When Kuprin was born. Important milestones in the life of Alexander Kuprin. The origin of the future writer

In literature, an important transitional stage at the turn of two centuries is associated with the name of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Not last role in this played a historical breakdown in the political and public life Russia. This factor, undoubtedly, has the strongest influence on the writer's work. AI Kuprin is a man of unusual fate and strong disposition. Almost all of his works are based on real events. An ardent fighter for justice sharply, boldly and at the same time lyrically created his masterpieces, which were included in the golden fund of Russian literature.

Kuprin was born in 1870 in the town of Narovchat, Penza province. His father, a small landowner, died suddenly when the future writer was only a year old. Left with his mother and two sisters, he grew up suffering hunger and all kinds of hardships. Experiencing serious financial difficulties connected with the death of her husband, the mother put her daughters in a state boarding house, and together with little Sasha moved to Moscow.

Kuprin's mother, Lyubov Alekseevna, was a proud woman, as she was a descendant of a noble Tatar clan, as well as a native Muscovite. But she had to make a difficult decision for herself - to send her son to be raised in an orphan school.

Kuprin's childhood years, spent within the walls of the boarding house, were bleak, and internal state always seemed depressed. He felt out of place, felt bitterness from the constant oppression of his personality. After all, given the origin of the mother, which the boy was always very proud of, future writer as he grew up and matured, he showed himself as an emotional, active and charismatic person.

Youth and education

After graduating from the orphan school, Kuprin entered a military gymnasium, which was later transformed into cadet corps.

This event greatly influenced further destiny Alexander Ivanovich and, first of all, on his work. After all, it was from the beginning of his studies at the gymnasium that he first revealed his interest in writing, and the image of second lieutenant Romashov from the famous story "The Duel" is the prototype of the author himself.

Service in the infantry regiment allowed Kuprin to visit many remote cities and provinces of Russia, to study military science, the basics of army discipline and drills. The topic of officer's everyday life has taken a strong position in many works of art author, which subsequently caused controversial disputes in society.

It would seem that a military career is the fate of Alexander Ivanovich. But his rebellious nature did not allow this to come true. By the way, the service was completely alien to him. There is a version that Kuprin, under the influence of alcohol, threw a police officer from the bridge into the water. In connection with this incident, he soon retired and left military affairs forever.

History of success

After leaving the service, Kuprin experienced an urgent need to obtain comprehensive knowledge. Therefore, he began to actively travel around Russia, to meet people, to draw from communication with them a lot of new and useful things for himself. At the same time, Alexander Ivanovich strove to try his hand at different professions... He gained experience in the field of land surveyors, circus artists, anglers, even pilots. However, one of the flights almost ended in tragedy: as a result of the plane crash, Kuprin almost died.

He also worked with interest as a journalist in various print media, wrote notes, essays, articles. The adventurer's vein allowed him to successfully develop everything he started. He was open to everything new and absorbed what was happening around him like a sponge. Kuprin was a researcher by nature: he eagerly studied human nature, I wanted to feel all the facets of interpersonal communication on myself. Therefore, in time military service faced with obvious officer licentiousness, hazing and humiliation human dignity, the creator, in a revealing manner, formed the basis for writing his most famous works, such as "The Duel", "Juncker", "At the Break (Cadets)".

The writer built the plots of all his works, relying solely on personal experience and the memories he received during his service and travels in Russia. The openness, simplicity, sincerity of the presentation of thoughts, as well as the reliability of the description of the characters' images became the key to the author's success in the literary path.

Creation

Kuprin was eager for his people with all his heart, and his explosive and honest character, due to Tatar origin mother, would not allow to distort in the letter those facts about the lives of people, which he personally witnessed.

However, Alexander Ivanovich did not condemn all of his characters, even bringing them to the surface. dark sides... Being a humanist and a desperate fighter for justice, Kuprin figuratively demonstrated this feature of his in the work "The Pit". It tells about the life of the inhabitants of brothels. But the writer does not focus on the heroines as fallen women, on the contrary, he invites readers to understand the preconditions of their fall, in the torment of their hearts and souls, invites them to discern in every woman whore, above all, a person.

More than one Kuprin's work is saturated with the theme of love. The most striking of them is the story "". In it, as in Yama, there is an image of the narrator, an explicit or implicit participant in the events described. But the narrator in Oles is one of the two main characters. This is a story about a noble love, partly the heroine considers herself unworthy, whom everyone takes for a witch. However, the girl has nothing to do with her. On the contrary, her image embodies all possible female virtues. The ending of the story cannot be called happy, because the heroes do not reunite in their sincere impulse, but are forced to lose each other. But happiness for them lies in the fact that they had a chance in life to experience the power of all-consuming mutual love.

