Where Zoshchenko died. Unknown faces of Zoshchenko. Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko

Zoshchenko Mikhail Mikhailovich (1894-1958), writer.

The artist was born on August 10, 1894 in St. Petersburg. In 1913 he entered the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. This includes Zoshchenko’s first literary experiments (notes about modern writers, sketches of short stories).

In 1915, during the First World War, he volunteered to go to the front, commanded a battalion, and became a Knight of St. George.

In 1917 he returned to St. Petersburg, and in 1918, despite illness, he volunteered for the Red Army. After the Civil War in 1919, Zoshchenko studied in a creative studio at the publishing house “World Literature” in Petrograd, headed by K. I. Chukovsky.

In 1920-1921 his stories appeared.

In 1921, Zoshchenko became a member of the Serapion Brothers literary circle. The writer’s first was published in 1922 under the title “Stories of Nazar Ilyich, Mr. Sinebryukhov.” Then “Raznotyk” (1923), “Aristocrat” (1924), and “Cheerful Life” (1924) appeared. Their publication immediately made the author famous.

By the mid-20s. XX century Zoshchenko became one of the most popular writers in Russia.

In 1929, he published the book “Letters to a Writer,” in which he depicted many negative aspects of Soviet life on behalf of various citizens. He himself remarked on this matter: “I write only in the language in which the street now speaks and thinks.” After the book was published, director V. E. Meyerhold was forbidden to stage Zoshchenko’s play “Dear Comrade” (1930).

Zoshchenko’s works that went beyond “positive satire on individual shortcomings” were no longer published. However, the writer himself increasingly ridiculed the life of Soviet society.

The resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad” dated August 14, 1946 led to a ban on the publication of Zoshchenko’s works and to the persecution of the writer.

The consequence of this ideological campaign was an exacerbation of Mikhail Mikhailovich’s mental illness. His reinstatement in the Writers' Union after I.V. Stalin (1953) and the publication of his first book after a long break (1956) only temporarily alleviated his condition.

Born on July 29 (August 10), 1894 in St. Petersburg in the family of an artist.
Childhood impressions - including the difficult relationship between parents - were reflected both in Zoshchenko's stories for children (Galoshes and Ice Cream, Christmas Tree, Grandma's Gift, Don't Lie, etc.) and in his story Before Sunrise (1943). The first literary experiences date back to childhood. In one of his notebooks, he noted that in 1902-1906 he had already tried to write poetry, and in 1907 he wrote the story Coat.

In 1913 Zoshchenko entered the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. His first surviving stories date back to this time - Vanity (1914) and Two-kopeck (1914). His studies were interrupted by the First World War. In 1915, he volunteered to go to the front, commanded a battalion, and became a Knight of St. George. Literary work did not stop during these years. Zoshchenko tried his hand at short stories, epistolary and satirical genres (he composed letters to fictitious recipients and epigrams to fellow soldiers). In 1917 he was demobilized due to heart disease that arose after gas poisoning.

Upon returning to Petrograd, Marusya, Meshchanochka, Neighbor and other unpublished stories were written, in which the influence of G. Maupassant was felt. In 1918, despite his illness, Zoshchenko volunteered for the Red Army and fought on the fronts of the Civil War until 1919. Returning to Petrograd, he earned his living, as before the war, in various professions: shoemaker, joiner, carpenter, actor, rabbit breeding instructor, policeman, criminal investigation officer, etc. In the humorous Orders on railway police and criminal supervision written at that time, Art. . Ligovo and other unpublished works can already feel the style of the future satirist.

In 1919, Zoshchenko studied in a creative studio organized by the publishing house "World Literature". The classes were supervised by K.I. Chukovsky. Recalling his stories and parodies written during his studio studies, Chukovsky wrote: “It was strange to see that such a sad man was endowed with this wondrous ability to powerfully make his neighbors laugh.” In addition to prose, during his studies Zoshchenko wrote articles about the works of A. Blok, V. Mayakovsky, N. Teffi and others. At the Studio he met writers V. Kaverin, Vs. Ivanov, L. Lunts, K. Fedin, E. Polonskaya and others, who in 1921 united in the literary group “Serapion Brothers,” which advocated freedom of creativity from political tutelage. Creative communication was facilitated by the life of Zoshchenko and other “serapions” in the famous Petrograd House of Arts, described by O. Forsh in the novel Crazy Ship.

