Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Amazing every day! Evgeny Petrov writer biography

Evgeniy Petrovich Petrov ( real name Kataev) is a satirist writer.

Contrary to all encyclopedias and his own autobiography, Yevgeny Petrov was born in Odessa not on December 13, 1903, but on the same day a year earlier, in 1902, and was baptized on January 26, 1903.

He was born into the family of teacher Pyotr Vasilyevich Kataev, the son of a priest from Vyatka, and the daughter of Colonel Evgenia Bachey (according to the family version, the Bacheys were relatives of N.V. Gogol). The younger brother of the writer V.P. Kataeva. After the death of their mother in 1903, her sister, Elizaveta Bachey, helped raise the children.

Valentin and Evgeniy studied at the 5th men's gymnasium. Petrov graduated from it in 1920.

In the summer of the same year, he and his brother were arrested by the Cheka for participating in a counter-revolutionary organization; in the fall they were released in the group of “persons not involved in the case.” After this, the brothers were correspondents for the radiotelegraph agency “RATAU” for a short time. Then Evgeny Kataev joins the criminal investigation department and serves in the Mannheim region. In the double autobiography of Ilf and Petrov it is said about the younger of the co-authors: “His first literary work was a protocol for examining the corpse of an unknown man” (1929).

In 1923, E. Kataev came to Moscow to join his older brother, who had already successfully settled in the capital. Instead of continuing his career in criminal investigation, Evgeny Kataev became a journalist, pseudonym Evgeny Petrov.

Ilya Ilf died on April 13, 1937. Contemporaries recalled Petrov’s phrase: “I was at my funeral.”

Petrov participated in the publication of Ilf’s notebooks and wrote the memoirs “My Friend Ilf.” It is little known that Petrov, as his friend and co-author, was fond of photography and kept notebooks.

Together with G.N. Moonblit Petrov wrote several film scripts: “ Musical history”(1940), “Anton Ivanovich is angry” (1941). He was the editor of the magazines “Crocodile” and “Ogonyok”. In 1940 he joined the CPSU(b). He was a war correspondent during the Finnish war.

During the Great Patriotic War Petrov, while remaining editor of the Ogonyok magazine, regularly went to the front. He visited the Northern, Western, Southern fronts, was a correspondent for “Informburo”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, wrote for American newspapers, prepared a book of essays “Moscow is behind us” (published in 1942 after the death of Petrov), wrote a film script “The Air Cabby” (film released in 1943).

The last surviving photograph: Petrov looks at besieged Sevastopol from the deck of a ship.

On July 2, 1942, the plane on which Yevgeny Petrov was returning to Moscow after a business trip to Sevastopol was shot down by a German fighter. Evgeny Petrov was buried in the Mankovo-Kamevezhskaya settlement, Chertkovsky district, Rostov region. A monument has been erected at the site of the plane crash.

In Odessa, a memorial plaque to E.P. Petrov was installed on the street. Bazarnaya, 4, on the facade of the house where the writer was born.

On April 12, 2013, a memorial plaque to the Kataev brothers was unveiled on the facade of the Odessa Agrarian University (Panteleimonovskaya St., 13)

Brother of the writer Valentin Kataev. Father of cinematographer Pyotr Kataev and composer Ilya Kataev. Wife - Valentina Leontyevna Grunzaid, from the Russified Germans.

Evgeniy Petrovich Petrov(real name Kataev) was born in Odessa in the family of a history teacher. In Odessa, the Kataevs lived on Kanatnaya Street.

In 1920 he graduated from the 5th Odessa classical gymnasium. During his studies, his classmate was, who later wrote the adventure story “”, the prototype of which, Volodya Patrikeev, became the main character Evgeniy Petrov.

Worked as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency.

During three years served as an inspector of the Odessa criminal investigation department (in the autobiography of Ilf and Petrov (1929) it is said about this period of his life: “His first literary work was a protocol for examining the corpse of an unknown man”).

