F Abramov short biography. Continuation of studies, teaching activities and a book about Sholokhov

Fedor Aleksandrovich Abramov was born on February 29, 1920 in the village of Verkola, Arkhangelsk region. He grew up in a large peasant family and lost his father early; Helping his mother, he was engaged in peasant work from the age of six. He graduated primary school in Verkola as the first student, but despite this, difficulties arose during the transition to secondary school: Abramov was from a middle-class family, and he was not immediately transferred to the next class. Abramov’s character showed early traits of a leader, and later of a Komsomol leader. Already in grades 9-10, Abramov tried his hand at literary creativity. His first poem was published in a local newspaper in 1937. However, to the idea of ​​becoming professional writer Abramov did not come right away. After graduating from the Karpogorsk secondary school in 1938, Fedor Abramov entered the philological faculty of Leningrad State University, where he had to leave his studies with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War: in 1941 he signed up as a volunteer in civil uprising. Fyodor Alexandrovich was wounded twice, and the second time he only miraculously escaped death. In 1942, after being wounded for the second time, he found himself on Mainland, Abramov visits native village: the impressions from this trip will form the basis for the writer’s future works. As a “non-combatant,” Abramov was left in the rear units. He served as deputy political instructor of the company, studied in military machine gun units, then was sent to counterintelligence “Smersh” (death to spies). After the victory, Fedor Aleksandrovich Abramov returned to the university, entered graduate school in 1948, and later successfully defended his PhD thesis on the works of Mikhail Sholokhov. This time included the publication of the article “In the struggle for the purity of Marxist-Leninist literary criticism,” written by Abramov in collaboration with N. Lebedinsky and directed against a number of famous scientists (B. Eikhenbaum, V. Zhirmunsky, M. Azadovsky). A little later, Abramov became the head of the department of Soviet literature at Leningrad University, in collaboration with V.V. Guroy publishes a book, dedicated to Mikhail Sholokhov entitled “M.A. Sholokhov. Seminary" (1958). At the age of forty, Abramov went to doctoral studies and, in his own words, “did not return.”

Abramov’s work is inextricably linked with the Pinega region, with Verkola. The action of many of his works takes place in the village of Pekashino, the “prototype” of which was Verkola. Abramov creates a kind of artistic chronicle, seeing in the life of this small village a reflection of the destinies of the entire Russian people.

An appeal to the theme of the Russian village, a new view for post-war literature on the history of Russia bordering on modernity, placed Abramov among the most significant figures literary process of the 60-70s. In his approach to literature, Fyodor Aleksandrovich felt close to the work of such writers as V. Belov, V. Rasputin, S. Zalygin, E. Nosov, B. Mozhaev, V. Astafiev

Abramov’s first novel, “Brothers and Sisters,” dedicated to the life of a Russian village during the war years, was published in 1958. The writer explained the reason for its appearance by the impossibility of forgetting “the great feat of the Russian woman who opened a second front in 1941, a front perhaps no less difficult than the front of the Russian peasant.” Later, this work will give the name to a cycle that will include three more novels: “Two Winters and Three Summers,” “Crossroads,” and “Home.” Original title The tetralogy “Pryaslins”, bringing to the fore the story of the Pekashin family of the Pryaslins, somewhat narrowed the author’s intention.

The novel "Brothers and Sisters" reflected its own author's position Abramov, his desire to capture the dedication, sacrifices and sorrows of rural workers during the war. The title of the novel is explained not only by the fact that life occupies the main place in it big family, but also memorable to the post-war reader with the words of I.V. Stalin in a radio speech in the first tragic days of the war: “Brothers and sisters, I am addressing you, my friends...” The book was conceived at a time when official propaganda in every possible way extolled the role of leader in the victory, clearly imploring the feat of the people - “brothers and sisters.”

The idea of ​​the novel “Brothers and Sisters” is perhaps most clearly expressed in the words of the secretary of the district party committee Novozhilov, having a heart-to-heart conversation with Lukashin: “They say war awakens different instincts in a person,” he thinks out loud. – I probably had to read it to you too. But I see that with us it’s quite the opposite. People from the latter help each other. And such a conscience has risen among the people - everyone’s soul shines through. And note: there are almost no quarrels or squabbles there. Well, how should I tell you? you see, brothers and sisters... Well, do you understand what I’m thinking about?”

Brothers and Sisters was created with the desire to challenge the dominant literature of the 40s and 50s. point of view on the Russian village as a land of prosperity. Abramov admits that he could not help but write “Brothers and Sisters”: “I knew the village of the war years and the literature about it, which contained a lot of pink water... I wanted to argue with the authors of those works, to express my point of view. But the main thing, of course, was something else. Pictures of living reality stood before my eyes, they pressed on my memory, demanding a word about myself.” The novel turned out to be a practical confirmation of the positions expressed by Abramov in the article People of the Collective Farm Village in Post-War Literature.” (1954). In a kind of manifesto, Abramov sharply criticized S. Babaevsky’s “Cavalier of the Golden Star”, Y. Laptev’s “Dawn”, G. Nikolaeva’s “Harvest” - works that clearly “varnish” reality, but are recognized official criticism as exemplary ones. Abramov made a demand to literature - to show the truth and the hard truth.” A realistic attitude to the problem of “art and reality” brought Abramov closer to the activities of such writers as V. Ovechkin, V. Dudintsev, G. Troepolsky, V. Tendryakov, A. Yashin.

