Writer Evgeny Petrov: biography, family, creativity

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

There are few people in Russia who have not read, watched or at least heard about such cult works of our literature as "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf", about people with the names Ilf and Petrov. They are usually called always together, and this is quite natural: they worked shoulder to shoulder for many years. Nevertheless, they themselves remained completely integral units. For example, the writer Yevgeny Petrov – what is he like?

Childhood

Evgeny Petrovich Kataev (this is what the real name of the writer sounds like) was born on December 13, 1902. Odessa was his native city. In addition to Evgeny, in the family of the teacher Pyotr Vasilyevich and the pianist Evgenia Ivanovna, a six-year-old child was already growing up - the eldest son Valentin (the same Valentin Kataev, who in the future will become a famous writer - few people know about the fact that he and Petrov are brothers). Looking far ahead, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the pseudonym of the youngest of the brothers: by the time Eugene began to make his way in literary circles, he had already begun to conquer thisOlympus, and, judging that there are too many two Kataevs in literature, the younger brother “ceded” his real surname to the elder, taking the fictitious Petrov - by patronymic (after all, they were Petrovichs).

Just three months after the birth of Yevgeny, the boys' mother died of illness, and the father was left completely alone with two children. However, the sister of his deceased wife, Elizabeth, immediately rushed to his aid - leaving all her affairs, abandoning her own personal life, she devoted herself to caring for her nephews. The father of the future writers never married again. Both he and the aunt strove to raise the boys as educated people, there was a rich library in the house, and Pyotr Vasilyevich never skimped on buying new books. Perhaps that is why the eldest decided from a young age that he would write - unlike the younger, who did not want to become a writer for anything, but was forced to follow his brother around all the editorial offices with a “tail” - only Valentine was embarrassed and afraid to go. From the age of thirteen, Valentine's stories began to be published, and even Yevgeny's essays at school were not always and barely successful. He, of course, also loved to read - but not the classics, but detective stories and adventures. He adored Sherlock Holmes and himself dreamed of becoming a great detective.

Youth

After the revolution in Odessa, as, indeed, in other cities, hard times have come. Waves of arrests began, as a former tsarist officer was also detained by Valentin Kataev. Together with him, Evgeny went to jail - because he is the closest relative. The arrest didn't last long.both brothers were soon released, but, having decided not to spoil Yevgeny's reputation, both of them were silent all their lives about the fact that not only the eldest, but also the youngest of them had been in prison.

Since Yevgeny Petrov dreamed of becoming a detective, he went to work in the criminal investigation department and, according to the documents, was one of the best operatives. The work of Yevgeny Petrov in the criminal investigation department began in 1921, and in the same year the father of the brothers died - unfortunately, then both of them were not in Odessa, they did not have time to say goodbye to their father. Soon after that, Valentin left his hometown - first he went to Kharkov, then to Moscow, where he began to wait for his younger brother. He joined the elder two years later. So Moscow appeared in the biography of Evgeny Petrov.

The start of the journey

Arriving in the capital, Eugene began to live with his brother, but not wanting to be a "burden" to him, he hastily began to look for work. With recommendations from the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department, he went to the Moscow police - but there were no places there, and all they could offer the young man was the position of a warden in Butyrka prison. Eugene was going to accept this invitation, but Valentine, having learned about him, prevented such a decision. He wanted his brother to become a journalist. At the request of Valentine, Eugene wrote a small feuilleton, which was immediately published in one of the newspapers and gave the young author a fee - much more than a monthly salary in prison would have been. After that, Eugene stopped resisting his brother.

Journalistic his career began with the "Red Pepper", where he workedresponsible secretary. At the same time, he did not disdain part-time jobs either - he ran around various editorial offices, bringing more and more feuilletons: fortunately, life experience was rich, after work he was on the criminal wanted list. It was during these years that he took his pseudonym. Whatever Petrov did! In addition to feuilletons, he wrote satirical notes, invented cartoons, composed poetry - in general, he did not refuse any genres, which allowed him to start making good money and move out from his brother to a separate room.

Meet Ilya Ilf

Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov both grew up in Odessa, but it so happened that their paths crossed only in Moscow. At the same time, Ilf, five years older, arrived in the capital at the same time as Petrov - a whim of fate. Their acquaintance happened in the editorial office of the Gudok newspaper in 1926 - Petrov then came to work there, and Ilf was already working in it. The writers became close a year later, when they were sent on a joint business trip to the Caucasus and the Crimea. After spending some time together, they discovered a lot in common and, perhaps, that's when they decided to compose together.

And soon the occasion turned up, and it was not someone who threw it, but Evgeny's brother Valentin. He invited his friends to work for him as so-called literary blacks: he gave the theme of the work on the condition that when it was ready, he would slightly correct it, and three names should be on the cover: Kataev, Petrov, Ilf. The name Valentine already had weight in literary circles and was supposed to help the future book find its reader faster. Friendsagreed. And the theme suggested by Valentine was: “There is money hidden in the chairs that needs to be found.”

