Russian writer Astafiev. Viktor Petrovich Astafiev - biography. Creativity, personal life, photography. Early work of Viktor Astafiev

outstanding Soviet and Russian writer

Victor Astafiev

Brief biography

Viktor Petrovich Astafiev(May 1, 1924, Ovsyanka village, Yenisei province, USSR - November 29, 2001, Krasnoyarsk, Russia) - an outstanding Soviet and Russian writer. Hero of Socialist Labor (1989). Winner of two USSR State Prizes (1978, 1991) and three Russian State Prizes (1975, 1995, 2003). Member of the USSR Writers' Union.

Victor Petrovich Astafiev was born on May 2, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka (now Krasnoyarsk Territory) in the family of Pyotr Pavlovich Astafiev (1899-1967) and Lydia Ilyinichna Potylitsina (1900-1931). He was the fourth child in the family, but his two older sisters died in infancy. A few years after the birth of his son, Pyotr Astafiev was sentenced to imprisonment for “sabotage.” In 1931, during Lydia Ilyinichna’s next trip to her husband, the boat in which she, among others, was, capsized. Lydia Ilyinichna fell into the water, caught her scythe on a floating boom and drowned. Victor was then seven years old. Returning home, the father was admitted to the hospital. Abandoned by his stepmother and relatives, Victor ended up on the street. For several months he lived in an abandoned building, but after a serious offense at school he was sent to an orphanage.

After graduating from the FZO school, he worked at the Yenisei station as a coupler and train assembler, and as a station attendant.

In 1942, he volunteered for the front, despite the fact that, as a railway worker, he had a reservation. He received military training in the automotive training unit in Novosibirsk. In the spring of 1943 he was sent to the active army. He was a driver, a signalman in howitzer artillery, and after being seriously wounded (shell shock) at the end of the war he served in the internal troops in Western Ukraine.

He was awarded the Order of the Red Star, medals “For Courage”, “For the Liberation of Warsaw” and “For Victory over Germany”.

In the battle of October 20, 1943, Red Army soldier V.P. Astafiev corrected the telephone connection with the advanced NP four times. While performing the task, due to a nearby bomb explosion, he was covered with earth. Astafiev continued to carry out the task even under artillery and mortar fire, collected pieces of cable and again restored telephone communications, ensuring uninterrupted communication with the infantry and its support with artillery fire.

From the award list for the medal “For Courage”

He was demobilized with the rank of “private” in 1945, went to the Urals, to the city of Chusovoy, Molotov Region (now Perm Territory); worked as a mechanic, auxiliary worker, teacher, station attendant, and storekeeper. In the same year he married Maria Semyonovna Koryakina; they had three children: daughters Lydia (born and died in 1947) and Irina (1948-1987) and son Andrei (born in 1950). Astafiev also raised two adopted daughters - Anastasia and Victoria.

Since 1951, he worked in the editorial office of the Chusovskoy Rabochiy newspaper, where he first published his story (“Civilian Man”). Wrote reports, articles, stories. His first book, “Until Next Spring,” was published in Molotov in 1953.

In 1958, Astafiev was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR.

In 1959-1961 he studied at the Higher Literary Courses in Moscow.

In 1962, Astafiev moved to Perm, in 1969 to Vologda, and in 1980 he left for his homeland - Krasnoyarsk.

From 1989 to 1991, Astafiev was a people's deputy of the USSR.

In October 1990, he signed the “Roman Appeal” (participants in the conference “National Issues in the USSR: Renewal or Civil War?”).

On October 5, 1993, Astafiev’s signature appeared in the “Letter of the 42” in support of the forceful dispersal of the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of Russia. However, according to the poet Yuri Kublanovsky, Astafiev stated that his signature was affixed without asking.

He died on November 29, 2001 from a stroke in Krasnoyarsk. He was buried in a cemetery located on the Yenisei highway between his native village of Ovsyanka and Ust-Mana.

Creation

Important themes in Astafiev’s work are military-patriotic and rural. One of his first works was an essay written at school, which was later turned by the writer into the story “Vasyutkino Lake.” The author's first stories were published in the magazine Chusovskoy Rabochiy. Astafiev’s early stories “Starodub”, “Starfall” and “Pass” aroused the attention of critics: Edward Kuzmina in the magazine “New World” noted that they were characterized by “a harsh, clumsy roughness of sound, unsmoothness, unplaned details and images”, “a living sense of words , freshness of perception, keen eye.”

Astafiev's narration style conveys the view of war of a simple soldier or junior officer. In his works, he created a literary image of a simple worker-warrior - an impersonal platoon leader, on whom the entire army rests and on whom, in the end, “all dogs are hanged” and all sins are written off, who is bypassed by rewards, but receives punishment in abundance. Astafiev largely copied this half-autobiographical, half-collective image of a front-line trench soldier, living the same life with his comrades in arms and accustomed to calmly looking into the eyes of death, from himself and from his front-line friends, contrasting him with the rear-line survivors who lived in large numbers throughout the war in a relatively safe front-line zone and for whom the writer felt the deepest contempt until the end of his days.

According to Marshal Dmitry Yazov (2013), who recognized Astafiev’s “strong literary talent,” he “wrote very blackly about the war, hysterically, I would say.”

A harsh, on the verge of censorship, depiction of the bitter and unsightly sides of life is also characteristic of Astafiev’s works from peaceful life. He was one of the first to mention in print (in “Theft”, “Last Bow”) about the “hungry year of 1933”, wrote about teenage cruelty, the criminalization of Soviet society both in pre-war times and under “developed socialism”, about the presence in it of a vast marginal layer vegetating in darkness, violence and self-destruction, about an unsettled culture and the pettiness of the life goals of the “urban”, “learned”.

