Gordlevsky Vladimir Aleksandrovich
7 October [ 25 September] 1876, Sveaborg (Suomenlinna, Finland) — 10 September 1956, Moscow
Biography, education, career:
In 1907–1918 Vladimir Gordlevsky taught Turkish and the history of Turkish literature at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, which was later reorganized into Moscow Institute of Oriental Languages, where, in 1918–1948, he occupied the position of Professor. During the First World War, as a correspondent of Russkiye Vedomosti (a Russian liberal daily newspaper) and a military translator, he visited the Caucasus Front. In 1938–1956 he was a senior researcher and Head of the Department of Languages and Literature of the Near and Middle East, Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR AS. In the last years of his life Gordlevsky worked on his monograph on the history of Medieval Istanbul. Upon his death, according to Gordlevsky’s last will, his vast collection of books was donated to the Institute of Oriental Studies. In 1958, this collection was included as a structural unit in the Institute of Oriental Studies in the form of a Memorial library by a special decision of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences.
Areas of expertise: History and ethnography of Turkic peoples; Folklore studies; History and ethnography of the peoples of the Near and Middle East