Of course, the story "Duel" deserves special attention as a reflection of all the horrors of army customs that reigned then in tsarist Russia... This is a vivid confirmation of the features of realism in Kuprin's work. Perhaps that is why the story caused a flurry negative reviews critics and the public. The hero of Romashov in the same rank of second lieutenant as Kuprin himself, who once retired, like the author, appears before the readers in the light of an extraordinary personality, whose psychological growth we have the opportunity to observe from page to page. This book brought wide popularity to its creator and rightfully occupies one of the central places in his bibliography.

Kuprin did not support the revolution in Russia, although at first he met quite often with Lenin. Ultimately, the writer emigrated to France, where he continued his literary work... In particular, Alexander Ivanovich loved to write for children. Some of his stories ("White Poodle", "", "Starlings") undoubtedly deserve the attention of the target audience.

Personal life

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was married twice. The first wife of the writer was Maria Davydova, the daughter of a famous musician-cellist. In marriage, a daughter, Lydia, was born, who later died during her childbirth. The only grandson of Kuprin, who was born, died from wounds received during the Second World War.

The second time the writer married Elizabeth Heinrich, with whom he lived until the end of his days. In marriage, two daughters were born, Zinaida and Ksenia. But the first died in early childhood from pneumonia, and the second became famous actress... However, the continuation of the Kuprin family did not follow, and today he has no direct descendants.

Kuprin's second wife survived him by only four years and, unable to withstand the ordeal of hunger during the siege of Leningrad, committed suicide.

1. Kuprin was proud of his Tatar origin, so he often wore a national caftan and skullcap, going out in such attire for people, went to visit.
2. Partly thanks to his acquaintance with IA Bunin, Kuprin became a writer. Bunin once asked him to write a note on a topic of interest to him, which marked the beginning literary activity Alexander Ivanovich.
3. The author was famous for his sense of smell. Once, visiting Fyodor Chaliapin, he shocked everyone present, eclipsing the invited perfumer with his unique flair, unmistakably recognizing all the components of the new fragrance. Sometimes, when meeting new people, Alexander Ivanovich sniffed them, thereby putting everyone in an awkward position. They said that this helped him to better understand the essence of the person in front of him.
4. Throughout his life, Kuprin changed about twenty professions.
5. After meeting in Odessa with A.P. Chekhov, the writer went at his invitation to St. Petersburg to work in famous magazine... Since then, the author acquired a reputation as a rowdy and drunkard, as he often took part in entertainment events in a new environment for himself.
6. The first wife, Maria Davydova, tried to eradicate some kind of disorganization inherent in Alexander Ivanovich. If he fell asleep while working, she deprived him of breakfast, or forbade him to enter the house, if new chapters of the work on which he was working at that time were not ready.
7. The first monument to A.I.Kuprin was erected only in 2009 in Balaklava in the Crimea. This is due to the fact that in 1905, during the Ochakov uprising of the sailors, the writer helped them hide, thereby saving their lives.
8. There were legends about the literary drunkenness. In particular, the wits repeated famous saying: "If the truth is in wine, how many truths are in Kuprin?"

Death

The writer returned from emigration to the USSR in 1937, but already with poor health. He had hopes that a second wind would open in his homeland, he would improve his condition and be able to write again. At that time, Kuprin's vision was rapidly deteriorating.

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Famous Russian writer, classic of Russian literature.

Date and place of birth - September 7, 1870, Narovchatsky district, Penza province, Russian Empire.

Most Interesting Facts from the life of Kuprin. To learn about Kuprin, we made this post just for you, where the whole life of a Russian writer is collected in facts.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the district town of Narovchat (now the Penza region) in the family of an official, hereditary nobleman Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin (1834-1871), who died a year after the birth of his son.

Kuprin loved to sniff the people around him like a dog.

Garnet bracelet

The story of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, written in 1910. Based on a true story.

On her name day, Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina received from her long-time anonymous admirer a gold bracelet as a gift, with five large deep-red cabochon garnets surrounding a green stone - a rare garnet. As a married woman, she considered herself not entitled to receive any gifts from strangers.

Her brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, the assistant to the prosecutor, together with Prince Vasily Lvovich found the sender. It turned out to be a modest official Georgy Zheltkov. Many years ago he accidentally circus performance saw Princess Vera in the box and fell in love with her pure and unrequited love... Several times a year, on major holidays, he allowed himself to write letters to her.

Mother - Lyubov Alekseevna (1838-1910), nee Kulunchakova, came from a clan of Tatar princes (noblewoman, did not have a princely title). After the death of her husband, she moved to Moscow, where they passed early years and the adolescence of the future writer.

Alexander Ivanovich had Tatar roots, and he was proud of it.