Most of the lyrical and autobiographical stories (about a Siberian village in the 1930s) written by Astafiev for children and teenagers were included in the collection “The Last Bow”.

Astafiev’s books were popular in the USSR and abroad for their lively literary language and realistic depiction of military and rural life, and therefore they were translated into many languages ​​of the world.

Novels

• "Until Next Spring" (1953)
• "The Snows Are Melting" (1958)
• "Cursed and Killed" (1995)

Stories

• "The Pass" (1958)
• "Starodub" (1960)
• "Starfall" (1960-1973)
• "Theft" (1966)
• “War is Raging Somewhere” (1967)
• "Last Bow" (1968)
• "Slush Autumn" (1970)
• "Tsar Fish" (1976)
• "Gudgeon Fishing in Georgia" (1984)
• "The Sad Detective" (1987)
• “This is how I want to live” (1995)
• "Obertone" (1995-1996)
• "Out of the Quiet Light" (1961, 1975, 1992, 1997) (attempt at confession)
• "The Jolly Soldier" (1998)
• "Vasyutkino Lake"
• "The Photograph I'm Not in" (1968)
• "Haircut Creak"
• “Why did I kill the corncrake?”
• "Granny with raspberries"
• "Geese in a hole"

Modern pastoral

• "The Shepherd and the Shepherdess" (1967-1971-1989)
• "Lyudochka" (1987)
• “A Horse with a Pink Mane” (one of the chapters of the story “The Last Bow”) (1968)

Plays

• "Forgive Me" (1980)

Film adaptations

• 1977 - “No seagulls flew here”, dir. Bulat Mansurov
• 1979 - “Taiga Tale”, dir. Vladimir Fetin
• 1981 - “Starfall”, dir. Igor Talankin

