Dubashinsky Iosif Abramovich (1919-2007)

Dubashinsky Iosif Abramovich (May 18, 1919, Novoukrainka – April 9, 2007, Daugavpils) — professor, habilitated doctor of philology.

Having just enrolled at MIFLI (Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History — a classmate of poets Pavel Kogan and David Samoilov), Iosif Dubashinsky left to serve at the front: first in a cavalry regiment, then in a tank corps, and later trained at a military interpreter school, mastering the German language. He was decorated with the Orders of Alexander Nevsky, the Patriotic War, the Red Star, among others.

In 1949, he graduated from the Philology Faculty of Moscow State University (specializing in philology, English language instruction, and Western literature), followed by postgraduate studies at MSU. Due to the anti-Semitic campaign in 1951, he relocated to Daugavpils, where he worked in the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature at the Philology Faculty of the Daugavpils Pedagogical Institute: until 1957 as senior lecturer, 1957–1974 as associate professor, and from 1974 to 1994 as professor. He also headed the department from 1960 to 1970.

In 1957, Iosif Dubashinsky defended his candidate dissertation at MSU on American literature, and in 1971, his doctoral dissertation titled “Swift’s Satire”, which was nostrified by the Latvian Academy of Sciences in 1992. He published nine monographs and contributed to academic journals and collected volumes. In 1994, to mark his 75th birthday, the department released a Philological Collection in his honor.

After retiring in 1994, Dubashinsky continued participating in university life: he was a member of the Habilitation Council, published in departmental collections, and took part in academic seminars and conferences.

He was not only a renowned scholar but also a man of rich personal life — a devoted husband and father (wife Lilia, sons Mikhail and Mark), a witty conversationalist, a connoisseur of fine art, wine, chess, and sport, a lover of animals, and an aspiring writer. His humorous improvisations, epigrams, and festive poems remain preserved in the department’s archive.

Selected works:

Вильям Шекспир (William Shakespeare), Moscow, 1965, 1978

Памфлеты Свифта (Swift's Pamphlets), Riga, 1968

Путешествия Гулливера Джонатона Свифта (Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels), Moscow, 1969

Поэма Д.Байрона «Паломничество Чайльд Гарольда» (Byron’s Poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”), Riga, 1975

Сага о Форсайтах Джона Голсуорси (The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy), Moscow, 1979

Роман Байрона Дон Жуан (Byron’s Novel “Don Juan”), Moscow, 1976

Роман Ч.П. Сноу Коридоры власти (C.P. Snow’s Novel “Corridors of Power”), Moscow, 1984

Вальтер Скот (Walter Scott), Moscow, 1993

Сорок лет спустя (Forty Years Later), 1997

Source: Daugavpils pedagoģiskā Universitāte. Pētniecība un zinātne 80 gados/ Biogrāfisks rādītājs. 1991-2000 Daugavpils/ DPU izdevniecība «Saule». 2001.24. lpp.