Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin: biography, list of books and interesting facts

87 years of this man’s life span an entire era. Brought up on the traditions of classical literature, he tried to reflect in his books heroes of a new type, born in other historical conditions.

Several generations were brought up on his main novel, absorbing from it not adherence to ideological postulates, but the truth of the ideals of friendship, steadfastness in achieving the goal and elementary decency, to which Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin himself remained faithful both in his long literary work and in life.

“I think I was a capable boy ...”

He was the youngest child in a large family of military musician Alexander Abramovich Zilber, who served in the Omsk Infantry Regiment. Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin was born in the spring of 1902, when a large family lived for more than 5 years in Pskov. All 6 Zilber's children were gifted, subsequently reaching serious heights not only in music, but also in science. So, Alexander became a prominent composer and conductor, who later took the pseudonym Ruchev, Elena as a musicologist, Leo as the founder of an entire scientific school of Soviet medical virology.

The thoroughness of the intellectual and creative baggage for the future life, the children of the bandmaster Zilber owed much to their mother, Anna Grigoryevna. She was a pianist, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, who had a good education and wide views, which made their home a popular meeting place for progressive youth in the provincial Pskov. Obviously, it was under her influence that the future writer quickly became involved in reading.

Favorite Writer - Stevenson

He became a real book-sweeper, absorbing in large quantities literature of various properties: fairy tales of Andersen and Perrot, books of Dickens and Victor Hugo, works of Russian classics, adventure novels by Fenimore Cooper and Emar, tales of Sherlock Holmes and tabloid books about noble robbers and detectives. As Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin later recalled, he especially liked Robert Stevenson, who was amazed at the ability to grab attention without a trace, through “the power of the cohesion of words that gives rise to the miracle of art.”

In addition to the mother, who paid great attention to the development of children, the elder brother Leo was a great authority for the boy. The friend and classmate of Leo, Yuri Tynyanov, later a famous literary critic and writer, author of “Lieutenant Kizhe”, “Kyuhli” and “Wazir-Mukhtar's Death”, became the man who had a great influence on the formation of the literary tastes of the future writer and instilled in him a real passion for literature. . Tynianov for a long time became a real friend for Kaverin. It is interesting that he later married the sister of Leo and Veni - Elena, and Benjamin Alexandrovich Kaverin himself subsequently was married all his long life to Tynianov’s sister - Lydia Nikolaevna.

His universities

During his studies at the Pskov provincial gymnasium, in which he spent 6 years, the only problem for Kaverin was mathematics. Since high school, he has been trying to write poetry, which at that time was a common thing for young people with a humanitarian mindset.

Kaverin’s childhood ended in 1918 after the capture of Pskov by German troops, and he finished high school already in Moscow. There he enters the university. Then he moves to the capital - Petrograd. There, through Tynianov, he draws closer to many famous writers - V. Shklovsky, E. Schwartz, Vs. Ivanov and others. Kaverin also dreams of practicing literature, particularly versification. Veniamin Aleksandrovich, whose biography eventually became an example of the selfless service of Russian literature, received the first severe lessons on this path. Osip Mandelstam proved himself to be the most cruel to his poetic creations: “Poetry must be protected from people like you!”

The poems were over, and Kaverin decided to devote himself to science. He enters the ISTF at Petrograd University and at the same time at the Arabic branch of the Institute of Living Oriental Languages.

The first prose writer experience

Nevertheless, Kaverin was not destined to overcome his craving for writing. Once, after an exam on Lobachevsky’s theory, he saw a poster about a literary competition held by the House of Writers. Ten minutes, which took the road to the house, Kaverin then called fateful, determining the main features of his life. He decides to switch to prose and ponders his story, with which he will take part in the competition.

Kaverin’s first prosaic experience, entitled “The Eleventh Axiom,” was awarded only the third prize. The amount of 3,000 rubles was only enough for six toffee but the money depreciated in 1920, but this was his first literary fee, his first writing success. Kaverin always remembered him. Veniamin Aleksandrovich - a biography, a list of books published all over the world, were evidence of a high appreciation of his work and talent - until the end of his days he remembered these six toffees.

