Biography of V. Astafiev

Astafiev Victor Petrovich

(1924) - prose writer.
Victor Astafiev was born in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and now lives in his homeland in the city of Krasnoyarsk.
The writer's childhood was difficult. The boy was only seven years old when his mother died. She drowned in the Yenisei. In memory of his mother, Lydia Ilyinichna, he will dedicate the story "Pass".
Astafyev even visited homeless children, was brought up in an orphanage. Here, kind, intelligent teachers awakened his interest in writing. One of him school essay recognized as the best. This work has a very characteristic title: "Alive!" Later the events described in it appeared in the story "Vasyutkino Lake". Of course, in a new form, in a writer's way.
In the spring of 1943, worker Viktor Astafyev was already at the front, at the forefront. Military rank - private. And so on until the very victory: a driver, an artillery reconnaissance officer, a signalman.
After the war, the future writer changed many professions, rushed about, as he himself says, on various jobs, until in 1951 the first story was published in the newspaper? Chusovskaya Rabochiy ", and he became a newspaper, literary employee.
This is where his own creative biography begins.
Then he graduated from the Higher Literary Courses, and in the mid-fifties, the famous critic Alexander Makarov already spoke about the recognition of Astafiev as a writer and accurately outlined the artist's main creative aspirations: "thinking about our life, about the purpose of man on earth and in society and his moral foundations, about the Russian national character ... by nature he is a moralist and a poet of humanity. "
The works created by Astafiev are well known. These are books about war, about peace, about childhood, numerous stories and stories "Pass", "Starodub", "Theft", "Starfall", "Shepherd and shepherdess", "Last bow".
The work "Tsar-fish. Narration in stories" (1972-1975) became a real event in literature.
The author is not a curious collector of geographical information, but a person who, from childhood, has experienced the severe sadness of the northern land and has not forgotten, has not lost faith in its beauty and truth. And one of the leading characters of "Narration" - Akim, Akimka, "Pan?" - was born and raised in the Arctic, and therefore knows him well.
Much of the story is admirable. Painting, richness of colors, scope, violence and daring of language, gift of realistic description create the highest reliability. The talent for creating characters so colorful and visible that it seems that it is worth going - and you will meet them on the banks of the Yenisei: Akimka, Kolya, Commander, Rumbled ...
"Tsar-fish?" Is written in an open, free, relaxed manner. Direct, honest, fearless conversation about urgent and significant problems: about the establishment and improvement of intelligent connections modern man and nature, about the measure and goals of our activity in "conquering" nature. This is not only an environmental problem, but also a moral one; how to do to preserve and increase earthly wealth, how to save and enrich the beauty of nature. Awareness of the seriousness of this problem is necessary for everyone, so as not to trample, not to damage nature and himself with the fire of heartlessness and deafness. The Commander also rumbled with stupid poaching, or the cold rational selfishness of Goga Gertsev.
The moral dispute between Goga Gertsev and Akim is not just a dispute between two too different people, it reflects a clash of soullessly consumerist and humane, merciful attitude towards nature, towards everything living on earth. The writer claims: he who is ruthless, cruel to nature, he is ruthless, cruel to man. A passionate protest from the writer evokes a soulless consumer treatment of nature, predatory human behavior in the taiga, on the river.
The natural world is also fraught with the spirit of just retribution. The suffering of the Tsar-fish, wounded by man, cries about him.
The author's attention is focused on people, their destinies, passions and concerns. There are many heroes in the story: good and evil, just and treacherous, fish inspectors and poachers. The writer does not judge them, even the most inveterate, he cares about their spiritual healing.
The author speaks from the standpoint of goodness, he remains a poet of humanity, an extraordinary sense of the wholeness and interconnectedness of all life on earth, present and future, today and tomorrow, lives in him.
The future is children. That is why there is such concern: "Here we go: children are happiness, children are joy, children are light in the window! But children are also our torment! Our eternal anxiety! Children are our judgment on the world, our mirror, in which conscience , intelligence, honesty, our neatness - you can barely see everything. Children can hide with us, we can never use them. "
Let us recall the story "Ear on Boganida". From the memory of the past, from distant blue spaces, this island of life emerges on the northern land. Post-war time. People live poorly, poorly. With merciless truthfulness Astafiev writes out the life of fishermen. But nowhere, not a single line, does the author appeal to feelings of bitterness and sorrow. On the contrary, the narrative is warmed with love and trust in people of difficult fate, who together, together raised and warmed children, laying healthy, labor morality in their souls. In this the author sees the true course of life.
Goodness and justice are directly addressed to the fate of future generations.
In a frantic struggle against everything dark, against soulless, predatory individualism, man will arrange his life with the generosity and love of a real master. And as a poetic symbol of perseverance in the struggle of life, a modest taiga flower - the turukhan lily - lives in the story. "They did not plant the Turukhansk lily with their hands, they did not groom it. It was poured with the icy juice of eternal snows, the fogs, the pale night and the unsettling sun guarded its solitude ... It was impossible to guess what happened. Tunguska. It blooms and will never stop blooming in my memory. "

