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Natalya Yevgenevna Semper (Sokolova) (Russian: Натáлья Евгéньевна Сéмпер (Соколóва)) (1911-1995) was a translator, artist and memoirist. == Biography and works == Descendant of an old Moscow family (related through her father to the brothers Polyakov, Promyshlenniki fur traders and patrons),〔See (Поляковы. Главная родословная. Богородские и московские купцы ) (Polyakovs. Main line of descent. Merchants of Bogorod and Moscow.〕 she was the daughter of Y.G. Sokolov, a Moscow artst and T.A. Evert, a ballerina at the Bolshoi Theater. She was a precociously gifted child, mastering several European and Oriental languages, studied philosophy and Eastern cultures, wrote poetry and drew. Considering her name too ordinary, she invented the pseudonym Nelly Semper for herself at 15, which she later used as a professional pseudonym and which was also used by some works of a distinct English traveller. The pseudonym was an important part of her development and accompanied her for the rest of her life. She wrote memoirs about her academic and dramatic life of Moscow in the 1920s and 30s: studies for the Higher Degree in Modern Languages at the second Moscow State University (ВКНЯ; 1928-1930) and the Moscow State Linguistic University (МИНЯ), employment as a translator and reviewer for the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS; 1935-1938), as well as for the author Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky.〔N.E. Semper. 1990. ''Человек из Небытия: Воспоминания о С. Д. Кржижановском. 1942—1949'' (Man about Nothing: Recollections of Krzhizhanovsky)〕 She also wrote about her imprisonment in a single cell in the Lubyanka during the Great Patriotic War, forced labour on the construction of the Moscow Canal in the gulag.〔First fragments published in the journal ''Fraternity of peoples'' (See (''Anninsky, L.'' Десять лет, которые растрясли мир (Ten years which shook up the World): ''Fraternity of Peoples'', 1989—1999 )); collected in: 〕 Written shortly before her death, these memoirs are unfinished (the narrative cuts off before 1959). ''N.E. Semper''〔Эти записки предназначены для возможного читателя XXIII века, интересующегося нашей эпохой (если человечество будет жить и читать). Я не касаюсь мировых событий и великих людей — о них историки напишут немало. <…> Я только среднего уровня «свидетель перемен», так сказать фотограф от литературы, решивший заснять своё ближайшее окружение. <…> Мне жаль всех живших, навсегда утративших имя, бесследно утонувших в потоке истории «от Ромула до наших дней». Каждая личность — фасетка, зеркальце, отражающее действительность.〕 Prison and the gulag not only did not break her, it made her more indomitable ("An entirely interesting life" ... "I love work, and the natural life in the camp was remarkable. And what a variety of people!"), as she became experienced in finding joy and unity with the world: "That shoot of wheat from the dead body of Osiris, suddenly germinated in me the will to live... I began to bring orger to internal chaos, to remove piles of collapsed debris and to clear a space for construction" ; "One can infuse compassion in every step, share sympathetic joy with no one, but it is hardly ever done. Most people associate optimism with egoism, enjoying life with a healthy body, and reject this gift". She was released in April 1955. For people, accustomed "to fight for survival in the wild and to their own company, reduced to nothing" ... "the transition to normal life was sometimes more difficult than staying in the Archipelago." Acquaintances expected to see an "emaciated 'goner' with a bruised soul, but a returned to their life like wine fermented, astoundingly joyful and happy.". After she returned from the camp, she earned a living teaching English, German and French, producing summaries for the Institute of Academic Information on Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, doing writing work, etc. She wrote regular Egyptological literature reviews in the ''Journal of Ancient History''.〔(Египтологический изборник ) (Egyptological Miscellany)〕 She "always preferred physical difficulties - the 'yoke' - and for that reason never served," and thought that she "lived the life of a happy person, full of youth's interesting events, catastrophes, gains, losses... lived just as she wished, despite material and day-to-day difficulties.". The memoirs of N.E. Semper (Sokolova) circulated in the samizdat; the autograph is stored in the Manuscripts department of the State Literature Museum. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Natalya Yevgenevna Semper」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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