Golden Calf and Twelve Chairs

Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov started working on the manuscript “about chairs” in the early autumn of 1927. Valentin then left the capital, and upon his return a month later he saw the already finished first part of the novel. After reading it, Kataev without hesitation refused the "laurel wreaths" and his name on the cover of the future book, giving all the glory to his brother and his friend - he only asked to dedicate this masterpiece to him and buy a gift from the first fee. By January, the work was completed, and its publication began almost immediately - until July, the novel was published in the Thirty Days magazine.

And the friends have already planned a sequel - this is evidenced by the notes in the notebooks of both. For a year they nurtured the idea, edited it, finalized it, and in 1929 they began to implement it. Two years later, the continuation of the story about Ostap Bender called "The Golden Calf" was completed. The Thirty Days magazine also began to publish it, but publication was interrupted for political reasons, and a separate book could only be published three years later.

"The Twelve Chairs" immediately won the love of readers, and not only them - the novel began to be translated into other languages. However, it was not without a “fly in the ointment” - firstly, the work of Ilf and Petrov was greatly “cut off” by censorship, and secondly, reviews appeared that calledtheir debut brainchild is a "toy" that does not correspond to reality. Of course, this could not help but upset the writers, but they could deal with their feelings.

"Golden Calf" had a harder time. The character of Ostap Bender was extremely disliked by the leadership, which is why they stopped printing the novel and did not agree to release it as a separate publication. Reviewers also continued to “throw eggs” at the creative union of the two friends, believing that their work would soon sink into oblivion. Fortunately, this did not happen, and after Maxim Gorky stood up for Ilf and Petrov, the Golden Calf finally saw the light not only abroad.

Private life

Yevgeny Petrov's wife's name was Valentina, she was eight years younger than him. They got married when the girl was barely nineteen. The marriage was happy, two sons were born in it - Peter (in honor of his father) and Ilya (in honor of a friend). According to the memoirs of the writer's granddaughter, her grandmother continued to love her husband until her death (in 1991) and never took off the ring he gave him.

The eldest son of Evgeny and Valentina became a cameraman, shot many famous Soviet films. The youngest, Ilya, worked as a composer, wrote music for several films and TV series.

Ilf and Petrov

After working on The Twelve Chairs and The Golden Calf, Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov did not run away. Their tandem lasted for many years - until the death of Ilf. The result of their labors were numerous feuilletons and stories, novels and screenplays, essays,novellas, vaudevilles and even a "double biography". They traveled a lot together, bringing back unique impressions from these trips, which were subsequently processed and published in the form of a literary work.

Having become close friends, they even wanted to die together - then, in their own words, the other "would not have to suffer." It did not work out - Ilf left first, five years earlier than a friend. He suffered from tuberculosis, which worsened in 1937. Soon he was gone, as was the tandem Ilf and Petrov.

One Story America

A year before the death of Ilya Ilf, friends visited America - they were sent there as correspondents for the Pravda newspaper. They visited more than twenty different states in more than three months, met many interesting people, including the writer Ernest Hemingway, and brought back a colossal baggage of impressions. All of them are reflected in the book of essays "One-story America". This work was the first - and the only one that the friends wrote separately (due to Ilf's illness): they made a plan in advance, distributed the parts among themselves and started creating. Despite this type of work, even those who knew friends closely could not subsequently determine what was written by Ilya and what was written by Eugene. By the way, the essays were accompanied by photographs taken by Ilf - he was very fond of this type of art.

Evgeny Petrov after Ilya Ilf

After the death of a friend, the work of Evgeny Petrov abruptly failed. For some time he did not write, because it was hardstart all over again - and already alone. But gradually he nevertheless returned to work. The writer Yevgeny Petrov became the executive editor of the Ogonyok magazine, wrote several plays and essays. But he was not used to working alone, and therefore began to cooperate with Georgy Moonblit. Together they created several movie scripts.

Besides this, Evgeny Petrov did not forget about his untimely departed friend. He organized the publication of his "Notebooks", was going to write a novel about Ilf - but did not have time. Their mutual acquaintances recalled much later that Ilf's features were preserved in Petrov until his death.

With the beginning of the war, having sent his family to evacuation, Evgeny Petrov began working as a war correspondent together with his older brother. He wrote for the press both in our country and abroad, often flew to the front line, even survived a shell shock.

Death

The exact circumstances of the tragic death of E. Petrov are still unknown. In 1942, the writer Yevgeny Petrov was sent on another business trip to Sevastopol. In addition to the Crimean city, he also visited Novorossiysk and Krasnodar, from the latter he flew to Moscow. According to some eyewitnesses who were on board the same aircraft, Evgeny, violating instructions, went into the cockpit to the pilots on some issue. Perhaps he asked to increase the speed - he was in a hurry to the capital. The pilot was distracted by the conversation and did not have time to notice the hill that suddenly appeared in front. Despite the fact that the height from which the plane fell was small, about twenty meters, Petrov died, the only one of all.

There is another version of the tragedy, which, by the way, was also supported by the writer's brother Valentin - allegedly the plane was pursued by German Messerschmitts, and it crashed, leaving the chase. The writer was buried in the Rostov region.

Writer Yevgeny Petrov lived a short, but very bright and eventful life. He left behind a rich heritage, great creativity. He didn't do much, but he did a lot too. So, his life was not lived in vain.