At the age of six, the boy was sent to the Moscow Razumovskaya school, from where he left in 1880. In the same year he entered the Second Moscow Military Gymnasium.

Kuprin always behaved softly and politely with females, as well as boldly and harshly with males.

In 1887 he was enrolled in the Alexandrovskoe military school... Subsequently, he will describe his military youth in the novels "At the Turning Point (Cadets)" and in the novel "Juncker".

The story of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. One of the first major works Kuprin, written in 1898 and published in the same year in the newspaper "Kievlyanin". According to the author, this is one of his favorite works. main topic – tragic love the city master Ivan Timofeevich and the young girl Olesya, who has unusual abilities.

Kuprin liked to quarrel with everyone who fell under his arm during drunkenness.

In 1890, Kuprin, with the rank of second lieutenant, was released into the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment, stationed in the Podolsk province, in Proskurov. He served as an officer for four years.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, until he became a famous writer, changed about 10 professions.

In 1893-1894 in the St. Petersburg magazine " Russian wealth"Published his story" In the Dark ", stories" On a moonlit night"And" Inquiry ".

Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet" is based on a story he heard as a child

In 1894, Lieutenant Kuprin retired and moved to Kiev, having no civilian profession. In the following years he traveled a lot across Russia, having tried many professions, eagerly absorbing life impressions, which became the basis of his future works.

Alexander Kuprin's story about prostitution. In the Yamskaya Sloboda (simply called "Yama") of some southern city on Bolshaya and Malaya Yamskaya streets, there are a number of open brothels.

In the Yamskaya Sloboda (simply called "Yama") of some southern city on Bolshaya and Malaya Yamskaya streets, there are a number of open brothels. We are talking about Anna Markovna Shoybes' establishment, which was not one of the chic, but also not of the low-grade, competition with Treppel's establishment. Describes the typical way of life of local prostitutes, deprived of passports, an attempt to "rescue" Lyubka, one of the girls, ending with her abandonment and her return to a brothel.

One of the main plot lines you can call the story of one of the prostitutes of the Yama - Zhenya, who had the most vivid character (proud and evil - Platonov will characterize her). When a client infected her with syphilis, at first she, not wanting to be treated, wanted to infect as many men as possible for the sake of revenge, but taking pity on the boy cadet, who was the only one who was polite to her, she "confessed" to the reporter Platonov and hanged herself. It is important that prostitutes were given fictitious, "beautiful" names, and only when Zhenya hanged herself, the author calls her real name - Susanna Raitsyna - which can be perceived as a kind of personification of liberation.

In 1909 he managed to win an award for a three-volume edition.

Kuprin's first literary experience was poetry that remained unpublished. The first published work is the story "The Last Debut" (1889).

Kuprin took part in the military uprising of sailors in Sevastopol.

1890-1900 Kuprin met I. A. Bunin, A. P. Chekhov and M. Gorky. In 1901 he moved to St. Petersburg, began to work as the secretary of the "Journal for All". In St. Petersburg magazines, Kuprin's stories appeared: "Swamp" (1902), "Horse thieves" (1903), "White Poodle" (1903).

Kuprin was often called "the most sensitive nose of Russia."

In the years between the two revolutions, Kuprin published a cycle of essays "Listrigona" (1907-1911), stories "Shulamith" (1908), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911) and others, the story "Liquid Sun" (1912). His prose has become a prominent phenomenon in Russian literature. In 1911 he settled in Gatchina with his family.

Duel

The story of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, published in 1905. The story describes the history of the conflict between the young second lieutenant Romashov and the senior officer, developing against the background of the collision of the romantic worldview of an intelligent young man with the world of a provincial infantry regiment, with its provincial morals, drill and vulgarity of officer society. The most significant work in the work of Kuprin.

Kuprin was distinguished by excessive laziness.

After the outbreak of the First World War, he opened a military hospital in his house and campaigned in the newspapers for citizens to take war loans. In November 1914 he was mobilized and sent to the militia in Finland as the commander of an infantry company. Demobilized in July 1915 for health reasons.

Until his death, Kuprin had to do the "black work of journalism."

In 1915 Kuprin completed work on the story "The Pit", in which he talks about the life of prostitutes in brothels. The story was condemned for excessive naturalism. Nuravkin's publishing house, which published Yama in the German edition, was brought to justice by the prosecutor's office for “distributing pornographic publications”.

Russian soul

The book by A.I. Kuprin (1870-1938) includes works different years, including such recognized masterpieces as "The Wonderful Doctor", "White Poodle", "Listrigones", "Paganini's Violin".

.Kuprin wrote more than 20 famous works today.