Born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, Krasnoyarsk Territory. Father - Peter Pavlovich Astafiev (1899-1967). Mother - Lydia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna (1900-1931). In 1942 he volunteered for the front. In 1945 he married Maria Semyonovna Koryakina. They had three daughters. In 1958 he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1989 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. From 1989 to 1991 he was a People's Deputy of the USSR. He died on November 29, 2001 in Krasnoyarsk, at the age of 77. He was buried near his native village Ovsyanka. Major works: "A photograph in which I am not", "Cursed and killed", "Sad detective", "Vasyutkino lake", "Tsar-fish", "Horse with pink mane" other.

Brief biography (in detail)

Victor Petrovich Astafiev is a Russian essay writer. Born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka (Krasnoyarsk Territory). His father was sent to prison when he was only a few years old, and his mother soon died tragically. The boy was given to be raised by his mother's parents. He wrote about his childhood memories later in his autobiographical novel "The Last Bow".

Having been freed, the writer's father remarried and with the new composition of the Astafiev family moved to the Far North in Igarka. Here the future writer, together with his father, was engaged in commercial fishing. But soon Peter Astafyev fell seriously ill and ended up in the hospital, and Victor was kicked out into the street by his stepmother. He wandered for a long time and lived in abandoned premises, until, finally, he ended up in an orphanage. In 1942 he went to the front, and a year later - to the army. For his courage, Victor was repeatedly awarded orders.

After demobilization, Astafyev left for the Urals. In 1945 he married Maria Koryakina. Since 1951, he got a job at the editorial office of the newspaper "Chusovsky Rabochy". There his first work "The Civilian Man" appeared. Along the way, he wrote various articles and reviews. The main theme of the writer's work was military and village prose. One of the first works was written at school as an essay. Then he turned it into the story "Vasyutkino Lake". Astafiev was often published in the Smena magazine.

In 1953, the first book of the writer "Until next spring" was published. Since 1958, Astafiev was listed in the Union of Writers of the USSR. Since 1959 he studied in Moscow, then moved to Perm, and then to Vologda. Since 1980 he settled in Krasnoyarsk. For about two years he was listed as a People's Deputy of the USSR. V.P. Astafiev died in the fall of 2001 and was buried in his native village.

Option 2

Viktor Petrovich Astafiev is a Soviet writer, prose writer and essayist. Born on May 1, 1924 near Krasnoyarsk, in the village of Ovsyanka. Astafiev's parents were dispossessed, and his father, Peter Astafiev, soon went to prison. Mother, Lydia Ilyinichna, drowned in another ferry on the way to her husband. As a result, the boy was raised by his maternal grandparents. He recalled his childhood years with warmth and later spoke about them in his autobiography "The Last Bow".

When Victor's father was released, he remarried and, with two sons, decided to go to work in the direction of the north. Having concluded an agreement with a fish factory in Igarka, Peter Astafiev took his son with him to work. However, the father soon fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. Victor was thrown into the street by his stepmother and had to survive. For several months he lived in an abandoned building, and then he was assigned to an orphanage. At the age of 18, he volunteered for the army and underwent military training in Novosibirsk. At the end of the war he was seriously wounded, after which he was transferred to Western Ukraine.

Astafiev's work was mainly associated with military and rural prose. The first works of the writer include his school essay, later converted into the story "Vasyutkino Lake". Soon his first works began to appear in the Smena magazine, attracting the attention of critics. Among them are the stories "Starodub" and "Pass". Astafiev's narration was conducted from the point of view of a simple worker or soldier. He also wrote many stories for children. His books have been translated into many languages, as they conveyed the originality of the Russian countryside and military affairs.

One of the most famous works of Astafiev was the story "The Civilian Man", published in 1951. After a short break, another significant book "Until Next Spring" was published. In 1958 Astafiev was admitted to the Writers' Union. Having repeatedly changed cities, in 1980 he returned to his native Krasnoyarsk, where he died on November 29, 2001.

Victor Petrovich Astafiev was born May 2, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka (now the Krasnoyarsk Territory) in a peasant family.

Father - Pyotr Pavlovich Astafiev. Mother, Lydia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna, drowned in the Yenisei in 1931 ... He was brought up in the family of his grandparents, then in an orphanage in Igarka, often was homeless. After graduating from the 6th grade of secondary school, he entered the FZO railway school, after graduating from in 1942, worked for some time as a train compiler in the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk. From there autumn 1942 went to the front as a volunteer, was a driver, an artillery reconnaissance officer, a signalman. He took part in the battles on the Kursk Bulge, liberated Ukraine and Poland from the Nazi invaders, was seriously wounded, contused.

