Fedin Konstantin Alexandrovich - Soviet writer, public figure, first secretary of the Writers' Union of the USSR.

He was born on February 12 (February 24), 1892 in the city of Saratov in the family of the owner of a stationery store. Since childhood, he has been passionate about writing.

In 1901 he entered the commercial school. In the autumn of 1905, together with the whole class, he participated in a student "strike". In 1907 he fled to Moscow, pawning his violin in a pawnshop. Soon found by his father, he returns home, but, not wanting to work in his father's store, he insists on continuing his education and studying at a commercial school in Kozlov (Michurinsk).

In 1911 he entered the economic department of the Moscow Commercial Institute. In 1914 he was sent to Germany to improve the German language. He lived in Nuremberg, where he was found by the First World War. From 1914 to 1918 - a civilian prisoner in Germany, was interned in Saxony, where he gave Russian language lessons, served as a chorister and actor in the theaters of Zittau and Görlitz.

In 1918 he got into the exchange batch of prisoners and returned to Moscow. From September 1918 he worked in the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. In February 1919, he arrived in the city of Syzran, Simbirsk province, where he organized and edited the literary and artistic magazine "Responses", collaborated in the newspapers: "News of the Syzran Soviets", "Scarlet Way", "Syzran Kommunar". In Syzran he wrote his first stories: "Happiness" and "Uncle Kissel". The latter was awarded in Moscow at the ROSTA competition and attracted the attention of the writer A.M. Gorky, with whom he developed friendly relations. It was here that the young writer learned extensive material for subsequent work. In the novel Cities and Years, the features of the old Syzran are shown in the depicted county town of Semidol. Written in 1921, the story "The Garden" was also inspired by Syzran impressions. The events of the novel "An Extraordinary Summer" unfold on the Volga in 1919.

In October 1919 he was mobilized into the Red Army. Enlisted in the Separate Bashkir Cavalry Division, served in its political department. Member of the defense of Petrograd from the troops of General N.N. Yudenich. From 1920 to 1921 - in the editorial office of the newspaper of the 7th army "Fighting Truth", assistant editor. He has also published extensively in other publications. In 1920-1922 he was the editor of the magazine "Book and Revolution".

Since 1921 he has been a member of the Serapion Brothers literary group. In 1923, Fedin's first book was published - the collection "Wasteland". In 1922-1924 he wrote the novel "Cities and Years" - one of the first Soviet novels about the paths of the intelligentsia in the revolution and civil war, which became a work of Soviet literary classics. In 1927, he took part in writing the collective novel "Big Fires", published in the magazine "Spark". In 1928 he made a big trip to Norway, Holland, Denmark, Germany. In 1931, being seriously ill, he went to Switzerland for treatment, where A.M. Gorky introduced Fedin to French writer Romain Rolland. In 1933-1934 he visited the cities of Italy and France. These trips gave impetus and material for the creation of two novels: "The Abduction of Europe" (1933-1935), "Sanatorium Arcturus" (1940).

During Patriotic War, in 1942, writes the play "Trial of the Senses". In 1943, he began to work on a long-conceived trilogy and by 1948 completed two novels - "The First Joys" and "An Extraordinary Summer", accepted with interest by readers, working on the last part of the trilogy - "Bonfire" (1961-1965). In 1957, the book "Writer, Art, Time" was published, where he gives portraits of his contemporary friends (Gorky, Zweig, Rolland and others). The memoirs "Bitter Among Us" (1941-1968) were published. The writer's works have been translated into the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR and many foreign languages.

He was also a prominent public figure for many years. In 1959-1971 he was the first secretary of the Writers' Union of the USSR.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 23, 1967 for outstanding services in the development of Soviet culture, the creation of works of art socialist realism who have received nationwide recognition and are actively contributing to the communist education of the working people, for fruitful social activities writer Fedin Konstantin Alexandrovich He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

(1892–1977)

Russian writer, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of USSR State Prizes. Peru K. Fedin owns the novels "Cities and Years", "Brothers", "The Abduction of Europe", "Sanatorium" Arktur ""; trilogy "First joys", "Unusual summer", "Bonfire"; novellas, stories, essays, plays, the book "Writer, Art, Time", memoirs "Bitter Among Us".

In love, one does not talk about love - one simply loves in it.

First, the word should determine the thought with the greatest accuracy. Secondly, the word must be musically expressive. Thirdly, it must have the size required by the rhythmic construction of the phrase.

