Vladimir Voinovich
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (alternatively spelled Voynovich, , born 26 September 1932 in Stalinabad
, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union
) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) writer
and a dissident
. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
in Department of Language and Literature.
descent, journalist, and mother of Jewish descent, professor of mathematics. His ancestor, Ivo Vojnović
, was a prominent writer from Dubrovnik
.
Voinovich is famous for his satiric
fiction
but also wrote some poetry
. While working for Moscow
radio in the early 1960s, he produced the lyrics for the cosmonauts' anthem
, Fourteen Minutes Till the Start ("14 минут до старта"). Between 1951 and 1955, Voinovich also served in the Soviet Army
during peace time.
At the outset of the Brezhnev stagnation
period, Voinovich's writings stopped being published in the USSR, but became very popular samizdat
and in the West
. For his writing and participation in the human rights
movement, Voinovich was excluded from the Soviet Writers' Union in 1974, his telephone line was cut off in 1976 and he and his family were forced to emigrate in 1980. He settled in Munich
, West Germany
and worked for Radio Liberty.
Voinovich helped publish Vasily Grossman
's famous novel
Life and Fate by smuggling photo films secretly taken by Andrei Sakharov
.
Mikhail Gorbachev
restored his Soviet citizenship in 1990 and since then the writer spends most of his time in the new Russia. Widowed in 2004 and married for the 3rd time, he now lives in Moscow. Voinovich has a son by his first wife and a daughter, Olga, by his second wife, the recently deceased, Irina. Voinovich has won many international awards and honor titles, such as State Prize of the Russian Federation
(2000), Andrei Sakharov Prize For Writer's Civic Courage
(2002), and more. Since 1995 he has ventured into graphic arts and sells his paintings in Russian galleries and on the Web.
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
("Жизнь и необычайные приключения солдата Ивана Чонкина") are set in the Red Army
during World War II
, satirically exposing the daily absurdities of the totalitarian
regime. "Chonkin" is now a widely known figure in Russia
n popular culture and the book was also made into a film
by the famous Czech
director
Jiří Menzel
. Chonkin is often referred to as "the Russian Švejk
". 3rd part of the novel was published in 2007. Not as well known so far as the 1st and the 2nd parts, it portrays the post-War life of the characters until recent time, including Chonkin's involuntary emigration to USA. Much attention has also been paid to the figures of Lavrentiy Beria
and Joseph Stalin
; the latter is mockingly presented as a son of Nikolai Przhevalsky
and a Przewalski's horse
. According to the author, the writing of the whole novel thus took almost 50 years.
In 1986 he wrote a dystopia
novel Moscow 2042
. In this novel, Voinovich predicted that Russia would be ruled by the "Communist Party of State Security" which combines the KGB
, Russian Orthodox Church
and the Communist party
. This party is led by a KGB general Bukashev (name literally refers to "the bug") who met the main character of the novel in Germany
. A Slavophile
Sim Karnavalov (apparently inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
) eventually overthrows the Party and enters Moscow on a white horse.
His other novels have also won acclaim: The Ivankiad, his novel about a writer trying to get an apartment in the bureaucratic clog of the Soviet system. The Fur Hat, is, in many ways, a satire alluding to Gogol's Overcoat
. His Monumental Propaganda is a stinging critique of post-Communist Russia, a story that shows the author's opinion that Russians haven't changed much since the days of Joseph Stalin
.
Dushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...
, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and a dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
in Department of Language and Literature.
Life
Voinovich was born to father of SerbianSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
descent, journalist, and mother of Jewish descent, professor of mathematics. His ancestor, Ivo Vojnović
Ivo Vojnovic
Ivan "Ivo" Vojnović was a Croatian and Serbian writer from Dubrovnik. He is often nicknamed "The last great Dubrovnik writer".-Biography:...
, was a prominent writer from Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
.
Voinovich is famous for his satiric
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
but also wrote some poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
. While working for Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
radio in the early 1960s, he produced the lyrics for the cosmonauts' anthem
Anthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
, Fourteen Minutes Till the Start ("14 минут до старта"). Between 1951 and 1955, Voinovich also served in the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
during peace time.
At the outset of the Brezhnev stagnation
Brezhnev stagnation
The Era of Stagnation, also known as Brezhnev stagnation or the Stagnation Period, refers to a period of economic stagnation under the rules of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko in the history of the Soviet Union which started in the mid-1970s.-Terminology:Various authors...
period, Voinovich's writings stopped being published in the USSR, but became very popular samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
and in the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
. For his writing and participation in the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
movement, Voinovich was excluded from the Soviet Writers' Union in 1974, his telephone line was cut off in 1976 and he and his family were forced to emigrate in 1980. He settled in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and worked for Radio Liberty.
