Vladimir Ivanovich Dal' Biography

Dictionary of Literary Biography on Vladimir Ivanovich Dal'

Most educated Russians know Vladimir Ivanovich Dal' as the author of the four-volume Tolkovyi slovar' zhivago velikorusskago iazyka (Reasoned Dictionary of the Living Great-Russian Language, 1863-1866) on which Dal' worked for approximately fifty years of his life. They also know him as the author of Poslovitsy russkago naroda (Proverbs of the Russian People, 1862). Thus, Dal's main achievement in the estimate of most educated Russians is as a collector of words, proverbs, songs, and fairy tales. Few know his contribution to Russian dialectology, O narechiiakh russkogo iazyka (On the Dialects of the Russian Language, 1852), and fewer still are familiar with his artistic writing: his artfully transformed fairy tales, Russkiia skazki . . . Piatok pervyi (Russian Fairy Tales . . . First Group of Five, 1832); his collection of stories Byli i nebylitsy (True Stories and Inventions, 1833-1835); his stories with an ethnographic bent, such as "Bolgarka" (A Bulgarian Woman, 1837) and "Podolianka" (A Podolyan Woman, 1839); and his contribution in Russian literature to the tradition of the so-called physiological sketch, realistic depictions of the lower classes: "Peterburgskii dvornik" (A Petersburg Caretaker), published in Literaturnaia gazeta (Literary Gazette) in 1844; "Denshchik" (An Orderly), published in Finskii vestnik (Finland Herald) in 1845; "Chukhontsky v Pitere" (Finns in St.

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