After demobilization in 1945 together with his wife - later the writer M.S. Koryakina - settled in the Urals, in the city of Chusovoy. He worked as a loader, locksmith, foundry worker, carpenter in a wagon depot, washer of meat carcasses at a sausage factory, etc.

In 1951 in the newspaper Chusovoy Rabochiy, the first story “Civilian Man” appeared (after revision it was named “Sibiryak”). The craving for "writing" was manifested in Astafiev very early.

1951 to 1955 Astafiev is a literary contributor to the newspaper Chusovoy Rabochiy; was published in the Perm newspapers "Zvezda", "Molodaya Gvardiya", the anthology "Prikamye", the magazine "Ural", "Znamya", "Molodaya Gvardiya", "Smena". The first collection of stories "Until next spring" was released in Perm in 1953, followed by books for children: "Lights" ( 1955 ), "Vasyutkino Lake" ( 1956 ), "Uncle Kuzya, fox, cat" ( 1957 ), "Warm rain" ( 1958 ).

In 1958 Astafiev published a novel about the life of a collective farm village "The Snows Melting", written in the traditions of 1950s fiction.

Since 1958 Astafiev - member of the USSR JV; in 1959-1961 studied at the Higher literary courses at the joint venture of the USSR. The turning point in the work of Astafiev was 1959, when the stories "Old Oak" and "Pass", the story "Soldier and Mother" appeared in print. The story "Starodub" dedicated to Leonid Leonov (the action takes place in an ancient Kerzhak settlement in Siberia) was the source of the author's reflections on the historical roots of the "Siberian" character. Critics reproached Astafiev for the ambiguity of the ethical ideal, for the triviality of the problematic based on the opposition of "society" and "natural man".

The story "Pass" began a cycle of works by Astafiev about the formation of a young hero in difficult life conditions - "Starfall" ( 1960 ), "Theft" ( 1966 ), "Somewhere war is thundering" ( 1967 ), "Last bow" ( 1968 ; initial chapters). They talked about the difficult processes of maturing an inexperienced soul, about the breakdown of the character of a person who was left without the support of relatives in the terrible 1930s and in the equally terrible 1940s. All these heroes, despite the fact that they have different surnames, are marked by features of autobiography, similar destinies, a dramatic search for life "in truth and conscience." In Astafiev's stories 1960s revealed clearly the gift of a storyteller, who knows how to captivate the reader with the subtlety of lyrical feelings, unexpected salty humor, and philosophical detachment. The novel "Theft" occupies a special place among these works.

The hero of the story - Tolya Mazov - is one of the dispossessed peasants, whose family is dying in the northern regions. Scenes from the orphanage, “herd” life were recreated by Astafyev with compassion and cruelty, presenting a generous variety of children's characters broken by time, impulsively falling into quarrels, hysteria, mockery of the weak, then suddenly, unexpectedly united in sympathy and kindness.

From the story "Soldier and Mother", according to the apt definition of the critic A. Makarov, who thought a lot about the essence of Astafiev's talent, a series of stories about Russian national character... In the best stories ("Siberian", "Old Horse", "Hands of a Wife", "Spruce Branch", "Zakharko", "Disturbing Dream", "To Live Life", etc.), a man "from the people" is recreated naturally and authentically. Astafiev's creativity in the 1960s was ranked by criticism to the so-called. " village prose”, In the center of which were the reflections of artists on the foundations, origins and essence of folk life.

Astafiev's story "Shepherd and Shepherdess" ( 1971 ; subtitle "Modern Pastoral") was unexpected for literary criticism. The already established image of Astafiev the storyteller, working in the genre of social and everyday narration, was changing before our eyes, acquiring the features of a writer striving for a generalized perception of the world, for symbolic images. For the first time, the theme of war appears in the writer's work. The love story (Lieutenant Kostyaev - Lucy) was surrounded by a fiery ring of war, highlighting the catastrophic nature of the meeting of the beloved.

More at the very beginning of the 1970s Astafyev asserted the right of every person who had front-line experience to remember "his" war. The philosophical conflict of the story was realized in the confrontation between the pastoral motive of love and the monstrous incinerating element of war; the moral aspect concerned the relationship between soldiers. The most controversial criticism was devoted to the genre and composition of the story. The ring composition of the story seemed rigid, overly rationalistic. The “overture” and “finale” of the works, sustained in the style of folk lamentations and lamentations, according to some researchers, “do not quite match the plot-conflict basis of the story”. This bright, classic story by Astafyev was criticized for its “everyday life”, and for “pacifism,” and for its pastoralism, for “deheroization,” for a “romantic” “non-military” hero dying of love.

The story "Ode to the Russian garden" ( 1972 ) - a kind of poetic hymn to the hard work of the peasant, in whose life expediency, utility and beauty were harmoniously combined. The story is imbued with sadness about the lost harmony of agricultural labor, which allowed a person to feel a life-giving connection with the land.