Script writer

• 1983 - “Twice Born”, dir. Arkady Sirenko
• 1986 - “War is thundering somewhere,” dir. Arthur Voitetsky
• Until next spring: [Stories]. - Molotov: Hammer. book publishing house, 1953. - 152 pp.: ill.
• Lights. - Molotov: Hammer. book publishing house, 1955. - 98 p.
• Vasyutkino Lake. - Molotov, 1956. - 48 p.
• Uncle Kuzya, chickens, fox and cat. - Perm, 1957. - 32 p.
• The snow is melting: a novel. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1958. - 307 pp.: ill.
• Warm rain. - M.: Detgiz, 1958. - 96 p.
• Pass: Tale / Ill. V. Zhabsky. - Sverdlovsk: Book. publishing house, 1959. - 135 pp.: ill.
• Siberian. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1959−1960. - 26 s.
• Starodub: Tale and stories / Ill. A. N. Tumbasova. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1960. - 178 pp., 1 sheet. ill.
• Zorka's song: Stories. - Perm, 1960. - 116 p.
• Human blood. - Sverdlovsk, 1960. - 24 p.
• Warm rain. - M.: Detgiz, 1960. - 96 p.
• Wild onion. - Perm, 1961. - 40 p.
• A story about love. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1961. - 58 p.
• Soldier and mother: Tale and stories. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1961. - 104 p.: ill. - (Short stories and short stories).
• Uncle Kuzya is the chicken boss. - M.: Detgiz, 1961. - 64 p.
• Vasyutkino Lake. - M.: Detgiz, 1962. - 96 p.
• Starfall: Stories. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1962. - 336 p.
• Human trace. - Sverdlovsk: Book. publishing house, 1962. - 208 p.
• The snow is melting. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1962. - 326 p.
• Geese in the wormwood. - Perm, 1963. - 16 p.
• I remember you, Love. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1963. - 150 p.
• Spring Island: Stories. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1964. - 264 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - M.: Pravda, 1964. - 48 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - Sverdlovsk, 1965. - 184 p.
• The trenches were overgrown with grass. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1965. - 174 pp.:
• Haircut Creak. - M.: Children's literature, 1965.- 16 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - Voronezh: Central Black Earth. book ed., 1968. - 200 p.
• Theft: A Tale / [Ill.: A. and V. Motovilov]. Perm: Book. publishing house, 1970. - 318 p.
• Theft. War is raging somewhere. - M.: Young Guard, 1968. - 368 p.
• Last bow. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1968. - 260 p.
• Blue twilight. - M.: Sov. writer, 1968. - 416 p.
• Is it a clear day? - M.: Pravda, 1972. - 64 p.
• Uncle Kuzya is the chicken boss. - Perm, 1969. - 52 p.
• Stories. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1969. - 528 p.
• Theft: A Tale / [Ill.: A. and V. Motovilov]. Perm: Book. publishing house, 1970. - 318 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - M., Children's literature, 1970. - 192 p.
• Zatesi: Book of short stories / Ill. Yu. V. Petrova. - M.: Sov. writer, 1972. - 238 p.
• Bend: Stories / Ill. B. Alimov. - M.: Sovremennik, 1972. - 368 p.: ill.
• Stories about my contemporary / Afterword. A. Lanshchikova; Il. B. Kosulnikova. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1972.-669 p.: ill.
• Stories about my contemporary / Afterword. A. Lanshchikova; Il. B. Kosulnikova. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1972.- 669 pp.: ill.
• Is it a clear day: Novels and stories / Intro. Art. A. Mikhailova. - Vologda: North-West. book publishing house, 1972. - 256 pp., 1 sheet. portrait
• Uncle Kuzya is the chicken boss. - M.: Children's literature, 1972. - 64 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - M., Children's literature, 1972. - 192 p.
• Anxious dream. - M., 1972. - 92 p. (B-chka of the magazine “Border Guard”)
• The Shepherd and the Shepherdess: Modern Pastoral / Ill. V. Kadochnikov. - Perm: Book. publishing house, 1973. - 149 pp.: ill.
• Favorites: [Stories]. - Krasnoyarsk: Book. publishing house, 1974. - 758 pp.: ill.
• Pass; Last bow; Theft; The Shepherd and the Shepherdess: Stories. - Krasnoyarsk: Book. publishing house, 1974. - 753 pp.: ill.
• Haircut Creak. - M.: Children's literature, 1974. - 32 p.
• Somewhere the war is thundering: Novels and stories. - M.: Sovremennik, 1975. - 624 p.: ill.
• Pass: A Tale. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1975. - 135 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - M., Children's literature, 1975. - 192 p.
• Stories. - M.: Artist. lit., 1976. - 445 p.,: ill., 1 sheet of portrait.
• Boy in a white shirt: Stories. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1977. - 591 p.
• Stories/Preface. S. Zalygina. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1977. - 560 pp., 1 sheet. portrait
• Stories; Stories; Zatesi. Perm: Book. publishing house, 1977. - 463 pp.: ill.
• Last bow: Tale/Il. Yu. Boyarsky. - M.: Sovremennik, 1978. - 639 p.: ill.
• King Fish: Narration in stories / Artist. V. Bakhtin. - Krasnoyarsk: Book. publishing house, 1978. - 408 pp.: ill.
• Belogrudka. - M., Soviet Russia, 1978. - 16 p.
• King Fish: Narration in stories. - M.: Sov. writer, 1980. - 400 p.
• Last bow: Tale. - Krasnoyarsk: Book. publishing house, 1981. - 547 p.
• Notes: Miniatures: Short. stories / From the author, p. 5-10; ARTIST V. M. Kharlamov. - Krasnoyarsk: Book publishing house, 1982. - 326 s.
• Uncle Kuzya is the chicken boss. - M.: Children's literature, 1981. - 64 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - Voronezh, 1981. - 82 p.
• Grandmother's holiday. - M., Soviet Russia, 1982. - 48 p.
• In the taiga, near the Yenisei. - M.: Malysh, 1982. - 96 p.
• Last bow: Tale; Stories / Afterword. A. Khvatova; Artist B. Nepomnyashchy. - L.: Lenizdat, 1982. - 702 pp.: ill., 1 l. portrait
• Last bow: Tale; - M., Izvestia, 1982. - 636 p.
• King Fish: Narratives in Stories / Ill. V. Galdyaev. - M.: Sovremennik, 1982. - 384 p.: ill.
• Starodub.- M.: Children's literature, 1982.- 64 p.
• Haircut Creak. - M.: Children's literature, 1982.- 32 p.
• Haircut Creak. - M.: Malysh, 1982. - 22 p.
• Is it a clear day? - Irkutsk, 1982. - 48 p.
• Theft. - Krasnoyarsk, 1983. - 246 p.
• Spring Island. - M.: Malysh, 1983. - 18 p.
• Zorka's song. - M.: Malysh, 1983. - 10 p.
• Last bow: Tale. - M.: Children's literature, 1983. - 288 p.
• King Fish: Narration in stories / Ill. V. Galdyaev. - M.: Sovremennik, 1983. - 384 p.: ill.
• Starfall: A Tale. - M.: Sovremennik, 1984. - 80 p.
• On a distant northern peak: Tales; Stories / Artist. G. Krasnov. - Krasnoyarsk: Book. publishing house, 1984. - 455 pp.: ill.
• Stories. - M.: Artist. lit., 1984. - 680 pp., 1 l. portrait
• Novels and stories. - M.: Sov. writer, 1984. - 688 pp., portrait.
• Stories / Artist. Yu. Alekseeva. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1984. - 577 pp.: ill.
• King Fish: Narration in stories / Nl. V. Galdyaev. - M.: Sovremennik, 1984. - 384 p.: ill.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - M., Children's literature, 1984. - 208 p.
• Somewhere the war is thundering: Novels and stories. - Baku: Azerieshr, 1985. - 470 p.
• Last bow: Tale / Art. Yu. Alekseeva. - M.: Sovremennik, 1985. - 543 p.: ill.
• Everything has its time. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1985. - 254 p., ill., photo. - (Writer - youth - life).
• Belogrudka: Stories. - M.: Children's literature, 1985. - 128 p.
• Military pages: Novels and stories / Artistic. G. Metchenko. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1986, 1987. - 460 pp.: ill.
• Somewhere the war is thundering: Novels and stories. - Riga: Liesma, 1986. - 349 pp.: ill.
• Living life: Novel, stories. - M.: Sovremennik, 1986. - 317 p., 1 sheet. portrait
• Kapaluh. - M.: Malysh, 1985. - 10 p.
• Military pages: Novels and stories / Artistic. G. Metchenko. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1986. - 462 pp.: ill.
• In the taiga, near the Yenisei. - M.: Malysh, 1986. - 96 p.
• King Fish: Narration in stories. - Minsk: Nar. Asveta, 1987. - 367 p.
• Sad detective. - M., Pravda, 1986. - Book. 1. - 64 s.; Book 2. - 48 s. (B-ka “Ogonyok”)
• King Fish: Narration in stories. - Petrozavodsk: Karelia., 1986-368 p.
• King fish. Stories. - Khabarovsk, 1986. - 576 p.
• War is raging somewhere. - M.: Sovremennik, 1987. - 64 p.
• Military pages: Novels and stories / Artistic. G. Metchenko. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1987. - 462 pp.: ill.
• Vasyutkino Lake. - Chisinau, 1987. - 64 p.
• Sad detective. - M., 1987. - 80 p. (B-chka of the magazine “Soviet Police”)
• Sad detective. - M., Fiction, 1987. - 66 p. (Roman-newspaper).
• Somewhere the war is thundering: Stories, stories / Intro. Art. N. N. Yanovsky. - Voronezh: Central-Chernozem. book publishing house, 1988. - 480 p.
• Somewhere the war is thundering: Stories, stories / Intro. Art. N. N. Yanovsky. - Voronezh: Central-Chernozem. book publishing house, 1988. - 477 p.
• Sighting staff / Artist. N. Abakumov. - M.: Sovremennik, 1988. - 588 p.: ill.
• Kapaluh. - M.: Malysh, 1988. - 8 p.
• Falling leaf. - M.: Sov. writer, 1988. - 512 p.
• Pass. Theft. - M., Children's literature, 1988. - 302 p.
• Sad detective: Stories, novels, stories / [Art. I. Kyrmu]. - Chisinau: Lit. artiste, 1988. - 671 pp.: ill.
• King Fish: Narration in Stories / [Intro. Art. N. N. Yanovsky; Artist V. A. Avdeev]. - Novosibirsk: Book. publishing house, 1988. - 381, p., l. ill.
• King fish. - Simferopol, Tavria, 1989-384 p.
• Where summer and winter meet. - M.: Malysh, 1989. - 96 p.
• Last bow: Tale. - M.: Children's literature, 1989. - 352 p.
• Theft; Sighting Staff: Stories / Artist. Yu. M. Pavlov. - Kemerovo: Book. publishing house, 1989. - 479 pp.: ill.
• The Shepherd and the Shepherdess / Artist. Yu. F. Alekseeva. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1989. - 604 pp., 1 l. portrait: ill.
• Sad detective: Novel, stories, short stories, essay / Artist. E. A. Galerkina. - L.: Lenizdat, 1989. - 366 pp.: ill.
• Last bow: Tale. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1989. - T. 1-2. T.I, book. 1,2.1989.333 p.: ill. T. 2, book. 2 (continued), 3.1989.430 pp.: ill.
• King fish. - Irkutsk: Vost.-Sib. book publishing house, 1989. - 368 p., l. portrait
• Is it a clear day: Collection / Art. Yu. F. Alekseeva. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1989. - 668 p., l. portrait
• Geese in the wormwood. - M.: Malysh, 1990. - 24 p.
• Theft. Last bow. - M.: Education, 1990. - 448 p.
• Shepherd and shepherdess. - Irkutsk, 1990. - 480 p.
• Starfall: Stories. - Kemerovo: Contemporary. Sib. department, 1990. - 554 p.
• Starodub: Stories / Artistic. E. Yakovlev. - Kemerovo: Contemporary. Sib. department, 1990. - 544 p.
• Wolf smile. - M.: Book. Chamber, 1990. - 378 p.
• Horse with a pink mane: Stories. - M., Children's literature, 1990. - 142 p.
• Born by Me: A Novel; Stories; Stories. - M.: Artist. lit., 1991. - 606 p.
• Sad Detective: A Novel; Sighting Staff: Tale [Intro. Art. L. Vukolova, p. 5-22]. - M.: Profizdat, 1991. - 412. - Irkutsk: Publisher Sapronov, 2009. - 720 p. - 2500 copies.
• Documentary film (2010, directed by Andrey Zaitsev) “Viktor Astafiev. Cheerful Soldier"
• Evgeniy Ermolin Latest classics. M.: Coincidence, 2016.