For a writer, low achievements are unthinkable without constant, I would say, lifelong work on the word.

Friendship is a courageous state, not afraid of trials ... friendship is a passionate feeling, not sugar water.

A woman loves the very word - love. But it is difficult for her to talk about love. And the hardest thing is about your love.

The art of a writer is ultimately determined by his style, and style is primarily language.

The thought leads the word, so that it expresses it and conveys it to people.

You must be able to express your thoughts precisely and clearly.

Nothing improves work like diversity.

Innovations, of course, should not be shunned, but it would be good to more often shame literate people who pass off tongue-tiedness as innovation.

Language is the basis of style, its soul. This is the king on the style chessboard. No king - there can be no game. No language - no writer.

The first thing the writer's path begins with and what the reader encounters is the word, speech, language.

The writer must once and for all his life forbid himself to write somehow.

Of decisive importance for the literary fate of the writer is his individuality.

Death with glory and honor is not a sacrifice, but a feat.

Accuracy and clarity of language is the task of a writer's whole life. But the precision of art is not the same as the precision of grammar. The cry of the oriole is similar to the gurgling of water pouring from a bottle. The water voice is an inaccuracy. But art stands on such inaccuracies.

The accuracy of the word is not only a requirement of style, a requirement of healthy taste, but above all - a requirement of meaning.

There can be no good work with bad language.

Language will always remain the main material of the work.

Fedin Konstantin Alexandrovich

Fedin Konstantin Alexandrovich (1892 - 1977), prose writer.

He was born on February 12 (24 N. S.) in Saratov in the family of a stationery trader, a self-taught poet. Baby and youth passed in Saratov. At the age of seven he entered an elementary school, at the same time he began to learn to play the violin. In 1901 he entered the commercial school. In the autumn of 1905, together with the whole class, he took part in a student "strike". In 1907 he fled to Moscow, pawning his violin in a pawnshop. Soon found by his father, he returns home, but, not wanting to work in his father's store, he insists on continuing his education and studying at a commercial school in Kozlov (Michurinsk). Here, thanks to language teachers, I re-read the works of Russian literature in a new way, finding in them "an incomparable joy." I started dreaming about writing.

In 1911 he entered the economic department of the Moscow Commercial Institute. Student years were filled with an already ripe desire to write literary works. Fedin's first literary experiments were published in 1913-1914 in the St. Petersburg New Satyricon by A. Averchenko.

In the spring of 1914 he went to Germany to improve himself in German, lives in Nuremberg, where he was caught. Detained as a civilian prisoner, he was interned in Saxony and lived there until the German Revolution (1918). He gave Russian language lessons, served as a chorister and actor in the theaters of Zittau and Görlitz. He got into the exchange party of prisoners and in the fall of 1918 returned to Moscow. He worked for some time in the People's Commissariat of Education.

In 1919 he lives and works in Syzran, edits the Syzran Kommunar newspaper, where he had to write editorials, feuilletons, and theater reviews, conduct city reports and an international review. The revolutionary events in the Volga region of 1919 provided him with enormous material for writing.

In the autumn he was mobilized to the front and ended up in Petrograd - in the midst of Yudenich's offensive. First he was sent to the cavalry division, then transferred to the editorial office of the newspaper Combat Truth, where he worked as an assistant editor until 1921. He collaborated in the Petrograd press, publishing articles, feuilletons, stories, and edited the magazine Book and Revolution (1921 - 24). In 1923, Fedin's first book was published - the collection Wasteland. In 1922 - 1924 he wrote the novel "Cities and Years" - one of the first Soviet novels about the paths of the intelligentsia in the revolution and civil war, which became a work of Soviet literary classics.

In 1928 he made a big trip to Norway, Holland, Denmark, Germany. Three years later, seriously ill, he went to Switzerland. , friendly relations with which developed back in 1920, introduced Fedin to Romain Rolland. In 1933 - 1934 he visited the cities of Italy and France. These trips gave impetus and material for the creation of two novels: "The Abduction of Europe" (1933 - 1935), "Sanatorium Arcturus" (1940). During the Patriotic War, in 1942, he wrote the play "Trial of Feelings". In 1943, he began working on a long-conceived trilogy and by 1948 completed two novels - "First Joys" and "Unusual Summer", accepted by readers with interest, working on the last part of the trilogy - "Bonfire" (1961 - 1965). In 1957, the book "Writer, Art, Time" was published, where he gives portraits of his contemporary friends (Gorky, S. Zweig, Rolland, etc.). The memoirs "Gorky among us" (1941-68) were published. K. Fedin died in 1977 in Moscow.

