Alexander Belyaev - works and biography of a science fiction writer

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

2014 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian writer Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. This outstanding creator is one of the founders of the genre of science fiction literature in the Soviet Union. Even in our time, it seems simply incredible that a person in his works can reflect events that will happen after several decades.

The early years of the writer

So, who is Alexander Belyaev? The biography of this person is simple and unique in its own way. But unlike the millions of copies of the author's works, not much has been written about his life.

Alexander Belyaev was born on March 4, 1884 in the city of Smolensk. In the family of an Orthodox priest, the boy was taught from childhood to love music, photography, developed an interest in reading adventure novels and learning foreign languages.

Having graduated from the theological seminary at the insistence of his father, the young man chooses for himself the path to law, in which he has good success.

First steps in literature

Earning decent money in the legal field, Alexander Belyaev started moreinterested in art, travel and theater. He also actively joins directing and dramaturgy. In 1914, his debut play, Grandmother Moira, was published in the Moscow children's magazine Protalinka.

Insidious disease

In 1919, tuberculous pleurisy suspended the plans and actions of the young man. Alexander Belyaev struggled with this disease for more than six years. The writer struggled to eradicate this infection in himself. Due to unsuccessful treatment, tuberculosis of the spine developed, which led to paralysis of the legs. As a result, out of the six years spent in bed, the patient spent three years in a cast. The indifference of the young wife further undermined the morale of the writer. During this period, this is no longer the carefree, cheerful and resilient Alexander Belyaev. His biography is full of tragic life moments. In 1930, his six-year-old daughter Luda died, the second daughter Svetlana fell ill with rickets. Against the backdrop of these events, the ailment tormenting Belyaev is also aggravating.

Throughout his life, fighting his illness, this man found strength and immersed himself in the study of literature, history, foreign languages and medicine.

A long-awaited success

In 1925, while living in Moscow, the aspiring writer publishes the story "Professor Dowell's Head" in Rabochaya Gazeta. And from that moment on, the works of Alexander Belyaev were massively published in the then-famous magazines "World Pathfinder", "Knowledge is Power" and "Around the World".

During his stay in Moscow, young talent creates a lot ofgreat novels - "Amphibian Man", "The Last Man from Atlantis", "Isle of the Lost Ships" and "Struggle on the Air".

At the same time, Belyaev is published in the unusual newspaper Gudok, in which such Soviet writers as M. A. Bulgakov, E. P. Petrov, I. A. Ilf, V. P. Kataev, M. M. Zoshchenko.

Later, after moving to Leningrad, he published the books "The Miraculous Eye", "Underwater Farmers", "Lord of the World", as well as the stories "Professor Wagner's Inventions", which Soviet citizens read with rapture.

The Last Days of a Prose Writer

When the Great Patriotic War began, the Belyaev family lived in the suburbs of Leningrad, the city of Pushkin, and ended up under occupation. The weakened body could not withstand the terrifying hunger. In January 1942, Alexander Belyaev died. After some time, the writer's relatives were deported to Poland.

To this day, it remains a mystery where Alexander Belyaev was buried, whose brief biography is full of a person's constant struggle for life. Nevertheless, in honor of the talented prose writer, a memorial stele was erected in Pushkin at the Kazan cemetery.

The novel "Ariel" is the last creation of Belyaev, it was published by the publishing house "Modern Writer" shortly before the death of the author.

"Life" after death

It has been more than 70 years since the Russian science fiction writer died, but his memory lives on in his works to this day. At one time, the work of Alexander Belyaev was subjected to severe criticism, sometimes he heard mocking reviews. However, ideasscience fiction, which previously seemed ridiculous and scientifically impossible, eventually convinced even the most hardened skeptics of the opposite.

The author's works continue to be published even today, they are quite in demand by the reader. Belyaev's books are instructive, his works call for kindness and courage, love and respect.

A lot of films have been made based on the novels of the prose writer. So, since 1961, eight films have been filmed, some of them are part of the classics of Soviet cinema - "Amphibian Man", "Professor Dowell's Testament", "The Island of Lost Ships" and "The Air Seller".

The story of Ichthyander

Perhaps the most famous work of A. R. Belyaev is the novel "Amphibian Man", which was written in 1927. It was him, along with the "Head of Professor Dowell", that HG Wells highly appreciated.

The creation of "The Amphibian Man" Belyaev was inspired, firstly, by the memories of the read novel by the French writer Jean de la Hire "Iktaner and Moisette", and secondly, by a newspaper article about the trial in Argentina in the case of Dr. who conducted various experiments on humans and animals. To date, it is almost impossible to establish the name of the newspaper and the details of the process. But this once again proves that, creating his science fiction works, Alexander Belyaev tried to rely on real life facts and events.

In 1962 directors V. Chebotarev and G. Kazanskyfilmed "Amphibian Man".

The Last Man from Atlantis

One of the author's very first works, The Last Man from Atlantis, did not go unnoticed in Soviet and world literature. In 1927, it was included in Belyaev's first author's collection along with The Island of Lost Ships. From 1928 to 1956 the work was forgotten, and only since 1957 it was repeatedly reprinted on the territory of the Soviet Union.

The idea of searching for the lost civilization of the Atlanteans came to Belyaev after reading an article in the French newspaper Le Figaro. Its content was such that in Paris there was a society for the study of Atlantis. At the beginning of the twentieth century, associations of this kind were quite common, they enjoyed the increased interest of the population. The astute Alexander Belyaev decided to take advantage of this. The science fiction writer used the note as a prologue to The Last Man of Atlantis. The work consists of two parts, is perceived by the reader quite simply and excitingly. The material for writing the novel is taken from the book by Roger Devigne “The Disappeared Continent. Atlantis, one sixth of the world.”

Prophecies of a science fiction writer

Comparing the predictions of science fiction representatives, it is important to note that the scientific ideas of the books of the Soviet writer Alexander Belyaev were realized by 99 percent.

Thus, the main idea of the novel "Professor Dowell's Head" was the possibility of reviving the human body after death. Several years after the publicationof this work, Sergei Bryukhonenko, the great Soviet physiologist, performed similar experiments. The achievement of medicine that is widespread today - the surgical restoration of the lens of the eye - was also foreseen by Alexander Belyaev more than fifty years ago.

The novel "Amphibian Man" became prophetic in the scientific development of technologies for a long stay of a person under water. So, in 1943, the French scientist Jacques-Yves Cousteau patented the first scuba gear, thereby proving that Ichthyander is not such an unattainable image.

Successful testing of the first unmanned aerial vehicles in the thirties of the twentieth century in Great Britain, as well as the creation of psychotropic weapons - all this was described by a science fiction writer in the book "Lord of the World" back in 1926.

The novel "The Man Who Lost Face" tells about the successful development of plastic surgery and the ethical problems that arose in connection with this. In the story, the governor of the state reincarnates as a black man, taking on all the hardships of racial discrimination. Here you can draw a certain parallel in the fate of the mentioned hero and the famous American singer Michael Jackson, who, fleeing from unfair persecution, performed a considerable number of operations to change skin color.

Throughout his creative life, Belyaev struggled with the disease. Deprived of physical abilities, he tried to reward the heroes of books with unusual abilities: to communicate without words, to fly like birds, to swim like fish. But to infect the readerinterest in life, in something new - isn't this the true talent of a writer?