In 1920-1921, Zoshchenko wrote the first stories that were subsequently published: Love, War, Old Woman Wrangel, Female Fish. The cycle Stories of Nazar Ilyich, Mr. Sinebryukhov (1921-1922) was published as a separate book by the Erato publishing house. This event marked Zoshchenko's transition to professional literary activity. The very first publication made him famous. Phrases from his stories acquired the character of catchphrases: “Why are you disturbing the disorder?”; “The second lieutenant is wow, but he’s a bastard,” etc. From 1922 to 1946, his books went through about 100 editions, including collected works in six volumes (1928-1932).

By the mid-1920s, Zoshchenko became one of the most popular writers. His stories Bathhouse, Aristocrat, Case History, etc., which he often read himself in front of numerous audiences, were known and loved in all layers of society. In a letter to Zoshchenko A.M. Gorky noted: “I don’t know of such a relationship between irony and lyricism in anyone’s literature.” Chukovsky believed that at the center of Zoshchenko’s work was the fight against callousness in human relationships.

In the collections of stories of the 1920s, Humorous Stories (1923), Dear Citizens (1926), etc. Zoshchenko created a new type of hero for Russian literature - a Soviet person who has not received an education, has no skills in spiritual work, does not have cultural baggage, but strives to become a full participant in life, to become equal with “the rest of humanity.” The reflection of such a hero produced a strikingly funny impression. The fact that the story was told on behalf of a highly individualized narrator gave literary critics the basis to define Zoshchenko’s creative style as “fantastic.” Academician V.V. Vinogradov, in his study Zoshchenko’s Language, examined in detail the writer’s narrative techniques and noted the artistic transformation of various speech layers in his vocabulary. Chukovsky noted that Zoshchenko introduced into literature “a new, not yet fully formed, but victoriously spreading extra-literary speech throughout the country and began to freely use it as his own speech.” Zoshchenko’s work was highly appreciated by many of his outstanding contemporaries - A. Tolstoy, Y. Olesha, S. Marshak, Y. Tynyanov and others.

In 1929, which received the name “the year of the great turning point” in Soviet history, Zoshchenko published the book Letters to a Writer - a kind of sociological study. It consisted of several dozen letters from the huge reader mail that the writer received, and his commentary on them. In the preface to the book, Zoshchenko wrote that he wanted to “show genuine and undisguised life, genuine living people with their desires, taste, thoughts.” The book caused bewilderment among many readers, who expected only more funny stories from Zoshchenko.

Soviet reality could not but affect the emotional state of the sensitive writer, prone to depression from childhood. A trip along the White Sea Canal, organized in the 1930s for propaganda purposes for a large group of Soviet writers, left a depressing impression on him. But after this trip he wrote about how criminals are re-educated in the camps (The Story of One Life, 1934). An attempt to get rid of a depressed state and correct one’s own painful psyche was a kind of psychological study - the story Youth Restored (1933). The story evoked an interested reaction in the scientific community that was unexpected for the writer: the book was discussed at numerous academic meetings and reviewed in scientific publications; Academician I. Pavlov began to invite Zoshchenko to his famous “Wednesdays”.

As a continuation of Youth Restored, a collection of short stories, The Blue Book (1935), was conceived. Zoshchenko considered the Blue Book to be a novel in its internal content, defined it as “a short history of human relations” and wrote that it “is not driven by a novella, but by a philosophical idea that makes it.” Stories about modernity were interspersed in this work with stories set in the past - in different periods of history. Both the present and the past were presented in the perception of the typical hero Zoshchenko, unencumbered by cultural baggage and understanding history as a set of everyday episodes.

After the publication of the Blue Book, which caused devastating reviews, Zoshchenko was actually prohibited from publishing works that went beyond “positive satire on individual shortcomings.” Despite his high writing activity (commissioned feuilletons for the press, plays, film scripts, etc.), Zoshchenko’s true talent was manifested only in the stories for children that he wrote for the magazines “Chizh” and “Ezh”.