If the novel, when it appeared in print, was warmly received by critics, like the subsequent stories “Fatherless” (1961) and “Once Upon a Time There Was a Salmon” (1962), then the essay “Around the Bush” (1963), which publications, G.G. Radov managed to be called “truthful, courageous” in the press for his harshly realistic depiction of collective farm life, and soon it was precisely for these qualities that he was declared “defamatory.” It was an aura of a kind of civil feat. With reckless courage, the writer expressed in it the truth about the then economically oppressed and humiliated situation of the village. He entered into a one-on-one fight, not being afraid to publish things that many freethinkers only dared to whisper in corners. It was essentially about Stalinist feudalism in the countryside and about the extravagant and half-hearted attempts to transform it in Khrushchev's times. The fact that peasants on collective farm fields are forced to work for decades, often receiving only sticks of workdays in payment, and, unlike other fellow citizens, are deprived of many basic rights, do not even have passports, old-age pensions, etc. Thus, the essay was recognized as ideologically vicious, and the editor of the Neva magazine, where the essay was published, was fired.

With considerable difficulty, the novel “Two Winters and Three Summers” was published in “New World” (1968), which continued “Brothers and Sisters” and the story about the post-war period. The war is over, but the “funeral” is still going on. And the timid joy of those who waited for theirs from the front melts and drowns in a sea of ​​tears. And those who returned next to the widows and orphans seem to be ashamed that they stayed alive.

The war is over, but people are more torn than ever between the collective farm field and the forest plot: the country needs forests, a lot of them.

The war is over, but people still hand over the lion's share of what they produce to the state, while they themselves eat half-and-half bread and grass.

This book noticeably surpassed the previous volume and expressiveness of the writing, the brightness of the speech characteristics of the characters, the tension, and the acute conflict of the narrative. The fate of the Pryaslin family itself and other residents of the village of Pekashino are dramatic, for example, the recent front-line soldier Ilya Nepesov, who is exhausted in vain attempts to feed his family, and Timofey Lobanov, who returned from captivity. Devout worker Liza Pryaslina, according to brother Mikhail’s sad definition, is only “already a girl in her hair”, but looks “like a swamp pine - a runt”; their smaller brothers are “thin, pale, like grass grown underground.” Everything in the novel, from the main thing to the smallest detail, is dictated by the harsh time to which it is dedicated and bears its stamp. The hardships and hardships that befell the Pryaslins, all the Pekashins, are nothing more than a part of the national burden, and their share is not yet the heaviest, if only because the fiery wave raged far to the side. The Pekashin people constantly feel indebted to the country and do not complain, making their great sacrifices when they clearly see their need.

In the work, Abramov explores the life of the village at different social levels. He is interested in both the simple peasant and the person appointed to manage people. The relief that the Pekashins hoped for when expecting victory did not come. Blood-bound by a common goal, until recently they were like “brothers and sisters.” The author compares the village to a fist, each finger of which wants its own life. Exorbitant government obligations, hunger, and lack of a stable way of life lead the heroes to the idea of ​​necessary changes. Mikhail Pryaslin (a character very close to Abramov) at the end of the novel asks the question: “How to live further? Where to go? The doubts and hopes of the hero, reflecting on the future at the end of the novel, are embodied in symbolic image a flared and “crumbled” star.

A.T. Tvardovsky, having read the manuscript, wrote to the author on August 29, 1967: “... You have written a book that has never been seen in our literature... The book is full of bitter bewilderment, fiery pain for the people of the village and deep love to them…".

The third novel in the “Pryasliny” tetralogy is the novel “Crossroads,” the action in which takes place in the early 50s. It appeared in print five years after the second part of the tetralogy. Its duration is 1951. No matter how much the Pekashins expected changes for the better in the village, hard time for her it is not over yet. In the six years since the war, the life of the northern village has changed a little. In general, there has been almost no increase in men and there is still a shortage of workers, but in addition to collective farm production, labor They are constantly mobilized either for logging or for timber rafting. Again before dear to my heart The writer's heroes face insoluble problems.

Abramov shows negative changes in the character of the Russian peasant. State policy, which does not allow workers to take advantage of the results of their labor, ultimately discouraged him from working and undermined the spiritual foundations of his life. One of the most important topics The novel reveals the fate of the collective farm leader, who will try to change the established order in them - to give the peasants the bread they themselves grew. The illegal act resulted in arrest. A serious test for the Pekshin residents is a letter in defense of the chairman, which they need to sign - only a few commit this moral act.

The drama of the novel “Crossroads” is purely eventful, situational, no longer directly, not directly related to the war and its consequences, and sometimes not related to it at all.

For about six years, the prose writer worked on the final book of the tetralogy. “Home” (1978) is an example of writing “hot on the heels of events.” The novel is no longer in the past, but in the present. The story begins at most a year before the book begins, in the hot, sweltering summer of 1972. The narrative takes the longest “leap” of all that exists in the artistic chronicle - at twenty-one years. For the fates of the main characters, this period of life's results, for the writer - an opportunity, turning to the passing day, to summarize the fruits of the post-war development of the village, to show what it all resulted in, what it came to.

Pekashino has now become different, “well-fed”, it has grown by fifty new, good-quality houses, acquired nickel-plated beds, carpets, motorcycles... But it’s not joyful to live, it’s hard to breathe. Orders and morals have become accustomed and have become the norm, which were finally solidified by the new (stagnant - as they say now) era. The whole atmosphere of the story is filled with objects that suffocate her... People eat a lot, sleep a lot, easily fall into idle conversations, and work “for the state”, as a rule, carelessly and without exhaustion. The majority, as if by an epidemic, are captured by the excitement of everyday life, the competition in it, languish in the “hustle and bustle of life”, are constantly preoccupied with who is doing what, and most importantly - how not to miss something from what others have got, to get what is “supposed to ", don't miss out on what's yours."

