Adelina Adalis-Efron was a poet and translator associated with the literary world of the Silver Age and a representative of the Southwestern School of poetry.

Early Life

Adelina was born in 1900 in St. Petersburg into the family of an engineer and a ballerina at the Mariinsky Theatre.

After the early deaths of her parents, she was left an orphan. At the age of five, she was taken to Odessa by the Efron family, relatives on her mother's side. From then on, she was known as Adelina Yefimovna Efron.

Odessa

In Odessa, Adelina received her education and began writing poetry at an early age, composing her first verses when she was just thirteen.

She joined the literary group Collective of Poets and participated in the gatherings of Odessa's bohemian circles. Her acquaintances included many figures from the city's vibrant literary community.

It was during these years that her poetic style began to take shape, along with her growing interest in Symbolism.

Pyotr Yershov, one of the members of the literary circle, described her appearance:
“Outwardly exotic, with an Egyptian profile and long, pointed fingernails the colour of black blood.”

The artist Yevgeny Oks, who knew Adelina during those years, added another striking portrait:
“The Siren had green eyes and ash-blue hair. She was a creature of a hostile and treacherous sex.”

Siren was the nickname her friends gave her.

The poet and writer Zinaida Shishova also recalled Adelina in her writing, describing her as:
“...the dazzling liar Adelina Adalis.”

The scene was Odessa in 1920, a city whose literary life brought together some of the most original and unconventional voices of the period.

Literary Career

In the early 1920s, Adelina moved to Moscow, where she became part of the literary circle surrounding the prominent Symbolist poet Valery Bryusov.

A close personal and creative relationship developed between them. With Bryusov's support, she established a prominent position in Moscow's literary community.

In 1921, she became head of the First State Professional School of Poetics. She also worked within the People's Commissariat for Education and taught at literary educational institutions.

Portrait of the poet Adelina Adalis by Mykola Kostienko, 1920s.

Central Asia

After Valery Bryusov's death, Adelina Adalis travelled to Central Asia as a correspondent, remaining there until 1931. Her impressions of the region formed the basis of The Sand Campaign (1929), a collection of essays about Central Asian life.

The material she gathered in Turkestan also inspired her adventure novel with elements of science fiction, Abjed Hevez Hyutti, which depicts an imaginary lost ancient civilisation hidden deep in the inaccessible mountains of the Pamirs.

Her first poetry collection, Power, was published in 1934.

Adalis translated the works of poets from Central Asia and Transcaucasia, including such classical authors as Nasir Khusraw, Jami, Nahapet Kuchak, and Fuzuli, as well as numerous contemporary poets, among them Samad Vurgun, Jambyl, and Mirzo Tursunzade. 
During her time in Central Asia, she met the geographer and writer Ivan Sergeyev, whom she later married. They had two children, a son, Vladimir, and a daughter, Yulia. Their family life, however, was complicated and marked by recurring conflicts.
Literary Work and Later Career

From the mid-1930s onwards, Adelina Adalis returned to active literary work.

She wrote poetry inspired by the East and the world of labour, continued translating Eastern poets, including Fuzuli, Jami, and Samad Vurgun, and published regularly in the Soviet press.

Over the following decades, she remained a respected translator and the author of several poetry collections.

Alongside literature, Adalis maintained a strong interest in the sciences and other fields of knowledge. She was particularly fascinated by physics, biology, cosmogony, history, archaeology, and cybernetics.
Later Years

By the 1960s, Adelina Adalis was highly respected in Soviet literary circles.

She was regarded as a living link to the Silver Age of Russian poetry, preserving the memory and artistic spirit of an earlier literary generation.

Throughout her life, she published ten collections of poetry and several volumes of translations of Eastern poets.
Death

Adelina Adalis died of a stroke in 1969. According to an account of her final hours, the ambulance doctor who arrived to treat her turned out to be Stalin's grandson. When he inadvertently revealed his identity, Adalis categorically refused his assistance. While waiting for another ambulance team, she asked her son to read aloud from Valery Bryusov's poetry. She listened quietly as he read from the poet's final book. By the time the second medical team arrived, Adelina Adalis had died.