Samuil Aronovich Lurie was born in Sverdlovsk to a family of philologists from Saint Petersburg evacuated during World War II.
His father, Aron Naumovich Lurie (1913-2003), was a bibliographer, literary historian, Doctor of Philological Science and World War II veteran.
Lurie graduated from Leningrad State University and worked briefly as a village school teacher (1964-1964), then for the National Pushkin Museum in Saint Petersburg (1965-1966).
He wrote a column in Zvezda magazine named "Lessons of Belles-Lettres" (Russian: Уроки Изящной Словесности).
[4] He died in Palo Alto, California, United States on 7 August 2015, aged 73.