Yuz Aleshkovsky, whose biography is given in this article, is a famous domestic writer and poet, bard. In 1979 he emigrated to the United States, where he remains to this day. In 2001, he became a laureate of the German Pushkin Prize.
early years
Yuz Aleshkovsky, whose biography is given in this article, was born in Krasnoyarsk. He was born in 1929. My father was a soldier.
While he was little, his parents moved to Moscow. In the capital, Hughes Aleshkovsky, whose biography can be found in this article, went to school. Studying was not given to him. As a result, the hero of our article had to change several schools, and once even stay in the second year. This happened when he was in sixth grade. In the end, he was expelled from school.
Before the start of World War II, he was with his father in Latvia, where the military unit of his dad was based. They returned to Moscow in early 1941. When the Germans attacked the USSR, the family was evacuated to Omsk.
Prison term
In the biography of Yuz Aleshkovsky there are many amazing facts. For example, at the age of 20, he went to prison directly from the army. He was called up to serve in the Navy in 1947. Aleshkovsky was in one of the military units of Siberia when he was accused of violating discipline. The court sentenced him to four years in prison.
In 1950, he was sent to a camp, where he stayed until the end of his sentence, 1953. After being released, he was able to get a handyman on a construction site, then worked as a driver, went to pick up virgin soil. In 1955 he returned to Moscow. He began to work in the emergency brigade of the Mosvodoprovod trust.
First publications
Aleshkovsky began to earn a living by literary work in 1965. Before that, he wrote songs to verses of his own composition, but this did not bring income. In addition, most of these songs were anti-government. One of the most famous is called "Song of Stalin", which many will recognize by the first line - "Comrade Stalin, you are a great scientist."
Who in reality is the author of this text was unknown for a long time. Many considered it popular, others thought that it was written by Vladimir Vysotsky. The confusion was aggravated by the fact that Vysotsky, with the exception of this song, almost never included other people's texts in his repertoire.
When it became known that it was Aleshkovsky, many doubted that a person without a completed secondary education, who had no relation to politics, could write poems about the generalissimo.
The fact is that Aleshkovsky served his term under a criminal article. While serving in the army, he hijacked a state-owned car with his comrades, but they ran into a patrol. The experience gained in the Soviet camps, he embodied in this song. Several more songs by Hughes Aleshkovsky are devoted to the camp theme - “Cigarette Butts” and “Personal Date”. He himself admitted that the success of these creations was a big surprise for him.
When the camp lyrics were published in the Metropol magazine, the hero of our article was forced to emigrate to the United States. He went to America through Austria with his wife and stepson. The poems of Hughes Aleshkovsky after the appearance of "Metropol" in an instant became extremely popular in the USSR.
Interestingly, before emigration, Aleshkovsky was officially considered the author of children's literature and film scripts, performances in the role of a bard were informal.
Personal life
Yuz Aleshkovsky had many famous relatives. His brother Mark Haimovich was an archaeologist and historian. He excavated ancient settlements in Smolensk, Pskov and Novgorod. He excavated the wooden children of the Novgorod Kremlin, defended his dissertation on "Tales of Bygone Years."
The nephew of Yuz Aleshkovsky - the son of Mark Khaimovich Peter - was a writer and television presenter. Most of his works are historical - "Harlequin, or Biography", "How Novgorodians went to the Yugra: A Story about Novgorodians, brave navigators of the XII century", "Fortress".
Hughes Aleshkovsky himself was twice married. His first wife, Irina Dmitrievna Nikiforova, was a philologist who specialized in Africa. Known for defending the first doctoral dissertation in the USSR on the genesis and typology of Africa. They had a son, Alexei, who became a television journalist and director.
The second time, Aleshkovsky married in 1976, when he was 47 years old, with 23-year-old Irina Feliksovna, who had just graduated from the university in Vilnius. By that time, she had a four-year-old son, Daniel, together they emigrated to America. Irina became a professor of Slavic studies at Wesleyan University.
"Black-brown fox"
As a children's writer, Aleshkovsky created several famous works, some of which were filmed. In 1967, the publishing house "Children's Literature" published a novel by Yuze Aleshkovsky, "Black-Brown Fox."
The author himself noted that his novel is dedicated not only to schoolchildren, but also to adults who dream of returning to the world of childhood. In an ordinary school or circle in the Palace of Pioneers. But due to the fact that scientists have not yet invented the time machine, he decided to write this story. The main characters are Vovka Ryzhikov, Seryozha Tsarapkin and Petka Kozlov, as well as their many comrades.
The writer admitted that although he invented all these characters, in reality they are very similar to his friends. They know how to be friends, do not tolerate injustice and lies, it happens that they are not lucky or they are mistaken.
At the very beginning of the work, it turns out that a fur coat from a black and brown fox disappeared in the yard . In misfortune, Seryozha Tsarapkin passed by. Residents began to suspect that it was he who took her. Very soon, the matter became very confused, it became obvious that it would be possible to discover the truth only by admitting that they were wrong and mistakes.
"Kysh and Dvuportfelya"
In 1970, perhaps the most famous work was published, which was written by Aleshkovsky Hug - “Kysh and Two Portfolios”. The book tells about the adventures of loyal friends who constantly fall into various troubles.
The main characters are first-class students Alyosha Seroglazov and Snezhana Sokolova. On the first day at school, Alyosha receives the nickname Dvaportfelya from classmates. So he was joked by a journalist who came to write a note about Knowledge Day. In this original way, he measured the growth of a student.
Also in the center of the story is the little puppy Kysh, whom the boy wants to leave at home. But for this, as it turns out, he needs to be educated and protected.
The work became popular largely thanks to the film adaptation. The film of the same name in 1974 was made by Eduard Gavrilov. The script was written by Aleshkovsky himself. Many popular actors played in the film - Leonid Kuravlev, Spartak Mishulin, Nikolai Parfyonov, Natalya Krachkovskaya.
"Kangaroo"
Very popular was also the book by Yuz Aleshkovsky “Kangaroo”. He wrote it in 1974-1975, but he was able to publish it only in the 81st, when he emigrated to America.
This is a rogue novel whose main character is an old thief. He talks about what he suffered during the trial in Stalin's times. One of the characters in the work becomes Stalin himself.
The main character of this story is called Tede.
Over the course of his literary career, the hero of our article has created many works. The collected works of Yuz Aleshkovsky in three volumes were published in Russia in 1996.
Screen versions of the works of Aleshkovsky
In addition to the story "Kysh and Dvaprotfelya", several more works of the hero of our article were filmed.
In 1972, Boris Durov's film novel "Here Is My Village" was released. The main characters are schoolchildren who enthusiastically read stories about Sherlock Holmes and use the deductive method when searching for a cool magazine.
Later it turns out that their knowledge helps to find out the reason for the loss of the hunting rifle, and at the request of Grandfather Anton, friends prove that his house is of cultural value and a museum of ancient architecture is organized in it.
In 1974, Boris Durov made the adventure film "The Occurrence" about the work of the "green patrol" at school. Pupils help foresters rescue wounded animals and catch poachers.
In 1975, Vladimir Sarukhanov released the melodrama "What is happening to you?", The script for which Aleshkovsky writes. This is a story about growing up and first school love.