In 1922, during a chase with a shootout, he personally detained his friend Alexander Kozachinsky, who led a gang of raiders. Subsequently, he achieved a review of his criminal case and replacement of A. Kozachinsky with capital punishment social protection- execution - imprisonment in a camp.

In 1923 Petrov came to Moscow, where he became an employee of the Red Pepper magazine. In 1926, he came to work at the newspaper Gudok, where he hired A. Kozachinsky, who had been released by that time under an amnesty, as a journalist.

Significant impact on Evgenia Petrova provided by his brother Valentin Kataev. Valentin Kataev’s wife recalled:

I have never seen such affection between brothers as Valya and Zhenya have. Actually, Valya forced his brother to write. Every morning he started by calling him - Zhenya got up late, started swearing that they woke him up... “Okay, keep swearing,” Valya said and hung up.

In 1927, joint work on the novel “” began creative community Evgenia Petrova and Ilya Ilf (who also worked for the newspaper Gudok).

The novel “The Twelve Chairs” (1928);
novel "" (1931);
short stories "" (1928);
fantastic story"" (filmed)
short stories "" (1929);
documentary story "" (1937).

In 1932-1937 Ilf and Petrov wrote feuilletons for the newspaper Pravda. In 1935-1936, they traveled around the United States, which resulted in the book “One-Storey America” (1937). The books of Ilf and Petrov have been repeatedly dramatized and filmed.

In 1938 Petrov persuaded his friend A. Kozachinsky to write the story “The Green Van”. In 1939 he joined the CPSU (b).

Petrov made a lot of efforts to publish Ilf’s notebooks, conceived great work"My friend Ilf." In 1939-1942 Petrov worked on the novel “Journey to the Land of Communism,” in which he described the USSR in 1963 (excerpts published posthumously in 1965).

During the Great Patriotic War Petrov became a front-line correspondent.

Evgeniy Petrov died on July 2, 1942 - the plane on which he was returning to Moscow from Sevastopol was shot down by a German fighter over the territory of the Rostov region, near the village of Mankovo. A monument has been erected at the site of the plane crash.

“Each of us considers himself obligated to the other...”

Let us observe: this person reveals himself to us mainly in tandems. Every reader knows famous couple co-authors, sounding as a whole, inextricably: Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov. This writing duo remained in Russian literature, first of all, as the creator of the incredibly popular, witty, satirical-grotesque, adventurous aphoristic novels “The Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf”. In miniature " Double biography“Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov wrote in 1929: “It is quite difficult to compile an autobiography of the author of The Twelve Chairs...

Much less people, even those who read, know about another couple - Evgeny Petrov and Valentin Kataev. The fact is that the famous Petrov, being the younger brother of an author already well-known at that time, Valentin Kataev, took a pseudonym after his own patronymic, rightly assuming that “Bolivar of Native Literature” could not stand two Kataevs, and confusion would arise.

Evgeniy Petrovich Kataev was born on December 13, 1903. Of course, in Odessa. It was this city that gave readers the galaxy of the so-called “southwestern” school of writing. These are world-class writers - Valentin Kataev, Isaac Babel, Yuri Olesha, Eduard Bagritsky, Evgeny Petrov, Ilya Ilf, Semyon Kirsanov, Vera Inber. The term “southwest” in a literary sense was introduced in an article of the same name in 1933 by the famous literary scholar, critic, writer, journalist, screenwriter and film theorist V. Shklovsky. However, this was also the name of E. Bagritsky’s first collection of poetry, published in 1928.

Evgeny Petrovich Kataev, aka Evgeny Petrov

Literary scholars are still debating whether this is a school or, perhaps, a series of independent talents, but the facts are inexorable: many of the above-mentioned writers, having moved to Moscow and working in the editorial office of the newspaper “Gudok” (where, by the way, Kiev resident Mikhail Bulgakov also worked), became famous Soviet writers.

In Odessa, the Kataevs lived on Kanatnaya Street, and by 1920 Evgeniy had graduated from the 5th Odessa classical gymnasium. During his studies, his classmate was Alexander Kozachinsky, a nobleman on his father’s side, who later wrote the adventure story “The Green Van”, the prototype of which for the main character - the head of the Odessa district police department, Volodya Patrikeev - was Evgeniy Petrov.