Love for your small homeland the author of many novels and short stories carried not only through his life, but also creativity. Saratov was the scene of action of his works, and they were described quite reliably. And although almost all of Fedin's life was spent in the capitals, although he traveled half the world, it was a holiday for him to return to his native places, where he came at the slightest opportunity to break away from business. His "attracted to themselves the old, native nooks and crannies", where the memory of childhood came to life, of close and dear people, of events that left a mark on the soul for many years.

Konstantin Alexandrovich was born on February 12 (24), 1892 in Saratov in a small courtyard wing (according to local tradition called "outhouse") on Bolshaya Sergievskaya Street. Now this street is named after N.G. Chernyshevsky. The house where the Fedin family lodged was opposite the St. Sergius Church, which no longer exists. Archpriest Gavriil Ivanovich Chernyshevsky once served in it, and Nikolai Gavrilovich was baptized here. Here the great revolutionary democrat married Olga Sokratovna. Here he was buried in 1898. And three years later, the future writer Konstantin Fedin was also baptized in the Sergius Church. At that time, his father Alexander Erofeevich Fedin served as a clerk in Bestuzhev's stationery shop, where N.G. Chernyshevsky bought paper for the translation of Weber's History. They knew each other, often talked, and when Nikolai Gavrilovich fell ill, Fedin brought paper to his house, constantly inquiring about his health. Alexander Erofeevich himself, the son of a serf, was not a very literate man, but he knew about Chernyshevsky, considered him an outstanding personality, treated him with great respect and was proud of this acquaintance all his life. And since, on duty, I had to communicate with educated people, Alexander Erofeevich understood the great value of education in life and sought to give it to his children. Alexander Erofeevich overcame the diploma himself, loved to read, especially church books and encyclopedias, and in his youth he even wrote poems that he did not show to anyone, and before his marriage he burned notebooks with poems. But, as Konstantin Fedin recalled, his father "All my life I had a weakness for simple rhyme ...".

The life of the Fedin family was strict. The head of the family installed it "once and for all, like a calendar". Everything felt coercive. The severity of his father was softened by the kindness of Anna Pavlovna's mother and Alexandra Alexandrovna's older sister, whom Konstantin Alexandrovich loved very much. Young Konstantin Fedin found peace of mind and rest on the banks of the Volga, in the garden of the "Institute of Noble Maidens" (now it is a park of culture and recreation), where with a friend - the same eleven-year-old boy classmate, he caught songbirds.

Alexander Erofeevich, being a man of modest income and even tight-fisted, often changed apartments. In one of the letters to his nephew G.V. Rassokhin Konstantin Fedin explained the frequent change of apartments as follows: "...0father changed apartments very often. Usually these were typical courtyard outbuildings - terribly cheap - six to eight rubles a month. But it seemed very expensive to my father. He served as Bestuzhev's clerk and his highest salary, by the end 90s, it was 40 rubles.

Thus, minus the rent, a family of 4 had 32-34 rubles left - an average of eight rubles for each family member! Having already become a well-known author, Fedin believed that "Childhood is the age in which everything is laid". Many of Fedin's childhood impressions are reflected in his stories, short stories, and novels.

In 1905, the writer's father bought a wooden house in Smursky Lane. The family lived in this house for three years. From the windows of this house, Kostya watched the terrible events of the Black Hundred pogroms that swept across Saratov. He himself hid his music teacher Yakov Goldman in a closet under the strings of onions. These impressions are reflected in the novel "Brothers" written in 1928. The house in Smursky Lane is connected with its "adolescent dramas: two escapes, an abandoned school, a store ... But also a journey along the Volga, the first hobbies. And the first books of life (Lermontov!)". There is one interesting detail related to this house. Fedin's nephew and keeper of his Saratov archive Gennady Vasilievich Rassokhin, according to his mother, Konstantin Alexandrovich's sister, told a curious episode. The future writer, who at that time was studying at the Saratov Commercial School, suggested to his father that he practice selling stationery with "premiums" that provided an additional influx of buyers. In those years, schoolchildren (and especially schoolgirls) enthusiastically collected color pictures. Printed on thick glossy paper, these inexpensive pictures adorned the albums of not only schoolchildren, but also adults. On the advice of his son, Alexander Erofeevich included a picture in every purchase. At first, they put it in notebooks: the rumor that notebooks with "premiums" were sold in Fedin's store instantly spread among schoolchildren. The costs of these bonuses were pennies, and the turnover increased many times over, and accordingly, the profit also increased a lot. This allowed Alexander Erofeevich to quickly repay loans and become the owner of a two-story wooden house in five years, and a large two-story stone house a few years later. True, this practical advice went sideways to Konstantin himself: his father forced him, all family members, as well as the clerk to free time until late at night lay out "premium pictures" in notebooks ...

