Astafiev Viktor Petrovich is a famous writer, whose books are known not only in Russia but also abroad. His works have been translated into many languages \u200b\u200bof the world. His books in the Soviet Union, as well as at present, were published in huge editions and quickly sorted out by readers. A classic of this writer recognized during his lifetime. For his successful and talented literary work, he was awarded prizes.
Childhood
Victor Petrovich was born in early May 1924 in the small village of Ovsyanka, Krasnodar Territory. In the family of Pyotr Pavlovich Astafiev and his wife Lidia Ilyinichna Potylitsina, the future writer was the third child.
It is known that childhood was tragic. So, the two older sisters of Victor died in infancy. And when the boy was barely seven years old, his father went to prison. They put him for "wrecking." The mother of the future writer tried to visit his father in prison, although this was not easy. To get on a date, she was forced to sail across the Yenisei in a boat.
Once, at one of these crossings, an accident happened: the boat turned over and the mother of the future writer was in the water. In addition, she hooked her scythe over the side of the boat and could no longer escape. Her body was found only a few days later. The boy was left alone.
He was immediately taken away by his mother's parents, and he considered the time he spent in their house the happiest childhood years. Ilya Evgrafovich Potilitsin and his wife Katerina Petrovna loved their grandson and tried to surround him with care and love. He will write about grandparents, about life in their house in one of his works. The story "The Last Bow" is an autobiographical.
But when the father got out of prison, the happy time in the boy’s life ended. His father took him to him, and soon he got married a second time. At this time, the Astafievs were dispossessed and sent to Igarka. In the second marriage, the boy Kolya is born.
In Igarka, Victor helped his father by fishing. But his father soon fell ill. As soon as Peter Pavlovich was in the hospital, the stepmother put the boy out of the house. So he was on the street, abandoned and useless to anyone.
Astafiev Viktor Petrovich: a brief biography and fate
For some time, being on the street, Victor was homeless. He found an abandoned building, where he began to live, but went to school constantly. For his next misconduct, the boy was sent to an orphanage.
After graduating from the orphanage in six classes, Astafyev Viktor Petrovich began his studies at the factory school. In parallel, he worked as a trailer, and then on duty at the railway station. But fate has prepared for the teenager new challenges.
When the war began, Viktor Petrovich volunteered for the front. First, he got training in the automotive division, which was located in Novosibirsk, and then went to the front. On many fronts, starting in 1943, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev fought. He mentions this briefly in his books. On the Voronezh, Bryansk and Steppe fronts, he was a signalman, a chauffeur, and even an artillery scout.
It is known that Viktor Petrovich Astafyev, whose biography is always interesting to readers, was not only shell-shocked, but also wounded several times. For courage and heroism, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star and such medals as “For Courage”, “For the Liberation of Poland” and “For the Victory over Germany”.
In the post-war period, to help the family, I tried myself in different professions. For the sake of his wife and children, he worked as a carcass washer, and a locksmith, and a janitor, and a loader, and even a simple laborer. And all this time he wrote.
Literary debut
In school years, Astafiev Viktor Petrovich, whose biography is eventful, meets a teacher Ignatii Rozhdestvensky, who not only wrote poetry himself, but noticed a literary talent in a difficult teenager. With his help, the boy began to write, and soon his small work “Alive” was published in one of the issues of the school magazine.
It is known that this story was edited by Viktor Petrovich several times, and it is already known to modern readers under the name “Vasyutkino Lake”.
Literary activity
In 1951, Astafiev Viktor Petrovich decided to enroll in a literary circle. After attending the first meeting of this circle, he worked hard all night on his work and wrote the story “Civil Man” in one night. But later he finalized it a little more, and from the press this story appeared already with the name “Siberian”.
Soon the young writer was noticed and invited to work in the local newspaper Chusovskoy Rabochiy. By this time, Viktor Petrovich had written more than twenty stories and essays. In 1953, Astafiev Viktor Petrovich was able to publish his first book. The first published collection of stories was called “Until Next Spring,” and a couple of years later the second collection for children, “Lights”, was released.
After that, almost every year his works went out of print: 1956 - “Vasyutkino Lake”, 1957 - “Uncle Kuzya, foxes, cat”, 1958 - “Warm rain”.
