Writer Vera Panova. Biography of Panova Vera Feodorovna

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

Vera Panova is known to the modern reader mainly as a teacher and character of Sergei Dovlatov. Not many people read her books today. This woman, in fact, is a classic of Soviet literature. Vera Panova is a writer whose books were loved by both the mass reader and the intellectual elite of the Soviet era.

Short creative biography

Her work includes screenplays, plays, short stories, novellas, and novels. In them, Vera Panova raises the social and moral problems of her era. It analyzes the psychology of relationships and characters. The most popular were the stories "Satellites" and "Seryozha" (1946 and 1955, respectively), as well as the novels "Kruzhilikha" and "The Seasons" (1947 and 1953). She creates in 1958 "Sentimental novel", which became a portrait of the generation of the 20s of the 20th century. Vera Panova is a laureate of the Stalin Prize, as well as the State Prize of the USSR (three times - in 1947, 48 and 50).

Family of Vera Fedorovna

She was born in 1905, March 7, in the city of Rostov-on-Don. father of the futurewriters - an impoverished merchant, who later served as an assistant accountant in a Rostov bank. When Vera was 5 years old (in 1910), he tragically died drowning in the Don. Therefore, Vera's mother, who was a music teacher by profession, had to raise her children on a very modest salary as a clerk, as well as a widow's pension received from the bank.

Childhood of Vera Panova

The early years of the future celebrity were difficult. They passed in need and poverty. But Panova got acquainted with the life of the city outskirts, and the life of the common people. Childhood impressions were contradictory. From a young age, along with colorful pictures of the festive city of Rostov, the future writer also remembered the everyday life of provincial life. She found the end of old Russia. The Civil War and the October Revolution shook the usual way of life. Rostov also experienced all the vicissitudes of this turbulent time. The authorities in the city changed several times. Only at the beginning of 1920 did it finally become Soviet.

Panova graduated from the 4th grade of the gymnasium before the revolution. I had to refuse to continue my studies due to lack of funds. At home, the girl was engaged in self-education. She read a lot and started writing poetry very early.

First works

Vera Fyodorovna Panova has been published regularly since the age of 17 in such newspapers as "Soviet South", "Youth of the Don", "Labor Don" and others. She published under the pseudonyms V. Staroselskaya (the surname of the writer's husband) and Vera Veltman many feuilletons, articles, essays, and correspondence. At the same time, the feuilletons best came out from underpen of a young writer ("Capital Writer", "Fig Leaf", "High Priest", "Veterinary Medicine in Chernihiv", "Unrecognized Genius", "Three Outgoing"). These publications brought Vera Panova the first local fame. They did not pass without a trace for further creativity, leaving a subtle veil of humor and subtle irony, which would later be present in many of her famous works.

Introducing the Literary Circle

For many years, journalism has been Panova's main work. While doing it, she met A. Fadeev, Yu. Yuzovsky, V. Stavsky, N. Pogodin in the editorial offices of newspapers. A. Mariengof, V. Mayakovsky, A. Lunacharsky, S. Yesenin came to Rostov. Vera Panova worked until the mid-30s in children's magazines and newspapers in Rostov ("Gorn", "Koster", "Lenin's grandchildren").

Moving to Ukraine

In the winter of 1934-1935, a tragic turning point occurred in the fate of the writer. B. Vakhtin, her second husband, was arrested on false charges. Fearing persecution, Vera Fedorovna Panova moved with her children to Ukraine, to the Poltava region (the village of Shishaki). Here she writes a tragedy in verse about the unequal struggle between the Spanish Republicans and the Francoists.

Dramaturgy Panova

Vera Fyodorovna's interest in drama turned out to be very strong. It manifested itself throughout her creative activity. When Vera Panova, whose biography is described in this article, moved to Leningrad in 1933, she took up seriously the problems of the theater. In the plays of the pre-wartime "Ilya Kosogor" and "In old Moscow" (respectively - 1939 and 1940) Panova turned to the years preceding the revolution - to the image of the life of the townsfolk, which turned out to be tenacious in subsequent years. In Moscow, the play was staged in 1940, staged by Y. Zavadsky. She was rehearsed at the Leningrad Theater. Pushkin just before the war (director - L. Vivienne).

The Great Patriotic War in the life of a writer

Panova met the Great Patriotic War in the city of Pushkin, located near Leningrad. Vera Panova did not have time to evacuate before the arrival of the Germans. The biography of the writer in wartime develops as follows. With a child (in Ukraine, in Shishaki, there were two children left), Panova reached the Ukrainian village with great difficulty. Subsequently, the impressions of this path were reflected in the play called "The Snowstorm", as well as in the last autobiographical story by Vera Panova "About my life, books and readers". In the occupied territory, in the village, Vera knew from her own experience the depth of the people's misfortunes. She came out of this test morally hardened, full of new ideas.