Created over two decades, "Last Bow" ( 1958-1978 ) is an epoch-making canvas about the life of a village in the difficult 1930s-40s and the confession of a generation whose childhood fell on the years of the "great turning point", and his youth - "in the fiery forties." Written in the first person, stories about a difficult, hungry, but wonderful village childhood are united by a feeling of deep gratitude to fate for the opportunity to live, direct communication with nature, with people who knew how to live "in peace", saving children from hunger, fostering diligence and honesty in them. In the chapter "Chipmunk on the Cross", included in "Last Bow" in 1974 , told scary tale the collapse of a peasant family, in the chapter "Magpie" - the story of the sad fate of the bright and talented man Uncle Vasya-Soroka, in the chapter "Without a shelter" - about the hero's bitter wanderings in Igarka, about homelessness as a social phenomenon of the 1930s.

After the release of "The Sad Detective" ( 1986 ), "Lyudochki" ( 1989 ), the final chapters of "The Last Bow" ( 1992 ) the writer's pessimism intensified. The world appeared before his eyes "in evil and suffering", full of vice and crime. The events of the present and the historical past began to be viewed by him from the position of the maximalist ideal, the highest moral idea and, naturally, did not correspond to their embodiment. This rigid maximalism was exacerbated by pain for a ruined life, for a person who had lost himself and was indifferent to the social revival.

Parallel to artistic creation in the 1980s Astafiev is engaged in journalism. Documentary stories about nature and hunting, essays about writers, reflections on creativity, essays about the Vologda region, where the writer lived 1969 to 1979, about Siberia, where he returned in 1980, compiled collections "Ancient, eternal ..." ( 1980 ), "Staff of Memory" ( 1980 ), "Everything has its own hour" ( 1985 ).

In 1988 the book "The Seeing Staff" was published, dedicated to the memory of the critic A. Makarov. Based on his stories, Astafiev creates the dramas "Bird cherry" ( 1977 ), "Forgive me" ( 1979 ), writes the screenplay "Thou shalt not kill" ( 1981 ).

The novel about the war "Cursed and Killed" (Part 1. 1992 ; Part 2. 1994 ) not only amazes with facts that were not customary to talk about before, he is distinguished by the sharpness, passion, categoricalness of the author's intonation, surprising even for Astafiev.

In 1995 Astafiev's story "So I want to live" about the bizarre fate and post-war life of a simple Russian soldier Kolyasha Khakhalin was published, and later the story "Oberton" ( 1996 ) and "Merry Soldier" ( 1998 ). Created in the genre of social and everyday and even naturalistic narration, these things unite and balance the conflicting author's intonations, returning the writer to a state of wisdom and sadness. “Thanks to the Almighty,” Astafyev said in one of his last interviews, that my memory is merciful, in ordinary life a lot of hard and terrible things are erased ”(Literary Russia. 2000. №4).

On May 1, 1924, in the village of Ovsyanka, on the banks of the Yenisei River, not far from Krasnoyarsk, a son, Victor, was born to the family of Pyotr Pavlovich and Lydia Ilinichna Astafyev.

At the age of seven, the boy lost his mother - she drowned in the river, catching her scythe at the base of the boom. VP Astafyev will never get used to this loss. All he "does not believe that mom is not and never will be." His grandmother, Ekaterina Petrovna, becomes the boy's intercessor and nurse.

With his father and stepmother, Victor moved to Igarka - dispossessed grandfather Pavel was sent here with his family. There were no “wild wages” that the father was counting on, the relationship with the stepmother did not work out, she shoves the burden in the face of the child from her shoulders. The boy loses his home and livelihood, wanders, then ends up in an orphanage-boarding school. " Independent life I started right away, without any preparation, ”VP Astafyev would write later.

The teacher of the boarding school, the Siberian poet Ignatiy Dmitrievich Rozhdestvensky, notices in Victor a penchant for literature and develops it. The essay about the beloved lake, published in the school magazine, will later unfold into the story "Vasyutkino Lake".

After graduating from boarding school, the teenager earns his bread in the Kureyk machine. “My childhood remained in the distant Arctic,” writes V.P. Astafiev years later. - The child, as grandfather Pavel put it, “not born, not asked, abandoned by dad and mom,” also disappeared somewhere, more precisely - rolled away from me. A stranger to himself and to everyone, a teenager or a young man entered the adult working life of the wartime. "

Collecting money for a ticket. Victor leaves for Krasnoyarsk, and the FZO enters. “I did not choose the group and profession in the FZO - they chose me themselves,” the writer will later tell. After completing his studies, he works as a train compiler at the Bazaikha station near Krasnoyarsk.

In the fall of 1942, Viktor Astafiev volunteered for the army, and in the spring of 1943 he went to the front. Fights in Bryansk. Voronezh and Steppe fronts, which then united into the First Ukrainian. The front biography of soldier Astafyev was awarded the Order of the Red Star, medals "For Courage", "For Victory over Germany" and "For the Liberation of Poland." He was seriously injured several times.