Awards

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (April 28, 1999) - for outstanding contribution to the development of Russian literature
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (April 25, 1994) - for his great contribution to the development of Russian literature, strengthening interethnic cultural ties and fruitful social activities
• Hero of Socialist Labor (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 21, 1989, Order of Lenin and Hammer and Sickle medal) - for great services in the development of Soviet literature and fruitful social activities
• Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (1985) - as a participant in the Great Patriotic War, having military awards.
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1971, 1974, 1984)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1981) - for the anniversary of the USSR Writers' Union
• medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
• Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw" (1945)
• Order of the Red Star (1944-45)
• Medal "For Courage" (1943)

Awards

• USSR State Prize (1978) - for the book “The Tsar Fish”
• USSR State Prize (1991) - for the novel “The Seeing Staff” (1988)
• State Prize of the RSFSR named after Monument to Astafiev in Krasnoyarsk
  • In the writer’s homeland, in the village of Ovsyanka, there is the V. P. Astafiev Library-Museum, and with it the Center for the Study and Dissemination of the Work of the Great Countryman. He works to preserve, research and popularize the writer’s heritage, collaborating with libraries, museums, educational institutions, publishing houses, journalists, researchers, literary and artistic figures. Admirers of Astafiev’s talent come here.
  • On November 29, 2002, the memorial house-museum of Astafiev was opened in the village of Ovsyanka. Documents and materials from the writer’s personal fund are also stored in the State Archive of the Perm Region. There is also a house-museum of Astafiev in Chusovoy.
  • On November 30, 2006, a monument to Astafiev was unveiled in Krasnoyarsk. Sculptor - Igor Linevich-Yavorsky.
  • The Literary Museum in Krasnoyarsk is named after Astafiev.
  • In Perm, at house 84 on Lenin Street, where the writer lived and worked in the 1960s, in Vologda, on Leningradskaya Street, where Astafiev lived, memorial plaques were installed on the building of the railway station in the city of Chusovoy.
  • The unusual monument to Viktor Astafiev is located near the highway leading from Krasnoyarsk to Divnogorsk. The monument represents a huge sturgeon tearing a net - the fish to which one of the writer’s most famous stories, “The Tsar Fish,” is dedicated. Around the monument there is a small recreation area and an observation deck overlooking the Yenisei flowing below and Ovsyanka. The author of the sculptural composition project is Krasnoyarsk entrepreneur Evgeny Pashchenko.
  • Schools in Igarka, Zheleznogorsk, in the village of Podtesovo, Krasnoyarsk Lyceum No. 19 (former FZO-1, from which the writer graduated), and Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University are named after Astafiev.
  • A tanker (formerly Lenaneft-2035) bears the name of Astafiev:.
  • In Novosibirsk, on the Zatulinsky residential area, a library named after V.P. Astafiev was opened.
  Categories:

