Aldanov, Mark

Related Category: Russian and Eastern European Literature: Biographies

(märk əldä´nəf), pseud. of Mark Aleksandrovich Landau(əlyĭksän´drəvyĭch ləndou´), 1886–1957, Russian writer. Aldanov earned degrees in chemistry and law. He took part in the Revolution of 1917, after which he emigrated to France, where he wrote novels about social conflict. These include The Thinker, a tetralogy on the events of the era 1793–1821, comprising The Ninth Thermidor (1923, tr. 1926), The Devil's Bridge (1925, tr. 1928), The Conspiracy (1927), and St. Helena: Little Island (1921, tr. 1924). The Tenth Symphony (1931, tr. 1948) concerns Vienna in Beethoven's time. The Fifth Seal (1939, tr. 1943) portrays the decay of revolutionary idealism during the Spanish civil war. Aldanov describes the clash between Soviet and American ideologies in Nightmare and Dawn (tr. 1957). Among his last works are A Night at the Airport (tr. 1949) and The Escape (tr. 1950). He visited the United States in 1941, returning to France shortly before his death.