Ostrovsky’s life and work are heroic pages in the biography of a person who has suffered severe trials.
A family
The writer Nikolai Alekseevich Ostrovsky (1904 - 1936) was born in the Ukrainian village of Viliya of the Volyn province in a family of hereditary military men. Grandfather, Ivan Vasilievich Ostrovsky, was a non-commissioned officer, the hero of the battle of 1855 on the Malakhov Kurgan during the defense of Sevastopol. The years of life of Ostrovsky Ivan Vasilyevich are inextricably linked with the heroic past of Russia of the XIX century.
Father, Alexei Ivanovich Ostrovsky, is also a retired non-commissioned officer of the tsarist army. He was awarded the George Crosses for courage in the capture of Shipka and Plevna. The years of life of Ostrovsky Alexei Ivanovich were the subject of pride of his son.
Nikolai’s mother, a Czech by nationality, was a cheerful and witty woman, the soul of the company. The family lived in abundance, kept a servant, the house was always full of guests.
Childhood
Little Kolya surprised others with his abilities. At the age of 9, he graduated from a parish school and was going to study further, but fate decreed otherwise. In 1914, his father was left without work, and life collapsed overnight. The house had to be sold, the family left. Alexei Ivanovich, along with Kolya, went to relatives in Ternopol, where he contracted to work as a forester.
Nikolai Ostrovsky himself , whose biography and work is striking in his diversity, got a job as an assistant bartender at a railway station in the city of Shepetovka, and a year later began working as an electrician. In September 1918, the young man entered the Shepetovsky primary school, which he successfully completed in 1920.
Youth
Young Nikolai Ostrovsky suffered a number of major world upheavals: the First World War, then the February Revolution of 1917, followed by the October Revolution and the Civil War, which ended in Ukraine only in 1920. In Shepetovka, power was constantly changing, the Germans were inferior to the White Poles, those in turn were supplanted by the Red Army, then the White Guards came, after them the Petliurites. The numerous inhabitants of Shepetivka were harassed by numerous gangs who robbed and killed.
At the school, Nikolai Ostrovsky was a leader; he was delegated by students to the Pedagogical Council. In 1921, the activist passed exams and received a matriculation certificate. In the same year, Ostrovsky joined the Komsomol, and in the fall he became a student in the evening department of the Kiev College of Electromechanics. Nikolai went to work in his specialty, an electrician. Ostrovsky's life and work during his student years served as a model for others.
Hunger and cold
If you describe Ostrovsky’s life and work briefly, it will still be an interesting, informative story about a strong-willed, purposeful person. The difficult post-war years were going on, devastation reigned in the country, there was not enough food, coal, and medicine. Students of the technical school and Nikolai Ostrovsky, among them, were engaged in logging in order to somehow provide freezing Kiev with heat. In addition, students built a railway line, on which it was possible to carry harvested firewood to the city. Soon Ostrovsky caught a cold and fell ill. In serious condition, he was sent home, where he lay for several months. Ostrovsky’s life and work is hard to describe briefly; this is a guide to life for generations on how to overcome difficulties.
In the end, the disease receded, and Nikolai returned to study and work. At that time, the technical school was transformed into an institute, but Ostrovsky did not have time to become a student of the university, as the disease again crippled him. Since then, the future writer has become a regular patient in hospitals, resorts, clinics and dispensaries. I had to leave school, an eighteen-year-old boy was threatened with a hospital bed for an indefinite period.
In 1922, the worst fears of the doctors and Nikolai Ostrovsky were justified, he was given a terrible diagnosis - ankylosing spondylitis. This meant complete immobility, pain and suffering, which a few years later with penetrating psychological depth, the writer will be able to convey through the image of the hero of the novel "How steel was tempered" by Pavka Korchagin. The work reflects facts from the life of Ostrovsky, traces the biography of the writer himself. The persistence of the character of Pavel Korchagin is a direct analogy with the author of the novel.
