Merezhkovsky, Dmitry Sergeyevich  ( born Aug. 14 [Aug. 2, Old Style], 1865 , St. Petersburg, Russia—died Dec. 9, 1941 , Paris )  Russian poet, novelist, critic, and thinker who played an important role in the revival of religious-philosophical interests among the Russian intelligentsia.



Before the The Russian Revolution of 1917, Merezhkovsky was opposed to the existing regime (as can be seen from 1905 had a radicalizing effect on Merezhkovsky. Together with Gippius and Dmitry Filosofov he published the anthology Le Tsar et la révolution[ (1907; written jointly with Gippius and Dmitry Filosofov]); he welcomed the February “The Tsar and the Revolution”) while living in France. After Merezhkovsky returned to Russia in 1908, he became one of the most popular Russian writers. He published extensively in newspapers and became known as the advocate of a “new religious consciousness.”

Merezhkovsky enthusiastically welcomed the first phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917 but opposed the Bolshevik seizure of power. Emigrating in 1920, he eventually settled in Paris, where he published two more historical novels under the general title Rozhdenie bogov (1924–25; saw the Bolsheviks’ rise to power after its second phase as a catastrophe for Russia. He emigrated in 1920. After a short stay in Poland, he moved to Paris, where he lived until his death. His later works include the novels Rozhdenie bogov (1925; The Birth of the Gods) and Messiya (1928; “Messiah”) as well as biographical studies of Napoleon, Dante, Jesus Christ, St. Augustine, St. Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, Dante, and many others; most of these have been translated into English. In later life he regarded Mussolini and Hitler as leaders capable of eradicating communism.and Roman Catholic saints. Merezhkovsky was of the opinion that Russia should be freed from Bolshevism at any cost, which is why he welcomed Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 during World War II. During his lifetime Merezhkovsky’s authority among Russian émigrés was great. His works began to be published in Russia again only in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the Soviet Union began to collapse.

C. Harold Bedford, The Seeker: D.S. Merezhkovsky (1975); Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Dmitri Sergeevich Merezhkovsky and the Silver Age (1975); Temira Pachmuss, D.S. Merezhkovsky in Exile (1990).