What small works did Valentin Kataev write? All books by Kataev V. P. Valentin Petrovich Kataev

Biography, life story of Valentin Petrovich Kataev

Kataev Valentin Petrovich – Russian Soviet writer and poet.

Childhood and youth

Valentin Kataev was born in Odessa on January 16 (28 according to the new style) in the family of Pyotr Vasilyevich, a teacher at the Odessa Diocesan School, and Evgenia Ivanovna, a general’s daughter and heiress noble blood. In 1902, the couple had another son, Evgeny (later the writer and screenwriter Evgeny Petrov, who co-wrote such famous novels with Ilya Ilf as “The Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf”).

Soon after birth youngest son Evgenia Ivanovna gets pneumonia and dies. Her sister took care of raising the boys. Aunt Valentina and Evgeniya with early years instilled in them a love of good literature - there was a huge library at home, available for reading at any time of the day. Perhaps it was precisely because of this that the Kataev brothers chose the difficult and full of ups and downs path of writers.

In 1910, Valentin’s first poem entitled “Autumn” was published on the pages of the Odessky Vestnik newspaper. Then, within two years, 25 more of his works appeared. Since 1912, Kataev begins to write humorous stories.

War and post-war times

Valentin Kataev never managed to graduate from high school - the First World War began World War. In 1915, the young man volunteered for the front. This did not stop the young writer from continuing to create. He wrote essays and short stories about military life. In 1917, after being seriously wounded, Kataev was admitted to a hospital in his native Odessa. Then in 1918, after the end of the World War, Kataev joined the “ white movement", ends up serving in the troops of Hetman Skoropadsky, then goes into the volunteer army. The writer was an artilleryman who fought against the Petliurites. In 1920, Valentin fell ill with typhus, ended up in an Odessa hospital, and from there went home.

CONTINUED BELOW

The Second World War. Literature

In 1921, Valentin Kataev became an employee of the Kharkov publishing house. A year later, he moves to Moscow and gets a job at the satirical newspaper Gudok. Long years Kataev lived peacefully and calmly - exactly until the next war began. This time Valentin Kataev went to the front as a war correspondent. At the same time, he wrote stories, essays and articles. Shortly before the end of World War II, Kataev published his famous story “Son of the Regiment.”

After the war, Valentin Kataev began to drink. The writer went on a drinking binge for several days, but was able to come to his senses in time and stop ruining his life. Despite his alcohol addiction, in the 20s and 30s he continued to actively work and publish his books. In the 40s, Kataev published fairy tales for children.

In 1955, Valentin Kataev founded the magazine Yunost and became its editor-in-chief. The magazine has been harshly criticized by authorities many times. The pages of Youth published the works of young writers and poets who sharply opposed conservatism and ossification.

Over the years creative activity Valentin Kataev created more than a hundred works, including novels, stories, short stories, essays, fairy tales, plays, film scripts, and poems.

Personal life

Valentin Kataev was married twice. Nothing is known about his first wife. The writer’s second life partner was Esther Davdovna Brenner. In 1936, a daughter, Evgenia, was born into the family, and a son, Pavel, was born in 1938.

Death

On April 12, 1986, Valentin Petrovich Kataev passed away. Several years earlier he had suffered major surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

The writer's body was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Kataev Valentin Petrovich born on January 28 (new style) 1897 in Odessa in the family of a teacher. Kataev published his first poem “Autumn” while still a high school student in 1910 in the newspaper “Odessa Bulletin”. He was also published in “Southern Thought”, “Odessa List”, “Awakening”, “Lukomorye”, etc. In 1915, without graduating from high school, he volunteered for the front, was wounded twice, and was poisoned with gases. He presented correspondence and essays about the “trench” life of soldiers, full of sympathy for the ordinary person in the war.

In 1919 Kataev was mobilized into the Red Army and commanded an artillery battery on the Don Front. Returning to Odessa, he worked at YugROSTA, attended various literary circles and associations. He became close to Yu.K. Olesha and E.G. Bagritsky, with whom he composed propaganda texts for posters.

From 1922 he lived in Moscow, was a permanent contributor to the newspaper Gudok (since 1923), published humoresques and feuilletons in Pravda, Rabochaya Gazeta, Truda (pseudonyms: Old Man Sabbakin, Ol. Twist, Mitrofan Gorchitsa). IN early work Kataev’s peculiar fusion of realism, keen everyday observation, irony, reaching the point of sarcasm, romantic elation and daring fantasy manifested itself in stories about the Civil War (“Krantz Experience”, 1919; “Golden Pen”, 1920; “Notes on the Civil War”, 1924, where there is a tendentiously contrasting “black and white” image of what is happening, with a sublime description of the “red” heroes and a satirical portrayal of the White Guards). During this period, adventurous utopian novels about the world revolution were written (Ehrendorf Island, The Lord of Iron, both 1924).

Kataev was fascinated by experiments in the field of form, strange characters appeared in his prose - the mysterious Oxford student Sir Henry, the devil in a dark jacket and white cuffs and other figures that make one remember E. T. A. Hoffmann and E. Poe (“Sir Henry and the devil", 1920; "The Iron Ring", 1923).

At the same time, Kataev moved from a mocking play on anecdotal incidents (collections of stories “The Bearded Baby”, 1924; “The Funniest”, 1927) to the accusatory pathos of debunking the cult of profit and the “beautiful” life. The writer's first significant success was the story "The Embezzlers" (1926). This is the phantasmagoric story of accountant Prokhorov and cashier Vanechka, who, wasting government money, travel around Russia in search of beautiful life. The action takes place during the NEP period, and the characters are presented with a bleak picture of wretched Soviet life and arrogant NEPmanism. The story was translated abroad and became a bestseller in the USA.

The comedy “Squaring the Circle” (1928) is marked by the severity of social and psychological satire directed against philistine vulgarity and the bourgeois cult of property. After a trip to Magnitogorsk, Kataev wrote a chronicle novel “Time, Forward!” (1932), the name of which was suggested to him by V. Mayakovsky. The book is imbued with Mayakovsky’s belief that the beginning of the first five-year plan can be perceived as the dawn new era. The main characters of the novel - engineer Margulies, Zagirov, concrete foreman Saenko - see the meaning of their lives in work that is ahead of its time and transforms life.

In the story “The Lonely Sail Whitens” (1936), the main characters of which are Odessa boys who find themselves in the whirlpool of the revolutionary events of 1905. Fascinating story, the picturesque objectivity of the description of the “background” of what is happening - the bustle of Odessa streets, the market, the port, the beach, the incessant sea, school life, etc., the fusion of humor, lyricism and heroic pathos made this work one of the favorite children's books.