It should be said about this third pair, in which Evgeniy Petrov is convincingly presented. Only a few fans of the domestic adventure genre know about it. This story is romantically enchanting, dramatic, with crime plot, even with the blood oath of brotherhood that Zhenya and Sasha gave to each other in school years. And in fact, their friendly and brotherly ties remained throughout their lives, although they were subjected to serious tests.

Correspondent of the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency Evgeniy Petrov

The fact is that fate brought two friends together in a bizarre way: Alexander Kozachinsky, a man of an adventurous disposition and enormous charm, from the age of 19, having given up his detective work in the Bolshevik criminal investigation department, led a gang of raiders operating in Odessa and the surrounding area. Ironically, in 1922 it was Evgeniy Kataev, then an employee of the Odessa criminal investigation department, who arrested him. After a chase with a shootout, Kozachinsky hid in the attic of one of the houses, where he was discovered by a classmate. Subsequently, Evgeniy achieved a review of the criminal case and the replacement of Kozachinsky with an exceptional punishment, execution, by imprisonment in a camp. Moreover, in the fall of 1925, Kozachinsky was granted amnesty. He was met at the exit from prison by his mother and true friend, Evgeny Kataev...

Columnist for the publication “Top Secret” Vadim Lebedev concludes his essay “The Green Van” with facts that surprise us, emphasizing the inexplicability, the supernatural nature of the connection that existed between these people: “1941 separated them. Petrov goes to the front as a war correspondent. Kozachinsky was evacuated to Siberia for health reasons. In the fall of 1942, having received news of the death of a friend, Kozachinsky fell ill, and a few months later, on January 9, 1943, a modest obituary appeared in the newspaper “Soviet Siberia”: “Soviet writer Alexander Kozachinsky has died.”

That is, in the years following Kozachinsky’s release from prison, he managed to become a “Soviet writer.” Which, by the way, was also facilitated by Evgeniy Petrov. In 1926, he hired Kozachinsky as a journalist in the same editorial office of the Gudok newspaper. And in 1938, Petrov persuaded his friend, with whom he had once read Mine Reed, to write the adventure story “The Green Van” (interestingly filmed in 1983; some echoes of the biography of Alexander Kozachinsky are also visible in the image of the gang leader in Nikita Mikhalkov’s 1974 film “One among strangers, a stranger among one’s own”). But now we understand what stands behind the last lines of “The Green Van”: “Each of us considers himself obliged to the other: I - for the fact that he did not shoot me once with a Mannlicher, and he - for the fact that I I planted him on time.”

Alexander Kozachinsky

In Petrov’s biography, we note his work as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency, as well as his service for three years as an inspector of the Odessa criminal investigation department. Ironically, in the style we know, this page of life is reflected in the autobiography of Ilf and Petrov (1929): “His first literary work was a protocol for examining the corpse of an unknown man.”

Directories report that in 1923 Petrov came to Moscow, where he became an employee of the Red Pepper magazine. His elder brother Valentin Kataev (1897-1986) had a significant influence on Evgeniy. Kataev’s wife recalled: “I have never seen such affection between brothers as Valya and Zhenya have. Actually, Valya forced his brother to write. Every morning he started by calling him - Zhenya got up late, started swearing that they woke him up... “Okay, keep swearing,” Valya said and hung up.”

In 1927, the creative collaboration of two Odessa residents, Evgeny Petrov and Ilya Ilf, began with the joint work on the novel “The Twelve Chairs” (1928). Subsequently, in collaboration with Ilya Ilf, he wrote the novel “The Golden Calf” (1931), the short stories “ Extraordinary stories from the life of the city of Kolokolamsk" (1928), the fantastic story "Bright Personality" (filmed), the short story "1001 days, or the New Scheherazade" (1929), etc.

Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov

The books of Ilf and Petrov have been repeatedly dramatized and filmed. The creative collaboration of the writers was interrupted by the death of Ilf in Moscow on April 13, 1937.