Biography and episodes of life Viktor Astafiev. When born and died Victor Astafiev, memorable places and dates of important events of his life. Quotes from a writer and playwright, photos and videos.

Years of life of Viktor Astafiev:

born May 1, 1924, died November 29, 2001

Epitaph

“Siberian autumn is pure and innocent.
The Yenisei has spread its harsh power.
The viburnum is ripe, the viburnum is burning
It’s like a fire in Astafiev’s estate!
And the bitterness of viburnum is already rather sweet.
Frost makes the fruits even juicier.
What a loss! What a loss!
Its space is irreplaceable..."
From a romance based on poems by Nina Guryeva in memory of Astafiev

Biography

His motto was “not a day without a line!” Until his death, Astafiev was full of plans - on paper and in his heart. The biography of Viktor Astafiev is a difficult story of the life of a talented and strong man who experienced many losses. But this did not stop him from becoming a truly popular writer.

Viktor Astafiev was born in the village of Ovsyanka (now in the Krasnoyarsk Territory), where today there is a whole memorial complex of the writer. Astafiev’s grandmother’s house is part of this complex; it was the grandmother who raised the boy after his father was imprisoned and his mother drowned while going on a date with her husband. Later, with his father’s new family, Victor moved to Igarka, but soon his stepmother decided to throw off the burden of a child and Astafiev had to wander. Astafiev’s literary talent was first noticed by a teacher at the boarding school where the boy ended up. After boarding school, Astafiev entered a school in Krasnoyarsk, and then went to war as a volunteer, where he was seriously wounded several times. Astafiev’s health, alas, did not allow him to get a qualified job, and he tried to feed his family as best he could: he worked as a loader, a carpenter, even as a meat washer.

Once in Chusovoy, Astafiev attended a literary club class, it inspired him so much that he wrote a story in one night, and then worked for several more years at the Chusovsky Rabochiy newspaper. Already in 1953, his first book of stories was published, followed by novels, books for children, and essays. In 1958, he was accepted into the Writers' Union of the RSFSR after the release of his novel “The Snow is Melting.” From there, Astafiev was sent to literary courses in Moscow, where he studied for two years. This period brought the writer great fame, and during this time his prose reached its lyrical peak. This was followed by many years of Astafiev’s fruitful work - numerous stories, plays, novels, novellas, in which the writer often refers to his childhood, to the places in which he lived, memories of the war, reflections on life and the country. Readers especially loved Astafiev for his lively literary language and for his talent for depicting Russian life so realistically. When Astafiev’s collected works were published in the late 90s, they filled 15 volumes!

Astafiev's death occurred on November 29, 2001. The cause of Astafiev’s death was a stroke, which he suffered in April and from which he was never able to recover. Astafiev’s funeral took place on December 1 in Ovsyanka, the writer’s homeland. Astafiev’s grave is located on Mayskaya arable land - three kilometers from Ovsyanka, in the same place where his daughter Irina is buried.

Life line

May 1, 1924 Date of birth of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev.
1942 Astafiev volunteering for the front.
1945 Demobilization with the rank of private, departure to the Urals, marriage to Maria Koryakina.
1948 Birth of daughter Irina.
1950 Birth of son Andrei.
1951 Work in the newspaper “Chusovsky Rabochiy”, publication of the first story.
1953 The release of Astafiev’s first book, “Until Next Spring.”
1958 Admission of Astafiev to the Union of Writers of the USSR.
1959-1961 Studying at the Higher Literary Courses in Moscow.
1962 Moving to Perm.
1969 Moving to Vologda.
1980 Moving to Krasnoyarsk.
1987 Death of Astafiev's daughter, Irina.
1989-1991 People's Deputy of the USSR.
1994 Astafiev was awarded the independent Triumph Prize.
1995 Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of Russia for the novel “Cursed and Killed.”
November 29, 2001 Date of death of Astafiev.
December 1, 2001 Funeral of Astafiev.

Memorable places

1. The village of Ovsyanka, where Astafiev was born and buried.
2. Vocational school No. 19 in Krasnoyarsk named after. Astafiev (former FZO-1), where the writer studied.
3. Astafiev’s house-museum in Chusovoy, where the writer lived and worked after the war.
4. Literary Institute named after. M. Gorky, where Astafiev studied at the Higher Literary Courses.
5. Astafiev’s house in Perm, where he lived in the 1960s and where today there is a memorial plaque to the writer.
6. Astafiev Memorial Complex in the village of Ovsyanka, which includes the Astafiev Museum, the house of the writer’s grandmother Ekaterina Potylitsina and a chapel.

Episodes of life

The first daughter of the Astafievs died while still a baby. These were difficult times, right after the war, everyone was starving, there were not enough food cards. The daughter simply had nothing to eat, and her mother lost her milk. Later, a daughter, Irina, was born, whom Astafiev, alas, also had to lose when she herself already had two children - Irina died of a heart attack. The Astafievs took their grandchildren in and raised them as their own children.