As a seven-year-old boy, Kostya Fedin went to study at the Sretensky Primary Parish School. But he knew this house before, he remembered himself there from the age of three or four. Relatives Semyon Ivanovich and Anna Andrianovna Mashkov lived in it, in whose family the mother of Konstantin Fedin was brought up before marriage. Exactly forty years later, in 1939, having become a famous writer, Fedin arrived in Saratov and went into a familiar courtyard ... Fedin wrote a story about this visit to his first school "Meet the Past" . "In the far corner, in the shadow of a brick firewall, lilacs hunched over - all the same lilacs, only their trunks, coarsened with time, similar to dissected muscles - twisted into bundles. Autumn had already robbed them of foliage, and I saw them white, in bloom: on a bright April day, I jumped off a fragrant branch from them and gave it to my sister. My sister, in a white dress, walked quietly with me and in a lush inflorescence of lilacs looked for five-petalled flowers and, calling them "happiness", made me swallow these bitter, cold stars. And I chewed them, and only now I understand that this, indeed, was happiness. Konstantin Fedin then could not know that after another forty years a museum dedicated to his life and work would be created in the school building.

In 1908, Konstantin Fedin left Saratov forever, and since then he has been here only on short visits. But for him, Saratov will remain his hometown until the end of his life, "Where it's easier to breathe, it's easier to work...".

In 1911, K. Fedin entered the Moscow Commercial Institute; in 1914, after the 3rd year of study, he left for Germany to improve the German language (in the last year of the institute, an impeccable knowledge of the language was required); at the same time in Germany he studies “commerce” at the Faber pencil factory.

The first story was written in 1910, it was an imitation of Gogol's "Overcoat"; the first publications - in the "New Satyricon" in 1913-1914. ("little things" and poems). The outbreak of the First World War detained Konstantin Fedin in Germany, he was interned; returned to Russia in 1918 (this path was reflected in the story "Uncle Kisel" , 1919). In Germany, Fedin discovered the world European culture and until the end of his days remained one of the most educated Soviet writers. Outside the homeland, he worked on his first novel “Backwoods” (a satire on the Cossack city of Uralsk), Fedin subsequently destroyed the manuscript of this work. In the German city of Zittau, Konstantin Fedin met the young Hanni Mrva; their relationship was illuminated by the light of romantic and devoted love; this meeting is destined to become one of those beautiful and painful meetings that, in spite of everything, happened during the catastrophes of the 20th century. The features of X. Mrva were reflected in the image of Marie ( "Cities and Years" ), Anna ( "Brothers" ).

In 1918-1919, Fedin served in the People's Commissariat for Education in Moscow, at the end of 1919 he left for the Volga city of Syzran, where he participated in the formation of the Soviet press; becomes the editor of the newspaper "Syzransky Kommunar" and the magazine "Responses", publishes articles on topical issues. Then Fedin was mobilized, sent to Moscow, Petrograd, then to the political department of the Separate Bashkir Cavalry Division.

In 1920, an acquaintance took place with M. Gorky, who, over the next years, would provide great attention and support to Fedin (in the book "Bitter Among Us" Konstantin Alexandrovich will tell about the fate of these creative relationships). In Petrograd (here the writer will live until 1936) Fedin is actively engaged in journalism, is included in literary group"Serapion's Brothers", where he opposes all sorts of formalist, aesthetic, pro-Western hobbies, professing the realistic traditions of Russian classics. In 1921, at the competition of the House of Writers K.A. Fedin receives an award for the story "Garden" (a story about how the caretaker of the former master's garden frantically fights orphans, protecting the dying garden from them). This event brought the writer great fame. In 1923 a collection was published "Wasteland" , where, in addition to the story "Anna Timofevna" , Fedin placed several stories. Despite the defiantly declared “empty” motive, this book was not about “junk” topics, but about the fate of Russian humanism, about the situation traditional for Russian literature “ little man in revolutionary days. Each of the works "Wasteland" the writer warned about the complex human material with which the revolution met and which did not lend itself to rapid straightening.

