Chizhova Elena: brief biography, description of books

Chizhova Elena is a modern author, translator and essayist. In her works the writer describes the sensations of childhood. But in most cases the characters of her novels are fictional. For the book "Time of Women" Elena Chizhova was awarded a prestigious literary award. The life and creative way of the writer is the topic of this article.

Biography

Chizhova Elena was born in 1957. The native city of the writer is St. Petersburg. The specialty of the author of popular prose, oddly enough, is "Production management". After graduating from school, Elena Chizhova, whose biography more closely resembles the life path of a business woman, but not a novelist, entered the Economics Department. Then she defended her thesis. In the nineties I tried to realize myself in business. And only in 2000 Chizhova published her first book.

Today the writer is the editor of a literary magazine. In parallel, he heads the St. Petersburg branch of the international literary organization "PEN-club", one of the founders of which is the classic of English literature John Galsworthy.

Lives Chizhova Elena (photo of the writer is placed below) in the city where she was born, spent her childhood and adolescence. Many of the events described in her novels are a reflection of early impressions. Years of youth, the writer spent in one of the St. Petersburg communal. The difficult life typical of such apartments is reflected in her novel "The Time of Women".

Chizhova Elena is married with two daughters. Her husband is Valery Vozgrin, doctor of historical sciences and representative of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in St. Petersburg.

"Tiny Tzheses"

Chizhova Elena is a writer who became known after the publication of her fourth novel. The first work that was published is "Tiny Tsaches". The style of writing in this novel differs significantly from the style typical of "The Time of Women." But there are features that unite almost all of Chizhov's books. For example, the city where the writer's heroines live is always Peter.

The novel "Crumbs Tsaches" is deep and very emotional. And despite the fact that it is not easily perceived, readers' reviews are mostly positive.

"The Time of Women"

It was this novel Chizhova won the "Russian Booker" award. The work is devoted to a difficult female destiny. Postwar time, the usual St. Petersburg communal, collective ideology. This is the background of the second novel of the heroine of our article. In the foreground - the fate of women of different characters and ages.

The Soviet Union of the late fifties and early sixties. Yuri Gagarin makes a flight into space. In the country there is another rise in national self-awareness. And in the center of the story is the personal life of an ordinary Soviet single mother. The book is not easy to read. Only dreams and fables, added to the plot, make the product light and dynamic.

Based on Elena Chizhova's novel at the Sovremennik Theater, a performance was staged in 2011.

Laura

It is only the church that can bring society out of a moral impasse. This is the main idea of the novel "Laurels". However, the author claims that the Orthodox Church itself is in a certain impasse, because it has been too long under the influence of totalitarian politics. Reviews about the novel are different. Some readers compare it with the works of Kafka. Others - with Dostoevsky's novel The Possessed. Negative reviews of the book are also available.

"Half Blood"

The heroine of this work is a talented girl, a native of Leningrad. Like in other Chizhova's novels, the "Half-Blood" raises philosophical and moral-ethical problems. The heroine of the novel fights against the ghosts of the past, it seems as if she avenges her offenders even after their death. And only the neighbor who returned from exile - a woman with German roots - gives her an example of humane treatment of people.

Other works of the author: "Orestes and Son", "Terracotta old woman".

Heroines Chizhova - is, as a rule, tough and purposeful women. They build their own destiny in conditions of severe realities. Reviews about the writer's work are quite contradictory. Quite a few, of course, are positive. And above all they relate to the novel "The Time of Women." The "Lavra" has not won such wide recognition among readers. The reason is a large number of historical digressions and too much anti-Soviet sentiment.