Boris Ostanin, writer and translator, died in St. Petersburg

In St. Petersburg, at the age of 76, Boris Ostanin, writer, essayist, editor, translator, literary figure, died. Author of more than ten books.

Boris Ostanin. Brief information

Born into the family of a military pilot. In 1961 he moved with his mother to Leningrad. Graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of Leningrad University, Department of Logic. Worked as a watchman, elevator operator, boiler room operator, etc.

Since 1976, he was co-editor (together with Boris Ivanov) of the samizdat magazine “Clocks”. He was one of the founders (1978) of the Andrei Bely Prize, and remained a member of its committee until the end of his life. In 1992-1997 was the editor-in-chief of the Chernyshev Publishing House (St. Petersburg), and later collaborated as an editor and consultant with the publishing houses Amphora and Palmyra.

He published in samizdat (under various pseudonyms) and, after 1990, in periodicals a number of critical articles about modern Russian poetry. Author of four books of aphorisms. He translated from English and French the prose and drama of A. Camus, E. Ionesco, J. Genet, K. McCullers, C. Castaneda and others, as well as (together with V. Kucheryavkin) “The Tibetan Book of the Dead” and the monograph by V. Markov “History of Russian Futurism”.

By Editor

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