Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a famous realist writer, whose works resonated in the hearts of readers. His work was distinguished by the fact that he sought not only to reflect events in fact correctly, but most of all in that Kuprin inner world man was interested in much more than just a reliable description. Below will be described a brief biography of Kuprin: childhood, adolescence, creative activity.
Childhood years of the writer
Kuprin's childhood could not be called carefree. The writer was born on August 26, 1870 in Penza province. Kuprin's parents were: a hereditary nobleman I. I. Kuprin, who held the position of an official, and L. A. Kulunchakova, who came from a family of Tatar princes. The writer was always proud of his mother's origin, and Tatar features were visible in his appearance.
A year later, Alexander Ivanovich's father died, and the writer's mother was left with two daughters and a young son in her arms without any financial support. Then the proud Lyubov Alekseevna had to humiliate herself before senior officials to place their daughters in a government boarding school. She herself, taking her son with her, moved to Moscow and got a job at the Widow's House, in which future writer lived with her for two years.
Later he was enrolled at the state account of the Moscow Board of Trustees in an orphan school. Kuprin's childhood there was bleak, full of grief and thoughts about the fact that in a person they are trying to suppress his feelings. dignity. After this school, Alexander entered the military gymnasium, later transformed into a cadet corps. These were the prerequisites for the formation of an officer's career.
Writer's youth
Kuprin's childhood was not simple, and studying in cadet corps was also difficult. But it was then that he first had a desire to engage in literature and he began to write the first poems. Of course, the strict living conditions of the cadets, the military drill tempered the character of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, strengthened his will. Later, his memories of childhood and youth will be reflected in the works "Cadets", "Brave Runaways", "Junkers". After all, it was not in vain that the writer always emphasized that his creations are largely autobiographical.
Kuprin's military youth began with his admission to the Moscow Alexandrovskoye military school, after which he received the rank of second lieutenant. Then he went to serve in an infantry regiment and visited small provincial towns. Kuprin not only performed his official duties, but also studied all aspects of army life. Constant drill, injustice, cruelty - all this was reflected in his stories, such as, for example, "The Lilac Bush", "The Campaign", the story "The Last Duel", thanks to which he gained all-Russian fame.
The beginning of a literary career
His entry into the ranks of writers dates back to 1889, when his story "The Last Debut" was published. Later, Kuprin said that when he left military service, the most difficult thing for him was that he did not have any knowledge. Therefore, Alexander Ivanovich began to thoroughly study life and read books.
The future famous Russian writer Kuprin began to travel all over the country and tried himself in many professions. But he did this, not because he could not decide on a further type of activity, but because he was interested in it. Kuprin wanted to thoroughly study the life and life of people, their characters, in order to reflect these observations in his stories.
In addition to the fact that the writer studied life, he took his first steps in the literary field - he published articles, wrote feuilletons, and essays. A significant event in his life was the collaboration with the authoritative magazine " Russian wealth". It was in it that in the period from 1893 to 1895 "In the Dark", "Inquest" were printed. In the same period, Kuprin met I. A. Bunin, A. P. Chekhov and M. Gorky.
In 1896, Kuprin's first book was published - "Kyiv types", a collection of his essays and the story "Moloch" was published. A year later, a collection of short stories "Miniatures" was published, which Kuprin presented to Chekhov.
About the story "Moloch"
Kuprin's stories differed in that the central place here was given not to politics, but to the emotional experiences of the characters. But this does not mean that the writer was not concerned about the plight of the common population. The story "Moloch", which brought fame to the young writer, tells about the difficult, even disastrous, working conditions for the workers of a large steel plant.
It is no coincidence that the work received such a name: the writer compares this enterprise with pagan god, Moloch, demanding constant human sacrifice. Aggravation social conflict(the revolt of the workers against the authorities) was not the main thing in the work. Kuprin was more interested in how the modern bourgeoisie can adversely affect a person. Already in this work one can notice the writer's interest in the personality of a person, his experiences, reflections. Kuprin wanted to show the reader what a person who is faced with social injustice feels.
A Tale of Love - "Olesya"
Not fewer works was written about love. In the work of Kuprin, love occupied a special place. He always wrote about her touchingly, reverently. His heroes are people who are able to experience, experience sincere feelings. One of these stories is Olesya, written in 1898.
