Thomas R. Beyer, Jr. is the C.V.Starr Professor of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, USA.
I first met Swetlana Mikhailovna Geier in December of 1980 after an exchange of letters concerning her translation of Bely’ s Воспоминания о Штейнере (Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner) into German as Verwandeln des Lebens. The gracious welcome and invitation to stay over and work in her guest room, that she referred to perhaps jokingly as the Bely Room, permitted me to inspect the books that she had there – primarily those connected to Andrei Bely and his wife, Asya Turgeneva-Bugaeva. Over the years Swetlana Mikhailovna was extremely generous with her time and help for my own translations of Bely into English. She was ever an inspiration, colleague, friend and mentor.
For the past thirty eight years he has taught Russian language and literature. He is the author of over twenty books, including two translations of works by Bely into English (The Christened Chinaman and Glossolalia), the editor of the Middlebury Studies in Russian Language and Literature, and a specialist on Russian emigre literature and Dan Brown. He has also worked extensively on the application of information technology to pedagogy.
A brief list of publications related to Andrei Bely, Rudolf Steiner, Asya Turgeneva and Russian Berlin in the 1920s is provided with links to those texts:
“Andrej Belyj’s Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner: A Review Article.” Slavic and East European Journal, XXV, 4 (Winter, 1981), 76-86. (this article corrected the false opinions and opened the eyes of those who did not know German of the true significance of Rudolf Steiner for Andrei Bely. The article also describes in detail the response of Asya to Fedor Stepun in the Russian journal, Mosty. (http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/REmSteiner.pdf)
“First Meeting with Rudolph Steiner: A Letter from Andrei Belyi to Aleksandr Blok (May 14, 1912).” Trans. and notes by Cindy Young and Thomas R. Beyer, Jr. Journal for Anthroposophy, XXXIV (Autumn, 1981), 70-76. Reprinted in Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner, ed. Chisty Barnes (Adonis: 1987), pp. 75-81.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/BelyBlokSteiner.pdf)
“Andrej Belyj’s ‘Geteanum’.” Andrej Belyj Society Newsletter, III (1984), 18-27.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/BelyBull/belynews3.pdf)
“The Russian House of the Arts and Writers’ Club: Berlin 1921-1923.” in Russian Berlin: Publishers and Writers. (Berlin Verlag: 1987), 9-38.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/berlinhouseofarts.pdf)
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/berlinhouseofarts2.pdf)
“Belyj and Steiner: The Berlin Period 1921-1923.” Andrej Belyj Society Newsletter, 6 (1987), 13-26.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/BelyBull/belynews6a.pdf)
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/BelyBull/belynews6b.pdf)
“Andrej Bely’s First and Last Encounters with Rudolf Steiner: Two Letters to Marie von-Sivers.” Journal for Anthroposophy, XLVI (Winter 1987), 71-76.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/BelySteinerletters.pdf)
“Zwischen Moskau und Goetheanum—Andrej Belyj,” in Deutsche und Deutschland in der russischen Lyrik, ed. Lew Kopelew (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1988) 41-58.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/sonderdruck.pdf)
“Andrej Belyj — the Berlin Years 1921-1923.” Zeitschrift fuer Slavische Philologie, L (1990), 90-142. (This article also provides the first accurate portrayal of Bely in Berlin and his encounters with Dr. Steiner and Asya.)
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/BelYBerlin1.pdf)
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/BelyBerlin2.pdf)
“Andrej Belyj — The Berlin Years 1921-1923.” Andrej Belyj Society Newsletter, 9 (1990), 26-28.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/BelyBull/belynews9a.pdf)
Andrei Bely. The Christened Chinaman. Translated, annotated and introduced by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr. (Hermitage Publishers: 1991). A free electronic version is available.)
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/cc/index.htm)
“Andrej Belyjs Rußland in Berlin” in Russische Emigration in Deutschland 1918 bis 1941, ed. Karl Schlögel (Akademie Verlag: 1995) , pp. 311-322.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/russischeemigration.pdf)
“Marina Cvetaeva and Andrej Belyj: Razluka and Posle Razluki.” Wiener Slawistischer Almanach, 35 (1995), 97-132.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/CvetaevaART.pdf)
“Andrej Belyj’s Glossalolija: A Berlin Glossolalia.” Europa Orientalis, XIV, 2 (1995), 7-25.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/GlossART.pdf)
“One More Note on Glossolalia” Andrej Belyj Society Newsletter, XIV (1997-98),
19-20.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/BelyBull/belynews14.pdf)
Andrei Bely. Glossolalia. An electronic Russian-English edition. Translated, annotated and introduced by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr. (www.middlebury.edu/~beyer/gl/intro.html: 2001). (Side by side–Russian-English–translation with valuable links to extensive notes).
Andrej Belyj Glossolalie —Poema über den Laut/Glossolalia: A Poem about Sound. Trilingual edition, German and English translations, and Russian original edited by Taja Gut. Translated from the Russian with Notes and an Introduction by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr. (Dornach: Pforte Verlag, 2003).
“Russia’s Odd Couple: Andrej Belyj and Aleksej Remizov.” Russian Literature, LVIII (2005), 1-27.
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/oddcouple.pdf)
(http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/articlespdf/oddcouple2.pdf)