Yuri Rytkheu

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Yuri Sergeyevich Rytkheu (Russian: Ю́рий Серге́евич Рытхэ́у; 8 March 1930 at Uelen village - 14 May 2008, Saint Petersburg) was a Chukchi writer, writing in both his native Chukchi language and Russian. He is considered as the founder of Chukchi literature.

Born into a family of Chukchi hunters, he was given the name Rytkheu. Chukchis traditionally didn't use surnames, and when he requested his first official documents, he adopted the name and patronymic from a Russian geologist he knew, and started using Rytkheu as surname.

He started writing articles and short poems in the newspaper "Soviet Chukotka" (Советская Чукотка) while a student at the Anadyr Technical School. In 1949 he entered the Leningrad State University and continued his literary activity there, publishing his short stories in Ogonyok and Novy Mir magazines. His first book, a collection of short stories, The People of Our Coast (Люди нашего берега), was printed in 1953, and in 1954 he become a member of the Union of Soviet Writers.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union his works ceased to be printed in Russia for a long time, but printed instead in German (over 250,000 copies) and other European languages by a Swiss publisher Unionsverlag. The only work of his extensive output translated into English is Сон в начале тумана (1970), published by Archipelago Books in 2005 as A Dream in Polar Fog.

Rytkheu lived his last years in Anadyr.

[edit] Bibliography

English language
- Reborn to a Full Life, (Moscow : Novosti Press Agency Pub. House, 1977).
- From Nomad Tent to University, (Moscow : Novosti Press Agency, 1980).
- Old Memyl Laughs Last: Short Stories, (Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House, no date).
- A Dream in Polar Fog, trans. by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse (Archipelago Books, 2006). ISBN 978-0977857616
- The Chukchi Bible, trans. by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse (Archipelago Books, 2009).

German language (note that in German the author's name is transliterated Juri Rytchëu)
- Der Mondhund ISBN 3-293-00351-6
- Unna ISBN 3-293-20341-8
- Der letzte Schamane ISBN 3-293-20295-0
- Die Reise der Anna Odinzova ISBN 3-293-20230-6
- Traum im Polarnebel (1993) ISBN 3-293-20034-6 (A Dream in Polar Fog)
- Die Suche nach der letzten Zahl ISBN 3-293-20095-8
- Wenn die Wale fortziehen ISBN 3-293-20049-4
- Unter dem Sternbild der Trauer ISBN 3-293-20085-0
- Im Spiegel des Vergessens ISBN 3-293-20215-2 (In the Mirror of Forgetfulness)
Russian language
- "В зеркале забвения" ISBN 5-94214-013-8 (In the Mirror of Forgetfulness)