All created images have a poetic character, especially the image main character Olesya. The work talks about tragic love between the girl and the narrator, Ivan Timofeevich, an aspiring writer. He came to the wilderness, to Polissya, to get acquainted with the way of life of the inhabitants unknown to him, their legends and traditions.
Olesya turned out to be a Polesie witch, but she has nothing to do with the usual image of such women. It combines beauty with inner strength, nobility, a little naivety, but at the same time, a strong will and a small fraction of authority are felt in her. And her fortune-telling is not connected with cards or other forces, but with the fact that she immediately recognizes the character of Ivan Timofeevich.
The love between the characters is sincere, all-consuming, noble. After all, Olesya does not agree to marry him, because she considers herself no match for him. The story ends sadly: Ivan did not manage to see Olesya a second time, and he only had red beads as a memory of her. And all other works love theme distinguished by the same purity, sincerity and nobility.
"Duel"
The work that brought fame to the writer and took important place in the work of Kuprin, became "Duel". It was published in May 1905, already at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. A.I. Kuprin wrote the whole truth of army morals using the example of one regiment located in a provincial town. The central theme of the work is the formation of the personality, its spiritual awakening on the example of the hero Romashov.
"Duel" can also be explained as a personal battle between the writer and the stupefying everyday life tsarist army that destroy all the best that is in man. This work has become one of the most famous, despite the fact that the ending is tragic. The ending of the work reflects the realities that existed at that time in the tsarist army.
The psychological side of the works
In the stories, Kuprin acts as an expert psychological analysis precisely because he always sought to understand what drives a person, what feelings govern him. In 1905, the writer went to Balaklava and from there traveled to Sevastopol to take notes on the events that took place on the rebel cruiser Ochakov.
After the publication of his essay "Events in Sevastopol", he was expelled from the city and forbidden to come there. During his stay there, Kuprin creates the story "Listriginov", where the main characters are simple fishermen. The writer describes their hard work, character, which were congenial to the writer himself.
In the story "Staff Captain Rybnikov" the psychological talent of the writer is fully revealed. The journalist is engaged in a covert struggle with secret agent Japanese intelligence. And not for the purpose of exposing him, but in order to understand what a person feels, what drives him, what kind of internal struggle is going on in him. This story was highly appreciated by readers and critics.
Love Theme
A special place was occupied in the work of writers of works on a love theme. But this feeling was not passionate and all-consuming, rather, he described love, selfless, selfless, faithful. Among the most famous works"Shulamith" and " Garnet bracelet".
It is such a disinterested, perhaps even sacrificial love, is perceived by the heroes as the highest happiness. That is, the spiritual strength of a person lies in the fact that you need to be able to put the happiness of another person above your own well-being. Only such love can bring true joy and interest in life.
Writer's personal life
A.I. Kuprin was married twice. His first wife was Maria Davydova, the daughter of a famous cellist. But the marriage lasted only 5 years, but during this time their daughter Lydia was born. Kuprin's second wife was Elizaveta Moritsovna-Heinrich, with whom he married in 1909, although before this event they had lived together for two years. They had two girls - Ksenia (in the future - a famous model and artist) and Zinaida (who died at the age of three.) The wife survived Kuprin for 4 years and committed suicide during the blockade of Leningrad.
Emigration
The writer took part in the war of 1914, but due to illness he had to return to Gatchina, where he made an infirmary for wounded soldiers from his house. Kuprin was waiting for the February Revolution, but, like most, he did not accept the methods that the Bolsheviks used to assert their power.
After the White Army was defeated, the Kuprin family went to Estonia, then to Finland. In 1920 he came to Paris at the invitation of I. A. Bunin. The years spent in exile were fruitful. His works were popular with the public. But, despite this, Kuprin yearned for Russia more and more, and in 1936 the writer decides to return to his homeland.
The last years of the writer's life
Just as Kuprin's childhood was not easy, so last years his life was not easy. His return to the USSR in 1937 made a lot of noise. On May 31, 1937, he was met by a solemn procession, which included famous writers and admirers of his work. Already at that time, Kuprin had serious problems with health, but he hoped that in his homeland he would be able to restore his strength and continue to engage in literary activities. But on August 25, 1938, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin passed away.
A. I. Kuprin was not just a writer who talked about various events. He studied human nature, sought to know the character of every person he met. Therefore, reading his stories, readers empathize with the characters, sad and rejoice with them. Creativity A.I. Kuprin occupies a special place in Russian literature.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the city of Narovchat (Penza province) in a poor family of a petty official.
