Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich is one of the most prominent figures in Russian literature of the 1st half of the 20th century. He is the author of such famous works like "Olesya", " Garnet bracelet", "Moloch", "Duel", "Junkers", "Cadets" and others. Alexander Ivanovich had an unusual, worthy life. Fate was sometimes harsh on him. Both Alexander Kuprin's childhood and adulthood were marked by instability in various spheres of life. He had to fight alone for material independence, fame, recognition and the right to be called a writer. Kuprin went through many hardships. His childhood and youth were especially difficult. We will talk about all this in detail.

The origin of the future writer

Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich was born in 1870. His hometown is Narovchat. Today it is located in the House where Kuprin was born, is currently a museum (his photo is presented below). Kuprin's parents were not wealthy. Ivan Ivanovich, the father of the future writer, belonged to the family of impoverished nobles. He served as a minor official and often drank. When Alexander was only in his second year, Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin died of cholera. The childhood of the future writer, thus, passed without a father. His only support was his mother, which is worth talking about separately.

Mother of Alexander Kuprin

Lyubov Alekseevna Kuprina (nee - Kulunchakova), the boy's mother, was forced to settle in the Widow's House of the city of Moscow. It is from here that the first memories that Ivan Kuprin shared with us flow. His childhood is largely connected with the image of his mother. She played the role of a higher being in the boy's life, was the whole world for the future writer. Alexander Ivanovich recalled that this woman was strong-willed, strong, strict, similar to an eastern princess (the Kulunchakovs belonged to an old family of Tatar princes). Even in the squalid conditions of the Widow's House, she remained so. During the day, Lyubov Alekseevna was strict, but in the evening she turned into a mysterious fortune teller and told her son fairy tales, which she altered in her own way. Kuprin listened to these interesting stories with pleasure. His childhood, very harsh, was brightened up by tales of distant lands and unknown creatures. While still Ivanovich faced a sad reality. However, the difficulties did not prevent such a talented person as Kuprin from being realized as a writer.

Childhood spent in the Widow's House

Alexander Kuprin's childhood passed away from the comfort of noble estates, dinner parties, his father's libraries, where one could sneak secretly at night, Christmas gifts that are so intoxicating to look for under the tree at dawn. On the other hand, he was well aware of the dullness of the orphan's rooms, the meager gifts given out on holidays, the smell of official clothes, and the slaps from the educators, which they did not skimp on. Undoubtedly, the early childhood of his later years, marked by new difficulties, left an imprint on his personality. We should briefly talk about them.

Kuprin's military drill childhood

For the children of his position, there were not many options for their future fate. One of them is a military career. Lyubov Alekseevna, taking care of her child, decided to make a military man out of her son. Alexander Ivanovich soon had to part with his mother. A dull military drill period began in his life, which continued Kuprin's childhood. His biography of this time is marked by the fact that he spent several years in state institutions in the city of Moscow. First there was the Razumovsky orphanage, after a while - the Moscow Cadet Corps, and then the Alexander Military School. Kuprin, in his own way, hated each of these temporary shelters. Equally strongly, the future writer was annoyed by the stupidity of the authorities, the official situation, spoiled peers, the narrow-mindedness of educators and teachers, the "cult of the fist", the same uniform for everyone and public flogging.

Kuprin's childhood was so difficult. It is important for children to have loved one, and in this sense, Alexander Ivanovich was lucky - he was supported by a loving mother. She died in 1910.

Kuprin goes to Kyiv

Kuprin Alexander, after graduating from college, spent another 4 years on military service. He retired at the first opportunity (in 1894). Lieutenant Kuprin took off his military uniform forever. He decided to move to Kyiv.

The real test for the future writer was Big city. Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich spent his entire life in government institutions, so he was not adapted to independent living. On this occasion, he later ironically said that in Kyiv there was like a "smolyanka institute" who was taken into the jungle of forests at night and left without a compass, food and clothing. It was not easy at that time for such a great writer as Alexander Kuprin. Interesting facts about him during his stay in Kyiv are also connected with what Alexander had to do in order to earn his living.

How Kuprin made a living

In order to survive, Alexander undertook almost any business. In a short time he tried himself as a seller of shag, a foreman at a construction site, a carpenter, an employee in an office, a factory worker, an assistant to a blacksmith, a psalmist. At one time, Alexander Ivanovich even seriously thought about going to a monastery. The difficult childhood of Kuprin, briefly described above, probably forever left a mark on the soul of the future writer, who had to face harsh reality from a young age. Therefore, his desire to retire to the monastery is quite understandable. However, Alexander Ivanovich was destined for a different fate. Soon he found himself in the literary field.

An important literary and life experience was the service as a reporter in the newspapers of Kyiv. Alexander Ivanovich wrote about everything - about politics, murders, social problems. He also had to fill in entertaining columns, write cheap melodramatic stories, which, by the way, enjoyed considerable success with the unsophisticated reader.

The first serious works

Little by little, serious works began to come out from under the pen of Kuprin. The story "Inquiry" (its other name is "From the distant past") was published in 1894. Then the collection "Kyiv types" appeared, in which Alexander Kuprin placed his essays. His work of this period is marked by many other works. After some time, a collection of short stories called "Miniatures" was published. The story "Moloch", published in 1996, made a name for the beginning writer. His fame was strengthened by the works "Olesya" and "The Cadets" that followed.

Moving to Petersburg

In this city, a new, vibrant life began for Alexander Ivanovich with many meetings, acquaintances, revels and creative achievements. Contemporaries recalled that Kuprin liked to take a good walk. In particular, Andrey Sedykh, a Russian writer, noted that in his youth he lived violently, was often drunk and at that time became terrible. Alexander Ivanovich could do reckless things and sometimes even cruel ones. And Nadezhda Teffi, a writer, recalls that he was very difficult person, by no means a kind-hearted and simpleton, as it might seem at first glance.

Kuprin explained that creative activity took a lot of energy and strength from him. For every success, as well as for failure, one had to pay with health, nerves, and one's own soul. But evil tongues saw only unsightly tinsel, and then there were invariably rumors that Alexander Ivanovich was a reveler, rowdy and drunkard.

New works

No matter how Kuprin splashed out his ardor, he always returned to his desk after another drunkenness. Alexander Ivanovich during the turbulent period of his life in St. Petersburg wrote his cult story "Duel". His stories "Swamp", "Shulamith", "Staff Captain Rybnikov", "River of Life", "Gambrinus" belong to the same period. After some time, already in Odessa, he completed the "Garnet Bracelet", and also set about creating the "Listrigons" cycle.

