Boris Vasilyev (writer)

Boris Lvovich Vasilyev
Native name Борис Львович Васильев
Born (1924-05-21)21 May 1924
Smolensk, Soviet Union
Died 11 March 2013(2013-03-11) (aged 88)[1]
Moscow, Russia
Occupation Writer
Years active 1958–2013
Spouse(s) Zorya Albertovna Vasilyeva
Awards Andrei Sakharov Prize For Writer's Civic Courage

Boris Lvovich Vasilyev (Russian: Бори́с Льво́вич Васи́льев; 21 May 1924, Smolensk 11 March 2013, Moscow) 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 by Kirill Molchanov, 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] Some 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

References

  1. "Russia's Soviet-era war novelist Boris Vasilyev dies aged 88: Voice of Russia". :. 1924-05-21. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  2. http://www.russkiymir.ru/russkiymir/en/publications/articles/article0340.html[]
  3. Martin Banham. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1995. P. 656.
  4. Трофименков, Михаил (3 December 2013). "Социалистический сентименталист". p. 15. Retrieved 8 July 2016 via Kommersant.
  5. Rosalind J. Marsh. Soviet Fiction Since Stalin: Science, Politics, and Literature. Taylor & Francis, 1986. Page 182.
  6. "Berlinale: 1989 Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  7. "ВАСИЛЬЕВ, БОРИС ЛЬВОВИЧ - Энциклопедия Кругосвет". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  8. Писатели требуют от правительства решительных действий. Izvestia (in Russian). 5 October 1993. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011.

External links

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