Sasha Chernyi Biography

Sasha Chorny (alternative spelling Cherny) , real name Alexander Mikhailovich Glickberg, (13 October 1880 N.S. – 5 July 1932) was a Russian poet, satirist and children's writer.

On moving to Saint Petersburg, he worked an administrative job for the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway. There he met his wife, Maria Ivanovna Vasilieva, who was his manager at the railroad. She was a few years older than he, better educated, and richer. In Cherny's verse, marriage to a co-worker was often noted as the worst fate for a person. Despite this, their marriage seemed to have been a happy one and lasted their whole lives.

They spent their honeymoon in Italy, in 1905. After returning to Saint Petersburg, Alexander published a collection of verse titled Nonsense (Чепуха) in the magazine Zritel using the nom de plume Sasha Cherny. The magazine was closed by the government as a result of these verses, but their effect on the readers was huge. The verses were distributed throughout the country, rewritten by hand, and Cherny soon became a popular and sought after author.

Between 1906 and 1907, Sasha Cherny lived in Germany and studied at the University of Heidelberg. In 1908, he returned to Saint Petersburg and wrote for the popular magazine Satirikon to wide popular acclaim. When somebody gets an issue of the magazine, the first things he looks for are the Sasha Cherny poems. There isn't a student, physician, or lawyer that does not know Cherny's verses by heart, wrote Korney Chukovsky, who was also a Satirikon contributor. Among the admirers of his verses was Vladimir Mayakovsky, who knew many of his poems by heart and often recited them. In 1910, Sasha Cherny published his book of verses, Satires, followed in 1911 by another one, Satires and Lyrics. He also published the children's books Tuk-Tuk (Knock-Knock) in 1913 and Live ABC (1914).