In 1917, he completed work on the story "The Star of Solomon", in which, having creatively reworked the classic story about Faust and Mephistopheles, he raised questions about free will and the role of chance in human destiny.

Kuprin liked to put on a painted robe and skullcap, because this emphasized his Tatar origin.

After the October coup, the writer did not accept the policy of war communism and the terror associated with it, Kuprin emigrated to France. He worked in the publishing house "World Literature", founded by M. Gorky. At the same time he translated F. Schiller's drama Don Carlos. In July 1918, after the murder of Volodarsky, he was arrested, spent three days in prison, was released and put on the list of hostages.

A novel by the Russian writer A.I. Kuprin, written in 1928-1932. It is a continuation of the story "At the Break". First, individual chapters were printed in the newspaper Vozrozhdenie. In 1933 it was published as a separate edition.

Kuprin tried to describe only positive features own heroes.

After the defeat of the North-Western Army, he was in Reval, from December 1919 - in Helsingfors, from July 1920 - in Paris.

The surname of the famous writer comes from the name of the river in the Tambov province.

In 1937, at the invitation of the government of the USSR, Kuprin returned to his homeland. Kuprin's return to Soviet Union was preceded by an appeal by the plenipotentiary representative of the USSR in France, V.P. Potemkin, on August 7, 1936, with a corresponding proposal to I.V. Stalin (who gave a preliminary "go-ahead"), and on October 12, 1936, with a letter to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs N.I. Yezhov ...

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was very fond of animals and dedicated many of his works to them. “I have never seen Kuprin walk past the dog on the street and stop not to stroke him,” recalls one of the writer's friends. All the animals that became the heroes of his stories actually existed: some lived in the house of the writer himself or his friends, he learned about the fate of others from the newspapers. Kuprin's favorite was the Sapsan - a beautiful and powerful dog of the ancient Medelyan breed. This book will teach children to treat our smaller brothers with love and attention, to appreciate their devotion and affection for man. Expressive illustrations by Mikhail Solomonovich Mayofis perfectly complement the touching and good story about the faithful friend Sapsan.

The first wife of Kuprin was Marya Karlovna Davydova, the publisher's adopted daughter.

Soviet propaganda tried to create the image of a repentant writer who returned to chant happy life in USSR. According to L. Rasskazova, in all the memos of Soviet officials it is recorded that Kuprin is weak, sick, inoperative and unable to write anything.

Kuprin had to work as an orderly in the morgue.

Kuprin died on the night of August 25, 1938 from esophageal cancer. He was buried in Leningrad at Literatorskie mostki of the Volkovskoye cemetery next to the grave of I.S.Turgenev.

From his second marriage, Kuprin had a little daughter, Ksenia. She worked as a fashion model.

Source-Internet

Various life circumstances and dramatic plots in the works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin are explained primarily by the fact that his own life was very "action-packed" and difficult. It seems that when, in a review of Kipling's story "The Brave Navigators", he wrote about people who had gone through the "iron school of life, full of need, danger, grief and resentment," he recalled what he himself experienced.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26, 1870 in the Penza province in the city of Narovchat. The father of the future writer Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a commoner (an intellectual who did not belong to the nobility), held the modest position of secretary of the magistrate. Mother, Lyubov Alexandrovna came from noblemen, but impoverished.

When the boy was not even a year old, his father died of cholera, leaving the family without a livelihood. The widow and her son were forced to settle in the Moscow Widows House. Lyubov Alexandrovna really wanted her Sasha to become an officer, and when he was 6 years old, his mother assigned him to the Razumovsky boarding house. He was preparing boys for admission to a secondary military educational institution.

Sasha stayed in this boarding house for about 4 years. In 1880, he began studying at the 2nd Moscow Military Gymnasium, which was later reorganized into a cadet corps. I must say that stick discipline reigned within the walls of the military gymnasium. The situation was aggravated by searches, espionage, surveillance, and the mockery of older inmates over the younger ones. All this situation roughened and corrupted the soul. But Sasha Kuprin, being in this nightmare, managed to maintain spiritual health, which later became a charming feature of his work.

In 1888, Alexander finished his studies in the corps and entered the 3rd Military Alexander School, which trained infantry officers. In August 1890, he graduated from it and went to serve in the 46th Infantry Dnieper Regiment. After that, the service began in the remote and godforsaken corners of the Podolsk province.

In the fall of 1894 Kuprin retired and moved to Kiev. By this time he had already written 4 published works: "The Last Debut", "In the Dark", "Moonlit Night", "Inquiry". In the same 1894, the young writer began to collaborate in the newspapers Kievskoe Slovo, Zhizn i Iskusstvo, and at the beginning of 1895 he became an employee of the Kievlyanin newspaper.