Kuprin's personal life

In the capital, he met his first wife, Davydova Maria Karlovna. From her, Kuprin had a daughter, Lydia. Maria Davydova gave the world a book called "Years of Youth". After some time, their marriage broke up. Alexander Kuprin married 5 years later Heinrich Elizaveta Moritsovna. He lived with this woman until his death. Kuprin has two daughters from his second marriage. The first is Zinaida, who died early, having contracted pneumonia. The second daughter, Ksenia, became a famous Soviet actress and model.

Moving to Gatchina

Kuprin, tired of the busy life of the capital, left St. Petersburg in 1911. He moved to Gatchina (a small town located 8 km from the capital). Here, in his "green" house, he settled with his family. In Gatchina, everything is conducive to creativity - the silence of a summer cottage, a shady garden with poplars, a spacious terrace. This city today is closely connected with the name of Kuprin. There is a library and a street named after him, as well as a monument dedicated to him.

Emigration to Paris

However, the sedate happiness came to an end in 1919. First, Kuprin was drafted into the army on the side of the whites, and a year later the whole family emigrated to Paris. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin will return to his homeland only after 18 years, already at an advanced age.

At different times, the reasons for the writer's emigration were interpreted differently. According to Soviet biographers, he was almost forcibly taken out by the White Guards and all subsequent long years, until his return, languished in a foreign land. The ill-wishers sought to stab him, exposing him as a traitor who exchanged his homeland and talent for foreign benefits.

Homecoming and death of the writer

If you believe the numerous memoirs, letters, diaries that became available to the public a little later, then Kuprin objectively did not accept the revolution and the established power. He called her familiarly "scoop".

When he returned to his homeland already a broken old man, he was taken through the streets to demonstrate the achievements of the USSR. Alexander Ivanovich said that the Bolsheviks are wonderful people. One thing is not clear - where they have so much money.

Nevertheless, Kuprin did not regret returning to his homeland. For him, Paris was a beautiful city, but a stranger. Kuprin died on August 25, 1938. He died of cancer of the esophagus. The next day, a crowd of thousands surrounded the House of Writers in St. Petersburg. The famous colleagues of Alexander Ivanovich, as well as loyal admirers of his work, also came. All of them gathered in order to send Kuprin on his last journey.

The childhood of the writer A. I. Kuprin, unlike the young years of many other literary figures of that time, was very difficult. However, in many respects it was thanks to all these experienced difficulties that he found himself in creativity. Kuprin, whose childhood and youth were spent in poverty, acquired both material well-being and fame. Today we get acquainted with his work in school years.

The article tells about a brief biography of Kuprin, a famous Russian writer, recognized master prose.

Biography of Kuprin: early years

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born in 1870 in a small provincial town. His father was a hereditary nobleman, which should have portended successful life. But soon after the birth of Sasha, his father died, and his mother, in search of a livelihood, moved with her children to Moscow, where, after long requests and humiliations, she was able to settle down in a special institution - a widow's house. Sasha learned to read at an early age and devoted all his free time to this activity.

The boy was early placed in a boarding school, then in the cadet corps and the cadet school. Thus, Kuprin practically did not experience the joys of the hearth and normal family life. Childhood years left their mark on the formation of the personality of the writer, acutely feeling the suffering and humiliation of ordinary people.
Of particular importance for Kuprin were the years spent in the corps and the school. In these establishments, an atmosphere of isolation and severe military discipline reigned. All the time the pupils were subject to a strict routine, severe punishment was due for the slightest violation. Kuprin recalled with particular pain how he was flogged for a minor offense.

At the school, Kuprin wrote his first story "The Last Debut". His publication was the reason for placing the junker in the punishment cell.

After graduating from college, the future writer served four years in the regiment. During this time, he studied in detail the everyday life of the tsarist officers, its insignificance and filth. The proclaimed higher ideals turned out to be an illusion, rudeness and all kinds of vices flourished in the army. Kuprin's impressions of military service formed the basis of many subsequent works. The most famous and striking of them is the story "Duel" (1905), where the morals and behavior of the officers of the tsarist army are subjected to sharp criticism.

After his dismissal from the service, Kuprin decides to devote his life to the profession of a writer. At first, this occupation did not bring income, and the writer changed an incredible number of professions from an actor to a pilot, trying his hand at a wide variety of activities. In addition, this gave the writer a wealth of experience in observing various situations and human characters.

Biography of Kuprin: the heyday of creativity

90s proved to be the most fruitful in the work of the writer. At this time, he wrote one of his most famous works - the story "Moloch". In the story, Kuprin depicted with particular force the depravity and deceit of the new society, whose members are only concerned with personal gain and seek to achieve this by any means. A person's personal feelings will be trampled underfoot if they stand in the way of such aspirations. A special place in the story is occupied by the image of the plant - "Moloch", an all-destroying force, personifying the complete submission and insignificance of an ordinary person.

In the 90s. Kuprin meets outstanding Russian writers who highly appreciated his work. The publication of the stories "Duel", "Pit" and others brought the writer national fame. His work becomes one of the main and inseparable parts of Russian realism.
In his work, Kuprin paid great attention to children, especially those who had a difficult childhood, similar to the fate of the writer. He has written some wonderful stories about children based on the stories of real people.

Kuprin reacted sharply negatively to October revolution and in 1920 left for France. Abroad, the writer practically did not work creative activity. He, like many emigrants, was drawn to his homeland, but there was a danger of being subjected to political repression.
Kuprin lived abroad for a long time, but in the end, love for Russia overcame the possible risk in the writer's soul. In 1937, at the height of Stalin's purges, he returned to his homeland, dreaming of writing many more works.

The dream was not destined to come true, the writer's strength had already been significantly undermined. Kuprin died in 1938, leaving behind a huge literary legacy. The writer's work is included in the golden fund of Russian literature. He is one of the greatest realist writers.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, Russian prose writer, author of the short stories and novels Olesya, At the Break (Cadets), Duel, Shulamith, Pit, Garnet Bracelet, Junkers, as well as many stories and essays.

A.I. Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7, n.s.), 1870, in the town of Narovchat, Penza province, into the family of a hereditary nobleman, a petty official.

Alexander Kuprin as a writer, a man and a collection of legends about his turbulent life is a special love of the Russian reader, akin to the first youthful feeling for life.

Ivan Bunin, who was jealous of his generation and rarely gave out praise, no doubt understood the unequal value of everything written by Kuprin, nevertheless he called him a writer by the grace of God.