It seems that this reaches the proportions of the apocalypse on “judgment day” (wine drinking), which happens in Pekashin twice a year. In the morning, at the height of the summer harvest, on this occasion, the fields are empty and the offices are closed: “The village was seething before our eyes... Some carried, dripping with sweat, a body or box of cast glass on themselves, some adapted a water cart, a baby stroller, a motorcycle. And Venka Inyakin and Pashka Klopov threw their equipment at this task - a Belarus wheeled tractor with a trailer. So as not to mess around, not to spend too long, but to take everything out at once.” Some Pekashin residents “drink” so much in six months that they cannot do without a tractor for empty containers!

In general, in the novel “Home” the characters think, reason, and talk a lot. Therefore, if in the previous books of the tetralogy (the novels “Brothers and Sisters” and “Two Winters and Three Summers”), social and everyday content predominated, and then socio-political content (“Crossroads” - with its theme of “leading” and “grassroots” Stalinism), then “Home” can be called primarily a social and philosophical novel.

“Home” is a book of results, a book of farewells and returns. In any case, for the Pryaslins it’s time to look around, who to come to their senses, who to come to their senses, and to get everyone together. For the author, it’s time for the final artistic thought, connecting all Pekashin beginnings and ends, all paths and crossroads, all winters and summers. But the final thought of a true artist is always an open thought: for continuation, for development, for exciting new thoughts. The results are summed up not for the sake of results, but for the sake of a new movement of life. “... A person builds a house all his life. And at the same time he builds himself,” Abramov wrote in his diary. These words are repeated in a modified form in the novel by Evsei Moshkin: “A person builds his main house in his soul. And that house neither burns in fire nor sinks in water.”

Abramov's prose is dominated by pictures that are too ordinary and realistically harsh to call him the singer of the North without falling into pomp. At the same time, the single-mindedness of the artist, who completely devoted his pen to “ small homeland" was a clearly understood operating principle.

That's what he wrote. His four novels are an artistic chronicle of the village of Pekashina and the fate of the Pekashina residents over more than three decades. The post-war devastation of the village, its disastrous “de-peasantization” under the influence of command-feudal methods of leadership and the whole spirit of Stalin’s barracks socialism, which excommunicated the worker from the land, destruction centuries-old traditions national culture- this is the dramatic and often tragic content of the books.

Novels are not all of a writer’s prose. There are stories, novellas, about which, in a certain sense, one can say that they complete the drawing art world Pekashin and add new characters to the diverse crowd of Pekashin residents.

Fyodor Abramov’s first story, “Fatherlessness,” appeared at the very beginning of the 60s, during a period of heightened public attention to the issues of personality formation as an active builder of a communist society. The story “Fatherless” (1961) with its seriousness and efficiency stood out noticeably in the literature of those years, especially against the backdrop of noisy, lively plots for youth stories.

Abramov, solving the problem of education, chooses seemingly very ordinary and at the same time difficult life collisions. He turns to the origins of character, to the beginning of the path of human formation. Main character- village teenager Volodka, who grew up without a father. The village environment and the collective could not have a beneficial influence on the boy, because people did not show much interest in him. The young soul, sensitively perceiving the imperfections of this team, the cunning, laziness, resourcefulness, and dishonesty of these people, itself is formed according to this model. But at the same time, she reaches out to the ideal, thirsts for beauty, justice, yearns for true humanity, for perfect people. Happiness is if such people are nearby, if they meet at the beginning of the road.

The communist Kuzma Antipin turned out to be just such a person, who came to work on the collective farm for party mobilization. Kuzma raises Volodka with truth, faith in him, exactingness, respect for humanity, directness and courage. The success of a writer lies, first of all, in bright artistic depiction how a real person is created by Man.

The conflict outlined at the beginning of the story young hero with his fellow villagers, who do not take into account his dignity, at the end of the story acquires a strong dramatic intensity. The main thing in the story is that the honest worker planted the most blessed seeds in the child’s soul. But it is easy to destroy this crop, undermining the faith in people that was so hard-won, faith in justice.

This is the story of the writer. A wise story for all its outward simplicity and artlessness.

Fyodor Abramov’s abilities for such penetrating psychological analysis were fully demonstrated in his stories “ Wooden horses", "Pelageya", "Alka", closely related to each other and appeared in print one after another. And although in the first of them there are different characters than in the last two, and in different conditions, in a different setting, the close relationship of these works, their ideological commonality is undeniable. This small trilogy by Fyodor Abramov is a picture of the complex evolution of peasant generations, thoughts about man and time, about the soul-forming role of historical conditions, about eternal folk moral values.

The story “Wooden Horses” (1969), by analogy with the last two, could easily be named after the main character - Vasilisa Milentyevna, and even with greater reason, because Milentyevna is a larger personality than Pelageya and Alka. What worries the writer most about her is not the heroine herself, not the history of the formation of her soul, but her impact on those around her, her life in others, her spiritually uplifting influence on people.

In nature, the author highlights the Russian peasant woman, who has experienced a lot and experienced a lot, first of all, her enormous diligence, great patience and flint-like firmness.

Vasilisa Milentyevna gave herself entirely to people, devoted everything to them. That is why people responded to her with warm gratitude. The whole atmosphere of the attitude towards Vasilisa in the village where she came to stay is an atmosphere of respect... Her very presence amazingly inspires people, makes them better, more beautiful, more active.

And the final pages of the story, talking about state of mind the storyteller, a city dweller who has come on leave to his native place, are filled with deep meaning. Participation in one's neighbors does not disappear without a trace; love and dedication evoke a response energy of bestowal.

The last two stories by Fyodor Abramov are “Pelageya” and “Alka”.

