Roman Borisovich Gul

Roman Borisovich Gul (Russian Рома́н Бори́сович Гуль, occasionally transliterated Goul or Gul') (born 13 August 1896 Kiev, died 30 June 1986 New York City) was a Russian émigré writer who was prominent in the White Movement.

Biography

Gul was into the family of a notary and spent his childhood in Penza and on his family estate of Ramsay near Penza. He completed the 1st Penza Gymnasium (grammar school) and went to study at the Law Faculty of the Moscow State University in 1914.

Gul was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army in 1916 and served with the infantry on the South Western Front becoming a company commander in the 417th Kinburn Regiment.

In 1917, after the October Revolution, Gul joined the Kornilov Shock regiment of the White Volunteer Army. He participated in the Ice March and was wounded. He was captured by Ukrainian nationalists and imprisoned in late 1918. In 1919 he was transferred to Germany and settled in Berlin in 1920 becoming a writer.

In the 1920s Gul wrote for the magazines; Nakanune (Накануне), Zhizn na Fuksa (Жизнь на фукса), and acted as a correspondent for several Soviet newspapers. He also worked on the magazines; Zhizn «Жизнь», Vremeni «Времени», Russkom Emigrante «Русском эмигранте» and Golose Rossiyi «Голосе России»

After the Nazis came to power in 1933 Gul was arrested and put into a concentration camp but was freed later in 1933 and emigrated to Paris. In France he wrote for the magazines: Poslednikh Novostyakh Последних новостях», «Illustratsivannaya Rossiya «Иллюстрированной России», Sovremmnenny Zapiski «Современных записках». During the Nazi occupation of France Gul went into hiding and avoided arrest working on a farm in southern France and in a glass factory.

Gul emigrated to the USA in 1950 and worked for the Novyy Zhoulnal becoming chief editor in 1966. Gul died of a lung infection in 1986 and is buried in Spring Valley, California.

Works

In Russian Language

References