Ilya Ehrenburg: biography and creativity

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

Poet, writer, public figure, journalist, translator Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich was born in 1891 (January 27 - new style, January 14 - old) in Kyiv. His family moved to Moscow in 1895. Here, Ilya's father was the director of the brewery for some time.

Deduction from the gymnasium and emigration to Paris

Having passed serious exams in 1898 (note that there was a three percent qualification for Jews), Ilya entered the 1st Moscow Gymnasium. As a teenager, he took part in the 1905 revolution. Ehrenburg erected barricades near Kudrinskaya Square, carried out the instructions of the party. He wrote that he was drawn to the Bolsheviks. In 1907, in the spring, his first article appeared under the title "Two Years of a United Party". In the same year, in November, a search was made in his house, as a result of which Ilya Grigorievich ended up in prison (he was arrested in January 1908). His father made bail before the trial, and in the summer, after 5 months, the revolutionary is finally released. However, for revolutionary activities he was expelled from the 6th grade of the gymnasium. Ilya is under police surveillance.

Ehrenburgin December 1908 he emigrated to Paris. Here he continues his revolutionary activities. In Paris, he meets Lenin, meets with the Bolsheviks. At that time, Ehrenburg's nickname was Ilya Shaggy (because of his tousled hair). Lenin will still remember him under this nickname when he reads his first novel. However, the passion for Bolshevism was short-lived, as well as for Catholicism. After some time, Ilya decided to engage in literary activities and move away from political life.

First poetry collections

Ehrenburg began writing poetry as early as 1909. As he admits, it happened "accidentally": Ilya Grigorievich was carried away by a girl who loved poetry. In Paris in 1910 his first collection of poems was published. Then three more appeared: in 1911 - "I live", in 1913 - "Everyday life", in 1914 - "Children's". Ehrenburg writes about knights and lords, the Holy Sepulcher and Mary Stuart. Bryusov drew attention to the young poet. "Everyday Life" - a collection that appeared in 1913 - indicates that the author no longer has any illusions about the "old society". At the age of 23, Ilya Grigorievich is quite famous among Parisian bohemia as a promising poet.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Ilya Grigoryevich tried to enlist in the French army as a foreign volunteer, but was declared unfit for he alth reasons.

Working as a correspondent on the Western Front

From 1914 to 1917 he was a correspondentRussian newspapers, worked on the Western Front. It is these military correspondence - the beginning of his journalistic activities. Ilya Ehrenburg in 1915 and 1916 published essays and articles in the Moscow newspaper Morning of Russia. Then, in 1916-17, he wrote for the St. Petersburg "Birzhevye Vedomosti".

New arrests

Ilya Ehrenburg returned to Russia in July 1917. However, at first he did not accept the October Revolution. This was reflected in his 1918 book Prayer for Russia.

After a brief arrest in September 1918, he decided to go to Kyiv, and then went to Koktebel. Ehrenburg returned in autumn 1920 to Moscow. Here he was again arrested, but was soon released. Ilya Ehrenburg in Moscow worked in the Theater Department of the People's Commissariat of Education as the head of the children's section. Vsevolod Meyerhold headed the department at that time.

New poetry collections

In the period from 1918 to 1923. Ehrenburg created many collections of poems. In 1919, "Fire" appeared, in 1921 - "Eves" and "Reflections", in 1922 - "Desolating Love" and "Foreign Reflections", in 1923 - "Animal Warmth" and others.

Ehrenburg again abroad

Having received permission from the authorities to travel abroad, in March 1921, Ehrenburg and his wife went to Paris, while retaining their Soviet passport. In the French capital, he met and made friends with many French cultural figures - Picasso, Aragon, Eluard, and others. Since that timeEhrenburg lived mainly in the West.

He was expelled from France shortly after his arrival (for pro-Soviet propaganda). Ehrenburg was in Belgium in the summer of 1921. Here Ilya Ehrenburg wrote the first prose work. "The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Disciples…" is a novel written in 1922. This work brought Ilya Grigorievich European fame. Ehrenburg saw himself primarily as a satirist.

It was very difficult for the writer to nail down to one shore - he was not satisfied with either the new society ("inhumane") or the old order. He did not want to live in Russia, and he did not have the opportunity to settle in Paris. Therefore, the Ehrenburgs decided to move to Berlin. Ilya Grigorievich in the period from 1921 to 1924 mainly lived in the German capital. Here he contributed to the journals New Russian Book and Russian Book. Ilya continued to compose and publish poetry until 1923, after which he decided to switch completely to creating prose works.

Life in France, new works

After the "Left Bloc" came to power in France in 1924, Ilya Grigoryevich received permission to settle in this country. Since that time, Ehrenburg has mainly lived in Paris.