And yet it seems that, by his nature, Alexander Kuprin should have become not a writer, but rather one of his heroes - a circus strongman, an aviator, the leader of the Balaklava fishermen, a horse thief, or, perhaps, would have pacified his violent temper somewhere in the monastery (by the way, he did such an attempt). The cult of physical strength, a penchant for excitement, risk, violence distinguished the young Kuprin. And later, he loved to measure his strength with life at forty-three years old, he suddenly began to learn stylish swimming from the world record holder Romanenko, together with the first Russian pilot Sergei Utochkin, he rose in a balloon, descended to the seabed in a diving suit, with the famous wrestler and aviator Ivan Zaikin flew on a plane "Farman" ... However, the spark of God, apparently, cannot be extinguished.

Kuprin was born in the town of Narovchatov, Penza province, on August 26 (September 7), 1870. His father, a petty official, died of cholera when the boy was not even two years old. In a family left without funds, besides Alexander, there were two more children. The mother of the future writer Lyubov Alekseevna, nee Princess Kulunchakova, came from Tatar princes, and Kuprin liked to remember his Tatar blood, even, there was a time, he wore a skullcap. In the novel "Junkers" he wrote about his autobiographical hero "... the rabid blood of the Tatar princes, the unstoppable and indomitable of his ancestors on the maternal side, pushing him to drastic and thoughtless actions, singled him out among the dozen junkers."

In 1874, Lyubov Alekseevna, a woman, according to her memoirs, "with a strong, unyielding character and high nobility", decides to move to Moscow. There they settle in the common ward of the Widow's House (described by Kuprin in the story "Holy Lies"). Two years later, due to extreme poverty, she sends her son to the Alexander juvenile orphan school. For six-year-old Sasha, a period of existence in the barracks begins - seventeen years long.

In 1880 he entered the Cadet Corps. Here the boy, longing for home and freedom, approaches the teacher Tsukanov (Trukhanov in the story "At the Turning Point"), a writer who "remarkably artistically" read to the pupils of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev. Begins to try his hand at literature and teenager Kuprin - of course, as a poet; Who at this age has not once crumpled a piece of paper with the first poem! He is fond of Nadson's then fashionable poetry. At the same time, Cadet Kuprin, already a convinced democrat, the "progressive" ideas of the time seeped even through the walls of the closed military school. He angrily denounces in rhymed form the "conservative publisher" M.N. Katkov and Tsar Alexander III himself, stigmatizes the “vile, terrible deed” of the tsarist trial of Alexander Ulyanov and his accomplices who attempted on the monarch.

At the age of eighteen, Alexander Kuprin enters the Third Alexander Cadet School in Moscow. According to the memoirs of his classmate L.A. Limontov, this was no longer a "nondescript, small, clumsy cadet", but a strong young man, most of all cherishing the honor of his uniform, a clever gymnast, a lover of dancing, falling in love with every pretty partner.

His first appearance in print also belongs to the Junker period - on December 3, 1889, Kuprin's story "The Last Debut" appeared in the magazine "Russian satirical sheet". This story really almost became the first and last literary debut of the Junker. Later, he recalled how, having received a fee of ten rubles for the story (a huge amount for him at that time), he bought his mother “goat shoes” to celebrate, and for the remaining ruble he rushed to the arena to ride a horse (Kuprin was very fond of horses and considered this “ the call of the ancestors). A few days later, a magazine with his story caught the eye of one of the teachers, and the cadet Kuprin was called to the authorities “Kuprin, your story” - “That's right!” - "To the punishment cell!" The future officer was not supposed to do such "frivolous" things. Like any debutant, he, of course, longed for compliments and in the punishment cell read his story to a retired soldier, an old school uncle. He listened attentively and said, “Well written, your honor! But you can't understand anything." The story was really weak.

After the Alexander School, Lieutenant Kuprin was sent to the Dnieper Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Proskurov, Podolsk province. Four years of life “in the incredible wilderness, in one of the southwestern border towns. Eternal dirt, herds of pigs on the streets, khatenki, smeared with clay and manure ... ”(“ To Glory ”), many hours of drill of soldiers, gloomy officer sprees and vulgar romances with local“ lionesses ”made him think about the future, how he thinks about He is the hero of his famous story "The Duel", Lieutenant Romashov, who dreamed of military glory, but after the savagery of provincial army life, decided to retire.

These years gave Kuprin knowledge of military life, the customs of the shtetl intelligentsia, the customs of the Polissya village, and the reader was later presented with such works of his as "Inquiry", "Overnight", "Night Shift", "Wedding", "Slavic Soul", "Millionaire" , "Zhidovka", "Coward", "Telegraphist", "Olesya" and others.

At the end of 1893, Kuprin submitted his resignation and left for Kyiv. By that time he was the author of the story "In the Dark" and the story " moonlit night" (magazine " Russian wealth”), written in the style of a sentimental melodrama. He decides to seriously engage in literature, but this "lady" is not so easy to pick up. According to him, he suddenly found himself in the position of a college student, who was taken at night into the wilds of the Olonets forests and left without clothes, food and a compass; “... I had no knowledge, neither scientific nor worldly,” he writes in his Autobiography. In it, he gives a list of professions that he tried to master, taking off his military uniform, was a reporter for Kyiv newspapers, a manager during the construction of a house, bred tobacco, served in a technical office, was a psalmist, played in the theater of the city of Sumy, studied dentistry, tried to be tonsured as a monk , worked in a forge and a carpentry workshop, unloaded watermelons, taught at a school for the blind, worked at the Yuzovsky steel plant (described in the story "Moloch") ...

This period ended with the publication of a small collection of essays "Kyiv types", which can be considered the first literary "drill" of Kuprin. Over the next five years, he makes a rather serious breakthrough as a writer in 1896 publishes the story Molokh in Russian Wealth, where the rebellious working class was shown for the first time on a large scale, publishes the first collection of short stories Miniatures (1897), which included Dog Happiness "," Centuries", "Breguet", "Allez" and others, then the story "Olesya" (1898), the story "Night Shift" (1899), the story "At the Break" ("The Cadets"; 1900) follow.

In 1901, Kuprin came to St. Petersburg as a fairly well-known writer. He already knew Ivan Bunin, who immediately upon arrival introduced him to the house of Alexandra Arkadyevna Davydova, the publisher of the popular literary magazine The World of God. There were rumors about her in St. Petersburg that she locks writers who ask for an advance from her in her office, gives ink, pen, paper, three bottles of beer and releases it only if the story is ready, immediately giving out a fee. In this house, Kuprin found his first wife - the bright, Spanish-speaking Maria Karlovna Davydova, the adopted daughter of a publisher.

