Writer Veresaev Vikenty Vikentievich: biography, list of books, features of creativity and reviews

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

Russian writer Veresaev Vikentiy Vikentievich (Smidovich) occupies a special place among Russian prose writers. Today he is lost against the background of his outstanding contemporaries L. N. Tolstoy, M. S altykov-Shchedrin, A. Chekhov, M. Gorky, I. Bunin, M. Sholokhov, but he has his own style, his highest services to Russian literature and a range of excellent writings.

Family and childhood

Veresaev Vikenty Vikentievich, whose biography was associated with two vocations: a doctor and a writer, was born on January 4, 1867 in Tula. In the family of the future writer, there were many mixed nationalities. The parents of the mother were a Ukrainian from Mirgorod and a Greek, on the paternal side there were Germans and Poles in the family. The family name of the writer - Smidovich, belonged to an ancient Polish noble family. His father was a doctor, he founded the first city hospital in Tula, initiated the creation of a sanitary commission in the city, stood at the origins of the Tuladoctors' societies. Vikenty's mother was a highly educated noblewoman, she was the first in the city to open a kindergarten in her house, and then an elementary school. The family had 11 children, three died in childhood. All children were given a quality education, representatives of the local intelligentsia were constantly in the house, there were conversations about the art of politics, the fate of the country. In this atmosphere, the boy grew up, who in the future himself will become a prominent representative of the Russian educated nobility. Since childhood, Vincent was reading books, he was especially fond of the adventure genre, especially Mine Reed and Gustave Aimard. Starting from adolescence, the future writer actively helped the family every summer, he worked on a par with the peasants: he mowed, plowed, carried hay, so he knew firsthand the severity of agricultural work.

Study

Vikenty Veresaev grew up in a family where education was compulsory for everyone. The boy's parents themselves were enlightened people, had an excellent library and instilled in their children a love of learning. Veresaev had very good natural humanitarian inclinations: an excellent memory, an interest in languages and history. At the gymnasium, he studied very diligently, and graduated from each class with an award among the first students, he achieved special success in the knowledge of ancient languages, and from the age of 13 he began to translate. He graduated from the Veresaev gymnasium with a silver medal. In 1884, he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, from which he graduated with a PhD in History. But fascination with ideasPopulism, the influence of the views of D. Pisarev and N. Mikhailovsky prompted him to enter in 1888 at the University of Dorpat (Tartu) at the Faculty of Medicine. The young man rightly believed that the medical profession would allow him to "go to the people" and benefit him. While still a student, in 1892 he traveled to the Yekaterinoslav province, where he worked during the cholera epidemic as the head of the sanitary barracks.

Life twists and turns

In 1894, after graduating from university, Veresaev returned to Tula, where he began working as a doctor. Vikenty Veresaev, whose biography is now connected with medicine, during his medical practice, carefully observed the lives of people and made notes, which then became literary works. So in his life two of the most important things of life intertwined. Two years later, Veresaev moved to St. Petersburg, he was invited as one of the best graduates of the medical faculty to work in the St. Petersburg barracks (future Botkin) hospital for acutely infectious patients. For five years he has been working there as an intern and head of the library. In 1901, he goes on a long journey through Russia and Europe, he communicates a lot with the leading writers of that time, observes the life of people. In 1903 he moved to Moscow, where he intended to devote himself to literature. With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, Vikenty Vikentievich was mobilized as a doctor, and he became a junior resident in a field mobile hospital in Manchuria. The impressions of that time would later become the subject of several of hisworks. During the First World War, he was also a military doctor in Kolomna, organizing the work of the Moscow military sanitary detachment.

Progressive-minded Veresaev accepted both Russian revolutions, he saw in them a boon for the country. After the October Revolution, he became chairman of the Artistic and Educational Commission under the Soviet of Workers' Deputies in Moscow. From 1918 to 1921 he lived in the Crimea and was an eyewitness to fierce battles between whites and reds, this period of hardship and hardship will also become a source of plots for literary writings. Since 1921, the writer has been living in Moscow, writing and actively participating in educational and organizational activities.