Features of creativity and books
In 1958, the first novel of Victor Petrovich was published. The work “Snow is melting” tells about how collective farms were transformed. In the same year, other changes took place in the writer's life. So, he goes to the capital to study at the courses of writers, which took place at the Literary Institute. In the same year, Viktor Petrovich became a member of the Writers' Union.
By the end of the 50s, Astafyev’s works became known throughout the country, the writer received not only success, but also popularity. At the same time, other works of the writer went out of print: “Pass”, “Starodub”, “Starfall” and others.
In 1962, the life of Viktor Petrovich Astafyev changed dramatically, as he moved with his family to permanent residence in Perm. In a new place, he writes several miniatures and immediately prints them in various magazines. In 1972, he collects all these miniatures in one book and publishes it. The main themes of his miniatures are war, village life, heroism and patriotism.
In 1967, Astafyev worked on the story “Shepherd and Shepherdess”. He pondered the plan for a long time, but when the work was ready, then censorship did not let him go to print. Viktor Petrovich had to delete a lot from his work, and despite the fact that it was still printed, twenty years later he returned to it to return the previous text.
In 1975, for his successful literary work, the writer Astafiev became a laureate of the State Prize and soon received it. Encouraged, he immediately set to work on his new work, and the next year the novel King of the Fish was created, which is still popular today. But at that time, censorship did not want to let this novel go to print. As a result, this led to the fact that the famous writer was due to stress in the hospital.
In 1991, the writer Astafiev began work on his new work. The book “Damned and killed” will be published only after 3 years. The book about the meaninglessness of the war pleased readers, and literary critics had different opinions.
Victor Petrovich Astafiev “Horse with a pink mane”
The story is based on real events, when the writer himself, as a child, left without parents, lived with his grandparents.
The plot of the story is very simple: Vitya asked his grandmother for a sweet and fragrant gingerbread, but she can buy it only if she sells strawberries, which the boy must collect in the forest. Vitya scooped up strawberries, but, arguing, he pours it on the ground and the village guys immediately eat it. Vitya, wanting to get a carrot, stuffs a basket with all kinds of nonsense and gives it to her grandmother. In the morning, the grandmother leaves for the market, and the boy becomes ashamed of the act.
When my grandmother returned, she scolded Vitya heavily. But grandfather taught him the right way to ask for forgiveness. The boy, having repented, follows the advice of his grandfather and for his act receives a gingerbread in the form of a horse with a pink mane. And for the rest of his life, the boy, already an adult, remembered this gingerbread.
Personal life
A well-known and talented writer met his wife at the front. Maria Koryakina was a nurse. After the war, they got married. In 1947, their daughter Lydia was born in their young family, but six months later she died. The writer blamed doctors for her death, and his wife believed that Viktor Petrovich earned little and could not feed his family, which is why the girl died.
In 1948, a daughter, Irina, was born into the family, and two years later, son Andrei was born. But it is known that the writer also had illegitimate daughters. Astafyev’s wife didn’t know about children, but she was constantly jealous of both women and books.
Astafiev several times left the family, but each time he still returned. Together they lived for more than 50 years. In 1984, daughter Irina unexpectedly and suddenly died of a heart attack, leaving two children orphaned. Viktor Petrovich and his wife, Maria Semenovna, took Vitya and Polina to themselves, brought them up and raised them.
The death of a writer
In the spring of 2001, Astafyev became ill. He was taken to the hospital with a stroke. After spending about two weeks in intensive care, he returns home. He seemed to feel better, he was even able to read newspapers. But already in the fall he again goes to the hospital. In his last week of life, Viktor Petrovich completely went blind.
The great and talented writer died in late November 2001. He was buried near the village of Ovsyanki, where he was born. And a year later, there was also opened a museum of the Astafiev family. Eight years later, writer Viktor Astafyev was awarded the Solzhenitsyn Prize. The widow of the writer, who survived him for ten years, received a diploma and money.
Born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, Krasnoyarsk Territory. Father - Peter Pavlovich Astafiev (1899-1967). Mother - Lidia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna (1900-1931). In 1942 he volunteered for the front. In 1945 he married Maria Semenovna Koryakina. They had three daughters. In 1958 he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1989 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. From 1989 to 1991 he was a deputy of the USSR. He died on November 29, 2001 in Krasnoyarsk, at the age of 77. He was buried near the native village of Ovsyanka. The main works: “A photograph in which I am not”, “Cursed and killed”, “Sad detective”, “Vasyutkino lake”, “Tsar-fish”, “Horse with a pink mane” and others.
