Leonid Panteleev: biography, photo. What did Panteleev write about Leonid?

Leonid Panteleev (see photo below) is a pseudonym, in fact the writer was called Alexei Eremeev. He was born in August 1908 in St. Petersburg. His father was a Cossack officer, a hero of the Russo-Japanese War, who received the nobility for his exploits. Alexei's mother is a merchant's daughter, but in the first guild her father left the peasants.

Childhood and youth

Alyosha had become addicted to books since childhood, the family even teased him, calling him "bookcase." From an early age, he began to compose himself. His child's plays - plays, poems, adventure stories - were listened to only by his mother. With the father there could be no spiritual intimacy - it was a man of military and severe.

Little Alexei used to call him "you", yes, and this reverence remains forever. The image of his father, the writer Leonid Panteleev, was forever preserved in his memory and carried him through life with love and pride. This image was not light, rather, the color of blackened silver, like an old weapon - a noble knight image.

But the mother is the teacher in the faith, the most kind and sincere friend for her children. In 1916, when Alesha was sent to study in a real school, my mother was aware of all his lessons, assessments, relationships with teachers and classmates, and in everything helped his son. He did not finish school, he did not have time.

Wandering

In 1919, the boy's father was arrested, for some time he was kept in a prison cell, and then shot. Alexandra Vasilyevna, like a real mother, decided to flee from the cold and hungry Petersburg to save the lives of children. First, the orphaned family settled in Yaroslavl, then - in the town of Menzelinsk in Tatarstan.

In these wanderings, the future writer Leonid Panteleev was very keen to help his relatives, sought work, sometimes found, met various people, and some of them found themselves connected with crime. A very young and trusting person quickly fell under the bad influence and learned how to steal. For the desperate courage that, apparently, inherited from his father, new friends called him the nickname of the famous Petersburg hijacker - Lanka Panteleev. From here and subsequently appeared such a writer's pseudonym.

School of Dostoevsky

Since the new "activity" of Alexei was often associated with the police and security officers, the boy tried to forget his name and surname. It's better the name of the bandit than the shot Cossack officer. Especially mamma from the Arkhangelsk peasants, beaten out by merchants. He was accustomed to a new surname quickly and even when acquainted with ordinary people, far from his thieves' friends, his real name kept a secret. And he did the right thing, as if he had foreseen that, as long as the rope was twisted ... Of course, he was caught.

Immediately after the end of the Civil War, the government of the country came to grips with the problem of street children. Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky was in charge of the result . The most interesting thing is that after two or three years a homeless child was not found, and even in 1919 they were running around in the streets in droves. That's the way Panteleev Leonid: the biography of the end of 1921 was replenished with an unsuccessful attempt of theft. He was caught and sent to a special commission, which dealt with the homeless children of Petrograd. From there he was sent to the School of Dostoevsky, that very famous "Shkid".

Little Republic

This amazing educational institution could be compared with the pre-revolutionary bursa, and with the Pushkin lyceum. Juvenile homeless children went to school, studying subjects deeply and with pleasure, wrote poems, put on plays, taught foreign languages, produced newspapers and magazines of their own production.

Panteleev Leonid, whose biography as a writer began to be laid here, received all the prerequisites to return to normal life, without lodging in boilers, without theft, hunger and escape from the police.

Here the boy lived for two years, which energized him for life. There were friends, whose past was also not cloudless, left with Alexei Eremeev forever. So, fate brought him with the same pupil of the school - Grigory Belykh. It is he who will become the co-author of the first and most famous book about homeless children - the "Republic of ShKID". White also lost his father early, his mother earned a laundry pittance a penny, but was always busy, because the work is long and very heavy. The son decided to help her: dropped out of school and went into porters. In the same place, at stations, also fell under the influence of dark personalities and began to steal.

Collaborators

The boys made friends and decided to become movie stars together. To achieve this goal they left the "Shkidu" and drove to Kharkov. After learning a bit on the course of movie actors, they suddenly realized that they were not actors. Leaving this occupation, wandered for a while, they did not return to Shkidu - they were probably ashamed. However, their teenagers loved the school selflessly, bored about it so much that they decided to write a book about it.

At the end of 1925 they returned to Leningrad, settled at Gregory's building in an extension on Izmaylovsky Prospekt - a room narrow, long, ending with a window to the yard, and in it - two beds and a table. What else do you need for the annals? We bought tobacco, millet, sugar and tea. It was possible to get down to business.

Planning

It was planned - from what was remembered - thirty-two episodes with its own storyline. Each of them was to write sixteen chapters. Alexei got into the Shkid later Grigory Belykh, so he wrote the second half of the book, and then he always willingly and generously gave all the laurels to the co-author who, in the first part of the book, managed to interest the readers so much that they read the book to the end.

And indeed, it was in the first part that all conflicts began, where the mechanisms for the explosion were laid, there also happened all the brightest and most beautiful, which was the distinguishing feature of the Shkid.

Publication

Wrote with excitement, quickly, cheerfully. Nevertheless, they absolutely did not think that the manuscript would happen later: where was it? And they did not even dream of any success. None of the writers or publishers boys, of course, in Leningrad did not know. The only person they saw twice in the Shkid a long time ago on some solemn evenings was Comrade Lilina, the head of the department from Narobraz.

You can imagine that horror on the face of a poor woman, when two old children who had been traumatized by the life of the orphanage brought her a huge, simply unbearable manuscript. Nevertheless, she read it. And not only. Co-authors were lucky just fabulously. She, having read, handed over a thick, shredded folder to real professionals - to the Leningrad State Publishing House, where the manuscript was read by Samuel Marshak, Boris Zhitkov and Eugene Schwartz.

How the authors hid from fame

"The firemen are looking for, the police are looking for ...". Yes, indeed, they were searched for all month and all, because the book turned out so ... Well, in a word, the book turned out! They did not leave any addresses to anyone. Nothing but the manuscript. In addition, quarreled, leaving the office. White shouted that the whole idea with the arrangement of the manuscript was completely idiotic, well, they wrote and wrote that he was not going to disgrace himself any more and coming here for the result would be ashamed. Then they made up and decided not to go anywhere else. Actors of them did not work, and even writers, it seems, too. Here are the stevedores - yes, quite good ones have turned out.

The writer Leonid Panteleyev, however, could not resist. It was a time of wearisome and strange, as if there was nowhere to put oneself. Although I do not expect to have anything to expect, but it sucks and sucks in a spoon, I want to know everything, what's there with their book? And Alexei, on the sly from a more stable and strong-willed friend, still decided to visit Comrade Lilina from Narobraz.

How fame still found the authors

After seeing Alexei in the corridor of Narobraz, the secretary screamed: "He! He! He has come !!!". And then for an hour, Comrade Lilina told him how well their book was written. She read not only it, but everything in Narobraz, up to the cleaners, and all the publishing staff. One can imagine what Leonid Panteleyev felt at that time! About what I wrote even after many years, I could not find the words. And words such do not happen to describe what he felt at that moment.

Samuel Yakovlevich Marshak recollected in detail the first visit of co-authors to the editorial office. They were for some reason gloomy and did not speak much. The amendments were most often refused. But, of course, we were glad of this turn of events. Soon after the publication of the book from the libraries, reviews began. "Republic of ShKID" read booze, they took it like hot cakes! Everyone was wondering who these Grigory Belykh and Leonid Panteleev were, the biography for the children was very important.

Secrets of success

"The book was written easily and cheerfully, without any meditation, because we wrote almost nothing, but remembered and just recorded, not much time has passed since we left the school's walls," the authors recalled. It took only two and a half months to complete the work.

Alexey Maximovich Gorky read the "Republic of ShKID" with great enthusiasm, told about it to all his colleagues. "Read necessarily!" - he said. VN Soroka-Rosinsky, the director of the school, was named Gorky teacher of a new type, a monumental and heroic figure. Gorky even wrote a letter to Makarenko about Viknicksor, drawing the conclusion that the director of Shkidy was as much a passion-bearer and hero as the great teacher Makarenko.

However, Anton Semenovich did not like the book. He saw there pedagogical failure, and the book did not want to be recognized as artistic, it seemed to him too truthful.

After the Glory

The co-authors did not part for some time: wrote essays, stories. "Hours", "Karlushkin Focus" and "Portrait" were very successful. This concludes the joint work, which was unanimously conducted by Grigory Belykh and Leonid Panteleyev. A brief biography of their community was completed.

Alexei wrote many more books for children, among which one should note the excellent story "Honest Word", which became a textbook, and the story "Package", which, incidentally, the author himself was never satisfied: he thought that he depreciated the memory of his own story Father. Nevertheless, this story was filmed twice.

Co-author

Grigory Belykh in 1936 was innocently arrested, the denunciation was written by the husband of his sister, attaching a notebook of poems. The apartment issue is to blame. White received three years in prison, and at home he had a young wife and a young daughter. Leonid Panteleev even telegraphed to Stalin, he ran around all the authorities, but in vain. It remained only to carry the transfer in the prison and write letters to a friend.

Gregory himself dissuaded Alexei from continuing the hassle. He did not name the reason, but it was. Prison doctors found in the White tuberculosis. He was not even thirty years old when a former homeless child, a thief, and later a wonderful writer died in a prison hospital. Leonid Panteleyev after that for many years refused to reissue the "Republic of ShKID." White was recognized as the enemy of the people, and removing the name of a friend from the cover was an unthinkable thing. However, in due course it was necessary ...