Altai. Here, on the banks of the Katun River, stands a monument to the great Russian, Soviet writer V. Ya. Shishkov. The choice of place is not accidental. Residents of the Altai Territory are grateful to the author who sang Siberia, not only for his enormous contribution to Russian literature, but also for the development of the Chuysky tract project.
Shishkov Vyacheslav Yakovlevich - writer and engineer. This topic will be discussed today in this article.
Birth and childhood
In 1873, on the third of October, in the small town of Bezhetsk, a boy Vyacheslav Shishkov is born in a merchant family, who later on will be called by everyone in the house only Vestenka. It is not known from whom the talent of the writer was passed on to him, but one thing is certain: his father instilled in him love of art and all that is beautiful, his father Yakov Dmitrievich Shishkov, who, despite his occupation, was known as a person of fine artistic nature and passionately loved theater and opera. It was in such an atmosphere that Vyacheslav Shishkov spent all his childhood.
Youth
In 1887, in his hometown, he graduated from the sixth, last grade and enters a technical school in the city of Vyshny Volochek, which is located in the same Tver province. However, after four years of study, it was time to leave their native land and go to Novgorod, and then to the Vologda province to undergo mandatory two-year practice.
The young man was then only nineteen years old. At the same time, the young Vyacheslav Shishkov makes a difficult two-week journey along the Pinega River with John of Kronstadt, which could not but leave a bright trace in his soul.
Work
In 1894, the end of practice. It is time for more serious undertakings, and Vyacheslav Shishkov, without hesitation, goes to Tomsk, to the department of the railway district, to first try his hand at the role of an ordinary technician. Everything turns out perfectly well for him. But he does not stop there and successfully passes the exam, giving him the right to further engage in his own survey work.
Siberia and the first publications
From 1894 to 1915, Shishkov Vyacheslav Yakovlevich led many expeditions to Siberia. He traveled this vast territory of Russia along and across, by land and water, along Pinega, Yenisei, Lena, Northern Dvina, Vychegda, Sukhona. In the same fruitful period, he was developing the project of the famous Chuysky tract. This is not to say that such long journeys were not dangerous. Taiga is majestic, beautiful and severe at the same time. Faced with her difficult character and engineer Vyacheslav Shishkov. Once he and the members of his expedition nearly froze in impenetrable forests. The nomadic Tungus rescued them.
In addition to exploring and discovering new land and water routes, an observant young man studied the life and culture of local residents - Yakuts, Kyrgyz, Irtysh Cossacks, was interested in the life of gold prospectors, political exiles and simple vagrants. And all this against the background of regal nature. Overwhelmed by the impressions of what he heard and saw, he begins to write. He writes a lot over the course of seven years, but he does not dare to open himself to the world, believing that his wings have not yet grown. Only in 1908 was it first published in the periodicals Young Siberia and Siberian Life.
Acquaintance with M. Gorky
The first minor but still successful literary steps push the thirty-eight-year-old researcher and engineer V. Shishkov to turn to Maxim Gorky for help and advice. He writes him a letter with little hope of an answer, in which he asks to read two of his stories - “Kralya” and “Vanya Khlyust”, and give his assessment.
Gorky simply could not remain indifferent to the talent of the young writer, to his interesting personality, who had already experienced a lot in her years. He decides to help him and brings, as Shishkov himself wrote, to “God's Light”, namely, to his new magazine “Testaments”, his numerous works. Also, thanks to his “omnipotent” patron, the future author of the novel “Ugryum River” gets acquainted with such prominent figures of the time as Mikhail Prishvin, V. Mirolyubov, A. Remizov, R. Ivanov-Razumnik, M. Averyanov, who actively help him in becoming.
Relocation
In 1915, Tomsk, Siberia, and with them all the previous life and work are far behind. Vyacheslav Shishkov, whose biography never ceases to amaze and amaze, moves to St. Petersburg to devote his life to literature. Here, he was caught by the tragic events that followed two years later - the revolution and civil war, which he warmly welcomed.
Since 1918, one after another, cycles of his stories and essays have been published: “With a Seal”, “To the Saints”, “The Taiga Wolf”, “Fresh Wind” and many others. The difficult, and sometimes contradictory Siberian character is the main character of all his works. Here, where not to rush, riddles everywhere, impenetrable wilds and original beauty. At least a century to explore, and the end and edge can not be seen, as if wandering through the taiga.
Vyacheslav Shishkov: works of the post-war years
The fate of the writer is really surprising. He survived the collapse of tsarist Russia, the revolution, the difficult years of the civil war, famine, devastation, the formation of a new Soviet Russia, the Great Patriotic War. Of course, all these events are reflected in the writer's work.
In 1923, the novel (Vyacheslav Shishkov) “The Vataga” was published, in which, according to critics, the author is trying to understand the soul of not just one person, but an entire people, a mass of people, who at some point are deprived of leadership. But, as they say, a holy place does not happen empty. The old device is being replaced by a new one - anarchy, which in any case should be led by someone. And now a new character appears on the scene - the anarchist Zykov, who begins to build a new society, naturally, on the blood and denial of everything. The "gang" is, one might say, a warning book.
In 1928, the main work of Vyacheslav Shishkov, “The Ugryum River,” consisting of two parts, was born. True, the second volume comes out a little later - in 1933. In the center of the novel is Prokhor Gromov, who dreams not only of building his capitalist empire in the very heart of Siberia, but also of conquering this vast land, not destroying it, but merging with it together to feel and absorb all its immensity and beauty. However, this land does not give up so easily. She experiences it, offering friendship, devotion, honor, love, exchange for gold, recognition and glory. The test the main character does not pass. As soon as he agrees to, as it seems to him, favorable conditions, the inevitable end immediately comes: illness, madness and final death. The work contains a lot of descriptions of nature, exuberant temper of the Ugryum River, Siberian life, Tungus legends and traditions.
The last significant work of Vyacheslav Shishkov is the historical epic novel Emelyan Pugachev. He wrote it from 1938 until 1945. He did not interrupt his work even during the siege of Leningrad, during which he continued to speak with patriotic articles and short stories on the pages of newspapers.