Ivan Sokolov-Mikitov
Encyclopedia
Ivan Sergeevich Sokolov-Mikitov (Иван Серге′евич Соколо′в-Микито′в, May 30 (17) 1882
, v.Oseki, Kaluga
, Russian Empire
, - February 20, 1975
, v.Karacharovo, Kalininskaya oblast
, USSR) was a Russia
n/Soviet writer and journalist who took part in numerous journeys and expreditions (including the famous Otto Schmidt
-led trip to the Arctic Circle on icebreaker Georgy Sedov
in 1929-1930). Sokolov-Mikitov, best known for his engaging traveller's sketches, was also regarded as a fine nature-observing stylist, in the line of Konstantin Paustovsky
and Mikhail Prishvin
. Following the tradition of Russian realism (that of Tolstoy
, Chekhov
and Bunin), but still influenced by 1900s modernist
authors (mostly Aleksey Remizov
, his good friend and mentor), Sokolov-Mikitov developed his individual style of writing, incorporating elements of traditional Russian folk tales, bylinas and fables. Autobiographical novel Childhood (1931) is regarded as one of his finest.
, at Kislovo village, his father's homeland. In 1903 Ivan Sokolov entered the Alexandrovsky school in Smolensk
, dropped in 1910 (for alleged participation in local revolutionary circles) and moved to Saint Petersburg
where he enrolled at the State agricultural management's four-year courses. In Petersburg he's met Aleksey Remizov
, Alexander Kuprin, Mikhail Prishvin
and started to write; his debut Salt of the Earth short story, a complicated folklore-influenced piece, was dedicated to Remizov, his friend and critic.
In the early 1910s Sokolov moved to Revel
where he started to contribute to the Revelsy listok newspaper; by this time he's developed new passions, to sea-faring and aviation. In 1913 Sokolov-Mikitov started working as a sailor, then in 1915 he finished aviator's cources and as a motorist during World War I
made several flights alongside the well-known ace Gleb Alekhnovich on an Ilya Muromets
bomber. In 1920 Sokolov-Mikitov, than an ocean liner Omsk helmsman
, got stuck in the Hull
, England
, port, due to a dockers' strike, then, after the ship had been sold from the auction by some authorities linked to the White Army, found himself an unwilling émigré. In 1921 he moved to Berlin
, started to contribute to the immigrant magazines and published several books (Kuzovok, Where a Bird Won’t Nest). Among his regular correspondents of the time were Ivan Bunin and Alexander Kuprin; he communicated with Maxim Gorky
, Aleksey Tolstoy, Sergey Yesenin, Aleksey Remizov and Boris Pilnyak
.
In the summer of 1922 Sokolov-Mikitov returned to Russia and settled in Kochany, near Smolensk where he spent next 7 years which proved to be his most productive. There he wrote several short stories cycles: On Nevestnitsa River, On My Own Land and Sea-faring Stories; novelets Siskin's Bay and Yelenh. In 1929-1930 Sokolov-Mikitov took part in Otto Schmidt
's Sedov expedition to Severnaya Zemlya
and Franz Josef Land
. As an Izvestia
correspondent he was part of another mission, that of rescuing the Malygin ice-breaker. In 1930-1931 he published The Overseas Stories, On White Land and autobiographical novel Childhood, his own personal favourite. On July 1, 1934, Sokolov-Mikitov became the member of the USSR Union of Writers
. After the personal invitation from Joseph Stalin
Sokolov-Mikitov received a flat in Leningrad
and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
(all in all, he's had four of them)
As the war broke Sokolov-Mikitov asked to be mobilized but has been evacuated instead to Perm
where he started working as Izvestias Ural
special correspondent. In the summer of 1945 he returned to Leningrad. For the next two decades he's been travelling all over the country, and published more books: The Hunter's Stories, By the Blue Sea, Over the Light River, By Forests and Fields, On Warm Land, among them. Ivan Sergeevich Sokolov-Mikitov died on February 20, 1975, and was buried in Gatchina
, near Saint Petersburg.
1882 in literature
The year 1882 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*F. Anstey - Vice Versa*Walter Besant - The Revolt of Man*Bankim Chatterjee - Anandmath*Richard Doddridge Blackmore -Christowell*Wilkie Collins - After Dark...
, v.Oseki, Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, - February 20, 1975
1975 in literature
The year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
, v.Karacharovo, Kalininskaya oblast
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...
, USSR) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n/Soviet writer and journalist who took part in numerous journeys and expreditions (including the famous Otto Schmidt
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR , and member of the Communist Party.-Biography:He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire...
-led trip to the Arctic Circle on icebreaker Georgy Sedov
Icebreaker Sedov
The Sedov was a Soviet ice-breaker fitted with steam engines. She was originally the Newfoundland sealing steamer Beothic and was renamed after Russian Captain and Polar explorer Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov....
in 1929-1930). Sokolov-Mikitov, best known for his engaging traveller's sketches, was also regarded as a fine nature-observing stylist, in the line of Konstantin Paustovsky
Konstantin Paustovsky
Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky was a Russian Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1965.-Early life:Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow. His father, descendant of the Zaporizhia Cossacks, was a railroad statistician, and was “an incurable romantic and Protestant”....
and Mikhail Prishvin
Mikhail Prishvin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin was a Russian/Soviet writer.Mikhail Prishvin was born in the family mansion of Krutschevo, near the city of Yelets in what is now Lipetsk Oblast into the family of a merchant. In 1893-1897, he studied at a polytechnic school in Riga and was once arrested for his...
. Following the tradition of Russian realism (that of Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
and Bunin), but still influenced by 1900s modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
authors (mostly Aleksey Remizov
Aleksey Remizov
Aleksei Mikhailovich Remizov was a Russian modernist writer whose creative imagination veered to the fantastic and bizarre. Apart from literary works, Remizov was an expert calligrapher who sought to revive this medieval art in Russia.-Biography:...