In the 1930s, the writer worked on a book that he considered the most important in his life. The work continued during the Patriotic War in Alma-Ata, in evacuation, since Zoshchenko could not go to the front due to severe heart disease. In 1943, the initial chapters of this scientific and artistic study of the subconscious were published in the magazine "October" under the title Before Sunrise. Zoshchenko examined incidents from his life that gave impetus to severe mental illness, from which doctors could not save him. The modern scientific world notes that in this book the writer anticipated many discoveries of science about the unconscious by decades.

The magazine publication caused such a scandal, such a barrage of critical abuse was rained down on the writer that the publication of Before Sunrise was suspended. Zoshchenko addressed a letter to Stalin, asking him to familiarize himself with the book “or give orders to check it more thoroughly than has been done by critics.” There was no answer. The press called the book “nonsense, needed only by the enemies of our homeland” (Bolshevik magazine). In 1946, after the release of the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad,” the party leader of Leningrad A. Zhdanov recalled in his report the book Before Sunrise, calling it a “disgusting thing,” see APPENDIX.

The 1946 resolution, which criticized Zoshchenko and Anna Akhmatova, led to their public persecution and a ban on the publication of their works. The occasion was the publication of Zoshchenko's children's story The Adventures of a Monkey (1945), in which there was a hint that in the Soviet country monkeys live better than people. At a writers' meeting, Zoshchenko stated that the honor of an officer and a writer does not allow him to come to terms with the fact that in the Central Committee resolution he is called a "coward" and a "scum of literature." In 1954, at a meeting with English students, Zoshchenko again tried to express his attitude towards the 1946 resolution, after which the persecution began in the second round.

The saddest consequence of this campaign was the exacerbation of mental illness, which did not allow the writer to work fully. His reinstatement in the Writers' Union in 1953 and the publication of his first book after a long break (1956) brought only temporary relief to his condition.

Biography and episodes of life Mikhail Zoshchenko. When born and died Mikhail Zoshchenko, memorable places and dates of important events of his life. Writer quotes, Photo and video.

Years of life of Mikhail Zoshchenko:

born July 28, 1894, died July 22, 1958

Epitaph

“Brother writers! in our destiny
Something fatal lies:
If we all, not believing ourselves,
We chose something else -
It wouldn’t be, for sure, I agree,
Pathetic scribblers and pedants -
If only it wouldn't be the same, friends,
Scotts, Shakespeares and Dantes!
To exalt one, struggle
Carrying away thousands of the weak -
Nothing comes for free: fate
He asks for redemptive sacrifices."
From the poem “In the Hospital” by Nikolai Nekrasov

"I'm so sad today,
So tired of painful thoughts,
So deeply, deeply calm
My tortured mind,

What ailment oppresses my heart,
Somehow it makes me bitterly happy -
Meeting death, threatening, coming,
I would go myself... But the sleep will refresh -
<...>
And the illness that crushes strength,
Tomorrow will be just as tormenting
And about the proximity of the dark grave
It is also clear to the soul to speak..."
From a poem by Nikolai Nekrasov

Biography

A difficult and unfair fate befell the wonderful writer Mikhail Zoshchenko. It’s hard to imagine how much the author of Lyolya and Minka, a humorist and satirist, endured during the war years at the front. During the war, he received five orders, was gassed and permanently crippled. But Zoshchenko was broken not by heart disease, but by sudden total disgrace and oblivion after several years of all-Russian popularity.

Zoshchenko fought bravely during the First World War and was eager to volunteer for the front during the Great Patriotic War - but he was not accepted due to serious heart disease, the consequences of poisoning. Zoshchenko's literary talent was revealed during the interwar period, and the writer immediately became popular: after his first publications, his comic stories were printed and reprinted in huge editions.

But Zoshchenko’s life’s work was not stories. During the Great Patriotic War, during the evacuation, where he was sent as unfit for military service, the writer took with him not things, but notebooks with the work of his largest and most important book, “Before Sunrise.” He worked on it for 10 years, and finally, in 1943, the book was published: the first chapters began to be published in the magazine “October”.

And this was the beginning of the end for Zoshchenko. He was severely criticized; the magazines in which he worked were closed, Zoshchenko was expelled from the Writers' Union, he was forbidden to work, his former colleagues stopped all communication with their former idol. Zoshchenko’s book was called anti-Soviet, vulgar and disgusting, and the behavior of himself, who was evacuated during the war for health reasons, was called unworthy.