Ilf and Petrov, living in Odessa, attended the literary circle “Collective of Poets”, in which Kataev, Olesha, Bagritsky started, but they met already in the Moscow “Gudok”, where the entire 4th page of the newspaper was devoted to satire. In the story “My Diamond Crown,” Valentin Kataev wrote: “My younger brother, who served in the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department, came to Moscow and got a job at Butyrka as a warden. I was horrified and forced him to write. Soon he began to make decent money writing feuilletons. I proposed to him and a friend (Ilf. - Author) a story about the search for diamonds hidden in the upholstery of chairs. My co-authors not only developed the plot perfectly, but also invented new character- Ostap Bender."

Ilf and Petrov wrote enthusiastically, after finishing their working day at the editorial office, they returned home at two in the morning. In 1928, the novel “The Twelve Chairs” was published - first in a magazine, and then as a separate book. And he immediately became extremely popular. The story about the adventures of the charming adventurer and swindler Ostap Bender and his companion, the former leader of the nobility Kisa Vorobyaninov, was captivating with brilliant dialogues, bright characters, a subtle satire on Soviet reality and philistinism. Laughter was the authors' weapon against vulgarity, stupidity and idiotic pathos.

Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov

The book quickly sold out with quotes: “All smuggling is done in Odessa, on Malaya Arnautskaya Street”, “Dusya, I am a man tormented by Narzan”, “A sultry woman, a poet’s dream”, “Bargaining is inappropriate here”, “Money in the morning - chairs in the evening” , “To Whom a Mare is a Bride,” “Only Cats Will Be Born Quickly,” “Giant of Thought, Father of Russian Democracy” and many, many others. Unforgettable is the dictionary of Ellochka the cannibal with her interjection words and other remarks that have entered our lives - “darkness!”, “creepy!”, “fat and handsome,” “guy,” “be rude,” “your whole back is white! ", "don't teach me how to live!", "ho-ho." In essence, it can be said without exaggeration that the entire book about Bender consists of immortal aphorisms, constantly quoted by readers and moviegoers.

The prototype of the great schemer Ostap Bender was an Odessa acquaintance of the writers - Osip Shor, an adventurer with a special sense of humor and a wonderful storyteller, episodes of whose adventures are included in the book (marriage to Madame Gritsatsueva, arrival in the province under the guise of famous artist).

Odessa was present in “The Twelve Chairs” in Bender’s character and humor, and in the next book “The Golden Calf” (the famous phrase “golden calf” is amusingly parodied in the title) it becomes the scene of action, recognizable in the port city of Chernomorsk, where Ostap and Panikovsky and Balaganov on the Wildebeest. And again, a lot of quotes that have gone to the people: “The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!”, “A saucer with a silver lining”, “A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation”, “Let’s hit the roads and sloppiness with a motor rally!”, “Load oranges in barrels” ", "Distributing elephants", "Don't make a cult out of food", "I will command the parade."

Monument to Ellochka the cannibal on Petrovsky Street in Kharkov. The prototype is actress Elena Shanina, who played the role of Ellochka in the film by Mark Zakharov

Evgeny Petrov remarked about the main character of his picaresque novel: “Ostap Bender was conceived as a minor figure, almost an episodic person. For him, we had prepared a phrase that we heard from one of our billiardist acquaintances: “The key to the apartment where the money is.” But Bender gradually began to push out of the framework prepared for him. Soon we could no longer cope with him. By the end of the novel, we treated him like a living person and were often angry with him for the impudence with which he sneaked into almost every chapter.”

Ilf and Petrov found themselves at the peak of popularity: their feuilletons were successfully published in the Pravda newspaper, collections of their short stories were published, and after a trip to the USA in 1932-1935, the story “One-Storey America” (1937) was published. “How do we write together? Yes, that’s how we write together. Like the Goncourt brothers. Edmond runs around the editorial offices, and Jules guards the manuscript so that his acquaintances do not steal it,” the co-authors joked.