In the story "Pelageya" the main character is the baker Pelageya, who lived a hard life. The image of the heroine is complex. The basis of this nature is made up of such invaluable qualities as great diligence, enormous capacity, and fortitude. Pelageya knew how to take from life, pushing others aside, and in the village they did not like her. Having left the collective farm and got a lucrative job as a baker in a bakery across the river, Pelageya “used all her grain army to conquer people...”. And she won: “No one could resist her bread - soft, fragrant, tasty...” She tried to grab more for herself, to ensure a well-fed life forever. With the proceeds, she began “raking in textiles... For years she raked in, and couldn’t stop. Because I thought: it’s not chintz, it’s not silk that she puts in chests, but life itself, well-fed days in reserve. For her daughter, for her husband, for herself...” This is why the loss of a family for Pelageya is a loss of the meaning of life, a loss of the meaning of coexistence. And, left alone, Pelageya simply could not live...

The heroine's strongest feature is her zeal for work. How she loved and knew how to work well, with inspiration, putting her whole soul into her work! Alka remembers her mother that “only in those days did she become kinder and smile (even though she couldn’t stand on her feet) when the bread was successful. For Pelageya, the bakery is a real hard labor, “a millstone around her neck.” It takes all the strength out of her. And at the same time, Pelageya cannot live without this hellish work. And one more feature of the heroine’s existence, important for understanding her psychology: she lived her whole life with a person of a completely opposite mental make-up. Pavel is a selfless person. He worked all his years on the collective farm “by the sticks” - “failure-free, like a horse, like a machine.” Fyodor Abramov reaches a special depth in this story psychological analysis. It reveals some very persistent hidden layers in the mental life of a person, a resident of a modern village.

The fate of Pelageya continues in its own way in the story of her daughter. Critics were more unanimous in their judgments about this character. They agreed on his negative evolution, on the fact that his character was much shallower than Pelageya’s, that the daughter had lost many of the most valuable traits inherent in her mother... Alka is not only Pelageya’s daughter, she is, first of all, a daughter of her time, a nature formed on a certain and very a significant stage in the life of the Soviet village, when contentment came to the rural world. Alka did not know poverty, did not know need. Mother and father tore their veins so that at least their daughter would show off, so that at least she would not know grief. And Alka, who grew up well-fed, accepted this as the norm of life... That’s why Alka didn’t need either the house, the estate, or the rags that her parents had acquired with such difficulty. That is why, with such reckless ease, she decided to run away from home, dreaming of a different, tempting, beautiful life. But Alka didn’t know what this life was supposed to be like. Here is the reason for all her tossing and torment, contradictory decisions and rash steps. And of course, the suffering, searching heroine, who does not accept mundane existence, cannot but arouse the reader’s sympathy.

The final touch of the story - Alka flew over the world, becoming a flight attendant - in fact, also an act of despair. These are the circles of a restless nature, searching, but not finding its destination...

The tetralogy and stories “Pelageya”, “Alka”, “Fatherlessness” are not the entire list of works written by Fyodor Abramov. He made a huge contribution to the literature of our people's land. His works will forever remain in the souls of readers, as they amaze with their deep meaning and the truthfulness of what is described.

In 1975, Fyodor Aleksandrovich Abramov was awarded the title of laureate of the USSR State Prize for the tetralogy “Pryaslina”. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, orders Patriotic War 2nd degree, “Badge of Honor” and medals.

Fedor Aleksandrovich Abramov died on May 14, 1983. He was buried on Pinega soil, in his native village of Verkola. Now created here memorial museum writer.

POEMS DEDICATED TO FEDOR ABRAMOV

G. Gorbovsky

Russian village

Not thatched roofs

not labor from dawn to dawn,

not the taste of her salty tears, -

and the light coming from within!

Not the shackles of serfdom,

not the thinness of empty fields,

not the hubbub of drunken singing -

and the conscience of my nation!

Not only from the field and garden

shared real food,

but the blood of a huge people

nourished with its purity!

And if something is there and breathing

in my line, drilling peace,

it comes to the heart - from above:

from those huts over the river!

G. Kalyuzhny

In the House of Creativity, in Komarovo,

He told me: answer, pilot,

The worse a simple cow is,

What is a rocket or an airplane?

I haven't read his novels

And then I thought - eccentric

Last name: Fedor Abramov

Met me just like that.

And when at the mirror reaches

He lay down in the ground where he grew up as a child,

In the midst of world issues

I saw his question.

Olga Fokina

The way to Verkola

Curtain it, Verkola,

light Pinega mirror

dense fog board,

woven anew overnight.

Bring him down, Verkola,

so as not to dare to check

the lake is not full,

no noisy little stream.

The timing is not right

blooming bird cherry trees

flaps of the crown of the night,

scatter over the drunken curls.

Don't forget yet:

by the sigh of the rivers, by the wind from the meadows

popular walkers pendulum

hold it so they don't knock.

Don't let the dogs choke

the hammer does not knock on the nail, -

to your son, Verkola,

got tired, fell asleep.

Kiss him on the forehead high,

his bed is white sand,

cover it with turf

from the rain and from the sun...

List of used literature

1. Russian writers of the 20th century. Biographical Dictionary/ed. Nikolaev. – M.: Rendezvous AM, 2000.

2. Russian writers of the 20th century. Biobibliographic dictionary part 1.- M.: Education, 1998.

3. Ponomarev B.S. Literary Arkhangelsk: Events, names, facts. - Arkhangelsk: North-West. book publishing house, 1989.

4. Oklyansky Yu.M. House on the Hill (About Fyodor Abramov and his books). – M.: Artist. lit., 1990.

5. Land of Fedor Abramov / Comp. L. Krutikova. – M.: Sovremennik, 1986.

6. Mikhailov A.A. Northern notebook: O native land, about literature, about comrades, about myself. – Ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - Arkhangelsk: North-West. book publishing house, 1980.

