Kirpichnikov Aleksander

Kirpichnikov Aleksander (1845–1903) – philologist, historian of literature.

He fifnished the Fifth Moscow Gymnasium and enrolled at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the Moscow University; he graduated from it in 1865, and became a teacher of that gymnasium, where he learnt. Then, in 1871, he went to Germany, where he defended his Master thesis in Literature ‘An Attempt of Comparative Studying Western and Russian Epics: Poems of the Lombardian Cycle’ (publ. in Moscow, 1873).

He was invited at the Chair of the History of World literature at the Kharkov University (1873-1877). In 1878-1879, he travelled in Europe, in 1879, he defended his Doctor thesis ‘St George and Egorius the Brave: Research in the Literary History of a Christian Legend’ (publ. in St. Petersburg, 1879) at the St. Petersburg University. Since 1879, he was Full Professor of the Kharkov University; since 1885 – Full Professor of the Novorossiisky university in Odessa; since 1894 – Non-Staff Professor of the History of World Literature at the Moscow University; since 1898 – Full Professor there; in 1899-1902 – Dean of the Historical Faculty. Honoured Professor of the Moscow University (1900).

Since 1889, he was Curator of the Department if Pre-historic and Christian Antiquities of the Rumiantsev Museum; in 1902, he got a position of Librarian at the same museum.

In 1894, K. was elected for Correspondent Member of the Ac. of Sc. He was awarded with orders of St Stanislaw of the III and II level, memorial medals, twice – with Pushkin medals of the Ac. of Sc. for his research.

He died in Moscow and was buried at the Vagan’kovskoe Cemetery.

Compositions

Syntax of Russian Language in the Context of Spelling. Moscow, Grachev and Co Typography, 1869. (42 republ; the last one in 1917) (in Rus.)
The History of Russian Literature (for pupils). Moscow, Grachev and Co Typography, 1869. (in Rus.)
Greek Novels in the New Literature: Tale on Varlaam and Johasaphus. Kharkov University, 1876. (in Rus.)
Iconography of the Ascention of Christ. Odessa, Schulze Typography, 1887. (in Rus.)
An Essay on the History of Chersonesus and Its Role in the Christening of Rus’ // Istoricheskyi vestnik, 1888, vol. 33, No 9, pp. 602-614. (in Rus.)
St George and Egorius the Brave: Research in the Literary History of a Christian Legend. St. Petersburg, V. S. Balashev Typography, 1879. (in Rus.)
What Do We Know For Sure about the Personal Gods of Slavs? St. Petersburg, 1885. (in Rus.)
By the Iconography of the Pentecost. St. Petersburg, Volchaninov Typography, 1893. (in Rus.)
By the Issue of Old Russian Skomorokhs. St. Petersburg, Ac. of Sc., 1895. (in Rus.)
The History of World Literature: Lectures. Moscow, Torchigin Typography, 1898. (in Rus.)
Essays in the History of Modern Russian Literature, in 2 vol. Moscow, Knizhnoe delo Publishing House, 1903. (in Rus.)

About him

Aleksander Ivanovich Kirpichnikov: Obituary // Report of the Rumiantsev Museum for 1903. Moscow, 1904, pp. 5-8. (in Rus.)
Vengerov S. А. Kirpichnikov Aleksander Ivanovich // Encyclopedic Lexicon of Brockhaus and Ephron, in 86 vol. St. Petersburg, 1895, vol. XV, p. 129. (in Rus.)
Kirpichnikov // Small Encyclopedic Lexicon of Brockhaus and Ephron, in 4 vol. St. Petersburg, 1907‒1909. (in Rus.)
Volkov V. А., Kulikova М. V., Loginov V. S. Moscow Professors of the Eighteenth ‒ Early Twentieth Centuries: Humanitarian and Social Studies. Moscow, Yanus-K Publishing House, 2006, pp. 126‒127. (in Rus.)
Kondratenko А. I. The Life and Works by Prof. A. I. Kirpichnikov: By the 170th Anniversary // Izvestiya of the Russian Ac. of Sc.: Seria of Literature and Language. 2015, vol. 74, No 3, pp. 50‒58. (in Rus.)

M. Sh.