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Zinaida Mirkina

Russian poet (1926–2018)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ4295664 ↗
Source-derived summary

Zinaida Alexandrovna Mirkina (Russian: Зинаида Александровна Миркина; 10 January 1926 – 21 September 2018) was a Russian essayist, translator and philosopher. She was an awardee of the Bjørnson Prize of the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression for "extensive contribution to strengthening the freedom of expression in Russia."

Life

Zinaida Mirkina was born on 10 January 1926 in Moscow. Her parents were Alexander Mirkin, an engineer, and Alexandra Mirkina, an economist. Her grandfather, Aaron Mirkin, had been a watchmaker in Saint Petersburg. Her family was Jewish.

Mirkina attended the philological department of Moscow University from 1943 to 1948. She wrote her thesis but was unable to write the state examinations on account of a debilitating illness that made her bedridden for five years and left her partially blind. Though she had grown up in an ardent Communist family, she experienced a spiritual split between the historical optimism of Bolshevism and an understanding of life's essential tragedy.

Mirkina was married to the philosopher Grigory Pomerants. She died in Moscow on 21 September 2018.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Zinaida Mirkina” is russian poet (1926–2018). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zinaida, Mirkina and Russian, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1926, 2018, 1943, 1948—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1926-01-10. For this dossier, Zinaida, Mirkina and Russian is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “russian poet (1926–2018)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4295664. VIAF identifies the subject as 69154490. The Library of Congress control number is no94022469. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1926, 2018, 1943 and 1948.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Zinaida Mirkina”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Zinaida Mirkina primary sources, Zinaida Mirkina archive and Zinaida research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zinaida Mirkina”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Zinaida Mirkina” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.