7. Krutikova-Abramova L. House in Verkola: A Documentary Story. L.: Sov. writer, 1988.

Fedor Alexandrovich Abramov was born February 29, 1920 in the village of Verkola, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk province, in a large peasant family. From an early age I experienced all the hardships and joys of peasant labor, the unity and mutual assistance of brothers and sisters left without a father. in 1921. The hard work, will, and courage of the future writer come from those childhood years. And the soul was shaped by a stern, demanding mother and especially by the kindest pious Aunt Irinya.

From her Abramov received “the first lessons of kindness, cordiality, the first moral lessons" The boy was forever amazed by the local saint - the youth Artemy the Righteous, in whose name the Verkolsky Monastery was created in the 17th century. Abramov graduated from elementary school in Verkola as the first student, but for a long time he was not accepted into the 5th grade as the son of a middle peasant. Graduated from high school with honors in Karpogory in 1938 and immediately entered the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad State University.

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, he volunteered to join the people's militia to defend Leningrad. He was seriously wounded twice, the second time he miraculously escaped death. Miraculously, he survived the siege hospital and while crossing the “Road of Life” through Ladoga. Spring 1942 After further treatment in hospitals, he returned to his native Pinega, where he discovered another national tragedy - “the women’s, teenage and old man’s war in the rear,” when hungry, barefoot children, women and old men fought in the field, in the forest, on rafting. These impressions formed the basis of the first novel “Brothers and Sisters” ( 1958 ).

In April-July 1942- teacher high school in Karpogory.

He was again drafted into the army as a non-combatant: he served as deputy political instructor of a company of a reserve rifle regiment, and was a cadet at a military machine gun school. In April 1943 sent to counterintelligence "Smersh". The impressions of working as a counterintelligence investigator are reflected in the unfinished story “Who is He?” After demobilization ( October 1945) - study at the university, postgraduate study at the department Soviet literature, defense of a candidate's thesis on the works of M. Sholokhov, work at the Department of Soviet Literature ( 1951-1958 ) - senior lecturer, associate professor, head of the department. In 1949 not of his own free will, but by decision of the party bureau of the Faculty of Philology, he signed (in co-authorship with N. Lebedev) an article not written by him, “In the struggle for the purity of Marxist-Leninist literary criticism,” dedicated to the results of the struggle against cosmopolitanism. Abramov himself spoke more softly at meetings, did not “smash” professors B. Eikhenbaum, V. Zhirmunsky, I. Yampolsky, G. Gukovsky, like other party leaders, but limited himself to criticizing the real shortcomings of lecture courses, for such “liberalism” he was subjected to suggestions by party line.

Mid XX V. he experienced new misfortunes and tragedies of the people - not only peasants, but also urban ones, dramas of distrust and suspicion towards prisoners of war, towards those under occupation. He was outraged by the recruitment process, when people with a “clean” biography received undeserved privileges. He continued to be tormented by the lack of rights of peasants, deprived of a passport and the right to travel, who paid exorbitant taxes. He saw a sharp discrepancy between people's misfortunes and literature, film idylls, where an atmosphere of general prosperity and jubilant festivities reigned (“Cavalier of the Golden Star”, “ Kuban Cossacks»). In 1954 Abramov published in the magazine “ New world"The article "People of the collective farm village in post-war prose", where he rebelled against varnished and tendentiously idyllic literature about the village, against smoothed-out conflicts and simplified characters, and advocated for the genuine, unvarnished truth. The article thundered throughout the country, and the author was accused of nihilism, anti-patriotism, criticized in the press, at party meetings, and was almost deprived of his job.

Almost every work of the Abramovs, except for the first novel, was difficult: “battles” in the editors and censorship, attacks from elaborative criticism. Criticism of the story “Around the Bush” was especially scathing ( 1963 ): embittered slanderer, slanderer, savors shortcomings, distorts life. An accusatory letter was composed on behalf of fellow villagers: “Where are you calling us, fellow countryman?” Abramov was expelled from the editorial board of the Neva magazine.

The story was brought to Abramov world fame. It was translated in England under the title “The Cunning Ones”, then published in many countries. It was put on a par with A. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” The Abramov tetralogy, named after the first novel, is “Brothers and Sisters” ( 1958 ), "Two winters and three summers" ( 1968 ), "Crossroads" ( 1973 ), "House" ( 1973 ) - a significant work of the second half of the 20th century. - by the scope of events, by the depth and complexity of the issues, by the diversity of characters. United by common characters and a setting (the northern village of Pekashino), Abramov’s novels tell the story of the 30-year fate of the Russian peasantry, starting with the war in 1942.

The first novel “Brothers and Sisters” became an expression of love, compassion and admiration for the northern peasants; Abramov did not hide troubles and tragedies (hunger, cold, funerals). The novel resisted the flow of varnished works and went in line with the courageous books of V. Ovechkin, V. Dudintsev, G. Troepolsky, V. Tendryakov, A. Yashin.

The novel “Two Winters and Three Summers” took a long and difficult time to get into print. Rejected by Zvezda magazine, it was published in Novy Mir after censorship battles. But immediately scathing, destructive articles appeared (“Ogonyok”, “ Literary Russia"). The critic B. Pankin defended the novel in “ Komsomolskaya Pravda" - "The Pryaslins live!" Numerous responses from readers were enthusiastic. The novel takes place in post-war years(1947-48). Hungry days reign again, loans, taxes, logging, labor on the land for which nothing was paid. Victory Day, signing up for a loan and Lisa's wedding are the central chapters of the novel. The former unanimity of the villagers is disappearing, the enthusiasm for work is disappearing, everyone is trying to survive on their own.