The desire to show the history of the country through the fate of a person is also noted in Kataev’s story “I, Son of the Working People” (1937), the action of which takes place during the German occupation of Ukraine in 1919, the main characters are folklore characters - the brave soldier Semyon Kotko and the beautiful maiden Sophia, the narration , unfolding in the style of folk tales, is full of descriptions of Ukrainian landscapes, rituals and customs, and the sounds of Ukrainian speech.
Kataev about the Great Patriotic War

During the Great Patriotic War, war correspondent Kataev wrote feuilletons, essays, and stories. The story “Son of the Regiment” (1945; State Prize, 1946), a story about the fate of an orphan boy adopted by a military regiment, brought enormous popularity to the writer. The institution of “sons of the regiment” has since become established in the Russian army; Based on the story, a play of the same name was written and a film was made (1946, directed by V.M. Pronin). An accurate sense of modernity, authenticity of details, a witty plot, a fusion of lyricism and grotesque, like his other dramatic works, the play “A Day of Rest” (1947) was notable.
Kataev and the magazine “Youth”

In 1957-1962, as editor-in-chief of the Yunost magazine, Kataev contributed to its transformation into one of the leading periodicals in the country, the so-called mouthpiece. of the sixties, which opened the way to the reader for many prominent writers (including V.P. Aksenov and A.T. Gladilin). In 1964, the writer published an artistic and journalistic story about V.I. Lenin, “The Little Iron Door in the Wall.” In the series of memoirs by Kataev (the story “The Holy Well”, 1965; “The Grass of Oblivion”, 1967; “Broken Life, or the Magic Horn of Oberon”, 1972; “My Diamond Crown”, 1975; “Dry Liman”, 1986, where, inspired by the poetic imagination of the author, the heroes and plots of many of Kataev’s books came together), new facets of the writer’s talent were revealed: the depth of penetration into the meaning of events and the characters of people, confession and observation, combined with a living ability to artisticly shift time and space.

In the story “Werther has already been written” (1979), Kataev shows the Civil War in Russia as a senseless fratricidal massacre, in which the hero of the story, a sincere and pure cadet Dima, is involved, and in which commissars in black leather jackets administer their bloody judgment, shooting without trial their victims in garages.

In “Youth Novel” (1982), Kataev told a story similar to old romance: about the love of the young soldier Pchelkin for the general’s daughter. This is a novel in letters, building material which became archival finds.
The last years of Kataev's life

Kataev's last book, Sukhoi Liman (1986), was almost unnoticed by critics. This is a kind of epilogue to his multi-volume novel: in last time the characters came together, the plots of many books came together. Life is passed through the prism of distant memories combined with poetic fantasy.

Knight of two St. George's crosses
Knight of the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree
Laureate of the State Prize (1946, for the story “Son of the Regiment”)
Hero of Socialist Labor (1974)
Knight of three orders of Lenin (1939, 1974)

“It’s good to be a pure drop and conceal worlds within yourself!” Valentin Kataev

“I have myself to blame for so much,
he stood for us like a boulder,
evil and angular,
and gentle - the great Valyun.”

Evgeniy Yevtushenko

His father Pyotr Vasilyevich Kataev was a very educated man. He was born into the family of a priest from Vyatka, studied at a theological seminary, then graduated with a silver medal from the Faculty of History and Philology of Novorossiysk University and taught for many years at the cadet and diocesan schools of Odessa. Mother Evgenia Ivanovna, nee Bacha, was the daughter of a general who came from an ancient family of Zaporozhye Cossacks. Many years later, Valentin Petrovich Kataev gave this surname to his hero autobiographical stories. The couple lived happily, six years later they had another son, Eugene, who later became one of the co-authors of the famous novels “The Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf.” Soon after the birth of her youngest son, Evgenia Ivanovna died of pneumonia and her sister helped raise the children, replacing the mother of the orphaned children.

The Kataev brothers grew up surrounded by books. The family had an unusually extensive library - full meetings works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Chekhov, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Leskov, Goncharov, a lot of historical and reference books- “History of the Russian State”, Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia, Petri atlas. Love for Russian classical literature was instilled in them from childhood by parents who loved reading aloud. “In my books, I often described Russian intelligent families,” recalled Valentin Kataev. - Our family served as a prototype for me - dad, mom, warmth family relations, reigned in our house, the deepest decency, selflessness. Since childhood, I have heard the names of Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Leskov. There was a twelve-volume treasured Karamzin in the bookcase.”

From the age of nine, Valentin Kataev wrote poetry. He later recalled: “I had been writing poetry for a long time and was, like all young poets, in a state of eternal mental turmoil: I ran around the editorial offices of local newspapers indiscriminately, read my poems to anyone in the gymnasium, during breaks, asked the opinions of comrades, family, dads, aunts, tormented his younger brother Zhenya, the future Evgeniy Petrov, with his works, sent his poems to his grandmother in Yekaterinoslav, and even became known among his schoolgirl acquaintances as slightly crazy. And all this only because no one could explain to me some kind of - as I then thought - the most main secret, to discover some of the innermost secrets of poetry, without which one could really go crazy, not understanding why all this was written, what all these well-known rhymes, meters, stanzas mean a thousand times ago, since the time of Lomonosov already written by someone before, read and re-read a thousand times and, in fact, from an inner feeling, have nothing in common with me personally, with my life, with my destiny, with my interests - some pale “breathes cold nature is mute, the gray waves are boiling furiously” and so on.”

The editors accepted Kataev's manuscripts, but were in no hurry to publish the unknown high school student. Finally, one of the poems, “Autumn,” was published in the Odessky Vestnik newspaper in December 1910. Inspired by success, the thirteen-year-old poet continued to storm the editorial offices, leading his younger brother with him. Evgeny Petrov later recalled: “He... took me around the editorial offices. “Zhenya, let’s go to the editorial office!” I roared. He took me because he was scared to go alone.” This continued until one of the journalists advised Kataev to let a real writer read his poems. Kataev knew who to turn to - his schoolmate more than once boasted that his father was a writer. And Kataev went to Alexander Mitrofanovich Fedorov, who soon began to introduce him to his friends as a young poet and his talented student. It was from Alexander Fedorov that Valentin first heard the poems of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. Kataev later recalled: “I saw the miracle of true poetry: a new world. That same evening I asked my dad to buy me a book of Bunin’s poems. My father looked at me through his pince-nez with eyes that, in my opinion, brought tears of tenderness: finally, his foolishness came to his senses. He asks to buy him not skates, not a soccer ball, not a blow gun, not a tennis racket, but a book. And not “Sherlock Holmes” by Conan Doyle, not “The Mystery of the Yellow Room” by Gaston Leroux, but a wonderful book by the Russian poet. Perhaps this was the only truly happy day in his life. Fathers will understand this. And the children will understand too. But not now, but over time.”