An able student of her mother, she also had a firm hand in dealing with the writing brethren. For at least seven years of their marriage - the time of Kuprin's greatest and most stormy fame - she managed to keep him at his desk for quite long periods (up to the deprivation of breakfasts, after which Alexander Ivanovich fell asleep). Under her, works were written that put forward Kuprin in the first row of Russian writers, the stories "Swamp" (1902), "Horse thieves" (1903), "White Poodle" (1904), the story "Duel" (1905), the stories "Staff Captain Rybnikov ”, “River of Life” (1906).

After the release of "Duel", written under the great ideological influence of the "petrel of the revolution" Gorky, Kuprin becomes an all-Russian celebrity. Attacks on the army, thickening of colors - downtrodden soldiers, ignorant, drunken officers - all this "pleased" the tastes of the revolutionary-minded intelligentsia, which considered the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War to be their victory. This story, no doubt, was written by the hand of a great master, but today it is perceived in a slightly different historical dimension.

Kuprin passes the most powerful test - fame. “It was time,” Bunin recalled, “when the publishers of newspapers, magazines and collections of reckless drivers chased him around ... restaurants where he spent days and nights with his occasional and constant drinking companions, and humbly begged him to take a thousand, two thousands of rubles in advance for the mere promise not to forget them in case of his mercy, and he, heavy, big-faced, only squinted, was silent, and suddenly abruptly threw out in such an ominous whisper, “Get out this minute to hell!” - that timid people immediately seemed to fall through the ground. Dirty taverns and expensive restaurants, impoverished vagrants and polished snobs of St. Petersburg bohemia, gypsy singers and runaways, finally, an important general thrown into a pool of sterlet by him ... - the whole set of "Russian recipes" for the treatment of melancholy, which for some reason always noisy glory pours out, he was tried by him (how can one not recall the phrase of Shakespeare's hero “What is the melancholy of a great spirit of a man expressed in that he wants to drink”).

By this time, the marriage with Maria Karlovna, apparently, has exhausted itself, and Kuprin, who cannot live by inertia, falls in love with the tutor of his daughter Lydia, the small, fragile Lisa Heinrich, with youthful ardor. She was an orphan and had already gone through her bitter story, visited the Russian-Japanese war as a sister of mercy and returned from there not only with medals, but also with a broken heart. When Kuprin, without delay, declared his love to her, she immediately left their house, not wanting to be the cause of family discord. Following her, Kuprin also left home, renting a room in the St. Petersburg hotel "Palais Royal".

For several weeks he rushes around the city in search of poor Lisa and, of course, it is overgrown with a sympathetic company ... When his great friend and admirer of talent, Professor of St. Petersburg University, Fyodor Dmitrievich Batyushkov, realized that there would be no end to these follies, he found Lisa in a small hospital, where she got a job as a nurse. What he talked about with her Maybe that she should save the pride of Russian literature .. It is not known. Only Elizaveta Moritsovna's heart trembled and she agreed to immediately go to Kuprin; however, with one firm condition, Alexander Ivanovich must be treated. In the spring of 1907, the two of them leave for the Finnish sanatorium Helsingfors. This great passion for the little woman was the reason for the creation of the wonderful story Shulamith (1907) - the Russian Song of Songs. In 1908, their daughter Ksenia was born, who would later write the memoirs "Kuprin is my father."

From 1907 to 1914, Kuprin created such significant works as the stories "Gambrinus" (1907), "Garnet Bracelet" (1910), the cycle of stories "Listrigons" (1907-1911), in 1912 he began work on the novel "The Pit". When he came out, the critics saw in him a denunciation of another social evil in Russia - prostitution, while Kuprin considered paid "priestesses of love" victims of public temperament from time immemorial.

By this time, he had already diverged in political views from Gorky, departed from revolutionary democracy.

Kuprin called the war of 1914 fair, liberating, for which he was accused of "official patriotism." A large photograph of him with the caption “A.I. Kuprin, drafted into the active army. However, he did not get to the front - he was sent to Finland to train recruits. In 1915, he was declared unfit for military service for health reasons, and he returned home to Gatchina, where his family lived at that time.

After the seventeenth year, Kuprin, despite several attempts, did not find a common language with the new government (although, under the patronage of Gorky, he even met with Lenin, but he did not see in him a “clear ideological position”) and left Gatchina together with the retreating army of Yudenich. In 1920, the Kuprins ended up in Paris.

After the revolution, about 150 thousand emigrants from Russia settled in France. Paris became the Russian literary capital - Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, Ivan Bunin and Alexei Tolstoy, Ivan Shmelev and Alexei Remizov, Nadezhda Teffi and Sasha Cherny, and many other famous writers lived here. All sorts of Russian societies were formed, newspapers and magazines were published ... There was even such an anecdote that two Russians meet on a Parisian boulevard. "Well, how do you live here" - "Nothing, you can live, one misfortune is too many French."

At first, while the illusion of his homeland was still preserved, Kuprin tried to write, but his gift gradually faded away, like his once mighty health, more and more often he complained that he could not work here, because he was used to "writing off" his heroes from life . “Beautiful people,” Kuprin said about the French, “but they don’t speak Russian, and in the shop and in the pub - everywhere it’s not our way ... So this is what you live, you live, and you stop writing.” His most significant work of the emigrant period is the autobiographical novel "Junker" (1928-1933). He became more and more quiet, sentimental - unusual for acquaintances. Sometimes, however, Kuprin's hot blood still made itself felt. Once the writer was returning with friends from a country restaurant by taxi, they started talking about literature. The poet Ladinsky called "Duel" his best thing. Kuprin, on the other hand, insisted that the best of everything he wrote - "Garnet Bracelet" there is high, precious feelings of people. Ladinsky called this story implausible. Kuprin became furious "Garnet Bracelet" - a true story! and challenged Ladinsky to a duel. With great difficulty, we managed to dissuade him, rolling around the city all night, as Lidia Arsenyeva recalled (“Far Shores”. M. “Respublika”, 1994).

Apparently, Kuprin really had something very personal connected with the Garnet Bracelet. At the end of his life, he himself began to resemble his hero - the aged Zheltkov. "Seven years of hopeless and polite love" Zheltkov wrote unanswered letters to Princess Vera Nikolaevna. The aged Kuprin was often seen in a Parisian bistro, where he sat alone with a bottle of wine and wrote love letters to a little-known woman. The magazine Ogonyok (1958, No. 6) published a poem by the writer, possibly composed at that time. There are such lines “And no one in the world will know That for years, every hour and moment, A polite, attentive old man languishes and suffers from love.”

