Socialist realism is an artistic method in literature and art in general, which was relevant in the USSR. This direction was built on three basic principles - nationality, ideology, and concreteness. The main goal of this method was to show a person’s life in a socialist society, his struggle for certain ideas.
One of the artists who created works in the direction of socialist realism is the poet and writer Nikolai Biryukov. His authorship owns 9 novels.
Biography of Nikolai Biryukov. early years
The future writer, whose full name is Nikolai Zotovich Biryukov, was born on February 14, 1912 in the city of Orekhovo-Zuevo, which was then considered part of the Vladimir province, and now belongs to the Moscow region. It is known that Biryukov's parents - Zot Ivanovich and Evdokia Panfilovna - were textile workers.
When the boy was about 7 years old, the Biryukov family moved to the Volga region. It was here that the future author had to see the events of the Civil War and the subsequent famine of 1921-1922. Many years later, all these impressions were reflected in the work of Nikolai Biryukov.
Soon the family returned to Orekhovo-Zuevo. In 1925, Biryukov became a Komsomol member and began working in the factory. Then he entered the school of factory apprenticeship at the textile mill. Nikolai Biryukov also studied at the construction college.
At the end of 1930, a tragedy occurred in one of the buildings of the Dulevsky plant that forever changed the life of 18-year-old Biryukov. He had to work in icy water, which suddenly surged into the pit. After this, Nikolai Biryukov became seriously ill, the rest of his life he had to spend in bed due to paralysis that affected almost the entire body - only his hands did not lose mobility.
Future life. Creative activity
The idea of starting to write came up with Biryukov in 1931. The following year, he took part in the All-Union competition of young poets and received an award for his poem “You Can't Count Victories!”.
Despite the fact that Nikolai Biryukov could not walk and even just get out of bed on his own, the tragedy did not make him a recluse. Biryukov led a full life, studying in absentia at the Gorky Literary Institute. In many ways, the writer was influenced by the famous novel by Nikolai Ostrovsky “How steel was tempered,” which became Biryukov's motivation to achieve his goals and never regret himself.
Passing the next course of therapy in the hospital, the writer met Anna Kharitonova, a young teacher who later became the wife of Nikolai Biryukov and until the end of his life was everything to him - a true friend, critic, doctor. Anna Ilyinichna played a role in the life of the writer, the importance of which cannot be overestimated: perhaps without her help and support Biryukov would not have become what everyone knew him.
The writer’s debut novel, dubbed On the Farmsteads, was first published in 1938 in the October magazine.
During the Great Patriotic War, Nikolai Biryukov created many stories in which he described the courage and heroism of his compatriots - “Before the breath of death”, “Russian eyes”, “Song in the forest” and others.
At the end of the war, Biryukov's second novel The Seagull, which became the most popular of all the writer's works, was released.
In 1949, another book by Nikolai Biryukov, “Waters of Naryn,” was published. The author’s last novel, Through Hostile Vortices, was released in 1959.
Nikolai Biryukov passed away early - at 53 years old. He died on January 31, 1966 in Simferopol, where he spent the last 10 years.
Bibliography. Prose
The most famous novel of the writer is “The Seagull”, on which Biryukov worked from 1942 to 1945. It is dedicated to Elizaveta Ivanovna Chaykina, a 23-year-old partisan who was shot by the Germans on November 23, 1941 for refusing to give out information about the whereabouts of the partisans.
It was Chaikin who became the prototype of the main character of the work of Ekaterina Volgina, a brave communist and a true patriot of her Fatherland.
The novel "The Seagull" is a typical representative of the genre of socialist realism. Many literary critics claim that the image of partisan Chaikina in this work is excessively idealized and elevated to a cult, and the events described do not quite correspond to how everything was in reality. However, despite this, the novel does not become less exciting and fascinating. The story of the brave partisan was translated into 42 languages.
Another fairly well-known prose work of Nikolai Biryukov is “Water of Naryn”, which tells about the history of the construction of the Great Ferghana Canal. Tens of thousands of workers in the collective farm of Uzbekistan were involved in the construction process of this canal.
Poetry
As a poet, Nikolai Biryukov is not as famous as as a prose writer. He rarely wrote poems, and mostly only at the beginning of his creative career.
One of Biryukov’s most popular poetic works is “Don’t Count Victories!”, Created in 1932. His other poems were periodically published in various publications.
Writer Awards
The first prize of the writer was awarded to him for his victory in the All-Union competition of young poets in 1932.
In 1947, Biryukov became one of the inhabitants of Moscow who received a medal dedicated to the 800th anniversary of the city. However, at the moment this medal is deprived of the status of a state award.
In 1951, Nikolai Biryukov was awarded the Stalin Prize of the third degree for a novel about the fate of Elizabeth Chaykina. He was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Badge of Honor.
2 years after the writer passed away, he was posthumously awarded the Nikolai Ostrovsky Prize.
The memory of Nikolai Biryukov
Biryukov spent the last 7 years of his life in Yalta. Currently, the house where the writer lived and worked has been turned into a literary and memorial museum, which is a branch of the Yalta Historical and Literary Museum. The initiator of the creation of this institution was the wife of Nikolai Biryukov - Anna Ilyinichna.
In honor of the writer, one of the streets of his hometown of Orekhovo-Zuyevo and the local secondary school No. 20, in which a bust of Biryukov is installed, is also named.
On August 14, 1977, in the Crimea, the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh discovered the asteroid No. 2477, which later became known as Biryukov.