Short biography (in detail)
Victor Petrovich Astafiev - Russian essay writer. Born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka (Krasnoyarsk Territory). Father was sent to prison when he was only a few years old, and his mother soon died tragically. The boy was given up to mother's parents. He wrote about his childhood memories later in his autobiographical novel, The Last Bow.
Having freed himself, the writer’s father remarried and the new family of Astafyevs moved to the Far North to Igarka. Here, the future writer, along with his father, was engaged in fishing. But soon Pyotr Astafyev became seriously ill and went to the hospital, and Victor's stepmother drove him out into the street. He wandered for a long time and lived in abandoned premises until, finally, he ended up in an orphanage. In 1942 he went to the front, and a year later - to the army. Victor was repeatedly awarded orders for his courage.
After demobilization, Astafiev left for the Urals. In 1945 he married Maria Koryakina. Since 1951, he got a job at the editorial office of the newspaper Chusovsky Rabochiy. There appeared his first work, "Civil Man." Along the way, he wrote various articles and reviews. The main theme of the writer's work was military and village prose. One of the first works was written at school as an essay. Then he turned it into the story "Vasyutkino Lake". Astafyev often published in Smena magazine.
In 1953, the writer’s first book, “Until Next Spring,” was published. Since 1958, Astafiev was listed in the Union of Writers of the USSR. Since 1959, he studied in Moscow, then moved to Perm, and then to Vologda. Since 1980, he settled in Krasnoyarsk. For about two years he was registered as a people's deputy of the USSR. V.P. Astafyev died in the fall of 2001 and was buried in his native village.
Option 2
Victor Petrovich Astafiev - Soviet writer, prose writer and essayist. Born on May 1, 1924 near Krasnoyarsk, in the village of Ovsyanka. Astafyev’s parents were dispossessed, and his father, Pyotr Astafyev, soon went to prison. Mother, Lidia Ilinichna, drowned in the next crossing on her way to her husband. As a result, the boy was raised by a maternal grandmother and grandfather. He recalled childhood with warmth and later spoke about them in his autobiography, “The Last Bow”.
When Victor’s father was released, he married again and already with two sons decided to go to work in the direction of the north. Having concluded an agreement with the Igarka fish factory, Peter Astafyev took his son to work with him. However, his father soon fell ill and was hospitalized. Victor turned out to be a stepmother thrown into the street and was forced to survive. For several months he lived in an abandoned building, and then he was assigned to an orphanage. At the age of 18, he volunteered for the army and underwent military training in Novosibirsk. At the end of the war he was seriously wounded, after which he was transferred to Western Ukraine.
Astafyev’s work was mainly associated with military and rural prose. The writer's first works include his school essay, later remade into the story “Vasyutkino Lake”. Soon in the magazine "Change" began to appear his first work, which attracted the attention of critics. Among them are the stories "Starodub" and "Pass". Astafyev’s narration was conducted from the point of view of just a worker or soldier. He also wrote many short stories for children. His books have been translated into many languages, as they conveyed the originality of the Russian countryside and military affairs.
One of Astafyev’s most famous works was the story “Civil Man,” published in 1951. After a short break, another significant book, "Until Next Spring," was published. In 1958, Astafyev was admitted to the Writers' Union. Repeatedly changing cities, in 1980 he returned to his native Krasnoyarsk, where he died on November 29, 2001.
Victor Petrovich Astafiev- An outstanding Russian prose writer, one of the few writers who, during his lifetime, was called a classic.
Astafyev was born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, on the banks of the Yenisei River, near Krasnoyarsk, in the family of Pyotr Pavlovich and Lidia Ilyinichna Astafyev. At seven years old, the boy lost his mother - she drowned in the river, clinging braid to the base of the boom. V.P. Astafyev will never get used to this loss. All of him "can not believe that there is no mother and never will be." The intercessor and nurse of the boy becomes his grandmother - Ekaterina Petrovna.
With his father and stepmother, Victor moves to Igarka - his dispossessed grandfather Pavel was sent here with his family. There was no “wild earnings” that my father was counting on, relations with his stepmother did not work out, she pushes the burden in the face of the child off her shoulders. The boy is deprived of shelter and livelihoods, wanders, then ends up in an orphanage. “I started my independent life right away, without any preparation,” V.P. Astafyev will write later.