Only 8 years later did the writer have a chance to rehabilitate himself. At a meeting between him and Anna Akhmatova with students from Great Britain, both writers were asked how they felt about their disgrace. Zoshchenko did not admit any guilt, insisting that his conscience was clear and he did not agree with the party’s resolution. After this, the end was finally put to Zoshchenko.

The writer’s health, already fragile, became even worse. He suffered from long periods of depression; Zoshchenko could no longer work. He died of acute heart failure at his dacha in Sestroretsk. Zoshchenko’s funeral on the Literary Bridges was prohibited, and his grave is located there, in Sestroretsk.

Life line

July 28, 1894 Date of birth of Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko.
1913 Graduation from high school.
1914 Enrollment in the Pavlovsk Military School.
1915 Completion of accelerated wartime courses, promotion to ensign. Wound. Receiving the Order of St. Stanislaus, III degree.
1916 Receiving the Order of St. Anne IV degree, Order of St. Stanislaus II degree and Order of St. Anne II degree. Appointment as company commander.
1917 Zoshchenko was nominated for the Order of St. Vladimir, IV degree. Appointment as head of posts and telegraphs and commandant of the Petrograd post office.
1919 Joining the Red Army.
1920-1922 Visit to the literary studio of K. Chukovsky.
1922 Zoshchenko's first publications.
1939 Awarding the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
1941 Evacuation to Alma-Ata, work in the script department of Mosfilm.
1943 Moving to Moscow, working in the editorial office of the Krokodil magazine. Publication of the first chapters of the book “Before Sunrise”.
1946 Resolution of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the closure of the magazine “Leningrad” with criticism of Zoshchenko. Expulsion from the Writers' Union. Translation work.
July 22, 1958 Date of death of Mikhail Zoshchenko.
1968 First publication of the story “Before Sunrise” in the USA.
1987 The first publication of the story “Before Sunrise” in Russia.

Memorable places

1. House No. 4 on the street. B. Raznochinnaya in St. Petersburg, where in the quarter. No. 1 writer born.
2. Imperial St. Petersburg University (now St. Petersburg State University), where Zoshchenko studied for 1 year.
3. Arkhangelsk, where Zoshchenko served as adjutant of the Arkhangelsk squad in 1917.
4. Alma-Ata, where Zoshchenko was evacuated during the Great Patriotic War.
5. Apartment No. 119 in building 4/2 on Malaya Konyushennaya Street. in St. Petersburg, where Zoshchenko lived from 1954 to 1958; now - the Literary and Memorial Museum of the Writer.
6. Zoshchenko’s dacha in Sestroretsk, where the writer died; now it is a monument of cultural and historical heritage. Address: Polevaya st., 14-a.
7. City cemetery in Sestroretsk, where M. Zoshchenko is buried in plot No. 10.

Episodes of life

Zoshchenko came from a poor family and was expelled from the university for non-payment. Throughout his life, he tried many professions to earn money: he worked as a court secretary, a criminal investigation agent, an instructor in breeding chickens and rabbits, and a shoemaker.

Since 1922, Zoshchenko's books have been published about 100 times, including a six-volume collected works.

In 1930-1940 M. Zoshchenko wrote approximately 20 plays, including one in collaboration with E. Schwartz (“Under the Linden Trees of Berlin”).

The story "Before Sunrise", which infuriated Stalin, was very biographical. In it, Zoshchenko, using his own example, tried to understand the work of the human psyche.

Alexander Filippenko reads M. Zoshchenko’s story “A Dog’s Scent”

Testaments

“Generally speaking, it is not known how much a person needs. Probably more than what he needs, and no less than what he wants.”

“War will become absurd, I think, when technology reaches an absolute hit.”

“You have some strange attitude towards life - as a reality that is eternal. Make money! Take care of the future! How funny and stupid is it to position yourself in life as in your home, where you will live forever? Where? At the cemetery. All of us, gentlemen, are guests in this life - we come and go.”

