Boris Vasilyev (writer)
| Boris Vasilyev | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | Борис Васильев |
| Born |
21 May 1924 Smolensk, Soviet Union |
| Died |
11 March 2013 (aged 88)[1] Moscow, Russia |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Years active | 1958–2013 |
| Spouse(s) | Zorya Albertovna Vasilyeva |
Boris Lvovich Vasilyev (Russian: Борис Львович Васильев; 21 May 1924 – 11 March 2013) was a Soviet writer. He is considered the last representative of the so-called "lieutenant prose", a group of former low-ranking Soviet officers who dramatised their traumatic World War II experience.[2]
After his World War II service, Vasiliev enrolled at the Malinovsky Tank Academy. His short novel The Dawns Here Are Quiet was a Soviet bestseller, selling 1.8 million copies within a year after its publication in 1969. It was adapted for the stage and the screen; there is also an opera and a Chinese TV series based on the story.
The Dawns Here Are Quiet was the first of Vasiliev's sentimental patriotic tales of female heroism in the Second World War[3] ("Not on the Active List", 1974; "Tomorrow There Came War", 1984) which brought him renown in the Soviet Union, China, and other communist countries.[4] Many of his books give a harsh picture of life in Stalin's Russia.
Vasiliev's short novel Don't Shoot the White Swans (1973), a milestone of Russian-language environmental fiction, is sharply critical of "the senseless destruction of beautiful creatures and the exploitation of nature for personal gain".[5] It was made into a 1980 Soviet film.
Vasiliev was awarded the USSR State Prize for 1975 and was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.[6] In 1989, he quit the USSR Communist Party but grew disillusioned with the Perestroika rather quickly.[7] In October 1993, he signed the Letter of Forty-Two.[8] Late in life, Vasiliev turned to historical fiction based on incidents from medieval Russian chronicles.
Selected filmography
- The Officers (1971), a very popular saga about a Soviet family with a tradition of military service.
- The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972)
- Do Not Shoot at White Swans (1980)
- Tomorrow Was War (1987)
References
- ↑ "Russia’s Soviet-era war novelist Boris Vasilyev dies aged 88: Voice of Russia". :. 1924-05-21. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
- ↑ http://www.russkiymir.ru/russkiymir/en/publications/articles/article0340.html
- ↑ Martin Banham. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1995. P. 656.
- ↑ http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2143757
- ↑ Rosalind J. Marsh. Soviet Fiction Since Stalin: Science, Politics, and Literature. Taylor & Francis, 1986. Page 182.
- ↑ "Berlinale: 1989 Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
- ↑ http://krugosvet.ru/enc/kultura_i_obrazovanie/literatura/VASILEV_BORIS_LVOVICH.html
- ↑ Писатели требуют от правительства решительных действий. Izvestia (in Russian). 5 October 1993. Retrieved 21 August 2011.