1871 was a difficult year in Kuprin's biography - his father died, and the impoverished family moved to Moscow.
Education and the beginning of a creative path
At the age of six, Kuprin was sent to the class of the Moscow Orphan School, from which he left in 1880. After that, Alexander Ivanovich studied at the military academy, the Alexander Military School. The training time is described in such works by Kuprin as: “At the Turning Point (Cadets)”, “Junkers”. "The Last Debut" - the first published story of Kuprin (1889).
Since 1890 he was a second lieutenant in an infantry regiment. During the service, many essays, stories, novels were published: “Inquiry”, “ moonlit night"," In the dark.
The heyday of creativity
Four years later, Kuprin retired. After that, the writer travels a lot around Russia, tries himself in different professions. During this time, Alexander Ivanovich met Ivan Bunin, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky.
Kuprin builds his stories of those times on life impressions gleaned during his travels.
Kuprin's short stories cover many topics: military, social, love. The story "Duel" (1905) brought Alexander Ivanovich real success. Love in Kuprin's work is most vividly described in the story "Olesya" (1898), which was the first major and one of his favorite works, and the story about unrequited love- "Garnet Bracelet" (1910).
Alexander Kuprin also liked to write stories for children. For children's reading he wrote the works "Elephant", "Starlings", "White Poodle" and many others.
Emigration and the last years of life
For Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, life and work are inseparable. Not accepting the policy of war communism, the writer emigrates to France. Even after emigration in the biography of Alexander Kuprin, the writer's ardor does not subside, he writes novels, short stories, many articles and essays. Despite this, Kuprin lives in material need and yearns for his homeland. Only 17 years later he returns to Russia. Then it is published last essay writer - the work "Moscow dear".
After a serious illness, Kuprin died on August 25, 1938. The writer was buried Volkovsky cemetery in Leningrad, next to the grave of Ivan Turgenev.
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Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, Russian prose writer, author of the short stories and novels Olesya, At the Break (Cadets), Duel, Shulamith, Pit, Garnet Bracelet, Junkers, as well as many stories and essays.
A.I. Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7, n.s.), 1870, in the town of Narovchat, Penza province, into the family of a hereditary nobleman, a petty official.
Alexander Kuprin as a writer, a man and a collection of legends about his hectic life- a special love of the Russian reader, akin to the first youthful feeling for life.
Ivan Bunin, who was jealous of his generation and rarely gave out praise, no doubt understood the unequal value of everything written by Kuprin, nevertheless he called him a writer by the grace of God.
And yet it seems that, by his nature, Alexander Kuprin should have become not a writer, but rather one of his heroes - a circus strongman, an aviator, the leader of the Balaklava fishermen, a horse thief, or, perhaps, would have pacified his violent temper somewhere in the monastery (by the way, he did such an attempt). Cult physical strength, a penchant for excitement, risk, riot distinguished the young Kuprin. And later, he loved to measure his strength with life at forty-three years old, he suddenly began to learn stylish swimming from the world record holder Romanenko, together with the first Russian pilot Sergei Utochkin, he climbed hot-air balloon, descended in a diving suit to the seabed, flew with the famous wrestler and aviator Ivan Zaikin on the Farman plane ... However, the spark of God, apparently, cannot be extinguished.
Kuprin was born in the town of Narovchatov, Penza province, on August 26 (September 7), 1870. His father, a petty official, died of cholera when the boy was not even two years old. In a family left without funds, besides Alexander, there were two more children. The mother of the future writer Lyubov Alekseevna, nee Princess Kulunchakova, came from Tatar princes, and Kuprin liked to remember his Tatar blood, even, there was a time, he wore a skullcap. In the novel "Junker" he wrote about his autobiographical hero"... the mad blood of the Tatar princes, his irrepressible and indomitable ancestors on the maternal side, pushing him to drastic and thoughtless actions, singled him out among the dozen junkers."
In 1874, Lyubov Alekseevna, a woman, according to her memoirs, "with a strong, unyielding character and high nobility", decides to move to Moscow. There they settle in the common ward of the Widow's House (described by Kuprin in the story "Holy Lies"). Two years later, due to extreme poverty, she sends her son to the Alexander juvenile orphan school. For six-year-old Sasha, a period of existence in the barracks begins - seventeen years long.