During World War II, the already elderly writer was evacuated to Tbilisi. He managed to see the victory of the USSR in the war and died on June 3, 1945 in Moscow.

First literary experiments

Veresaev Vikenty begins to write at the school age, initially the young man saw himself as a poet. His first publication is the poem "Meditation", published under the pseudonym V. Vikentiev in the magazine "Fashion Light and Fashion Store" in 1885. Two years later, in the journal World Illustration, under the pseudonym Veresaev, he publishes the story "The Riddle", in which he gives his answers to the main questions of life: what is happiness and what is the meaning of life. Since that time, literature has become a permanent occupation of Vikenty Vikentievich.

Becoming a Master

Vikenty Veresaev from the very beginning of his journey in literature defined his direction as the path of quest,in his works he reflected the painful throwing of the Russian intelligentsia, which he himself experienced, having gone from a passion for populism and Marxism to moderate patriotism. He almost immediately realized that poetry was not his way, and turned to prose. At first he tries himself in small forms: he writes stories, short stories. In 1892, he published a series of essays "Underground Kingdom" about the life and hard work of Donetsk miners. Then for the first time he uses the pseudonym Veresaev, which became his literary name. In 1894, he published the story "Without a Road", in which, in a figurative form, he tells about the search for a way, the meaning of life by the Russian public and the intelligentsia. In 1897, the story "The Pestilence" continues the same theme, fixing the acquisition of the leading social democratic idea by the young generation.

Glory Years

In 1901, Versaev's "Doctor's Notes" were published, which brought him fame throughout the country. In them, the writer tells about the path of a young doctor, about those realities of the profession that were usually hushed up, about experiments on patients, about the moral gravity of this work. The work showed Veresaev's great writing talent, subtle psychologism and the author's powers of observation. Since that time, he has been included in the galaxy of the country's leading writers, along with Garshin and Gorky. The progressive views of the writer did not go unnoticed, and the authorities send him under supervision to Tula in order to reduce his activity.

In 1904-1906, his notes on the Japanese war were published, in which he speaks almost directly aboutthe need to resist the power of the autocracy. Veresaev Vikenty is also engaged in publishing activities, is a member of various literary associations. After the revolution, he actively participated in educational work, participated in the publication of new magazines. After the revolution, Veresaev Vikenty Vikentievich also turned to large forms and literary criticism. Works in the form of a "critical study" about Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche became a new word in literary and artistic prose. The author has always sought to "educate the youth", to broadcast high ideals and educational ideas. Magnificent critical biographical essays about I. Annensky, A. Chekhov, L. Andreev, V. Korolenko come out from under his pen.

The writer devotes a lot of time to translation activities, many works from ancient Greek poetry saw the light in his presentation. For them, Veresaev was even awarded the Pushkin Prize. Even on his last day, Vikenty Vikentievich was editing the translation of Homer's Iliad.

Writing method

Veresaev Vikenty connected his literary destiny with the "new life", in this he echoes M. Gorky. His writing style is distinguished not only by vivid realism, but also by the subtlest psychological observations of his own experiences. Autobiography has become a hallmark of his work. He expressed his impressions of life in a series of essay notes. Worldview searches found their expression in the stories that Vikenty Veresaev became famous for. "Competition", "Eithymia" and some other stories became hisnarration about personal life and reflections on the female ideal.

The most vivid creative essence of Veresaev was expressed in such works as the novels "At the Dead End" and "Sisters".

Criticism and reviews

Veresaev Vikenty during his lifetime was rather favorably received by critics, he was noted as a relevant and progressive author. Modern literary critics rarely turn to the writer's work, which, however, does not mean that he lacks creative finds and talented works. Reviews of modern readers are also rare, but very favorable. Modern connoisseurs of Veresaev note his magnificent style and consonance with the worldview searches of modern youth.

Private life

Veresaev Vikenty Vikentievich was constantly absorbed in his work. In life, he was a simple and very friendly and affable person. He was married to his second cousin Maria Germogenovna. The couple had no children. In general, he lived a prosperous life filled with work and participation in the organization of the educational and creative process in the country.