In those years, Bunin visited Odessa every year. Time passed, and Kataev met him personally. Bunin reacted with sympathy to the young author, and months of apprenticeship and living lessons began in Kataev’s life, which he later spoke about many times in his memoir prose. Bunin instilled in Kataev a taste for daily work, he taught: “You must write poetry every day, just as a violinist or pianist must certainly play his instrument for several hours every day without missing a beat. Otherwise, your talent will inevitably become scarce and dry up, like a well from which no water is drawn for a long time. What should I write about? About anything. If you have given time there is no topic or idea, then just write about everything you see. A dog is running with its tongue hanging out - describe the dog. One, two four-verses. But it’s certain, it’s certain that it was this dog, and not some other one. Describe the tree. Sea. A bench. Find the only correct definition for them. Describe the sound of gravel under the sandals of a girl running to the sea with a towel on her shoulder and swim bladders in her hands. What is that sound? A creaking is not a creaking. The ringing is not ringing. The rustle is not a rustle. Something else - pebble - requiring the only necessary, true word... Writing every day, regularly, without waiting for inspiration, mood and the like, writing is like going to the service... or to the gymnasium.” Bunin saw how Kataev sought to publish each of the poems he wrote in Odessa Bulletin, Southern Thought, Odessa List, Awakening, Lukomorye, and advised him not to rush. He understood how I wanted to the young poet to see his name printed, and warned, explaining that at one time he himself was in a hurry and published a lot of weak things, which he later regretted.

The family of Colonel Aleksinsky lived next to the Kataevs. The eldest daughter, the favorite of the whole family, Irina, painted, wrote poetry, played the piano, and sculpted. She wrote down her favorite poems in a special notebook. In the Aleksinsky house, something between a literary club and a fan salon was formed. And Kataev fell in love with the young talented beauty. He dedicated his poems to her, and later, many years later, she became the prototype of the heroines of his prose. The First World War began. And in 1915, without graduating from high school, Kataev volunteered for the active army. He served in an artillery brigade under the command of Colonel Aleksinsky, Irina’s father. The lovers wrote letters to each other, including in poetry. Valentin Kataev wrote to Irina Aleksinskaya: “I received your letter. Thank you. It warmed me up, and this was very useful: it was damp, cold in the dugout, the walls were leaking, you could only sleep bent over, and besides, the only glass of the window was broken by the sounds of gunfire, and now we are sitting in the dark, since we had to seal the hole with a board. .. Your letter says amazingly correctly about my current and former life. This is exactly the consciousness I have: something is forever lost. I remembered that last summer, in a past life, I scribbled poems that I suddenly remembered... Then, I confess, I was a little in love with you. Remember my idiotic declaration of love on your balcony in the fall? But why “was I thinking about someone distant?” But it was still a glorious time. But you will never get it back...”

While in the army, constantly risking his life, Kataev remained faithful to Bunin’s behest “to write every day, regularly, without waiting for inspiration or mood.” And he wrote - stories, essays. He sent his poems not only to his beloved, but also to metropolitan magazines, which by that time were already eagerly publishing them. In December 1916, Valentin returned to Odessa to study at the infantry school. For several months, the fire of battle was replaced by the silence and comfort of home. He still spent a lot of time with the Aleksinskys, and Irina’s notebook was replenished with poems from the lover Valentin. In May 1917, Kataev again found himself at the front, in July he was seriously wounded and remained in an Odessa hospital until November. There he wrote “Three Sonnets,” which were published in the “First Almanac of the Literary and Artistic Circle” in early 1918.

During the First World War, Valentin Kataev was seriously wounded twice and poisoned with phosgene, which left him with a hoarse voice for the rest of his life. He was awarded two St. George Crosses and the Order of St. Anne IV degree, better known as “Anna for Bravery,” promoted to second lieutenant and granted the title of personal, non-heritable nobility. His son Pavel Kataev recalled that many years later, talking about his injury and showing the scars that remained for life, “his father did not dramatize the situation at all, that is, he treated the incident with complete calm, as if he believed in his invulnerability.”

Impressions associated with the hardships of war, suffering, blood, pain, were later reflected in his books - from the earliest to the latest - “Notes on civil war"in 1920, "Holy Well" in 1965, "The Grass of Oblivion" in 1967, "Cemetery in Skulany" in 1975 and other works.

After the revolution, Odessa was flooded with refugees, since the south of the country at that time had not yet been affected by the food crisis. Kataev later recalled: “Meanwhile, life went on as usual, and at times it even began to seem that nothing special had happened: just people, following the example of previous years, came to the south to spend the summer on the Odessa coast - not refugees, not emigrants, but ordinary summer residents with all with their blue enamel saucepans, Graetz kerosene stoves, bathing caps, bicycles, “skorokhod” sandals, croquet... Perhaps there were much more of them, these summer residents, than usual, but this did not cause much concern: just a successful summer, a good the weather and, as it was written in the Odessa Leaflet, “a large influx of summer residents, the holiday season is in full swing,” so that one dacha was occupied by two or even three visiting families.” In Odessa in those years there was an association of poets “ Green lamp", young Odessa writers took part in the literary meetings, including Eduard Bagritsky, Leonid Nezhdanov, Yuri Olesha, Anatoly Fioletov, Zinaida Shishova. A little later, Alexey Tolstoy and his wife, poetess Natalya Krandievskaya, joined the circle. Active participant Valentin Kataev also became a “Green Lamp”.

Still, the situation in the city was very alarming. Odessa changed hands several times during the years 1917-1919, sometimes battles took place right on the streets of the city. In the fall of 1918, Austrian troops entered Odessa. The population was demanded to hand over their weapons. In the hallway of the Kataevs his officer’s saber “for bravery” with an Annensky red lanyard hung openly - Kataev was not afraid. During the search that the Austrians came with, he showed a saber. “An Austrian officer,” recalled Valentin Petrovich, “as young as me, all dark gray, ironed, wearing leggings and a brand new cap, turned it over in his hands with suede gloves, read the inscription from the folds: “For bravery” - and returned it to me with smart army courtesy, saying that I could keep it, since “such a weapon with bare hands They don’t take it.”