novel "Cities and Years" (1924) is dedicated to the First World War and the completed revolution; the action here is devoid of chronological sequence, the events take place either in Russia or in Kaiser's Germany. The writer painted with bold colors burgher Germany, threatening humanity with aggression; he recreated a no less grave picture of the irreconcilable class struggle in the chapters on Russia. The complicated composition of the novel reflected the fearlessness of the artist, who decided to invade the epicenter of the European political life the first two decades of the 20th century. The novel is based on the story of the relationship between the Russian Andrei Startsov, a vulnerable, rushing person, and the German communist Kurt Wang, who is distinguished by tough inflexibility. Kurt kills Startsov, who went on apostasy for the sake of his beloved woman. In the novel (and especially in the drafts for the novel, which are stored in Pushkin House) Startsov is condemned; but this did not exclude the author's desire to evoke compassion for the hero at the same time: “I gave Andrei the best that I know. But I also endowed him with the bitterest thing: despair. The world is cruel, unfortunately.”.

The novel was met with great interest (although Startsov's accusations of "intellectual worthlessness" constantly accompany this book), until 1937 the novel was published annually. He immediately appeared in the publications of the Russian Diaspora and received high reviews there too. Endowed with great artistic power, the novel "Cities and Years" showed that Russian literature of the period of the revolution has not lost its ability to comprehend the difficult contradictions of earthly life.

After romance "Cities and Years" Konstantin Alexandrovich Fedin writes a series small works, among which the story is in the center "Transvaal" (1926), where the writer drew a colorful figure of the businessman Swaaker, who decided to decide the fate of the silent (from many misfortunes) Russian village: “It will be America! Swaaker will help revolutionize the Americas!” Turning to the peasantry of the period of the revolution, Fedin showed that it was not so easy to bewitch them with an exploitative will, it was impossible to bridle them with this will.

In 1928 K.A. Fedin made a novel "Brothers" , where he wrote about how the revolution cut kinship between people, in the novel - between the Karev brothers: Nikita is a composer, with his painful attempts to find a place for his music in the revolution; Rostislav is a revolutionary, with his bravura stories of cruel executions, of bloodshed in the name of the revolution. The brothers met in a difficult life duel; the writer allowed them to experience a sense of kinship - and yet disperse in order to die alone (Rostislav) and hear the call of life to another (Nikita). In the mind of the composer Karev, a deep reflection is born (which sounded unexpected for the 1920s, busy with the class reorganization of life): “He thought about the family, about the commanding power of the family, that what was created by man was created by succession, and if the son has ears, he should hear the voice of the stone laid by the father. This is the homeland - the voice of the stone laid by the father - and happy is the one who hears it ... "

One of the creative ideas of the writer is associated with the name of N.G. Chernyshevsky. In 1928, when the centenary of the birth of Nikolai Gavrilovich was celebrated, Fedin was preparing to speak at the anniversary celebrations. He came across interesting materials from Chernyshevsky's memoirs and his sketches. This prompted the idea to write a story about the times of old Saratov. In 1930, such a story called "Old man" saw the light in Petrograd. In the preface to the story, the author writes with great tenderness about "a city that didn't exist for a long time and which strangely lived somewhere right there, side by side with my little life...". "Long before I was born, the city began to grow, - Fedin narrates in detail, - move away from the place where his fate had once been laid. But the old walls were still preserved, the streets bore the same names, and suddenly, with unexpected clarity, almost palpably to fright, I touched the past. My imagination was as great as my age was, and I populated the deserted streets with a life that even my grandfathers had never seen. So real life included this past with the same force of reality with which for me - a seven-year-old boy - yard games or my morning breakfast - half milk with hot water, a piece of sugar and Saratov white kalach".

At the turn of the 1920-1930s, K.A. Fedin plays a significant role in the literary life of the country, he is in the leadership of the Leningrad Writers' Organization, is actively working to rally the forces of writers, speaks at the First Congress of Soviet Writers, and is elected to the governing bodies of the Writers' Union. Fedin makes numerous trips abroad, which give him material for a new novel - "Abduction of Europe" (1933-1935). The business world of the West is contrasted with the panorama of socialist reality. But the novel turned out to be the most schematic of all Fedinsky's works, it experienced the greatest pressure from the official ideology, which the artist suffered painfully.