After suffering a stroke, Astafiev wrote to his fellow soldier Ivan Gergel that he sometimes experienced real despair. “If I had a gun at home, I would end all this torment, because I can’t live,” Astafiev complained. Most of all, he was worried that he could not write - he tried to dictate into a voice recorder, but it turned out like someone else’s text.

Covenant

“Let my name live as long as my works are worthy of remaining in the memory of people. I wish you all the best life; For this he lived, worked and suffered.”

Documentary film with Viktor Astafiev “Everything has its hour”

Condolences

“His death could have been expected, and yet it was unexpected. It was vaguely believed: maybe he would hold out this time, and at this already mortal point. But, apparently, there is a limit to Astafiev’s love of life and perseverance. He was a real soldier - beaten, shot, cheerful, cheerful and sad, kind-hearted and truly angry, sometimes rude. Everything was in it. He grabbed the reader, as they say, to the quick. Not everyone accepted him, and this is natural - he was unlike anyone in our wonderful literature about the former terrible war. After all, in addition to the general war, everyone also had their own war.”
Konstantin Vanshenkin, poet

“Viktor Petrovich Astafiev has gone into eternity, leaving behind such a short and such a long life. A hard life to the point of martyrdom. And joyful to the point of self-forgetfulness. A life full of aromas of herbs and flowers, beautiful music, poetry and creativity. And by his departure he was able to morally surpass all of us - Krasnoyarsk residents who were unable to protect, to save the writer’s sick heart from the dirt of the slanderous media, from the spiritual darkness of the deputies. And forgive us, Lord, and rest the soul of your deceased servant Victor in the villages of the righteous, grant him the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal peace, he worked a lot on this earth. And for us who remain here, this loss is irreparable...”
Gennady Fast, rector of the Assumption Church in the city of Yeniseisk

Viktor Petrovich Astafiev
Born: May 1, 1924
Died: November 29, 2001

Biography

Born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, Krasnoyarsk Territory, in a peasant family. Parents were dispossessed Astafiev ended up in an orphanage. During the Great Patriotic War, he volunteered to go to the front, fought as a common soldier, and was seriously wounded.

Returning from the front, Astafiev worked as a mechanic, auxiliary worker, and teacher in the Perm region. In 1951 in the newspaper "Chusovsky worker" His first story, Civil Man, was published. The first book was published in Perm Astafieva Until next spring (1953).

In 1959–1961 he studied at the Higher Literary Courses in Moscow. At this time, his stories began to be published not only in publishing houses in Perm and Sverdlovsk, but also in the capital, including in the magazine "New World", led by A. Tvardovsky. Already for the first stories Astafieva was characterized by attention to "little people"– Siberian Old Believers (story Starodub, 1959), orphanages of the 1930s (story Theft, 1966). Stories dedicated to the fates of people whom the prose writer met during his orphan childhood and youth, he combined into a cycle Last bow(1968–1975) – a lyrical narrative about folk character.

In creativity Astafieva the two most important themes of Soviet literature of the 1960s and 1970s were equally embodied - military and rural. In his work - including works written long before Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost - the Patriotic War appears as a great tragedy.

In the story The Shepherd and the Shepherdess(1971), the genre of which was designated by the author as "modern pastoral", tells about the hopeless love of two young people, brought together for a brief moment and separated forever by war. In the play I'm sorry(1980), which takes place in a military hospital, Astafiev also writes about love and death. Even more harshly than in the works of the 1970s, and absolutely without pathos, the face of war is shown in the story I want to live this way(1995) and in the novel Cursed and killed (1995).

In his interviews, the prose writer repeatedly emphasized that he did not consider it possible to write about the war, guided by ostentatious patriotism. Soon after the publication of the novel Cursed and killed Astafiev was awarded the prize "Triumph", awarded annually for outstanding achievements in literature and the arts.

The village theme is most fully and vividly embodied in the story King fish(1976; USSR State Prize, 1978), the genre of which Astafiev designated as "narrative in stories". Plot outline King of fish became the writer’s impressions of a trip to his native Krasnoyarsk region.

The documentary-biographical basis is organically combined with lyrical and journalistic deviations from the smooth development of the plot. At the same time Astafiev it is possible to create the impression of complete authenticity even in those chapters of the story where fiction is obvious - for example, in the legend chapters The King Fish and the Dream of White Mountains. The prose writer writes bitterly about the destruction of nature and names the main reason for this phenomenon: the spiritual impoverishment of man.

Astafiev didn't get around in King fish main "stumbling block" village prose - the opposition of urban and rural people, which is why the image "not remembering kinship" Gogi Gertseva turned out to be one-dimensional, almost caricatured.

The writer was not enthusiastic about the changes that took place in human consciousness at the beginning of perestroika; he believed that if the moral foundations of human coexistence, which was characteristic of Soviet reality, were violated, universal freedom could only lead to rampant crime. This idea is also expressed in the story Sad detective (1987).

Its main character, a policeman Soshnin, tries to fight criminals, realizing the futility of his efforts. The hero - and with him the author - is horrified by the massive decline in morality, leading people to a series of cruel and unmotivated crimes. The style of the story corresponds to this author’s position: The Sad Detective more than other works Astafieva, characterized by journalisticism.

During the years of perestroika Astafieva tried to drag them into a struggle between various writer groups. However, talent and common sense helped him avoid the temptation of political involvement. Perhaps this was greatly facilitated by the fact that after long wanderings around the country, the writer settled in his native Ovsyanka, deliberately distancing himself from the bustle of the city.