As Valentin Kataev predicted, two novels by Ilf and Petrov became classics of humor and satire and were translated into many world languages. They became even more popular after the cult film adaptations with their loved ones Soviet actors: “The Golden Calf” with Sergei Yursky, Zinovy ​​Gerdt and Leonid Kuravlev, “The Twelve Chairs” with Andrei Mironov and Anatoly Papanov. In Odessa there is a monument to the Chair, a monument to Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov (in the City Garden). The monument to Ilf and Petrov is unveiled in the Sculpture Garden of the Literary Museum.

Monument to Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov in Odessa

One of the streets of Odessa is named after the writers. There are monuments to Kisa, Osya and Ellochka the cannibal in Kharkov, near the Rio cafe. And the monument to Father Fedor, who ran out in Kharkov for boiling water, was erected on the platform of the Kharkov South Station. “Kharkov is a noisy city, the center of the Ukrainian Republic. After the province, it seems like I’ve gone abroad,” wrote Fr. Fedor to his wife.

In 1937, Ilya Ilf died of tuberculosis. Petrov put a lot of effort into publishing his friend’s notebooks and conceived a large work, “My Friend Ilf.” In 1939-1942 he worked on the novel “Journey to the Land of Communism,” in which he described the USSR in the near future, in 1963 (excerpts were published posthumously in 1965).

The writer Evgeniy Petrov has two wonderful sons. We know the cameraman Pyotr Kataev (1930-1986), who shot the main films of Tatyana Lioznova. These are the well-known “Seventeen Moments of Spring”, “Three Poplars on Plyushchikha”, “We, the Undersigned”, “Carnival”. And we are familiar with the composer Ilya Kataev (1939-2009) from the song “I’m Standing at a Stop” from the Soviet television series “Day by Day.” Ilya Kataev is the author of music for Sergei Gerasimov’s films “By the Lake” and “Loving a Man.”

Monument to Ostap Bender in Kharkov. Opened on August 22, 2005 on Petrovsky Street. Sculptor Eduard Gurbanov. Prototype - actor Sergei Yursky

Let us not ignore the mystical page in the life of the extraordinary man Evgeniy Petrov, which, according to existing legend, completes his earthly destiny.

They say the writer had a strange and rare hobby: all my life I have been collecting envelopes... from my own letters! He sent a letter to some country, but he made up everything except the name of the state - the city, the street, the house number, the name of the addressee. Therefore, after a month and a half, the envelope was returned to Petrov, but already decorated with multi-colored foreign stamps, with the indication “The addressee is incorrect.”

But in April 1939 the writer sent a letter to New Zealand, inventing a town called "Hydebirdville", the street "Wrightbeach", house "7" and the addressee "Merilla Ogin Wasley". In the letter itself, Petrov wrote in English: “Dear Merrill! Accept sincere condolences in connection with the death of Uncle Pete. Brace yourself, old man. Sorry I haven't written for a long time. I hope Ingrid is okay. Kiss your daughter for me. She's probably quite big already. Yours Evgeniy.”

Monument to Father Fedor on the first platform of the Southern railway station in Kharkov. year 2001. Inscription on granite: “The first capital of Ukraine - to Father Fedor”

This story goes that by August he unexpectedly received not his envelope, as usual, but a real answer, in return address It read: "New Zealand, Hydebirdville, Wrightbeach, 7, Merrill Ogin Waizley." And - blue stamp "New Zealand, Hydebirdville Post Office".

The contents of the letter horrified Petrov: “Dear Evgeniy! Thank you for your condolences. The ridiculous death of Uncle Pete threw us off track for six months. I hope you will forgive the delay in writing. Ingrid and I often remember those two days that you were with us. Gloria is very big and will go to 2nd grade in the fall. She still keeps the teddy bear that you brought her from Russia.” Petrov, who had never traveled to New Zealand, was completely amazed that in the photograph he saw a strongly built man who was hugging... himself, Petrov! On back side The photograph was written: “October 9, 1938”...