He wrote a number of essays and combined them into the book "Types of Kiev". This work was published in 1896. Even more significant for young writer became 1897, since the first collection of his stories "Miniatures" was published.

In 1896, Alexander Kuprin went on a trip to the factories and mines of the Donetsk basin. Eager to thoroughly study real life, he gets a job at one of the factories as head of accounting for a forge and a carpentry workshop. In this new quality for him, the future famous writer worked for several months. During this time, material was collected not only for a number of essays, but also for the story "Moloch".

In the second half of the 90s, Kuprin's life begins to resemble a kaleidoscope. He organized an athletic society in Kiev in 1896 and began to actively engage in sports. In 1897 he got a job as a manager in an estate located in the Rivne district. Then he is fond of dental prosthetics and works as a dentist for some time. In 1899 he joined a traveling theater group for several months.

In the same 1899, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin came to Yalta. It happened in this city significant event his life - a meeting with Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. After that Kuprin visited Yalta both in 1900 and 1901. Chekhov introduced him to many writers and publishers. Among them was V. S. Mirolyubov, the publisher of the St. Petersburg Journal for All. Mirolyubov invited Alexander Ivanovich to the position of the journal's secretary. He agreed and in the fall of 1901 he moved to St. Petersburg.

A meeting with Maxim Gorky took place in the city on the Neva. Kuprin wrote about this man in his letter to Chekhov in 1902: “I met Gorky. There is something harsh, ascetic, preaching about him. " In 1903, the Gorky publishing house "Knowledge" published the first volume of stories by Alexander Kuprin.

In 1905, there was a very an important event v creative life writer. Again, the publishing house "Knowledge" published his story "The Duel". It was followed by other works: "Dreams", "Mechanical Justice", "Wedding", "River of Life", "Gambrinus", "Murderer", "Delirium", "Resentment". All of them were a response to the first Russian revolution and expressed dreams of freedom.

The revolution was followed by years of reaction. During this period, vague philosophical and Political Views... At the same time, he created works that became worthy examples of Russian classical literature... Here you can name "Garnet Bracelet", "Holy Lie", "Pit", "Grunya", "Starlings" and others. In the same period, the concept of the novel "Juncker" was born.

During February revolution Alexander Ivanovich lived in Gatchina. He warmly welcomed the abdication of the sovereign and the transfer of power to the Provisional Government. But he took the October coup negatively. He published in bourgeois newspapers, which came out until mid-1918, articles in which he questioned the reorganization of society on a socialist basis. But gradually the tone of his articles began to change.

In the second half of 1918, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin already spoke with respect about the activities of the Bolshevik Party. In one of his articles, he even called the Bolsheviks people of "crystal purity." But apparently this man was characterized by doubts and hesitations. When Yudenich's troops occupied Gatchina in October 1919, the writer supported the new government, and then, together with the White Guard units, left Gatchina, fleeing the advancing Red Army.

He first moved to Finland, and in 1920 he moved to France. As many as 17 years the author of "Olesya" and "Duel" spent in a foreign land, living most time in Paris. It was a difficult but fruitful period. From the pen of the Russian classic came such collections of prose as "The Dome of St. Isaak Dolmatsky "," The Wheel of Time "," Elan ", as well as the novels" Janet "," Juncker ".

Living abroad, Alexander Ivanovich had little idea of ​​what was happening at home. He heard about greatest achievements Soviet power, about great construction projects, about universal equality and brotherhood. All this aroused great interest in the soul of the classic. And every year he was drawn more and more to Russia.

In August 1936, the plenipotentiary representative of the USSR in France V.P. Potemkin asked Stalin to allow Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin to come to the USSR. This issue was considered by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and it was decided to allow the entry of the writer Kuprin into the country of the Soviets. On May 31, 1937, the great Russian classic returned home to the city of his youth - Moscow.

However, he arrived in Russia seriously ill. Alexander Ivanovich was weak, unable to work and could not write. In the summer of 1937, the newspaper Izvestia published an article entitled “Native Moscow”. It was signed by A.I. Kuprin. The article was laudatory, and every line breathed admiration for socialist achievements. However, it is assumed that the article was written by another person, a Moscow journalist assigned to the writer.

On the night of August 25, 1938, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin died at the age of 67. The cause of death was esophageal cancer. The classic was buried in the city of Leningrad at the Literatorskie Mostki of the Volkovskoye cemetery, not far from Turgenev's grave. This is how the talented Russian writer ended his life, who embodied in his works the best traditions of Russian Literature XIX century.

Ivan Bunin was one of the greatest writers in Russian literature.

The childhood of the writer, who was born in Voronezh, in 1870, was spent on the Butyrki farm, near Yelets. Due to a complete incapacity for arithmetic and general ill health, Ivan could not study at the gymnasium and after spending 2 years in the 3rd grade, he receives a home education. His teacher was an ordinary student at Moscow University.