Moving to Perm, story "Satellites"

Panova managed to move from Ukraine to Perm at the end of 1943. This city played a big role in her life, since it was here, in the editorial office of one of the newspapers, that she received the task of going as a correspondent on a hospital train in order to write a pamphlet about the experience of the staff based on the results of the trip. Thus, in 1946, thethe story "Satellites", one of the best works of the writer, which has become a classic of literature of the Soviet period. After that, Panova was admitted to the Writers' Union of the USSR.

The story became a big sensation in the world of literature. It was a huge hit with readers. In the work - only the truth, there is not a drop of lies. Panova in a year will be awarded the Stalin Prize - a sign of state recognition. "Sputnik", as you know, was highly appreciated by Stalin himself. Success came to Panova rather late: the all-Union debut of the writer took place when she was already over forty.

Vera Panova, whose photo is presented at the beginning of the article, in this story managed to create a small but expressive gallery of characters. Separate chapters are dedicated to the heroes: "Yulia Dmitrieva", "Doctor Belov", "Lena", "Danilov". "Companions" in construction - a chain of portrait novels that create a large-scale, integral art project imperceptibly for the reader.

Evdokia

In 1945, the writer Vera Panova created the first story - "The Pirozhkov Family" ("Evdokia" in the edition of 1959). "Evdokia" Panova was inclined to consider her real debut in literature, since for the first time she wrote in her usual manner.

Whirlwind

The novel "Kruzhilikha" is published in 1947. It tells about the people of the wartime Ural factory. "Kruzhilikha" - a novel about a workers' settlement undernamed Motovilikha. The main conflict of the work unfolds between Listopad, the director of the plant, and Uzdechkin, the trade union leader. It lies, unlike most other works belonging to the genre of "industrial" novels, in the moral sphere. It was this side of "Kruzhilikha" that caused conflicting assessments and the greatest doubts in numerous discussions. However, the writer Vera Panova remained true to herself in this work: she was always worried and interested in moral problems. Everything "production" depended on the internal qualities of people.

Further creativity

Vera Fedorovna Panova, whose biography interests us, in subsequent years creates a number of novels and short stories: "Clear Coast", "Sentimental Novel", "The Seasons" (respectively - 1949, 1958 and 1953).

The story "Seryozha", written in 1955, opens a cycle of works about children: "Boy and Girl", "Volodya", "Valya" and others.

Screening of "Seryozha"

This short story attracts the attention of Igor Talankin and Georgy Danelia, novice directors. They offer the writer to participate in the creation of the script. The film of the same name was a resounding success. He received in Karlovy Vary, at the international film festival, the Grand Prize. Panova's prose is ideally integrated into the cinema of the thaw, since the human soul, and not the state machine, is at the center of it.

Historical works

WriterPanova in recent years began to create works on historical themes. She writes stories dedicated to Ancient Russia, Ivan the Terrible, the period of Troubles. They were published in a book published in 1966 called Faces at Dawn. According to the author, the "mosaic technique" was used in historical portraits and paintings. The panorama of history was formed from separate fragments of the past. These works are full of analogues and allusions. The writer encouraged her readers to think and compare. The most important topic was the problem of people and power, tyranny and responsibility to the nation and the state. Panova's last book was published in 1975, after her death. It is called "About my life, books and readers".

The main works of Vera Panova have been translated into many languages.

Recent years

After participating in the congress of Soviet writers, in the summer of 1967, Panova returned to Leningrad from Moscow extremely tired, but nevertheless continued to work. The consequences were catastrophic: the writer suffered a stroke, from which she could not recover until the end of her life. But even in these diseased years, she showed great willpower and continued to work.

Writer Vera Fedorovna Panova creates new plays, biography of Mohammed (prophet), historical miniatures. It was at this time that some pages of memoir prose were written.

Meet Sergei Dovlatov

Sergey Dovlatovlived in the same house with the writer. He was a spiteful person. His character, no matter whom he wrote about, certainly immediately became the hero of a not very pleasant comic theater. Dovlatov knew Vera Panova very well. He worked in the late 60s as a literary secretary for a writer. Panova appears from the pages of his prose as the embodiment of a moral norm. Not a single bad word has been said about her. This is the only positive character in all of Dovlatov's work.

Death of Vera Panova

Vera Fedorovna died in 1973, March 3rd. The writer was buried near Leningrad, at the cemetery in Komarovo.

On the facade of the house, located at Marsovo Pole, 7, there is a memorial granite plaque, which says that Vera Fedorovna Panova worked and lived here from 1948 to 1970. In memory of the writer, one of the most beautiful squares in Leningrad was named after her.