Ivan Shamyakin: biography and creativity

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

Ivan Petrovich Shamyakin is the pride of Belarus, a famous writer who lived the life of a successful person.

His first novel was awarded the Stalin Prize, and most of the works, the theme of which was the Great Patriotic War, were filmed.

Biography of Ivan Shamyakin

Belarusian writer - a native of a poor peasant family - was born on January 30, 1921. His village Korma (Gomel province) was located on the border of the states: Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The beauty of his native land and knowledge of three languages, which the boy had heard since childhood, contributed to the development of the literary talent of the future writer.

The first poetic lines Ivan began to write while studying at the Gomel College of Building Materials. Also during this period he took part in meetings of the literary association in the city newspaper. In 1940, after graduation, he married. His chosen one was Maria Filatovna, with whom the writer had known since the fifth grade. The happy marriage lasted 58 years. To his wife, who left this world before him, Ivan Petrovich dedicated the work “Unique Spring” and “Glory,Maria.”

After his marriage, Ivan Shamyakin got a job as a technologist at a brick factory, then he was drafted into the army, from where he was sent to serve in Murmansk. There the war found the young man.

War years

During the war years, Ivan Shamyakin was the commander of a gun crew, took part in the battles near Murmansk, which was mercilessly bombed by enemy aircraft. Among the soldiers, the young Belarusian was distinguished by a cheerful disposition; he was an interesting storyteller, whom the fighters listened to with pleasure. Shamyakin compiled reports for the authorities, was engaged in the production of a wall newspaper, combat leaflets. In 1941, he wrote and published his first story "At the Snowy Desert" (in Belarusian), dedicated to the battles with the Nazi invaders in the North, where he fought at the beginning of the war. The printed debut took place during the war period in the newspaper "Hour of the North". Further on the front line was Poland, then Germany. Ivan Shamyakin met the Great Victory on the Oder.

Post-war peacetime

After the war, Ivan returned to his native land - the village of Prokopovka, Terekhovsky District - and got a job as a teacher of language and literature in a secondary school. In the evenings, he held seminars of agitators on the collective farm, and at night he wrote novels and stories about the past war. In the same period, he entered the Pedagogical Institute of the city of Gomel in absentia. In 1946, the Pomsta story, which tells about the humanism of Russian soldiers, saw the light on the pages of the Polymya magazine.

Works by Ivan Shamyakin

The biography of the writer Ivan Shamyakin is closely connected with hisliterary activity. The readers highly appreciated the first novel - "Deep Current", raising the theme of partisan struggle during the war years. The best human qualities, devotion to one's work and a sense of high civic duty are collected in the image of the protagonist of the work - Commissar Lesnitsky. This novel was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1951. Further, “Krinitsa” and “Good Hour” were published, telling about collective farm life in a difficult period of restoration of the national economy destroyed by a ruthless war. In every work of Shamyakin, even if the story is about modern life, there are events of the past war, about which the author cannot remain silent. So, a cycle of books is entirely devoted to the war, largely autobiographical and united by the title "Anxious happiness". It includes five stories: "Bridge", "Fire and Snow", "Unique Spring", "In Search of a Meeting", "Night Lightning".

In 1975, the story "The Wedding Night" was published, in 1976 - "The Merchant and the Poet", in the late 70s the reader got acquainted with the novel "Atlantes and the Caryatids". The theme of military duty, the struggle of Belarusian partisans, heroism during the war years are devoted to the novels “I'll take your pain”, “Snowy winters”, “Heart in the palm of your hand”.

Achievements of Belarusian writer

For more than 60 years of his career, about 130 books with a total circulation of more than 25 million copies have been published from the writer's pen. The literary work of the writer was actively combined with his social and political activities. He was party secretaryorganization of the Belarusian Union of Writers, editor-in-chief of the Belarusian Soviet Encyclopedia, academician of the International Slavic Academy of Sciences, Education, Arts and Culture, as well as the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. He was a deputy of several convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the BSSR.

Ivan Shamyakin died (a photo of the last years of his life can be seen above) October 14, 2004; the cause of death is considered to be a strong longing for the wife who left six years earlier. One of the streets of the capital of Belarus has been renamed in honor of the Belarusian writer. On the facade of the house in Minsk, where Ivan Shamyakin lived for 37 years, there is a memorial plaque; Mozyr State Pedagogical University was named after him.