In the late 1880s, he began publishing his provincial poems. The very first story, sent to the magazine "Russian wealth", delighted the publisher Mikhailovsky, the author of one of the classic articles on Leo Tolstoy. Bunin studied at the gymnasium again, but in 1886 he was expelled because he did not keep up. For the next 4 years he lives on his estate, where he is taught by his older brother. In 1889, fate threw him to Kharkov, where he became close to the populists. In 1891 his first work was published - "Poems of 1887-1891". And at the same time, I begin to publish his works, which have gained immense popularity. In 1900, the story “ Antonov apples", Which depicts Russian estates with their own way of life. This piece has become a masterpiece the latest prose... Literally 3 years later, Bunin is awarded the Pushkin Prize Russian Academy sciences.

Having been unsuccessfully married 2 times, the writer meets Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva in St. Petersburg, who was his wife until his last breath. Honeymoon trip that took place in eastern countries was the result of the release of the series of essays "The Shadow of the Bird". When Bunin is in literary circles became a famous and wealthy gentleman, he began to travel constantly and spent almost all the cold season on trips to Turkey, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, Syria.

1909 became a special year for Ivan Alekseevich. He was elected an honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A year later, his first serious work, The Village, was born, where the writer spoke tragically about the catastrophic modernity. Having gone through hard October revolution, The Bunins went to Odessa, and then emigrated to Constantinople. At first, the life of the writer did not develop the best way... He was gradually experiencing a shortage of money. In 1921, the work "Mister from San Francisco" was published, where Bunin shows the meaninglessness of the material human existence... But there were also bright days in his life.

Literary fame in Europe was growing, and when the question once again arose about which of the Russian writers would be the first to enter the rank Nobel laureates, his name came up by itself. On November 9, 1933, an ode to Bunin was awarded this award. The financial problem has disappeared. Reprints followed. Before the war, the writer lived in peace, but in 1936 he was arrested in Germany and soon released. In 1943 his famous “ Dark alleys". Ivan Alekseevich last years his life path worked on the book "Memories". The writer never finished this work. Bunin died on November 8, 1953 in Paris.

Very briefly

On September 7, 1870, the wonderful writer Alexander Kuprin was born. Immediately after birth, he was left without a father who died of terrible disease... After 4 years, my mother was forced to move to Moscow. In spite of strong love, she sends him to an orphanage school, due to a difficult financial situation.

Later Kuprin was admitted to a military gymnasium, and he remained to live in Moscow. His talent for writing began to unfold in academic years, and released his first work in 1889, under the title "The Last Debut", but not everyone approved of it and he gets a reprimand.

In 1890-1894. he goes to serve near Podolsk. Having finished, he begins to move from city to city and stops at Sevastopol. He did not have a job, so very often there was nothing to eat, despite his service and rank. Despite this, Kuprin was forming at this time as a writer, thanks to good relationship with I. A. Bunin, A. P. Chekhov and M. Gorky. And he writes several stories that are in great demand and he is awarded the Pushkin Prize.

When the war began, he did not hesitate to volunteer. In 1915 he was forced to leave due to poor health. But even then he managed to do a useful job by organizing a hospital at his home. After that he supported the revolution in 1917 and collaborated with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. But for some unknown reason, he decides to leave for France and continues his activity there. Then he returns back to the USSR, where he was not so well received. Dies in Leningrad on August 25, 1938.

For kids

Biography of Alexander Kuprin

Alexander Kuprin, one of the most famous writers Russia, was born in a family far from literature, from the capital. His father, a minor official, died when his son was barely a year old. Together with his mother, the family moved to Moscow, where the future prose writer spent his childhood and youth.

Petersburg glory Kuprin

In St. Petersburg, Alexander Kuprin was too late for this city to fall at his feet at once. The writer was a little over 30. Behind him was not a very successful military career, which ended with the rank of lieutenant, and seven-year ordeals in Kiev. There Kuprin, who had no civilian profession, tried many professions and settled on literature.

Kuprin practically did not write major works in terms of the number of pages. But he always managed to depict in a story from a couple of book sheets the whole world... The writer's plots are original and dramatically tightly cut: no unnecessary words and characters. The reading public immediately noticed accuracy in everything: in descriptions, epithets, meaning. And Petersburg instantly accepted Kuprin.

At the beginning of the 20th century, he was called everywhere, if only he could recite his stories. And the enthusiastic audience filled up the stage with flowers, where Alexander Ivanovich read his stories. Kuprin became a literary star. His Petersburg seems simple and ordinary in appearance, but in Kuprin's stories the city is just a place of action. People who live and work in the northern capital come to the fore.

