Vera Panova is known to the modern reader mainly as a teacher and character of Sergei Dovlatov. Her books are not read today. This woman, in fact, is a classic of Soviet literature. Vera Panova is a writer whose books were loved by both the general reader and the intellectual elite of the USSR.
Brief creative biography
Her work includes scripts, plays, short stories, novels, novels. In them, Vera Panova raises the social and moral problems of her era. She analyzes the psychology of relationships and characters. The novels “Sputniks” and “Seryozha” (1946 and 1955, respectively), as well as the novels “Kruzhilikha” and “Seasons” (1947 and 1953) became the most popular. She creates in 1958, "Sentimental novel", which became a portrait of a generation of the 20s of the 20th century. Vera Panova is a laureate of the Stalin and State Prizes of the USSR (three times - in 1947, 48 and 50).
Family of Vera Fedorovna
She was born in 1905, on March 7, in the city of Rostov-on-Don. The father of the future writer is an impoverished merchant who later served as an assistant accountant in a Rostov bank. When Vera was 5 years old (in 1910), he died tragically, drowning in the Don. Therefore, the mother of Vera, who was a music teacher by profession, had to raise her children for a very modest salary from a clerk, as well as a widow's pension received from the bank.
The childhood of Vera Panova
The early years of the future celebrity were difficult. They passed in need and poverty. But Panova met with the life of the urban outskirts, and the life of ordinary people. The impressions of childhood were contradictory. From a young age, along with colorful pictures of the festive city of Rostov, the future writer remembered the everyday life of the provincial life. She found the end of old Russia. The Civil War and the October Revolution shocked the usual way of life. Rostov experienced all the vicissitudes of this turbulent time. The authorities in the city changed several times. Only at the beginning of 1920 did he become finally Soviet.
Panova graduated from the 4th grade of the gymnasium before the revolution. I had to refuse to continue my studies due to lack of funds. At home, the girl was engaged in self-education. She read a lot, very early began to write poetry.
First works
From 17 years old, Panova Vera Fyodorovna has been regularly published in newspapers such as Sovetskiy Yug, Youth of Don, Labor Don and others. She published under the pseudonyms V. Staroselskaya (surname of the writer’s husband) and Vera Veltman many feuilletons, articles, essays, correspondence. At the same time, feuilletons were best left under the pen of a young writer (“Capital Writer”, “Fig Leaf”, “High Priest”, “Chernigov Veterinary Medicine”, “Unrecognized Genius”, “Three Outgoing”). These publications brought Vera Panova first local fame. They did not pass without a trace for further creativity, leaving a thin flair of humor and subtle irony, which will subsequently be present in many of her famous works.
Acquaintance with the literary circle
For many years, journalism remains the main work of Panova. While studying it, she met A. Fadeev, Yu. Yuzovsky, V. Stavsky, N. Pogodin in the newspaper. Arrived in Rostov A. Mariengof, V. Mayakovsky, A. Lunacharsky, S. Yesenin. Vera Panova worked until the mid-30s in children's magazines and newspapers in Rostov (Horn, Bonfire, Lenin’s Grandchildren).
Moving to Ukraine
In the winter of 1934-1935, a tragic turning point occurred in the fate of the writer. B. Vakhtin, her second husband, was arrested on false charges. Fearing persecution, Panova Vera Fedorovna moved with her children to Ukraine, to the Poltava region (Shishaki village). Here she writes tragedy in verses about the unequal struggle of the Spanish Republicans against the Francoists.
Drama Panova
Vera Fedorovna’s interest in dramaturgy turned out to be very strong. He manifested throughout her creative activities. When Vera Panova, whose biography is described in this article, moved to Leningrad in 1933, she seriously took up the problems of the theater. In the pre-war plays "Ilya Kosogor" and "In Old Moscow" (1939 and 1940, respectively), Panova turned to the years preceding the revolution - to depict the life of philistines-townsfolk, which turned out to be tenacious in subsequent years. In Moscow, the play reached the stage in 1940, directed by Y. Zavadsky. She was rehearsed at the Leningrad Theater. Pushkin before the war (director - L. Vivien).
The Great Patriotic War in the life of a writer
Panova met the Great Patriotic War in the city of Pushkin, located near Leningrad. Vera Panova did not have time to evacuate before the Germans arrived. The biography of the writer in wartime develops as follows. With a child (in Ukraine, in Shishak, two children remained) Panova got with great difficulties to the Ukrainian village. Subsequently, impressions of this path were reflected in a play entitled "Snowstorm", as well as in the last autobiographical story of Vera Panova "About my life, books and readers." In the occupied territory, in the village, Vera, from her own experience, knew the depth of the disasters of the people. From this test, she emerged morally hardened, full of new ideas.
Moving to Perm, the story "Sputniks"
Panova managed to move from Ukraine to Perm at the end of 1943. This city played a big role in her life, since it was here, in the editorial office of one of the newspapers, that she was given the task of going as a correspondent on a medical train in order to write a brochure on the experience of the staff based on the results of the trip. So in 1946, the novel "Sputniks" was created, one of the best works of the writer, which became a classic of Soviet literature. After that, Panova was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR.
The story became a loud sensation in the world of literature. She was a huge success with readers. In the work - only the truth, there is not a drop of lies. A year later, Panova will be awarded the Stalin Prize - a sign of state recognition. "Satellites", as you know, was highly praised by Stalin himself. Success came to Panova quite late: the writer's all-Union debut took place when she was already over forty.
Vera Panova, whose photo is presented at the beginning of the article, in this story managed to create a small but expressive gallery of characters. Separate chapters are devoted to heroes: "Julia Dmitrieva", "Doctor Belov", "Lena", "Danilov". “Companions” by construction is a chain of portrait novels that create a large-scale, holistic art project imperceptibly for the reader.
"Evdokia"
In 1945, the writer Vera Panova created the first story - “The Pirozhkov Family” (“Evdokia” in the 1959 edition). Panova was inclined to consider Evdokia as her real debut in literature, since she first wrote in her own manner.
Kruzhilikha
The novel "Kruzhilikha" is published in 1947. He tells the story of the people of the Ural wartime factory. "Kruzhilikha" - a novel about a working village called Motovilikha. The main conflict of the work unfolds between Listopad, the director of the plant, and Uzdechkin, the union leader. It lies, in contrast to most other works related to the genre of "production" novels, in the moral sphere. It was this side of Kruzhilikha that caused conflicting assessments and the greatest doubts in numerous discussions. However, the writer Vera Panova in this work remained true to herself: she was always worried and interested in moral problems. Everything "production" depended on the internal qualities of people.
Further creativity
Panova Vera Fedorovna, whose biography interests us, in the following years creates a number of novels and novels: "Clear Coast", "Sentimental Romance", "Seasons" (respectively - 1949, 1958 and 1953).
The novel "Seryozha", written in 1955 ode, opens a cycle of works about children: "Boy and Girl", "Volodya", "Valya" and others.
Screen version of "Seryozha"
This small story attracts the attention of Igor Talankin and George Danelia, novice directors. They invite the writer to participate in the creation of the script. A resounding success was the film of the same name. He received in Karlovy Vary, at the international film festival, the Grand Prize. Panova’s prose is ideally embedded in the film of the Thaw, because in its center is the human soul, and not the state machine.
Historical works
The writer Panova in recent years began to create works on historical subjects. She writes stories dedicated to Ancient Russia, Ivan the Terrible, the Time of Troubles. They were published in a 1966 book called Faces at Dawn. According to the author, the "mosaic technique" was used in historical portraits and paintings. The panorama of history consisted of individual fragments of the past. The analogs and allusions are full of these works. The writer pushed her readers to reflection, comparisons. The most important topic was the problem of the people and power, tyranny and responsibility to the nation and the state. Panova’s last book was published in 1975, after her death. It is called "About my life, books and readers."
The main works of Vera Panova have been translated into many languages.
Last years
After participating in the congress of Soviet writers, in the summer of 1967, Panova returned to Leningrad from Moscow extremely tired, but nevertheless continued to work. The consequences were catastrophic: the writer suffered a stroke, from which she could not recover until the end of her life. But even in these years overshadowed by the disease, she showed tremendous willpower and continued to work.
The writer Panova Vera Fedorovna creates new plays, an artistic biography of Muhammad (the prophet), and historical miniatures. It was at this time that some pages of memoir prose were written.
Acquaintance with Sergey Dovlatov
Sergei Dovlatov lived in the same house with the writer. He was an evil person. His character, whoever he writes about, would certainly immediately become the hero of a not very pleasant comic theater. Vera Panova Dovlatov knew perfectly well. He worked in the late 60s as a literary secretary for a writer. Panova appears from the pages of his prose as the embodiment of moral standards. Not a single bad word has been said about her. This is the only positive character in the entire work of Dovlatov.
The death of Vera Panova
Vera Fedorovna died in 1973, March 3. The writer was buried near Leningrad, at the cemetery in Komarovo.
On the facade of the house, located at 7 Mars Pole, there is a commemorative granite board on which it is written that from 1948 to 1970, Vera Panova worked and lived here. In memory of the writer, one of the most beautiful squares of Leningrad is named after her.