Jan Vasily Grigorievich - writer, researcher and traveler. He is the author of fascinating works on the history of Central Asia, the winner of the Stalin Prize for the novel "Genghis Khan."
Vasily Yan: biography of the writer
Vasily G. Yanchevetsky was born on December 23, 1874 in the city of Kiev. The father of the future writer, Grigory Andreyevich, was a well-known teacher of Greek and Latin languages āāin the gymnasiums of Kiev, Riga and Revel (now Tallinn). The Yanchevetsky family came from clergy of the Volyn province. After graduating from the historical and philological faculty of St. Petersburg University in 1897, the young man goes on an independent trip.
Having walked tens of hundreds of kilometers, Yan Vasily (pseudonym of the writer), for two years he visited all corners of Northern and Central Russia. Having visited dozens of villages, fishing and hunting villages, rafting along the rivers of Russia with rafts, the young researcher collected unique material on the customs, traditions and linguistic characteristics of the Russian people. Vasily Yan published his travel notes in local newspapers, and the main literary material was collected in the book Notes of the Pedestrian, which he published in 1901.
Central Asian adventures
The purpose of the next expedition was Central Asia. Riding a horse, writer Jan Vasily crossed the Karakum desert and reached Bukhara, which became the starting point before going to India. Having traveled with a caravan of nomads along the Afghan border to Balochistan, he finally achieved the desired goal.
Studying the ancient Asian ways along which the armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Babur and Tamerlane passed, Jan Vasily decided to write a book about the historical past of that time. It is noteworthy that while traveling in Central Asia, the writer had an official job as a well inspector in Turkestan. In this status, Vasily Yanchevetsky arrived from 1901 to 1904.
Military events of 1905
The Russo-Japanese War found a traveler on the coast of the Indian Ocean, in Balochistan. By personal order of Tsar Nicholas II, Vasily Yang (photo below) was seconded by the war correspondent of the capital's telegraph agency to Manchuria, to the headquarters of the commander of the front in the Far East. Coming to the front line, Vasily Grigorievich personally observed the courage and heroism of Russian soldiers in the fight against the enemy, often putting his life in mortal danger.
At the end of hostilities, Jan Vasily returned to Central Asia, where he worked as a statistician in the Turkestan Directorate for Migrants until 1907. Nevertheless, the work did not prevent him from continuing his research on the study of Central Asian territories. During this time, he visited Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and also visited the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. Observations about life in different countries were reflected by the writer in stories and essays.
Work with children
The next period of his life and work was associated with the newspaper Rossiya. As a special correspondent for the capitalās publication, Ian Vasily continued to delight his readers with articles on unknown countries and continents. In addition, he was offered a place as a teacher of Latin in one of the gymnasiums of St. Petersburg.
Some high school students subsequently became famous people. Playwright V.V. Vishnevsky, poet V.A. Rozhdestvensky - these are the former students taught by Jan Vasily. The gymnasium students could leave feedback about their teacher in the school magazine āPupilā, in which V. G. Yanchevetsky often published his travels.
New appointment
In 1913, the writer was transferred to work in Turkey, where he went with his family. He worked as a correspondent for a telegraph agency in the Asian Republic for a little less than four years. His next appointment was to work in Romania, where he was caught by the First World War. Leaving his wife in Romania, Vasily Grigoryevich with his children returns to his homeland.
Olga Yanchevetskaya
They met in the editorial office of the St. Petersburg government newspaper "Russia", where Vasily Georgievich worked as a publishing editor. Olga Petrovna, having no means of livelihood (in addition, she had five brothers and sisters and a sick grandmother on her hands), came to the publishing house in search of work. The girl, who has three classes of a gymnasium behind her, is taken as a night corrector. After the death of his wife Maria Ivanovna, Yanchevetsky widowed for some time, while raising a foster daughter from Maria Ivanovna's first marriage. Their relationship with Olga developed by themselves. After a short courtship, Vasily makes a proposal to the girl.
Possessing a voice of extraordinary beauty, the second wife of Vasily Grigoryevich often gave home concerts in the circle of relatives and friends of the family. The singerās talent did not go unnoticed. She was invited to perform publicly in the circus. Countess Rocque - it was the stage name of the singer. In 1911, the firstborn was born to the couple - Mikhail. Further training in vocal art Olga took place in the capital's opera school. Upon arrival in Romania, where her husband moved to a new place of service, Olga Petrovna gets a job as a singer in one of the elite restaurants in Bucharest, where she performs Russian romances to a drunken audience.
Everything changes the First World War. Forced separation from her husband and son, returning to her homeland and emigrating to Turkey, and then moving to Serbia for a long time tore her from her family. Until World War II, Olga Yanchevetskaya sang in the restaurants of Zagreb. After a long separation, upon arrival in Moscow in 1970, she again met with her son, who was already almost 50 years old. O.P. Yanchevetskaya died in 1978 in Belgrade.
Wandering around the country
World War I changed the fate of many people. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, Vasily Grigoryevich determines that life in the capital is becoming increasingly dangerous and decides to go deep into Russia, to the Urals. Together with his son and adopted daughter, Yanchevetsky goes to Yekaterinburg. From 1918 to 1919, the writer worked in the march printing house of the Kolchak army in Siberia. He is awarded the rank of colonel.
The experience of the war correspondent of past years did not go unnoticed. V. G. Yanchevetsky becomes editor-in-chief of the forward weekly journal Vperyod. The editorial office was located in two railway cars. The main topic of the print media was operational reports from the front, humorous stories and satirical articles, as well as campaign articles. V. Yanchevetsky did not miss the opportunity to publish his travels.
Feeling the imminent end of the White Guard army, the writerās family moves to Tuva, to the city of Minusinsk. There, Vasily Grigorievich works as a teacher, director of a village school, editor and head of a department of the local newspaper Vlast Truda.
Uzbekistan, war, evacuation
Further fate brings V. G. Yanchevetsky to Uzbekistan, where from 1925 to 1927 he worked as an economist in a commercial bank in the city of Samarkand. The journal āWorld Pathfinderā publishes his essays and articles on the life of the Uzbek SSR. On the theatrical stages of the republic, a production based on his play āKhujumā is published, telling about the life of women of the East. In 1928, the writer moved to Moscow, where he is actively published in metropolitan publishing houses with a series of historical novels and short stories.
In June 1941, immediately after the outbreak of World War II, Vasily Yan asked to be on the front line. However, due to his age, he is not enlisted in the army, but is evacuated to Tashkent, where he continues to actively engage in writing. Upon his return from the evacuation, Vasily Grigoryevich dubs his stories begun in Uzbekistan: āOn the wings of courageā and āTales of the old Trans-Caspianā.
The rest of his life, Yan Vasily Grigoryevich spends in the suburbs, in the city of Zelenograd, where he dies on August 5, 1954. All this time, there was an adopted daughter with him, who was taking her father to the last journey.
The writerās final novel, Towards the Final Journey, was published in 1955.