Komsomol work
A brief outline of Ostrovsky’s life and work reveals the character of this courageous man. Gradually, Nikolai's legs fail, he moves with difficulty, leaning on a cane. In addition, the left leg stopped bending. In 1923, Ostrovsky moved to his sister in the city of Berezdov and there he became the secretary of the regional Komsomol organization. A wide field of activity awaited him in the field of propaganda of communist ideals. Ostrovsky devoted all his time to meetings with young people in remote areas, he managed to captivate young men and women with stories about a bright future. The activist’s efforts were rewarded, Komsomol cells arose in the farthest villages, youth enthusiastically helped their leader to implement the communist ideology. Ostrovsky’s life and work as a Komsomol leader became a role model for many of his young followers.
The year 1924 was a turning point for Ostrovsky, he joined the ranks of the Communist Party. Then he became a member of the opposition to banditry, his membership in the CHON (special purpose unit) became another area of activity of the tireless fighter for the ideals of universal equality. Ostrovsky’s life and work in the years of trouble for the country was an example of selflessness. Nikolai Ostrovsky treated himself ruthlessly; he did not spare himself. Regularly went on operations to destroy enemies, did not sleep at night. Then came the reckoning, health deteriorated sharply. The work had to be left, a long recovery period began.
Hospitals, spa treatment
A review of Ostrovsky’s life and work continues during the period in which he will be intensively treated. For two years, from 1924 to 1926, Nikolai Ostrovsky was at the Kharkov Medical and Mechanical Institute, where he underwent a course of treatment with subsequent rehabilitation. Despite the efforts of the doctors, there was no improvement. However, at that time Nikolai made many new friends, the first of which was Pyotr Novikov, a loyal like-minded person who would be with Ostrovsky to the end.
In 1926, Nicholas moved to Yevpatoria, a city in the western part of the Crimean peninsula. There he will undergo a course of treatment at the Maynaki sanatorium. In Crimea, Ostrovsky met Innokenty Pavlovich Fedenev and Alexandra Alekseevna Zhigareva, people of high ideals who were called the "Bolsheviks of the old school." New friends will play a huge role in the life of the writer, will become his second parents. Innocent Fedenev will be the closest friend of the writer, his ally in matters of the ideology of communism. Alexandra Zhigareva will become the "second mother". Since then, the life and work of Nikolai Ostrovsky has been inextricably linked with these people. True friends will never leave him.
Life in Novorossiysk
Further the chronology of Ostrovsky’s life and work is his stay in the Krasnodar Territory, on the Black Sea. Following the recommendations of doctors, Nikolai remains to live in the south. He moves to his maternal relatives, the Matsyuk family, in Novorossiysk. He will live with them for two years, from 1926 to 1928. Health continues to deteriorate, Ostrovsky can no longer walk, moves on crutches. All the time he devotes to reading books, which become the main part of his life. Nikolai’s favorite author is Maxim Gorky, followed by the classics of Russian literature: Gogol, Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy.
Ostrovsky attracts special attention to the themes of the Civil War; he tries to understand the root causes of the events of the time when his brother killed his brother and his father killed his son. In one breath, the works of Chapaev by Furmanov, Cities and Years by Fedin, Iron Stream by Serafimovich and Commissars by Libedinsky were read.
In 1927, ankylosing spondylitis, from which Nikolai Ostrovsky suffered, culminates in complete paralysis of the legs. He can no longer walk, even on crutches. Exhausting pains do not stop even for a minute. Since that time, Nikolai is bedridden. Reading books is a little distracting from physical suffering; literature is brought daily by librarians who also become close friends of Ostrovsky. An outlet for the patient becomes a radio that somehow, but somehow connects him with the outside world.
At the very end of 1927, Nikolai Ostrovsky entered the correspondence department of the Yakov Sverdlov Communist University, and this event became a real happiness for him. Friends receive a joyful message: "I study! In absentia! Lying!" Life for a hopelessly sick Ostrovsky makes sense.
And then a new misfortune happens - an eye disease. While this is only inflammation, but soon there will be a loss of vision. Doctors categorically forbade reading so as not to tire their eyes. What to do, how to live now !?
