Yuz Aleshkovsky
Encyclopedia
Iosif Efimovich Aleshkovsky , known as Yuz Aleshkovsky (born September 21, 1929), is a modern Russian writer, poet, playwright and performer of his own songs.
in 1929, when his family resided there briefly for his father's business. Three months later his family returned to Moscow
. His high school studies were interrupted due to his family's evacuation during the Second World War.
In 1947 Aleshkovsky was drafted into the Soviet Navy
, but because of breaking the disciplinary code, he had to serve four years in jail (1950–1953). After serving the term, Aleshkovsky moved back to Moscow and began writing books for children.
Aleshkovsky also wrote songs and performed them. Some, especially "Товарищ Сталин, вы большой ученый" [Comrade Stalin, you are a great scholar] and "Окурочек" [Little cigarette butt], became extremely popular in the Soviet Union and are considered folk classics.
Aleshkovsky also wrote screenplays for movies and television and was accepted into the Writers Union.
From the very beginning of his career, Aleshkovsky did not compromise his writing to conform to official Soviet doctrine, and for this reason his novellas and novels were available only in samizdat
. Some of his songs were included in the subversive self-published almanac Metropol (1979).
With no hope of being published officially in the Soviet Union, Aleshkovsky emigrated to the West in 1979 and resided in Austria
. The following year, he was invited to the United States by Wesleyan University
and settled in Middletown, Connecticut
, where he presently lives and serves as a Visiting Russian Emigre Writer in Wesleyan's Russian Department. In 2002 Aleshkovsky won the Pushkin Prize
.
and satire of Soviet social or scientific experiments. The majority of his writings are profoundly witty. The novella "Nikolai Nikolaevich" mocks Soviet stupidity in pseudoscientific biological experiments. His novel Kenguru [Kangaroo] tells the story of an old thief and his ordeals during the Stalinist era trials; Stalin himself is a character. Another essential element of Aleshkovsky's style is fantasy and the grotesque. His novel Ruka [The hand] defines Soviet communist doctrine as a modern representation of absolute evil.
Книга последних слов [The book of last words] deals with an essential theme of Russian literature, "the problem of the little man" - the difficulty of the social existence of a simple but honest man. The theme was begun by Nikolai Gogol
, and further enhanced and dramatized by Fyodor Dostoevsky
, among others.
Yuz Aleshkovsky was one of the first to use expletives in his writing. His best-known and most appreciated works are his anti-Stalinist songs, which have become part of an urban folk tradition in the Soviet Union and are even mistakenly considered by some to be anonymous.
Biography
Yuz Aleshkovsky was born in KrasnoyarskKrasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia, with the population of 973,891. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of...
in 1929, when his family resided there briefly for his father's business. Three months later his family returned to 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...
. His high school studies were interrupted due to his family's evacuation during the Second World War.
In 1947 Aleshkovsky was drafted into the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
, but because of breaking the disciplinary code, he had to serve four years in jail (1950–1953). After serving the term, Aleshkovsky moved back to Moscow and began writing books for children.
Aleshkovsky also wrote songs and performed them. Some, especially "Товарищ Сталин, вы большой ученый" [Comrade Stalin, you are a great scholar] and "Окурочек" [Little cigarette butt], became extremely popular in the Soviet Union and are considered folk classics.
Aleshkovsky also wrote screenplays for movies and television and was accepted into the Writers Union.
From the very beginning of his career, Aleshkovsky did not compromise his writing to conform to official Soviet doctrine, and for this reason his novellas and novels were available only in 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...
. Some of his songs were included in the subversive self-published almanac Metropol (1979).
With no hope of being published officially in the Soviet Union, Aleshkovsky emigrated to the West in 1979 and resided in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. The following year, he was invited to the United States by Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
and settled in Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
, where he presently lives and serves as a Visiting Russian Emigre Writer in Wesleyan's Russian Department. In 2002 Aleshkovsky won the Pushkin Prize
Pushkin Prize
The Pushkin Prize was established in 1881 by the Russian Academy of Sciences to honor one of the greatest Russian poets Alexander Pushkin . The prize was awarded to the Russian who achieved the highest standard of literary excellence. The prize was discontinued during the Soviet period. It was...
.
Style and Themes
Aleshkovsky has a distinct style of writing - a combination of skazSkaz
Skaz is a Russian literary term that describes a particularly oral form of narrative. The word comes from skazat, "to tell", and is also related to such words as rasskaz, "short story" and skazka, "fairy tale". The speech makes use of dialect and slang in order to take on the persona of a...
and satire of Soviet social or scientific experiments. The majority of his writings are profoundly witty. The novella "Nikolai Nikolaevich" mocks Soviet stupidity in pseudoscientific biological experiments. His novel Kenguru [Kangaroo] tells the story of an old thief and his ordeals during the Stalinist era trials; Stalin himself is a character. Another essential element of Aleshkovsky's style is fantasy and the grotesque. His novel Ruka [The hand] defines Soviet communist doctrine as a modern representation of absolute evil.
Книга последних слов [The book of last words] deals with an essential theme of Russian literature, "the problem of the little man" - the difficulty of the social existence of a simple but honest man. The theme was begun by Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
, and further enhanced and dramatized by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
, among others.
Yuz Aleshkovsky was one of the first to use expletives in his writing. His best-known and most appreciated works are his anti-Stalinist songs, which have become part of an urban folk tradition in the Soviet Union and are even mistakenly considered by some to be anonymous.
Novels
- Nikolai Nikolaevich (written 1970, published 1980)
- Kenguru - Kangaroo (written 1974-75, published 1981)
- Ruka - The hand (written 1978-80, published 1980)
- Predposlednyaya zhizn - The penultimate life (2009)
Short stories
- Kniga poslednikh slov - 35 prestuplenii - The book of last words - 35 crimes (collection, Vermont 1984)
Screenplays
- Chto s toboy proisxodit (1975) - What's Happening to You?
- Kysh i dva portfelya (1974) - Kysh and Two Schoolbags
- Proisshestviye (1974) - An Accident
- Vot moya derevnya (1972) - Here is My Village
Children's novellas
Vneklassnoe chtenie - Extracurricular reading- Kysh, dva portfelya i tselaya nedelya - Kysh, two schoolbags and the whole week
- Kysh i ya v Krymu - Kysh and I in the Crimea (1975)
Other
- Антология Сатиры и Юмора России XX века (Том 8) - Anthology of Russian Satire & Humour (Vol. 8)
- Sobranie sochinenii - Collected works (3 volumes to date)