Suffering from a severe lung disease, Konstantin Alexandrovich was treated in Davos, Switzerland in the early 1930s; a few years after this trip, the smallest and most poetic Fedinsky novel will appear - “Sanatorium “Arktur” (1940). A sanatorium in the mountains is inhabited by doomed (due to an incurable disease) people who, appreciating every moment of life, are fighting for the continuation of life. Main character novel - Levshin - is endowed with a complex inner life. He lives with love for the Motherland, this differs from all others in the sanatorium, people of different nationalities. The strong and calm nature of Levshin gives support and hope to those who are close to him.

During the Great Patriotic War, K.A. Fedin was evacuated to Chistopol; there he worked on a book of memoirs, a book of reflections on literary life in Russia of the XX century - "Bitter Among Us" (1941-1968); related to this was the book “Writer, art, time” (1957) - portraits of Fedin's contemporaries. In the summer of 1943, the writer went to the front, was on the lands of the liberated Oryol region. In 1944, after the blockade was lifted, he went to Leningrad, where a book of essays was born - “Date with Leningrad” : “I have seen dozens of European cities and lived in eight capitals. The feeling of harmony that Leningrad gives me has not been repeated anywhere ... yes, Leningrad has remained with its unity of past and present, an old and eternal city. But let's touch his wounds". The play was written in 1942 "Trial of the Senses" and a number of essays.

In wartime, Konstantin Aleksandrovich Fedin set about creating a trilogy marked by a large epic scope - “First joys” (1945), “Extraordinary summer” (1947-1948), "Bonfire" (book 1st - "Invasion" , 1961; book. 2nd - "The hour has come" , 1965). The narration of the trilogy is immersed in the writer's unceasing thoughts about the historical path of Russia, about the social and moral problems of the revolution. Although Fedin departed from the theme of Europe in the trilogy, everything here is addressed specifically to the cultural, social image of the 20th century as a whole. From novel to novel, the writer followed the change of generations, the ups and downs, flourishing and fading of the destinies of his characters. The main events are associated with the name of Kirill Izvekov, a purposeful, morally attractive personality. The hero goes through all the trials that befell his people - the years of the revolution, the civil war, the first steps of construction Soviet life, repression, war ( “The heroes themselves composed this plot, they could not have composed another”). In the trilogy, Fedinsky's “representations about the Russian land - as about the World, about the Russian people, as about a Man”. novel "Bonfire" remained unfinished.

Konstantin Alexandrovich Fedin was a prominent public figure, for many years he headed the Writers' Union (1959-1971), was a member of the German Academy of Arts; repeatedly received government awards, was a laureate of State Prizes. His works have been translated into many languages.

Appeared in last years in print, fragments of the diaries of Konstantin Alexandrovich Fedin of different years, letters reveal the deep struggles of the artist, who constantly experienced a rigid dependence on the official ideology.

Materials used: - Russian writers. XX century: Bio-bibliographic dictionary. T.2. - Moscow: Education, 1998.
- Tkacheva I. "It's easier to breathe in your native city..." - Monuments of the Fatherland: The Heart of the Volga Region. - M.: Monuments of the Fatherland, 1998.

His work for our region is valuable primarily because in its works of art on the example of the Samara and Siberian provinces, one of the most difficult and tragic periods is shown in all sharpness national history The twentieth century - the civil war of 1918-1919. From the novels of Konstantin Alexandrovich Fedin, one can draw a lot of information and impressions about Syzran, the city with which fate connected the writer in this difficult time (Fig. 1).

He was born on February 12 (according to the new style on February 24), 1892 in Saratov in the family of the owner of a stationery store. Konstantin from childhood was fond of literature, and therefore, not wanting to follow the example of his father to engage in trade, he ran away from home more than once. However, having succumbed to the persuasion of his parents, in 1911 he entered the Moscow Commercial Institute.

In the first half of 1914, Fedin, among other successful students, was sent to Germany to improve his German language. However, the First World War soon began, and all Russian citizens who were in Germany at that moment were declared civilian prisoners. Fedin was forbidden to leave the country, and inside Germany he was allowed to move only under the control of the authorities, although he had the opportunity to live and work in different cities of the country. Over the following years, Fedin visited various German cities, where he was forced to work for various works, including an actor.

He was able to return to Russia only at the end of 1918, when a civil war was raging in the country. In Moscow at that time it was very restless, devastation and disorder reigned everywhere, and therefore he decided to return to his homeland. However, due to hostilities, he could not get to Saratov, and therefore stopped in Syzran, which then belonged to the Simbirsk province (Fig. 2-8).

