In 1989, the publication "New World" published one of the most controversial works of this writer, called "Stroybat." This is a story about life in the barracks of the Soviet army and its once invariable aspects: mutual responsibility and permissiveness of old-timers, but also about strong friendship and mutual assistance.
“Stroybat” is not the only work of the writer Sergei Kaledin. In addition to him, from the pen of this author came a few more stories and short stories. Many of them have been translated into English, German, French, Danish, Swedish and other languages.
Biography of writer Sergei Kaledin
The future writer, whose full name is Sergey Evgenievich Kaledin, was born on August 28, 1949 in Moscow. His father, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Berkenheim, was an engineer, and his mother, Tamara Georgievna Kalyakina, was a translator. Sergey got his surname “Kaledin” from his mother’s second husband.
In his school years, Sergey Kaledin had a reputation as a bully and a badass. He finished only 8 classes, as in the ninth he was expelled for his next misconduct.
Having no higher education, Kaledin managed to test himself in many different professions: he worked as a grave digger, fireman, watchman, was a student of a draftsman. He entered the Institute of Communications, but, having studied one course, wrote a request to expel him.
After some time, Sergey Kaledin was drafted into the army. At his own request, the writer served in the construction battalion. The resulting impressions and memories later became the material for the story "Stroybat".
Kaledin's debut as a writer was the story "The Humble Cemetery", published in the journal "New World" in 1987. In 1991 and 1996 the novels Pop and the Worker and Tahana Merkazit were published.
Currently, Sergey Kaledin lives in Moscow, where he continues to work on new works.
Bibliography. "Humble Cemetery"
As in the case of the story “Stroybat”, the plot of which is based on the personal experience of Kaledin obtained during military service, the work “Humble Cemetery” also reflects the author’s impressions and recollections of his work as a gravedigger.
In The Humble Cemetery, Sergei Kaledin reveals to the reader all the details of the cemetery's life, right down to the most vile and eerie details. With business professionalism, he describes the work of the grave digger: the process of creating a pit, burial, the installation of tombstones and monuments. Kaledin does not forget to mention how long-forgotten graves for reburial are sold.
The protagonist of the story is the grave digger Leshka Sparrow, a man with a difficult fate. In his life there were a cruel father, a mother who died of cancer, endless wanderings, serving time in a colony. Sparrow is constantly drinking, like his wife, who suffers from beating her husband.
However, even in this terrible cemetery world there is a place of hope and humanity. The story of Sergei Kaledin is about this.
In 1990, a performance was staged at the Humble Cemetery.
"Why did you lose the war?"
In this story, Kaledin analyzes the events of World War II. The question immediately arises, why in this case the title refers to defeat. There is no mistake.
The author talks about that unknown Second World War, all information about which in the USSR was inaccessible to ordinary people, and any mention of them in the media was severely censored.
The idea of the story came to Kaledin thanks to Leonid Gurevich, his friend, a veteran of the Finnish and German wars. Once he asked the writer to write a story about why they lost the war. “This is not a victory,” the veteran explained to Kaledin, surprised by this idea.
Writer Awards
Sergey Kaledin won the Golden Pen of Russia Prize of the Union of Journalists of Russia. This award was awarded to the writer in 2011 for a series of essays published in the weekly publication "Twinkle".