Voinovich helped publish Vasily Grossman
Vasily Grossman
Vasily Semyonovich Grossman was a Soviet writer and journalist. Grossman trained as an engineer and worked in the Donets Basin, but changed career in the 1930s and published short stories and several novels...
's famous novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Life and Fate by smuggling photo films secretly taken by Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
restored his Soviet citizenship in 1990 and since then the writer spends most of his time in the new Russia. Widowed in 2004 and married for the 3rd time, he now lives in Moscow. Voinovich has a son by his first wife and a daughter, Olga, by his second wife, the recently deceased, Irina. Voinovich has won many international awards and honor titles, such as State Prize of the Russian Federation
State Prize of the Russian Federation
State Prize of the Russian Federation is a state honorary prize established in 1992 as the substitute for the USSR State Prize. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates and the status of the award was significantly changed making them closer to such awards as Nobel Prize or the Soviet Lenin...
(2000), Andrei Sakharov Prize For Writer's Civic Courage
Andrei Sakharov Prize For Writer's Civic Courage
The Andrei Sakharov Prize For Writer's Civic Courage is an annual literary prize established in the Soviet Union by the writers' association "Writers in Support of Perestroika" in October 1990 and continued in the modern Russian federation....
(2002), and more. Since 1995 he has ventured into graphic arts and sells his paintings in Russian galleries and on the Web.
His work
1st and 2nd parts of his magnum opusMasterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin and its sequels, Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin , and Displaced Person , constitute the magnum opus of a Soviet dissident writer...
("Жизнь и необычайные приключения солдата Ивана Чонкина") are set in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, satirically exposing the daily absurdities of the totalitarian
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
regime. "Chonkin" is now a widely known figure in 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 popular culture and the book was also made into a film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
by the famous Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Jiří Menzel
Jirí Menzel
Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...
. Chonkin is often referred to as "the Russian Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk , also spelled Schweik or Schwejk, is the abbreviated title of a unfinished satirical/dark comedy novel by Jaroslav Hašek. It was illustrated by Josef Lada and George Grosz after Hašek's death...
". 3rd part of the novel was published in 2007. Not as well known so far as the 1st and the 2nd parts, it portrays the post-War life of the characters until recent time, including Chonkin's involuntary emigration to USA. Much attention has also been paid to the figures of Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
and 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...
; the latter is mockingly presented as a son of Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky and Prjevalsky, ; —), was a Russian geographer of Polish background and explorer of Central and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his final goal, Lhasa in Tibet, he travelled through regions unknown to the west, such as northern Tibet, modern Qinghai and...
and a Przewalski's horse
Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
. According to the author, the writing of the whole novel thus took almost 50 years.
In 1986 he wrote a dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
novel Moscow 2042
Moscow 2042
Moscow 2042 is a 1986 novel by Vladimir Voinovich. In this book, the alter ego of the author travels to the future, where he sees how communism has been built up in Moscow: at first, it seems the government has actually been successful in doing so...
. In this novel, Voinovich predicted that Russia would be ruled by the "Communist Party of State Security" which combines the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
and the Communist party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. This party is led by a KGB general Bukashev (name literally refers to "the bug") who met the main character of the novel in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. A Slavophile
Slavophile
Slavophilia was an intellectual movement originating from 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed upon values and institutions derived from its early history. Slavophiles were especially opposed to the influences of Western Europe in Russia. There were also similar movements in...
Sim Karnavalov (apparently inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
) eventually overthrows the Party and enters Moscow on a white horse.
His other novels have also won acclaim: The Ivankiad, his novel about a writer trying to get an apartment in the bureaucratic clog of the Soviet system. The Fur Hat, is, in many ways, a satire alluding to Gogol's Overcoat
The Overcoat
"The Overcoat" is the title of a short story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, thus spawning Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous quote: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." The story has been...
. His Monumental Propaganda is a stinging critique of post-Communist Russia, a story that shows the author's opinion that Russians haven't changed much since the days of 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...
.
External links
- Official website (in Russian) Contains autobiography, art gallery, the transcript of the Writers' Union 1974 meeting, etc.
- Magazine Hall (in Russian)
- Biography at Literary Encyclopedia