The Serapion Brothers

On February 1, 1921, the first meeting of the literary circle, called the Serapion Brothers, took place. Many “sympathizers” and like-minded people subsequently took part in the meetings, but the canonical composition was constant: Leo Lunts, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Ilya Gruzdev, Nikolai Nikitin, Elena Polonskaya, Nikolai Tikhonov, Vsevolod Ivanov, Mikhail Slonimsky, Konstantin Fedin. One of the permanent members of the association was Kaverin. Veniamin Aleksandrovich, whose works began to appear regularly in print by that time, actively participated in meetings. He remained faithful to the "brotherhood" and the creative principles proclaimed by him, until the end - Kaverin and half a century later marked the beginning of the "Serapion calendar" - February 1 - as the most important holiday.

But these principles were unusually out of time. The name itself, borrowed by the founding fathers of the circle from the collection of short stories of the classic of German romanticism Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, spoke of complete apoliticality. This collection mentioned the literary community, named after the legendary Christian hermit and ascetic Serapion, and the proclamation of the main value of literary work, its quality, without taking into account the worldview and political views of the author, was almost a provocation in the third year of Soviet power.

Cruel time

Soon, the very “brothers” became clear naivete of their noble impulse. Ideological differences among them began to manifest themselves more distinctly. "Westerners" - Lunts, Kaverin, Slonimsky - placed above the other plot, adventurous genres, the "eastern wing" - M. Zoshchenko, Vs. Ivanov - gravitated to the description of life using folklore motifs. The difference in literary priorities at first did not prevent the preservation of creative and friendly unity, but under the powerful blows of official criticism and life circumstances, it collapsed.

Time swept the "brothers" on different sides, making some principled opponents. Lunts passed away tragically in 1924; Ivanov, Slonimsky, Nikitin began eagerly singing the pathos of the revolutionary struggle; Tikhonov and Fedin later held leading positions in the Union of Writers of the USSR, rigidly following the line of the party, not sparing any dissent. When Zoshchenko came under powerful pressure from ideological organs after 1946, only one of the Serapion Brothers supported him and maintained a warm relationship with him - Veniamin Kaverin. He finally broke off relations with Fedin, when in 1968 he did not allow the publication of Solzhenitsyn's “Cancer Corps”.

Hard work and loyalty to principles

In the “Serapion” times, the founder of proletarian literature, Maxim Gorky, noted that one of the most talented writers of the young generation is Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin. “Two Captains” (1940-1945), a novel with which the name of the writer is first personified, is rumored to be very popular with Stalin, and he approved the awarding of the Kaverin in 1946 with the Stalin Prize, after the publication of the second book about the adventures of Sani Grigoryev. Enormous popularity was enjoyed by “Fulfillment of Desires” (1935-1936) and “Open Book” (1953-1956). During the war, Kaverin actively worked in the Northern Fleet, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Perhaps all this helped Kaverin to avoid repressions, such as those suffered by his elder brother Leo, who conducted many of his studies in the field of virology while in camps. A letter to Stalin requesting his release was also signed by Kaverin. Official criticism repeatedly fell upon the writer, accusing his books of apoliticality and entertainment.

Despite this, the writer did not betray convictions. He participated in the publication of the anthology "Literary Moscow" (1956), banned by party authorities. Kaverin publicly refused to participate in the persecution of Boris Pasternak in 1958, made a letter in defense of Daniel and Sinyavsky, fought for the publication of books by M. Bulgakov and A. Solzhenitsyn.

The legacy of the writer and man

Perhaps it was more convenient for the official authorities to consider him a cabinet writer who did not have a serious impact on the mass consciousness and individual minds of readers. But such an opinion cannot be considered reliable, given the volume and quality of what Kaverin wrote.

“Two Captains” only during the writer's life were reprinted more than 70 times, they and the “Open Book” were repeatedly filmed. Reading people know things like “Scandalist, or Evenings on Vasilyevsky Island” (1928), “Unknown Friend” (1957), “Seven Unclean Couples” (1962), “Double Portrait” (1963), “O. Senkovsky (Baron Brambeus) ”(1929, 1964),“ Before the Mirror ”(1972), etc.

He is the author of many stories and essays, dozens of children's tales. His memories left a special mark, especially the book “Epilogue” (1979-1989), on the editing of which he worked until the last hour, before his departure, which happened in May 1989. But even these volumes cannot tell everything about the life of Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin. The true face of this writer and man is preserved in the memory and memories of contemporaries after decades, and the scale of his talent, as many literary scholars and ordinary readers have noted, has yet to be truly appreciated.