Alexander Pokrovsky is a former submarine officer, writer and marine painter. The satire of this author is compared with the work of Konetsky and Zoshchenko. The whole spectrum of human relations, from the absurd to the fatal expectation of death, determines the construction and poetics of Pokrovsky’s language. Refined sophisticated humor, ernism, a comedy of positions, a sharp satire, a strong word of a sailor are conveyed by this author with the accuracy of a cartographer.
Biography
Pokrovsky Alexander Mikhailovich was born in Baku in late November 1952 in the family of an electrician. After graduating from high school in 1970, Alexander entered the naval school named after S. M. Kirov, which he successfully graduated in 1975. Alexander received a specialty in radiochemistry.
Alexander Pokrovsky by distribution was sent to the Northern Fleet to serve. In 1976, he was appointed head of the submarine’s chemical department. He served on missile submarines, participated in twelve combat campaigns.
In 1985, Pokrovsky was sent to Severodvinsk, and from there transferred in 1986 to the northern capital at the Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In 1991, he retired to the rank of captain of the 2nd rank.
Alexander Mikhailovich recalls that he wrote his very first story “Naida” back in 1983. The author’s stories were first transmitted to the Soviet Writer Publishing House in 1989, and four years later the book Merlezon Ballet was published. In 1994, the book "Shoot ..." was published. The novel brought fame and popularity to the author.
Alexander Pokrovsky gained fame as a brilliant storyteller. Today, he has counted about forty books that have been published and continue to be published in huge print runs.
Alexander Pokrovsky: books. The Cat (2002)
The book consists of short stories and the novel "The Revelations of Sebastian the Cat." The language of the author, voiced by the cat Sebastian, sounds comical and caustic. The remaining characters appear in front of a funny animal in the most unexpected angles, which he tells readers about.
Hippopotamus (2005)
The reader will meet in this book old acquaintances and new heroes who have adapted to modern life. It is filled with comic situations and truly dramatic. How they manage to cope with all the trials, how they resist the onslaught of time - you will learn from this book.
72 Meters (2007)
Stories is the most popular genre that Alexander Pokrovsky most often uses. The author’s books are often collections that are composed of stories written at different times.
This is exactly the collection “72 meters”. It got its name from a story of the same name, which tells about a group of sailors trying to survive in the complete darkness of a flooded submarine.
“The logbook” (2007)
This is a series of books, consisting of seven issues to date. In these books, the writer is true to himself - witty and at the same time seriously writes about the present, about difficult conditions. The author has a rare gift - he can sarcastically and with humor analyze the features, sometimes very serious, of our reality. A thoughtful, unique literary style allows the author to jerk, but not use malice, joke, but without adding bile, and peep without mocking.
He accompanies his literary observations with sketches, which he succeeds just as brilliantly. Thanks to the penetrating style of A. Pokrovsky, reading through the pages of the “Logbook”, experiencing the test of time becomes a little easier.
“People in the Forces” (2009)
This is a collection of letters, notes, short prosaic passages, observations sent to the author from all over our country, by people who went through army school. These materials are collected and systematized by a wonderful master of words in a holistic narrative telling about the life of a person in the army.
The expressive and somewhat caustic humor, the comic book of unexpected situations demonstrate how a person overcomes a rather rigid system, adapts it to himself. This book tells about overcoming difficult circumstances, about the bitter and ridiculous in the life of the military, about how to live in the proposed circumstances.
Arabesques (2010)
Under one cover, Alexander Pokrovsky collected his “arabesques”. And not just collected, but he illustrated them, emphasizing the virtuosity and liveliness of the unique literary genre, which today disappears from our literature.
Observing the shocks of history, the mutating Russian language, the author turns into an interesting story, in the center of which he himself is a witty and mocking, subtle observer, nothing will be hidden from his gaze.
The Propadino (2012)
The book “Propadino” sets out an amazing story written according to the laws of phantasmagoria and grotesque, which have always been the foundation of Russian literature. How not to disappear in time? The writer Alexander Pokrovsky answers this question with imagination and sparkling humor.
"... To shoot" (2001) and "... To shoot 2" (2004)
This is one of the most famous books of A. Pokrovsky. It consists of two parts. It included stories written by the author in the Navy. Great style, ease and wit, lyricism and honesty - this is a real breakthrough that allows us to attribute this work to the serious achievements of Russian prose of the twentieth century.
The stories collected in the book are far from always funny, sometimes they are full of genuine drama, but at the same time they are very lyrical and sweet, which happened to the main character, officer, faithful son of his Fatherland. Against this background, the ridiculous accidents that occurred with his close and distant relatives and friends are described.
The System (2004)
In this work, Alexander Pokrovsky offers his readers stories and the short novel System. This is the name of a closed institution in which future submarine officers (cadets) are taught to live according to the laws of sacrifice and valor. How they manage to exist, understand each other and the world around them, the author says, studying the shades and features of being in an environment where the pressure of life and strength, together with human weakness, turn into a single whole.
Alexander Pokrovsky is a talented author, each work of which is a real event in the world of modern literature.