Slavic Prof. Taranovsky Dies

Kiril Taranovsky, professor emeritus of Slavic languages and a renowned scholar of Slavic languages and Russian poetry, died of cardiac arrest Monday in his home in Arlington, Mass. He was 82.

Taranovsky first came to Harvard from Belgrade as a visiting professor for the academic year 1958-59. After teaching at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1959 to 1963, he returned to Harvard, where he remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1981.

His work at Harvard inspired the intellectual pursuits of many others. "It was after his teaching that I began to write on [Liubov] Pustilnik and others," said Bayara Aroutunova, also a professor emeritus of Slavic languages and a friend of the family.

"His thinking could even be called the Taranovsky school; it was he who introduced the concept of versification into Slavic poetry," she said.

Taranovsky, who was born in what is now Tartu, Estonia, grew up in Tartu, St. Petersburg and Kharkov. His father, a professor of Slavic law, emigrated with his family to Yugoslavia soon after the Bolshevik revolution.

After graduating from a Belgrade high school in 1919, Taranovsky went on to receive a law degree from the University of Belgrade in 1933, according to a statement issued by his family. Deciding that he did not wish to pursue a career in law, he returned to the university and got a degree in Slavic languages in 1936.

Taranovsky wrote extensively. One of his better known books is Essays on Mandelstam, about the poet Osip Mandelstam, whose works were banned by Stalin and who died in a Siberian concentration camp.

Fluent in all Slavic languages, Taranovsky translated Russian poetry and drama into various Slavic dialects. He also published in English, French and German.

Taranovsky's impact on the scientific study of poetry is perhaps best reflected in Slavic Poetics, the compilation dedicated to him on his 60th birthday. The anthology contains contributions from 51 former students and colleagues.

Taranovsky is survived by his wife and two children.