Oatmeal Astafieva has become unique "cultural mecca" Krasnoyarsk region. Here the prose writer was repeatedly visited by prominent writers, cultural figures, politicians and simply grateful readers.

The genre of miniature essays in which he worked a lot Astafiev, he called Zatesy, symbolically linking his work with the construction of a house. In 1996 Astafiev received the State Prize of Russia, in 1997 – the Pushkin Prize of the foundation Alfred Tepfer(Germany).

Works

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

Victor Astafiev: biography

The author was born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, Sovetsky district. The writer also spent his childhood here. The boy's father, Pyotr Pavlovich Astafiev, and mother, Lydia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna, were peasants and had a strong farm. But during 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 Ilyinichna, among others, was crossing the river to meet her husband in the prison, capsized. Having fallen into the water, the woman caught her scythe on the boom and drowned. After the death of his parents, the boy was raised in the family of his grandparents. The child’s urge to write arose early. Later, having become a writer, Astafiev recalled how his grandmother Katerina called him a “liar” for his irrepressible imagination. Life among the old people seemed like a fairy tale to the boy. She became his only bright memory of his childhood. After the incident at school, Victor was sent to a boarding school in the village of Igarka. Life was hard for him there. The boy was often a homeless child. The boarding school teacher Ignatius Rozhdestvensky noticed a craving for reading in his pupil. He tried to develop it. The boy’s essay about his favorite 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.

Adult life

After this, the young man works 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 Astafiev took part in the battles for Poland and Ukraine, and fought during the battles. He was seriously wounded and shell-shocked. 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 takes a new turn here. A different, peaceful life begins. He also brings his wife here, who later became famous as a writer - M. S. Koryakina. They were completely different people. Women always hovered around Victor. He was a very interesting person. It is known that he has two illegitimate daughters. His wife Maria was jealous of him. She dreamed that her husband would be faithful to the family. Here, in Chusovoy, Victor takes on any job to feed his children. In his marriage he had three children. Maria and Victor lost their eldest girl. She was only a few months old when she died in hospital from severe dyspepsia. This 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 his state of health, undermined by the war, the future writer did not have the opportunity to return to his specialty, acquired at the FZO. In Chusovoy, he managed to work as a mechanic, a loader, a foundry worker at a local factory, a carcass washer at a sausage factory, and a carpenter at a carriage depot.

The beginning of a creative journey

Writing still attracts the future master of words. Here, in Chusovoy, he attends a literary club. This is how Viktor Petrovich Astafiev himself recalls it. His biography is little known, so any little details related to his life or work are important for his readers. “I developed a passion for writing early. I remember very well how, while I was attending a literary circle, one of the students read a story he had just written. The work struck me with its artificiality and unnaturalness. I took it and wrote a story. This was my first creation. In it I talked about my friend at the front,” the author said about his debut. The title of this first work is "Civilian". In 1951 it was published in the Chusovoy Rabochiy newspaper. The story was a success. For the next four years, the writer is a literary employee of this publication. In 1953, his first collection of stories entitled “Until Next Spring” was published in the city of Perm. And in 1958, Astafiev wrote the novel “The Snow is Melting,” in which he highlighted the problems of rural collective farm life. Soon a second collection of stories entitled “Ogonki” was released by Viktor Astafiev. “Stories for children” - this is how he described his creation.

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

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

In them he raises acute problems of the formation of the human personality, growing up in difficult conditions of the 30s and 40s. These are stories such as “Theft”, “The Last Bow”, “War is Thundering Somewhere” and others. It is worth noting that many of them are autobiographical in nature. Here are scenes of orphanage life, presented in all its cruelty, and the dispossession of peasants, and much more. The turning point in Astafiev’s work was his story “Starodub,” written in 1959. The action takes place in an ancient Siberian settlement. The ideas and traditions of the Old Believers did not evoke sympathy in Victor. Taiga laws and “natural faith,” according to the author, do not at all save a person from loneliness and solving pressing problems. The culmination of the work is the death of the main character. In the hands of the deceased, instead of a candle, there is an old oak 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 most literary critics, from Astafiev’s story “The Soldier and the Mother.” The main character of the creation has no name. She personifies all Russian women through whose hearts the “heavy iron wheel of war” passed. Here the writer creates human types that amaze with their reality, authenticity, and “truth of character.”

It is also surprising how the master boldly exposes painful problems of social development in his creations. The main source from which Viktor Petrovich Astafiev draws inspiration is biography. A short version of it is unlikely to awaken a reciprocal feeling in the reader’s heart. That is why the difficult life of the writer is examined here in such detail.

The theme of war in the works of writers

In 1954, the author’s “favorite brainchild” was published. We are talking about the story “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess”. In just 3 days, the master wrote a draft of 120 pages. Later he only polished the text. They didn’t want to publish the story; they constantly cut out entire fragments from it that censorship did not allow. Only 15 years later the author was able to release it in its original version. At the center of the story is the story of a young platoon commander, Boris Kostyaev, who experiences all the horrors of war, but still dies from wounds and exhaustion on a train taking him to the rear. A woman's love does not save the protagonist. In the story, the author paints before the reader a terrible picture of war and the death it brings. It’s not so difficult to guess why they didn’t want to publish the work. The people who fought and won this war were usually portrayed as mighty, strong, and unbending. According to the master’s stories, it is not only bendable, but also destroyed. Moreover, people suffer death and hardship not only due to the fault of the fascist invaders who came to their land, but also due to the will of the totalitarian system that dominates the country. The work of Viktor Astafiev was replenished with other striking works, such as “Sashka Lebedev”, “Anxious Dream”, “Hands of the Wife”, “India”, “Blue Twilight”, “Russian Diamond”, “Is It a Clear Day” and others.