In 1880 he entered the Cadet Corps. Here the boy, longing for home and freedom, approaches the teacher Tsukanov (Trukhanov in the story "At the Turning Point"), a writer who "remarkably artistically" read to the pupils of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev. Begins to try his hand at literature and teenager Kuprin - of course, as a poet; Who at this age has not once crumpled a piece of paper with the first poem! He is fond of Nadson's then fashionable poetry. At the same time, Cadet Kuprin, already a convinced democrat, the "progressive" ideas of the time seeped even through the walls of the closed military school. He angrily denounces in rhymed form the "conservative publisher" M.N. Katkov and the Tsar himself Alexander III, stigmatizes the "vile, terrible deed" of the tsarist trial of Alexander Ulyanov and his accomplices who attempted on the monarch.
At the age of eighteen, Alexander Kuprin enters the Third Alexander Cadet School in Moscow. According to the memoirs of his classmate L.A. Limontov, this was no longer a "nondescript, small, clumsy cadet", but a strong young man, most of all cherishing the honor of his uniform, a clever gymnast, a lover of dancing, falling in love with every pretty partner.
His first appearance in print also belongs to the Junker period - on December 3, 1889, Kuprin's story "The Last Debut" appeared in the journal "Russian satirical sheet". This story really almost became the first and last literary debut junker. Later, he recalled how, having received a fee of ten rubles for the story (a huge amount for him at that time), he bought his mother “goat shoes” to celebrate, and for the remaining ruble he rushed to the arena to ride a horse (Kuprin was very fond of horses and considered this “ the call of the ancestors). A few days later, a magazine with his story caught the eye of one of the teachers, and the cadet Kuprin was called to the authorities “Kuprin, your story” - “That's right!” - "To the punishment cell!" The future officer was not supposed to do such "frivolous" things. Like any debutant, he, of course, longed for compliments and in the punishment cell read his story to a retired soldier, an old school uncle. He listened attentively and said, “Well written, your honor! But you can't understand anything." The story was really weak.
After the Alexander School, Lieutenant Kuprin was sent to the Dnieper Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Proskurov, Podolsk province. Four years of life “in the incredible wilderness, in one of the southwestern border towns. Eternal dirt, herds of pigs on the streets, khatenki, smeared with clay and manure ... ”(“ To Glory ”), many hours of drill of soldiers, gloomy officer sprees and vulgar romances with local“ lionesses ”made him think about the future, how he thinks about He is the hero of his famous story "The Duel", Lieutenant Romashov, who dreamed of military glory, but after the savagery of provincial army life, decided to retire.
These years gave Kuprin knowledge of military life, the customs of the shtetl intelligentsia, the customs of the Polissya village, and the reader was later presented with such works of his as "Inquiry", "Overnight", "Night Shift", "Wedding", "Slavic Soul", "Millionaire" , "Zhidovka", "Coward", "Telegraphist", "Olesya" and others.
At the end of 1893, Kuprin submitted his resignation and left for Kyiv. By that time, he was the author of the story "In the Dark" and the story "Moonlight Night" (Russian Wealth magazine), written in the style of a sentimental melodrama. He decides to seriously engage in literature, but this "lady" is not so easy to pick up. According to him, he suddenly found himself in the position of a college student, who was taken at night into the wilds of the Olonets forests and left without clothes, food and a compass; “... I had no knowledge, neither scientific nor worldly,” he writes in his Autobiography. In it, he also gives a list of professions that he tried to master, taking off his military uniform, was a reporter for Kyiv newspapers, a manager during the construction of a house, bred tobacco, served in technical office, was a psalmist, played in the theater of the city of Sumy, studied dentistry, tried to take the veil as a monk, worked in a forge and a carpentry workshop, unloaded watermelons, taught at a school for the blind, worked at the Yuzovsky steel plant (described in the story "Moloch").. .
This period ended with the publication of a small collection of essays "Kyiv types", which can be considered the first literary "drill" of Kuprin. Over the next five years, he makes a rather serious breakthrough as a writer in 1896 publishes the story Molokh in Russian Wealth, where the rebellious working class was shown for the first time on a large scale, publishes the first collection of short stories Miniatures (1897), which included Dog Happiness "," Centuries", "Breguet", "Allez" and others, then the story "Olesya" (1898), the story "Night Shift" (1899), the story "At the Break" ("The Cadets"; 1900) follow.