The teacher of the boarding school, the Siberian poet Ignatiy Dmitrievich Rozhdestvensky, notes in Victor a penchant for literature and develops it. An essay entitled “Alive!”, Printed in a school journal, will unfold later in the story “Vasyutkino Lake”.
After graduating from a boarding school, a teenager earns his bread in a Kureyka loom. “My childhood remained in the distant Arctic,” V. P. Astafyev will write years later. - The child, in the words of Grandfather Pavel, “is not born, is not asked, is abandoned by dad and mom,” also disappeared somewhere, or rather, rolled away from me. Alien to himself and to everyone, a teenager or young man entered the adult working life of the war era. ”
Collecting money for a ticket. Victor leaves for Krasnoyarsk, enters the Federal Law. “I did not choose a group and a profession in the Federal Law - they themselves chose me,” the writer will later tell. After graduating, he works as a train compiler at the Bazaikha station near Krasnoyarsk.
In the fall of 1942, Viktor Astafyev volunteered to join the army, and in the spring of 1943 he went to the front. He is fighting in Bryansk. Voronezh and Steppe fronts, then united in the First Ukrainian. The front biography of the soldier Astafyev was awarded the Order of the Red Star, medals "For Courage", "For the Victory over Germany" and "For the Liberation of Poland". Several times he was seriously injured.
In the fall of 1945 V.P. Astafyev is demobilized from the army and, together with his wife, private Maria Semenovna Koryakina, comes to her homeland, the city of Chusova in the western Urals. Due to his state of health, Viktor can no longer return to his specialty and, to feed his family, works as a locksmith, laborer, loader, carpenter, duty officer at the station of Chusovoy station, a meat carcasser, and a meat processing plant watchman.
In March 1947, a daughter was born in a young family. In early September, the girl died of severe dyspepsia - time was hungry, her mother did not have enough milk, and there was no place to get food cards. In May 1948, the Astafievs had a daughter, Irina, and in March 1950, their son Andrei.
In 1951, having somehow got into a literary circle at the Chusovskoy Rabochy newspaper, Viktor Petrovich wrote the story “Civil Man” in one night; subsequently, he processes it into the story "Siberian". In the same year, Astafiev moved to the position of a literary worker in the newspaper. Over four years of work in the Chusovskoy Rabochy newspaper, he wrote more than a hundred correspondence, articles, essays, and over two dozen stories. In 1953, Perm published his first book of short stories, "Until Next Spring," and in 1955, the second, Sparks. These are stories for children. In the years 1955-1957 he publishes two more books for children, prints essays and short stories in almanacs and periodicals.
Since April 1957, Astafiev - special correspondent of the Perm Regional Radio.
In 1958, his novel "Snow Melts" was released. V. P. Astafyev is admitted to the Union of Writers of the RSFSR. In 1959 he was sent to the Higher Literary Courses at the M. Gorky Literary Institute. He studied in Moscow for two years.
The end of the 50s was marked by the flowering of lyrical prose by V.P. Astafyev. The novels “Pass” and “Starodub”, the novel “Starfall”, written in one breath in just a few days, bring him fame.
In 1962, the family moved to Perm, and in 1969 to Vologda.
The 60s were extremely fruitful for the writer: the novel “Theft” was written, short stories that later composed the story in the stories “The Last Bow”. In 1968, the story "The Last Bow" is published in Perm as a separate book.
Back in 1954, Astafyev conceived the story “Shepherd and Cowgirl. Modern pastoral "-" his beloved brainchild. " And he realized his plan almost 15 years later - in three days, “completely stunned and happy,” writing “a draft of one hundred and twenty pages” and then polishing the text. Written in 1967, the story was difficult to print and was first published in the journal Our Contemporary in 1971. The writer returned to the text of the story in 1971 and 1989, restoring the film for reasons of censorship.
In 1975, for the novels “Pass”, “The Last Bow”, “Theft”, “Shepherd and Shepherdess” V.P. Astafyev was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after M. Gorky.
By 1965, a cycle of nonsense began to take shape - lyrical miniatures, thoughts about life, notes for oneself. They are printed in central and peripheral magazines. In 1972, “Zatsya” was published as a separate book in the publishing house “Soviet Writer”. The writer constantly turns to the genre of fantasy in his work.
In the work of Astafyev, two major themes of Soviet literature of the 1960-1970s, military and rural, were embodied equally. In his work - including in works written long before Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost - the Patriotic War appears as a great tragedy.