Condolences

“He could never write according to a “stencil”, as required, or express “well-known truths” - he was always looking for new, his own, untrodden paths.”
Korney Chukovsky, writer

“Zoshchenko’s language enveloped, bewitched - it turned out to be very suitable in a wide variety of situations in life... Laughter, sadness, bitterness - everything is woven together in the complex novelty of his best works, in their verbal connection.”
Mikhail Slonimsky, writer

“Over the years of many years of friendship, I had never heard him laugh: his small mouth with white, even teeth rarely formed a soft smile. While reading his stories, he was sometimes forced to stop - he was disturbed by the deafening, almost pathological laughter of the audience, and then the look of his beautiful black eyes became especially thoughtful and sad. Softness and hardness - these two opposite concepts did not at all contradict each other in him. But there was also something else, shunned, deeply hidden - a tendency towards loneliness, towards the solitude of reflection?
Veniamin Kaverin, writer

Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko, a famous Russian writer and playwright, was born in 1894, on July 29 (according to some sources, in 1895), in St. Petersburg. His father was an Itinerant artist, and his mother was an actress. First, we will talk about how life turned out for such a writer as Mikhail Zoshchenko. The biography presented below describes the main events of his life. Having talked about them, we will move on to a description of the work of Mikhail Mikhailovich.

Studying at the gymnasium and at the St. Petersburg Institute

In 1903, parents sent their son to study at St. Petersburg Gymnasium No. 8. Mikhail Zoshchenko, whose biography can be reconstructed on the basis of his own memories and works, talking about these years, noted that he studied rather poorly, in Features of the Russian language. He received a unit for his essay in the exam. However, Mikhail Mikhailovich notes that already at that time he wanted to be a writer. So far, Mikhail Zoshchenko has created stories and poems only for himself.

Life is sometimes paradoxical. The future famous writer, who began writing at the age of nine, is the most backward student in his class in the Russian language! His lack of progress seemed strange to him. Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko notes that at that time he even wanted to commit suicide. However, fate protected him.

After graduating in 1913, the future writer continued to receive his education at the St. Petersburg Institute, Faculty of Law. A year later, due to non-payment of tuition, he was expelled from there. Zoshchenko had to go to work. He began working at the Caucasian Railway as a controller.

War time

The usual course of life was interrupted by the First World War. Mikhail decided to enter military service. First, he became a private cadet and went to the Pavlovsk Military School, then, after completing a four-month accelerated course, he went to the front.

Zoshchenko noted that he was not in a patriotic mood, he simply could not sit in one place for a long time. In the service, however, Mikhail Mikhailovich distinguished himself. He took part in many battles, was poisoned by gases, and was wounded. Having begun to participate in battles with the rank of ensign, Zoshchenko was already a captain and was transferred to the reserve (the reason was the consequences of gas poisoning). In addition, he was awarded 4 orders for military merit.

Return to Petrograd

Mikhail Mikhailovich, returning to Petrograd, met V.V. Kerbits-Kerbitskaya, his future wife. After the February Revolution, Zoshchenko was appointed head of the telegraph and post offices, as well as commandant of the Main Post Office. Next was a business trip to Arkhangelsk, work as an adjutant of the squad, as well as the election of Mikhail Mikhailovich to the secretary of the regimental court.

Service in the Red Army

However, peaceful life is interrupted again - this time by the revolution and the subsequent Civil War. Mikhail Mikhailovich goes to the front. As a volunteer, he entered the Red Army (in January 1919). He serves as a regimental adjutant in a regiment of the village poor. Zoshchenko takes part in the battles of Yamburg and Narva against Bulak-Balakhovich. After a heart attack, Mikhail Mikhailovich had to demobilize and return to Petrograd.

Zoshchenko changed many occupations in the period from 1918 to 1921. Subsequently, he wrote that he tried himself in about 10-12 professions. He worked as a policeman, a carpenter, a shoemaker, and a criminal investigation agent.

Life in peaceful years

The writer in January 1920 experienced the death of his mother. His marriage to Kerbits-Kerbitskaya dates back to the same year. Together with her he moves to the street. B. Zelenina. In May 1922, a son, Valery, was born into the Zoshchenko family. In 1930, Mikhail Mikhailovich was sent along with a team of writers to

Years of the Great Patriotic War

At the beginning of the war, Mikhail Zoshchenko writes a statement in which he asks to be enlisted in the Red Army. However, he is refused - he is declared unfit for military service. Zoshchenko has to conduct anti-fascist activities not on the battlefield. He creates anti-war feuilletons and publishes them in newspapers and sends them to the Radio Committee. In October 1941, he was evacuated to Alma-Ata, and a month later he became an employee of Mosfilm, working in the studio's script department.

