George Vladimov - writer, literary critic. The most significant works of this author are the novel “The General and His Army”, the novel “Faithful Ruslan” and “Big Ore”. What are the reviews for these books? What is the peculiarity of Vladimov’s prose?
Biography
Vladimov Georgiy Nikolaevich was born in 1931. Father and mother were philologists. The future writer was orphaned early. After the death of his parents, he was brought up in the family of the writer Dmitry Stonov.
George Vladimov graduated from the Faculty of Law, but after graduation he decided to devote himself to literature. In the early seventies, his critical articles gained fame. In the same years, the duties of the editor of the magazine "New World" are performed by Georgy Vladimov.
The biography of this writer is closely connected with the socio-political situation that reigned in the country in the Brezhnev era. As you know, these years were unfavorable for the work of authors who preferred to raise sensitive issues in their writings.
Early work
In 1960, after visiting the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, Georgy Vladimov wrote a story that resonated in society. The work is called "Big Ore." In the years when the story was created, some opposition began to manifest itself among Soviet intellectuals. It had a hidden character and was expressed, as a rule, in reading and discussing literature that did not correspond to Soviet ideology. The program of the so-called sixties included the Big Ore.
Georgy Vladimov published the next work only nine years later. “Three minutes of silence” - this is the name of the second story of the author, who at the end of the sixties already belonged to the category of “forbidden” - was completely published thirty-five years after writing. The work has a confessional character. The book reflects the everyday life of a fishing liner. Before writing the story, the writer worked for several months as a sailor on the Murmansk seiner.
"Faithful Ruslan"
The manner of writing by Vladimov was appreciated by critics. Features of his prose - authenticity, lyricism, accusatory motives. In 1975, the novel "Faithful Ruslan" was published. The story of the devoted guard of the Soviet camp was published for the first time in Germany.
The book tells how a dog protects a person from similar ones. About how she controls the life of one biped, under the supervision of others. Vladimov spoke about the tragedy of the time in which he lived. But he did it from a special angle.
Prohibited Activities
Vladimov’s desire to highlight topics on which it was dangerous to speak in Soviet society led to his expulsion from the Writers' Union. Literary and social activities, of course, did not end there.
The writer in the late seventies led an organization banned in the country. This association was called Amnesty International. Like other Soviet authors, who refused to publish at home, the hero of this article published his works abroad. And in 1982, in order to avoid arrest, the writer George Vladimov emigrated.
It is worth paying more attention to the book, which was already mentioned in the article. In 1994, George Vladimov completed the writing of the most famous work. “The General and His Army” is a sensational novel. Disputes about the reliability of the facts that formed the basis of this work, critics are still today.
"General and his army"
For this novel, the author was awarded the Booker Prize. Before the award, literary disputes were held around the book. They were caused by the fact that in the work of Vladimov the war was illuminated from an unusual point of view. One of the critics noted that the opinion about the book is erroneous. The impression that the novel takes place in the Soviet Union in the early forties is misleading. After all, a general named Kobrisov is unknown in Russian history. The cities of Myryatin and Predslavl in the USSR also never existed. Roman Vladimov, according to the critic O. Davydov, in general, can not be called historical.
The work “The General and His Army” depicts psychological problems, addictions, and prejudices associated with the fate of the author. The military realities that are present in the novel play the role of a certain entourage that sets off events from the writer's life unrelated to the Second World War.
According to Oleg Davydov, Vladimov cannot be condemned for using false data. The novel "The General and His Army" is not a historical work, but rather an autobiographical. What questions did the author raise in the acclaimed book?
The hero of the novel is called by the commander in chief. Kobrisov committed a certain offense for which he must be punished. But at the last moment the situation is changing. His action was successful, and he happily returns. This is the plot of the book. Its idea is that there is a higher court. And this, according to Davydov, is the main idea of the book. Military events are just the background through which the writer expressed his idea. However, the book contains both fictional characters and real ones.
The content of Davydov’s critical article on Vladimov’s work boils down to the fact that there is no historicity in the novel and cannot exist. Nevertheless, positive reviews from readers are based on a peculiar image of military events.
Germany
In exile, the writer continued his literary and social activities. He worked in the magazine Grani for two years. During the period of perestroika, his works gradually began to appear in domestic magazines.
In 1990, Vladimov restored Soviet citizenship. At the beginning of the two thousandths, he lived in the legendary writing village in the south-west of the capital. Georgy Nikolaevich Vladimov died in October 2003. The writer was buried in Moscow, at the cemetery in Peredelkino.