In the fall of 1945, V.P. Astafiev was demobilized from the army and together with his wife, Private Maria Semyonovna Koryakina, came to her homeland, the city of Chusovoy in the western Urals.

For health reasons, Victor can no longer return to his specialty and, in order to feed his family, works as a mechanic, laborer, loader, carpenter, washer of meat carcasses, and a janitor at a meat processing plant.

In March 1947, a daughter was born to a young family. In early September, the girl died of severe dyspepsia - the time was hungry, her mother did not have enough milk, and there was nowhere to take food cards.

In May 1948, the Astafievs had a daughter, Irina, and in March 1950, a son, Andrei.

In 1951, having somehow got into a literary circle at the newspaper "Chusovskaya Rabochy", Viktor Petrovich wrote the story "Civilian Man" in one night; later he will call him "Siberian". From 1951 to 1955 Astafyev worked as a literary employee of the newspaper Chusovskaya Rabochy.

In 1953 in Perm his first book of stories - "Until the next spring" was published, and in 1955 the second - "Lights". These are stories for children. In 1955-1957 he wrote the novel Snow Melting, published two more books for children: Vasyutkino Lake (1956) and Uncle Kuzya, Chickens, Fox and Cat (1957), published essays and stories in the almanac Prikamye ", The magazine" Smena ", collections" Hunting were "and" Signs of the time ".

Since April 1957 Astafiev has been a special correspondent for the Perm Regional Radio. In 1958, his novel Snow Melting was published. V.P. Astafiev is admitted to the Writers' Union of the RSFSR.

In 1959 he was sent to the Higher Literary Courses at the M. Gorky Literary Institute. He has been studying in Moscow for two years.

The end of the 50s was marked by the flourishing of V.P. Astafiev's lyric prose. The stories "Pass" (1958-1959) and "Starodub" (1960), the story "Starfall", written in one breath in just a few days (1960), bring him wide fame.

In 1962 the family moved to Perm, and in 1969 to Vologda.

The 60s were extremely fruitful for the writer: the novel Theft (1961-1965) was written, the short stories that later formed the novel in the stories The Last Bow: Zorkin's Song (1960), Geese in the Ice Hole (1961), The smell of hay "(1963)," Trees grow for everyone "(1964)," Uncle Philip - ship mechanic "(1965)," Monk in new pants "(1966)," Autumn sadness and joys "(1966)," Night dark - dark"(1967)," Last bow "(1967)," Somewhere war is thundering "(1967)," A photograph in which I am not "(1968)," Grandma's holiday "(1968). In 1968 the story "The Last Bow" was published in Perm as a separate book.

In the Vologda period of his life, V. P. Astafiev created two plays: "Bird cherry" and "Forgive me". Performances based on these plays were staged on the stage of a number of Russian theaters.

Back in 1954 Astafyev conceived the story “Shepherd and Shepherdess. Modern pastoral "-" his favorite child ". And he realized his plan almost 15 years later - in three days, “completely stunned and happy”, writing a “draft of one hundred and twenty pages” and then polishing the text. Written in 1967, the story was difficult to get into print and was first published in the magazine "Our Contemporary", No. 8, 1971. The writer returned to the text of the story in 1971 and 1989, having restored the shot for reasons of censorship.

In 1975, V.P. Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after M. Gorky for the stories "Pass", "The Last Bow", "Theft", "Shepherd and Shepherdess".

In the 60s, V.P. Astafiev wrote the stories "The Old Horse" (1960), "What Are You Crying About, Spruce" (1961). "Hands of a Wife" (1961), "Sashka Lebedev" (1961), "Disturbed Dream" (1964), "India" (1965), "Mityai from the Excavator" (1967), "Yashka-Elk" (1967), " Blue twilight "(1967)," Take it and remember "(1967)," Is it a clear day "(1967)," Russian diamond "(1968)," Without the last "(1968).

By 1965, a cycle of tricks began to take shape - lyrical miniatures, reflections on life, notes for oneself. They are published in central and peripheral magazines. In 1972 "Zatesi" was published as a separate book in the publishing house "Soviet Writer" - "Village Adventure". "The Song-Singer", "How the Goddess Was Treated", "Stars and Fir-Trees", "Tura", "Native Birches", "Spring Island", "Bread Bakers", "So that the Pain of Everyone ..." ... "Dome Cathedral", "Vision", "Berry", "Sigh". The writer constantly turns to the genre of tricks in his work.

In 1972, V. P. Astafiev wrote his "joyful brainchild" - "Ode to the Russian Garden".