In 1901, Kuprin came to St. Petersburg as a fairly well-known writer. He already knew Ivan Bunin, who immediately upon arrival introduced him to the house of Alexandra Arkadyevna Davydova, the publisher of the popular literary magazine The World of God. There were rumors about her in St. Petersburg that she locks writers who ask for an advance from her in her office, gives ink, pen, paper, three bottles of beer and releases it only if the story is ready, immediately giving out a fee. In this house, Kuprin found his first wife - bright, Spanish Maria Karlovna Davydova, adopted daughter publishers.
An able student of her mother, she also had a firm hand in dealing with the writing brethren. For at least seven years of their marriage - the time of Kuprin's greatest and most stormy fame - she managed to keep him at his desk for quite long periods (up to the deprivation of breakfasts, after which Alexander Ivanovich fell asleep). Under her, works were written that put forward Kuprin in the first row of Russian writers, the stories "Swamp" (1902), "Horse thieves" (1903), "White Poodle" (1904), the story "Duel" (1905), the stories "Staff Captain Rybnikov ”, “River of Life” (1906).
After the release of "Duel", written under the great ideological influence of the "petrel of the revolution" Gorky, Kuprin becomes an all-Russian celebrity. Attacks on the army, exaggeration - downtrodden soldiers, ignorant, drunken officers - all this "pleased" the tastes of the revolutionary-minded intelligentsia, which, even the defeat of the Russian fleet in Russo-Japanese War considered it a victory. This story is without a doubt handwritten. great master, but today it is perceived in a slightly different historical dimension.
Kuprin goes through the most strong test- glory. “It was time,” Bunin recalled, “when the publishers of newspapers, magazines and collections of reckless drivers chased him around ... restaurants where he spent days and nights with his occasional and constant drinking companions, and humbly begged him to take a thousand, two thousands of rubles in advance for the mere promise not to forget them in case of his mercy, and he, heavy, big-faced, only screwed up his eyes, was silent, and suddenly abruptly threw out in such an ominous whisper, "Get out this minute to the devil's mother!" - that timid people immediately seemed to fall through the ground. Dirty taverns and expensive restaurants, impoverished vagrants and polished snobs of St. Petersburg bohemia, gypsy singers and runaways, finally, an important general thrown into a pool of sterlet by him ... - the whole set of "Russian recipes" for the treatment of melancholy, which for some reason always noisy glory pours out, he was tried by him (how can you not remember the phrase Shakespearean hero“What is the melancholy of a great spirit of a person expressed in that he wants to drink”).
By this time, the marriage with Maria Karlovna, apparently, has exhausted itself, and Kuprin, who cannot live by inertia, falls in love with the tutor of his daughter Lydia, the small, fragile Lisa Heinrich, with youthful ardor. She was an orphan and had already gone through her bitter story, visited the Russian-Japanese war as a sister of mercy and returned from there not only with medals, but also with broken hearted. When Kuprin, without delay, declared his love to her, she immediately left their house, not wanting to be the cause of family discord. Following her, Kuprin also left home, renting a room in the St. Petersburg hotel "Palais Royal".
For several weeks he rushes around the city in search of poor Lisa and, of course, it is overgrown with a sympathetic company ... When his great friend and admirer of talent, Professor of St. Petersburg University, Fyodor Dmitrievich Batyushkov, realized that there would be no end to these follies, he found Lisa in a small hospital, where she got a job as a nurse. What he talked about with her Maybe that she should save the pride of Russian literature .. It is not known. Only Elizaveta Moritsovna's heart trembled and she agreed to immediately go to Kuprin; however, with one firm condition, Alexander Ivanovich must be treated. In the spring of 1907, the two of them leave for the Finnish sanatorium Helsingfors. This great passion for the little woman was the reason for the creation wonderful story Shulamith (1907) - Russian Song of Songs. In 1908, their daughter Ksenia was born, who would later write the memoirs "Kuprin is my father."
From 1907 to 1914, Kuprin created such significant works as the stories "Gambrinus" (1907), "Garnet Bracelet" (1910), the cycle of stories "Listrigons" (1907-1911), in 1912 he began work on the novel "The Pit". When he came out, the critics saw in him a denunciation of another social evil in Russia - prostitution, while Kuprin considered paid "priestesses of love" to be victims of public temperament from time immemorial.
By this time, he had already dispersed into political views with Gorky, moved away from revolutionary democracy.