The main hit of the Petersburg literary salons of the early 20th century is the spy story "Headquarters Captain Rybnikov". Kuprin read this work for an encore everywhere: in salons, restaurants, student audiences. Topical themes and impeccable dramatic plot attracted the attention of the public. Kuprin was especially pleased. It was at this time that the writer, who lived in St. Petersburg for a year less than a week, became a candidate for the first State Duma of the Russian Empire.

Relations with the Kuprin government

Kuprin loved his homeland. But World War, which began in 1914, changed it. Now patriotism has become the meaning of his whole life. In the newspapers, the writer campaigned for war loans. And at home, in the Gatchina house, he opened a small military hospital. Kuprin was even called to war, but his health was already weak then. Soon he was discharged.

Returning from the front, Kuprin again began to write a lot. There is more Petersburg in his stories. Alexander Kuprin did not accept the Bolsheviks. They, with their animal desire for power and bestial cruelty, were disgusting to him. According to his views, Kuprin was close to the Socialist-Revolutionaries: not to those who were part of the militant organizations, but to the peaceful socialist-revolutionaries.

Kuprin worked as a journalist in Gatchina, but often visited Petrograd. He came to Lenin's reception with a proposal to publish a special newspaper for the village called "Earth". However, the problems of the village were of interest to the Bolsheviks only in words. The newspaper was not founded, and Kuprin was imprisoned for 3 days. Once released, they were included in the list of hostages, that is, on any day they could shoot a bullet in the forehead. Kuprin did not wait and went to the whites.

Emigration of Kuprin

There he did not fight, but was engaged in journalism. But he never stopped writing stories. He settled his characters in Petrograd, which was close to him. New power Kuprin did not accept at all, called her the Council of Deputies, and ultimately had to emigrate.

Soviet propaganda of the emigrant Kuprin destroyed. Political literary critics close to the Kremlin wrote that abroad the once talented Russian writer has fallen into disrepair: he does nothing but drink and write nothing. This was not true. Kuprin wrote as much, but the Petersburg scenery in his stories became less and less.

After 15 years, he wrote a petition to be allowed to return to the USSR. Stalin gave such consent, and Kuprin returned to those places from which he fled during civil war... In 1937, Kuprin, suffering from cancer, returned to his homeland to die. He died a year later, and the authorities of the country of the Soviets began posthumously to make the writer their own.

It wasn't easy. Kuprin's Petersburg with its people was not superimposed as a transparent tracing paper on the appearance of the city of three revolutions with the name of Lenin. These were two different cities. Did he admit Soviet power is definitely hard to say. But Kuprin could not live without Russia.

Biography by dates and interesting facts. The most important thing.

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Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the district town of Narovchat (now the Penza region) in the family of an official, hereditary nobleman Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin (1834-1871), who died a year after the birth of his son. Mother, Lyubov Alekseevna (1838-1910), nee Kulunchakova, came from a clan of Tatar princes (noblewoman, did not have a princely title). After the death of her husband, she moved to Moscow, where the future writer spent her childhood and adolescence. At the age of six, the boy was sent to the Moscow Razumovsky boarding house (orphanage), from where he left in 1880. In the same year he entered the Second Moscow Cadet Corps.

In 1887 he was graduated from the Alexander Military School. Subsequently, he will describe his "military youth" in the stories "At the Break (Cadets)" and in the novel "Juncker".

Kuprin's first literary experience was poetry that remained unpublished. The first work to be published was the story "The Last Debut" (1889).

In 1890, Kuprin, with the rank of second lieutenant, was released into the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment, stationed in the Podolsk province (in Proskurov). The officer's life that he led during four years, gave rich material for his future works.

In 1893-1894, his story "In the Dark", the stories "Moonlit Night" and "Inquiry" were published in the St. Petersburg magazine "Russkoye Bogatstvo". Kuprin has several stories on the military theme: "Overnight" (1897), " Night shift"(1899)," Hike ".

In 1894, Lieutenant Kuprin retired and moved to Kiev, having no civilian profession. In the following years he traveled a lot across Russia, having tried many professions, eagerly absorbing life impressions, which became the basis of his future works.

During these years Kuprin met I. A. Bunin, A. P. Chekhov and M. Gorky. In 1901 he moved to St. Petersburg, began to work as the secretary of the "Journal for All". In St. Petersburg magazines, Kuprin's stories appeared: "Swamp" (1902), "Horse thieves" (1903), "White Poodle" (1903).

In 1905 his most significant work was published - the story "The Duel", which had great success. The writer's speeches with the reading of individual chapters of the "Duel" became an event cultural life capital Cities. His other works of this time: short stories "Headquarters-Captain Rybnikov" (1906), "River of Life", "Gambrinus" (1907), essay "Events in Sevastopol" (1905). In 1906 he was a candidate for the State Duma of the 1st convocation from the St. Petersburg province.

