Writer Anatoly Aleksin: biography, photo

Anatoly Aleksin is the author of numerous stories and stories for children and teenagers. His works are not included in the school curriculum, but are recommended for extracurricular reading. In his literary work Alexin convicts human vices and presents it in a form accessible and close to young readers. Although the books of this writer are also interesting for adults.

Literary style

Narration Anatoly Aleksin, as a rule, leads from the first person. Some pages of his works are oversaturated with melodrama. But they have so much subtle psychological observation that, perhaps, there is no better way to convey to the child the essence of morality and morality than to suggest reading one of the books of this author.

Facts from biography

The future writer was born in 1924. Alexin's articles were published in "Pioneer Pravda" and other newspapers in the pre-war period. But the hero of our narrative was carried away seriously in prose later. The author of "youthful prose" is the son of a repressed communist. He grew up in Moscow and was educated here. In the war years he was in evacuation, where he worked at the construction site.

In 1970, for one of his scripts, the writer was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize. In 1978 he won the State Prize of the USSR. In 1993, Aleksin emigrated to Israel, and since 2011 he has lived with his family in Luxembourg.

Already in his childhood Anatoly Alexin began writing. His biography says that, despite the arrest of his father, the life of a young man was developing quite favorably. At twenty-six, the writer published his first collection of short stories. In the seventies in the capital theaters put plays on his scenarios. Some of the works were screened.

As a poet became a prose writer

In his youth, Anatoly Aleksin wrote poetry. They were praised and published. But one day, during the "Congress of Young Writers", the poet got to a seminar for Samuel Marshak. Novice prose writers and poets read their works. Some Marshak liked him, others he criticized. But when Aleksin's turn came, the Soviet poet completely wilted. When Anatoly finished reading, Samuel Yakovlevich asked with sadness the unfortunate author whether he would like to change his occupation. But Aleksin with him had a manuscript of a story about children with disabilities. And not to leave with defeat, he read it. At that moment Paustovsky entered the audience. After reading, the writer offered the author his help in editing. And Marshak shed tears and advised him to write only prose. Anatoly Alexin listened to the advice. The testimonies of the coryphaeuses of Russian literature became decisive in his fate.

Most of Alexin's works were published in the magazine "Youth". In the Union of Writers of the RSFSR he headed the section of children's literature.

Tatyana Aleksina

His only muse was his wife. He lived with her all his life, and although she was always in his shadow, she was an extraordinary person. On the cover of the book "Terror on the Threshold" two names are printed: Tatyana Aleksina, Anatoly Aleksin. Photos and pages of the documentary "The Farewell Lines", included in this collection, reflect the memories of the writer's wife about people killed by Stalin's terror. Tatyana Aleksina's father was convicted and sentenced to ten years without the right to correspond. Until the end of her life, she kept her cigarette papers on which he wrote letters to his mother before being sent to Magadan. Alexin died in 2014.

Emigration

In the emigration continued the creative path of the writer. In Israel, he published a series of short stories "Tel Aviv novels", "Terror on the Threshold". During the tragic events of September 11, the writer was with his wife in New York and witnessed how for several weeks the smoke clouds were rising upward, and people were trying to find their relatives among the wreckage. The sight was laid in the basis of stories and the last collection published in Israel.

Alexin's books are translated into forty-eight languages. The total circulation exceeds one hundred twenty million copies. The writer is included in Hans Christian Andersen's honorary list and was awarded the Medal of the Association "Knowledge" for his enormous contribution to educational activities and world literature. In Israel, he created a series of works in which he described the persecution of the authorities that happened to him during his life in the USSR. This topic caused some surprise among those who still remember how many awards and titles the writer received at home.

Since 2011, Anatoly Aleksin lives with his family in Luxembourg. There also lives his adopted daughter Elena Setunskaya. She works on television. The former husband of Alexin's daughter is the director Karen Shakhnazarov. And it was Elena's biography that formed the basis of the script for the well-known American daughter film.

Late Prose

Alexin's stories are sad stories from life. The writer has always been able to truthfully and soulfully describe the inner world of a person, regardless of who was his hero - a young man, an elderly woman or a teenage girl. Sincere style, in which the author puts on the arguments of his character, sometimes resembles a confession.

Late creativity includes stories about the adult world. And, comparing them with the works of the early years, you can see that they have a quiet sadness. As if the characters have matured and become wiser with their author. Anatoly Aleksin is a writer whose characters are simple people, and they usually have ordinary problems.

His works are devoted to the eternal conflict between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law, selfishness, loyalty and love. Among the later stories can be called "The Abandoned Monument", "Bach", "Igrun" and many others.

"Igrun" is a work that, unlike most of Alexin's recent works, tells about the life of a teenager. The protagonist is a pupil of the music school, a gifted young pianist who lives in the world of music. But one day on his way home from a music school he meets a bandit living in the neighborhood ... In the story, as in other works of Alexin, there is a subtle sad humor. It should be said that most of his characters are related to the world of music, both in early works and in later works.

Writer Anatoly Aleksin is the creator of uncomplicated subjects. They do not have a subtle psychological background, and there are no complex allegories either. Alexin's books are not about politics and not about complex social problems. They are about kindness and love. But this is enough.