The third novel - “Crossroads” - does not resolve the issues that have arisen, but multiplies and aggravates them. “Crossroads” is Abramov’s most social and journalistically passionate novel. People and power, economics, politics, man, conscience, duty, self-awareness and fanaticism, demagoguery, opportunism, cynicism. The tragedy of the people, the country, the individual. This is the range of burning problems posed in the novel.

Events unfold in the early 1950s - a time of further division and even bitterness of people, still half-starved and gripped by fear.

"House" - best book Abramova. The events in the novel take place in 1972, 20 years after Lukashin’s arrest. Pekashino has been rebuilt and updated. People began to live better and more prosperously. And Mikhail appears as a satisfied owner in his new home. But have people become better with material wealth? Abramov did not idealize either the people or the Russian character; he does not have one-line heroes. Each character is a fusion of strengths and weaknesses, high aspirations and delusions. “Home” is an epoch-making book, a book about the search for a new consciousness, new paths in the development of the country, man and humanity.

Abramov's novels, short stories, and journalism are not inferior to novels. They also contain not only grief and lamentation for Russia and the people, but also a search for truth, ways of reviving Russia, healthy strength nation. The best stories about this are “Pelageya” ( 1969 ), "Alka" ( 1972 ), "Wooden horses" ( 1970 ) (based on these three stories, directed by Yu. Lyubimov in 1974 a play was created at the Taganka Theater), “Mamonikha” ( 1980 ), not published during the writer’s lifetime, “A Trip to the Past.” The stories also reveal the many-sided Rus' with its varied characters and destinies; often the heroes themselves, mostly Russian women, who have experienced a lot in their lifetime, talk about themselves. The best of them are “The Swans Flew” ( 1964 ), “From the Tribe of Avvakumov”, “The Tale of the Great Communard”, “The Blue-Eyed Elephant” ( 1979 ), "Babilei" ( 1981 ), “Human-made bush” ( 1982 ), cycle “Grass-ant” ( 1955-83 ), as well as "Old Women" ( 1969 ) and "Frantik" ( 1984 ), which saw the light only in 1987.

Abramov's journalism, his articles, speeches at congresses, anniversaries, and at meetings with readers are imbued with the passion of a preacher, the desire to call the reader and listener to insight, self-purification, to active action in the name of the revival of Russia, the people, the individual. These are his Novgorod essays, co-authored with A. Chistyakov, “Living and Dead Arable Land” ( 1978 ), “Rus' came from these things...” ( 1979-80 ), “On the spiritual field” ( 1980-81 ), article “In the land of the spring word” ( 1983 ); speeches at writers' conferences “On daily bread and spiritual bread” ( 1976 ), "The Word in the Nuclear Age" ( 1981 ); speech in Ostankino “The most reliable judge is conscience” ( 1981 ) etc. Abramov’s famous letter to his fellow countrymen “What we live and feed on” ( 1979 ). Addressed directly to the Verkol residents, published for the first time in the regional newspaper Pinezhskaya Pravda, it received wide publicity.

Abramov’s archive contains many unfinished works. The most significant of them are stories about the war (“White Horse”, “Who is He?”), the article “So What Should We Do?”, travel notes about his stay in France, Germany, Finland, America, the novel “ Blank book" Thousands of pages of observations, insights and warnings. IN travel notes Abramov constantly compared the economy and spiritual state of society in advanced countries with Russia and prophetically warned about the dangers of a one-sided bourgeois civilization, when, along with high level life, successes in technology are often dominated by pragmatism, selfishness, and lack of spirituality.

Abramov considered his best and most important work to be the novel “The Clean Book,” for which he collected materials for 25 years. The conceived epic represented Russia over a quarter of a century (1905-30), all social strata of society, people of different faiths and beliefs. The most striking figure in the book is Makhonka (her prototype is the great Pinega storyteller Krivopolenova). Such a great and original personality has never appeared in literature. Abramov saw in her limitless possibilities man, fortitude, moral purity, the ability to bring light and goodness to people. She is indifferent to wealth, because she is sure: a person’s wealth is in the person himself. “Awakening the Man in Man” is the main credo of Abramov Best works Abramov were staged in many theaters across the country (Moscow, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Saratov, Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Nalchik, Frunze, Alma-Ata, Chisinau). The most successful and long-lasting productions - “Brothers and Sisters”, “Home” - belong to the Leningrad director L. Dodin.

Brief biography and Interesting Facts from the life of Fyodor Aleksandrovich Abramov, a Russian writer, are presented in this article.

Brief biography of Fedor Abramov

The future writer was born on February 29, 1920 in the village of Verkola, Arkhangelsk region, in an ordinary peasant family. After graduating from Karpogorsk secondary school, Abramov entered Leningrad University at the Faculty of Philology. As a third-year student, he volunteers for the Great Patriotic War. During the war he was seriously wounded twice and the writer was demobilized.

After the war ended, Fyodor Abramov was reinstated at the university and, having completed his graduate studies, began teaching Soviet literature at the department. In the period from 1956 to 1960 he headed the department. Around the same time, Abramov began to publish as a literary scholar and critic.

In 1962, Abramov decided to leave the university and devote himself entirely to professional writing.

The following significant works were the novels “Two Winters and Three Summers”, “Crossroads” and “Home”, “Once Upon a Time There Was a Salmon”, “Fatherlessness”, “Pelageya”, “Around the Bush”, “Wooden Horses”, “ Alka”, “On my hill”, “Alone with nature”, “The grass is an ant”.

Thanks to his writings, the writer speaks at writers' conventions, gives interviews to newspapers and television, and is published in collections and periodicals. Fedor Abramov is also published abroad, and his works are studied in foreign higher education institutions.

