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Paustovsky, Konstantin Georgievich

Soviet writer. The son of a railway engineer. He studied at Kiev, then at Moscow universities. He was a worker at metallurgical plants in Yuzovka, Yekaterinoslav, Taganrog, a tram conductor in Moscow; during the imperialist war he was a nurse, a sailor, a reporter and a newspaper editor. Participated in the civil war (in the battles against Petliura). P. published his first work in 1912, and became a professional writer in 1927.

P. began his literary activity with a series of short stories depicting the life of sailors and the life of seaside southern cities. These early works of P. retain a number of features of the petty-bourgeois intellectual perception of reality. The writer is keenly interested here in the problem of the discrepancy between dreams and reality. He pays special attention to the image of a "small" person; like this, for example. the image of an engraver in the short story "Labels for Colonial Goods" ("Oncoming Ships", 1928), who lived in a dream "of the ocean, of silver springs, of the yellow sheen of foreign and deserted shores" and whom the cruel reality of tsarist Russia inevitably returned to the realm of poverty and arbitrariness. Later, this engraver "missed the revolution." In the early stories of P., a passive-contemplative approach to reality is revealed, the writer admires in these short stories the sea, the strength and wit of the sailors, he does not go further than the image of a spontaneous, individualistic rebellion against capitalist exploitation ("The Dutch Queen", "Conversation during a downpour" , "Judicial conspiracy"). For the most part, Paustovsky's realistic short stories are imbued with lyricism, they are sometimes characterized by excessive sophistication. In their composition, these are usually first-person stories, notes, letters, diaries, etc.

If P.'s early short stories express a contemplative approach to the dreamer-intellectual, who is actually excluded from social practice, then in his subsequent works P. proceeds to depict intellectuals who are included in the practice of social struggle. The horizon of the writer is expanding, his works are sharpened. In the novel "Shining Clouds" there are intellectuals like Captain Kravchenko; writer Berg, journalist Baturin, in the fight against the enemies of the Soviet Union, they cease to be people "torn off from their age", and find, albeit belatedly, a place for themselves in a new life. The plot of the novel is the search for drawings of an invention that was valuable to the Soviet Union, stolen by the enemy Pirrison. Fighting the enemy, intellectual heroes come back to life, rebuild. They feel themselves included in the practice of revolutionary reality. The final chapter of the novel shows these people reborn. Writer Berg, summing up the results of a successful operation, says: "If it were not for these searches, you would be moldy in your skepticism." "He began to live very widely and young." Baturin felt like a fighter. He will call "to the fruitful land, to noisy holidays, to the joyful pupils of people, to the wisdom of every, the most insignificant thing." True, Baturin does not yet have a proletarian understanding of the tasks of the revolution. The meaning of the novel is the affirmation of the need to include an intellectual in revolutionary work as the only way to overcome the narrow horizons of a petty person. Despite the fact that adventurous motives are unnecessarily emphasized in this novel, despite the fact that the writer could not give a realistic interpretation of the episodes of the class struggle, Paustovsky deserves a psychologically convincing interpretation of the changes that the greater and better part of the intelligentsia undergoes in the conditions of the victorious struggle of the proletariat.

With much greater ideological and artistic maturity, P. Kara-Bugaz was written, which was originally intended for youth and nominated P. to the forefront of Soviet literature. In Kara-Bugaz, P.'s characteristic ability to combine romantic pathos with a realistic depiction of the phenomena of reality comes out with all his might. Kara-Bugaz is a bay of the Caspian Sea, containing hundreds of millions of tons of mirabilite (Glauber's salt), millions of tons of bromine, barite, sulfur, limestone, and phosphorites. These colossal riches, which the old autocratic Russia was powerless to master, are beginning to be widely exploited by the proletarian state. A powerful combine is being built in Kara-Bugaz, nomadic Turkmens are involved in the construction, the terrible waterless desert turns into a flowering garden. P. creates a number of exciting artistically expressive episodes; such is eg. the scene of the first socialist competition of Turkmens in digging a tunnel. "Kara-Bugaz" in abundance includes historical. documents (reports of Captain Zherebtsov), excerpts from speeches, digital references, scientific explanations, etc.; At the same time, P. is far from a factual approach to reality. "Kara-Bugaz" organically combined elements of an artistic essay, travel literature, a dramatic short story about the civil war, and a psychological sketch. Concise and at the same time convex portraits-characteristics are interspersed in the narrative in passing. Passing on the peculiar color of the landscape of Turkmenistan and the peculiarities of the cultural and everyday features of its population, Paustovsky is free from cheap aesthetic exoticism. In Beckmet's wonderful fairy tale about Lenin, Paustovsky gives an example of the artistic recreation of the creativity of the masses. A distinctive feature of the book is that it is, as it were, turned to the future, inspired by romantic purposefulness.

In the story "The Fate of Charles Lonsevil" P. moves from the image of the practice of social. building to such a display of the past, which not only does not lead away from the present, but even more clearly sets off its significance. The action of the story unfolds in the era of Nicholas I. It is no coincidence that P. chooses as his hero the revolutionary-republican Charles Lonsevil, who was captured in Russia after the retreat of the Napoleonic army: it was such a person who was able to especially keenly feel the barracks reality of Nicholas Russia. The situation of such a person in Russia is tragic, and only death saves Lonsevil from life imprisonment in the Shlisselburg fortress. Slavic Russian reality is contrasted with forbidden memories of formidable uprisings of serf workers. The story "The Fate of Charles Launceville" is characterized by a laconic, strictly drawn plot, absorbing historical facts, persons, events, sharply drawn lines of the class struggle, vivid characteristics, excited and courageous language.

The author of a large number of essays and short stories, Paustovsky earned a high appreciation of his work, given by the most prominent figures and writers of our era - N. K. Krupskaya, M. Gorky, R. Rolland and others. into German, French and English.

Bibliography: I. Minetosa, Marine Sketches, ed. "Library" Ogonyok "", M., 1927; Nautical Sketches, Stories, ed. Central Committee of the Union of Water Workers, M., 1927; Oncoming Ships, Novels and Stories, ed. "Young Guard", [M.], 1928; Glittering Clouds, ed. "Proletary", Kharkov, ; Notes of Vasily Sedykh, Guise, M. - L., 1930; Valuable cargo, ed. "Young Guard", M., 1931; Kara-Ada, ed. the same, M., 1932; Kara-Bugaz, ed. the same, M., 1932; The best catcher brigade of the USSR, [Essay], ed. 2nd, Kogiz, M., 1932; The fate of Charles Lonseville, ed. "Young Guard", Moscow, 1932. P. published over a hundred stories and essays in the periodical press: "Pravda", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Evening Moscow", "Red Nov", "Siberian Lights", "30 Days", "Change", almanac "Year Sixteenth", "La littérature internationale" (Moscow), "Regards" (Paris), etc.

II. Zh. E., "Young Guard", 1927, VI (review of "Minetosis"); Roshkov P., "Book and Revolution", 1929, X (review of "Shining Clouds"); Krupskaya N. K., gas. "Komsomolskaya Pravda", 1932, No. 5; Pavlenko P., Excellent book, "Literary newspaper", 1932, No. 56, December 11; His, "Red New", 1932, XII; Yudin S., A book that calls for victory, "The Book for Youth", 1932, VIII - IX; Tretyakov S., gas. Pravda, 1933, No. 6, January 6; Kolesnikova G., On the verge between essay and story, "October", 1933, VI; Duchinskaya S., What the guys say about "Kara-Bugaz", "The Book - Youth", 1933, VIII - IX; Trifonova T., "Cutter", 1933, II; Friedman B., "Young Guard", 1933, II; Yagling B., "Our achievements", 1933, I; Toom L., A book that infects with creativity, "Siberian Lights", 1933, III - IV; Slavin L., A book for everyone (Notes of a writer), "Evening Moscow", 1933, February 13; and others (reviews about "Kara-Bugaz"); Ledovskaya M., "Children's Literature", 1932, XIII (review of "Kara-Ada"); Kravtsov, "Children's Literature", 1932, II - III (review of "Valuable Cargo"); Friedman B., New book by K. Paustovsky, "Young Guard", 1933, VIII; Reznik O., A Tale of Many Facets and Problems, "Children's and Youth Literature", 1933, VI; Shklovsky V., Historical novel from general ideas, Literaturnaya Gazeta, 1933, No. 53, November 17; Paustovsky K., I return the reproach, Answer to Shklovsky's article, ibid., 1933, No. 53, November 17; Shklovsky V., Moliere's wigs, ibid., 1933, No. 55, November 29 (review of "The Fate of Charles Lonsevil").

N. Plisko.

(Lit. Enz.)

paust O Vovsky, Konstantin Georgievich

Genus. May 19 (31), 1892, in Moscow, d. July 14, 1968, ibid. Writer, memoirist. The literary debut took place in 1912 ("On the Water", a story). Works: "Sea Sketches" (1925), "Shining Clouds" (novel, 1929), "Kara-Bugaz" (story, 1932), "Colchis" (story, 1934), "Orest Kiprensky" (story, 1937), "Isaac Levitan" (story, 1937), "Meshcherskaya Side" (story, 1939), "The Tale of Life" (1945-63), "Golden Rose" (1956), stories, short stories, essays.

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See what "Paustovsky, Konstantin Georgievich" is in other dictionaries:

Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky Date of birth: May 19 (31), 1892 Place of birth: Moscow, Russian Empire Date of death: July 14, 1968 Place of death: Moscow, USSR Occupation ... Wikipedia

Paustovsky, Konstantin Georgievich- Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky. PAUSTOVSKY Konstantin Georgievich (1892-1968), Russian writer. Master of lyrical prose. The stories "Kara Bugaz" (1932), "Colchis" (1934), addressed to the ethical problems of the transformation of the environment, the story ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Russian Soviet writer. The first story "On the Water" was published in 1912. He studied at Kiev University (1911-13). After the October Revolution of 1917, he collaborated ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (1892 1968), Russian. owls. writer. In an autobiographical stories ("Distant Years", 1946; "Restless Youth", 1955) there is evidence of L.'s passion for poetry. The hero of the play P. "Lieutenant Lermontov" (1940) is a poet of mature talent, aware that he was "born ... ... Lermontov Encyclopedia

- (1892 1968) Russian writer. Master of lyrical prose. The stories Kara Bugaz (1932), Colchis (1934), addressed to the ethical problems of environmental transformation, the story Meshcherskaya Side (1939) and stories (collection Summer Days, 1937), depicting ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1892 1968), Russian writer. Master of lyrical prose. In the stories "Kara Bugaz" (1932), "Colchis" (1934) the ethical problems of the transformation of the environment; the story "Meshchorskaya Side" (1939) and stories (collection "Summer Days", 1937) draw ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1892, Moscow 1968, in the same place; buried in the city of Tarusa, Kaluga Region), writer. From the family of a railroad employee. Paustovsky's childhood passed in Vilna, Pskov, Kyiv. He studied at Kiev University, in 1913 he transferred to law ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky; USSR, Moscow; 05/19/1892 - 07/14/1968

Konstantin Paustovsky is one of the most famous Soviet writers. His work during the years of the life of the writer was appreciated all over the world. Paustovsky's stories and novels were filmed more than once, and the writer himself was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature together with him. And now Paustovsky's books are so popular to read that this allowed him to take a high place among. And such works of the writer as "The Tale of Life", "Telegram" and many others are included in the classics of world literature.

Konstantin Paustovsky biography

Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow in the family of a railway statistician. He was the third child in the family, and there were four children in total. The roots of Paustovsky's father went back to the name of the Zaporozhye hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, and therefore it is not surprising that in 1898 the family moved to Kyiv. Here Konstantin entered the gymnasium. In 1908, their family broke up, as a result of which he lived in Bryansk for one year, but soon returned to Kyiv.

In 1912, Konstantin Paustovsky entered the Kiev University at the Faculty of History and Philology. Already at this stage of his life, the love of the future writer for literature resulted in the first Paustovsky stories “Four” and “On the Water”. In 1914, the writer was forced to move to Moscow, where his mother and brothers lived. Here he entered Moscow University, but already in 1915 he went to the front as a field orderly.

The reasons for the return of Konstantin Paustovsky from the front line were tragic. Both of his brothers died on the same day in different sectors of the front. In order to support his mother and sister, Konstantin first returns to Moscow. But the financial situation requires him to get a job and until the October Revolution, the writer is forced to work in Yekaterinoslavl, Yuzovka, Taganrog and in a fishing artel on the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. By the way, it is in Taganrog that the first lines of Paustovsky's novel "Romance" appear.

With the beginning of the October Revolution, the writer gets a job as a journalist in one of the Moscow newspapers. But in 1919 he decides to leave Moscow and return to Kyiv. Here he first falls into the ranks of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and then into the ranks of the Red Army. After that, he goes to his homeland - Odessa. And from here on a trip to the south of Russia. Only in 1923 did he return to Moscow. Here he gets a job as an editor in a telegraph agency and is actively working on his new works. Some of them are starting to be published.

Paustovsky earns the greatest popularity in the 30s. His works such as "Kara-Bugaz", "Giant on the Kama", "Lake Front" and many others are published. Paustovsky makes friends with, and also receives the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

With the outbreak of World War II, he goes to the front and, with whom he corresponds and to whom he dedicated one of his stories, works as a war correspondent. But around the middle of the war, Paustovsky and his family were evacuated to Alma-Ata. After the end of the war, the popularity of Paustovsky to read also spread to Europe. Indeed, thanks to permission from the authorities, he traveled almost all of it. By the way, it was after the end of the war and almost until his death that Paustovsky wrote his autobiographical work, The Tale of Life.

An interesting fact is the writer's acquaintance with Marlene Dietrich. During her tour in the USSR, she was asked about her cherished desire. What was the surprise of journalists when she expressed a desire to meet Konstantin Paustovsky. After all, Paustovsky's story "Telegram" made an indelible impression on her. Therefore, the already ill Paustovsky was very much asked to come to her concert. And after the performance, when Paustovsky went up on stage, Marlene Dietrich fell on her knees in front of him. But, unfortunately, asthma and several heart attacks finally crippled the writer's health and in 1968 he died.

Books by Konstantin Paustovsky on the Top Books website

The works of Paustovsky are so popular to read that several of his books at once could get on the pages of our rating, but unfortunately small stories of Paustovsky cannot participate in the ratings of our site. So the story of Paustovsky "Telegram" is so popular to read that he would certainly take a high place in the ratings of the best works. In the meantime, the main work of Paustovsky "The Tale of Life" is presented in the rating, which, given the consistently high interest, will be presented on the pages of our website more than once.

Konstantin Paustovsky list of books

1. distant years
2. Restless youth
3. The Beginning of the Unknown Age
4. Time for great expectations
5. Throw to the south

Konstantin Paustovsky stood out favorably against the background of Soviet prose writers. He did not curry favor with the authorities, he wrote at the behest of his heart. And the heart of Paustovsky belonged to ordinary people. He considered selling his talent the most disgusting act for an artist.

Childhood and youth

The future singer of Russian nature was born in 1892 in the family of a retired officer who served for many years on the railway. His father was a descendant of Peter Sahaydachny - the fearless leader of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. He often recalled his kinship with the hetman, but not without irony.

The maternal grandmother was a Polish, devout Catholic. With her son-in-law, an atheist, an impractical and freedom-loving person, she often had clashes on ideological grounds. Paternal grandfather once served the king, participated in the Turkish-Russian war, thanks to which he met a strict oriental woman, who later became his wife.

Paustovsky's pedigree includes Zaporozhian Cossacks, Turks, and Poles. Nevertheless, he became a deeply Russian writer, devoted his life to singing the beauties of his native land. In adolescence, he, like many of his peers, read voraciously. A romantic story about a dreamy girl made a deep impression on him. But already in the gymnasium years, Konstantin was attracted not only by reading, but also by writing. The first work of the young prose writer was the story "On the Water".

Konstantin spent his early years in Moscow, then studied in Kyiv, briefly in Bryansk. The family moved frequently. It broke up in 1908, after which the son rarely saw his father. The schoolboy, having received a telegram about his parent's illness, immediately went to Belaya Tserkov. On the way, I thought about my father, a quick-tempered, proud, but kind person. Shortly before his death, for unknown reasons, he left the service on the railway and went to the estate that once belonged to his grandfather.

Later, the writer will write about the death of his father in the Tale of Life. The book reflects other events from the biography of the prose writer. Paustovsky's youth passed in Kyiv. After high school he entered the Faculty of Philology. In the second part of the autobiography, the author recalls a philosophy professor who looks like. At the lectures of an eccentric teacher, Paustovsky suddenly realized that the only path in life for him was writing.

Paustovsky had a sister and two brothers. The elder did not approve of Constantine's literary hobbies, believing that prose and poetry were necessary solely for entertainment. But he did not listen to his brother's instructions and continued to read and write every day to the point of exhaustion.

The serene youth ended in 1914. Konstantin dropped out of school, went to Moscow. Mother and sister lived in the center of the city, on Bolshaya Presnya, later renamed Krasnaya. Paustovsky transferred to the capital's university, but did not study for long. He worked for some time as a tram conductor. The former student did not go to the front because of myopia. Both brothers died on the same day.

Literature

The first stories appeared in the magazine "Lights". A year before the revolution, Paustovsky left for Taganrog. In his native city, he began work on the book Romantics. Only in 1935 this novel was published. Completed in the early 1920s in Odessa, where the writer spent several months, after which he returned to Moscow.

In the capital, Paustovsky got a job as a correspondent. I had to attend rallies that became commonplace for Moscow in the post-revolutionary years. The writer reflected the impressions of those years in the third part of The Tale of Life. Here the author talks in detail about prominent politicians and revolutionaries, including about. The writer's statement about the head of the Provisional Government:

"He was a sick man, suffering from Dostoevism, who believed in his high appointment."

Paustovsky has been everywhere: in the Donbass, and in Siberia, and in the Baltic, and in Central Asia. The writer has tried many professions. Each period of his life is a separate book. The prose writer especially fell in love with the nature of the Vladimir region. He liked deep forests, and blue lakes, and even abandoned roads.

The writer devoted the stories “Cat-thief”, “Badger nose”, “Gray gelding”, “Snow” to the nature of these places. In the second half of the 20th century, short works by Paustovsky were included in the compulsory program for schoolchildren. Among them are "Disheveled Sparrow", "Hare Paws", "Old House Residents". The tales of the Soviet writer are instructive and kind. "Warm Bread" is a story about how the villagers were punished for the cruelty of a selfish boy.

The characters of "Basket with fir cones" are the Norwegian musician Grieg and the forester's daughter. This is an easy-going fairy tale for children. In 1989, according to the story, a cartoon was created. Only 13 works by Paustovsky have been filmed.

In the 50s, the fame of Paustovsky spread beyond the borders of the USSR. The novels and short stories were translated into all European languages. Konstantin Georgievich not only wrote, but also taught. At the Literary Institute, the prose writer was known as a talented teacher. Among his students are the classics of Soviet prose.

After Stalin's death, the writer visited different countries. He visited both Turkey and Poland, the homeland of his ancestors. Visited Bulgaria, Italy, Sweden. Paustovsky was nominated for the Nobel Prize, but the award, as you know, was received by the author "". According to the rules, only after 50 years is the reason for the refusal revealed. In 2017, it became known: "the merits of the Soviet prose writer do not outweigh his shortcomings." This opinion was expressed by members of the Swedish commission.

She became a devoted admirer of Paustovsky's work. In the book of memoirs "Reasoning" she devoted a separate chapter to him. The German actress appreciated the poetic prose of Paustovsky after reading the "Telegram". This story made such a strong impression on Dietrich that since then she remembered both the work and the name of the author, which she had not heard of before.

In the late 50s, the actress came to Moscow. Then she met for the first and last time with the writer. Dietrich gave the prose writer a few photos as a keepsake. One depicts Paustovsky and the famous actress on the stage of the House of Writers.

Personal life

In 1915, Paustovsky met his future wife. Her name was Ekaterina Zagorskaya. The wedding took place next summer near Ryazan, in a small village church. So Catherine wished. In these parts, the childhood years of the writer's son Vadim, who was born in 1925, passed.

Paustovsky lived with his first wife for 20 years. According to the memoirs of his son, the marriage remained strong as long as everything was subordinated to the work of Konstantin Georgievich. In the 30s, recognition came to Paustovsky. By that time, the couple were tired of each other, in which the difficult post-revolutionary years played a significant role.

When Paustovsky began an affair with Valeria Navashina, Catherine filed for divorce. Later, in their writings, the memoirists referred to the personal correspondence of the ex-wife of the prose writer, in which there were the words “I can’t forgive him for his connection with that polka.”

The second wife is the daughter of a Polish painter, popular in the 1920s. Valeria Navashina became the muse of the writer. He devoted many works of the late 30s to her. However, Paustovsky was also inspired by his third wife.

The last decisive event in the personal life of the writer took place in 1948. Paustovsky met Tatyana Arbuzova. At the time, she was married to a popular playwright. Alexey Arbuzov dedicated the play "Tanya" to his wife. Paustovsky married Tatyana in 1950. In this marriage, Alexei was born, who lived only 26 years.

Death

Paustovsky suffered from asthma. Despite the disease, which worsened towards the end of his life, he was active in social activities. He spoke in defense of disgraced writers, never participated in the persecution of "dissidents".

Once he did not publicly shake hands with an eminent critic who spoke out against the creator of Doctor Zhivago, a book that in those days was not scolded only by the most courageous. The writer died after another heart attack in 1968. The name of the prose writer is the planet discovered in the late 70s.

Bibliography

• 1928 - "Oncoming Ships"
• 1928 - "Shining Clouds"
• 1932 - "Kara-Bugaz"
• 1933 - "The Fate of Charles Lonsevil"
• 1933 - "Colchis"
• 1935 - "Romantics"
• 1936 - "Black Sea"
• 1937 - "Isaac Levitan"
• 1937 - Orest Kiprensky
• 1939 - "Taras Shevchenko"
• 1963 - "The Tale of Life"

The writer's grandfather Maxim Grigorievich Paustovsky was a soldier, and Honorata's grandmother, before the adoption of Christianity, bore the name Fatma, and was a Turkish woman. According to the memoirs of Konstantin Paustovsky, his grandfather was a meek blue-eyed old man who loved to sing old thoughts and Cossack songs with a cracked tenor, and told many incredible, and sometimes touching stories "from the very life that happened."

The writer's father, Georgy Paustovsky, was a railway statistician, behind whom the fame of a frivolous person was established among his relatives, with a reputation as a dreamer who, according to Konstantin's grandmother, "had no right to marry and have children." He came from the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, who moved after the defeat of the Sich on the banks of the Ros River near the White Church. Georgy Paustovsky did not get along for a long time in one place, after serving in Moscow he lived and worked in Pskov, in Vilna and later settled in Kyiv, on the South-Western Railway. The writer's mother, Maria Paustovskaya, was the daughter of an employee at a sugar factory, and had an imperious character. She took the upbringing of children very seriously, and was convinced that only with strict and harsh treatment of children could “something worthwhile” be grown out of them.

Konstantin Paustovsky had two brothers and a sister. Later, he told about them: “In the autumn of 1915, I moved from the train to the field medical detachment and went with him a long retreat from Lublin in Poland to the town of Nesvizh in Belarus. In the detachment, from a greasy piece of newspaper that came across to me, I learned that on the same day two of my brothers were killed on different fronts. I was left completely alone with my mother, except for my half-blind and sick sister. The writer's sister Galina died in Kyiv in 1936.

In Kyiv, Konstantin Paustovsky studied at the 1st Kyiv classical gymnasium. When he was in the sixth grade, his father left the family, and Konstantin was forced to independently earn his living and study by tutoring. In his autobiographical essay “A Few Fragmentary Thoughts” in 1967, Paustovsky wrote: “The desire for the extraordinary has haunted me since childhood. My state could be defined in two words: admiration for the imaginary world and longing for the impossibility of seeing it. These two feelings prevailed in my youthful poems and in my first immature prose.

A huge influence on Paustovsky, especially in his youth, was the work of Alexander Green. Paustovsky later told about his youth: “I studied in Kyiv, in a classical gymnasium. Our graduation was lucky: we had good teachers of the so-called "humanities" - Russian literature, history and psychology. We knew and loved literature and, of course, spent more time reading books than preparing lessons. The best time - sometimes unbridled dreams, hobbies and sleepless nights - was the Kiev spring, the dazzling and tender spring of Ukraine. She was drowning in dewy lilacs, in the slightly sticky first greenery of Kievan gardens, in the scent of poplars and the pink candles of old chestnut trees. In such springs, it was impossible not to fall in love with high school girls with heavy braids and write poetry. And I wrote them without restraint, two or three poems a day. In our family, which at that time was considered progressive and liberal, they talked a lot about the people, but they meant by it mainly the peasants. The workers, the proletariat, were rarely talked about. At that time, with the word "proletariat" I imagined huge and smoky factories - Putilovsky, Obukhovsky and Izhora - as if the entire Russian working class was assembled only in St. Petersburg and precisely at these factories.

The first short story by Konstantin Paustovsky "On the Water", written in the last year of study at the gymnasium, was published in the Kiev almanac "Lights" in 1912. After graduating from the gymnasium, Paustovsky studied at Kiev University, then transferred to Moscow University, in the summer he still worked as a tutor. The First World War forced him to interrupt his studies, and Paustovsky became a leader on a Moscow tram and also worked on an ambulance train. In 1915, with a field sanitary detachment, he retreated along with the Russian army across Poland and Belarus. He said: “In the autumn of 1915, I moved from the train to the field medical detachment and went with him a long retreat from Lublin in Poland to the town of Nesvizh in Belarus.”

After the death of two older brothers at the front, Paustovsky returned to his mother in Moscow, but soon began his wandering life again. During the year he worked at metallurgical plants in Yekaterinoslav and Yuzovka and at a boiler plant in Taganrog. In 1916 he became a fisherman in an artel on the Sea of ​​Azov. While living in Taganrog, Paustovsky began writing his first novel, The Romantics, which was published in 1935. This novel, the content and mood of which corresponded to its title, was marked by the author's search for a lyric-prose form. Paustovsky sought to create a coherent storyline about what he had seen and felt in his youth. One of the heroes of the novel, old Oskar, resisted all his life that they tried to turn him from an artist into an earner. The main motive of "The Romantics" was the fate of the artist, who sought to overcome loneliness.

Paustovsky met the February and October revolutions of 1917 in Moscow. After the victory of Soviet power, he began working as a journalist and "lived the busy life of newspaper editors." But soon the writer left for Kyiv, where his mother moved, and survived several upheavals there during the Civil War. Soon Paustovsky ended up in Odessa, where he found himself among young writers like him. After living in Odessa for two years, Paustovsky left for Sukhum, then moved to Batum, then to Tiflis. Wanderings in the Caucasus led Paustovsky to Armenia and northern Persia. The writer wrote about that time and his wanderings: “In Odessa, for the first time, I found myself among young writers. Among the employees of the "Sailor" were Kataev, Ilf, Bagritsky, Shengeli, Lev Slavin, Babel, Andrey Sobol, Semyon Kirsanov, and even the elderly writer Yushkevich. In Odessa, I lived near the sea, and wrote a lot, but have not yet published, believing that I have not yet achieved the ability to master any material and genre. Soon the “muse of distant wanderings” took possession of me again. I left Odessa, lived in Sukhum, Batumi, Tbilisi, was in Erivan, Baku and Julfa, until finally I returned to Moscow.”

Konstantin Paustovsky. 1930s.

Returning to Moscow in 1923, Paustovsky began working as an editor for ROSTA. At this time, not only his essays were published, but also stories. In 1928, the first collection of Paustovsky's stories "Oncoming Ships" was published. In the same year, the novel Shining Clouds was written. In this work, detective-adventurous intrigue was combined with autobiographical episodes related to Paustovsky's trips around the Black Sea and the Caucasus. In the year of writing the novel, the writer worked in the newspaper of water workers "On Watch", with which Alexey Novikov-Priboy, Paustovsky's classmate at the 1st Kiev gymnasium, Mikhail Bulgakov and Valentin Kataev, collaborated at that time. In the 1930s, Paustovsky actively worked as a journalist for the Pravda newspaper and the magazines 30 Days, Our Achievements and other publications, visited Solikamsk, Astrakhan, Kalmykia and many other places - in fact, he traveled all over the country. Many of the impressions of these "hot pursuit" trips, described by him in newspaper essays, were later embodied in works of art. Thus, the hero of the essay of the 1930s "Underwater winds" became the prototype of the protagonist of the story "Kara-Bugaz", written in 1932. The history of the creation of "Kara-Bugaz" is described in detail in the book of essays and stories by Paustovsky "Golden Rose" in 1955 - one of the most famous works of Russian literature dedicated to understanding the nature of creativity. In "Kara-Bugaz" Paustovsky's story about the development of Glauber's salt deposits in the Caspian Bay is as poetic as about the wanderings of a romantic youth in his first works. The story "Colchis" in 1934 is dedicated to the transformation of historical reality, the creation of man-made subtropics. The prototype of one of the heroes of Colchis was the great Georgian primitive artist Niko Pirosmani. After the publication of Kara-Bugaz, Paustovsky left the service and became a professional writer. He still traveled a lot, lived on the Kola Peninsula and Ukraine, visited the Volga, Kama, Don, Dnieper and other great rivers, Central Asia, Crimea, Altai, Pskov, Novgorod, Belarus and other places.

Having gone as an orderly to the First World War, the future writer met with sister of mercy Ekaterina Zagorskaya, about whom he said: “I love her more than my mother, more than myself ... Hatice is an impulse, an edge of the divine, joy, longing, illness, unprecedented achievements and torment ... ". Why Hatice? Ekaterina Stepanovna spent the summer of 1914 in a village on the Crimean coast, and the local Tatars called her Hatidzhe, which in Russian meant "Catherine". In the summer of 1916, Konstantin Paustovsky and Ekaterina Zagorskaya got married in Ekaterina's native Podlesnaya Sloboda in Ryazan near Lukhovitsy, and in August 1925, the son Vadim was born to the Paustovskys in Ryazan. Later, throughout his life, he carefully kept the archive of his parents, painstakingly collected materials related to the Paustovsky family tree - documents, photographs and memoirs. He loved to travel to the places where his father visited and which were described in his works. Vadim Konstantinovich was an interesting, selfless storyteller. No less interesting and informative were his publications about Konstantin Paustovsky - articles, essays, comments and afterwords to the works of his father, from whom he inherited a literary gift. Vadim Konstantinovich devoted a lot of time as a consultant to the literary museum-center of Konstantin Paustovsky, was a member of the public council of the magazine "The World of Paustovsky", one of the organizers and an indispensable participant in conferences, meetings, museum evenings dedicated to the work of his father.

In 1936, Ekaterina Zagorskaya and Konstantin Paustovsky broke up, after which Ekaterina confessed to her relatives that she gave her husband a divorce herself, because she could not bear that he “got in touch with a Polish woman,” meaning Paustovsky’s second wife. Konstantin Georgievich continued to take care of his son Vadim even after the divorce. Vadim Paustovsky wrote about the breakup of his parents in the comments to the first volume of his father's works: “The Tale of Life and other books of my father reflect many events from the life of my parents in the early years, but, of course, not all. The twenties were very important for my father. How little he published, wrote so much. We can safely say that then the foundation of his professionalism was laid. His first books went almost unnoticed, then the literary success of the early 1930s immediately followed. And so, in 1936, after twenty years of marriage, my parents separated. Was the marriage of Ekaterina Zagorskaya with Konstantin Paustovsky successful? Yes and no. In youth, there was great love, which served as a support in difficulties and instilled cheerful confidence in one's abilities. Father was always rather inclined towards reflection, towards a contemplative perception of life. Mom, on the contrary, was a person of great energy and perseverance, until her illness broke her. In her independent character, independence and defenselessness, benevolence and capriciousness, calmness and nervousness converged in an incomprehensible way. I was told that Eduard Bagritsky greatly appreciated the quality in her, which he called "spiritual dedication", and at the same time he liked to repeat: "Ekaterina Stepanovna is a fantastic woman." Perhaps, the words of V.I. Nemirovich Danchenko that “a Russian intelligent woman could not be carried away by anything in a man so selflessly as by talent” can be attributed to it. Therefore, the marriage was strong as long as everything was subordinated to the main goal - the literary work of the father. When this finally became a reality, the stress of difficult years affected, both were tired, especially since my mother was also a person with her own creative plans and aspirations. In addition, frankly speaking, my father was not such a good family man, despite his outward complaisance. Much had accumulated, and much had to be suppressed by both. In a word, if spouses who value each other nevertheless part, there are always good reasons for this. These reasons aggravated with the onset of serious nervous exhaustion in my mother, which developed gradually and began to manifest itself precisely in the mid-30s. My father's traces of difficult years also remained until the end of his life in the form of severe asthma attacks. In Distant Years, the first book of The Tale of Life, a lot is said about the breakup of the parents of the father himself. Obviously, there are families marked with such a seal from generation to generation.