Persecution

Zoshchenko was summoned to Moscow in 1943. Here he is offered the position of editor of Crocodile. However, Mikhail Mikhailovich refuses this offer. Nevertheless, he is on the editorial board of Krokodil. Outwardly everything looks fine. However, after some time, clouds begin to gather more and more over Mikhail Mikhailovich’s head: he is removed from the editorial board, evicted from the hotel, and deprived of food rations. The persecution continues. S. at the SSP plenum even attacks Zoshchenko’s story “Before Sunrise.” The writer is practically not published, but in 1946 he was nevertheless introduced to the editorial board of Zvezda.

August 14, 1946 - the apotheosis of all its vicissitudes. It was then that the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks issued a resolution on the magazines “Leningrad” and “Zvezda”. After this, Zoshchenko was expelled from the Writers' Union and was also deprived of his food card. This time the reason for the attacks was completely insignificant - a children's story by Zoshchenko called “The Adventures of a Monkey.” All magazines, publishing houses and theaters, following the decree, terminate the contracts they previously concluded, demanding the return of advances issued. The Zoshchenko family is in poverty. She is forced to subsist on the proceeds from the sale of her personal belongings. The writer is trying to make money in a cobbler's artel. he is eventually returned. In addition, Mikhail Zoshchenko publishes stories and feuilletons (of course, not all). However, at this time one has to earn a living mainly by translation work.

Mikhail Zoshchenko manages to reinstate himself in the Writers' Union only after a significant event occurs on June 23, 1953 - the writer is again accepted into the Union. However, this is not the end. Mikhail Mikhailovich did not manage to remain a member for long this time.

On May 5, 1954, a fateful event occurred. Anna Akhmatova and he were invited that day to the Writer's House, where a meeting was to take place with a group of English students. The writer publicly declared his disagreement with the accusations made against him. A new stage of bullying begins after this. All these ups and downs affected his poor health. The article “Facts Reveal the Truth,” published on September 7, 1953, was the last straw. After this, the writer’s name ceased to be mentioned at all. This oblivion lasted for about two months. However, already in November, Mikhail Mikhailovich was offered cooperation by two magazines - “Leningrad Almanac” and “Crocodile”. A whole group of writers comes to his defense: Chukovsky, Kaverin, Vs. Ivanov, N. Tikhonov. In 1957, in December, he published “Selected Stories and Novels of 1923-1956.” However, the writer’s mental and physical condition is deteriorating. A sharp decline in his strength occurs in the spring of 1958. Zoshchenko loses interest in life.

Death of Zoshchenko

On July 22, 1958, Mikhail Zoshchenko died. Even his body was disgraced after his death: permission was not given to bury him in Leningrad. The writer's ashes rest in Sestroretsk.

Mikhail Zoshchenko, whose life story was discussed in the first part of our article, left a great creative legacy. His path as a writer was not easy. We invite you to take a closer look at how his creative destiny unfolded. In addition, you will find out what stories Mikhail Zoshchenko created for children and what their features are.

Creative path

Zoshchenko began writing actively after he was demobilized in 1919. His first experiments were literary critical articles. His first story appeared in the Petersburg Almanac in 1921.

Serapion brothers

Zoshchenko was brought to a group called in 1921 by the desire to become a professional writer. Critics were wary of this group, but noted that Zoshchenko was the “strongest” figure among them. Mikhail Mikhailovich, together with Slonimsky, was part of the central faction, which adhered to the belief that one should learn from the Russian tradition - Lermontov, Gogol, Pushkin. Zoshchenko feared a “noble restoration” in literature, considered A. Blok a “knight of a sad image” and pinned his hopes on literature with heroic pathos. The first almanac of the Serapions appeared in Alkonost in May 1922, in which Mikhail Mikhailovich’s story was published. And “Stories of Nazar Ilyich, Mr. Sinebryukhov” is a book that became his first independent publication.

