Mikhail Pavlovich Schischkin

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Michail Pawlowitsch Schischkin, Café Odeon Zurich 2010 © Evgeniya Frolkova

Michail Pawlowitsch Schischkin ( Russian Михаил Павлович Шишкин , scientific transliteration Michail Pavlovič Šiškin ; also in various transcriptions Mikhail Shishkin, Mikhail Chichkine etc., born January 18, 1961 in Moscow ) is a Russian writer and journalist .

Life

Schischkin studied German and English at the Moscow State Pedagogical University . After completing his studies, he worked for three years as a journalist for the youth magazine Rowesnik , after which he taught German and English for ten years at “School Number 444” in Moscow.

Michail Schischkin married a Swiss woman and had lived with his family in Zurich since 1995 , where he worked as a Russian teacher, teacher and interpreter for the immigration office. Since his novel Venushaar was published in 2005, he has lived exclusively from his writing. In the fall semester of 2007 and 2009, Schischkin was a lecturer in Russian and Russian culture at Washington and Lee University in Lexington (Virginia) . Since 2011 he has lived with his family - Schischkin's second wife is Russian - in Kleinlützel in the canton of Solothurn .

“While authors like Sorokin or Pelewin deliberately destroy existing writing traditions, Schischkin aims at appropriating and developing the literary tradition. He compares the history of Russian literature with a tree whose trunk grows from the Slavic Bible translation through the medieval chronicles to the great novels by Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy and forms a branching crown in the 20th century. Authors like Platonov represent ingenious but unproductive branches. Schischkin sees his own literary role models in the work of Chekhov , Bunin , Nabokov and Sascha Sokolow . "

- Ulrich M. Schmid : Neue Zürcher Zeitung (quoted from zeit.de)

Michail Schischkin was the only author to have received the three most important literary prizes in Russia: in 2000 he received the Russian Booker Prize , in 2005 the National Best Seller Prize, in 2006 and 2011 the Bolshaya Kniga Prize. His books are consistently bestsellers in Russia.

Shishkin's novels have been translated into more than 30 languages. Schischkin's essays have been published in major newspapers in the German-speaking area as well as in the most important international media such as The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Guardian , Le Monde The Independent , etc.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Schischkin criticized the failure to come to terms with the atrocities of past years. While the Germans would have faced the crimes committed under National Socialism and a confession of guilt, the Russians would glorify their former despots. As a comparison, he tried to compare the fairy tale drama The Dragon by Evgeni Schwarz , in which after the end of the tyranny of the dragon, the city dwellers build a free future "in the image of their slavish past".

In 2013, his “Open Letter” caused an uproar in Russia. Schischkin decided not to take part in the official Russian writers' delegation at the BookExpo book fair in New York:

“A country where a criminal, corrupt regime has taken power, where the state is a hierarchy of criminals, where elections have turned into a farce where the courts serve those in power and not the law, which is political There are prisoners in which state television has been turned into a whore, in which usurpers pass piles of insane laws that transport society back to the Middle Ages, such a country cannot be my Russia. I cannot and do not want to take part in an official Russian delegation that represents this Russia. I want and will represent another, my Russia, a country freed from usurpers, a country whose authorities protect not the right to corruption, but the rights of the individual, a country with free media, free elections and free people. "

In the course of the crisis in Ukraine in 2014 , Shishkin expressed himself increasingly critical of the policies of the Russian government and of Russian President Vladimir Putin . On the seventieth anniversary of the end of the war on May 9, 2015, he wrote: “Once again a dictator uses patriotism to secure his power. […] Today's rulers stole the oil and gas, the elections and the land from the Russian people. And also the victory (from 1945). [...] To incite Russians and Ukrainians against one another is unforgivable malice. "

Looking back in 2018, he stated that he would have been optimistic about the “completely different Russia” of 2010 under President Medvedev as a country that “wanted to return to civilized humanity”. He called the Russia of 2018 a dictatorship whose authoritarian regime would be legitimized by visits; he called for a political boycott of the World Cup and instead called for solidarity with the "hostages of the dictatorship". All visitors would be portrayed as supporters in the unimaginable propaganda for those living in the West , even if they might still express criticism; Russia would never see this anyway.

