2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
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Mikhail Iosifovich Weller is a modern Russian prose writer, author of the stories The Adventures of Major Zvyagin, Rendezvous with a Celebrity and many others. The topic of today's article is the life and work of the writer.
Early years
The hero of this article was born in 1948, in a military family. Kamenetz-Podolsky is the hometown of Mikhail Iosifovich Weller. By nationality, both father and mother were Jews. Like all children of the military, the future writer often changed schools. The family moved frequently. Mikhail was sixteen years old when his father was assigned to the Far East.
Travel around the country
Weller graduated from school with a gold medal, and after receiving a matriculation certificate, he applied to the institute, to the faculty of Russian philology. His student years were spent in Leningrad. Mikhail Iosifovich Weller is an active person. And this quality manifested itself already in my youth.
So, in 1969, in search of adventure, he went from the Northern capital to Kamchatka, using passing transport. There he entered the border zone by fraudulent means. After this journey, Weller andat all, taking an academic leave, he left for Central Asia, where he wandered for several months. And these impressions were not enough for the future writer. He moved to Kaliningrad, completed a second-class sailor course and went on a voyage, after which he continued his studies at the university.
For several years, Weller led a relatively quiet life: he worked as a pioneer leader in a summer camp, published notes in newspapers.
Weller's Professions
Mikhail Iosifovich Weller devoted several years to teaching. But the work of a teacher in an eight-year school did not suit his taste. In 1973, he quit and got a job as a concrete worker in a work shop.
Mikhail Iosifovich Weller, as a true engineer of human souls, has mastered many professions in his life, visited the most remote corners of a vast country, communicated with people from different social strata.
After he got bored with teaching, he decided to learn the life of a simple working man. That is why he worked a little as a concrete worker, and then left as part of a group of fellers for the Kola Peninsula. There he did not stay long. In 1975, the young writer Mikhail Iosifovich Weller was already on the staff of one of the state museums. There are many more amazing facts in his biography. But the best period in his life, oddly enough, the prose writer considers the months that he devoted to the work of the import cattle driver.
The beginning of creativity
After long travels, Mikhail Iosifovich Weller, whose books are published today in hugecirculations, unsuccessfully tried to publish at least a few stories. In 1976, he plunged into literary activity, writing more than ten works in just a few months. But no edition accepted them.
In 1976, the aspiring prose writer entered the Science Fiction Writers' Seminar, led by Boris Strugatsky. Weller managed to publish his first stories in 1978. They appeared in literary publications that were popular in those years with the Leningrad intelligentsia. In addition, he worked in the editorial office of the Neva magazine, writing reviews of the works of other authors.
In Tallinn
More than a year the writer lived in the Estonian capital, working as a journalist in a local newspaper. This publication was called "Youth of Estonia". But even here the hero of today's story did not stay long. What is the reason for his dismissal this time is unknown. However, it is known that soon the writer was a member of the Writers' Union of Estonia. In addition, some of his works were published during this period.
Recognition
Mikhail Iosifovich Weller, whose books began to be published in separate editions only in the 80s, wrote a few more stories. Among them was "Reference Line". This work, in which the author first tried to formalize his philosophical views, appeared on the pages of one of the literary magazines. But two years later, a collection was published, which included only Weller's works - "I want to be a janitor." After some time, the book was translated into several languages. Some works from the collection were published by French, Italian and Dutch publishers.
Weller became one of the most widely read authors in the USSR. Bulat Okudzhava and Boris Strugatsky vouched for him personally, as a result, Mikhail Iosifovich was accepted into the Writers' Union.
Heartbreaker
The book was published in 1988. The stories included in the collection are distinguished by their clarity and brevity of style. Literary critics have long attributed these works to the Russian classic novelist of the 20th century. The book includes the stories "Passing by", "Monument to Dantes", "Bermuda".
Rendezvous with a Celebrity
The book was published in 1990. In it, Mikhail Iosifovich Weller touched on the most important details of his biography. Parents, childhood, youthful years of the writer, his first steps in literature - you can learn about all this by reading the collection "Rendezvous with a Celebrity". Weller's style is characterized by a philosophical and ironic manner of narration. On the example of his own biography, he created a picture of a whole generation - a generation of offspring of the winners, doomed to remain in the shadow of the glory of their fathers.
For the hero of this article, writing is a form of existence. "Rendezvous with a Celebrity" is one of the short stories in the collection of the same name. And it is in this work that the author answers the question of why he writes. Other stories in the collection: "Debts", "Guru", "Wrong Door", "Kitchen and Cooks", etc.
In the early nineties, Mikhail Iosifovich Weller lectured at US universities. This writer isfounder of the first Jewish cultural magazine in the USSR. Weller tells about the features of literary creativity in many of his works. Mikhail Iosifovich, of course, devoted his lectures to literature, in particular, prose of the 20th century.
