With Canti di Alessandria space poetic Russian twentieth century is extended to encompass an antiquity revived immediately and fervently upheld the pantheon of gods and Egyptian ellene imagined by Mikhail Kuzmin (1872-1936), the colorful crowd of restless teenagers, enhanced scribes and courtesans eyed bilayers that populates his verses. Before the contemporary consists watching un'Alessandria sprung from the hands of its inhabitants, in a refined game of refractions between reality and imagination, the ancient and current, the edge between dream and revival. The state of grace touched the Cantos Kuzmin represents a milestone reached after a painful journey of self-acceptance and identity, full of wandering, and self-destructive temptations mystical moments. That of cantor of Alexandria will become second nature to the poet, and the stylistic designed for these lyrics is his happiest.

Mikhail Kuzmin was born in 1872 in Yaroslavl ', into a family of ancient lineage. Her mother is of French origin. From childhood he has great love for poetry, music, theater.

In 1884, after spending several years in Saratov, the family moved to St. Petersburg. During his studies in high school the young Michail he met Georgy Chicherin (who would become an important Soviet diplomat), whose friendship and support will count for many years.

In 1891 he enrolled at the Conservatory and he also studied composition under the guidance of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Live moments of deep spiritual restlessness and strong dissatisfaction that led him to suicide groped. In 1895 he undertook a trip to the Middle East in the company of a friend whose identity is still unknown. In April-June 1897 dates from the trip to Italy, during which visit Rome, Bologna, Florence.

Upon returning Kuzmin through a new period of intense spiritual, which is no stranger dissatisfaction much for Orthodoxy as Catholicism, which had met in Italy. It approaches the world of the Old Believers and starts wandering in their communities scattered along the Volga, in the North of Russia.

He returned to St. Petersburg, decided to devote his intellectual energies to writing: after the first, uncertain evidence in prose and verse, in 1906 see the light both Aleksandrijskie pesni (Songs of Alexandria) is the novel Kryl'ja (Wings) . Both works evoke a notable impact and promote its integration in the literary circles of the capital.

In the following decade Kuzmin it published a large number of texts in verse and prose, and establishes relations of friendship and mutual respect with the major poets of the time, by Gumilev and Akhmatova to Khlebnikov, Mayakovsky, Yesenin, Mandelstam and Tsvetaeva.

Writes while the music for several plays, including Balagančik (The circus acrobats) Aleksandr Blok, 1906, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold. Even in the years ahead she works closely with small stages proliferated in the capital in the pre-revolutionary years.

It dates back to 1908 publication of his first poetry collection, Seti (Nets), and the three Komedii (Comedies), inspired hagiographic. From 1908 to 1912 Kuzmin takes permanent accommodation at the Tower of Vyacheslav Ivanov, in which you give the conference writers and artists, philosophers and critics of Russia of the time. The eccentric elegance, cultured and brilliant conversation and poses the aesthetic earn a lasting reputation as a dandy Petersburg.

The first issue of the magazine "Apollon" 1910 appears his theoretical manifesto O prekrasnoj jasnosti (Della beautiful clarity), which opens a new field for his writing, that of literary criticism. The text points to the ideals of harmony, logic and crystalline clarity which the Russian prose was inspired in his opinion, under the aegis of the European masters as models.

In 1913 disappears, suicide, young Vsevolod Knjazev, where Kuzmin was bound by an intense love affair. Even the death of the young artist Nikolai Sapunov, perished at sea during a boat trip in the Gulf of Finland, profoundly affects the poet. Find the literary novice Jurij Jurkun mate who will be next for the rest of life.

The collection of poems Osennie ozera (Lakes autumn), released in 1912, collects opinions very favorable. Dates back to 1914 publication of Glinjanye golubki (Doves clay). In addition to the verses, the prose of a certain thickness dates published in this decade - among which Podvigi Velikogo Aleksandra (The exploits of Alexander the Great), Putešestvie evening Džona Firfaksa bit Turcii the drugim primečatel'nym ​​stranám (The journey of Sir John Fairfax in Turkey and in other countries overtime), čudesnaja Zhizn 'Iosifa Bal'zamo, Grafa Kaliostro (The prodigious life of Giuseppe Balsamo, Count of Cagliostro), Priključenija Lebefa Eme (The Adventures of Ayme Leboeuf) and Plavajuščie-putešestvujuščie (Travelers -naviganti) - Kuzmin produces a large number of miniature theater.

His reception of the October Revolution, initially imbued with expectations, not least because of the potential for regeneration of the literary and artistic life of the country saw it, soon to be more tepid. In the new cultural and political Kuzmin still finds a space in several areas: writing songs for the children's theater, collaborating with publishing initiatives Vsemirnaja Literatura, functions as a theater critic for the magazine "Zhizn 'iskusstva".

In 1918 he published two small collections of verse (Dvum, Vožatyj) (To the two, guide), including increasing difficulties and the hardships of daily life generated by the new framework also his apartment becomes a Kommunalka in cohabitation with other families, is Jurkun arrested, then released. He is forced to sell his collection of old books and manuscript copies of his own works.

In 1923 his deklaraciją emocionalizma (Declaration of emotionalism) expresses a decidedly against the current guidelines critics of the time, dominated by formalist theories.

In 1921 he comes the poetry collection Nezdešnie Večera (evenings not land), the following year Paraboly (Parables), one of his most challenging, and Lesok (Grove); 1924 Novy Gull (The new Hull). But the continuation of Kuzmin in the Soviet cultural scene is drastically diminished, and his intellectual profile appears less and less "necessary". The poet takes refuge in translations of authors such as Apuleius, Boccaccio, Shakespeare. In increasing isolation, her voice goes unheard: the last volume of verse was printed, Forel 'razbivaet led (Trout cleaves the ice), 1929, it has almost no echo.

He died of pneumonia in March 1936.

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