Michail Schischkin is a member of the Swiss Writers' Association of Authors in Switzerland and the German-speaking Swiss PEN Center .

Literary work

Novels and non-fiction books

  • 1993 Wsech oschidajet odna notsch (Omnes una manet nox) , "Snamija", No. 7 + 8/1993.
  • 1999 Vsjatije Ismaila , novel, printed in 1999 in «Snamija» No. 10/11/12 and in 2000 as a separate edition by Vagrius Verlag, Moscow.
  • 2000 Russkaja Schweizarija. Literaturno-istorichesky putevoditel
    • Russian Switzerland. A literary-historical travel guide , translated into German by Franziska Stöcklin. Limmat Verlag , Zurich 2003. ISBN 3-85791-438-6 .
  • 2002 Montreux-Missolunghi-Astapowo. In the footsteps of Byron and Tolstoj: a literary hike from Lake Geneva to the Bernese Oberland Limmat Verlag , Zurich. (Not a Russian original version!)
  • 2005 Wenerin Wolos , «Snamija», No. 4/5 / 6-2005.
    • Venus hair , novel. Translated into German by Andreas Tretner. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-421-04441-9 .
  • 2010 Pismownik
    • Letter holder , novel. Translated into German by Andreas Tretner. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-421-04552-2 .
  • The capture of Ismail. Novel. Translated from the Russian by Andreas Tretner, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-421-04643-7 .
  • Dead souls, living noses. An introduction to Russian cultural history. A multimedia digital book. Petit-Lucelle Publishing House, Kleinlützel 2019, ISBN 978-3-033-07082-0 .
  • A letter on snow. Three essays. Robert Walser, James Joyce, Wladimir Scharow. Petit-Lucelle Publishing House, Kleinlützel 2019, ISBN 978-3-033-07269-5 .
  • Fritz Pleitgen, Michail Schischkin. Peace or war. Russia and the West - a rapprochement. Ludwig Verlag , Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-453-28117-2 .

Contributions to anthologies

Theatrical performances

Theater performances in Russia

All of Mikhail Shishkin's novels were successfully performed on the stage in Russia.

  • Samoye vazhnoje . Based on the novel "Venushaar". World premiere: Fomenko Theater, Moscow, 2006. Director: Evgeni Kamenkowitsch.
  • Attraction . Based on the novel "The Conquest of Izmail". World premiere: Theater MOST, Moscow, 2010. Director: Georgi Dolmazjan.
  • Letter holder . World premiere: Chekhov Art Theater Moscow , Moscow, 2011. Director: Marina Brusnikina.
  • Markus Tower . World premiere: Meyerhold Center Moscow, 2012. Director: Nikolai Kobelew.
  • Letter holder . World premiere: Theater Masterskaya Saint Petersburg, 2015. Director: Natalia Lapina.
  • Letter holder . World premiere: Puppen-Kammertheater Moscow, 2016. Director: Boris Konstantinow.

German-language theater performances

  • Letter holder. Elegy trio . World premiere: Theater Stok , Zurich, December 2012. Concept and artistic direction Alexey Botvinov. New performance of Theater Tuchlaube Aarau November 2014.
  • Letter holder . World premiere: Old Town Hall, Göttingen, August 2013. Charlotte Schwab and “Stillehund”.
  • Murderers among us . The play by Michail Schischkin based on motifs from Fritz Lang's film "M" 1931. Director: Eberhard Köhler. Music: Simon Ho . Scenography: Danila Korogodsky. World premiere: Schlachthaus Theater, Bern, on September 12, 2019. In cooperation with the “Pokolenij” theater in St. Petersburg, the Winterthur cellar theater and the Winkelwiese theater in Zurich.