Before leaving for Russia in 1937, he hardly recognized anyone, and he was hardly recognized at all. Bunin writes in his “Memoirs” “... I once met him on the street and inwardly gasped and there was no trace of the former Kuprin! He walked with small, miserable steps, trudged along so thin, weak, that it seemed that the first gust of wind would blow him off his feet ... "

When his wife took Kuprin to Soviet Russia, the Russian emigration did not condemn him, realizing that he was going there to die (although such things were painfully perceived in the émigré environment; they said, for example, that Alexei Tolstoy simply fled to Sovdepiya from debts and creditors) . For the Soviet government, this was politics. In the newspaper Pravda dated June 1, 1937, an article appeared: “On May 31, the famous Russian pre-revolutionary writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, who returned from emigration to his homeland, arrived in Moscow. At the Belorussky railway station A.I. Kuprin was met by representatives of the writers' community and the Soviet press.

They settled Kuprin in a rest house for writers near Moscow. In one of the sunny summer days Baltic sailors came to visit him. Alexander Ivanovich was carried out in an armchair to the lawn, where the sailors sang for him in chorus, approached, shook hands, said that they read his "Duel", thanked ... Kuprin was silent and suddenly burst into tears (from the memoirs of N.D. Teleshov "Notes of a Writer ").

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin died on August 25, 1938 in Leningrad. In his last years as an émigré, he often said that one must die in Russia, at home, like a beast that goes to die in its lair. I would like to think that he passed away calm and reconciled.

Love Kalyuzhnaya,

A bright representative of realism, a charismatic personality and simply a famous Russian writer of the early 20th century - Alexander Kuprin. His biography is eventful, quite heavy and overflowing with an ocean of emotions, thanks to which the world has known his best creations. "Moloch", "Duel", "Garnet Bracelet" and many other works that have replenished the golden fund of world art.

The beginning of the way

Born on September 7, 1870 in the small town of Narovchat, Penza District. His father is civil servant Ivan Kuprin, whose biography is very short, since he died when Sasha was only 2 years old. After that, he stayed with his mother Lyubov Kuprina, who was a Tatar of princely blood. They suffered hunger, humiliation and deprivation, so his mother made the difficult decision to send Sasha to the department for young orphans of the Alexander Military School in 1876. A pupil of a military school, Alexander, graduated from it in the second half of the 80s.

In the early 90s, after graduating from a military school, he became an employee of the Dnieper Infantry Regiment No. 46. A successful military career remained in his dreams, as Kuprin's disturbing, eventful and emotional biography tells. Summary biography says that Alexander failed to enter a higher military educational institution because of a scandal. And all because of his hot temper, under the influence of alcohol, he threw a police officer off the bridge into the water. Having risen to the rank of lieutenant, he retired in 1895.

Writer's Temperament

A person with an incredibly bright color, eagerly absorbing impressions, a wanderer. He tried many crafts on himself: from a laborer to a dental technician. very emotional and extraordinary person- Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, whose biography is full of bright events, which became the basis of many of his masterpieces.

His life was quite turbulent, there were many rumors about him. Explosive temperament, excellent physical shape, he was drawn to try himself, which gave him invaluable life experience and strengthened his spirit. He constantly sought to meet adventures: he dived under water in special equipment, flew on an airplane (he almost died due to a disaster), was the founder of a sports society, etc. During the war years, together with his wife, he equipped an infirmary in his own house.

He loved to get to know a person, his character and communicated with people of a wide variety of professions: specialists with a higher technical education, itinerant musicians, fishermen, card players, the poor, clergymen, entrepreneurs, etc. And in order to better know a person, to feel his life for himself, he was ready for the most insane adventure. The researcher, whose spirit of adventurism simply rolled over, is Alexander Kuprin, the writer's biography only confirms this fact.

He worked with great pleasure as a journalist in many editorial offices, published articles, reports in periodicals. He often went on business trips, lived in the Moscow region, then in the Ryazan region, as well as in the Crimea (Balaklavsky district) and in the city of Gatchina, Leningrad region.

revolutionary activity

He was not satisfied with the then social order and the prevailing injustice, and therefore, as strong personality he wanted to do something about the situation. However, despite his revolutionary sentiments, the writer had a negative attitude towards the October coup led by representatives of the Social Democrats (Bolsheviks). Bright, full of events and various difficulties - this is Kuprin's Biography. Interesting facts from the biography say that Alexander Ivanovich nevertheless collaborated with the Bolsheviks and even wanted to publish a peasant publication called "Earth", and therefore often saw the head of the Bolshevik government V. I. Lenin. But soon he suddenly went over to the side of the "whites" (the anti-Bolshevik movement). After they were defeated, Kuprin moved to Finland, and then to France, namely to its capital, where he stopped for a while.

In 1937, he took an active part in the press of the anti-Bolshevik movement, while continuing to write his works. Restless, filled with the struggle for justice and emotions, this was exactly the biography of Kuprin. The summary of the biography says that in the period from 1929 to 1933 such famous novels were written: "The Wheel of Time", "Junkers", "Janeta", and many articles and stories were published. Emigration had a negative effect on the writer, he was unclaimed, suffered hardships and missed his native land. In the second half of the 1930s, having believed the propaganda in the Soviet Union, he and his wife returned to Russia. The return was overshadowed by the fact that Alexander Ivanovich suffered from a very serious illness.

People's life through the eyes of Kuprin

Kuprin's literary activity is imbued with a classic for Russian writers manner of compassion for the people, who are forced to live in misery in a miserable environment. A strong-willed person with a strong craving for justice is Alexander Kuprin, whose biography says that he expressed his sympathy in his work. For example, the novel "The Pit", written at the beginning of the 20th century, which tells about the hard life of prostitutes. As well as images of intellectuals suffering from the hardships they are forced to endure.

His favorite characters are just like that - reflective, a little hysterical and very sentimental. For example, the story "Moloch", where the representative of such an image is Bobrov (engineer) - a very sensitive character, compassionate and worried about ordinary factory workers who work hard while the rich roll like cheese in butter on other people's money. The representative of such images in the story "Duel" are Romashov and Nazansky, who are endowed with great physical strength, as opposed to a quivering and sensitive soul. Romashov was very annoyed by military activities, namely vulgar officers and downtrodden soldiers. Probably not a single writer condemned the military environment as much as Alexander Kuprin.