The village theme was most fully and vividly embodied in the story “Tsar Fish”, the genre of which Astafyev designated as “narration in stories”. The documentary and biographical basis is organically combined with lyrical and journalistic deviations from the smooth development of the plot. At the same time, Astafyev manages to create the impression of complete authenticity, even in those chapters of the story where fiction is obvious. The prose writer bitterly writes about the extermination of nature and names the main reason for this phenomenon: the spiritual impoverishment of man.
The publication of the Tsar Pisces chapters in the periodical came with such losses in the text that the author went to the hospital from disappointment and since then has never returned to the story, never restored or made new editions. Only many years later, when he discovered in his archive the pages that were yellowed from time to time by the censored chapter of Norilsk, he published it in 1990 under the title “Not enough Heart”. The entire Fish King was published only in 1993.
In 1978, V.P. Astafyev was awarded the USSR State Prize for the story in the stories “Tsar Fish”.
In the 70s, the writer again turned to the theme of his childhood - new chapters were born to “The Last Bow”. The story of childhood - already in two books - is published in 1978 by the Sovremennik publishing house.
From 1978 to 1982, V. P. Astafyev worked on the story "The Sighted Staff", published only in 1988. In 1991, for this story, the writer was awarded the USSR State Prize.
In 1980, Astafyev moved to live in his homeland - in Krasnoyarsk. A new, extremely fruitful period of his work began. In Krasnoyarsk and in Ovsyanka - the village of his childhood - he wrote the novel “The Sad Detective” and many stories. The protagonist of the novel, policeman Soshnin, is trying to fight criminals, realizing the futility of his efforts. The hero - and with it the author - is horrified by the massive decline in morality, leading people to a series of violent and unmotivated crimes.
In 1989, V.P. Astafiev was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for outstanding writing.
On August 17, 1987, the daughter of the Astafievs, Irina, suddenly dies. She is brought from Vologda and buried in a cemetery in Ovsyanka. Viktor Petrovich and Maria Semenovna take their little grandchildren Vitya and Paul to their place.
Life in the homeland stirred up memories and gave readers new stories about childhood - new chapters of The Last Bow were born, and in 1989 he was published in the Young Guard publishing house in three books. In 1992, two more chapters appeared - “The Slaughtered Little Head” and “Evening Thoughts”. The Life-Giving Light of Childhood required the writer more than thirty years of creative work.
In his homeland, V.P. Astafyev created his main book on the war - the novel "Damned and Killed": part one, "Devil's Pit" (1990-1992) and part two, "Bridgehead" (1992-1994), which deprived the writer of a lot of energy and health and caused a heated reader’s controversy. In this novel, the writer rewrote and rethought many pages of his internal biography, for the first time in post-Soviet literature he created the image of the desacralized popular war of 1941-1945. The third part of the novel was supposed to appear, however, in 2000, the author announced the cessation of work on the book.
In 1994, "for his outstanding contribution to Russian literature," the writer was awarded the Russian independent Triumph Prize. In 1995, V. P. Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of Russia for the novel “Cursed and Killed”.
From September 1994 to January 1995, the master of words worked on a new story about the war “You want to live like that”, and in 1995-1996 he wrote - also “military” - the story “Overton”, in 1997 he completed the story “Cheerful” soldier ”, begun in 1987, - the war leaves the writer, memory is disturbing. A cheerful soldier is he, a wounded young soldier Astafyev, returning from the front and trying on peaceful civilian life.
In 1997, the writer was awarded the International Pushkin Prize, and in 1998 he was awarded the prize “For the Honor and Dignity of Talent” of the International Literary Fund. At the end of 1998, V.P. Astafyev was awarded the Apollo Grigoriev Prize at the Academy of Russian Contemporary Literature.
Astafyev published three intravital collected works in three, six and fifteen volumes. The latter, with detailed comments by the author on each volume, was published in 1997-1998 in Krasnoyarsk.
Astafiev’s books have been translated into many languages. On November 29, 2002, in the village of Ovsyanka, the Astafyev Memorial House Museum was opened and a monument to the great writer was erected. In 2006, another monument to Viktor Petrovich was installed in Krasnoyarsk. In 2004, on the Krasnoyarsk-Abakan highway, near the village of Sliznevo, a shiny forged “Tsar-fish” was erected, a monument to the story of the same name by Viktor Astafyev. Today it is the only monument in Russia to a literary work with an element of fiction.
