Samuel Koteliansky (1880-1955) fled the pogroms of Russia in 1911 and established himself as a friend of many of Britain's literati and intellectuals, who were fascinated by his homeland's more civilized side: the Ballets Russes, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov. Kot, as he was known, soon became an indispensable guide to Russian culture for England's leading writers, artists, and intellectuals, who in turn helped introduce British audiences to Russian works. A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury looks at the remarkable life and influence that an outsider had on the tightly knit circle of Britain's cultural elite. Among Koteliansky's friends were Katherine Mansfield, Leonard and Virginia Woolf - for whose Hogarth Press he translated many Russian classics - Mark Gertler, Lady Ottoline Morrell, H.G. Wells, and Dilys Powell. But it was his close and turbulent friendship with D.H. Lawrence, with whom he had copious correspondence, that proved to be Koteliansky's lasting legacy. In a lively and vibrant narrative, Galya Diment shows how, despite Kot's determination, he could never shake off the dark aspects of his past or overcome the streak of anti-Semitism that ran through British society and could be found in many of his famous literary friends. A stirring account of the early twentieth century, Jewish emigre life, and English and Russian letters, A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury casts new light - and shadows - on the giants of English modernism. Galya Diment is professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Thomas L. & Margo G. Wyckoff Endowed Faculty Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle. She is the author of, among others, Pniniad: Vladimir Nabokov and Marc Szeftel (1997). Now, at long last, Kot has been made the subject of a full-size biography. Galya Diment makes ample use of previously unpublished material, often held in private archives, to give the fullest picture yet of Kot's controversial personality." -- Times Literary Supplement "Galya Diment's handsome biography delivers the voice of the man as well as the complexity of his life. He could hardly have asked for a more rigorous and thoughtful scholar to write his biography." -- Woolf Studies Annual "We owe Galya Diment... a debt of gratitude for the exhaustive way she has brought to life a genuine part of London's literati scene at a vital time." -- Camden New Journal "[A]n engrossing and illuminating full-length biography by Nabokov scholar Galya Diment.... It is a strength of this book that the author confronts the flaws in her subject's character and engages the reader in the poignancy of his life." -- Virginia Woolf Bulletin " Diment's sensitivity and interest in her subject stem from her own self-described love of English literature; her research (traveling to modern-day Ukraine...); her own family's legacy as Leningrad Jews who experienced, survived and left the Soviet Union.... With rabbinic ancestry on her father's side and Bolshevik on her mother's, Diment presents a mixture of differing Jewish experiences..." -- JTNews Galya Diment's biography... certainly makes an important contribution to Lawrence studies as well as to cultural histories of the period" -- D.H. Lawrence Review "Rather than interpret her subject's choices, Diment simply lays them out for readers, to make of them what they will. While it may seem odd to write the biography of such an intensely private man, the quirkiness of Kot, plus the catty intimacy of Bloomsbury, add up to a surprisingly engaging read." -- Jewish Book Council "The greatness of A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury is how easily and fully it immerses you not into the stream of Kot's mind but the relationships that constituted his world." -- The Stranger "Endlessly fascinating to those who are interested in these two topics: English literature of the early twentieth century, especially D. H. Lawrence and the minutiae of the personal lives and relationships of some members of the Bloomsbury group; and what it meant to be a Jew in Russia, both before and after the revolution, as well as in England in the first half of the twentieth century." -- Slavic Review "vibrant and meticulous volume that is in itself a model in the art of biography" -- Virginia Woolf Miscellany How a Russian Jew from a small shtetl befriended and influenced Britain's turn-of-the-century cultural and literary elite. "Vividly written, A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury fills the gap in understanding why England's writers and artists were drawn to the difficult and a colorful occupant of 5 Acacia Road." -- George Zytaruk, author of The Quest for Rananim: D. H. Lawrence's Letters to S.S. Koteliansky "Galya Diment's A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury makes a genuine contribution to English literary culture in the first half of the 20th century." -- Keith Cushman, author of D. H. Lawrence at Work Galya Diment is professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Thomas L. & Margo G. Wyckoff Endowed Faculty Fellow at the University