Incredible chaos, in which it was completely unthinkable to somehow organize one’s life, political confusion, collapse of hopes - this is what this period was like for Kataev, “a boy from intelligent family, son of a teacher, silver medalist of the Novorossiysk University, grandson of a major general and Vyatka cathedral archpriest, great-grandson of the hero of the Patriotic War of the twelfth year, who served in the troops of Kutuzov, Bagration, Langeron, Ataman Platov.” Kataev painfully searched for his path. In 1918, he joined the armed forces of Hetman Skoropadsky, and after the fall of the hetman, he joined the volunteer army of Denikin. He served in the most dangerous place of the Novorossiya armored train as the commander of the first tower, which participated in battles on two fronts - against the Petliurists in Vinnitsa and against the Reds in Berdichev. At that time, Kataev wrote a poem:

“What is England, Poland and France to me!
Bullets, howl and wind, howl.
Tired of wandering around stations
In his armored tower.
What is white, blue, scarlet for me, -
If at night in the countless stars
Unprecedented flames of fullness
They turn blue in the alcoholic snows.
Neither a cross nor a flannel shirt
You can't buy my freedom.
Tired of shooting villages
And smash the water pumps point-blank.”

At the beginning of 1920, Valentin Kataev fell ill with typhus and was evacuated to an Odessa hospital, from where his family, who had not yet fully recovered, took him home. By that time, it had already been finally established in Odessa Soviet authority. Valentin Kataev was in prison at the Odessa Cheka for several months, awaiting death for counter-revolutionary activities. The writer’s son Pavel Kataev recalled: “Who was my father at that time? The son of a teacher at a diocesan school, who received the rank of nobleman (not inherited), a former high school student and volunteer in the tsarist army, a participant in the war with Germany, who rose to the rank of ensign and was awarded three military decorations, a young Odessa poet... He has not been accused of any specific charges of counter-revolutionary activity was presented, but the biography was clearly suspicious, not “ours”, and at any moment the investigation could come to the conclusion of unconditional guilt and harsh charges. In the meantime, while awaiting a decision on his fate, my father remained in prison, where, as they say, he settled down, got used to it and even continued to write poetry. They stopped calling him in for questioning. According to him, he had the impression that they had forgotten about him and did not pay attention to him. And this situation suited him - he remained alive.”

Kataev was saved by a miraculous accident: during the next interrogation, one of the security officers recognized him, who remembered his speeches at the literary meetings of the Odessa poets’ society. So in September 1920, Valentin Kataev was freed. He later wrote about this terrible episode of his life in the story “Father,” which is largely autobiographical, and, according to the author, his most beloved and “experienced” work. He also described the terrible sound of a working dynamo, drowning out the screams of those being shot: “There was complete darkness over the city. Electric station did not work. There was no light in the houses. Only one huge, sleepless house in the middle of the empty and black city probably shone through all its frequent windows at this terrible hour. There, in the basements, the dynamo, the only electric motor working in the city, hummed hard, tight and high.” Having freed himself, the hero of the story came to the idea that “something needs to be done, something needs to be done immediately, to cling to something and be drawn into this alien and joyful life boiling in the city...” The story could not be published for many years, and Kataev read it in Moscow literary drawing rooms.

After his release, Valentin Kataev took part in the civil war in the Red Army as a battery commander. Impressions of that period of life were reflected in the autobiographical story “Notes on the Civil War.” He was recalled from the army to work in the Odessa branch of the Ukrainian Press Bureau. In “Notes on the Civil War,” Kataev recalled this: “Poets wrote quatrains for posters, which were read by everyone, from the manufacturer who got into trouble, to the cook going to enroll in trade union" This work not only became the first stage new biography Kataeva as a journalist and writer, but also introduced him closer to Yuri Olesha and Eduard Bagritsky. He headed the “Windows of Satire” of the Odessa branch of ROSTA, published feuilletons, poetic signatures, and wrote stories.

In 1921, Valentin Kataev worked in one of the Kharkov newspapers. “I live in Kharkov on the corner of Devichaya and Chernoglazovskaya - this is impossible in any other city in the world,” he wrote from Kharkov. There he met Osip Mandelstam, whose wife Nadezhda Mandelstam recalled: “Oh. M. treated Kataev well: “He has a real gangster chic,” he said. We first met Kataev in Kharkov in 1922. He was a ragamuffin with smart, lively eyes, who had already managed to get into trouble and get out of very serious troubles. From Kharkov he went to Moscow to conquer it. He came to us in Moscow with a bunch of jokes - the folklore of Mylnikov Lane, the early bohemian apartment of Odessa residents. We later read many of these jokes in “The Twelve Chairs” - Valentin gave them to his younger brother... As a boy, he escaped from mortal fear and hunger and therefore wished for strength and peace: money, girls, the trust of his superiors... “They are all like that,” said O. M., - only this one is smart.”

In 1922, Valentin Kataev moved to Moscow and began working for the Gudok newspaper. Fame came to him after writing the topical phantasmagoric story “The Embezzlers”, the material for which was Rabkor materials. The story was published in 1926 in the magazine Krasnaya Nov. Konstantin Stanislavsky suggested making a play out of it and staging it at the Moscow Art Theater. The writer accepted the offer, and already in 1927 the play was ready and staged. Kataev’s second play, “Squaring the Circle,” was successfully performed not only in Moscow, but also in New York on Broadway in the mid-1930s.

Valentin Kataev signed his newspaper articles and feuilletons with the pseudonyms Old Sabbakin, Ol. Twist, Mitrofan Mustard. And to his friends he was Valun, sometimes even the great Valun, and sometimes simply Kataich. He was the first of a cohort of Odessa writers who left in the first half of the 1920s to conquer the capital. Yuri Olesha, Isaac Babel, Ilya Ilf, Lev Slavin, Semyon Gekht, Eduard Bagritsky followed him. Bagritsky, who did not want to exchange his established life in Odessa for the instability in the capital, Kataev simply left him no choice - he bought him a ticket to Moscow and made an appointment at the station half an hour before the train departed. But the first of this glorious company was still he - Valentin Kataev. And as a pioneer, he helped fellow countrymen settle in a new place; many lived with him for the first time. He wrote later: “Almost all my friends followed me through my room, rushing from the south, as soon as the civil war ended, to conquer Moscow.” Following Kataev, they came to work at the newspaper “Gudok” and a unique atmosphere of wit and irony developed there; according to Konstantin Paustovsky, “the funniest and caustic people in Moscow at that time” worked at “Gudok”. Following his older brother, the younger brother also came to Moscow. It was Valentin Kataev who became Evgeniy’s mentor on his path to writing. While Evgeny intended to work in the Moscow police, Valentin said that “every more or less intelligent, literate person can write something.” And at the insistence of his older brother, Evgeny Kataev wrote his first feuilleton, which was based on real events, and soon became a professional journalist for the Gudok newspaper. The right to use your real name he left it to his older brother, and took a pseudonym for himself, derived from his patronymic - Petrov.

