Chudakov Alexander Pavlovich - one of the most interesting philologists, literary critics and writers of the Soviet Union, the successor of the academic traditions of philology.
Most of his literary career Alexander Pavlovich devoted to the work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. His sudden death left many questions and unfinished works.
Family & School
The harsh year of 1938 was in the yard. Alexander Pavlovich was born into an intelligent family in the small town of Shchuchinsk in Northern Kazakhstan (at that time the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic). It was not just an intelligent family, but a family of teachers - one of the few in the whole town. Despite his positions, his relatives often spoke negatively about the actions of the Soviet government and about Stalin's leadership. However, by a combination of favorable circumstances, the parents were never convicted or repressed precisely because they were almost the only teachers in a small Kazakh town.
However, the most interesting time began in 1955, when Alexander ChudakovPavlovich arrives in Moscow and on the first attempt enters the philological faculty of Moscow State University. From the very beginning, he ranked among the top five students of the course and stood out for his unique explanatory style and extraordinary thinking.
Studying at Moscow State University, in his first year, Alexander Pavlovich met a very interesting woman - Marietta Khan-Magomedova, whom he later married and lived all his life.
Creative path
Four years after graduating from university and graduate school, Chudakov Alexander Pavlovich began working at the Institute of World Literature. In addition, he taught at Moscow State University, the Literary Institute, and the Russian State Humanitarian University. Later, he was invited to lecture at leading universities in Europe, the USA and Asia.
As a successor to the academic traditions of philology, Alexander Pavlovich paid great attention to language and words and tried to preserve the traditional, powerful Russian language without replacing verbal concepts.
Chudakov Alexander, whose biography ended very unexpectedly, published more than 200 articles, monographs and studies on Russian literature. In particular, he devoted most of his works to A. P. Chekhov. His famous work of 1971 "Chekhov's Poetics" made a lot of noise in the world of philology and won the hearts of both critics and researchers.
Besides this, the literary critic studied the semantic poetics of Pushkin and devoted a whole study to the subject of "beaver collar"Eugene Onegin.
Conversations with the greats
"Interlocutor of the great" - so many called Alexander Pavlovich. This is because the philologist was known for his incredible notes and heart-rending conversations with the great literary scholars of the 20th century. Sergei Bondi, Lydia Ginzburg, Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynyanov - this is an incomplete list of the literary critic's interlocutors. Throughout his life, he carried a notebook with him, in which he wrote down all the opinions, stories, aphorisms and quotes of famous philosophers.
Working in Seoul, Chudakov Alexander Pavlovich released the work “I listen. I study. I ask. Three conversations. This rather rare book was published in only 10 copies. It reflects conversations and literary opinions from the 1920s to the 1970s.
Darkness falls on the old steps
This is his most famous novel - memories of childhood and the life of his family in Kazakhstan. It was in it that the author conveyed that indescribable Chekhovian atmosphere that was preserved in his family.
This book is not only memories of relatives and childhood, it is memories of an era, of people with a core, high spirituality. They were able to overcome everything and survive in a different, unfamiliar world of an exiled small town. Once upon a time, the intellectuals had to build their own house, lay a stove and grow crops to feed themselves.
Chudakov Alexander Pavlovich, whose biography is completely devoted to Russian literature, wrote an idyllic novel. It was published in Znamya magazine in 2000 and was nominated for theBooker, and after the death of the writer received the Russian Booker of the Decade award in 2011. Two years later, the Vremya publishing house publishes the book in a separate edition of 5,000 copies. At the same time, the novel sold out in the first few days.
Grandfather of Alexander Pavlovich
The main place in the book is occupied by the grandfather, the prototype of which was the grandfather of Alexander Pavlovich himself. At one time he was a priest and a professor at the same time. Life forced him to give up everything and leave with his family for a small town on the border of Siberia and Kazakhstan. It combines the image of a powerful Russian peasant and a deep intellectual at the same time.
It was he who had an incredible influence on Chudakov personally and creatively. His friends recalled how a writer, working at a dacha in a village physically, followed by writing his articles. It was thanks to his grandfather that the famous writer decided to write the historical "encyclopedia of Russian life."
Personal qualities
According to friends and colleagues, Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov was a powerful man both in life and in creativity. At the age of 60, he could go to give a lecture, and before that, swim in the lake and play sports.
Being a powerful man, he could be a good sportsman. Leonid Meshkov, the famous Soviet swimmer and coach, offered Chudakov to swim professionally, but the literary critic remained faithful to the world of the pen and the word.
Here is such an extraordinary biography of a wonderful person named Alexander Chudakov…
Books
BooksChudakov is a whole "phenomenon of Russian life." This is how friends and colleagues described the work of the literary critic. Liveliness, optimism and incredible energy were combined with a subtle mind and academic thinking. Being a liberal and a man of high humanism, Chudakov reflected all his feelings in his works. The content of most of his articles and works can tell a lot directly about the critic's biography. He was a truly lively person, with humor, able to find beauty in any, even not quite aesthetic, fact.
Death and legacy
October 3, 2005 Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov dies under absurd and strange circumstances. The cause of death was severe traumatic brain injury. He was 69 years old and only a few months short of seventy. The accident happened at the entrance of the house where the writer lived. A light bulb burned out on the stairs. Chudakov, going up the stairs, slipped and fell. Due to a serious fall, the head was injured, which caused death.
Many contemporaries, colleagues and close people say that it was just an untimely death, as the writer had many creative plans and ideas that he never had time to implement. One of these works is a collection of conversations and conversations with the great above-mentioned philologists, philosophers and thinkers of the 20th century. Chudakov is still considered one of the best specialists in the work of A. P. Chekhov.
Interesting facts
Throughout his life AlexanderPavlovich got into funny situations. In the mid-eighties, while in Amsterdam with his friends, Chudakov visited a student literary club. There, one of the Dutch students, having learned that in front of him was a famous literary critic, an expert on Chekhov, came into wild surprise and delight. Unexpectedly, he offered Chudakov a cannabis cigarette. According to Alexander Pavlovich himself, it was then that he realized that he was famous and loved by many, both by venerable critics and ordinary students.
And what do they say about the work of such a writer and philologist as Alexander Chudakov, reviews? Quotes from his works, judging by the posts on the relevant forums, are liked by many. However, this is not surprising. They are literally permeated with philosophical meaning and humor. People who knew Alexander Pavlovich personally emphasized that he knew many stories and could entertain anyone with a successful joke or a story from the life of legendary writers. Finally, here are a few quotes from the beloved by many novel "Darkness Falls on the Old Steps." Perhaps, after reading these phrases filled with deep meaning, you will want to get to know the work of a wonderful author closer and look through the pages of his other, no less interesting works. So:
- “We need to protect the psyche of modern man from the rapidly growing aggression of things, colors, from the world that is changing too fast.”
- “Honest poverty is always poverty up to certain limits. Here there was poverty. Terrible - from infancy. Beggars are not moral.”
- “Grandfather had two punishments: I won’t stroke yourhead and - not a kiss goodnight. The second was the hardest; when his grandfather somehow used it, Anton sobbed until midnight.”
- “… it seems that Khrushchev asked the President of Finland how they are with mortality. He replied: "So far, one hundred percent."
- “Other grandmother's statements got stuck in my head - apparently, because of some of their surprise. - Like any prince, he knew the turning business. - Like all real aristocrats, he loved simple food: cabbage soup, buckwheat porridge …"
- “Grandfather's political economy was simple: the state robs, appropriates everything. The only thing unclear to him was where it was going.”
