Biography
Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov (Russian: ??????? ???????? ???????) is a Russian novelist who began his career in the Soviet era. He is known in the West as the author of The Burn (Russian: "????" - Ozhog, 1975) and the critically acclaimed Generations of Winter (Russian: "?????????? ????", Moskovskaya saga, 1992), a family saga depicting three generations of the Gradov family in 1925?1953.
Vasily Aksyonov was born to Pavel Aksyonov and Yevgenia Ginzburg (Eugenia) in Kazan, USSR on August 20, 1932. His mother was a successful journalist and educator and his father Pavel Aksyonov had a high position in the administration of Kazan. Both of them were faithful communists. In 1937 Yevgenia Ginzburg was arrested and tried for her alleged connection to Trotskyists. She was sentenced to 10 years of solitary confinement in prison (later changed to 10 years of forced labour in labour camps). Vasily's father Pavel was arrested soon afterwards for a similar crime and was sentenced to 15 years of corrective labour.
Vasily remained in Kazan with his nanny and grandmother until NKVD arrested him as a son of the "enemies of the people" and sent him to an orphanage without giving any information to his family. In 1938 Pavel Aksyonov's brother managed to find Vasily in an orphanage in Kostroma and took him to live with his father's side of the family till 1948.
In 1948, after her sentence was completed, Yevgenia Ginzburg managed to obtain a permission for Vasily to join her in Magadan, Kolyma. She described their first meeting in her autobiographical book Journey into the Whirlwind. Vasily completed his school education in Magadan and a decision was made to send him to the Medical University in Kazan.
Vasily's half-brother Alexei (from Ginzburg's first marriage to Dmitriy Fedorov) died from starvation in besieged Leningrad in 1941.
Vasily Aksyonov is a convinced anti-totalitarian. On the presentation of his newest novel, he stated: "If in this country one starts erecting Stalin statues again, I have to reject my native land. Nothing else remains."
His other novels are
Colleagues ("???????" - Kollegi, 1960)
Star Ticket ("???????? ?????" - Zvyozdny bilet, 1961)
Oranges from Morocco ("????????? ?? ???????" - Apel'siny iz Marokko, 1963)
It's Time, My Friend, It's Time ("????, ??? ????, ????" - Pora, moy drug, pora, 1964)
It's a Pity You Weren't with Us ("????, ??? ??? ?? ???? ? ????" - Zhal', chto vas ne bylo s nami, 1965)
Overstocked Packaging Barrels ("???????????? ?????????" - Zatovarennaya bochkotara, 1968)
In Search of a Genre ("? ??????? ?????" - V poiskakh zhanra, 1972)
The Island of Crimea ("?????? ????" - "Ostrov Krym", 1979)
In Search of Melancholy Baby ("? ??????? ????????? ????" - V poiskakh grustnogo bebi, 1987)
Yolk of the Egg (written in English, 1989)
The New Sweet Style ("????? ?????????? ?????" - Novy sladostny stil', 1998)
Voltairian Men and Women ("???????????? ? ????????????" - Volteryantsy i volteryanki, 2004 - won the Russian Booker Prize).
He is the son of Yevgenia Ginzburg. Until 2003, Aksyonov was a professor of Russian at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
His new novel 'Moskva-kva-kva' (2006) was published in the Moscow magazine 'Oktyabr'. Aksyonov is now living in his Moscow apartment with his wife, Maya Zmeul, and has a second home in Biarritz, France.
- Ilya Ehrenburg
Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (Russian: ????? ???????????? ????????? IPA: [??l?ja gr???gor??v?t? ?r??n?burk]), January 27 [O.S. January 15] 1891 (Kiev, Ukraine) ? August 31, 1967 (Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Jewish Soviet propagandist, writer and journalist...
- Sergei Dovlatov
Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov (Mechik) (Russian: ?????? ????????? ???????? (?????) September 3, 1941-August 24, 1990) was a Russian short-story writer and novelist. Dovlatov was born on September 3, 1941 in Ufa, Republic of Bashkiria, where his family had...
- Yuri Dombrovsky
Yuri Dombrovsky (Russian: ???? ???????????; 1909-1978) was a Russian writer of Romani ethnicity who spent nearly eighteen years in Soviet prison camps and exile. Dombrovsky was the son of a lawyer and fell foul of the authorities as early as 1932, for...
- Denis Davydov
Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (Russian: ????? ?????????? ???????) (27 July 1784 ? 22 April 1839) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented a specific genre ? hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado ? and spectacularly designed...
- Isaac Babel
Early years Born to a Jewish family in Odessa during a period of social unrest and mass exodus of Jews from the Russian Empire, Isaac Babel survived the 1905 pogrom with the help of Christian neighbors who hid his family, but his grandfather Shoyl was...
