columnist copy editor journalist playwright proofreader prose writer
Peter Gertso-Winogradsky was born on June 16, 1867, in Bendery, Russian Empire (now the Republic of Moldova) into a noble family. His father was a district police officer. Peter was the brother of Semyon Gertso-Winogradsky, a Russian journalist.
Peter Gertso-Winogradsky made his professional debut as a columnist in 1889 in the Odessa News newspaper, then he regularly published in the Odessa Chronicles and Southern Observer newspapers.
In 1896 Peter Gertso-Winogradsky published a novel Mitya Pogozhev. (From the life of provincial students) (Odessa), in which, under the strong influence of Tolstoy’s ideas, he depicted the difficult path of a young man trying to resist the traditional debauchery of student life. Later Peter published an essay-journalistic book Secrets of Saint Petersburg clubs of the latest formation (Saint Petersburg, 1905), exposing the spread of gambling houses in Saint Petersburg. In 1899 he wrote a small comedy play Provincial Newspaper (Odessa, 1910, 1911), which played up the traditional editorial blunders - false rumors, an influx of graphomaniacs a.s.o.
Peter Gertso-Winogradsky also wrote a number of buffoonery pieces from modern life: Mr. Deputy (Odessa, 1911), House of Crazy People. (Family Bedlam) (Odessa, 1911, 1913), Name Day (Odessa, 1911), First Role (1912), Orleans Maiden (1913), etc. They were eagerly staged by provincial and Petersburg theaters. The plays often resembled newspaper feuilleton reports. Peter Gertso-Winogradsky regularly published feuilleton articles entitled Zigzags devoted to issues of the literary, theatrical, and public life of Odessa in the newspaper Odessa News (editor from 1907-1911) and Southern Observer.
In 1911-1912 Peter Gertso-Winogradsky lived in Rostov-on-Don, edited the newspaper Priazovsky Krai and was working for the Odessa satirical magazine Crocodile. Published a collection of small semi-fantastic stories Chimeras (1913). In 1913 Peter Gertso-Winogradsky returned to Odessa, collaborated with the newspaper Small Odessa News. Since 1916, again in Rostov-on-Don.
After the October Revolution, Peter Gertso-Winogradsky lived in Tbilisi (Georgia), worked as the chief proofreader of the newspaper Rabochaya Pravda. In 1920 he collaborated in the newspaper Tiflis, the magazine Art and Brotherhood. Peter Gertso-Winogradsky was well acquainted with the journalistic and theatrical life of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He was known as a prolific and famous reporter.
Physical Characteristics: Peter Gertso-Winogradsky wore spectacles and had a high forehead and a thick gray beard.
Quotes from others about the person
Don Aminado: "His long feuilletons "were written in the form of moralizing journalism and somewhat poisonous, permitted by the censor radicalism."
Ivan Bunin: "He knew by heart where whichever people live and for what ideals they suffer."
Valentin Kataev: "His feuilletons are written in short, chopped lines, monosyllabic paragraphs, a la Vlas Doroshevich."