The Adventures of Major Zvyagin
The novel was published over thirty years ago, but is still controversial. Someone admires Weller's work. For some, this novel is a book "on the verge of a foul." According to some critics, the author asserts ideas that can adversely affect the moral position of the reader (if, of course, he believes in these ideas). Major Zvyagintsev is the ideal hero according to Weller. Moderately cynic, moderately moralist. The total circulation of the book is about a million copies.
Celebrity Stories
In the early nineties, the book "Legends of Nevsky Prospekt" was also published, in which, along with fictional characters, there are also real-life personalities. The biography of Mikhail Iosifovich Weller also includes a short period of work at one of the universities in Denmark, where the writer also lectured on Russian literature. "Legends of Nevsky Prospekt" was first published in a small edition. Subsequently, the book was reprinted several times and translated into several languages.
Mikhail Iosifovich Weller, whose family has lived in Israel since 1995, worked for some time in one of the Jerusalem publishing houses, at the same time lectured at a local university. In the late nineties, he left for the USA, where he performed in front of a New York,Boston, Chicago audience. At this time, the writer was working on the creation of the novel The Messenger from Pisa.
Legends of the Arbat
The short stories included in this collection are based on myths about famous artists, writers, politicians. The style of the work is reminiscent of "Legends of Nevsky Prospekt". This book, like Weller's other works, received a mixed response from critics. Refinement, accuracy of each phrase are typical for "Legends of the Arbat". Short stories were created, according to the definition of one of the literary critics, in the socio-political genre.
The book contains characters whose prototypes are quite well-known personalities. Their reaction to Weller's work is far from enthusiastic. So, Nikita Mikhalkov called individual episodes in the short story, in which the author tells about individual acts from his biography, slander. TV presenter Posner also tried to refute the veracity of Weller's works.
Works by Mikhail Weller (2000s)
If we are talking about a book that tells about real-life personalities, facts, even unpleasant ones, should not be hidden. So says Weller Mikhail Iosifovich. "How to write a memoir" is a short work in which the author gives recommendations on writing a biographical work. At the same time, with regard to the collection "Legends of the Arbat", the writer admitted in an interview that for the most part it is still based on fiction (for example, a short story about Z. Tsereteli).
The latest works of Mikhail Weller include the books “Not a Knifenot Seryozha not Dovlatov”, “Homeless”, “Our Prince and Khan”, “My Business”, “Makhno”, “About Love”. Reader reviews of Weller's book are also rather mixed. The collection "About Love" is called by fans of the writer's work an unusual combination of journalism and satire. The book consists of several small works, in each of which there is bitterness, and contempt, and despair. But it is precisely these features that have caused indignation among other readers, mostly the fair sex, who are not enthusiastic about the author's excessive use of jargon, inappropriate satire and cynicism.
Homeless
There are much more positive reviews about this work than about the book "About Love" and the collection "Legends of the Arbat". Writers often use success stories in their work. The author of the story "Homeless", on the contrary, told about the feelings of a person who once did not experience any financial difficulties, but due to a number of reasons found himself on a social bottom. The book is filled with rather realistic episodes that do not always evoke pleasant feelings in the reader. But such is the peculiarity of Weller's style.
The hero of the book "Homeless" once lived in luxury. He drove expensive cars, ate delicacies. All this he could afford thanks to activities based on deceit and scams. But nothing lasts forever under the moon. Weller's hero once had to pay for everything. The author conveyed extremely realistic feelings of the hero, who can only remember the former luxury and pleasures that he will no longer experience.
Publicism
In Michael's bibliographyWeller, there are several dozen journalistic works. Among them: "Cassandra", "All About Life", "Story Technology", "Russia and Recipes", "Energy Evolutionism", "Friends and Stars", the essay "How to write memoirs", which was already mentioned above.
"Word and Profession" is also devoted to literary creativity, and is of interest to both beginners and experienced writers. The thorny path of the prose writer is connected, first of all, with not always pleasant clashes with critics, editors and publishers. This is what is discussed in the journalistic work "Word and Profession". In it, the author conveyed his own experience, and also gave many examples, analysis of novels and short stories by Russian and foreign writers.
Messenger from Pisa
The book bizarrely combines grotesque and social satire. According to readers' reviews, she recalls Radishchev's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The cruiser called "Aurora" sets off from the northern capital to Moscow. The author of the book outlines the problems of modern Russia, such as banditry, corruption, bankrupt enterprises, abandoned villages. The writer worked on The Messenger from Pisa in the last year of the last century. Apparently, after the famous historical event that took place on New Year's Eve, Weller had to change the ending somewhat. Hence the optimism at the conclusion of the story, which contrasts with the main, rather pessimistic part.
Mikhail Veller is known not only for his literary work, but also for the scandals that occurred in early 2017. In March, he quarreled live withTV presenter on TVC channel. A month later, he splashed water from a cup into the presenter during the radio broadcast. In the first case, the writer's accusations of lying served as the cause of the scandal. In the second, Weller lost control of himself as a result of the radio host supposedly knocking him out of his mind.
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