Since 1973, stories have appeared in print, which later made up the famous narration in the stories "Tsar-fish": "Boye", "Drop", "At the golden hag", "The fisherman Rumbled", "Tsar-fish", "The black feather is flying" , "Ear on Boganida", "Wake", "Turukhanskaya Lily", "Dream of the White Mountains", "I have no answer." The publication of chapters in the periodicals - the magazine "Our Contemporary" - went with such losses in the text that the author went to the hospital from grief and since then never returned to the story, did not restore and did not make new editions. Only many years later, having found in his archive the pages of the chapter “Noriltsy”, which had been removed by the censorship, had turned yellow with time, he published it in 1990 in the same magazine called “Not Enough Heart”. For the first time "Tsar-fish" was published in the book "Boy in a white shirt", published by the publishing house "Molodaya gvardiya" in 1977.

In 1978, V.P. Astafiev was awarded the USSR State Prize for his narration in the stories "Tsar-Fish".
In the 70s, the writer again turns to the theme of his childhood - new chapters to "The Last Bow" are born: "Feast after Victory" (1974), "Chipmunk on the Cross" (1974), "Crucible Doom" (1974), " Without a shelter "(1974)," Magpie "(1978)," Love potion "(1978)," Burn, burn clearly "(1978), Soy sweets (1978). The story of childhood - already in two books - was published in 1978 by the Sovremennik publishing house.

From 1978 to 1982, V.P. Astafiev worked on the story "The Sighted Staff", published only in 1988. In 1991, the writer was awarded the USSR State Prize for this story.

In 1980 Astafyev moved to his homeland - to Krasnoyarsk. A new, extremely fruitful period of his work began. In Krasnoyarsk and in Ovsyanka - the village of his childhood - he wrote the novel "The Sad Detective" (1985) and such stories as "Bear Blood" (1984), "Live Life" (1985), "Vimba" (1985), "End of the Day "(1986)," The Blind Fisherman "(1986)," Catching Minnows in Georgia "(1986)," A striped vest from the Pacific "(1986)," Blue field under blue skies "(1987)," Smile of a wolf "(1989 ), "Born by Me" (1989), "Little Love" (1989), "A Conversation with an Old Gun" (1997).

In 1989, V.P. Astafiev was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

On August 17, 1987, the Astafiev's daughter Irina suddenly dies. She is brought from Vologda and buried in the cemetery in Ovsyanka. Viktor Petrovich and Maria Semyonovna take their little grandchildren Vitya and Polya.

Life at home stirred up memories and presented readers with new stories about childhood - chapters are born: "Presentiment of an ice drift", "Zabrega", "Stryapukhina's joy", "Pestrukha", "The Legend of the Glass Creek", "Death", and in 1989 " The Last Bow ”is published in the publishing house“ Molodaya Gvardiya ”in three books. In 1992, two more chapters appeared - "The Hammered Little Head" and "Evening Thoughts". "The life-giving light of childhood" demanded from the writer more than thirty years of creative work.

At home, V.P. Astafyev created his main book about the war - the novel "Cursed and Killed": part one "Devil's Pit" (1990-1992) and part two "Bridgehead" (1992-1994), which took a lot of energy from the writer and health and has caused a stormy readers' controversy.

In 1994 “for outstanding contributions to domestic literature"The writer was awarded the Russian independent prize" Triumph ". In 1995, for the novel Cursed and Killed, V. P. Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of Russia.

From September 1994 to January 1995, the master of the word works on new story about the war "So I want to live", and in 1995-1996 he writes - also "war" - the story "Oberton", in 1997 he completes the story "The Merry Soldier", begun in 1987, - the war does not leave the writer, disturbs the memory ... The jolly soldier is he, the wounded young soldier Astafyev, returning from the front and trying on a peaceful civilian life.

In 1997-1998, in Krasnoyarsk, the publication of the Collected Works of V.P. Astafiev in 15 volumes, with detailed comments by the author, was carried out.

In 1997 the writer was awarded the International Pushkin Prize, and in 1998 he was awarded the Prize “For the Honor and Dignity of Talent” of the International Literary Fund.

At the end of 1998, V.P. Astafiev was awarded the Apollo Grigoriev Prize of the Academy of Russian Contemporary Literature.

"Not a day without a line" is the motto of a tireless worker, a truly popular writer. And now, on his table - new curtains, a favorite genre - and new ideas in his heart.

Many of us remember the works of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev on school curriculum... These are stories about the war, and the story of a hard life in the village of a Russian peasant, and reflections on the events taking place before and after the war in the country. Truly folk writer there was Viktor Petrovich Astafiev! His biography is a vivid example of the suffering and miserable existence of a common man in the era of Stalinism. In his works, the Russian people does not appear in the image of an almighty national hero, who can handle any hardships and losses, as it was customary to portray at that time. The author showed how heavy the burden of war and the totalitarian regime that reigned in the country at that time was for a simple Russian peasant.

Victor Astafiev: biography

The author was born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, Soviet region. The childhood of the writer also passed here. The boy's father, Pyotr Pavlovich Astafiev, and his mother, Lidia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna, were peasants, had a strong economy. But at the time of collectivization, the family was dispossessed. The two eldest daughters of Pyotr Pavlovich and Lydia Ilyinichna died in infancy. Victor was left without parents early.