Kuprin called the war of 1914 fair, liberating, for which he was accused of "official patriotism." A large photograph of him with the caption “A.I. Kuprin, drafted into the active army. However, he did not get to the front - he was sent to Finland to train recruits. In 1915, he was declared unfit for military service for health reasons, and he returned home to Gatchina, where his family lived at that time.
After the seventeenth year, Kuprin, despite several attempts, common language he did not find a new government (although, under the patronage of Gorky, he even met with Lenin, but he did not see in him a “clear ideological position”) and left Gatchina together with the retreating army of Yudenich. In 1920, the Kuprins ended up in Paris.
After the revolution, about 150 thousand emigrants from Russia settled in France. Paris became the Russian literary capital - Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, Ivan Bunin and Alexei Tolstoy, Ivan Shmelev and Alexei Remizov, Nadezhda Teffi and Sasha Cherny, and many others lived here famous writers. All sorts of Russian societies were formed, newspapers and magazines were published ... There was even such an anecdote that two Russians meet on a Parisian boulevard. "Well, how do you live here" - "Nothing, you can live, one misfortune is too many French."
At first, while the illusion of his homeland was still preserved, Kuprin tried to write, but his gift gradually faded away, like his once mighty health, more and more often he complained that he could not work here, because he was used to "writing off" his heroes from life . “Beautiful people,” Kuprin said about the French, “but they don’t speak Russian, and in the shop and in the pub - everywhere it’s not our way ... So this is what you live, you live, and you stop writing.” His most significant work of the emigrant period is the autobiographical novel "Junkers" (1928-1933). He became more and more quiet, sentimental - unusual for acquaintances. Sometimes, however, Kuprin's hot blood still made itself felt. Once the writer was returning with friends from a country restaurant by taxi, they started talking about literature. The poet Ladinsky called "Duel" his best thing. Kuprin insisted that the best of all he wrote - "Garnet Bracelet" there is high, precious feelings of people. Ladinsky called this story implausible. Kuprin became furious "Garnet Bracelet" - a true story! and challenged Ladinsky to a duel. With great difficulty, we managed to dissuade him, rolling around the city all night, as Lidia Arsenyeva recalled (“Far Shores”. M. “Respublika”, 1994).
Apparently, Kuprin really had something very personal connected with the Garnet Bracelet. At the end of his life, he himself began to resemble his hero - the aged Zheltkov. "Seven years of hopeless and polite love" Zheltkov wrote unanswered letters to Princess Vera Nikolaevna. The aged Kuprin was often seen in a Parisian bistro, where he sat alone with a bottle of wine and wrote love letters to a little-known woman. The magazine Ogonyok (1958, No. 6) published a poem by the writer, possibly composed at that time. There are such lines “And no one in the world will know That for years, every hour and moment, A polite, attentive old man languishes and suffers from love.”
Before leaving for Russia in 1937, he hardly recognized anyone, and he was hardly recognized at all. Bunin writes in his “Memoirs” “... I once met him on the street and inwardly gasped and there was no trace of the former Kuprin! He walked with small, pitiful steps, trudged along so thin, weak, that it seemed that the first gust of wind would blow him off his feet ... "
When his wife took Kuprin to Soviet Russia, the Russian emigration did not condemn him, realizing that he was going there to die (although such things were painfully perceived in the émigré environment; they said, for example, that Alexei Tolstoy simply fled to Sovdepiya from debts and creditors) . For the Soviet government, this was politics. In the newspaper Pravda dated June 1, 1937, an article appeared: “On May 31, the famous Russian pre-revolutionary writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, who returned from emigration to his homeland, arrived in Moscow. At the Belorussky railway station A.I. Kuprin was met by representatives of the writers' community and the Soviet press.
They settled Kuprin in a rest house for writers near Moscow. In one of the sunny summer days Baltic sailors came to visit him. Alexander Ivanovich was carried out in an armchair to the lawn, where the sailors sang for him in chorus, approached, shook hands, said that they read his "Duel", thanked ... Kuprin was silent and suddenly burst into tears (from the memoirs of N.D. Teleshov "Notes of a Writer ").
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin died on August 25, 1938 in Leningrad. In his last years as an émigré, he often said that one must die in Russia, at home, like a beast that goes to die in its lair. I would like to think that he passed away calm and reconciled.