The writer did not belong to the tearful, people-worshipping writers, although his work was often approved by the well-known populist critic N.K. Mikhailovsky. His democratic attitude towards his characters was expressed not only in the description of their hard life. Alexander Kuprin's man of the people not only had a quivering soul, but was also strong-willed and could give a worthy rebuff at the right time. The life of the people in the work of Kuprin is a free, spontaneous and natural course, and the characters have not only troubles and sorrows, but also joy and consolation (the cycle of stories "Listrigons"). A person with a vulnerable soul and a realist is Kuprin, whose biography by date says that this work took place in the period from 1907 to 1911.

His realism was also expressed in the fact that the author described not only the good features of his characters, but also did not hesitate to show them. dark side(aggression, cruelty, rage). A vivid example is the story "Gambrinus", where Kuprin described the Jewish pogrom in great detail. This work was written in 1907.

Perception of life through creativity

Kuprin is an idealist and a romantic, which is reflected in his work: heroic deeds, sincerity, love, compassion, kindness. Most of his characters are emotional people, those who have fallen out of the usual life rut, they are in search of truth, a freer and fuller being, something beautiful ...

The feeling of love, the fullness of life, this is what Kuprin's biography is saturated with, Interesting Facts from which they say that no one else could write about feelings so poetically. Which is clearly reflected in the story "Garnet Bracelet", written in 1911. It is in this work that Alexander Ivanovich exalts the true, pure, gratuitous, perfect love. He very accurately depicted the characters of various layers of society, described in detail and in all details the environment surrounding his characters, their way of life. It was for his sincerity that he often received reprimands from critics. Naturalism and aestheticism are the main features of Kuprin's work.

His stories about animals "Barbos and Zhulka", "Emerald" deserve a place in the fund of the world art of the word. A brief biography of Kuprin says that he is one of the few writers who could feel the course of natural, real life and so successfully reflect this in their works. A vivid embodiment of this quality is the story "Olesya", written in 1898, where he describes a deviation from the ideal of natural existence.

Such an organic worldview, healthy optimism are the main distinguishing features of his work, in which lyricism and romance harmoniously merge, the proportionality of the plot and compositional center, the drama of actions and truth.

Master of Literary Arts

The virtuoso of the word is Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, whose biography says that he could very accurately and beautifully describe the landscape in literary work. His external, visual and, one might say, olfactory perception of the world was simply excellent. I.A. Bunin and A.I. Kuprin often competed to determine the smell of different situations and phenomena in his masterpieces and not only ... In addition, the writer could depict the true image of his characters very carefully to the smallest detail: appearance, disposition, communication style, etc. He found complexity and depth even when describing animals, and all because he loved to write on this topic.

A passionate love of life, a naturalist and a realist, this was exactly what Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was. A brief biography of the writer says that all his stories are based on real events, and therefore are unique: natural, vivid, without intrusive speculative constructions. He thought about the meaning of life, described true love, talked about hatred, strong-willed and heroic deeds. Such emotions as disappointment, despair, struggle with oneself, the strengths and weaknesses of a person became the main ones in his works. These manifestations of existentialism were typical of his work and displayed a complex inner world man at the turn of the century.

Transitional writer

He really is a representative of the transitional stage, which, undoubtedly, was reflected in his work. A bright type of the era of "off-road" - Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, short biography which suggests that this time left an imprint on his psyche, and, accordingly, on the works of the author. His characters are in many ways reminiscent of the heroes of A.P. Chekhov, the only difference is that Kuprin's images are not so pessimistic. For example, technologist Bobrov from the story "Moloch", Kashintsev from "Zhidovka" and Serdyukov from the story "Swamp". The main characters of Chekhov are sensitive, conscientious, but at the same time broken, exhausted people who are lost in themselves and disappointed in life. They are shocked by aggression, they are very compassionate, but they can no longer fight. Realizing their helplessness, they perceive the world only through the prism of cruelty, injustice and meaninglessness.

A brief biography of Kuprin confirms that, despite the softness and sensitivity of the writer, he was a strong-willed person, loving life, and therefore his characters are somewhat similar to him. They have a strong lust for life, which they grasp very tightly and do not let go. They listen to both heart and mind. For example, the drug addict Bobrov, who decided to kill himself, listened to the voice of reason and realized that he loves life too much to end everything once and for all. The same thirst for life lived in Serdyukov (the student from the work "Swamp"), who was very sympathetic to the forester and his family, who were dying from an infectious disease. He spent the night at their house and in this short time he almost went crazy from pain, feelings and compassion. And with the onset of morning, he seeks to quickly get out of this nightmare in order to see the sun. He seemed to be running from there in a fog, and when he finally ran up the hill, he simply choked from an unexpected surge of happiness.

Passionate love of life - Alexander Kuprin, whose biography suggests that the writer was very fond of happy endings. The end of the story sounds symbolic and solemn. It says that the fog was spreading at the feet of the guy, about the clear blue sky, about the whisper of green branches, about the golden sun, the rays of which "rang with the triumphant triumph of victory." What sounds like a victory of life over death.

The exaltation of life in the story "Duel"

This work is a true apotheosis of life. Kuprin, whose brief biography and work are closely connected, described the cult of personality in this story. The main characters (Nazansky and Romashev) are bright representatives of individualism, they declared that the whole world would perish when they were gone. They firmly believed in their beliefs, but were too weak in spirit to bring their idea to life. It was this disproportion between the exaltation of one's own personalities and the weakness of its owners that the author caught.

A master of his craft, an excellent psychologist and realist, the writer Kuprin possessed precisely such qualities. The author's biography says that he wrote "Duel" at a time when he was at the peak of his fame. It was in this masterpiece that they united best qualities Alexander Ivanovich: an excellent everyday writer, psychologist and lyricist. military theme was close to the author, given his past, and therefore no effort was required for its development. The bright general background of the work does not overshadow the expressiveness of its main characters. Each character is incredibly interesting and is a link in one chain, without losing their individuality.

Kuprin, whose biography says that the story appeared during the years of the Russo-Japanese conflict, criticized the military environment to the nines. The work describes military life, psychology, and displays the pre-revolutionary life of Russians.

In the story, as in life, there is an atmosphere of deadness and impoverishment, sadness and routine. Feeling of absurdity, disorder and incomprehensibility of life. It was these feelings that overcame Romashev and were familiar to the inhabitants of pre-revolutionary Russia. In order to drown out the ideological "off-road", Kuprin described in the "Duel" the loose temper of the officers, their unfair and cruel attitude towards each other. And of course, the main vice of the military is alcoholism, which also flourished among the Russian people.