Kuprin's work in the years between the two revolutions resisted the decadent moods of those years: a cycle of essays "Listrigones" (1907-1911), stories about animals, stories "Shulamith" (1908), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911), fantastic story Liquid Sun (1912). His prose has become a prominent phenomenon in Russian literature. In 1911 he settled in Gatchina with his family.

After the outbreak of the First World War, he opened a military hospital in his house and campaigned in the newspapers for citizens to take war loans. In November 1914 he was mobilized into the army and sent to Finland as an infantry company commander. Demobilized in July 1915 for health reasons.

In 1915 Kuprin completed work on the story "The Pit", in which he talks about the life of prostitutes in Russian brothels. The story was condemned for excessive, in the opinion of critics, naturalism. Nuravkin's publishing house, which published Kuprin's Pit in the German edition, was prosecuted by the prosecutor's office for “distributing pornographic publications”.

He met the abdication of Nicholas II in Helsingfors, where he underwent treatment, and received it with enthusiasm. After returning to Gatchina, he was the editor of the newspapers “ Free Russia"," Liberty "," Petrogradsky leaf ", sympathized with the Socialist-Revolutionaries. After the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, the writer did not accept the policy of war communism and the terror associated with it. In 1918 he went to Lenin with a proposal to publish a newspaper for the village - "Earth". He worked in the publishing house "World Literature", founded by M. Gorky. At this time, he made a translation of "Don Carlos" by F. Schiller. He was arrested, spent three days in prison, was released and put on the hostage list.

On October 16, 1919, with the arrival of the Whites in Gatchina, he entered the rank of lieutenant in the North-Western Army, was appointed editor of the army newspaper "Prinevsky Krai", which was headed by General P. N. Krasnov.

After the defeat of the North-Western Army, he went to Revel, and from there in December 1919 to Helsinki, where he stayed until July 1920, after which he went to Paris.

The seventeen years that the writer spent in Paris, contrary to the opinion of Soviet literary criticism, were a fruitful period.

According to the version of Soviet literary criticism, Kuprin, who was almost forcibly mobilized by the Whites and who ended up in emigration through a misunderstanding, did not write anything worthwhile abroad.

In fact, fifty-year-old Kuprin, released from military service for health reasons, went to white army volunteer, about the officers of the North-Western Army, he wrote: “In officers only people of excessively high fighting qualities got along. In this army, one could not hear about an officer such definitions as brave, brave, courageous, heroic, and so on. There were two definitions: "a good officer" or, occasionally, - "yes, if in the hands." Seeing his duty in the fight against the Bolsheviks, he was proud of his service in this army, if he could, he would go into service, to a position. As an expensive relic in emigration, he kept the lieutenant's field shoulder straps and a three-color corner on the sleeve, sewn by Elizaveta Moritsevna. After the defeat, having already been in prison and hostage, he saved himself and his family from terror. The writer did not accept dictatorship as a form of power, Soviet Russia called the Council of Deputies.

During the years of emigration Kuprin wrote three great stories, many stories, articles and essays. His prose brightened noticeably. If the "Duel" reduces the image of a noble tsarist officer almost to the level of a modern officer, the "Juncker" is filled with the spirit of the Russian army, invincible and immortal. “I would like,” Kuprin said, “that the past, which is gone forever, our schools, our cadets, our life, customs, traditions remain at least on paper and not disappear not only from the world, but even from the memory of people. "Juncker" is my testament to the Russian youth. "

By 1930, the Kuprin family had become impoverished and mired in debt. His literary fees were meager, and alcoholism accompanied all his years in Paris. Since 1932, his eyesight has deteriorated steadily, and his handwriting has become significantly worse. Returning to the Soviet Union was the only solution to material and psychological problems Kuprin. At the end of 1936, he still decided to apply for a visa. In 1937, at the invitation of the government of the USSR, he returned to his homeland. Kuprin's return to the Soviet Union was preceded by an appeal by the plenipotentiary representative of the USSR in France, V.P. Potemkin, on August 7, 1936, with a corresponding proposal to I.V. N.I. Yezhov. Yezhov sent Potemkin's note to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, which on October 23, 1936 made a decision: "to allow the entry into the USSR for writer A. I. Kuprin" (I. V. Stalin, V. M. Molotov, V. Ya. Chubar and A. A. Andreev; K. E. Voroshilov abstained).

He died on the night of August 25, 1938 from esophageal cancer. He was buried in Leningrad at Literatorskie mostki of the Volkovskoye cemetery next to the grave of I.S.Turgenev.