Arkadiy Belinkov

Arkadiy Viktorovich Belinkov (Russian: Арка́дий Ви́кторович Белинко́в; September 29, 1921, in Moscow, USSR – May 14, 1970, in New Haven, Connecticut) was a Russian writer and literary critic.

Biography

Belinkov was born into a Jewish family from

In January 1944, during Joseph Stalin's rule, Belinkov wrote a novel called A Diary of Feelings that was tacitly circulated and read by friends and acquaintances. An anonymous informant leaked this information to the authorities, and Belinkov was arrested and initially sentenced to death.^[2] Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy and Viktor Shklovsky interceded for him: the execution was replaced by eight years of imprisonment in Karlag (Karaganda Gulag branch). However, while serving his sentence in 1950–1951, Belinkov wrote some anticommunist articles, and his sentence was increased by 25 years.^[1][3]

Upon release from prison, Belinkov returned to Moscow in the autumn of 1956, during the Khrushchev Thaw. He returned to writing, but his literary works contained anti-Soviet pathos that was incompatible with the official dogma of the time.^[3] He was allowed, however, to work as a literary scholar, and his biographical/analytical work Yury Tynyanov was received so enthusiastically that two editions appeared in a short space of time.^[4]

In 1968 Belinkov and his wife Natalia fled the Soviet Union. After a while they arrived in the United States, at New Haven, Connecticut. He found work as a lecturer at several universities, including Yale.^[1]

Belinkov died on May 14, 1970, while undergoing a heart operation in New Haven, Connecticut. He is buried at the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church Cemetery in New Britain, Connecticut.

Controversy

In Russia, his literary works were banned for many years. They were finally published in the 1990s.

Themes

Belinkov dedicated his literary works to a number of