Zelenin, Dmitrii Konstantinovich

Born Oct. 21 (Nov. 2), 1878, in the village of Liuk, in what is now the Udmurt ASSR; died Aug. 31, 1954, in Leningrad. Soviet folklorist, dialectologist, and ethnologist; corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925); member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1946).

In 1904, Zelenin graduated from the University of lur’ev. He began teaching at the University of Kharkov in 1916 and became a professor at Leningrad University in 1925. His principal works, published between 1900 and 1915, are on Russian folk poetry and dialects. The collections of fairy tales published by Zelenin and his thoughts on the significance and aesthetic possibilities of the Russian chastushka (rhymed folk verse) played an important role in the development of Russian folklore studies. The ethnological works of Zelenin are concerned mainly with material culture and the beliefs of the Eastern Slavs. Zelenin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals.