Zhigulin Anatoly Vladimirovich: short biography, photo

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

Among the famous and significant Soviet poets, Zhigulin Anatoly Vladimirovich occupies a special place. A brief biography of this literary figure includes quite a few sad and tragic events, but his literary heritage is worthy of study and recognition.

Poet's family

Anatoly was born in January 1930 in the village of Podgornoye (Voronezh region). His father was a postal clerk named Vladimir, who came from a peasant background. For a long time he was tormented by neglected consumption (an open form of tuberculosis). For this reason, the future poet Anatoly Zhigulin, like his brother and sister, often communicated with his mother Evgenia Mitrofanovna. Taking care of her three children and doing almost all the housework herself, she found time to sing songs, read poetry and instill in children a love of poetry.

Being an educated woman with noble roots, Evgenia Mitrofanovna managed to instill in the future poet respect for truth, love for the Motherland, and also taught to understand beauty, to see the diversity of the Russianlanguage. The great-grandfather of Anatoly's mother was a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, the Decembrist poet Vladimir Fedoseevich Raevsky (he was a member of Ryleev's radical wing).

Early years

When Anatoly was seven years old, his family moved to his grandfather's estate. In this house there was a preserved family library. It included very valuable family albums, which were filled in by several generations of the Raevskys. However, during the Second World War, during the bombing, the house burned down. Despite the fact that all family members survived, parting and the hardships of war awaited them.

Voronezh was within the front zone for eight months. Anatoly Zhigulin, whose brief biography describes this period as extremely difficult for the whole family, was exhausted by hunger, deprivation and was forced to survive in a dilapidated city. Under the influence of the impressions received, the poet will later write more than one poem.

Life under a totalitarian regime

The growth of Anatoly was accompanied by the growing Stalinist terror. Under the extermination or imprisonment in the dungeons of the Cheka fell members of another branch of the Raevsky family (Rostov). For this reason, Zhigulin Anatoly for a long time did not know about his noble origin and freedom-loving ancestors. Despite the caution and secrecy of his parents, the boy found out the truth by studying the glorious deeds of his relatives from family albums from his home library.

Zhigulin Anatoly Vladimirovich (short biography): youth

Anatoly's literary talent manifested itself already in the periodhigh school visits. Starting with writing school essays in poetic form, by the spring of 1949 Anatoly Zhigulin was gaining momentum and was published in a newspaper. At that time he was only 19 years old, and after graduating from school, the young man planned to study at the Forestry Institute. The choice of the educational institution was made for several reasons. First of all, Anatoly needed to stay at home and look after his younger brother and sister. Secondly, the young man was not alien to the love of technology and nature.

Beginning of underground activities

At the same time, active political activity began, which was launched in the ranks of the Communist Youth Party by Anatoly Zhigulin. The poet's biography includes his acquaintance with the founder of the party, Boris Batuev.

Being the son of an official of the Voronezh regional party committee, Boris once experienced a huge shock at the sight of peasants and collective farmers who lived in the countryside. The hunger and unbearable living conditions of these people did not fit into the picture of the world that the propagandists in the city painted. Having decided on an independent search for the truth, Boris began to study the history of the revolution and, together with several close friends, realized how distorted and distorted Leninism was in the hands of Stalin. The creation of the KPM in 1947 was Boris' first step towards the return of the party to the Leninist course. The main principle of their activity was the use of peaceful methods. However, the KPM program contained a secret clause providing for the possibility of eliminating Stalin with the use of violence.

Zhigulin Anatoly was amongsixty members of this conspiratorial organization when, in 1949, the first arrests of members of the movement were made. Despite the fact that a multi-stage scheme was used to attract new members, students, until recently schoolchildren, were exposed.

Conviction and hard labor

During the entire nine months of the investigation process, the arrested were subjected to numerous lengthy interrogations. They often lasted many hours and were accompanied by violence.

Not all members of the movement went to jail, conspiracy measures protected almost half of their party, but the rest were severely punished for their beliefs. Among them was Anatoly Zhigulin, whose biography was "adorned" with a sentence of ten years in strict regime camps. During the time spent in the cell before the court verdict, then on the territory of the Taishet camp and in Kolyma, the writer and poet collected the richest material that served as the basis for many of his works. The most famous story is Black Stones, which describes the life and experiences of a political prisoner. Many poems also, one way or another, tell about those difficult times for Anatoly.