Here, for the first time in his life, he was able to professionally engage in literature. According to the writer's own admission, two circumstances forced him to stay in Syzran: "I painfully wanted to become a writer ... and the then half-starved Moscow life was beyond my power after a long hunger strike in Germany 1 ".

In Syzran, K.A. Fedin was entrusted with the organization and editing of the literary-artistic and socio-political magazine Otkliki 2 . A total of nine issues of the magazine were published.

The release of "Responses" was one of the first attempts of the young Soviet authorities to publish a magazine in the Middle Volga region at the expense of local resources - workers, peasants and intelligentsia prone to literary creativity. In the conditions of a small provincial town, Fedin spent a lot of energy to attract to this work not only the inhabitants of Syzran, but also other activists who lived in the Syzran district and even beyond its borders.

Fedin's literary activity in 1919 was not limited to the magazine alone. He also took an active part in the work of the only newspaper in the city and district at that time, which at various times came out under the names Izvestia, Scarlet Way and Syzransky Kommunar. There was even a period when Fedin edited this newspaper. In it, he published under the pseudonym Peter Shved, publishing editorials, essays, feuilletons, various notes, and even theater reviews on its pages.

Work in Syzran as a journalist, as shown by his further work, had for Fedin great importance during his development as a writer. Subsequently, he recalled this time as follows: “I passed my preparatory class in Syzran with the skills necessary for a press worker - responsibility, courage, self-criticism, the ability to cooperate with comrades, and look at any work in the editorial office with equal respect” 3. The experience gained helped him in the future when working on journalistic work in Petrograd.

It is now known that 1919 was a difficult time for our country. Domestic and external enemies tried to strangle the young Soviet Republic by unleashing a civil war on its territory. In the spring of 1919, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, who gathered a huge army, reached almost the Volga. IN Samara province his troops advanced from the east almost to Sergievsk. The Volga cities and villages lived in conditions of almost continuous hostilities, equally fearing repression, looting and forced deportation to the army by both the white and red authorities.

At this time, Syzran, as an important transport hub on the Middle Volga, was in fact in the position of a front-line city. After the departure of the Czechoslovak corps and the White Guards at the end of 1918, red military units were formed here, weapons and ammunition arrived, and the wounded and prisoners arrived from behind the Volga. The city was seriously preparing to repulse a possible new arrival of the White Guards, about whose stay in Syzran the population had not the most pleasant memories (Fig. 9-11).

This alarming situation could not but affect the activities of the small literary and journalistic community, including Fedin and his comrades. In his memoirs, he wrote the following about this: “We worked nervously, rarely brought our plans and intentions to the end, the situation excited us” 4 .

The tense political situation imperiously dictated the need to engage not only in literary, but also public affairs. “More and more,” the writer reported later in his memoirs, “I was captivated by a variety of work. I lectured on political economy at various courses, spoke at city rallies, and from mid-summer I was appointed secretary of the city executive committee. It should be noted that the post of chairman of the executive committee at that time was occupied by the writer Alexei Kolosov. And Fedin, in his words, "gathered volunteers for the Red Cavalry, he himself joined the cavalry, joined the party and was sent to the front" 5 .

In connection with the mobilization military service in the late autumn of 1919 K.A. Fedin left Syzran. Since then, he never returned to this city.

In the future, researchers of the work of K.A. Fedin has repeatedly noted that his life and work in Syzran became an important stage on his literary path. This fact was repeatedly emphasized by the writer himself, who noted in his memoirs: “Here [in Syzran] my revolution took place ... This year is my best year. This year is my pathos” 6 . And further: "Eight months of Syzran life took a big place in my writing destiny" 7 .

In Syzran, Fedin created his first story "Happiness", which was published in "Responses" under the pseudonym K. Alyakrinsky. Researchers believe that he became the initial sketch of the image of Marie, the character of the novel Cities and Years.

Another story by Fedin - "Uncle Kisel", also written in Syzran, was awarded in Moscow at the ROSTA competition at the end of 1919. The hero of this work subsequently also became one of the characters in the novel Cities and Years. It should be noted that it was the story "Uncle Kisel", and another article by K.A. Fedin in his “Responses” under the heading “Peace on Earth” was then forced to pay attention to A.M. Gorky on the young author and invite him to a personal acquaintance. This first meeting became a kind of prologue for a personal friendship between them that lasted for many years. After death proletarian writer, in the early 40s, from the pen of K.A. Fedin published the book "A Bitter Among Us", which was repeatedly reprinted until 1977.

