Writer Jan Vasily: biography, books

Jan Vasily Grigorievich is a writer, researcher and traveler. He is the author of fascinating works devoted to the history of Central Asia, the Stalin Prize laureate for the novel "Genghis Khan".

Vasily Yan: biography of the writer

Vasily Grigorevich Yanchevetsky was born on December 23, 1874 in the city of Kiev. The father of the future writer, Grigory Andreevich, was a famous teacher of Greek and Latin languages in the gymnasiums of Kiev, Riga and Revel (now Tallinn). The genus of the Yanchevets came from the priests of the Volyn province. After graduating in 1897 from the History and Philology Faculty of St. Petersburg University, the young man goes on an independent journey.

Having walked tens of hundreds of kilometers, Jan Vasily (pseudonym of the writer), for two years he visited all parts of Northern and Central Russia. Visiting dozens of villages, fishing and hunting settlements, rafting along the rivers of Russia with raftsmen, a young researcher gathered a unique material on the customs, traditions and language peculiarities of the Russian people. His travel notes Vasily Yang published in local newspapers, and the main literary material was collected in the book "Notes of a pedestrian", which he released in 1901.

Central Asian Adventures

The aim of the next expedition was Central Asia. On horseback writer Jan Vasili crossed the desert of Karakum and reached Bukhara, which became the starting point before going to India. Having passed with a nomad caravan along the Afghan border to Balochistan, he finally achieved the desired goal.

Studying the ancient Asian ways, through which the armies of Alexander the Great, Chingiz Khan, Babur and Tamerlane passed, Jan Vasily decided to write a book about the historical past of that time. It is noteworthy that, while traveling in Central Asia, the writer had an official job - the inspector for wells in Turkestan. In this status, Vasily Yanchevetsky arrived from 1901 to 1904.

Military events of 1905

The Russian-Japanese war caught a traveler on the coast of the Indian Ocean, in Balochistan. On the personal orders of Tsar Nicholas II Vasily Yang (see photo below) was seconded by a military correspondent of the Moscow telegraph agency to Manchuria, the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the front in the Far East. Leaving for the front line, Vasily Grigorievich personally watched the courage and heroism of the Russian soldiers in the fight against the enemy, often exposing his life to mortal danger.

After the end of hostilities, Jan Vasily returned to Central Asia, where he worked as a statistician in the Turkestan Administration for the resettled until 1907. Nevertheless, the work did not prevent him from continuing his research into the study of the Central Asian territories. During this time he visited Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and also visited the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. Observations about life in different countries were reflected by the writer in stories and essays.

Work with children

The next period of his life and work was connected with the editors of the Rossiya newspaper. Working as a special correspondent for the capital's publication, Jan Vasily continued to please his readers with articles about unknown countries and continents. In addition, he was offered the place of a teacher of Latin in one of the gymnasiums of St. Petersburg.

Some schoolboys became subsequently known people. The playwright V. V. Vishnevsky, the poet VA Rozhdestvensky are those former pupils taught by Jan Vasily. Comments on his teacher, the students could leave in the school magazine "The Apprentice", in which VG Yanchevetsky often published his works about travel.

New appointment

In 1913, the writer was transferred to work in Turkey, where he went with his family. He worked as a correspondent of a telegraph agency in the Asian republic for less than four years. The next appointment was to work in Romania, where he was captured by the First World War. Leaving his wife in Romania, Vasily Grigorievich with the children returns to their homeland.

Olga Yanchevetskaya

They met at the editorial office of the Petersburg government newspaper Rossiya, where Vasilii Georgievich worked as an issuing editor. Olga Petrovna, having no means of subsistence (in addition, she had five brothers and sisters, as well as a sick grandmother), came to the publishing house in search of work. A girl who has three classes of a gymnasium behind her shoulders is taken as a nightly proofreader. After the death of the wife of Maria Ivanovna, Yancevetsky was widowed for some time, while raising a foster daughter from the first marriage of Maria Ivanovna. Their relationship with Olga has developed by itself. After a short courtship, Vasily makes a proposal to the girl.

Possessing a voice of extraordinary beauty, Vasily Grigoryevich's second wife often gave home concerts in the circle of relatives and friends of the family. The singer's talent did not go unnoticed. She was invited to perform publicly in the circus. Countess Rock - this was the stage name of the singer. In 1911 the first-born Mikhail was born to a married couple. Further training in vocal art Olga was held in the capital's opera school. On her arrival in Romania, where her husband moved to a new place of service, Olga Petrovna arranges a singer at one of the elite restaurants in Bucharest, where she performs Russian romances in a drunken audience.

Everything changes the First World War. Forced separation from her husband and son, return home and emigration to Turkey, and then the transfer to Serbia for a long time tore her from the family. Before the Second World War, Olga Janchevetskaya sang in restaurants in Zagreb. After a long separation, after her arrival in Moscow in 1970, she again met with her son, who was already almost 50 years old. O. P. Yanchevetskaya died in 1978 in Belgrade.

Wander around the country

The First World War changed the fate of many people. Vasily Grigoryevich on his return to St. Petersburg determines that life in the capital is becoming more dangerous, and decides to go deep into Russia, the Urals. Together with his son and foster daughter, Yanchevetsky goes to Ekaterinburg. From 1918 to 1919, the writer worked in the field printing of Kolchak's army in Siberia. He is given the rank of colonel.

The experience of the combat correspondent of past years did not remain unnoticed. VG Yanchevetsky becomes editor-in-chief of the front-line weekly "Vpered". The newspaper was housed in two railway wagons. The main topic of the publication was operational reports from the front, humorous stories and satirical articles, as well as campaign articles. V. Yanchevetsky did not miss the opportunity to publish his works on travel.

Feeling the swift end of the White Guard army, the writer's family moves to Tuva, to the city of Minusinsk. There Vasily Grigorievich works as a teacher, director of the village school, editor and head of the local newspaper "Vlast Labor".

Uzbekistan, war, evacuation

Further fate brings VG Yanchevetsky to Uzbekistan, where from 1925 to 1927 he worked as an economist in a commercial bank in the city of Samarkand. The magazine "World Pathfinder" publishes his essays and articles on the life of the Uzbek SSR. On the theatrical stages of the republic, the production of his play "Hujum", about the life of the women of the East, is staged. In 1928, the writer moved to Moscow, where he was actively published in the capital's publishing houses with a series of historical stories and short stories.

In June 1941, immediately after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Vasiliy Yan asked for the front line. However, because of his age, he is not enlisted in the army, but is evacuated to Tashkent, where he actively continues to work as a writer. Upon his return from the evacuation, Vasily Grigorevich completes his stories begun in Uzbekistan: "On the Wings of Courage" and "The Stories of the Old Passenger".

The rest of his life Jan Vasily Grigorevich spent in the suburbs, in the city of Zelenograd, where he died on August 5, 1954. All this time he had a foster daughter with him, who accompanied her father to the last way.

The writer's final novel "Towards the Last Path" is published in 1955.