His father was sent to prison for "sabotage". And his mother drowned in the Yenisei when the boy was 7 years old. It was an accident. The boat on which Lydia Ilinichna, among others, swam across the river to meet her husband in prison, capsized. Falling into the water, the woman caught her scythe on the bon and drowned. After the death of his parents, the boy was brought up in the family of his grandparents. The child's craving for writing arose early. Later, when he became a writer, Astafyev recalled how his grandmother Katerina called him "a liar" for his irrepressible imagination. The old man's life seemed like a fairy tale to the boy. She became the only bright memory of his childhood. After the incident at the school, Viktor was sent to a boarding school in the village of Igarka. There he did not live well. The boy was often homeless. The boarding school teacher Ignatius Rozhdestvensky noticed a craving for reading in the pupil. He tried to develop it. The boy's essay about his beloved lake will later be called his immortal work "Vasyutkino Lake" when he becomes After graduating from the sixth grade of high school, Victor enters the FZO railway school. He will finish it in 1942.

Adulthood

After that, the young man worked for some time at a station near the city of Krasnoyarsk. The war made its own adjustments to his life. In the autumn of the same year, 1942, he volunteered for the front. Here he was an artillery reconnaissance officer, a driver, and a signalman. Viktor Astafyev took part in the battles for Poland, Ukraine, fought on. During the battles he was seriously wounded and contused. His military exploits were marked with medals “For Courage”, “For the Liberation of Poland”, “For Victory over Germany” and After demobilization in 1945, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev settled in the city of Chusovoy in the Urals. His biography makes a new round here. A different, peaceful life begins. Here he also brings his wife, who later became known as a writer, M. S. Koryakina. They were perfectly by different people... There were always women around Victor. He was very interesting person... It is known that he has two illegitimate daughters. His wife Maria was jealous of him. She dreamed that her husband was faithful to the family. Here, in Chusovoy, Victor takes any job to feed the children. In marriage, he had three of them. The eldest girl Maria and Victor lost. She was only a few months old when she died in hospital from severe dyspepsia. It happened in 1947. And in 1948 the Astafievs had a second daughter, who was named Ira. After 2 years, a son, Andrei, appeared in the family.

The children of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev grew up in difficult conditions. Due to the state of health undermined in the war, the future writer did not have the opportunity to return to his specialty, received in the FZO. In Chusovoy, he managed to work as a locksmith, and a loader, and a caster at a local factory, and a carcass washer at a sausage factory, and a carpenter in a carriage depot.

The beginning of the creative path

Writing continues to appeal to the future master of the word. Here, in Chusovoy, he attends a literary circle. This is how Viktor Petrovich Astafiev himself recalls this. His biography is little known, therefore any little things related to his life or work are important for his readers. “I got a craving for writing early. I remember very well how, at the time when I was attending a literary circle, one of the students read his just-written story. The work struck me with its far-fetched, unnaturalness. I took and wrote a story. This was my first creation. In it I talked about my front-line friend, ”the author told about his debut. The title of this first work is "The Civilian Man". In 1951 it was published in the newspaper Chusovoy Rabochy. The story was a success. For the next four years, the writer is a literary contributor to this publication. In 1953, in the city of Perm, his first collection of short stories, entitled "Until next spring", was published. And in 1958 Astafyev wrote the novel "The Snows Melting", in which he highlighted the problems of village collective farm life. Soon the second collection of short stories entitled "Lights" was published by Viktor Astafiev. "Stories for Children" - this is how he characterized his creation.

The story "Starodub". A turning point in the writer's work

Victor Astafiev is considered self-taught. He did not receive education as such, but he always tried to improve his professionalism. To this end, the writer studied at the Higher Literary Courses in Moscow in 1959-1961. In the magazines of the Urals, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev periodically publishes his works, whose biography is presented here.

In them, he raises the acute problems of the formation of the human personality, growing up in difficult conditions of the 30s and 40s. These are such stories as "Theft", "Last bow", "Somewhere war is thundering" and others. It is worth noting that many of them are autobiographical. Here are the scenes of children's home life, presented in all its cruelty, and dispossession of the peasants, and much more. The turning point in Astafiev's work was his story "Starodub", written in 1959. The action takes place in an old Siberian settlement. The ideas and traditions of the Old Believers did not evoke sympathy from Victor. Taiga laws, "natural faith", according to the author, do not at all save a person from loneliness and solving urgent problems. The culmination of the work is the death of the protagonist. In the hands of the deceased, instead of a candle, there is an oldodub flower.

Astafiev about in the story "Soldier and Mother"

When did the author's series of works about the "Russian national character" begin? According to the majority literary critics, from Astafiev's story "The Soldier and the Mother". Have the main character creation has no name. She personifies all Russian women, through whose hearts the "heavy iron wheel of war" has passed. Here the writer creates such human types, which amaze with their reality, authenticity, "truth of character."