Syzran impressions of K.A. Fedina owes his appearance to the story "The Garden". “In the summer of 1919, near Syzran,” the author wrote, “I examined the orchards, which had rather deteriorated after the war with the Czechoslovaks. The watchman who accompanied me said, among other things, recalling the old "owners": "Left away - as if they had taken everything with them." I asked: “Well, what about the new “owners”? He answered: “There is not a single brick left in the brick shed, there is nothing to throw at the dog.” “While I rode a horse to the city, I had the story “Garden” 8 ready.

On the manuscript of The Garden, which received the first prize from the House of Writers in Petrograd, A.M. Gorky in 1921 made the following note: "Very good, but in some places there are superfluous or inaccurately taken words" 9 .

The materials of life, gleaned by Fedin in Syzran, were used in many of his other works. So, many features of the provincial town of Semidol (in the novel "Cities and Years") were born from memories of Syzran and its environs. The same can be said about the story "The Narovchatskaya Chronicle", where many small facts of Syzran life are used 10 .

About his most famous novel "An Extraordinary Summer" by K.A. Fedin wrote: “I again returned in thought to the events of 1919 in the Syzran district. The scene of the brutal reprisal of the kulaks against the Soviet people in Repyevka is nothing more than one of the episodes of the mutiny of the "chapans" near Syzran (I participated in the unusually dramatic funeral of the victims of this mutiny in the city square). The very name of the village - Repyevka, which does not exist in the Khvalynsky district, where the action in my novel takes place, was suggested to me by the memory of Syzran Repyevka, where Denis Davydov once came to visit from his Upper Maza.

In other notes, recalling the time of his stay in Syzran, K.A. Fedin wrote: “I know that the city has become unrecognizable over the years that have passed since then. Its entire district acquired both a new look and a new incomparable significance for the economic, industrial, cultural life not only in their own area, but also outside of it. In the depths of my soul, that former Syzran of the times of the civil war and the first steps of the struggle to strengthen the Soviet system, for a socialist future, for communism is still stored. This is where my literary path began.

After demobilization from the army, Fedin in 1921 joined the Serapion Brothers literary group. Memories of Germany and the Civil War largely determined the nature of his first major novel, Cities and Years (1922-24), which contained very relevant statements for that time on the topic "Intellectual and Revolution". In 1927, he took part in the collective novel "Big Fires", published in the magazine "Spark". In 1933-1935, Fedin worked on the novel The Abduction of Europe, the first political literary work in Soviet literature.

Until 1937 he lived in Leningrad (Prospect Volodarsky, 33), and then moved to Moscow. In the novel Arcturus Sanatorium (1940), published on the eve of the war, the writer used the theme of Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain for propaganda purposes. With the help of this literary image he contrasted the "healthy" USSR with the "decaying" West. IN post-war years K.A. Fedin created his most famous works, which have become classics of Soviet literature - a trilogy as part of the novels "First Joys" (1945), "An Extraordinary Summer" (1947) and "Bonfire" (1961).

In 1957 K.A. Fedin wrote his memoirs under the title "Writer, Art, Time", which became a kind of result of his literary creativity. In the future, he was mainly engaged in administrative and socio-political work. In 1958 K.A. Fedin was elected an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1959 - the head of the Writers' Union. He held this position until the very last days own life.

In 1967, for his great contribution to Soviet literature, K.A. Fedin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Konstantin Alexandrovich Fedin died on July 15, 1977 in Moscow and was buried on Novodevichy cemetery(Fig. 12, 13).

1 "Volga Commune", No. 47, 1952, "Syzran Meetings".

2 The Soviet writer K.Ya. Gorbunov (born in 1903), author of the novel Icebreaker. In Syzran, Gorbunov graduated from high school and worked for several years in a local newspaper.

3 "Volga Commune", No. 47, 1952, "Syzran Meetings".

4 " Literary newspaper”, No. 14, 1940, “Four meetings”.

5 "Literary Notes", No. 3, 1922.

7 "Volga Commune", No. 47, 1952, "Syzran Meetings".

8 " Literary studies» No. 4, 1930, p. 114.

9 K. Fedin, Gorky among us, part I, p. 136.

10 "Volga Commune" No. 47, 1952, "Syzran Meetings".

11 "Volga Commune", No. 47, 1952, "Syzran Meetings".

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