Lev Uspenskii

Born Jan. 27 (Feb. 8), 1900, in St. Petersburg; died Dec. 18, 1978, in Leningrad. Soviet Russian writer.

Uspenskii fought in the Civil War of 1918–20 and the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. He coauthored the novel The Scent of Lemon (1928) with L. A. Rubinov and the novels The Pulkovo Meridian (1939) and The 60th Parallel (1955) with G. N. Karaev. His other works include books on the history of Leningrad, re-workings of Greek myths for children, and essays on archaeology. Uspenskii was widely known for his popularizations dealing with entertaining aspects of linguistics; these works, which are addressed mainly to the young reader, include A Word About Words (1954), You and Your Name (1960), The Name of Your House (1967), and Riddles of Toponymy (1969). He also appeared in print as a publicist and translator. Uspenskii was awarded two orders and various medals.