Awards

  • 1994 Best debut of the year in Russia: Urok kalligrafii (The Calligraphy Lesson) .
  • 2000 Russian Booker Prize for the best novel of the year: Vsjatije Ismaila (The Conquest of Ismail) .
  • 2000 Work contribution grant from the Canton of Zurich for Russian Switzerland .
  • 2002 working year for the city of Zurich for Montreux-Missolunghi-Astapowo, In the footsteps of Byron and Tolstoj .
  • 2005 Award for the best foreign book of the year in France: Montreux-Missolunghi-Astapowo, In the footsteps of Byron and Tolstoj .
  • 2005 National bestseller price in Russia for Wenerin Wolos (Venushaar) .
  • 2006 Bolschaja Kniga Prize in Russia for Wenerin Wolos (Venushaar) .
  • 2007 Grinzane Cavour Prize , Capelvenere (Italian translation Venushaar )
  • 2011 Spycher: Leuk Literature Prize , Switzerland, for Venushaar
  • 2011 International Literature Prize - House of World Cultures for Venushaar .
  • 2011 Bolshaya Kniga Prize in Russia for Pismownik (letter holder) .

Web links

Commons : Michail Schischkin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Stefan Boss: Michail Schischkin: "In Russia one does not serve the law, but one boss" . In: day week . March 29, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ Thomas Immoos: Author Michail Schischkin: "It is not so important where you write" . In: Basellandschaftliche Zeitung . March 26, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ Quoted from: perlentaucher.de: The new ZEIT culture letter. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, December 22nd, 2000. In: zeit.de. December 22, 2000, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  4. ↑ http://www.russianbooker.org/
  5. ↑ http://www.natsbest.ru/
  6. ↑ http://www.bigbook.ru/
  7. ↑ ARD Radio Festival 2012 talk. Michail Schischkin interviewed by Silke Behl , at hr-online, 23 August 2012.
  8. ^ "Mikhail Shishkin: How Russians lost the War" The New York Times May 9, 2015
  9. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/sochi-olympics-russian-writer-mikhail-shiskin-holds-his-applause-1392425101
  10. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/profile/mikhail-shishkin
  11. ↑ https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2012/03/03/triste-empire-poutinien_1651502_3210.html
  12. ↑ "Mikhail Shishkin: A revolution for Russia's words" , The Independent March 22, 2013
  13. ↑ Michail Schischkin: “One cannot deny one's father.” The Russian way of dealing with the Russian past . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 259/1999 , November 6, 1999, literature and art, p. 53 .
  14. ↑ https://www.randomhouse.de/Michail-Schischkin-Venushaar-DVA/Offener-Brief/aid29123_9674.rhd
  15. ↑ Mikhail Schischkin on the agony of a dictatorship: Russia's Ukrainian future . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. March 7, 2014.
  16. ↑ Michail Schischkin's Letter to Europe: Putin's Black Hole . In: Der Tagesspiegel . September 25, 2014.
  17. ↑ Michail Schischkin on the Russian May 9th. - Why we lost in the end , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 9, 2015.
  18. ↑ «After Sochi came the Crimean crisis - what follows after the World Cup?» For Putin, sport is the continuation of the war , Tages-Anzeiger, June 7, 2018.
  19. ↑ Book review in the show 52 best books on Swiss radio (August 20, 2017)
  20. ↑ https://www.srf.ch/kultur/buehne/arm-und-reich-drei-einakter-ein-schwerpunkt
  21. ↑ https://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/kultur/buch-buehne-kunst/dieser-roman-aenderte-sein-leben-fundamental-128536073
  22. ↑ http://www.goettinger-tageblatt.de/Nachrichten/Kultur/Regional/Charlotte-Schwab-liest-Briefsteller-im-Alten-Rathaus-Goettingen
  23. ↑ https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/michail-schischkin- geht-in-bern-mit-fritz-lang-auf-die-barrikade- ld.1509584
  24. ↑ Mikhail Shishkin Vince il Grinzane Cavour - Mosca 11/21/2007
personal data
SURNAME Schischkin, Mikhail Pavlovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Шишкин, Михаил Павлович (Russian spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian writer and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow