Abstract: Life of Great People is a series published byRussia’s Youth Guard Press. It boasts the longest history and the widest coverage of its kind among Russian publishers. This paper investigates the history of the series, putting priority on the twenty-year development after the disintegration of theSoviet Union. Through analyzing and summarizing issues like subjects, biographers, forms and prize-awarding systems, the paper illustrates the florescence of Russian life writing so as to promote the Chinese readers’ understanding of best Russian biographies as well as a profile of the recent development of Russian life writing.

Key words: Life of Great People; subject; biographer

Zhang Lei is Leturer in College of Foreign Language at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Doctoral candidate in Russian Literature in College of Foreign Lanague at Nanjing University, China. Her dissertation focuses on Russian contemporary life studies.