Characteristics of early creativity

The school of A.P. Chekhov was noticeable in Zoshchenko’s early works. These are, for example, stories such as “Female Fish”, “War”, “Love”, etc. However, he soon rejected it. Zoshchenko considered the larger form of Chekhov's stories inappropriate to the needs of the modern reader. He wanted to reproduce in the language "the syntax of the street... of the people." Zoshchenko considered himself a person who temporarily replaces a proletarian writer.

A large group of writers created a collective declaration in 1927. It highlighted a new literary and aesthetic position. M. Zoshchenko was among those who signed it. He was published at this time in periodicals (mainly in the satirical magazines “Smekhach”, “Behemoth”, “Eccentric”, “Buzoter”, “Mukhomor”, “Inspector General”, etc.). However, not everything was smooth sailing. Because of the story “An Unpleasant History” by M. Zoshchenko, allegedly “politically harmful,” an issue of the magazine “Behemoth” was confiscated in June 1927. This type of publication is gradually being eliminated. In Leningrad in 1930, The Inspector General, the last satirical magazine, was also closed. However, Mikhail Mikhailovich does not despair and decides to continue working.

Two sides of fame

He has been collaborating with the Krokodil magazine since 1932. At this time, Mikhail Zoshchenko is collecting material for his story called “Youth Restored”, and also studying literature on medicine, psychoanalysis and physiology. His works are already well known even in the West. However, this fame also had a downside. In Germany in 1933, Zoshchenko's books were subjected to a public auto-da-fé in accordance with Hitler's blacklist.

New works

In the USSR at the same time, Mikhail Zoshchenko’s comedy “Cultural Heritage” was published and staged. The Blue Book, one of his most famous books, begins publication in 1934. In addition to novels, short stories and plays, Zoshchenko also writes feuilletons and historical stories ("Taras Shevchenko", "Kerensky", "Retribution", "The Black Prince", etc.). In addition, he creates stories for children ("Smart Animals", "Grandma's Gift", "Christmas Tree", etc.).

Children's stories by Zoshchenko

Mikhail Zoshchenko wrote many stories for children. They were published in magazines between 1937 and 1945. Of these, some were separate works, while others were combined into cycles. The cycle "Lelya and Minka" is the most famous.

In 1939 - 1940s. Mikhail Zoshchenko created this series of works. It included the following stories: “Golden Words”, “Nakhodka”, “Thirty Years Later”, “Don’t Lie”, “Galoshes and Ice Cream”, “Grandmother’s Gift”, “Christmas Tree”. It is no coincidence that Mikhail Zoshchenko combined them into one cycle. Brief summaries of these works allow us to conclude that they have something in common, namely the images of the main characters. This is little Minka and Lelya, his sister.

The story is told on behalf of the narrator. His image is no less interesting than the heroes of Mikhail Zoshchenko’s stories. This is an adult who recalls instructive and comic episodes from his childhood. Note that there are similarities between the author and the narrator (even the name is the same, and there is also an indication of the writing profession). However, it does not reach complete coincidence. The narrator's speech differs significantly from the author's. This form of storytelling is called literary tale. It was especially relevant in the literature of the USSR in the 20s and 30s. At this time, the entire culture was characterized by a craving for stylistic and linguistic experiments.

In these stories, as S. Ya. Marshak notes, the author not only does not hide morality. He speaks about it with all frankness in the text, and sometimes in the title of his works (“Don’t lie”). However, this does not make the stories didactic. They are saved by humor, always unexpected, as well as the special seriousness inherent in Zoshchenko. Mikhail Mikhailovich's unexpected humor is based on a witty parody.

Today, many works written by Mikhail Zoshchenko are very popular. His books are read in schools; adults and children love them. His path in literature was not easy, as was the fate of many other writers and poets of the Soviet era. The twentieth century is a difficult period in history, but even during the war years, many works were created that have already become classics of Russian literature. The biography of such a great writer as Mikhail Zoshchenko, briefly outlined by us, we hope, has aroused your interest in his work.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko was born on July 28 (August 9), 1894 in St. Petersburg. His father was an artist, his mother wrote stories and acted in amateur theater. In 1907, the head of the family died, financially difficult times began for the family, which did not prevent the future writer from entering the gymnasium. After completing his studies there, Zoshchenko became a student at the Faculty of Law of the Imperial St. Petersburg University, from where he was expelled for non-payment.