The idea of ​​​​creating the famous novel “The Twelve Chairs” belonged to Valentin Kataev. This is how he himself talked about it: “Having read somewhere gossip that the author of The Three Musketeers did not write his numerous novels alone, but hired several talented literary assistants who embodied his plans on paper, I decided one day to become something like Dumas-pera and command a bunch of literary mercenaries. Fortunately, at that time my imagination was in full swing, and I absolutely did not know what to do with the plots that came to my mind every minute. Among them appeared a plot about diamonds hidden during the revolution in one of the twelve chairs of a living room set... Then I was toying with my theory of a moving hero, without which not a single fascinating novel can do: it makes it possible to be transported in space and include many incidents , which readers love so much.” Valentin Kataev expressed his thoughts to Ilya Ilf and his brother. The work was supposed to be divided as follows: Ilf and Petrov were supposed to write a draft of the novel based on the idea proposed by Kataev, and then he himself would “walk through it with the hand of a master.” The result would be a “funny picaresque novel” published under the names of all three authors. The proposal sounded quite convincing, because Kataev was already very popular - the play “The Embezzlers” was successfully performed at the Moscow Art Theater, the adventure-utopian novels “Erendorf Island”, “Lord of Iron”, the stories “The Kranz Experience”, “The Golden Pen”, “ Notes on the Civil War", collections of stories "The Bearded Little One", "The Funniest Thing". There was no doubt - if he had co-authored the novel, it would certainly have been published without delay. “They examined each other from head to toe, not without curiosity,” Kataev recalled. - Between them, as they say in old novels, an electric spark slipped. They smiled welcomingly at each other and agreed to my proposal.”

But according to Valentin Kataev, he himself had no idea what this would lead to: “Why did I choose them as my blacks - my friend and my brother? This is difficult to answer. Probably played here famous role my intuition, a dog's nose for talents that have not even yet manifested themselves in full force" When the first part of the novel was ready, Kataev read it. The content came as a complete surprise to him. “Within ten minutes it became clear to me,” he wrote, “that my slaves had fulfilled all the simple plot moves given to them and perfectly depicted the portrait of Vorobyaninov suggested by me, but, in addition, they introduced a completely new, magnificent character they had invented - Ostap Bender, name which has now become a household name." Kataev refused to participate in writing the novel, admitting that “the students beat the teacher, like the Russians beat the Swedes near Poltava.” But Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov have not forgotten to whom exactly they owe the idea of ​​the novel: all editions of “The Twelve Chairs,” starting from the very first, were published and are now being published with dedication to Valentin Petrovich Kataev.

In 1931, Valentin Kataev married Esther Brenner, the daughter of the Bundist David Brenner, who arrived in Moscow with his family shortly after October 1917. She was younger than husband for 16 years. “And of course, I looked into his mouth all my life,” recalled Esther Davydovna. - But no arrogance - on the contrary. He consulted with me, every evening he read what he had written, and even in the evening, sometimes he could call the whole house, just if he wrote a good phrase. “E-esta!” - and I ran to listen. “Sail” is dedicated to me, I think, only because in thirty-four I sat at home almost hopelessly, pregnant with Zhenya, and he wrote next to me.” Kataev usually wrote by hand, without using a typewriter. All his life he followed the advice given to him by Bunin, who taught: “After the thing is ready in manuscript, you can retype it on a typewriter. But creativity itself, the very process of composing, in my opinion, lies in a certain interaction, in that mysterious connection that arises between the head, hand, pen and paper, which is creativity itself. When you compose directly on a typewriter, then every word you tap out loses its individuality, becomes depersonalized, while what you write with your own hand on paper is, as it were, a material, visible trace of your thought - its drawing - it has not yet lost its intimate connection with your soul - if you want, your body - so that if this word is false in itself, or placed in the wrong place, or inappropriate, tactless, then you will not only immediately feel it with your inner instinct, but you will also immediately notice with your eyes due to some slowdown, speeding up and even changing handwriting.” And only the story “The Lonely Sail Whitens”, contrary to this rule, was typed on a typewriter - with one finger. Pavel Kataev recalled: “It would be possible not to focus attention on this fact, but in reality it speaks about a lot, that is, it reveals a lot in the relationship of my future parents. The Remington typewriter came to the apartment on Tverskaya with my mother, and my father sought, even through things that had become common, to connect even more closely with the woman he loved.”

The heroes of the story “The Lonely Sail Whitens” were Odessa boys who found themselves in the whirlpool of the revolutionary events of 1905. In the main character, Petya Bacheya, one can discern the features of the author himself. Kataev recalled: “My childhood coincided with the revolution of 1905. I was eight years old. But I remember well how we greeted the rebel battleship Potemkin, how it sailed under the red flag past the shores of Odessa. I witnessed barricade battles, saw overturned horsecars, fallen wires, Brownings, guns, human corpses.” Later, the story “The Lonely Sail Whitens” became the first part of the tetralogy “Waves of the Black Sea.” It included “A Farm in the Steppe” in 1956, “Winter Wind” in 1961 and “Catacombs” in 1951.

Having refused to participate in the writing of “The Twelve Chairs,” Valentin Kataev nevertheless became a co-author of Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov - they jointly wrote the script for the film “Circus” based on the play “Under the Circus Dome.” The script was accepted and filming began. However, the light, sparkling lyrical comedy with musical and circus acts gradually began to acquire features of pomp and melodrama. Director Grigory Alexandrov deviated from the author's intention and therefore the co-authors stopped considering themselves involved in the film. Not agreeing with the director's amendments, they removed their names from the credits. Impressed by these events, Kataev wrote an article published in the magazine “Art of Cinema”, which stated: “At the level at which cinema is now, a writer can obviously provide a plot and dialogue for a film, which should not be written by an assistant director.” ...".

