Merezhkovski, Dmitri Sergeevich (1865–1941)

Russian writer and religious philosopher. His chief influence was as a popularizer of French Symbolism in the 1890s, promoter of a ‘new religious consciousness’ after 1900, and prophet of a religious revolution after 1905. His poetry includes Simvoly/Symbols 1892; he also wrote drama, essays, novels, and translations.

In 1893 Merezhkovski published the influential essay ‘On the Reasons for the Decline and on the New Trends in Contemporary Russian Literature’, criticizing populist realist literature and advocating Symbolism and a literature of the transcendant. He also helped to introduce the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche to Russia. His novels include Julian the Apostate 1896 and Leonardo da Vinci 1901.

With his wife Zinaida Hippius and Dmitri Filosofov, Merezhkovski founded the Petersburg Religious-Philosophical Society in 1901. After the Russian Revolution, Merezhkovski and his wife lived in Paris.