Amazingly, it was on the day indicated in the photo that the writer was admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state, with severe pneumonia. Then, for several days, doctors fought for his life, believing that he had almost no chance of survival. Petrov wrote another letter to New Zealand, but did not wait for an answer: the Second World War. From the first days of the war, the writer became a war correspondent for Pravda and Informburo. His colleagues did not recognize him - he became withdrawn, thoughtful, and stopped joking altogether...

Evgeny Petrov on the leader “Tashkent” broke into the besieged Sevastopol. From left to right - Evgeny Petrov and Tashkent commander Vasily. Eroshenko

Here is the documentary truth: on July 2, 1942, the plane on which front-line journalist Yevgeny Petrov was returning to Moscow from Sevastopol was shot down by a German fighter over the territory of the Rostov region, near the village of Mankovo...

But amazing story finished writing finishing touches: they say that on the day the news of the plane’s disappearance was received, a letter from Merrill Wasley was sent to Petrov’s Moscow address. Wasley admired the courage of the Soviet people and expressed concern for the life of Evgeni himself. In particular, he wrote: “I was scared when you started swimming in the lake. The water was very cold. But you said you were destined to crash on a plane, not drown. I ask you to be careful and fly as little as possible.”...

A monument was erected at the site of the plane crash...

Angelina DEMYANOK, “One Motherland”

According to the rules in force at all times, biography creative personality consists of facts, guesses and outright fiction. The biography of the famous Soviet writer Evgenia Petrova. It is true that the child was born in Odessa, a city near the Black Sea. Father's last name is Kataev. Even many readers today know about the writer Valentin Kataev. But not everyone knows that Valentin is the older brother, and Evgeniy is the younger. It so happened in life that the younger one had to work under a pseudonym in order to avoid confusion on a historical scale and when solving everyday issues.

Kataev Jr. received his education at a classical gymnasium. In the early 20s of the last century, after completion Civil War Evgeniy came to Moscow following his older brother. Before that, he managed to work in his homeland in the criminal investigation department. The work left its mark on the memory for a long time, and on the basis of these “traces” the young writer wrote the story “The Green Van”, based on which the film of the same name was made twice. Due to the prevailing circumstances, the detective’s career in the capital did not work out, and the visiting Odessa resident had to retrain as a journalist. Initially, he was good at humorous and satirical essays.

It should be emphasized that natural gifts - intelligence and excellent memory - allowed Evgeniy to as soon as possible get used to the literary environment of the capital. The first humoresques and sketches from life were published on the pages of the Red Pepper magazine. After some time, Petrov took the position of executive secretary of this publication. At that time, the young and energetic journalist was called a “multi-station operator.” He had the strength and imagination to write several texts at once and send them to different editors. A similar practice is still used today, but not every subject who stains paper can handle such a load.

Creativity is like life

The personal life of Yevgeny Petrov was simple and even banal. In the turmoil of editorial affairs, he fell in love with the girl Valentina, who turned out to be eight years younger than the groom. The husband and wife, as they say, coincided in character, upbringing and temperament. The family was formed once and for all. And each child was born as a unique creation. The Petrov couple had two sons. And every literary work preparing to go out like a beloved child. Similar harmony in family relationships is extremely rare.

Meanwhile, life in the country flowed and seethed. Already an accomplished writer and journalist, Evgeniy Petrov set himself and solved large-scale tasks. Some critics note that the pinnacle of his work were the novels “12 Chairs” and “The Golden Calf,” created in collaboration with his colleague Ilya Ilf. For a significant number of connoisseurs, the names of the authors - Ilf and Petrov - have become an idiom, a stable combination. Among those noticed and appreciated is their book “One-Storey America.” Before reading these travel notes soviet people they knew little about how the American people lived in the outback.

When the war began, Yevgeny Petrov began working as a correspondent for the Sovinformburo - the Soviet Information Bureau. At the same time, he sent his materials from the active army to the newspapers Pravda, Krasnaya Zvezda, and the magazine Ogonyok. War correspondent Petrov died in a plane crash in 1942 while returning from a mission to Moscow. After his death, collections of his works “Moscow is behind us” and “Front-line diary” were published.