During World War II, Valentin Kataev was a war correspondent for the newspapers Pravda and Krasnaya Zvezda and wrote essays, stories, and journalistic articles. Wartime impressions were also reflected in his story “Son of the Regiment,” written at the end of the war, on the eve of victory. For this book, which tells the story of the fate of an orphan boy adopted by a military regiment, he received the Stalin Prize in 1946.

Valentin Kataev headed the Yunost magazine from its founding in 1955 and for six years. Under him, the magazine became one of the leading periodicals in the country, revealing to readers many prominent writers, including Vasily Aksenov and Anatoly Gladilin. Stanislav Kunyaev recalled: “During my literary youth, the magazine Yunost, of course, was considered the most widespread and popular.” Its editor-in-chief Valentin Kataev is a brilliant stylist, an intelligent and calculating person, and was the idol of left-wing youth. Yevtushenko, Voznesensky, Rozhdestvensky, Aksenov, Gladilin, Amlinsky - not without reason, considered the magazine their home, and Kataev their father, calling him respectfully and almost sincerely: “Valun”. Chief Editor was removed from his post for the publication of Aksyonov’s “Star Ticket”. But on the twentieth anniversary of the magazine, of which he was the founder, Kataev wrote an article published in No. 6 of 1975, in which he stated that “he left his high post, left completely voluntarily and without any scandal left a troublesome position, so that as a private citizen surrender completely to the joys of quiet family life and free literary creativity" However, the text contained sarcastic hints and this time the employees who allowed it to be published were fired.

The no longer young Kataev suffered serious illness- He was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. According to his son Pavel Kataev: “He was also calm about his life, although with undisguised admiration for the work of the surgeon, he talked about the difficult operation…. The cancerous tumor was cut out, but a problem arose - whether the remaining healthy tissue would be enough to prevent the suture from coming apart. There was enough fabric. The father's faces conveyed a conversation between two surgeons arguing about him: will the suture spread or not. And he admired the filigree work of the operating surgeon, a decisive and skillful woman, a participant in the war, who remained his good friend until the end of his life.”

According to the testimony of many people who knew Valentin Petrovich closely, he was a fearless person. And this meant not only the courage he showed in battle. It's about something completely different. Not a coward in the fire of the First World War, not afraid of life in post-revolutionary Odessa, Kataev was not afraid during the repressions of the mid-1930s. He knew how to remain a friend under any life circumstances, even the most unfavorable and even dangerous. In 1937, he publicly spoke out in defense of Mandelstam, who had returned from exile. He was one of the few who dared to do this. Secretary of the Writers' Union Stavsky wrote in a statement to the NKVD that Kataev and several other people “raise the question of Mandelstam, raise it sharply.” Kataev was not afraid to invite the disgraced poet to his home. For a month he could not forgive his wife, who dared to interrupt Mandelstam, who spoke harshly against Stalin in the presence of unfriendly guests. And Kataev helped Mandelstam’s widow even after his death. In those years, he worked for many, which was dangerous for himself, and even Alexander Fadeev warned that this could end badly: “You should be afraid for yourself, there are so many denunciations against you, and you’re meddling in other people’s business!” Later in 1946, having arrived in Leningrad, he openly visited Mikhail Zoshchenko, who at that time was in disgrace as an anti-Soviet.

Cocky and prickly Kataev often violated generally accepted rules. The artist Boris Efimov recalled how once at a meeting with foreign journalists, after the words of the presenter: “Now Ivan Semenovich Kozlovsky will sing something to us, then Sergei Obraztsov will show us a new puppet parody...” - the malicious voice of Valentin Kataev was heard: “And then Comrade Volin to us will prohibit something.” Kataev was referring to the head of Glavlit, who advocated banning “The Twelve Chairs.” Boris Efimov wrote: “In a strange way, Valentin Petrovich Kataev combined two completely different people. One is a subtle, insightful, deeply and interestingly thinking writer, an excellent master of artistic prose, who writes in an extremely expressive, intelligible, transparent manner. literary language. And with him was combined a personality of a completely different kind - an unbridled tyrant, unceremoniously, and even quite cynically disregarding the generally accepted rules of decency.”

His daughter, Evgenia Kataeva recalled: “Father loved good things. Loved it. But this was not a love for a jacket or tie, but for someone else’s skill, for the amazing creation of human hands. There was no lordly snobbery in him, but a well-tailored suit, well-made fabric, inventively prepared food - he knew how to enjoy all of this. He loved to buy, but again not for himself: he liked to receive and surprise guests... He himself, especially in his old age, ate very little. He liked to treat, and with a good guest he could drink a glass of red wine (which he was very knowledgeable about). But in general, the number of people he would be happy with became fewer and fewer over the years.”

In 1978, Kataev wrote a book of memoirs, “My Diamond Crown,” where he brought out many of his famous contemporaries under encrypted nicknames and masks. The author himself has stated many times that he does not consider the novel memoir literature and explained this phenomenon as follows: “Here it is appropriate to explain to the reader why I avoid proper names and do not even come up with fictitious ones, as is customary in novels. Well, first of all, this is not a novel. The novel is a compote. I prefer to eat fruit fresh, straight from the tree, spitting out the seeds, of course. And, secondly, I will refer to Pushkin: “Those who scolded me for not naming my Finn at all, not finding a single proper name, of course, will consider this as unforgivable insolence - it is true that most of my readers have no need to names and that I am not afraid of any confusion in my story "... I am also not afraid of any confusion...". The novel was not like what Kataev wrote all his life. In his youth, he was convinced of the correctness of his theory of “the moving hero, without whom no fascinating novel can do.” In the book “My Diamond Crown” he proceeded from the opposite point of view: “In good novel... the hero should be motionless, and the whole body should revolve around him physical world, which will make up, if not a galaxy, then at least a solar system work of art" This is how he recounted his life. Kataev called his a new style"Mauvism", from the French "mauvais" (mauvais), which translated means "bad". Kataev himself believed that he was going against accepted rules and “good form.”

“For me, although not a recognized, but still a poet,” wrote Kataev, “poetry, first of all, was its verbal expression, that is, poetry. Oh, how many other people's poems have accumulated in my memory throughout my life. long life! How I loved them! It was like, as if not having my own children, I was cherishing strangers.” But Kataev still continued to write poetry throughout his life, although he never published a single collection of poetry. Some recent years He dedicated his life to collecting together all the poems he wrote. Valentin Petrovich restored some things from memory, found some things in miraculously surviving pre-revolutionary newspapers, and restored some things from letters from grateful admirers of his talent. He copied them into notebooks specially purchased for this purpose. Kataev completed this work a year before his death. In total, seven notebooks were filled. Pavel Valentinovich Kataev recalled: “My father never managed to publish a separate collection. Maybe he didn’t really strive for this. In any case, he once expressed himself in the sense that surrounded by a galaxy of strong poets born in the twentieth century in Russia, there is no need to study poetry. My father did not publish poetry collections, he did not publish poems, but he remained a poet.”