In 1975, Abramov was awarded the USSR State Prize for the trilogy “Pryaslina”. And in 1980 he was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, and various medals.

Fedor Abramov interesting facts

• Interesting facts about Abramov should start with the fact that he began his education at the age of 7 years. At the end of the 3rd grade, the boy was given a bonus for good studies in the form of chintz and fabric for a shirt and trousers. This was a great help to a needy family.
• The writer was awarded the “title” of a writer - a villager because his works were mainly dedicated to the people of the village.
• While a graduate student, he met his love in 1949. There was no love at first sight; at first the young people were friends and discussed Abramov’s plan for a new novel. But over time, love arose between them and they got married.
• In the story “Wooden Horses,” the prototype of the old woman Vasilisa Milentyevna was the mother of Fyodor Abramov.
• In the period from April 17, 1943 - October 2, 1945, he was in the counterintelligence service of SMERSH, the military Belomorsky district. At first he had the position of assistant reserve detective, then investigator and senior investigator of the counterintelligence department.

Soviet literature

Fedor Alexandrovich Abramov

Biography

ABRAMOV, FEDOR ALEXANDROVICH (1920−1983), Russian writer. Born on February 29, 1920 in the village. Verkola, Arkhangelsk region, in a peasant family. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941−1945, a student at the Faculty of Philology at Leningrad University went to the front. Completed after the war higher education, became a candidate of sciences, head of the department of Soviet literature at Leningrad State University. Since 1949 he published literary critical articles. The first novel Brothers and Sisters (1958) marked the beginning of the epic cycle of Pryaslina (other novels Two Winters and Three Summers, 1968, and Crossroads, 1973), fully published in 1974 and awarded the USSR State Prize (1975). In 1978, Abramov supplemented the cycle with the novel House.

The action of Pryaslina's tetralogy takes place in the village of Pekashino in northern Russia and covers the period from World War II to the early 1970s. After his father’s death at the front, fourteen-year-old Mikhail Pryaslin becomes the head of the family. The teenager not only has to take care of his younger brothers and sisters, but also has the responsibility to work on the collective farm on a par with adults. The story of the Pryaslins - a typical Russian peasant family that experienced all the cruel vicissitudes of the 20th century - made Abramov one of the most notable representatives of “ village prose" - a galaxy of writers who dealt with artistic research deep layers folk life. The tetralogy is characterized by an epic style, a scrupulous description of rural life and the destinies of the heroes. Abramov’s work was generally favorably assessed by critics, but the prose writer was upset that the main attention was given to his novels, while he also considered his works of other genres important. So, important milestone Abramov's work included the story Wooden Horses (1978), the action of which takes place in his native places - in the Russian North, in Pinega region. The pictures of rural life, lovingly drawn in the story, are reminiscent of the “wooden and birch bark kingdom” in which the future writer spent his childhood. Abramov gave the main character, the old woman Vasilisa Milentyevna, the features of his mother. In 1973, the story was dramatized and a play based on it was staged at the Taganka Theater (directed by Yu. Lyubimov). Abramov comprehends the life of his heroes both in the war and post-war years, and in the late 1970s, when the focus of the “village” writers was not so much the peasant’s struggle for survival, but rather the worldview of a person spiritually connected with nature. The natural diligence, intelligence and moral strength of the peasants shown in Abramov’s works turn out to be stronger than harsh external circumstances. Abramov died in Leningrad on May 14, 1983.

Russian writer Fyodor Aleksandrovich Abramov, born on February 29, 1920, was from the village of Verkola, Arkhangelsk region, from a peasant family. He is remembered not only as a literary critic, but also as a publicist of the 1960-1980s.

When Fedor was two years old, his father dies. In 1933, the boy graduated from Verkola elementary school and, in order to study at the “ten-year school”, moved with his mother to the village of Karpogory, which is 45 km from Verkola. In 1938, Fedor graduated with honors and was enrolled in Leningrad University without exams. In 1941, while a student at the Faculty of Philology, he went to the front.

While still studying, Abramov met Lyudmila Krutikova, with whom he married in 1951. In 1951-1960 Fedor first becomes a senior lecturer, and then an associate professor, head of the Department of Soviet Literature at Leningrad State University.

Since 1949, he published literary critical articles. His novel Brothers and Sisters, published in 1958, served as the beginning full cycle the story “Pryasliny”, published in 1974, and in 1978 the completion of the cycle of the novel “Home”. In 1954, he published an article in the magazine “New World” entitled “People of the Collective Farm Village in Post-War Literature,” where he opposed the varnishing of conditions in the village.

The story about the Pryaslina family is a typical Russian peasant family that experienced all the hardships of the twentieth century. This tetralogy is characterized by a description of destinies village life and the whole fate of the heroes. Elderly woman, Vasilisa Milentyevna, who was assigned the main role in the story, resembled the features my own mother Abramova.

Russian writer. Born in Verkola, Arkhangelsk region. During the Great Patriotic War, he was a military intelligence officer. Graduated from Leningrad University. In n. 1950s took part in the fight against cosmopolitans. In his novels: “Pryasliny” (trilogy, 1958-73), “Home” (1978); stories and short stories: “Pelageya” (1969), “Wooden Horses” (1970), etc. - revealed the difficult fate of the peasantry in the Russian North during the Soviet power, showed the spiritual and moral superiority of peasants over many city residents.

