Vasily Pavlovich Aksjonow

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Vasily Aksjonow (left) with Viktor Nekrasov (1983)

Wassili Pawlowitsch Aksjonow ( Russian Василий Павлович Аксёнов , scientific transliteration Vasilij Pavlovič Aksёnov , born August 20, 1932 in Kazan , † July 6, 2009 in Moscow ) was a Russian writer . He began his career in the Soviet Union and later had to emigrate to the USA .

Life

Aksyonov's mother was Yevgenia Ginsburg , who spent 18 years of her life in Stalinist camps and in exile. She told her story in her 1967 memoir Krutoi marschrut . From the age of 16, Aksjonow lived with his mother in Magadan . He later studied medicine in Leningrad . In 1958 he moved to Moscow.

From 1956 to 1960 he worked as a doctor, but had already started to write sketches and stories during his studies. He published his first stories in the 1960s, which soon became very popular, especially with young readers. In 1979 he came under pressure because of his work on the underground literary almanac Metropol together with Andrei Bitow , Fasil Iskander , Viktor Erofejew and Evgeni Popow .

In 1980 Aksjonow accepted an invitation from an American university and took up his permanent residence in the United States, where he continued his literary activity. Until 2003 he taught as a professor of Russian at George Mason University in Fairfax (Virginia). He spent his retirement in France.

plant

Aksjonov's first stories appeared in the Junost magazine , of which he was a member of the editorial board.

In his works Aksjonow processed the experiences of his family during the Stalin era. The thaw of the 1960s that began in the political and intellectual life of the USSR enabled him to take up this topic.

In 1981 the English translation of the novel The Island of Crimea (Остров Крым), written in 1979, appeared for the first time in exile . a. tells how the Moscow government "liberated" Crimea through an invasion. In the English-speaking West, Aksjonow became known with “The Burn” (Russian: “ Ожог ”, 1975; German: “Gebrannt”, 1986) and the trilogy “Generations of Winter” (Russian: Московская сага , 1989-1993), in which he deals with the taboo subject of the Stalinist persecution. “Generations of Winter” tells the story of the Gradow family of doctors in the years 1925–1953. The novel was filmed in 2004 as a multi-part television series in Russia.

For his novel “Voltarians”, published in 2004, Aksjonow received the Booker - Open Russia literary prize endowed with US $ 15,000. Aksjonov's books have been translated into several languages. Film adaptations of his books were made in Russia and France. He also wrote plays.

Stories and novels

  • 1960 Коллеги , - Three met again (1962, German by Juri Elperin)
  • 1961 Звездный билет , - ticket to the stars - novel (1962), - star ticket
  • 1963 Апельсины из Марокко - oranges from Morocco (1965, culture and progress)
  • 1964 Пора, мой друг, пора - It's time, my friend, it's time (Roman, Stuttgart 196 ?, paperback Munich 1970)
  • 1966 На полпути к луне - Halfway to the Moon: Stories (1977, Aufbau-Verlag, from the Russian Juri Elperin)
  • 1968 Затоваренная бочкотара - deficit item barrel empties (in sense and form) 1/1969; Rütten & Loening Berlin 1969, - Deficit item empty barrels. Novella with exaggerations and dream faces (1975, Munich, from the Russian by Thomas Reschke)
  • 1971 Любовь к электричеству - The love of electricity. Historical novel. (1973, Berlin, Volk und Welt, translated from the Russian by Günter Jäniche)
  • 1972 Миллион разлук - One Million Separations (Stories, Berlin 1978, Aufbau Verlag, translated from the Russian by Thomas Reschke)
  • 1972 Поиски жанра - The Pink Iceberg or In Search of the Genus. (Roman, Frankfurt 1991, from the Russian by Rosemarie Tietze , ISBN 3-596-10427-0 )
  • 1979 Остров Крым - The Island of Crimea (1981) - Die Insel Krim (1986, German by Marlene Milack-Verheyden, ISBN 3-550-06484-5 )
  • 1980 Ожог - The Burn - Gebrannt (1983, German by Liesl Ujvary and Ute Spengler, ISBN 3-550-06371-7 )
  • 1985 Скажи изюм - Say raisin. Roman in Moscow Traditions (Roman, Munich 1990, from the Russian by Marlene Milack-Verheyden, ISBN 3-492-03157-9 )

theatre

  • 1959 "colleagues"
  • 1965 "Always on sale"
  • 1969 "duel"
  • 1979 "The four temperaments" published in the literary almanac "Metropol", New York and London 1979, ISBN 0-393-01438-X

Sources & literature

  • Herbert Gantschacher : The poet Wassili Aksjonow. Diploma thesis April 1980 and master's thesis to achieve the academic title "Magister Artium" at the university, today University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Re / 1653/1988, July 1988
  • Jürgen Serke : A life in burning skin. Essay in: "The banished poets", Hamburg 1982, ISBN 3-8135-0826-9
  • Wolfgang Leonhard : Struggle with persistent writers , Die Zeit , May 3, 1963
  • Helen von Ssachno : Deafening silence over Moscow , Der Spiegel No. 16, April 16, 1984
  • Schkolny biografitscheski slowar , Moscow 2002

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Reinhard Veser : Once upon a time there was an island full of happiness. A year ago, Crimea was annexed by Russia. Vasily Aksyonov's novel “The Island of Crimea” was published before perestroika in 1981 - and predicted the events with shocking clarity . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 16, 2015, p. 15.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Aksjonow, Vasily Pavlovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Аксёнов, Василий Павлович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Kazan
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 2009
Place of death Moscow