Smirnov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

Born Aug. 27 (Sept. 8), 1883, in Moscow; died Sept. 16, 1962, in Leningrad. Soviet Russian literary historian and medievalist.

Smirnov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1907. From 1913 to 1958 he was a professor at Leningrad State University. He was the author of works in the field of Celtic studies, including translations and studies of Irish sagas, and works on the medieval cultures of France and Spain, including The Medieval Literature of Spain (published 1969). A number of works, for example, The Works of Shakespeare (1934), several chapters of A History of French Literature (vol. 1, 1946), and A History of Foreign Literature: The Early Middle Ages and the Renaissance (1947 and 1959), deal with Western European literature of the Renaissance. Smirnov edited collections of works by Shakespeare, Molière, Stendahl, P. Mérimée, G. de Maupassant, and other writers. He also translated various works.