Characters

You don’t even need to draw up a plan for Kuprin’s biography in order to understand that he is spiritually close to his heroes. These are very emotional, broken personalities who sympathize, are indignant because of the injustice and cruelty of life, but they cannot fix anything.

After the "Duel" a work appears called "The River of Life". In this story, completely different moods reign, many liberation processes have taken place. He is the embodiment of the final drama of the intelligentsia, about which the writer narrates. Kuprin, whose work and biography are closely connected, does not change himself, main character still a kind, sensitive intellectual. He is a representative of individualism, no, he is not indifferent, throwing himself into a whirlwind of events, he understands that new life not for him. And glorifying the joy of being, he nevertheless decides to leave this life, because he believes that he does not deserve it, which he writes about in a suicide note to a friend.

The theme of love and nature are those areas in which the optimistic moods of the writer are clearly expressed. Such a feeling as love, Kuprin considered a mysterious gift that is sent only to the elect. This attitude is displayed in the novel "The Garnet Bracelet", which is only worth Nazansky's passionate speech or Romashev's dramatic relationship with Shura. And Kuprin's stories about nature are simply fascinating, at first they may seem too detailed and ornate, but then this multi-coloredness begins to delight, as it comes to the realization that these are not standard turns of speech, but the author's personal observations. It becomes clear how he was captured by the process, how he absorbed the impressions that he then displayed in his work, and this is simply enchanting.

Mastery of Kuprin

A virtuoso of the pen, a man with excellent intuition and an ardent love of life, Alexander Kuprin was just that. A brief biography tells that he was an incredibly deep, harmonious and internally filled person. He subconsciously felt secret meaning things, could connect the causes and understand the consequences. As an excellent psychologist, he had the ability to highlight the main thing in the text, because of which his works seemed ideal, from which nothing can be removed or added. These qualities are displayed in "Evening Guest", "River of Life", "Duel".

Alexander Ivanovich did not add anything to the sphere of literary methods. However, in the later works of the author, such as "River of Life", "Staff Captain Rybnikov", there is a sharp change in the direction of art, he is clearly drawn to impressionism. The stories become more dramatic and compressed. Kuprin, whose biography is full of events, later returns to realism again. This refers to the chronicle novel "The Pit", in which he describes the life of brothels, he does this in the usual manner, still naturally and without hiding anything. Because of what periodically receives condemnation of critics. However, this did not stop him. He did not strive for the new, but he tried to improve and develop the old.

Results

Biography of Kuprin (briefly about the main thing):

• Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich was born on 09/07/1870 in the town of Narovchat, Penza District in Russia.
• He died on August 25, 1938 at the age of 67 in St. Petersburg.
• The writer lived at the turn of the century, which invariably reflected in his work. Survived the October Revolution.
• The direction of art is realism and impressionism. The main genres are short stories and short stories.
• Since 1902, he lived in a marriage with Davydova Maria Karlovna. And since 1907 - with Heinrich Elizaveta Moritsovna.
• Father - Kuprin Ivan Ivanovich. Mother - Kuprina Lyubov Alekseevna.
• Had two daughters - Xenia and Lydia.

The best sense of smell in Russia

Alexander Ivanovich was visiting Fyodor Chaliapin, who called him the most sensitive nose of Russia when visiting. The evening was attended by a perfumer from France, who decided to check it out by inviting Kuprin to name the main components of his perfume. new development. To the great surprise of all those present, he coped with the task.

In addition, Kuprin had a strange habit: when meeting or making acquaintances, he sniffed people. This offended many, and some admired it, they claimed that thanks to this gift, he recognizes the nature of a person. I. Bunin was the only competitor of Kuprin, they often arranged competitions.

Tatar roots

Kuprin, like a real Tatar, was very quick-tempered, emotional and very proud of his origin. His mother is from the family of Tatar princes. Alexander Ivanovich often dressed in Tatar attire: a dressing gown and a colored skullcap. In this form, he liked to visit his friends, relax in restaurants. Moreover, in this attire, he sat down like a real khan and squinted his eyes for greater resemblance.

Universal Man

Alexander Ivanovich changed a large number of professions before he found his true calling. He tried his hand at boxing, pedagogy, fishing and acting. He worked in the circus as a wrestler, surveyor, pilot, itinerant musician, etc. Moreover, his main goal was not money, but invaluable life experience. Alexander Ivanovich stated that he would like to become an animal, a plant or a pregnant woman in order to experience all the delights of childbirth.

The beginning of writing

He received his first writing experience while still in a military school. It was the story "The Last Debut", the work was rather primitive, but nevertheless he decided to send it to the newspaper. This was reported to the leadership of the school, and Alexander was punished (two days in a punishment cell). He made a promise to himself never to write again. However, he did not keep his word, as he met the writer I. Bunin, who asked him to write a short story. Kuprin was broke at that time, and therefore he agreed and bought food and shoes for himself with the money he earned. It was this event that pushed him to serious work.

Here he is famous writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, a physically strong man with a tender and vulnerable soul and with his own quirks. A big lover of life and an experimenter, compassionate and having a great craving for justice. Naturalist and realist Kuprin left a legacy of a large number of magnificent works that fully deserve the title of masterpieces.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Born August 26 (September 7), 1870 in Narovchat - died August 25, 1938 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Russian writer, translator.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the county 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 family of Tatar princes (a noblewoman, she did not have a princely title). After the death of her husband, she moved to Moscow, where the future writer spent his childhood and adolescence.

At the age of six, the boy was sent to the Moscow Razumovsky boarding school (orphan), from where he left in 1880. In the same year he entered the Second Moscow Cadet Corps.

In 1887 he was released into the Alexander Military School. Subsequently, he will describe his "military youth" in the stories "At the Turning Point (Cadets)" and in the novel "Junkers".

Kuprin's first literary experience was poetry, which remained unpublished. The first work that saw the light 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 life of an officer, which he led for four years, provided rich material for his future works.

In 1893-1894, his story "In the Dark", the stories "Moonlight Night" and "Inquiry" were published in the St. Petersburg magazine "Russian Wealth". On the army theme, Kuprin has several stories: "Overnight" (1897), "Night Shift" (1899), "Campaign".

In 1894, Lieutenant Kuprin retired and moved to Kyiv, having no civilian profession. In the following years, he traveled a lot around Russia, having tried many professions, eagerly absorbing life experiences that 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 working as a secretary for the Journal for All. Kuprin's stories appeared in St. Petersburg magazines: "Swamp" (1902), "Horse thieves" (1903), "White Poodle" (1903).

