgarians, Serbs and Russians, as well as followed a close relationship of these works with oral folk poetry.
In the autumn of 1896, Speransky was appointed professor of Nezhinsky Institute of History and Philology of Prince A. A. Bezborodko.
In 1899, for his thesis "From the history of renounced books" Speransky received his doctor’s degree. In this paper, using the material of various apocrypha, Mikhail Nestorovich researched not only the influence of Byzantine and Western literature on Russian one, but also revived the pattern of interaction of oral folk poetry and folk beliefs with the medieval literature of Russia.
In 1907, Speransky was unanimously elected professor at Moscow University. Ten years Mikhail Nestorovich taught courses on the history of ancient and modern literature, oral folk literature at the university, at the Moscow Courses for Women and the A. L. Shanyavsky City University.
In 1914, Sperdnsky wrote a generalizing work in the field of Old Russian literature and folklore "History of Old Russian literature." The work combines history, linguistics and ethnography, explores the origin and development of Old Russian literature from different perspectives. Ethnographic research and collecting resulted in a course "Russian oral literature," as well as in two volumes of historical epics and songs in the series "Monuments of world literature."
In 1921, M. N. Speransky was elected academician of the Academy of Sciences of USSR. From 1921 to 1934 he headed the Department of Manuscripts of the State Historical Museum.
In April 1934, Speransky was arrested due to the "case of Slavicists" - "Russian National Party" and sentenced to three years' exile in Ufa. November 17, 1934 the sentence was commuted to a suspended one. In December 1934, for "participation in a counter-revolutionary organization," Speransky was expelled from the Academy of Sciences and remained virtually under house arrest for the rest of his life.
Mikhail Nestorovich Speransky died in Moscow on April 12, 1938. He was rehabilitated February 27, 1990.
Lit.: Кузьмина В. Д. Михаил Несторович Сперанский // М. Н. Сперанский. Рукописные сборники XVIII в. М., 1963; Русские филологи XIX века: Библиографический словарь-справочник / Авт.-сост. М. Е. Бабичева [и др]. М., 2006. С. 356-359; Сперанский М. Н. // Литература и культура Древней Руси: Словарь-справочник / Под ред. В. В. Кускова. М., 1994.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: