Vasily Shukshin: biography, life story, creativity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Vasily Shukshin, whose biography will be reflected in this article, was an incredible person who tried to do everything in his life, as if he had a premonition of his early departure. He managed, despite all the difficulties, to achieve his goals and tell people his innermost thoughts through literary and cinematic works.

Childhood and youth

No one expected from a boy from the distant Altai Territory what he demonstrated to everyone. Born in the village of Srostki even before the war, in 1929, Vasily Makarovich had to take over the fate of his ancestors and work on the land all his life. But Shukshin was not an ordinary person, he did not agree to go with the flow and allowed himself to dream.

In 1933, a terrible tragedy befell his family. Makar Leontyevich, the head of the family and the breadwinner, was arrested and soon shot. To save her children from the wrath of the authorities, mother Maria Sergeevna gave them her maiden name - Popova.

In the midst of the war, Vasily graduated from the seven-year school and went to Biysk to enter a technical school. Two and a halfShukshin's life flowed measuredly for a year, and then he dropped out of school and returned to his native Srostki.

Start in employment

It is not surprising that in the late 40s there was always a shortage of money, or rather, there simply was not. Therefore, the young man decided to move closer to the European part of the country. Without a special education, Vasily Shukshin, whose biography is a story about the life of an ordinary Soviet person, began working as a mechanic at various factories (in Kaluga, in Vladimir, in the Moscow region). And in 1949 he was drafted into the army.

In 1953, Shukshin was dismissed from the Navy due to a stomach ailment. And again he was on his native land. In Srostki, he passed the matriculation exams, which allowed him to go to work as a teacher. He chose the Russian language and literature as his career, but, by his own admission, he was not the best teacher. In the same Srostka school, he held the position of director for some time.

But even such spiritual work (and Shukshin was very fond of children!) Could not satisfy all the ambitions of a young man.

Moscow

In 1954, Shukshin, for whom Altai was everything, decided to go to the capital - to conquer Moscow. There was no money even for the trip, so the mother, who tried to support her son in everything, had to sell the cow-nurse.

Vasily Shukshin, whose biography is an example of how abruptly a human life can change, in 1954 he entered VGIK on a course to Romm, although initially he was going to the screenwriting department. He successfully graduated from the university in 1960.

But even during his studies, his career as an actor began. The first work of Vasily Makarovich was an episode in "Quiet Don", and two years later he played the main role in the film "Two Fedor".

Literary activity

Shukshin wrote his first stories while still a sailor of the B altic Fleet, and his colleagues read them. Well, he really took up a writing career only in Moscow, when the head of the director's course, Mikhail Romm, advised him to publish in magazines.

"Change" in 1958 released his first edited story "Two on a Cart". In 1963, this baton was taken over by the Novy Mir magazine. The stories "Grinka Malyugin" and "The Cool Driver" appeared on its pages.

In the same year, Vasily Shukshin became the author of the book "Villagers", which was published by the "Young Guard".

In the early 1970s, the short story collection "Characters" was published.

Vasily Shukshin, whose books became popular with readers, was positively received by literary critics. Many noted that they had never encountered such sincerity and love for their heroes before. The writer amazed them with his plasticity, vigilance and life instinct.

Since 1958, Vasily Makarovich has published more than a hundred stories, the fairy tale "Until the Third Roosters", several plays andstories, as well as two novels - "Lubaviny" and "I came to give you freedom."

Vasily Shukshin, whose books are a reflection of Soviet rural reality, approached the literary process very responsibly. He conceived his first novel in the 1950s. And when I was in Srostki, I talked for a long time with the old-timers, wrote down all the family stories and legends. Therefore, "Lubavins" is, in fact, a book about family traditions, about the difficult times of the kulaks and collectivization, from which the family of Shukshin himself suffered. The researchers have no doubt that all the characters in the book have their prototypes in real life.

The writer's second novel has been in development for a very long time. Vasily Shukshin, whose biography was never the subject of gossip, collected material, used the archives and museums of different cities, because the hero of his book was Stepan Razin. In him, Shukshin saw the protector of the peasantry, the seeker of justice and the ideal guardian of the will of the common people.

The book was published in parts in magazines and only in 1974 was published in full by the publishing house "Soviet Writer".

Cinema

After graduating from high school, Shukshin began working as a director at the film studio. Gorky. He shot his first film "From Lebyazhego reported" while still a student - it was his excellent thesis.

In 1964, a film based on the first stories of Shukshin was released - "Such a guy lives." In the same year he won the Lion of Venice as the bestmovie for kids.

In addition, Shukshin played 28 roles. He never had a shortage of such offers, but he tried to devote more time to directing. It was for this that Vasily Makarovich was forced to act in Bondarchuk's film "They Fought for the Motherland." Goskino put Shukshin tough conditions, and in case of refusal of the role, they could ban the production of a film about Stepan Razin - the very one that the director had dreamed of for many years.

Vasily Shukshin's films have always been especially soulful, and the characters in his performance are the personification of all Russian life.

As a director, Shukshin became the author of six films, among them "Stove-shops", which Vasily Makarovich considered his best work.

Kalina red

The 1974 film was the director's last, but also his first in color.

This is another picture of Shukshin about Soviet reality. It tells about the recently released thief Yegor Prokudin, who comes to the village to his beloved woman Lyuba and begins to re-arrange his life. He has good friends, a large family … It would seem that fate is getting better. But old friends from the colony do not want to leave Yegor alone, so he has to fight for his happiness and the life of an honest man.

"Kalina Krasnaya" is a film that German director Rainer Fassbinder called his favorite picture. The tape received several cinematic awards.

It is noteworthy that the film was released with virtually no edits required by the State Film Agency, that is, it turned out to be realistic. And all because Shukshin's ulcer worsened, and the commission, frightened by the director's death, decided to skip the movie without strict censorship.

Vasily Shukshin's films raise deep moral issues and demonstrate true Russian moral values.

Death

The death of Vasily Makarovich was a huge blow for his friends, relatives, and for the entire Soviet Union.

It happened in October 1974, when Shukshin was on the set of the film "They fought for the Motherland". Actor Georgy Burkov discovered the lifeless body of his friend. As it turned out later, the life of a talented person was interrupted due to a heart attack. Vasily Shukshin was only forty-five years old.

Family

Vasily Shukshin's homeland has always been a part of his life, he could not breathe the local air and talk to the people there. It was in Altai that he met his first love, Maria Shumskaya, who worked as a teacher. They signed in 1955, but Maria refused to go with her husband to Moscow. And it became her mistake.

In 1957, Shukshin asked his wife for a divorce, but Shumskaya categorically refused him. In fact, this marriage was never dissolved. Vasily Makarovich lost his passport on purpose so that the new one would not have a stamp about an ill-fated marriage.

Then he married Victoria Sofronova, who bore him a daughter, Katerina. But this union did not last long. Since 1964 has beenmarried to actress Lidia Chashchina, from whom, in the end, he left for another actress - Lidia Fedoseeva.

And now the last marriage became the happiest for Vasily Makarovich, although, again, short-lived, but then death itself intervened. Lydia and Vasily had two daughters - Maria and Olga, who became actresses.