Russian satirist writer Evgeny Petrov became famous after the publication of the books “The Twelve Chairs”, “The Golden Calf”, “One-Storey America” and “At War”, written in tandem with.

Evgeny Petrovich Kataev (real name of the publicist) was born on December 13, 1902 in Odessa. When people who are not familiar with Evgeniy’s work and life read his autobiography, they get the impression that the creator lived not in the real, but in the ideal Soviet Union. I was free, wrote what I wanted, traveled around the world and miraculously escaped arrest and repression at a time when everyone around him was imprisoned.

True, if you dig deeper, it turns out that real life journalist was different from official biography. It is known that for a couple of years no one knew exactly the true date of birth of Eugene, so all encyclopedias indicated October 1903. Only when, in the 60s, employees of the Odessa archive found a metric book in which the date of birth and baptism was recorded, everything fell into place.

The writer's father, Pyotr Vasilyevich Kataev, worked as a teacher at the diocesan and cadet schools in Odessa. Evgeniy's mother, a Ukrainian from Poltava, died of pneumonia a couple of months after the birth of her second son (the writer has an older brother).

It is known that the Kataevs had an extensive family library, But classic literature was not attracted to Evgeniy. The inquisitive guy was reading books by Gustav Emar, and...

In 1920, Evgeniy graduated from the 5th Odessa classical gymnasium, where his classmate and best friend there was Alexander Kozachinsky (the boys even took an oath of brotherly loyalty: they cut their fingers with a piece of glass and mixed the blood). Then the future publicist worked for a couple of months as a correspondent for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency, and after that as a criminal investigation inspector in Odessa.

Few people know, but in 1922, during a chase with a shootout, Kataev personally detained his friend Kozachinsky, who led a gang of raiders. Subsequently, the writer achieved a review of his criminal case. As a result, Alexander was not shot, but sent to a camp.

This story later formed the basis of the adventure story “The Green Van,” the prototype of which for the main character, Volodya Patrikeev, was Petrov. Also, films of the same name were made based on the work in 1959 and 1983.

Three years later, Kataev moved to Moscow. There the young man took up self-education and journalism. Already in 1924, the first feuilletons and stories appeared in the satirical magazine “Red Pepper” under the pseudonym Petrov. During its literary career the satirist used other pseudonyms. This was done because the writer did not want his works to be attributed to his brother.

Before collaborating with Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov published more than fifty humorous and satirical stories in different periodicals and released three independent collection. In 1926, while working for the Gudok newspaper, the publicist met Ilya Ilf, with whom he initial stages processed materials for the newspaper “Gudok”, and also composed themes for drawings and feuilletons in the magazine “Smekhach”.

When the war began, Petrov became a war correspondent for the Sovinformburo. He wrote for Soviet printed publications and, due to his work, often spent long periods at the front. One day the writer returned from near Maloyaroslavets shell-shocked by a blast wave.

Despite the fact that the publicist practically did not speak, he hid his condition as best he could from his colleagues and relatives. It is known that as soon as he felt a little better, the journalist immediately began writing about the battles for Maloyaroslavets.

Who happened to be with Petrov on one of the longest front-line trips to the Northern Front, recalled that it was extremely difficult for Evgeniy to travel long distances on foot due to a weak heart. Young Simonov often offered help to Kataev, but Petrov flatly refused and was happy when they stopped or they reached headquarters.

Literature

In the summer of 1927, Ilf and Petrov traveled to the Crimea, the Caucasus and visited Odessa. They kept a joint travel diary. Later, impressions from this trip were included in the novel “The Twelve Chairs,” which was published in 1928 in the monthly literary magazine"30 days". Roman had big success from readers, but was received rather coldly literary critics. Even before its first publication, censorship greatly reduced it. Soon the novel began to be translated into European languages, and it was published in many European countries.