In 1905, his most significant work, the story "Duel", was published, which was a great success. The writer's speeches with the reading of individual chapters of the "Duel" became an event in the cultural life of the capital. His other works of this time: the stories "Staff Captain Rybnikov" (1906), "The River of Life", "Gambrinus" (1907), the essay "Events in Sevastopol" (1905). In 1906 he was a candidate for deputies of 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: the cycle of essays "Listrigons" (1907-1911), stories about animals, the stories "Shulamith" (1908), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911), the fantastic story "Liquid Sun" (1912). His prose became 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 of citizens to take military 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 tells about the life of prostitutes in Russian brothels. The story was condemned for excessive, according to critics, naturalism. Nuravkin's publishing house, which published Kuprin's "Pit" in the German edition, was brought to justice by the prosecutor's office "for the distribution of pornographic publications."

I met the abdication of Nicholas II in Helsingfors, where he was undergoing treatment, and accepted it with enthusiasm. After returning to Gatchina, he was the editor of the newspapers Svobodnaya Rossiya, Volnost, Petrogradsky Leaf, and sympathized with the Social 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 at the publishing house "World Literature", founded. At this time he made a translation of Don Carlos. He was arrested, spent three days in prison, was released and put on the list of hostages.

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 Territory", which was headed by General P. N. Krasnov.

After the defeat of the Northwestern 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.

By 1930, the Kuprin family was impoverished and mired in debt. His literary fees were meager, and alcoholism accompanied all his years in Paris. Since 1932, his eyesight has been steadily deteriorating, and his handwriting has become much worse. Returning to the Soviet Union was the only solution to Kuprin's material and psychological problems. At the end of 1936, he nevertheless decided to apply for a visa. In 1937, at the invitation of the USSR government, he returned to his homeland.

Kuprin's return to the Soviet Union was preceded by an appeal by the Plenipotentiary 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. Ezhov. 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 decided: "to allow the writer A. I. Kuprin to enter the USSR" (voted "for" 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 cancer of the esophagus. He was buried in Leningrad on the Literary bridges of the Volkovsky cemetery next to the grave of I. S. Turgenev.

Tales and novels by Alexander Kuprin:

1892 - "In the dark"
1896 - "Moloch"
1897 - "Army Ensign"
1898 - "Olesya"
1900 - "At the turning point" (The Cadets)
1905 - "Duel"
1907 - "Gambrinus"
1908 - Shulamith
1909-1915 - "Pit"
1910 - "Garnet Bracelet"
1913 - "Liquid Sun"
1917 - "Star of Solomon"
1928 - "The Dome of St. Isaac of Dalmatia"
1929 - "The Wheel of Time"
1928-1932 - "Junkers"
1933 - "Janeta"

Alexander Kuprin's stories:

1889 - "Last Debut"
1892 - "Psyche"
1893 - "On a Moonlit Night"
1894 - “Inquiry”, “Slavic Soul”, “Lilac Bush”, “Unspoken Audit”, “To Glory”, “Madness”, “At the Departure”, “Al-Issa”, “Forgotten Kiss”, “About how Professor Leopardi gave me a voice"
1895 - "Sparrow", "Toy", "In the Menagerie", "The Petitioner", "Picture", "Terrible Minute", "Meat", "Untitled", "Overnight", "Millionaire", "Pirate", " Lolly", "Holy Love", "Curl", "Agave", "Life"
1896 - "Strange case", "Bonza", "Horror", "Natalya Davydovna", "Demigod", "Blessed", "Bed", "Fairy Tale", "Nag", "Alien Bread", "Friends", " Marianna", "Dog's Happiness", "On the River"
1897 - " Stronger than death”, “Charm”, “Caprice”, “First-born”, “Narcissus”, “Breguet”, “First person”, “Confusion”, “Wonderful doctor”, “Watchdog and Zhulka”, “ Kindergarten"," Allez!
1898 - "Loneliness", "Wilderness"
1899 - "Night Shift", "Lucky Card", "In the Bowels of the Earth"
1900 - "The Spirit of the Age", "Dead Power", "Taper", "Executioner"
1901 - "Sentimental novel", " Autumn flowers”, “On order”, “Hiking”, “In the circus”, “Silver wolf”
1902 - "At rest", "Swamp"
1903 - "Coward", "Horse Thieves", "How I Was an Actor", "White Poodle"
1904 - “Evening Guest”, “Peaceful Life”, “Ugar”, “Zhidovka”, “Diamonds”, “Empty Cottages”, “White Nights”, “From the Street”
1905 - "Black Fog", "Priest", "Toast", "Headquarters Captain Rybnikov"
1906 - "Art", "Killer", "River of Life", "Happiness", "Legend", "Demir-Kaya", "Resentment"
1907 - "Delirium", "Emerald", "Small", "Elephant", "Tales", "Mechanical Justice", "Giants"
1908 - "Seasickness", "Wedding", "Last Word"
1910 - "In a family way", "Helen", "In the cage of the beast"
1911 - "Telegrapher", "Traction Manager", "King's Park"
1912 - Grass, Black Lightning
1913 - "Anathema", "Elephant Walk"
1914 - "Holy lies"
1917 - "Sashka and Yashka", "Brave Runaways"
1918 - Piebald Horses
1919 - "The Last of the Bourgeois"
1920 - "Lemon Peel", "Fairy Tale"
1923 - "One-Armed Commandant", "Fate"
1924 - "Slap"
1925 - "Yu-yu"
1926 - "The Daughter of the Great Barnum"
1927 - "Blue Star"
1928 - "Inna"
1929 - "Paganini's Violin", "Olga Sur"
1933 - "Night Violet"
1934 - "The Last Knights", "Ralph"

Essays by Alexander Kuprin:

1897 - "Kyiv types"
1899 - "To the capercaillie"

1895-1897 - a series of essays "Dragoon Student"
"Dneprovsky seafarer"
"Future Patty"
"False Witness"
"Singer"
"Fireman"
"Housekeeper"
"Tramp"
"Thief"
"Artist"
"Arrows"
"Hare"
"Doctor"
"Hanzhushka"
"Beneficiary"
"Card Provider"

1900 - Travel pictures:
From Kyiv to Rostov-on-Don
From Rostov to Novorossiysk. Legend of the Circassians. Tunnels.

1901 - "Tsaritsyno conflagration"
1904 - "In memory of Chekhov"
1905 - "Events in Sevastopol"; "Dreams"
1908 - "A little bit of Finland"
1907-1911 - a cycle of essays "Listrigons"
1909 - "Don't touch our tongue." About Russian-speaking Jewish writers.
1921 - “Lenin. Instant photo»