In September 1914 he was enrolled in the Pavlovsk Military School. After completing accelerated wartime courses that lasted four months, Zoshchenko went to the front. He received several awards, including the Order of St. Anne, fourth degree, with the inscription “For bravery.” In 1917 he returned to peaceful life due to worsening illness. In a couple of years I managed to change several professions. Despite his exemption from military service, in 1919 he volunteered for active service in the Red Army. In April he was declared unfit and demobilized, but he joined the border guard as a telephone operator. After returning to Petrograd, Zoshchenko again began to constantly change professions. In addition, he began to attend the literary studio of Korney Chukovsky, which later turned into a club of modern writers.

On February 1, 1921, a new literary association appeared in Petrograd, called the Serapion Brothers. Among its members was Zoshchenko. Soon the writer made his debut in print. The stories, published in the 1920s, brought him enormous popularity. He began working with satirical publications, traveling around the country, speaking to the public reading short works. In the 1930s, Zoshchenko turned to a large form. Among other things, the story “Youth Restored” and the collection of everyday short stories and historical anecdotes “The Blue Book” were written at this time.

At the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Zoshchenko tried to go to the front, but he was declared unfit for military service. Then he joined the fire defense group. In September 1941, he was evacuated from Leningrad - first to Moscow, then to Alma-Ata. Zoshchenko lived there until 1943, after which he returned to the capital. During the war, he composed for the theater, wrote scripts, stories, feuilletons, and worked on the book “Before Sunrise.” Publication of the latter began in August 1943. Then only the first part was published in the magazine “October”. Then, from the Agitprop of the Central Committee, the editorial board of Oktyabr received an order to stop publication. They stopped publishing the story, and a large-scale anti-Zoshchenko campaign began.

The writer returned from Moscow to Leningrad, his affairs gradually began to improve, but in 1946 a new and even more terrible blow followed. It all started with the fact that the Zvezda magazine, without Zoshchenko’s knowledge, published his story “The Adventures of a Monkey.” On August 14, the organizing bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks issued a resolution “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad.” Zoshchenko was expelled from the Writers' Union and deprived of food cards. Hard times began, he and his family had to literally survive. From 1946 to 1953, Zoshchenko earned money through translations and also worked as a shoemaker, which he mastered in his youth. In June 1953 he was readmitted to the Writers' Union. The boycott ended for a short time. In the spring of 1954, Zoshchenko was invited to a meeting with English students. Answering a question from one of them regarding the 1946 resolution, Zoshchenko said that he could not agree with the insults addressed to him. This led to a new round of bullying.

The last years of the writer’s life were spent at a dacha in Sestroretsk. On July 22, 1958, Zoshchenko died. The cause of death was acute heart failure. The writer was buried in the cemetery in Sestroretsk.

Brief analysis of creativity

Zoshchenko's greatest fame came from his satirical works - mainly short stories. The writer had a wealth of life experience - he had been to war and managed to change many professions. In the trenches, on public transport, in the kitchens of communal apartments, in pubs, Zoshchenko overheard living everyday speech, which became the speech of his literature. As for the hero of the writer’s works, he said the following about him: “Each of us has certain traits of a tradesman, an owner, and a money-grubber. I combine these characteristic, often shaded features in one hero, and then this hero becomes familiar to us and seen somewhere...” As literary critic Yuri Tomashevsky noted, in Zoshchenko’s work it is not the person himself who is ridiculed, but the “sad traits” of human character.

In the second half of the 1930s and early 1940s, Zoshchenko turned to children's literature. This is how the cycles “Lelya and Minka” and “Stories about Lenin” appeared. They included short texts based on the genre of moralizing stories.

The most important role in Zoshchenko’s literary heritage is played by the autobiographical and scientific story “Before Sunrise,” which the writer himself considered the main work of his life. He began collecting material for it back in the mid-1930s. In a letter to Stalin, Zoshchenko noted that the book was “written in defense of reason and its rights”, that it “contains a scientific theme about Pavlov’s conditioned reflexes” and, “apparently”, has been proven “its useful applicability to human life”, that This "revealed Freud's gross idealistic errors." During the writer's lifetime, the story was never published in full. This first happened only in 1973, and in the USA. In Russia, “Before Sunrise” was published in its entirety only in 1987.