Valery Popov: biography of the writer

2025 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-05 09:21

Outstanding Russian writer Valery Popov from his first works entered the main echelon of the creators of the Soviet Union. His books are distinguished by a combination of the grotesque and realistic detailing of the narrative. The writer is based on his life experience, and elements of autobiography are present in all his works.

Childhood and family

December 8, 1938, the boy Valery Popov was born, whose family then lived in Kazan. His father was a selectionist biologist, and none of the relatives had anything to do with art and literature.

When Valery was 6 years old, the family moved to Leningrad, and in this city the personality of the future writer was formed. He tells that from an early age he noticed and memorized various sensations, details, images, and from childhood he was characterized by a grotesque vision of the world. He retained a mocking view of the world for the rest of his life.

Popov's childhood was quite traditional for that time: he played with the children in the yard, went to many circles in the Palace of Pioneers, but, interestingly,he was engaged in technical activities - he was not yet drawn to creativity.

Finding the path

After school, Valery Popov enters the university. He chooses not a creative path at all and comes to the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute. But Valery did not lose at all, since at that time it was the freest and most creative university - ETU "LETI" skits were famous throughout St. Petersburg, students constantly joked, competed in wit. Popov says going to university was an intuitive but absolutely right decision.

It is at the institute that he finds his "guides" in literature and begins to take an active interest in writing, writes poetry. In the early 60s, he ended up in the literary association under the publishing house "Soviet Writer", which was located in the house of Singer, and there he found his first teachers - Mikhail Slonimsky and Gennady Gor. The spirit of St. Petersburg Oberiuts reigned here - Kharms, the Serapion brothers. Valery Popov also received an inoculation of absurdity, humor, satire forever. In his student years, he became close to the St. Petersburg young writers bohemia - I. Brodsky, E. Rein, S. Dovlatov, A. Bitov, V. Kushner. He says that this company was the main happiness of his life, among them there was a spirit of fun, confidence in their own genius and easy competition. It motivated to creativity, growth, search. The writer says that the role of this environment in his fate was extremely great, it helped him find his way in life.

Popov graduates from LETI and gets a job at the research institute as an engineer, continuing to actively communicate with writersparty. At this time, he met almost all the promising writers of Russia of that time, and with many of them he would be friends for many years.

Popov's first story "Me and the Machine" was published in 1963. The writer enters the correspondence department of VGIK at the screenwriting department, where his writer's view is finally formed. Education did not pass without a trace, and it will soon be noticeable that elements of cinematography are always present in his works.

In 1969, the first collection of short stories was published. In 1970, a new author appeared in the Writers' Union of the USSR - Valery Popov. His biography will now forever be associated with creativity. Since 2003, Popov has been the chairman of this creative union of St. Petersburg. Now he is the author of almost thirty books, including collections of short stories, a novel, short stories and biographical texts. His most famous works are “Life is good”, “Dance to death”, “Ink angel”, “Third wind”, “Mushroom pickers walk with knives”.

Literary handwriting

Valery Popov's writing style is always recognizable by the obligatory grotesque in texts, Bunin's love for small everyday details in descriptions, optimism and lightness. He has repeatedly admitted that he writes with incredible pleasure, and this is felt in his works. Often his texts are autobiographical - he takes cases from the lives of people he once met, but always brings situations to such an absolute that he begins to peep through themKharmsian absurdity. Valery Popov was and remains a St. Petersburg writer and a member of the sixties. This is manifested in the nervousness of prose, in its "tousledness". As the author himself says, he is not interested in social problems and politics - he is focused on the study of human psychology and on the search for an answer to the classic questions of life.

Creative achievements

Valery Popov is not spoiled by awards - his generation was too rich in geniuses. He was awarded the Order of Friendship, the Order for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, winner of the N. Gogol, A. S. Pushkin, S. Dovlatov, "Golden Ostap" magazine "Znamya". Several of his works have been shortlisted for renowned literary awards. If there are modest people among writers, then this is Valery Popov. You will not see a photo of the writer in the gossip column. He is busy with his work, as well as social activities. His main concern is the well-being of his colleagues in St. Petersburg.

Writer's private life

Popov does not like to talk about his personal life, claiming that he tells everything about it in books. Despite the almost confessional in the books, no one knows how to bypass personal topics like Valery Popov. The writer's family is a closed door. It is known that he has a wife with whom they survived the tragedy - the loss of a newborn child, which he describes in the book "Dance to Death".