The Death of Nero

Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin (October 18, 1872-March 1, 1936) was a multi-faceted artist living in St. Petersburg Russia contributing to the fields of theatre, literature and music as a playwright, critic, novelist, poet, and composer. He is most often credited as the author of the first coming out novel Wings (Kryl’ia) in 1906. Unlike most queer writers of his time, Kuzmin avoided coding his characters, and is marked as one of the earliest writers of overt homoeroticism. His works are often labelled unclassifiable as he moved from one genre to another. Kuzmin’s father, Aleksey Alekseevich, was a naval officer, settling in Yaroslavl after retirement as a judicial official. The nobility of Kuzmin’s family stems from his mother, Nadezhda Dmitrievna (née Federova), the daughter of an inspector at the Imperial Theatre School. The theatrical legacy on his maternal side goes back to the famous French actor Jean Aufresne, who was known for his portrayals in Voltaire’s plays in Paris, later recommended by Voltaire to Catherine the Great to perform in her court and to assist with the education of theatre under the new systems of public education founded by the Empress. It is important to note the spelling of his surname, which marks his nobility as opposed to the commoner name of Kuz’min, something the playwright was adamant about during his life. Figure 1 Mikhail Kuzmin 1911 - Photographer Unknown Early Life