Biography
Vasily Aksyonov
Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov (Russian: ??????? ???????? ???????) is a Russian novelist who began his career in the Soviet era. He is known in the West as the author of The Burn (Russian: "????" - Ozhog, 1975) and the critically acclaimed Generations of Winter (Russian: "?????????? ????", Moskovskaya saga, 1992), a family saga depicting three generations of the Gradov family in 1925?1953.
Vasily Aksyonov was born to Pavel Aksyonov and Yevgenia Ginzburg (Eugenia) in Kazan, USSR on August 20, 1932. His mother was a successful journalist and educator and his father Pavel Aksyonov had a high position in the administration of Kazan. Both of them were faithful communists. In 1937 Yevgenia Ginzburg was arrested and tried for her alleged connection to Trotskyists. She was sentenced to 10 years of solitary confinement in prison (later changed to 10 years of forced labour in labour camps). Vasily's father Pavel was arrested soon afterwards for a similar crime and was sentenced to 15 years of corrective labour.
Vasily remained in Kazan with his nanny and grandmother until NKVD arrested him as a son of the "enemies of the people" and sent him to an orphanage without giving any information to his family. In 1938 Pavel Aksyonov's brother managed to find Vasily in an orphanage in Kostroma and took him to live with his father's side of the family till 1948.
In 1948, after her sentence was completed, Yevgenia Ginzburg managed to obtain a permission for Vasily to join her in Magadan, Kolyma. She described their first meeting in her autobiographical book Journey into the Whirlwind. Vasily completed his school education in Magadan and a decision was made to send him to the Medical University in Kazan.
Vasily's half-brother Alexei (from Ginzburg's first marriage to Dmitriy Fedorov) died from starvation in besieged Leningrad in 1941.
Vasily Aksyonov is a convinced anti-totalitarian. On the presentation of his newest novel, he stated: "If in this country one starts erecting Stalin statues again, I have to reject my native land. Nothing else remains."
His other novels are
Colleagues ("???????" - Kollegi, 1960)
Star Ticket ("???????? ?????" - Zvyozdny bilet, 1961)
Oranges from Morocco ("????????? ?? ???????" - Apel'siny iz Marokko, 1963)
It's Time, My Friend, It's Time ("????, ??? ????, ????" - Pora, moy drug, pora, 1964)
It's a Pity You Weren't with Us ("????, ??? ??? ?? ???? ? ????" - Zhal', chto vas ne bylo s nami, 1965)
Overstocked Packaging Barrels ("???????????? ?????????" - Zatovarennaya bochkotara, 1968)
In Search of a Genre ("? ??????? ?????" - V poiskakh zhanra, 1972)
The Island of Crimea ("?????? ????" - "Ostrov Krym", 1979)
In Search of Melancholy Baby ("? ??????? ????????? ????" - V poiskakh grustnogo bebi, 1987)
Yolk of the Egg (written in English, 1989)
The New Sweet Style ("????? ?????????? ?????" - Novy sladostny stil', 1998)
Voltairian Men and Women ("???????????? ? ????????????" - Volteryantsy i volteryanki, 2004 - won the Russian Booker Prize).
He is the son of Yevgenia Ginzburg. Until 2003, Aksyonov was a professor of Russian at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
His new novel 'Moskva-kva-kva' (2006) was published in the Moscow magazine 'Oktyabr'. Aksyonov is now living in his Moscow apartment with his wife, Maya Zmeul, and has a second home in Biarritz, France.
- Ilya Ehrenburg
Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (Russian: ????? ???????????? ????????? IPA: [??l?ja gr???gor??v?t? ?r??n?burk]), January 27 [O.S. January 15] 1891 (Kiev, Ukraine) ? August 31, 1967 (Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Jewish Soviet propagandist, writer and journalist...
- Sergei Dovlatov
Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov (Mechik) (Russian: ?????? ????????? ???????? (?????) September 3, 1941-August 24, 1990) was a Russian short-story writer and novelist. Dovlatov was born on September 3, 1941 in Ufa, Republic of Bashkiria, where his family had...
- Yuri Dombrovsky
Yuri Dombrovsky (Russian: ???? ???????????; 1909-1978) was a Russian writer of Romani ethnicity who spent nearly eighteen years in Soviet prison camps and exile. Dombrovsky was the son of a lawyer and fell foul of the authorities as early as 1932, for...
- Denis Davydov
Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (Russian: ????? ?????????? ???????) (27 July 1784 ? 22 April 1839) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented a specific genre ? hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado ? and spectacularly designed...
- Isaac Babel
Early years Born to a Jewish family in Odessa during a period of social unrest and mass exodus of Jews from the Russian Empire, Isaac Babel survived the 1905 pogrom with the help of Christian neighbors who hid his family, but his grandfather Shoyl was...