Mikhail Veller
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Mikhail Veller (Russian: Михаил Веллер; born 1948) is a Russian writer of Jewish origin who is a representatives of the so-called "intellectual prose". Many consider him a literary heir of Sergei Dovlatov.
Mikhail Veller was born in Borzya station (Chita Oblast of Russia) in 1948. In 1972 he graduated with a degree in linguistics from Leningrad University. He worked as a children's summer camp counselor, hunter in Taimyr, shepherd in Altai mountains, woodchuck, a museum worker, a journalist, a teacher -- a total of approximately 30 professions.
Veller's first book, a selection of short stories titled I Want To Be A Yard-Sweeper, was published in Estonia in 1983. After the relaxing of the censorship since the Glasnost time he published his books Heart Breaker (1988), Technology of a Short Story (1989), Randevu with a Celebrity (1990). A Novel of Upbringing and Adventures of Major Zvyagin (1991) became bestsellers, among with "The Legends of Nevsky Prospect" (1993), which was called "the funniest book of the last seven years" by some critics. His book Everything about Life is claimed to be nothing less than a new system of philosophy, developed by an easy, down-to-earth language. It is a book about how the world works, why a person never has what he needs, and why happiness is not achievable but should be sought. His mini-novel The Knife of Seryozha Dovlatov created a literary scandal. The last bestseller, Courrier from Piza (2000) had 11 editions.
In Everything about Life Veller repeated Ernest Hemingway's words: There are people who want to want to know everything and those who are sick of what they already know. The latter say nothing to prevent things from turning for the worse, while the former interfere in all, hoping to make things better. Veller proclaims himself to be with the former kind.
Veller lectured on modern Russian prose in universities of Milan, Jerusalem and Copenhagen.
In his free time, Veller lives in Moscow but continues to work in Tallinn. His hobbies include bullet-shooting.