Apartment in Sochi
The seriously ill Nikolai Ostrovsky had a wife, Raisa Porfiryevna, whom he met in Novorossiysk. Friends are trying in every possible way to help the young family, thanks to the efforts of Alexandra Zhigareva Ostrovsky they provide an apartment in Sochi. Manages to collect a certain amount of money, life gradually began to improve. However, Nikolai’s health continued to deteriorate, musculoskeletal functions were almost completely lost, the process took on an irreversible character. Vision was also weakened, every day it was even harder to read even large letters. Hours of rest for a short time restored vision, but the slightest tension in the eyes again caused darkening. Ostrovsky’s general health was catastrophic; there was no hope of recovery. Friends were constantly nearby, and only this gave strength to the patient.
Moscow period
Ostrovsky’s biography, life and work reached a new stage in October 1929, when Nikolai and his wife arrived in Moscow for eye surgery. Despite the fact that he was placed in the best clinic with Professor M. Averbach, the general inflammatory processes throughout the body caused a negative reaction. The operation could not be completed.
Life in a Moscow communal apartment exacerbated Ostrovsky’s serious illness. His wife went to work, and he remained completely alone. Then it was they who decided to write a book. The body was motionless, and the soul was eager for self-expression. Fortunately, the arms remained mobile, but Nikolai could no longer see. Then he came up with a special device, the so-called "transparency", thanks to which it was possible to write blindly. Lines were lined up in even rows, the page was written easily, it was only necessary to change the sheets written in clean on time.
The beginning of creativity
Stages of Ostrovsky’s life and work characterize him as a stubborn man who has not been broken by any trials. Diseases only strengthened the will of the will. Nikolai Ostrovsky began to write his first work as a seriously ill, immobilized and blind person. Nevertheless, he managed to create an immortal work, which was included in the Golden Fund of Russian literature. This is the novel How Steel Was Tempered.
It was written well at night, although it was difficult. In the morning, relatives gathered crumpled sheets scattered across the floor, straightened them and tried to make out what was written. The process was painful until Ostrovsky began to dictate a text to his relatives and they wrote it down. Things immediately went smoothly; there were plenty of people wishing to work with the writer. In a small room in a Moscow communal apartment, three kindred families gathered together, more than ten people.
However, it was not always possible to dictate and immediately write down a new text, since all relatives were busy at work. Then Nikolai Ostrovsky asked his roommate Galya Alekseeva to write down dictated texts behind him. And a smart, educated girl was an indispensable assistant.
Novel "How Steel Was Tempered"
The chapters written by Ostrovsky were reprinted and handed over to Alexandra Zhigareva, who was in Leningrad and tried to submit the manuscript to print. However, all her attempts were unsuccessful, the work was read, praised and returned. For Ostrovsky, the novel "How Steel Was Tempered" was the meaning of his life, he worried that the manuscript would not be printed.
In Moscow, the publication of the novel was attempted by Innokenty Pavlovich Fedenev, he handed over the manuscript to the publishing house "Young Guard" and was waiting for the editor's response. After a while, a review followed, which was essentially negative. Fedenev insisted on re-examination. And then “ice broke”, the manuscript fell into the hands of the writer Mark Kolosov, who carefully studied the contents and recommended the novel for publication.
Edition of the novel
The writer Kolosov, together with the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Young Guard" Anna Karavaeva, edited the manuscript, and the work began to be printed on the pages of the monthly. It was a victory for Nikolai Ostrovsky and his novel How Steel Was Tempered. An agreement was concluded with the writer, he received a fee, life regained meaning.
The work was published in the journal "Young Guard" in five issues, from April to September 1932. Against the background of the general jubilation of the writer’s family and loved ones, he was disappointed that the novel had been reduced by the abolition of several chapters. Formally, the publishers attributed this to a lack of paper, but the author believed that the book was crippled. However, in the end, Nikolai Ostrovsky humbled himself.
Later, the novel "How Steel Was Tempered" was repeatedly reprinted abroad, the work is considered a classic example of an unbending Russian character. The writer wrote another novel entitled “Born of the Storm”, however, according to the author himself, “the work was not enough”, especially since Ostrovsky did not have to finish it, he died at the age of 36 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow .
Memory
The periods of Ostrovsky’s work are bright pages of the life path of a heroic person, over which neither disease nor deep disappointment was dominant. The writer created only one work, but it was such a grand revelation in prose, which other authors do not happen for all their long life. Nikolai Ostrovsky and his novel How Steel Was Tempered are forever inscribed in the history of Russian literature.