More than 20 books were created in the 1920s by Ilya Ehrenburg. His books are worth reading. Among them are the "Implausible Stories" published in 1922; in 1923 - "Thirteen Pipes" (a collection of short stories), "The Life and Death of Nikolai Kurbov" and "D. E. The history of the death of Europe"; in 1924 - "The Love of Jeanne Ney"; in 1926 - "Summer of 1925"; in 1927 - "In Protochny Lane" and others., which was published in the USSR in 1989. "United Front" appeared in 1930.

1930s in the life and work of Ehrenburg

Trips to Germany, Spain and other European countries, made by him in the 1930s, convince Ilya Grigorievich of the onset of fascism. Ehrenburg is actively involved in the public life of the USSR. In 1932, he became a Paris correspondent for Izvestia, visiting the construction sites of the first five-year plans (the novel The Second Day, published in 1933, is the result of these visits). "Without taking a breath" - a novel that was created in 1935 after a trip to the north of the country, which Ehrenburg made in 1934

Most of the time during the Civil War unfolded in Spain (1936-39) Ilya Grigoryevich was in this country. He served as a correspondent for Izvestia in Spain, in the Republican army. Here he created many essays and articles, as well as "What a Man Needs" - a novel published in 1937.

In addition to journalistic work, Ehrenburg also carried out diplomatic missions. At international congresses held in defense of culture (in 1935 and 1937), he was the representative of our country, spoke as a Soviet anti-fascist writer.

After a 15-year break in 1938, Ehrenburg againreturned to poetry. He continued to write poetry until the end of his life.

Return to the USSR, years of the Great Patriotic War

After the Germans invaded France in 1940, he finally returned to the USSR. Here he set about writing a novel called The Fall of Paris. Its first part was published in early 1941, and the entire novel in 1942. At the same time, this work was awarded the Stalin Prize.

Erenburg Ilya Grigoryevich served as a war correspondent during the Great Patriotic War. He worked for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. His articles were published not only in this newspaper, but also in others - Izvestia, Pravda, some divisional newspapers and abroad. In total, about 3 thousand of his articles were published in the period from 1941 to 1945. Anti-fascist pamphlets and articles were included in a three-volume journalism called "War" (1942-44).

At the same time, Ilya Grigoryevich continued to create and publish poems and poems about the war. The idea of his novel "The Tempest" appeared during the war years. The work was completed in 1947. A year later, Ehrenburg received the State Prize for it. In 1943 "War Poems" were published.

Post-war years in the life and work of Ehrenburg

Ilya Grigorievich continued his creative activity after the war. In 1951-52. his novel The Ninth Wave was published, as well as the story The Thaw (1954-56). The story caused sharpdisputes. Its name began to be used to refer to the whole period that our country went through in its socio-political development.

Ehrenburg in 1955-57 wrote literary critical essays on French art. Their common name is "French notebooks". Ilya Grigoryevich in 1956 achieved the holding of the first exhibition of Picasso in the capital of the USSR.

In the late 1950s, Ilya Ehrenburg began to work on the creation of a book of memoirs. The works included in it are united under the title "People. Years. Life". This book was published in the 1960s. Ilya Ehrenburg divided it into six parts. "People. Years. Life" does not include all of his memoirs. It was only in 1990 that they were published in full.

Public activities of Ilya Grigoryevich

Until the end of his life, Ilya Ehrenburg was active in public life. In the period from 1942 to 1948 he was a member of the EAC (European Anti-Fascist Committee). And in 1943 he became the head of the JAC commission, which worked on the creation of the "Black Book", which told about the atrocities that the Nazis committed against the Jews.

This book, however, was banned. It was published later in Israel. Due to a conflict with the leadership in 1945, the writer Ilya Ehrenburg left this commission.

JAC was liquidated in November 1948. A trial began against its leaders, which ended only in 1952. The case file featuredIlya Ehrenburg. His arrest, however, was not authorized by Stalin.

Ehrenburg in April 1949 was one of the organizers of the First World Peace Congress. Also, since 1950, Ilya Grigorievich participated in the activities of the World Peace Council as vice president.

Awards

Ehrenburg was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR as a deputy several times. Twice he was a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (in 1942 and 1948), and in 1952 he received the International Lenin Prize. In 1944, Ilya Grigorievich was awarded the Order of Lenin. And the French government made him a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

Ehrenburg's personal life

Ilya Ehrenburg was married twice. He lived for some time with Ekaterina Schmidt in a civil marriage. In 1911, the daughter Irina was born (years of life - 1911-1997), who became a translator and writer. The second time Ilya Grigorievich married Lyubov Kozintseva, an artist. He lived with her until the end of his days.

Death of Ilya Ehrenburg

After a long illness, Ilya Ehrenburg died in Moscow on August 31, 1967. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. A year later, a monument was erected on the grave. On it, according to the drawing of Pablo Picasso, his friend, the profile of Ilya Grigorievich is embossed.

We hope you learned something new about a person like Ilya Ehrenburg from this article. His biography, of course, is short, but we tried not to miss the most important points.