The story “Ode to the Russian Vegetable Garden” is a hymn to peasant hard work

In 1972, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev released 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 the underside of it. He is no stranger to the suffering and hardships of people engaged in back-breaking labor, which he has known since childhood. The story “Ode to the Russian Vegetable Garden” is a work that is a kind of hymn to peasant labor. The writer E. Nosov said about it: “It 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 both a school of life and an academy of fine arts for him. When reading the “Ode,” one cannot leave the feeling of sadness for the lost harmony of agricultural labor, which allows a person to feel a life-giving connection with Mother Nature.

The story “The Last Bow” about life in the village

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

The narration is told in the first person. At the center of this author’s work are the fates of village children, whose childhood was in the 1930s, when collectivization began in the country, and whose youth was in the “fiery” 40s. It is worth noting that this series of stories was created over two decades (from 1958 to 1978). The first stories are distinguished by their somewhat lyrical presentation and subtle humor. And in the final stories one can clearly see the author’s readiness to harshly denounce the system that is destroying the national foundations of life. They sound bitter and openly mocking.

The story “The King Fish” - a journey to his native places

In his works, the writer develops the theme of preserving national traditions. His story entitled “The Fish King,” published in 1976, is close in spirit to the cycle of stories about village life. In 2004, a monument was erected in Krasnoyarsk in honor of the writer’s 80th birthday. 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 photos are on the front pages of literary magazines. What can you say about the book? The manner in which the material is presented in this work is interesting. The author paints 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.

Novel about the war “Cursed and Killed” - criticism of Stalinism

In 1980, Viktor Astafiev moved to his homeland - Krasnoyarsk. His biography changes here, not for the better. A few years after the move, the writer’s daughter Irina suddenly dies. Viktor Petrovich and Maria Semenovna take her children, their grandchildren Polina and Vitya. On the other hand, it is here, in his homeland, that the master experiences creative growth. He writes such works as “Zaberega”, “Pestrukha”, “Premonition of the Ice Drift”, “Death”, the last chapters of “The Last Bow” and others. It was here that he created his main book about the war - the novel “Cursed and Killed.” This writer’s creation is distinguished by sharpness, categoricalness, and passion. For writing the novel, Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of Russia.

The year 2001 became fatal for the author of immortal stories. He spends a lot of time in the hospital. Two strokes left no hope for recovery. His friends petitioned the Krasnoyarsk Regional Council of Deputies to allocate funds for the writer’s treatment abroad. Consideration of this issue turned into a trial of the author. No money was allocated. The doctors, throwing up their hands, sent the patient home to die. On November 29, 2001, Viktor Astafiev died. Films based on his works are still very interesting to viewers today.

V.P. Astafiev

Born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, in the Yenisei province (now the Krasnoyarsk Territory).
The biography of Viktor Petrovich was filled with many tragic moments. At a very young age, his own father was arrested, and his own mother passed away while making another trip to her husband.
Early years, Viktor Astafiev was forced to while away his grandparents. This period remained in Victor’s memory as a positive period of life, nostalgia about which he would later write in his biography.
The father was not arrested for life, after his return, the father marries a second time, and together with the whole family they move to the city of Igark, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. After a short period of time, Victor’s father is admitted to the hospital, and then the little boy realizes that no one needs him in his new family except his dad. So, gradually the whole family turns away from Viktor Astafiev, and he remains alone in the street. After wandering alone for two months, Viktor Astafiev heads to an orphanage.
Having reached adulthood, Viktor Petrovich decisively becomes a volunteer on the military front. Having completed training in military affairs at the Novosibirsk infantry school, already in 1943, Victor found himself in the midst of hostilities. Having changed several professions and activities, Viktor Petrovich, reaching the end of hostilities, remained an ordinary soldier. However, despite his low rank, Victor was awarded the Order of the Red Star, as well as the medal For Courage.
At the end of hostilities, Viktor Astafiev marries Maria Koryakina, who was a famous writer. It is with her that Victor will later begin to live in the Perm region, the city of Chusovoy.
Spending years of his life in Chusovoy, Victor will have to change a huge number of specialties: here he managed to work as a mechanic, a storekeeper, and a teacher, and even managed to find work at a meat processing plant. But work was not Victor’s only activity. His greatest hobby was literature. Viktor Petrovich was a member of a literary club and circle.
The debut for Viktor Astafiev was the publication of 1951, when his work “A Civilian” was published. During the same period, Viktor Astafiev began to build a career in the Chusovsky Rabochiy publication; he loved this place of work so much that he did not leave it for four years. For the publication, Viktor Petrovich wrote a large number of stories, novellas, essays, and articles. With each new work, Viktor Astafiev’s literary talent opened up more and more new boundaries. Viktor Astafiev’s first independent book was published in 1953, and was titled “Until Next Spring.”
The main event and dream of Viktor Petrovich’s whole life was his acceptance into the Writers’ Union. In order to raise his literary level to a new stage, Victor was educated at the Higher Courses of Literary Art in the period from 59 to 61 years.
The literary masterpieces of Viktor Astafiev are filled with only three themes: rural, which can be seen in children's stories, military, and anti-Soviet themes.
During his literary career, Victor wrote and published many works, for example, the work “Cursed and Killed” was awarded the Russian Federation Prize in the section of art and literature.
Viktor Petrovich Astafiev died on November 29, 2001 in Krasnoyarsk. He was buried near his native village.