ABSTRACT
Early Life Sergei Eisenstein was born on January 23, 1898, in Riga, Latvia, the son of a wealthy shipbuilder of Jewish descent. In 1910, Eisenstein and his family moved to St. Petersburg. Several facets of Eisenstein's childhood were to play an important role in his subsequent creative work. His nurse introduced him to fables and legends, some of which received artistic expression in films such as Staroye i Novoye (1929; The General Line), a fable, and Alexander Nevsky, a legend. As a child, Eisenstein developed a penchant for sketching, a talent that was to stand him in good stead years later when he planned scenes for films. Eisenstein's childhood reading of novels by Alexandre Dumas, pere, and Victor Hugo prepared his sympathies for the Russian Revolution and for the victims of social injustice, both of which he used as subjects of his films years later. The origin of Eisenstein's preoccupation with revolution can also be traced to the terrifying and shocking events that he witnessed as a child in Riga during the political turmoil of 19051906. The source of Eisenstein's fascination for dramatic spectacle can be found in his infatuation with the circus and in his fondness for staging war games with his friends.
