Korolenko, Vladimir Galaktionovich°
KOROLENKO, VLADIMIR GALAKTIONOVICH°
KOROLENKO, VLADIMIR GALAKTIONOVICH ° (1853–1921), Russian writer. One of the most illustrious representatives of the liberal Russian intelligentsia of the turn of the century, Korolenko was very active in many humanitarian causes, and was also among the most vocal opponents of antisemitism in Russia. He began by publicly condemning the pogroms of 1881–82. In his Skazaniye o flore, Agrippe i Menakheme, syn Yegudy ("Tale of Florius, Agrippa and Menahem ben Judah" (1886), in: Ocherki i Razskazy (vol. 3, 18942)) he not only condemns persecution of the Jews, but has his Jewish protagonist voice the view that the Jews will achieve equality through armed struggle, and only then will human brotherhood prevail. Antisemitic prejudice is mocked in gentle tones in Sudny den ("The Day of Atonement"), in Ocherki i Razskazy, 1888–942 (Brit. ed. The Murmuring Forest; 1916) and in Makar's Dream, a fantastic tale in the Gogolian tradition, while Dom Nomer 13 ("House No. 13," 1903) is an angry denunciation of the murderous pogrom in *Kishinev. Korolenko's prolific journalistic writings include numerous articles about the notorious blood-libel trial of Mendel *Beilis in 1913.
bibliography:
F. Haeusler, in: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther Universitaet, Halle-Wittenberg, 10:1 (1961), 237–48; ye, 9 (c. 1910), 771.
[Maurice Friedberg]