Vladimir Lichutin

Vladimir Lichutin
Born March 13, 1940
Mezen, Mezensky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast
Occupation Novelist • essayist
Nationality Russian
Citizenship Russian Federation
Literary movement Village Prose
Notable works Raskol (1990-1996)
Notable awards Yasnaya Polyana Award (2009)
The Bunin’s Award (2011)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Lichutin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Личу́тин, born March 13, 1940, in Mezen, Mezensky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, USSR) is a Soviet/Russian novelist, a major proponent of the so-called derevenschiki movement of the late 20th century literature, best known for his Raskol (1990-1996) epic. Most of Lichutin's novels and novelets are based on the life of real people of the coastal White Sea areas of his native Pomorje region.[1][2]

Biography

Vladimir Lichutin was born in the town of Mezen, Arkhangelskaya oblast, in the family of a teacher. His father killed in the II World War, mother alone had to raise four children. In 1960 Lichutin graduated from the local timber-processing industrial secondary school and enrolled into the Leningrad University's faculty of journalism. After the graduation in 1962 he returned to Arkhangelsk to work as a journalist for a local newspaper Pravda Severa.[1][3]

In the early 1970s Litchutin debuted with the The White Room novelet, published in the #8, 1972, issue of Sever magazine. It was followed by Iona and Alexandra (1973), his first historical novel Long Rest (1874) and The Marriages’ Time (1975). Among Vladimir Lichutin's best known 1970s works were Soul's Burning (1976) and Winged Seraphima (1978), both praising native Pomors traditional values, their ascetic way of life and high moral standards.[4] Lichutin has taken part in several folklorist expeditions, richly incorporating the found dialects and modes of speech into his books. In 1975, after graduating the Higher literary Courses at the Soviet Union of Writers he settled in Moscow, but continued to visit his native region regularly.[1]

Quite notable was his 1985 novel Wanderers (sequel to Long Rest) about a group of young members of the Old Believers' sect of the early 19th century. His next one, Lyubostai (1987), criticized what he saw as contemporary Soviet intelligentsia's lack of 'moral firmness' and talked about the spiritual crisis of the Russian people of the second half of the 20th century in general. Much of his time Lichutin was spending at his dacha in Ryazanskaya oblast, turning many a real people he’s come to know there into characters of his fiction.[1]

Vladimir Lichutin's grand epic Raskol (1990-1996) is rated as his most outstanding work. Years later it brought him first the prestigious Yasnaya Polyana Award (2009), then The Russian Government's State Prize (2011). The 2000 book of essays called The Soul Inexplicable (subtitled: "Thinking of Russian People") has been praised for its colourful, highly stylized 'skaz' type of language. Two of Litchutin's later novels, The Paradise Fugitives (2005) and The River of Love (2010) brought him The Major Russian Literary Prise of the Writers' Union (2006) and the Bunin's Prize (2011), respectively.[2]

Selected bibliography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Vakhitova, T. "Litcutin, Vladimir Vladimirovich". Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Lichutin, Vladimir Vladimirovich". Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  3. ↑ "Vladimir Lichutin biography". Glavnye Litsa (Russia’s Major Faces site). Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  4. ↑ "Vladimir Lichutin biography". Retrieved 2012-12-01.