Biography 1924

The first books and journalistic works 4. Interesting facts of difficult childhood, orphanage, war - a lot of tests fell on Viktor Astafyev. He wrote his first work at 27, the story “Civil Man” was the first in Astafyev’s literary career. He truthfully wrote about the beauty of Siberian villages, and about the harsh military everyday life: the author believed that the main thing is to “remain a faithful writer of life.” His parents were poor peasants, Victor was the only child in the family, his two sisters died in early childhood.

The childhood of the future writer was difficult. Parents - Peter and Lidia Astafyev - badly got along with each other. Families also touched the dispossession: the Soviet authorities nationalized a mill, who for many years helped Astafyev feed. The boy remained in the care of his grandmother. This period of his life forms the basis of the collection “The Last Black” and the stories “Photography in which I am not” and “Horse with a pink mane”.

In the fall of the year, Viktor Astafyev’s father returned to Ovsyanka. At the construction site of Belomorkanal, he was recognized as an drummer of a five -year plan and released ahead of schedule. Soon, Pyotr Astafyev married a second time, Cherkasova, and with her and her son moved to the small city of Igar. Astafyev recalled life with bitterness and pain about life in Igar: father and stepmother were little interested in him, and soon the new family literally put the boy out into the street - he ended up in an orphanage.

All this is experienced in Igar. But there were books, and songs, and skiing, and children's fun, the first enlightened tears, ”he recalled about this time. Ignatius Rozhdestvensky, a teacher of Russian language and literature in an orphanage, became his friend for many years: the writer respected him for "demanding and human attention." Another mentor Astafyev was the director of the orphanage Vasily Sokolov.

Both Rozhdestvensky and Sokolov noticed that literature and Russian language were easily given to the boy, and advised him to think about a writer's career. In the year, Viktor Astafyev turned 17 years old, and according to the law, he could no longer remain in the orphanage. By this time, he graduated from only six classes-he was left several times in the second year due to arithmetic problems.

He postponed his dreams of higher education: there was not enough money to study. Astafyev went to work at the factory with a hemp, then entered the railway school. The inhabitants of the European part of Russia were hastily evacuated there, and the production of military equipment was established. I always thought that war is a battle, shooting, hand-to-hand, but there, somewhere far, far.

And she’s how - everywhere and everywhere, throughout my stilt walks, she requires everyone to the struggle for life and turns to all her appearance. Viktor Astafyev, “somewhere the war rattles” Viktor Astafyev, like many of his fellow students, did not want to stay in the rear and volunteered for the front. In the first battles, he participated at the end of the year.

In the war, Astafyev replaced several specialties: he served as a scout, driver and signalman. He fought on the first Ukrainian front, participated in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky operation, forcing the Dnieper, and the attack of the Red Army near Kamenets-Podolsky. In the battles near the Polish city of Duke, in the fall of Go Astafyev was wounded and spent several months in the hospital.

After treatment from the combat service, he was removed, and he met the victory in the auxiliary parts of the first Ukrainian front in Rivne. There he met his future wife - nurse Maria Koryakina. They got married shortly after the war - October 26.

Then the couple moved to the Perm region, to the hometown of Maria Koryakina - Chusova. The first books and journalistic works of front -line wounds prevented Viktor Astafyev from working in the main specialty, he later wrote: and that a soldier began to shave a year ago, who had lost his vision of the right eye from injury and, for this reason, his only train, a compiler of trains, more recently, could a ordinary trenches with a six -class education, know?

I did not even distinguish the family of the captain’s troops by epaulets. Viktor Astafyev, The “Merry Soldier” during the first post -war years Astafyev replaced several professions: the station attendant, a locksmith, a worker worker, a storekeeper, a utility worker. He was quickly tired of such a life: he even broke up with his wife and went home to Siberia, but soon returned to his family.

In the year, the Astafyevs had a daughter Lydia, but she lived only six months. The death of her daughter exacerbated the discord in the family, and Viktor Astafyev again left Chusovoy - this time for six months. Even the second pregnancy of his wife did not stop him. Astafyev returned to his family after the birth of Irina's daughter, got a fitter in the artel and decided to finish high school.