K. G. Paustovsky and V. V. Navashina-Paustovskaya on a narrow gauge railway in Solotch. In the car window: the writer's son Vadim and adopted son Sergei Navashin. Late 1930s.

Konstantin Paustovsky met Valeria Valishevskaya-Navashina in the first half of the 1920s. He was married, she was married, but they both left their families, and Valeria Vladimirovna married Konstantin Paustovsky, becoming the inspiration for many of his works - for example, when creating the works “Meshcherskaya Side” and “Throw to the South”, Valishevskaya was the prototype of Mary. Valeria Valishevskaya was the sister of the famous Polish artist Sigismund Valishevsky in the 1920s, whose works were in the collection of Valeria Vladimirovna. In 1963, she donated over 110 paintings and drawings by Sigismund Waliszewski to the National Gallery in Warsaw, keeping her favorite ones.

K.G. Paustovsky and V.V. Navashina-Paustovskaya. Late 1930s.

A special place in the work of Konstantin Paustovsky was occupied by the Meshchera region, where he lived for a long time alone or with fellow writers - Arkady Gaidar and Reuben Fraerman. About his beloved Meshchera, Paustovsky wrote: “I found the greatest, simplest and most unsophisticated happiness in the forested Meshchera region. The happiness of being close to your land, concentration and inner freedom, favorite thoughts and hard work. To Central Russia - and only to her - I owe most of the things I wrote. I will mention only the main ones: “Meshcherskaya Side”, “Isaac Levitan”, “The Tale of the Forests”, a cycle of stories “Summer Days”, “Old Boat”, “Night in October”, “Telegram”, “Rainy Dawn”, “Cordon 273”, “In the depths of Russia”, “Alone with autumn”, “Ilyinsky pool”. The Central Russian hinterland became for Paustovsky a place of a kind of "emigration", a creative - and possibly physical - salvation during the period of Stalin's repressions.

During the Great Patriotic War, Paustovsky worked as a war correspondent and wrote stories, among them was "Snow", written in 1943, and "Rainy Dawn", written in 1945, which critics called the most delicate lyrical watercolors.

In the 1950s, Paustovsky lived in Moscow and in Tarusa on the Oka. He became one of the compilers of the most important collective collections of the democratic trend Literary Moscow in 1956 and Tarusa Pages in 1961. During the years of the thaw, Paustovsky actively advocated the literary and political rehabilitation of writers Isaac Babel, Yuri Olesha, Mikhail Bulgakov, Alexander Grin and Nikolai Zabolotsky, who were persecuted under Stalin.

In 1939, Konstantin Paustovsky met the actress of the Meyerhold Theater Tatyana Evteeva - Arbuzova, who became his third wife in 1950.

Paustovsky with his son Alyosha and adopted daughter Galina Arbuzova.

Before meeting Paustovsky, Tatyana Evteeva was the wife of the playwright Alexei Arbuzov. “Tenderness, my only person, I swear by my life that such love (without boasting) has not yet been in the world. It was not and will not be, all the rest of love is nonsense and nonsense. Let your heart beat calmly and happily, my heart! We will all be happy, everyone! I know and believe ... ”- wrote Konstantin Paustovsky to Tatyana Evteeva. Tatyana Alekseevna had a daughter from her first marriage, Galina Arbuzova, and she gave birth to a son, Alexei, to Paustovsky in 1950. Alexei grew up and took shape in the creative atmosphere of the writer's house in the field of intellectual searches of young writers and artists, but he did not look like a "home" child spoiled by parental attention. With a company of artists, he wandered around the outskirts of Tarusa, sometimes disappearing from home for two or three days. He painted amazing and not understandable paintings, and died at the age of 26 from a drug overdose.

K.G. Paustovsky. Tarusa. April 1955

From 1945 to 1963, Paustovsky wrote his main work - the autobiographical Tale of Life, consisting of six books: Distant Years, Restless Youth, Beginning of an Unknown Age, Time of Great Expectations, Throw to the South" and "The Book of Wanderings". In the mid-1950s, world recognition came to Paustovsky, and the writer began to travel frequently around Europe. He visited Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Turkey, Greece, Sweden, Italy and other countries. In 1965, Paustovsky lived on the island of Capri. The impressions of these trips formed the basis of the stories and travel essays of the 1950s and 1960s "Italian Encounters", "Fleeting Paris", "Channel Lights" and other works. In the same 1965, officials from the Soviet Union managed to change the decision of the Nobel Committee to award the prize to Konstantin Paustovsky and achieve its presentation to Mikhail Sholokhov.