Astafyev’s works are directly related to science fiction only in individual chapters of The Tsar Fish, the parable The Little Elder and the stories Obsession, The First Commissar, The Doomsday, and The Cosmonaut’s Night.
Victor Astafyev was born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, near Krasnoyarsk, in the family of Lydia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna and Pyotr Pavlovich Astafyev. He was the third child in the family, but his two older sisters died in infancy. A few years after the birth of his son, Peter Astafiev ends up in prison with the wording “wrecking”. During Lydia’s next trip to her husband, the boat in which she was floating among others turned over. Lydia Potylitsin, falling into the water, caught a scythe on a floating boat and drowned. Her body was found only a few days later. Victor was then seven years old. After the death of his mother, Victor lived with her parents - Ekaterina Petrovna and Ilya Evgrafovich Potylitsyn. Viktor Astafyev spoke about the childhood spent with grandmother Katerina Petrovna and leaving bright memories in the writer’s soul in the first part of the autobiography “The Last Bow”.
Having come out of conclusion, the father of the future writer married a second time. Having decided to go for "northern wild money," Peter Astafyev with his wife and two sons - Victor and newborn Nikolai - goes to Igarka, where they sent the dispossessed family of his father - Pavel Astafyev. In the summer of the following year, Victor’s father concluded an agreement with the Igarsky fish factory and took his son for fishing in the town between the villages of Karasino and Pole. After the end of Putin, having returned to Igarka, Peter Astafyev was hospitalized. Abandoned by his stepmother and family, Victor was on the street. For several months he lived in an abandoned building of a hairdressing salon, however, after a serious incident at the school, he was sent to an orphanage.
In 1942 he volunteered for the front. He studied military affairs at the infantry school in Novosibirsk. In the spring of 1943 he was sent to the army. He was a driver, artillery reconnaissance, signalman. Until the end of the war, Victor Astafyev remained a simple soldier. In 1944, he was shell-shocked in Poland [source?].
After demobilization in 1945, he left for the Urals, in the city of Chusovoy, Perm Region.
In 1945, Astafyev married Maria Semenovna Koryakina. They had three children: daughters Lydia (born and died in 1947) and Irina (1948-1987) and son Andrei (born in 1950).
In Chusovoy, Astafyev worked as a locksmith, an auxiliary worker, a teacher, a station duty officer, and a storekeeper.
In 1951, the first story by Astafyev, “Civilian Man,” was published in the newspaper Chusovskoy Rabochy. Since 1951, he worked in the editorial office of this newspaper, wrote reports, articles, and stories. His first book, “Until Next Spring,” was published in Perm in 1953.
Monument to the writer near the highway Krasnoyarsk — Abakan
In 1958, Astafiev was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1959-1961 he studied at the Higher Literary Courses in Moscow.
From 1989 to 1991, Astafyev was People's Deputy of the USSR.
In 1993, he signed the “Letter of 42's”.
Hero of Socialist Labor, Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1978, 1991), Triumph Prize, State Prize of Russia (1996, 2003 (posthumous)), Pushkin Prize of the Alfred Tepfer Foundation (Germany; 1997).
Victor Astafyev is a famous Soviet and Russian writer, playwright, essayist. For his biography, he was awarded the prestigious State Prizes of the USSR and the Russian Federation 5 times. During his lifetime, his works became classics.
So, before you short biography of Victor Astafiev.
Biography of Astafiev
Victor Petrovich Astafiev was born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka Krai. He grew up in the family of Peter Pavlovich and his wife Lydia Ilyinichna.
In addition to Victor, 2 more girls were born in the Astafievs who died in early childhood.
Childhood and youth
In the late 1920s, Pyotr Astafyev was arrested for "wrecking." In this regard, Lidia Ilyinichna regularly went to see her husband on dates in prison. During the next such trip, misfortune happened to her.
The boat in which Astafyev’s mother was turned over turned over and the woman was in the water. Her long braid caught on the wooden structure used for rafting the forest, as a result of which Lidia Ilyinichna drowned.
After that, Victor Astafyev lived with his grandmother, who took care of him and gave her grandson a decent upbringing. Later, a prose writer will publish an autobiographical work, “The Last Bow”, in which he will describe his childhood memories.
When Astafyev Sr. was released, he remarried and took Victor to his place. After some time, their son Nikolai was born.
