Chizhova Elena is a modern author, translator and essayist. In her works, the writer describes the feelings of childhood. But in most cases, the heroes of her novels are fictional. For the book "Women's Time" Chizhova Elena was awarded the prestigious literary prize. The life and career of a writer is the topic of this article.
Biography
Chizhova Elena was born in 1957. The writer's hometown is St. Petersburg. Strange as it may seem, the author’s specialty of popular prose is Production Management. After graduating from Chizhov’s school, Elena, whose biography most likely resembles the life path of a business woman, but by no means a novelist, entered the Faculty of Economics. Then she defended her thesis. In the nineties, she tried to realize herself in business. And only in 2000 Chizhova published her first book.
Today, the writer is the editor of a literary magazine. In parallel, he heads the St. Petersburg branch of the international literary organization PEN Club, one of the founders of which is John Galsworthy, a classic of English literature .
Elena Chizhova lives (photo of the writer is posted below) in the city in which she was born, spent her childhood and youth. Many of the events described in her novels are a reflection of her early impressions. The writer spent years of youth in one of St. Petersburg communal apartments. The difficult life characteristic of such apartments is reflected in her novel "Women's Time".
Chizhova Elena is married, has two daughters. Her husband is Valery Vozgrin, doctor of historical sciences and a representative of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in St. Petersburg.
"Baby Zahes"
Chizhova Elena is a writer who became famous after the publication of her fourth novel. The first work, which was published, is “The Little Tsache.” The style of writing in this novel is significantly different from the style characteristic of the “Time of Women”. But there are features that combine almost all of Chizhova’s books. For example, the city in which the heroines of the writer live is always Peter.
The novel “Little Tsakhes” is deep and very emotional. And despite the fact that it is not easy to perceive, readers' reviews are mostly positive.
"Women's time"
It was this novel by Chizhova that won the Russian Booker Award. The work is dedicated to a difficult female fate. Post-war time, the usual St. Petersburg communal apartment, collective ideology. This is the background of the second novel of the heroine of our article. In the foreground - the fate of women of different characters and ages.
The Soviet Union of the late fifties - early sixties. Yuri Gagarin flies into space. The country is experiencing another upsurge in national identity. And in the center of the plot is the personal life of an ordinary Soviet single mother. The book is not easy to read. Only dreams and fables added to the plot give the work ease and dynamism.
Based on the novel by Elena Chizhova, a performance was staged in 2011 in the Sovremennik Theater.
Lavra
Only the church can bring society out of a moral impasse. This is the main idea of ​​the novel "Laurel". However, at the same time, the author claims that the Orthodox Church itself is in a kind of impasse, because it has been too long under the influence of totalitarian politics. Reviews about the novel are different. Some readers compare it with the works of Kafka. Others - with Dostoevsky’s novel “Demons”. Negative reviews of the book are also available.
Half-Blood
The heroine of this work is a talented girl, a native of Leningrad. As in other Chizhova’s novels, Philosophical and Moral Ethical Problems are raised in The Half-Blood. The heroine of the novel fights with the ghosts of the past, she seems to take revenge on her offenders even after their death. And only the neighbor who returned from the link — a woman with German roots — gives her an example of a humane attitude to people.
Other works of the author: “Orestes and Son”, “Terracotta Old Woman”.
The heroines of Chizhova are, as a rule, tough and focused women. They build their destiny in the face of difficult realities. Reviews about the work of the writer are rather contradictory. A lot, of course, positive. And above all, they relate to the novel "Women's Time." “Lavra” did not win such wide recognition among readers. The reason is a large number of historical retreats and a too pronounced anti-Soviet mood.