In the year, the spouses had a son Andrei. Astafyev could not do hard work, so he got a job at the sausage workshop. Life was brightened up by a meeting of a literary circle at a local newspaper. It was they who inspired him to write the first work of art. In the year, the story “Civil Man” was printed in the city newspaper “Chusovskaya Worker”.The next few years, Astafyev worked as a journalist of the Chusovsky Worker.

But we must remember that I had a pre -war letter - six groups, the front gave, of course, life experience, but did not add culture and literacy. It was necessary to urgently recruit all this. True, I even managed to have books in the trenches to have and read. I knew that the proposal should end with a point, but this is where it, the proposal, ends, definitely could not imagine, ”the writer recalled.

In M, the collection "Lights" was published there. Readers met these books for children and adolescents well, but Astafyev himself wanted to publish more serious prose. Back in the year, he sent a draft of the story “Theft” to the editorial office of the New World magazine, but he was not accepted there. The failure did not stop Astafyev - he continued to work on the “theft” and other works.

In the year, he got a job as a correspondent on the Perm Regional Radio. Our radio, of course, is something terrible: crackling, resonance, lies. The money paid good, yes, but this state of mind entered an irresistible contradiction with what I tried to express in writing. Since then I have been working only at the table, I have been fighting only with a sheet of clean paper.

Then his novel “The Snow” came out. The writer’s stories began to be published in Moscow, including in large magazines - “New World” and “Young Guard”. At the end of the x, they saw the light of the story “Pass”, “Starfall” and “Starodub”. While studying at the highest literary courses, the framework of my environment moved apart. Moscow with its theaters, concert halls, exhibitions, several first-class teachers, like-minded people and friends who have already experienced a lot of noticeable successes that have already achieved in the literature, all-all contributed to spiritual enlightenment and moral improvement.

His friend, editor -in -chief of the Perm Book Publishing House, Boris Nazarovsky, helped the writer buy a small house in the Ural village of Bykovka. Astafyev himself said about this place: “There were no conditions in Bykovka except the main thing - I always worked well there.” In Perm and Bykovka, Astafyev finished the novels “Theft” and “The Last Black”, wrote several short stories and stories: “Zorkina Song”, “Geese in Wallness”, “Autumn sadness and joy”.

The writer's career of Astafyev’s wife began there: in the literary magazine “Ural Rastypyat” they printed the story of Maria Koryakina “Night Watch”. Koryakina later revised him into the story "Father", which was published in the "Perm book publishing house." In Perm, Viktor Astafyev created the first edition of one of his main works - a story about love during the war “Shepherd and a shepherd”.

The author himself called this work modern pastoral. Astafyev met and quickly made friends with them. In Vologda, he continued to engage in creativity. One wise man advised everyone to find their meadow. I found her in Vologda. In general, the Russian North, when I arrived there, conquered immediately. The northern landscapes struck with their beauty. I did not see anything like this either in Siberia or in the Urals.

I don’t know how much this all of this and experienced enriches the feather, but the soul is undoubted. In addition, in Vologda there was and is a gifted writing organization. In a friendly circle, I learned a lot, I understood a lot. And most importantly - what you need to be with the homeland - I understood it in Vologda. In Vologda, he also tried himself in dramaturgy and created two plays - “Cherry” and “Forgive me”.

It was the “king-fish” who brought Astafyev all-Union fame. However, it was not possible to print the book entirely: the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press seized two chapters from the manuscript - Norilsev and Ladies. The censors considered the story "Daring, almost anti -Soviet products." In a cut-out form, the “king-fish” was published and won the love of readers.

Two years later, in M, the story came out in a separate publication. Soon it was awarded the USSR State Prize and was translated into many foreign languages, but without censorship withdrawals she came out only in the e years. A new period of his work began here. At this time, he wrote both artistic prose and journalism. Astafyev bought a house in his native village, where he lived in the summer, and for the winter he returned to the Krasnoyarsk apartment.

From there was a view of the river and the village in the distance. To the question “Why did you return to the oatmeal? Viktor Astafyev wrote most of his works according to the memoirs and impressions. However, his attitude to many events gradually changed. In January, in the journal October, Astafyev’s book “The Sad Detective” was published.