The Astafievs' family was quite prosperous, therefore, when the Bolsheviks came to power, they dispossessed them and sent them to Igarka (Krasnoyarsk Territory).
In the new city, the Astafyevs began to live off fishing. However, soon the father of the future writer became seriously ill and was hospitalized.
It was then that in Victor's life really serious problems began: the stepmother refused to feed the stepson, as a result of which he was left to his own devices
This period of life turned out to be one of the most difficult in the biography of Astafiev. The boy was homeless and lived in abandoned houses. However, he continued to go to school.
Once during his studies, he committed a serious misconduct, for which he was sent to an orphanage.
Nevertheless, it was at school that Victor made friends with teacher Ignatius Rozhdestvensky, who noticed a literary gift in his student. It was thanks to him that Astafyev began to write the first works and even published in the school journal.
After graduating from school of factory training, the young man got a job as a trailer and train designer.
In 1942, Victor Astafyev volunteered to go to the front. During the war he was a signalman, artillery scout and driver.
He showed himself to be a brave soldier, for which he received several awards, including the Order of the Red Star and the Medal for Courage. Participating in the battles, the writer was repeatedly wounded, and at the end of the war he was heavily shell-shocked.
Creativity Astafiev
Returning from the war, Astafiev changed many professions to feed himself and his family. He worked as a locksmith, loader, handyman, station duty officer and storekeeper.
However, he never lost interest in writing.
In 1951, Viktor Petrovich began to attend a literary circle. After one of the meetings, he was so impressed with what he heard that in one night he wrote the story “Civilian Man,” which would later be renamed “Sibiryak”.
Soon, a significant event took place in the biography of Astafyev. His works were noticed, as a result of which the aspiring writer was offered a job in the publication Chusovskoy Rabochiy.
Inspired by success, he enthusiastically embarked on his new duties, and also enthusiastically continued to write other works.
Works by Astafiev
The children really liked the interesting and informative works of the writer, in connection with which the classic continued to write for children.
During the biography of 1956-1958. Astafyev wrote 3 more children's books. After that, he published his first novel, Melting Snow, which was positively received by critics and ordinary readers.
In 1958, Viktor Astafyev was admitted to the Union of Writers of the RSFSR. Soon, 3 novels came out from under his pen: Starfall, Pass, and Starodub.
Every day his work became increasingly popular and aroused keen interest among Soviet citizens.
In 1962, a number of Astafiev's miniatures were published, which began to be published in various publishing houses. It is curious that in his work he paid serious attention to war, patriotism and the life of ordinary peasants.
In 1968, Victor Astafyev wrote an autobiographical story, "Photography, in which I am not."
In this work, many dialectisms, archaisms and colloquial words were found. In it, he incidentally mentions the consequences of dispossession, of which he knew firsthand.
In 1976, Astafyev wrote one of the most famous short stories in his biography - Tsar the Fish. An interesting fact is that she was so seriously edited by the censors that the writer ended up in the hospital after suffering stress.
For his contribution to the development of the Soviet Union, Astafiev twice won the USSR State Prize in 1978 and 1991.
Later, he will be awarded this honorary award two more times.
Personal life
During the war, Astafiev met with nurse Maria Karjakina. Soon, young people realized that they were in love with each other. After the war ended, they immediately decided to get married.
An interesting fact is that over time, Mary also began to engage in literature and even write something.
Victor Astafiev and his wife Maria In 1947, a daughter Lydia was born into the Astafiev family, but she died in infancy. A year later, their daughter Irina was born, and then their son Andrei.
It is worth adding that since the writer enjoyed great interest among women, Maria was very jealous of him.
Astafiev with his wife and children Over time, Victor Astafiev admitted to his wife that he has two illegitimate daughters, whom, by the way, he took care of until his death.
The Astafyev’s couple often diverged, but then again began to live together. As a result, their family union lasted 57 years.
Death
In the spring of 2001, Astafyev suffered a stroke, after which he spent 2 weeks in a hospital. Six months later, he was diagnosed with a heart vessel disease, as a result of which he was again hospitalized.
His health was rapidly deteriorating, and shortly before his death, he completely lost his sight.
Victor Petrovich Astafiev died on November 29, 2001 at the age of 77. The writer was buried near the village of Ovsyanka, in which he was born.
In 2009, Astafyev was posthumously awarded the prize.
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