It is also surprising how the master boldly in his creations exposes the painful problems of social development. The main source from which Astafiev Viktor Petrovich draws inspiration is his biography. A short version of it can hardly awaken a reciprocal feeling in the heart of the reader. Therefore, the difficult life of the writer is considered here in such detail.

The theme of war in the writer's works

In 1954, the author's "favorite child" came out. We are talking about the story "Shepherd and Shepherdess". In just 3 days, the master wrote a draft of 120 pages. Later, he only polished the text. They did not want to print the story, they constantly cut out whole fragments from it, which did not allow censorship. Only 15 years later, the author was able to release it in its original form. In the center of the narration is the story of a young platoon commander Boris Kostyaev, who experiences all the horrors of the war, but still dies of wounds and exhaustion on the train carrying him to the rear. The woman's love does not save the protagonist. In the story, the author draws before the reader a terrible picture of war and death, which she carries. It's not so difficult to guess why the work was not wanted to be published. The people who fought and won this war were usually portrayed as mighty, strong, and unbending. According to the master's stories, he is not only bendable, but also destroyed. Moreover, people suffer death and deprivation not only through the fault of the fascist invaders who came to their land, but also by the will of the totalitarian system that prevails in the country. Victor Astafiev's creativity was replenished with other bright works such as "Sashka Lebedev", "Troubled Dream", "Hands of the Wife", "India", "Blue Twilight", "Russian Diamond", "Is it a Clear Day" and others.

The story "Ode to the Russian Garden" - a hymn to peasant diligence

In 1972, Astafiev Victor Petrovich releases his next work. The biography, a short version of which is presented here, is very interesting. The writer grew up in the village. He saw her inside out. He is not alien to the suffering and hardships of people engaged in backbreaking work, which he has known since childhood. The story "Ode to the Russian Garden" is a work that is a kind of hymn to peasant labor. The writer E. Nosov said about him: “This is not told, but sung ...” For a simple village boy, a vegetable garden is not just a place where you can “fill your belly”, but a whole world full of mysteries and secrets. This is for him both the school of life and the Academy of Fine Arts. When reading "Oda", the feeling of sadness for the lost harmony of agricultural labor, which makes it possible for a person to feel a life-giving connection with Mother Nature, does not leave.

The story "Last Bow" about life in the village

The writer Viktor Astafiev develops the peasant theme in his other works as well. One of them is a cycle of stories called "The Last Bow".

The narration is in the first person. In the center of this creation by the author - the fate of the village children, whose childhood fell on the years of the 30s, when collectivization began in the country, and youth - in the "fiery" 40s. It should be noted that this cycle of stories was created for two decades (from 1958 to 1978). The first stories are distinguished by a somewhat lyrical presentation and subtle humor. And the final stories clearly show the author's readiness to severely denounce the system that destroys the national foundations of life. Bitterness and open mockery sound in them.

The story "Tsar-fish" - a trip to native places

In his works, the writer develops the theme of preserving national traditions. His story titled "Tsar-fish", published in 1976, is close in spirit to a cycle of stories about village life. In 2004, a monument was erected in Krasnoyarsk in honor of the 80th anniversary of the writer. Now it is one of the symbols of the city.

By the time the book was published, Viktor Astafiev had already become a recognizable and popular author. His photo is on the front pages literary magazines... What about the book? The manner in which the material is presented in this work is interesting. The author draws pictures of virgin nature, untouched by civilization, of folk life in the Siberian outback. People whose moral standards have been lost, in whose ranks drunkenness, poaching, theft, and courage flourish, are a pitiful sight.

The Cursed and Killed War Novel - Criticism of Stalinism

In 1980, Victor Astafiev moved to his homeland - to Krasnoyarsk. His biography here is not changing for the better. A few years after the move, the writer's daughter Irina suddenly dies. Viktor Petrovich and Maria Semyonovna take her children, their grandchildren Polina and Vitya. On the other hand, it is here, in his homeland, that the master's creativity is observed. He writes such works as "Zaberega", "Pestruha", "Anticipation of Ice Drift", "Death", the last chapters of "The Last Bow" and others. Here he also created his main book about the war - the novel "Cursed and Killed". This creation of the writer is distinguished by sharpness, categoricalness, passion. For writing the novel, Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of Russia.

2001 was a fatal year for the author of immortal stories. He spends a lot of time in the hospital. Two suffered strokes do not leave hope for recovery. His friends petitioned the Krasnoyarsk Regional Council of Deputies for the allocation of funds for the treatment of the writer abroad. Consideration of this issue turned into a trial over the author. No money was allocated. Doctors, spreading their arms, sent the patient home to die. Victor Astafiev died on November 29, 2001. Films based on his works are still very interesting to viewers today.