Writer Boris Zaitsev: biography, creativity

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

Boris Zaitsev is a famous Russian writer and publicist of the early 20th century, who ended his life in exile. He is widely known for his works on Christian themes. Especially critics note "The Life of Sergius of Radonezh", where the writer outlined his point of view on the life of the saint.

Boris Zaitsev: biography

The writer was born into a noble family on January 29 (February 10), 1881 in the city of Orel. Father often took little Boris with him to work at mining plants. However, most of his childhood was spent in the family estate near Kaluga, Zaitsev later described this time as an idyllic observation of nature and communication with relatives. Despite the well-being of his family, Zaitsev also saw a different life - the ruined nobility, the slowly developing factory production, the gradually emptying estates, the deserted peasant fields, the provincial Kaluga. All this will later be reflected in his work, showing how much this situation influenced the formation of the personality of the future writer.

Until the age of 11, Zaitsev was homeschooled, then he was sent to the Kaluga real school,from which he graduated in 1898. In the same year he entered the Moscow Technical Institute. However, already in 1899, Zaitsev was expelled from the educational institution as a participant in student unrest.

But already in 1902, Boris Konstantinovich entered the Faculty of Law, which, however, also did not graduate. This is due to the fact that the writer is leaving for Italy, where he is fascinated by antiquities and art.

The beginning of creativity

Zaitsev Boris Konstantinovich started writing at the age of 17. And already in 1901 he published the story "On the Road" in the magazine "Courier". From 1904 to 1906 he worked as a correspondent for the Pravda magazine. In the same magazine, his stories "Dream" and "Mist" were published. In addition, the mystical story Quiet Dawns was published in the New Way magazine.

The writer's first collection of short stories was published in 1903. It was dedicated to describing the life of the noble intelligentsia, vegetating in the backwoods, the destruction of noble estates, the devastation of fields, the destructive and terrible city life.

Even at the beginning of his creative career, Zaitsev was lucky to meet such eminent writers as A. P. Chekhov and L. N. Andreev. Fate brought the writer to Anton Pavlovich in Y alta in 1900, and a year later he met Andreev. Both writers were of great help in the beginning of Zaitsev's literary career.

At this time, Boris Konstantinovich lives in Moscow, is a member of the Literary and Art Circle, publishes the Zori magazine, and is a member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Travel to Italy

In 1904, Boris Zaitsev traveled to Italy for the first time. This country greatly impressed the writer, later he even called it his spiritual homeland. He spent a lot of time there in the pre-war years. Many Italian impressions formed the basis of Zaitsev's works. Thus, in 1922, a collection called "Raphael" was published, which included a series of essays and impressions about Italy.

In 1912 Zaitsev got married. Soon his daughter Natalia is born.

World War I

During the First World War, Boris Zaitsev graduated from the Alexander Military School. And as soon as the February Revolution ended, he was promoted to officer. However, due to pneumonia, he did not get to the front. And he lived during the war in the Pritykino estate with his wife and daughter.

After the end of the war, Zaitsev and his family returned to Moscow, where he was immediately appointed chairman of the All-Russian Union of Writers. He also worked at the Writers' Co-op Shop for a while.

Emigration

In 1922, Zaitsev fell ill with typhus. The disease was severe, and for a speedy rehabilitation, he decides to go abroad. He receives a visa and goes first to Berlin, and then to Italy.

Boris Zaitsev is an emigrant writer. It was from this time that the foreign stage in his work began. By this time, he had already managed to feel the strong influence of the philosophical views of N. Berdyaev and V. Solovyov. It's drasticchanges the creative direction of the writer. If earlier the works of Zaitsev belonged to pantheism and paganism, now they have a clear Christian orientation. For example, the story "The Golden Pattern", the collection "Renaissance", essays on the life of the saints "Athos" and "Valaam" and others.

World War II

At the very beginning of World War II, Boris Zaitsev turns to his diary entries and begins to publish them. So, in the newspaper "Vozrozhdenie" his series "Days" is published. However, already in 1940, when Germany occupied France, all Zaitsev's publications ceased. For the rest of the war, nothing was said about the writer's work in newspapers and magazines. Boris Konstantinovich himself remained aloof from politics and war. As soon as Germany was defeated, he again returns to the old religious and philosophical topics and in 1945 publishes the story "King David".

Last years of life and death

In 1947, Zaitsev Boris Konstantinovich began working in the Parisian newspaper "Russian Thought". In the same year he became chairman of the Union of Russian Writers in France. This position remained with him until the last days of his life. Such gatherings were common in European countries where the Russian creative intelligentsia emigrated after the February Revolution.

In 1959, he began a correspondence with Boris Pasternak, while collaborating with the Munich almanac Bridges.

In 1964, the story "The River of Time" by Boris Zaitsev was published. This is the last publishedthe work of the writer, completing his creative path. A collection of the author's stories with the same title will be published later.

However, Zaitsev's life did not stop there. In 1957, his wife suffers a severe stroke, the writer remains with her inseparably.

The writer himself died at the age of 91 in Paris on January 21, 1972. His body was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois, where many Russian emigrants who moved to France are buried.

Boris Zaitsev: books

Zaitsev's work is usually divided into two large stages: pre-emigrant and post-emigrant. This is not due to the fact that the place of residence of the writer has changed, but to the fact that the semantic orientation of his works has radically changed. If in the first period the writer turned more to pagan and pantheistic motifs, described the darkness of the revolution that took possession of the souls of people, then in the second period he paid all his attention to Christian topics.

Note that the most famous are works related specifically to the second stage of Zaitsev's work. In addition, it was the emigrant time that became the most fruitful in the life of the author. So, over the years, about 30 books have been published and about 800 more works have appeared on the pages of magazines.

This is mainly due to the fact that Zaitsev concentrated all his energies on literary activity. In addition to writing his works, he is engaged in journalism and translations. Also in the 50s, the writer was a member of the Commission for the translation of the New Testament into Russian.

The trilogy "Gleb's Journey" was especially famous. This is an autobiographical work in which the writer describes the childhood and youth of a person who was born at a turning point for Russia. The biography ends in 1930, when the hero realizes his connection with the holy great martyr Gleb.

St. Sergius of Radonezh

Boris Zaitsev turned to the lives of the saints. Sergius of Radonezh became a hero for him, on the example of which he showed the transformation of an ordinary person into a saint. Zaitsev managed to create a more vivid and lively image of the saint than he is described in other lives, thereby making Sergius more understandable to the average reader.

It can be said that the religious searches of the author himself were embodied in this work. Zaitsev himself understood for himself how a person can gain holiness through a gradual spiritual transformation. The writer himself, like his hero, went through several stages on the way to realizing true holiness, and all his steps were reflected in his work.