During the period of imprisonment, Anatoly did hard work at the logging site and in penal servitude. It was during his stay in Kolyma that the Bitch War ended and Stalin died.

Liberation and literary activity

Fortunately, Anatoly Zhigulin did not stay in prison for ten years - four years after his arrest, he was released under the conditionsamnesty, and two years later he was fully rehabilitated.

Anatoly returns to interrupted studies and by 1960 he graduated from the Forestry Institute. In parallel with his studies, he manages to publish a small collection of poems in Voronezh, which was called “The Lights of My City” (1956). The next book was published in Moscow in 1963, it was called "Rails" and also included exclusively poetry. Then Anatoly became a student of the Higher Literary Courses and subsequently settled permanently in Moscow.

A year later, in 1964, in Voronezh, in a small print run (three thousand copies), a book of poems written by Anatoly Zhigulin was again published. A short biography for children describes this publication as extremely successful, as it was enthusiastically received by the public and the press.

Deserved popularity

In the course of his literary activity, the poet often communicated with prominent figures of that time. His acquaintance with the poet A. Tvardovsky in 1961 had a significant influence on his work. Together with the works of Koltsov, Yesenin and Klyuev, it played an important role in shaping the poetic language and literary style of Zhigulin.

For several years, Tvardovsky has been helping the young Anatoly in the publication of poetry collections and making considerable efforts to popularize his books.

During this period, such books of poems were published in Voronezh and Moscow as "Memory", "Selected Lyrics", "Polar Flowers". Being at the peakpopularity, the poet releases one collection after another, and in the late 1980s a cycle of poems was released, called by the poet “The Burnt Notebook.”

Becoming famous, the poet joins the Union of Writers of the USSR, and the Literary Institute. Gorky in Moscow for many years trusted him to lead poetry seminars.

Personal features of Anatoly Zhigulin

Life in the camps left an indelible mark on the soul of a naturally kind poet. Emotional trauma did not turn him into a cynic, but they affected his peace of mind. Living outside the camp walls, Anatoly Zhigulin (a biography for children talks about this only in passing) was forced to be treated in psychiatric institutions.

The stamp of a political prisoner also laid down on many of the poet's works. In some poems, Anatoly describes in detail the injustice and horrors of his imprisonment. Anatoly Zhigulin, whose photo is located above, not only did not try to avoid the camp theme, but also insisted on its development. According to his firm conviction, a sincere account of everything he saw and experienced was his main task. The position of the poet was so firm that he did not recognize compromises even in stagnant times.

Autobiographical novel "Black Stones"

This work has become a description of the life story of Anatoly Zhigulin. It was published in 1988 in Znamya magazine and gained great popularity, causing a considerable resonance in society.

In the book, the poet spoke about his childhood and youth, as well as about family membersand friends. In the center of the plot is the history of the creation of the Communist Youth Party, its short political activity, the ideas and aspirations of the participants in the movement and their tragic fates.

Without exaggeration or intentional exaggeration, Zhigulin describes the period of his imprisonment, hard labor and the long-awaited release. The story is supplemented by the poet's poems that were written during that period.

Conclusion

Despite the difficult fate of the poet and the sharp themes of most of his works, there are a huge number of beautiful lyrical poems written by Anatoly Vladimirovich Zhigulin. A biography for children compares Zhigulin's love lyrics with Yesenin's works, since it has the same melancholy charm. Several wonderful poems were turned into romantic songs that became quite famous.

The poet passed away at the age of 70. It happened in his native Moscow on August 6, 2000. A month before his death, Anatoly Zhigulin finished compiling another, as it turned out, the last, collection of Poems. This book was published in a very small edition, when the poet was no more.

Poet's legacy

In memory of the life and work of the poet, library No. 9 in Voronezh is named after him, and a memorial plate is placed on the wall of his house. In addition, in honor of Anatoly Zhigulin, 2010 in his hometown was dedicated to the poet. This event was initiated by the department of culture of the city administration, as well as representativesliterary community.