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Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin
Biography
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich (1870 - 1938) - Russian writer. Social criticism marked the story "Moloch" (1896), in which industrialization appears in the form of a monster plant that enslaves a person morally and physically, the story "Duel" (1905) - about the death of the soul pure hero in the deadening atmosphere of army life and the story "The Pit" (1909 - 15) - about prostitution. The variety of finely defined types, lyrical situations in the novels and stories "Olesya" (1898), "Gambrinus" (1907), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911). Cycles of essays ("Listrigons", 1907 - 11). In 1919 - 37 in exile, in 1937 he returned to his homeland. Autobiographical novel"Junkers" (1928 - 32).
Big encyclopedic Dictionary, M.-SPb., 1998
Biography
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich (1870), prose writer.
Born on August 26 (September 7, NS) in the city of Narovchat, Penza province, in the family of a petty official who died a year after the birth of his son. mother (of ancient family Tatar princes Kulanchakovs) after the death of her husband moved to Moscow, where the future writer spent his childhood and youth. At the age of six, the boy was sent to the Moscow Razumovsky boarding school (orphan), from where he left in 1880. In the same year he entered the Moscow military academy, transformed into the Cadet Corps.
After the end of the exercise, he continued his military education at the Alexander Cadet School (1888 - 90). Later he will describe his military youth" in the stories "At the Break (Cadets)" and in the novel "Junkers". Even then, he dreamed of becoming a "poet or novelist."
First literary experience Kuprin had poems that remained unpublished. The first work that saw the light was the story "The Last Debut" (1889).
In 1890, after graduating from a military school, Kuprin, with the rank of second lieutenant, was enrolled in an infantry regiment stationed in the Podolsk province. The life of an officer, which he led for four years, provided rich material for his future works. In 1893 - 1894 in the St. Petersburg magazine "Russian wealth" his story "In the Dark" and the stories "Moonlight Night" and "Inquiry" were published. A series of stories is dedicated to the life of the Russian army: "Overnight" (1897), "Night Shift" (1899), "Campaign". In 1894 Kuprin retired and moved to Kyiv, having no civilian profession and little life experience. In the following years, he traveled a lot around Russia, having tried many professions, eagerly absorbing life experiences that became the basis of his future works. In the 1890s he published the essay "Yuzovsky Plant" and the story "Moloch", the stories "Forest Wilderness", "The Werewolf", the stories "Olesya" and "Kat" ("Army Ensign"). During these years, Kuprin met Bunin, Chekhov and Gorky. In 1901 he moved to St. Petersburg, began working on the Journal for Everyone, married M. Davydova, and had a daughter, Lydia. Kuprin's stories appeared in St. Petersburg magazines: "Swamp" (1902); Horse Thieves (1903); "White Poodle" (1904). In 1905, his most significant work was published - the story "Duel", which had big success. The writer’s speeches with the reading of individual chapters of the “Duel” became an event cultural life capital Cities. His works of this time were very well-behaved: the essay "Events in Sevastopol" (1905), the stories "Staff Captain Rybnikov" (1906), "The River of Life", "Gambrinus" (1907). In 1907 he married a second marriage to sister of mercy E. Heinrich, daughter Ksenia was born. Kuprin's work in the years between the two revolutions resisted the decadent moods of those years: the cycle of essays "Listrigons" (1907 - 11), stories about animals, the stories "Shulamith", "Garnet Bracelet" (1911). His prose became a prominent phenomenon in Russian literature at the beginning of the century. After October revolution the writer did not accept the policy of war communism, the "red terror", he experienced fear for the fate of Russian culture. In 1918 he came to Lenin with a proposal to publish a newspaper for the village - "Earth". At one time he worked in the publishing house " world literature”, founded by Gorky. In the autumn of 1919, while in Gatchina, cut off from Petrograd by Yudenich's troops, he emigrated abroad. The seventeen years that the writer spent in Paris were an unproductive period. Constant material need, homesickness led him to the decision to return to Russia. In the spring of 1937, the seriously ill Kuprin returned to his homeland, warmly welcomed by his admirers. Published an essay "Moscow dear". However, new creative plans was not destined to come true. In August 1938 Kuprin died in Leningrad from cancer.
Aleksand Ivanovich Kuprin (1870-1938) - famous Russian writer. His father, a small official, died a year after the birth of his son. Mother, originally from the Tatar princes Kulanchakov, after the death of her husband moved to the capital of Russia, where Kuprin spent his childhood and youth. At the age of 6, Alexander was sent to an orphanage, where he stayed until 1880. And immediately after leaving, he entered the Moscow Military Academy.
