(A cultural phenomenon in his day - an award-winning film ...)
A cultural phenomenon in his day - an award-winning film director and actor who also wrote novels, plays, and movie scripts - Vasily Shukshin (1929-1974) is renowned for his mastery of the short story. Credited with revitalizing the short story as a genre in Russian literature, he was posthumously honored with the Soviet Union's highest literary prize following his untimely death at the age of forty-five. Stories from a Siberian Village introduces Shukshin to English readers with twenty-five stories that reflect the Siberian origins of his artistic identity. These stories, most of which have never before appeared in English, are set in a remote Siberian village caught in transition between rural traditions and modern Soviet life. There Shukshin's peasants - survivors of revolution, collectivization, and war- seek their identity in a "brave new world."
(A woman loses her husband in the war and dedicates her li...)
A woman loses her husband in the war and dedicates her life to the kolkhoz. Many started to dislike Sasha Potapova for her honesty and uncompromising character, however she is elected chairman of the collective farm. Unexpected love to the secretary of the District Committee Danilov makes her life happy and difficult.
(A 1967 Soviet film based on one of Vasily Grossman's firs...)
A 1967 Soviet film based on one of Vasily Grossman's first short stories, "In the Town of Berdichev". During the Russian Civil War (1918-1922), a female commissar of the Red Army cavalry Klavdia Vavilova finds herself pregnant. Until her child is born, she is forced to stay with the family of a poor Jewish blacksmith Yefim Magazannik, his wife, mother-in-law, and six children.
Vasily Makarovich Shukshin was a Soviet Russian writer, actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altay region who specialized in rural themes.
Background
Vasily Makarovich Shukshin was born on 25 July 1929 to a peasant family in the village of Srostki in Altai Krai, USSR (now Altai Krai, Russian Federation).
In 1933, his father, Makar Leont'evich Shukshin, was arrested and executed during Soviet collectivization. His mother, Maria Sergeyevna (née Popova), had to look after the survival of the entire family.
Education
By 1943 Vasily Makarovich had finished 7 years of village school and entered an automobile technical school in Biysk. In 1945, after two and a half years at the school, but before finishing, he quit to work in a kolkhoz.
Career
In 1946 Vasily Makarovich left his native village and worked as a metal craftsman at several enterprises in the trust Soyuzprommekhanizatsiya: at the turbine plant in Kaluga, at the tractor plant in Vladimir, etc. In 1949, he was drafted into the Navy. Vasily Makarovich first served as a sailor in the Baltic Fleet, then a radio operator on the Black Sea. In 1953 he was demobilized due to a stomach ulcer and returned to his native village. Having passed an external exam for high school graduation, he became a teacher of Russian, and later a school principal in Srostki.
In 1954 Vasily Makarovich entered the directors department of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, studied under Mikhail Romm and Sergei Gerasimov, and graduated in 1960. While studying at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in 1958, he had his first leading role in Marlen Khutsiyev's film Two Fedors and appeared in the graduation film by Andrei Tarkovsky.
In 1958 Vasily Makarovich published his first short story "Two on the cart" in the magazine Smena. His first collection of stories Village Dwellers was published in 1963. That same year, he became staff director at the Gorky Film Studio in Moscow. He wrote and directed There Is This Lad. The film premiered in 1965, winning top honours at the All-Union Film Festival in Leningrad and the Golden Lion at the XVI International Film Festival in Venice.
Vasily Makarovich was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1967), and was designated Distinguished Artist of the RSFSR (1969).
Vasily Makarovich died suddenly on 2 October 1974, on the motor ship Dunai, on the Volga river, while filming They Fought for Their Country. He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
(A woman loses her husband in the war and dedicates her li...)
1960
Connections
Since 1964, Vasily Makarovich was married to actress Lidiya Fedoseyeva, who also appeared in several of his films. They have a daughter, Mariya (b. 1967), who is a TV presenter.
Stories from a Siberian Village
A cultural phenomenon in his day - an award-winning film director and actor who also wrote novels, plays, and movie scripts - Vasily Shukshin (1929-1974) is renowned for his mastery of the short story. Credited with revitalizing the short story as a genre in Russian literature, he was posthumously honored with the Soviet Union's highest literary prize following his untimely death at the age of forty-five. Stories from a Siberian Village introduces Shukshin to English readers with twenty-five stories that reflect the Siberian origins of his artistic identity. These stories, most of which have never before appeared in English, are set in a remote Siberian village caught in transition between rural traditions and modern Soviet life. There Shukshin's peasants - survivors of revolution, collectivization, and war- seek their identity in a "brave new world."