Tynyanov Yury Nikolaevich (Nasonovich; 1894, Rezhitsa, Vitebsk Governorate, now Rēzekne, Latvia – 1943, Moscow), Russian writer and literary scholar. His father, Nason Tynyanov (1862–1924), was a physician; his mother, Sora Khasa Epstein (1868–1940), was co-owner of a tannery. Tynyanov was a second cousin of V. Zhirmunsky. In childhood he was taught Hebrew, about which he later wrote: “At seven years old — guttural ancient Hebrew grammar, unlike human language” (cf. O. Mandelstam, “The Noise of Time,” chapter “Jewish Chaos”). In 1912 he completed gymnasium in Pskov with a silver medal, forming lifelong friendships with the brothers L. Zilber and V. Kaverin, whose sister Liya became his wife (1916). In 1912–18 he studied in the Slavic-Russian section of the historical-philological faculty of St. Petersburg University and was active in S. Vengerov's Pushkin seminar. In 1919 he completed the university and was retained at the department of Russian literature. In 1918 he joined the Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOYAZ), founded in 1917 by Brik, Shklovsky, Eikhenbaum, Jakobson, and Yakubinsky; from 1920 — secretary of the Society. In 1921–30 — professor at the State Institute of Art History.
In 1921 he published “Dostoyevsky and Gogol”; expounding a new theory of parody, Tynyanov developed it into a general conception of literary evolution as irreconcilable struggle between literary generations and movements (collected articles “Archaists and Innovators,” Leningrad, 1929). The foundational theory of the semantics of literary speech was elaborated in “The Problem of Verse Language” (Leningrad, 1924). He appeared as a critic of current literature, applying his model of literary dynamics: the articles “The Interlude” (1924, with significant sections on Pasternak and Mandelstam), “200,000 Metres of Ilya Ehrenburg” (1924), “To Lev Lunts” (1925), and others.
As a prose writer he debuted with the story “Brooks's Parrot (From the Tsaritsyn Chronicles)” (journal “Leningrad,” 1925, Nos. 26–27; under the pseudonym Yuzef Motl, apparently alluding to a Sholem Aleichem character), in which he described the Jewish milieu of a provincial town (childhood impressions of Rezhitsa). In the same year the novel “Kyukhlya” was published about V. Küchelbecker, whose work Tynyanov began studying in Vengerov's Pushkin seminar and later edited for publication (V. Küchelbecker, “Lyrics and Poems,” vols. 1–2, Leningrad, 1939). This was followed by a series of historical works in which scholarship and artistic creation organically merged: the novel “The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar” (1927–28; separate edition 1929) about A. Griboyedov; the tales “Second Lieutenant Kizhe” (1928; film 1934) about the era of Paul I; “The Wax Person” (1931) about Peter I; “The Minor Vitushishnikov” (1933) about the era of Nicholas I; the novel “Pushkin” (parts 1–3, 1935–43, unfinished). Many of Tynyanov's plans were never realized, including those connected with Jewish themes — above all, memoirs of Rezhitsa (“some six hours from the birthplaces of Mikhoels and Chagall”): Hasidic disputes, Purim plays, emigration to America, and the like. This material is partly reflected in his “Autobiography” (1939). He had planned a novel “The Samoyed King” about Peter I's court jester Lacosta (see Jan d'Acosta), whom he intended to compare with Uriel Acosta, his fellow townsman (Amsterdam) and also a Portuguese Marrano Jew. In the novel he proposed to depict Jewish figures of the Petrine era: court physician Daniel Gaden (died 1682), P. Shafirov, Count A. Divyera (1682–1745), the Yevreinov brothers, and the Veselovsky brothers.
Tynyanov wrote screenplays for the films “The Overcoat” (1926) and “SVD” (1927, jointly with Yu. Oksman) and articles on the history of cinema (“On the Foundations of Cinema,” 1927, and others). From 1926 he published translations of Heine's poems (separate editions 1927, 1933, 1934) and other poets; he was one of the creators of the book series “The Poet's Library.”
The last fifteen years of his life were clouded by progressive multiple sclerosis and by the fear of encroaching state terror (in 1937 he destroyed part of his archive and attempted suicide). In 1939 Tynyanov, together with V. Kaverin and others, attempted to petition for review of the cases of the repressed L. Zilber, Yu. Oksman, and N. Zabolotsky.