Yury Kazakov

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Yuri Pavlovich Kazakov (August 8, 1927--November 29, 1982) was a Russian author of short stories, often compared to Anton Chekhov and Ivan Bunin. Born in Moscow, he started out as a jazz musician, but turned to publishing his stories in 1952. He attended the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, graduating in 1958.

Yuri Kazakov (Юрии Казаков) Lived in Moscow but spent a good deal of time traveling along the shores of the White Sea, among the provincial towns along th Oka, and in Central Russia and the wooded areas around them. He also spent periods of time with the fisherman of the North. Several of his stories are set in these regions and enhanced by his experiences of life and nature in them. Paraphrased from George Gibian's introduction to "Yurii Kazakov Selected Short Stories" 1963.

"Kazakov is worthy of note not because of any 'disaffection' or 'dissidence',[sic] but because what he says about his haunting characters set against an impressively captured nature is penetrating, true and beautiful." -George Gibian.

According to Gibian, Kazakov is distinctive among Russian authors. His work has an intrinsic, intangible quality which makes it unmistakably his. His characters are charged with emotion and tend to have a keen sense of an aspect of nature. Some enjoy the beauty of the visual world, some the scents of the forest, some the sounds of music but all intensely and with heightened senses experience the world around them.