Their next novel was The Golden Calf (1931). Initially, the work was published in parts in the monthly “30 days”. In September 1931, Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov were sent to Red Army exercises in the Belarusian military district. Based on the materials of the trip, the essay “Difficult Topic” was published in the magazine “30 Days”. Since 1932, Ilf and Petrov published in the newspaper Pravda.

In 1935-1936, the writers traveled around the United States, which resulted in the book “One-Storey America” (1937). Also co-authored with Ilya Ilf were the short stories “Extraordinary Stories from the Life of the City of Kolokolamsk” (1928–1929), the fantastic story “Bright Personality” (1928), the short stories “1001 Days, or New Scheherazade” (1929) and the great many other wonderful works.

The creative collaboration of the writers was interrupted by Ilf’s death in 1937. Kataev did a lot to perpetuate the memory of his friend. In 1939 he published " Notebooks"Ilya Ilf, and later decided to write a novel called "My Friend Ilf." True, the novel was not finished and only individual sketches and detailed versions of the plan have been preserved.

Evgeniy Petrov wrote a number of film scripts. In collaboration with Ilya Ilf, “The Black Barrack” (1933) and “Once Upon a Summer” (1936) were created. Later, in collaboration with Georgy Moonblit, “Musical History” (1940) and “Anton Ivanovich is Angry” (1941) appeared.

Kataev independently wrote scripts for the films “Silent Ukrainian Night” and “Air Carrier”. It is also known that the writer worked on the script for the film “Circus”, but in the end he demanded that his last name not be included in the credits.

Among other things, films based on the works of Ilf and Petrov were made: “The Golden Calf” (1968), “The Twelve Chairs” (1971), “Ilf and Petrov Rode on a Tram” (1972). Also based on Kataev’s play “Island of Peace” the cartoon “Mr. Walk” (1949) was filmed.

Personal life

Evgeniy’s wife’s name was Valentina, she was eight years younger than him. Petrov surprised his beloved every day and did everything to keep the smile on his beloved’s face. The young people legalized their relationship when the girl was barely nineteen. After the wedding, the writer maintained the same reverent attitude towards his wife. It is also worth noting that fashion did not have any influence on marriage. open relationship, which spread in the 1920s among bohemians.

To this union two sons were born - Peter (named in honor of his father) and Ilya (named in honor of a friend). According to the memoirs of the writer’s granddaughter, her grandmother continued to love her husband until her death (in 1991) and never took the ring he gave her off her finger.

The eldest son of Evgeny and Valentina became a cinematographer and shot many popular Soviet films. The younger Ilya worked as a composer and wrote music for a couple of films and TV series.

Death

Petrov outlived his friend Ilya by five years. After Ilf’s death, death literally followed on Evgeniy’s heels. Once a writer in a gymnasium laboratory swallowed hydrogen sulfide, and he was barely pumped out. fresh air. Then, in Milan, the publicist was hit by a cyclist and almost fell under the wheels of a passing car.

During the Finnish War, a shell hit the corner of the house where the author of the story “Prodigal Dad” spent the night. Near Moscow, the journalist came under German mortar fire and barely survived. That same year, the screenwriter’s fingers were pinched by the door of a front-line vehicle. This happened when the writer was attacked by German aircraft, and he needed urgently leave the car and run into a ditch.

The creator died during the Great Patriotic War. When Evgeniy was returning by plane to Moscow on July 2, 1942, the pilot, escaping the bombing, lowered his flight altitude and crashed into a mound. Of the several people on board, only Petrov, who was 38 years old at that time, died.

The writer’s remains were buried in the Rostov region in the village of Mankovo-Kalitvenskoye.

Bibliography

• 1922 – “Real Work”
• 1924 – “It didn’t burn out”
• 1926 – “The Joys of Megas”
• 1927 - “No report”
• 1928 - “Twelve Chairs”
• 1928 – “Bright Personality”
• 1929 – “Hat”
• 1931 - “Golden Calf”
• 1934 – “Recipe for a Quiet Life”
• 1936 - “One-story America”
• 1942 - “At War”
• 1942 - “Front diary”
• 1965 - “Journey to the Land of Communism” (unfinished)