After - he studied at the Alexander School (1888-90). In 1889, his first work, The Last Debut, saw the light of day. In 1890, Kuprin was assigned to an infantry regiment in the Podolsk province, where life became the basis of his many works.
In 1894 the writer retired and moved to Kyiv. The following years were devoted to the wanderings of Russia.
In 1890, he presented readers with many publications - Moloch, Yuzovsky Plant, Werewolf, Olesya, Kat.
Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin (1870-1938) was born in the city of Narovchat, Penza province. Human difficult fate, a career military man, then a journalist, an emigrant and a "returnee" Kuprin is known as the author of works included in the golden collection of Russian literature.
Stages of life and creativity
Kuprin was born in a poor noble family August 26, 1870. His father worked as a secretary in the regional court, his mother came from a noble family of the Tatar princes Kulunchakovs. In addition to Alexander, two daughters grew up in the family.
The life of the family changed dramatically when, a year after the birth of his son, the head of the family died of cholera. Mother, a native Muscovite, began to look for an opportunity to return to the capital and somehow arrange the life of the family. She managed to find a place with a boarding house in the Kudrinsky widow's house in Moscow. Three years have passed here little Alexander, after which, at the age of six, he was sent to an orphanage. The atmosphere of the widow's house is conveyed by the story "The Holy Lie" (1914), written by a mature writer.
The boy was accepted to study at the Razumovsky orphanage, then, after graduation, he continued his studies at the Second Moscow Cadet Corps. Fate, it seems, ordered him to be a military man. And in early work Kuprin, the topic of army everyday life, relationships among the military is raised in two stories: "Army Ensign" (1897), "At the Turn (Cadets)" (1900). At the peak of his literary talent, Kuprin wrote the story "Duel" (1905). The image of her hero, Lieutenant Romashov, according to the writer, was written off from himself. The publication of the story caused a great discussion in society. In the military environment, the work was perceived negatively. The story shows the aimlessness, petty-bourgeois limitations of the life of the military class. A peculiar conclusion to the dilogy "Cadets" and "Duel" was autobiographical story"Junkers", written by Kuprin already in exile, in 1928-32.
To the rebellious Kuprin army life was completely alien. Resignation from military service took place in 1894. By this time, the first stories of the writer, not yet noticed by the general public, began to appear in magazines. After leaving military service, wanderings began in search of earnings and life experiences. Kuprin tried to find himself in many professions, but useful for starting a professional career. literary work was the experience of journalism acquired in Kyiv. The next five years were marked by the appearance the best works author: stories "Lilac Bush" (1894), "Picture" (1895), "Overnight" (1895), "Barbos and Zhulka" (1897), " Miraculous doctor"(1897), "Breguet" (1897), the story "Olesya" (1898).
The capitalism that Russia is entering has depersonalized the working man. Anxiety in the face of this process leads to a wave of workers' revolts, which are supported by the intelligentsia. In 1896, Kuprin wrote the story "Moloch" - a work of great artistic power. In the story, the soulless power of the machine is associated with an ancient deity who demands and receives human lives as a sacrifice.
"Moloch" was written by Kuprin already on his return to Moscow. Here, after wandering, the writer finds a home, enters the circle of writers, gets acquainted and closely converges with Bunin, Chekhov, Gorky. Kuprin marries and in 1901 moves with his family to St. Petersburg. His stories "Swamp" (1902), "White Poodle" (1903), "Horse Thieves" (1903) are published in magazines. At this time, the writer is actively busy social life he is a candidate State Duma 1st convocation. Since 1911 he has been living in Gatchina with his family.
Kuprin's work between the two revolutions was marked by the creation of the love stories Shulamith (1908) and The Garnet Bracelet (1911), which differ in their light mood from the works of literature of those years by other authors.
During the period of two revolutions and civil war Kuprin is looking for an opportunity to be useful to society, collaborating either with the Bolsheviks or with the Social Revolutionaries. 1918 was a turning point in the life of the writer. He emigrates with his family, lives in France and continues to work actively. Here, in addition to the novel "Junker", the story "Yu-yu" (1927), the fairy tale "The Blue Star" (1927), the story "Olga Sur" (1929), more than twenty works were written.
In 1937, after an entry permit approved by Stalin, the already very ill writer returned to Russia and settled in Moscow, where Alexander Ivanovich died a year after returning from exile. Kuprin was buried in Leningrad at the Volkovsky cemetery.