, his good friend and mentor), Sokolov-Mikitov developed his individual style of writing, incorporating elements of traditional Russian folk tales, bylinas and fables. Autobiographical novel Childhood (1931) is regarded as one of his finest.
Biography
Ivan Sokolov was born in a small forest tract Oseki, to a local timber trader's office manager Sergey Nikitich Sokolov (a variation on whose father's name, [M]ikita, he later used as a second part to his nom-de-plume), and Maria Ivanovna (1870—1939), a peasant woman. He spent his early years in Smolenskaya guberniaSmolensk Governorate
Smolensk Governorate , or Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire, which existed, with interruptions, between 1708 and 1929....
, at Kislovo village, his father's homeland. In 1903 Ivan Sokolov entered the Alexandrovsky school in Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
, dropped in 1910 (for alleged participation in local revolutionary circles) and moved to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
where he enrolled at the State agricultural management's four-year courses. In Petersburg he's met Aleksey Remizov
Aleksey Remizov
Aleksei Mikhailovich Remizov was a Russian modernist writer whose creative imagination veered to the fantastic and bizarre. Apart from literary works, Remizov was an expert calligrapher who sought to revive this medieval art in Russia.-Biography:...
, Alexander Kuprin, Mikhail Prishvin
Mikhail Prishvin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin was a Russian/Soviet writer.Mikhail Prishvin was born in the family mansion of Krutschevo, near the city of Yelets in what is now Lipetsk Oblast into the family of a merchant. In 1893-1897, he studied at a polytechnic school in Riga and was once arrested for his...
and started to write; his debut Salt of the Earth short story, a complicated folklore-influenced piece, was dedicated to Remizov, his friend and critic.
In the early 1910s Sokolov moved to Revel
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
where he started to contribute to the Revelsy listok newspaper; by this time he's developed new passions, to sea-faring and aviation. In 1913 Sokolov-Mikitov started working as a sailor, then in 1915 he finished aviator's cources and as a motorist during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
made several flights alongside the well-known ace Gleb Alekhnovich on an Ilya Muromets
Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
The Ilya Muromets refers to a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and heavy military bombing aircraft used during World War I by the Russian Empire. The aircraft series was named after Ilya Muromets, a hero from Russian mythology...
bomber. In 1920 Sokolov-Mikitov, than an ocean liner Omsk helmsman
Helmsman
A helmsman is a person who steers a ship, sailboat, submarine, or other type of maritime vessel. On small vessels, particularly privately-owned noncommercial vessels, the functions of skipper and helmsman may be combined in one person. On larger vessels, there is a separate officer of the watch,...
, got stuck in the Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, port, due to a dockers' strike, then, after the ship had been sold from the auction by some authorities linked to the White Army, found himself an unwilling émigré. In 1921 he moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, started to contribute to the immigrant magazines and published several books (Kuzovok, Where a Bird Won’t Nest). Among his regular correspondents of the time were Ivan Bunin and Alexander Kuprin; he communicated with Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
, Aleksey Tolstoy, Sergey Yesenin, Aleksey Remizov and Boris Pilnyak
Boris Pilnyak
Boris Pilnyak was a Russian author. Born Boris Andreyevich Vogau in Mozhaysk, he was a major supporter of anti-urbanism and a critic of mechanized society. These views often brought him into disfavor with Communist critics...
.
In the summer of 1922 Sokolov-Mikitov returned to Russia and settled in Kochany, near Smolensk where he spent next 7 years which proved to be his most productive. There he wrote several short stories cycles: On Nevestnitsa River, On My Own Land and Sea-faring Stories; novelets Siskin's Bay and Yelenh. In 1929-1930 Sokolov-Mikitov took part in Otto Schmidt
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR , and member of the Communist Party.-Biography:He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire...
's Sedov expedition to Severnaya Zemlya
Severnaya Zemlya
Severnaya Zemlya is an archipelago in the Russian high Arctic at around . It is located off mainland Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula across the Vilkitsky Strait...
and Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
. As an Izvestia
Izvestia
Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat . In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".-Origin:The newspaper began as the News of the...
correspondent he was part of another mission, that of rescuing the Malygin ice-breaker. In 1930-1931 he published The Overseas Stories, On White Land and autobiographical novel Childhood, his own personal favourite. On July 1, 1934, Sokolov-Mikitov became the member of the USSR Union of Writers
USSR Union of Writers
The USSR Union of Writers, or Union of Soviet Writers was a creative union of professional writers in the USSR. It was founded in 1932 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party after disbanding a number of other writers' organizations: RAPP, Proletkult, and VOAPP.The aim of...
. After the personal invitation from Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
Sokolov-Mikitov received a flat in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
(all in all, he's had four of them)
As the war broke Sokolov-Mikitov asked to be mobilized but has been evacuated instead to Perm
Perm
Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....
where he started working as Izvestias Ural
Ural
Ural may refer to one of the following:*Ural Mountains*Ural *Ural River*Ural Federal District*Ural economic region*Urals oil, a reference oil brand*Ural Automotive Plant*Ural-4320, Ural-375D and Ural-5323, Soviet and Russian military trucks...
special correspondent. In the summer of 1945 he returned to Leningrad. For the next two decades he's been travelling all over the country, and published more books: The Hunter's Stories, By the Blue Sea, Over the Light River, By Forests and Fields, On Warm Land, among them. Ivan Sergeevich Sokolov-Mikitov died on February 20, 1975, and was buried in Gatchina
Gatchina
Gatchina is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov...
, near Saint Petersburg.
External links
- Childhood, autobiography (1929–1952). (Russian text)