Born in the village of Verkola, Arkhangelsk region. in a large peasant family, he lost his father early; Helping his mother, he was engaged in peasant work from the age of six; He graduated from primary school (in Verkola) as the first student, but despite this, difficulties arose during the transition to secondary school: Abramov was from a middle-class family, and he was not immediately transferred to the next class. Already in grades 9-10, Abramov tried his hand at literary creativity. His first poem was published in a regional newspaper in 1937. However, Abramov did not immediately come to the idea of ​​becoming a professional writer. After graduating from Karpogorsk secondary school in 1938, Abramov entered the philological faculty of Leningrad state university, where he had to leave his studies at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War: in 1941 he signed up as a volunteer in the people's militia. He was wounded twice, and the second time he only miraculously escaped death. In 1942, finding himself on the mainland after a second wound, Abramov visited his native village: the impressions from this trip would form the basis of the writer’s future works. As a “non-combatant,” Abramov was left in the rear units. He served as deputy political instructor of the company, studied in military machine gun units, then was sent to counterintelligence “Smersh” (death to spies). After the victory, Abramov returned to the university, entered graduate school (1948), and successfully defended his thesis on the work of M. Sholokhov (M. Sholokhov’s influence on Abramov would later be noted by critics). By this time, there was the publication of an article on cosmopolitanism in Soviet literature, written by Abramov in collaboration with N. Lebedinsky and directed against a number of Jewish literary scholars. A little later, Abramov becomes head. Department of Soviet Literature at Leningrad University, in collaboration with V.V. Gura, publishes a book dedicated to M. Sholokhov (“M. A. Sholokhov. Seminary”, 1958).

Abramov’s work is inextricably linked with the Pinega region, with Verkola. The action of many of his works takes place in the village of Pekashino, the “prototype” of which is Verkola. Abramov creates a kind of artistic chronicle, seeing in the life of this small village a reflection of the destinies of the entire Russian people.

The appeal to the theme of the Russian village, a new view for post-war literature on the history of Russia bordering on modernity, placed Abramov among the most significant figures of Russian literature of the 60-70s. In his approach to literature, Abramov felt close to the work of such writers as V. Belov, V. Rasputin, S. Zalygin, E. Nosov, B. Mozhaev, V. Afanasyev.

Abramov’s first novel, “Brothers and Sisters,” dedicated to the life of a Russian village during the war years, was published in 1958. Abramov explained the reason for its appearance by the impossibility of forgetting “the great feat of a Russian woman who opened a second front in 1941, a front perhaps no less heavier than the front of a Russian peasant.” Later, this work will give the name to a cycle that will include three more novels: “Two Winters and Three Summers,” “Crossroads,” and “Home.” The original title of the tetralogy “The Pryaslins,” bringing to the fore the story of the Pekashin family of the Pryaslins, somewhat narrowed the author’s intent.

“Brothers and Sisters” was created with the desire to challenge the dominant point of view in the literature of the 40s and 50s on the Russian village as a land of prosperity. The novel turned out to be a practical confirmation of the position expressed by Abramov in the article “People of a collective farm village in post-war literature” (1954). In this unique manifesto, Abramov sharply criticized S. Babaevsky's "Reider of the Golden Star", Y. Laptev's "Dawn", G. Nikolaeva's "Harvest" - works recognized by official criticism as exemplary. Abramov made a literary demand - to show “the truth and the hard truth.”

Going beyond what was permitted by censorship, Abramov’s thoughts about the village sometimes turned out to be risky. Thus, the essay “Around and Around” (1963), which was based on a story about the day of the chairman of a collective farm, was considered ideologically vicious, and the editor of the magazine “Neva”, where the essay was published, was fired.

In 1968, Abramov published the novel “Two Winters and Three Summers,” dedicating it difficult fate post-war Pekashin. Abramov explores village life at different social levels. He is interested in both the simple peasant and the person appointed to manage people. The relief that the Pekashins hoped for when expecting victory did not come. Blood-bound by a common goal, until recently they were like “brothers and sisters.” Now the author compares the village to a fist, each finger of which wants its own life. Exorbitant government obligations, hunger, and lack of a stable way of life lead Abramov’s heroes to the idea of ​​necessary changes. Mikhail Pryaslin (a character very close to Abramov) at the end of the novel asks the question: “How to live further? Where to go? The doubts and hopes of the hero, reflecting on the future at the end of the novel, are embodied in the symbolic image of a flashing and “crumbled” star.

The action of the novel “Crossroads” (1973) takes place in the present day. 50s. This is another episode from the history of Pekashin. Abramov shows negative changes in the character of the Russian peasant. State policy, which does not allow the worker to benefit from the results of his labor, ultimately discouraged him from working and undermined the spiritual foundations of his life. One of the most important themes in the novel is the fate of the collective farm leader, who tried to change the established order - to give the peasants the bread they themselves had grown. The illegal act resulted in arrest. A serious test for the Pekashins is a letter in defense of the chairman, which they need to sign: only a few are capable of committing this moral act.

The novel “Home,” the final one in the “Brothers and Sisters” tetralogy, appeared in 1978. It is dedicated to contemporary author in reality - the village of the 70s. "Home" is one of the most important concepts for Abramov, containing all the layers human existence - personal life families, social life villages, the situation in Russia as a whole. Aware of the troubles of the Russian people, Abramov is still looking for those representatives who will preserve hope for the revival of the original Russian character and will try to rebuild the “house” dilapidated by history.

Working on large works Abramov combined with writing short stories and stories. Moreover, thanks to repeated reference to texts, this process sometimes dragged on for a long time: “Mamonikha”, 1972-80; "Grass-ant", 1955-80; “The Happiest”, 1939-80. At the same time, Abramov was busy with journalism, speaking on television and radio.

Some of Abramov's works did not reach the reader during the author's lifetime. The most important of them is the story “A Trip to the Past,” conceived back in the present day. 60s, was published only in 1989. Abramov’s last significant work, “The Clean Book,” the result of the writer’s thoughts on the fate of Russia, remained unfinished.