Once the poet E. B. Rein asked Valentin Petrovich Kataev why he did not publish a single book of poems that Bunin, Mandelstam, and Bagritsky liked so much. Kataev spread his hands and answered: “It’s not fate...”.

Valentin Petrovich Kataev died on April 12, 1986. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Text prepared by Elena Pobegailo

Soviet literature

Valentin Petrovich Kataev

Biography

Kataev Valentin Petrovich (1897 - 1986), prose writer. Born on January 16 (29 NS) in Odessa in the family of a teacher. He studied at the Odessa gymnasium. At the age of nine he began to write poetry, some of them were published in Odessa newspapers, and in 1914 Kataev’s poems were first published in St. Petersburg in the magazine “The Whole World”. With the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered to serve in the active army, in an artillery brigade, where he remained until the summer of 1917. He met the October Revolution in the Odessa infirmary, where he was treated after being wounded on the Romanian front. After demobilization, he made his first attempts to write prose. In 1919 he was drafted into the Red Army, served as a battery commander, then was recalled from the army and appointed head of the satire windows in Odessa ROSTA: he wrote texts for propaganda posters, ditties, slogans, leaflets. In 1921 he was sent to establish similar work in Kharkov. In 1922 he moved to Moscow, published his feuilletons in the newspapers Gudok, Trud, and Rabochaya Gazeta, without leaving work on fiction. In 1925 he published the story “The Embezzlers,” which was noticed by both critics and readers. This story was dramatized, and the play was successfully staged since 1928 on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. Inspired by the recognition, Kataev wrote the comedy “Squaring the Circle,” which also had a resounding success. Since then he has constantly written for the theater. In 1932, having made a trip to the construction of Magnitogorsk, Kataev wrote the chronicle novel “Time, Forward!”, which became important milestone in his work. In 1936 he published the novel “The Lonely Sail Whitens”; works a lot for Pravda: writes feuilletons, essays, notes, articles. In 1937 the story “I am the son of the working people” was published. During World War II he worked in the Radio Committee and in the Sovinformburo abroad. He was a war correspondent for Pravda and Krasnaya Zvezda, where his essays from the front were published. During this period, the stories “The Third Tank”, “Flag”, the stories “Wife”, “Son of the Regiment”, the plays “ Father's house", "Blue scarf". In 1949 the novel “For the Power of the Soviets” was published. In 1955, the magazine “Youth” was created, with V. Kataev becoming its editor-in-chief. Here in 1956 the novel “A Farm in the Steppe” was published. In the 1960s, “The Grass of Oblivion”, “Holy Well”, and “Cube” were written. In 1978 - “My Diamond Crown”, in 1980 - “Werther has already been written.” V. Kataev died in 1986 in Moscow.

Valentin Petrovich Kataev (1897 -1986) - a famous Soviet poet and prose writer was born on January 16 (29 n.s.) in Odessa. His father was a teacher. Kataev studied at the Odessa gymnasium. He started writing poetry at the age of 9. In 1914, the St. Petersburg magazine “The Whole World” published poems by the young poet. During the First World War, Kataev volunteered in the active army. When it broke out October Revolution, he was healing his wounds in the Odessa infirmary. After demobilization, he writes prose. After he was drafted into the Red Army in 1919, he served as battery commander. Afterwards he was recalled from the army and appointed head of the satire windows at ROSTA in Odessa. First he moves to Kharkov, and then to Moscow, where he publishes his humorous works in the newspapers “Gudok”, “Trud”, “Rabochaya Gazeta”, and at the same time writes fiction.

Critics and readers noticed the story “The Embezzlers” (1925), and a dramatization followed for the Moscow Art Theater. The performance turned out to be quite successful. Then there was the successful comedy “Squaring the Circle.” Since then, Kataev writes regularly for the theater.

In 1932, impressed by the construction of Magnitogorsk, the writer created the chronicle novel “Time, Forward!” In 1936, the novel “The Lonely Sail Whitens” was published. Kataev writes humorous stories and articles for the newspaper Pravda. In 1937, the story “I am the son of the working people” was published. During the Second World War he worked as a war correspondent for Pravda and Krasnaya Zvezda. The story “Son of the Regiment” and the plays “Father’s House” and “The Blue Handkerchief” belong to this period.

In the post-war period, Kataev wrote the novel “For the Power of the Soviets” (1949) and created the magazine “Youth”, in which all the works written by the writer in the post-war period are published.

Name: Valentin Kataev

Age: 89 years old

Activity: writer, screenwriter, war correspondent

Family status: was married

Valentin Kataev: biography

“Son of the Regiment”, “The Lonely Sail Whitens” - in the 70-80s Soviet schoolchildren read these fascinating works, imbued with the spirit of adventure and children's heroism. However, their author Valentin Petrovich Kataev entered the history of Russian literature not only as children's writer. He has written numerous novels, short stories, stories - in literary heritage Kataev includes more than 130 works.

Childhood and youth

The biography of Vali Kataev begins with Odessa at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. In this bustling southern city at the turn of two centuries, on January 28, 1897, the future writer was born. Father Pyotr Vasilyevich Kataev, a teacher at a religious school, and mother, the general’s daughter Evgenia Ivanovna Bachey, with early childhood instilled in their sons a love of books and reading.

Carrying this passion throughout their lives, both brothers devoted themselves to literature: Kataev’s younger brother, Zhenya, became known under a pseudonym as an author famous novels“Twelve Chairs” and “Golden Calf” in tandem with (Fainsilberg).

The boys were left without their mother early: she died of pneumonia shortly after Zhenya’s birth. The father, having become a widow, never remarried; Evgenia Ivanovna’s sister began helping with raising the children. Aunt was very kind, but she could not replace little Valya’s mother. The trauma of the loss remained forever in the child’s soul.

The boy looked for an outlet in creativity. From the age of 9, already a high school student, he began to write poetry, which he read to everyone at home, seeking approval. As he grew older, the young man began to carry what he had written in the editorial office in search of professional evaluation. And his first success came to him in 1910, when the poem “Autumn” was first published in the publication “Odessa Bulletin”, and then other works, including stories and feuilletons.