Most modern readers know Konstantin Paustovsky as a singer of Russian nature, from whose pen came wonderful descriptions of the south and central strip of Russia, the Black Sea region and the Oka region. However, few people now know the bright and exciting novels and stories of Paustovsky, the action of which takes place in the first quarter of the 20th century against the backdrop of terrible events of wars and revolutions, social upheavals and hopes for a brighter future. All his life, Paustovsky dreamed of writing a big book dedicated to wonderful people, not only famous, but also unknown and forgotten. He managed to publish only a few sketches of short but picturesque biographies of writers with whom he was either well acquainted personally - Gorky, Olesha, Prishvin, Green, Bagritsky, or those whose work especially fascinated him - Chekhov, Blok, Maupassant, Bunin and Hugo. All of them were united by the “art of seeing the world”, so valued by Paustovsky, who lived at a difficult time for the master of belles-lettres. His literary maturity came in the 1930s and 1950s, in which Tynyanov found salvation in literary criticism, Bakhtin in cultural studies, Paustovsky in the study of the nature of language and creativity, in the beauties of the forests of the Ryazan region, in the quiet provincial comfort of Tarusa.

KG Paustovsky with a dog. Tarusa. 1961

Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky died in 1968 in Moscow and, according to his will, was buried in the city cemetery of Tarusa. The place where his grave is located - a high hill surrounded by trees with a gap to the Taruska River - was chosen by the writer himself.

About Konstantin Paustovsky and Ekaterina Zagorskaya, a television program from the cycle “More than Love” was prepared.

In 1982, a documentary film “Konstantin Paustovsky. Memories and meetings.

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The text was prepared by Tatyana Khalina

Used materials:

K.G. Paustovsky "Briefly about myself" 1966
K.G. Paustovsky "Letters from Tarusa"
K.G. Paustovsky "Sense of history"
Site materials www.paustovskiy.niv.ru
Site materials www.litra.ru

Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky (1892-1968) was born and died in Moscow, but spent his childhood and youth in Kyiv. The writer's family is international - Ukrainian-Polish-Turkish. My paternal grandfather, a Ukrainian Cossack, married a Turkish woman. Grandmother on the mother's side - from the kind of Polish gentry. In addition to Konstantin, the family had three more children: two eldest sons and a daughter. The older brothers of the writer died on the same day in the First World War, in different places of the front.

Essay on life and work

As a child, Paustovsky was fascinated by dreams of distant lands. He looked at geographical maps for a long time, looking for places on them where he would like to visit. My maternal uncle was a traveler and a bit of an adventurer. Participating in various wars and skirmishes (for example, in Africa he fought on the side of the Boers against the colonists), he brought various stories that made a great impression on the boy. It is not surprising that, having matured, Paustovsky himself became a tireless "wanderer of the earth."

The future writer received his secondary education at the famous First Kyiv Gymnasium, from which many scientists, designers, writers and philosophers came out.

The first literary experience of the schoolboy was poetry, largely imitative. Later, Paustovsky asked Bunin to evaluate his poetic work, for which he received a recommendation to leave poetry and take up prose. The first story published in the magazine was "On the Water" (1912), it was already written by a student.

The formation of the writer, as is often the case, was facilitated by the grandiose events that took place in the country and into the funnel of which he was drawn. The young man met the First World War with a patriotic impulse and, despite poor eyesight, went to serve in a field hospital. Paustovsky moved to Moscow to his mother and sister in 1914 and returned here from the front. Works as a reporter for newspapers. After the start of the civil war, the whole family returns to Ukraine. Here, a young man is first mobilized into the Ukrainian White Guard army, then into the Red Army.

After the end of the civil war, he traveled a lot in the south of Russia, the Caucasus, and visited Persia. Paustovsky eagerly absorbed life's impressions, caught and memorized pictures of nature, collected images - the reader will meet them in the author's later works. He wrote little, mostly essays and short stories, some were published in 1925 and compiled the collection "Sea Sketches". The novel "Romance" was started. The works of this time are distinguished by some vagueness of images, ideas and thoughts. The writer is too enthusiastic to see the essence of what is happening. However, a beautiful literary style already shows the future master of the word.

(Konstantin Paustovsky with Vladimir Lugovsky)

He returns to Moscow in 1923 and begins to print - the collected impressions require transferring to paper. The story "Kara-Bugaz" (1933) is considered the first professional literary work. It's about the reformers of nature, draining malarial swamps, building cities in the deserts. Paustovsky did not prevaricate, admiring the great "romantics" who are changing the world - he is proud to be a witness to the transformations of a great country. The story was noticed by readers and critics, highly appreciated by M. Gorky and R. Rolland.

Paustovsky, as a talented master of the artistic word, finally finds his recognition in the description and touching admiration for the beauty of nature. In the second half of the 30s, a collection of short stories "Meshcherskaya side" was written. The writer became a "personal artist" of this corner of Russia. He lived in Meshchera for many months and wrote about her until the end of his days.

During the Great Patriotic War, Paustovsky began his most ambitious project - a cycle of autobiographical works that capture the history of the country in the first half-mid-twentieth century. The works of the last twenty years of the writer's life somehow have an autobiographical affiliation. Including one of the deepest in thought, beautiful works "Golden Rose" (1956). The cycle of artistic autobiography consists of "A Tale of Life" (1945 and 1955), "The Beginning of an Unknown Age" (1957), "A Time of Great Expectations" (1959), "Throw to the South" (1960) and "The Book of Wanderings" (1963) . The writer wanted to complete the story with the 50s of the century, but did not have time. K. G. Paustovsky died on July 14, 1968, and was buried in Tarusa.