Writer Vladimir Voinovich

Writer Vladimir Voinovich for more than half a century of his literary career has become accustomed to be in the center of reader attention and constantly be in the crossfire zone of literary criticism from ideologically opposite camps. Did the writer himself seek such a fate? Or did it happen by accident? Let's try to understand.

Vladimir Voinovich: biography against the background of the era

The future Russian writer was born in 1932 in the city of Stalinabad, as at that time was called the capital of sunny Tajikistan, the city of Dushanbe. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Voinovich Vladimir Nikolaevich, whose biography began in a remote province, was initially predisposed to choosing exactly such a path. The parents of the future writer were intelligent people who devoted their entire lives to journalism. However, the path to independent literary creativity proved to be very close to him. Despite the fact that his poems were published in provincial multitrack, the first poetic experiments should be considered very amateurish. The country experienced a historical period, now known as the "Khrushchev thaw", when Vladimir Voinovich made his debut with the first prose works. Behind was service in the army, work on the collective farm and construction sites, an unsuccessful attempt to enter the litinstitute. It was a time of rapid renewal of all social and cultural life. In the literature, a new generation, the vivid representative of which was Vladimir Voynovich, rushed in quickly. His books were highly controversial and found a lively response from numerous readers.

Poetic creativity

However, Voinovich got the first fame as a poet. At the dawn of the space era, a song on his poems "Fourteen Minutes Before the Start" gained wide popularity. It was quoted by Khrushchev himself. For many years this song was considered an unofficial hymn of Soviet cosmonautics. But despite the fact that Vladimir Voinovich is the author of more than forty songs, the main direction of his work was prose.

Completion of the "thaw"

After the overthrow of Khrushchev in the Soviet cultural life, new times have come. In conditions of ideological reaction, it was very difficult to speak the truth. And very unprofitable. But Vladimir Voinovich, whose books managed to win respect from a wide range of readers, did not deceive his fans. Conjunctural Soviet writer, he did not. His new, sharply satirical works on Soviet reality disagreed in samizdat and were published outside the Soviet Union. Often without the knowledge and permission of the author. The most significant work of this period is "The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of the Soldier Ivan Chonkin." This novel, sustained in absurdist stylistics, became widely known in the West and was considered anti-Soviet. About the publication of this book at home was out of the question. This kind of literature was distributed in the Soviet Union only in typewritten form. And the reading and dissemination of her was prosecuted.

Human rights activities

In addition to literature, Vladimir Voinovich declares himself as an active public figure, advocating for the rights of repressed. He signs various applications and declarations, stands for the release of political prisoners, helps their families financially. For human rights activities, the writer in 1974 was expelled from the members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which deprived him of the opportunity to earn a living by literary work and left practically without means of subsistence.

Emigration

Despite long prosecutions for political reasons, Vladimir Voinovich was abroad only after an assassination attempt on his life by the secret services. The writer remained alive after trying to poison him in a hotel room Metropol in Moscow. In December 1980, by decree of Brezhnev, he was deprived of Soviet citizenship, to which he responded with a sarcastic satirical commentary, in which he expressed confidence that the decree would not last long. Over the next twelve years, the writer lived in West Germany, France and the United States. He conducted programs on Radio Liberty, composed the continuation of Ivan Chonkin, wrote critical and journalistic articles, memoirs, plays and scripts. I did not doubt that I would soon return to my homeland. Vladimir Voinovich returned to Moscow in 1992, after the destruction of the Soviet Union. It was a difficult time for the country, but there were reasons to hope not the best.

The famous novel by Vladimir Voinovich "Moscow 2042"

One of the most famous works of the writer is a satirical novel anti-utopia about the hypothetical future of Russia. Many consider him the pinnacle in Voinovich's work. The protagonist, on whose behalf the narrative is conducted, falls into a completely absurd, but easily recognizable world of Soviet reality, elevated to the highest degree of marasmus. Through the enchanting conglomeration of various absurdities, all familiar realities are universally visible. But in Voinovich's novel they are brought to their logical limit. In this book there was something that does not allow just to laugh at its contents and forget about it. Many readers consider the novel to be a prophetic one and every day find an increasing similarity of the absurd world depicted in it with the real world. Especially as the distance to the year, designated by the author in the title of the book - "Moscow 2042" is gradually reduced.