Kataev did not have to enjoy creative success for long. The First World War (1914-1918) began, and in 1915, without graduating from high school, the young man volunteered for the front.

War

Kataev began his service as an ordinary artilleryman. He was wounded twice and was poisoned by poisonous gases, which is why his voice remained slightly hoarse until the end. The writer was demobilized with the rank of ensign in the fall of 1917 after being seriously wounded in the thigh. Kataev returned from the war with awards: two Crosses of St. George and the Order of St. Anne.

Before the salvos of the First World War had died down, the Civil War broke out in the country. This period of Valentin Kataev’s biography is described contradictoryly. Some sources say that since 1919 he fought in the ranks of the Red Army and commanded an artillery battery. But there is an alternative version, according to which Kataev joined the “Reds” later, and at the beginning he was a volunteer in the White Army of the general, for which he was subsequently arrested by the security officers.

One way or another, Kataev experienced the hardships of military life in full and described them in the story “Notes on the Civil War” (1920) and the story “Father” (1928).

Literature

Since 1922, a new stage has begun in Kataev’s life and work: the writer moves from Odessa to Moscow, works for the newspaper Gudok. His social circle includes many talents of that time: Ilya Ilf, Eduard Bagritsky. All of them, following Kataev, left Odessa to conquer the capital, and the successful pioneer helped them settle down.

Luck really smiled on the young writer. His talent is finally recognized in the capital. The publication of the story “The Embezzlers” (1926), in which the author in a satirical manner criticizes the social scourge of the time - the misappropriation of government money, was marked by great success. He himself suggested that Kataev stage a play based on the story. And soon she walked on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. And the second play, “Squaring the Circle,” was staged on New York Broadway.

Following his older brother, Kataev Jr. came to conquer Moscow, whom Valentin Petrovich began to involve in the writing community.

“Every intelligent, literate person can write something,” he said.

It is noteworthy that, admonishing his brother, Kataev initiates the writing of an adventurous novel about diamonds hidden during the revolution. He shares the idea with Evgeny and his friend Ilya Ilf, inviting them to write a draft of the novel, which he himself would then improve and promote for publication.

What came of this is already common knowledge. Ilf and Petrov (Evgeniy took a pseudonym after his father’s name) brilliantly coped with the task without mentoring. The written novel was widely quoted, and in gratitude for the idea it was published with a dedication to Valentin Kataev.

Valentin Petrovich was destined to go through three wars. During the Second World War he again put on military uniform and went to the front line. He worked as a front-line correspondent, wrote essays, articles, and took photographs. Famous work of that time, the story “Son of the Regiment” (1945) became: the image of the main character Vanya Solntsev personifies tragic fates many children during the war.

Kataev turned to the theme of children back in the pre-war years, when he wrote the story “The Lonely Sail Whitens,” in which the author immerses himself in the atmosphere of his native Odessa. In the characters Pete and Pavlik, who are involved in a cycle of adventure against the backdrop of a city destroyed by the 1905 revolution, one can discern the features of Kataev himself and his brother Zhenya.

The story “The Lonely Sail Whitens” (1936) opens the tetralogy “Waves of the Black Sea”, which later included the novels “Catacombs” (1951), “A Farm in the Steppe” (1956) and “Winter Wind” (1960-1961).

If “Sail” can only be partially called autobiographical, then critics openly called the novel “My Diamond Crown” a memoir. The writer himself did not agree with this interpretation and even abandoned the genre definition of a novel.

“This is a free flight of my imagination, based on true incidents,” he said.

Kataev worked on the book in 1975-77, and the events described take the reader into the world of literary bohemia of the 20s.

The originality of the work lies in the fact that on a real basis the plot's heroes, and this famous writers and poets - contemporaries of the author, are veiled by pseudonyms-masks. And the novelty is that Kataev wrote for the first time in a style, genre and direction that was unusual for himself.

Personal life

The first mention of the writer’s personal life is associated with the name of Irina Aleksinskaya. Tender feelings for a girl living next door became the young man’s first love. Nothing is known for certain about Kataev’s first marriage, but his second marriage turned out to be happy. They married Esther Brenner in 1931. The bride was only 18 years old, Kataev was 34.

Valentin Petrovich affectionately called his wife Est. In 1936, the couple had a daughter, Evgenia, and in 1938, a son, Pavlik. Valentin Petrovich adored his daughter. Little Zhenya became the prototype of the heroines of the fairy tales “The Little Flower of Seven Flowers” ​​and “The Pipe and the Jug.” Daughter Evgenia gave her parents their first and only granddaughter, Valentina.

Death

Already very old, Kataev suffered complex operation to remove a cancerous tumor. But the cause of death was not cancer. The writer died 12 years later from a stroke, at the age of 90, on April 12, 1986.

Esther Davydovna survived her husband by 23 years. They lived in a happy marriage for 55 years. The couple are buried in the same grave at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Quotes

“Even then I suspected that the most precious quality of an artist is the complete, absolute, fearless independence of his judgments” (“The Grass of Oblivion”).

“Among people there are often brave men. But only conscious and passionate love for the homeland can make a hero out of a brave man” (“Son of the Regiment”).

“Summer is dying. Autumn is dying. Winter is death itself. And spring is constant. She lives endlessly in the depths of ever-changing matter, only changing her forms” (“My Diamond Crown”).

“A profitable marriage for love does not happen often” (“Cube”).

Bibliography

• 1920 - “In a besieged city”
• 1925 - “Ehrendorf Island”
• 1926 - “The Embezzlers”
• 1927 - “Squaring the Circle”
• 1928 - “Department Store”
• 1931 - “A Million Torments”
• 1931 - “Vanguard”
• 1932 - “Time, forward!”
• 1936 - “The Lonely Sail Whitens”
• 1940 - “Seven-flowered flower”
• 1940 - “The pipe and the jug”
• 1940 - “Day of Rest”
• 1943 - “Blue Handkerchief”
• 1944 - “Father’s House”
• 1945 - “Son of the Regiment”
• 1956 - “A Farm in the Steppe”
• 1956 - “The Case of a Genius”
• 1961 - “Winter Wind”
• 1961 - “Catacombs”
• 1978 - “My Diamond Crown”

More than 40 works of the prose writer, including fairy tales and scripts, were filmed. The most famous are “The Lonely Sail Whitens” (1937), “Waves of the Black Sea (1975), “Son of the Regiment” (1981).