Vladimir Voinovich
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Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (alternatively spelled Voynovich, ru: Владимир Войнович, born September 26, 1932 in Dushanbe) is a prominent Russian writer and a dissident.
Life and Work
Voinovich is famous for his satiric fiction but also wrote some poetry. While working for Moscow radio in the early 1960s, he produced the lyrics for a cosmonauts' anthem, Fourteen minutes till the start ("14 минут до старта"). Between 1951 to 1955, Voinovich also served in the Soviet Army during peace time.
His magnum opus The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin ("Жизнь и необычайные приключения солдата Ивана Чонкина") is set in the Red Army during World War II, satirically exposing the daily absurdities of the totalitarian regime. "Chonkin" is now a widely known figure in Russian popular culture and the book was also made into a film by the famous Czech director Jiri Menzel.
At the outset of the Brezhnev stagnation period, Voinovich's writing stopped being published in the USSR, but became very popular samizdat and in the West. For his writing and participation in the human rights movement, Voinovich was excluded from the Soviet Writers' Union in 1974, his telephone line was cut off in 1976 and he and his family were forced to emigrate in 1980. He settled in Munich, West Germany and worked for Radio Liberty.
Voinovich helped publish Vasily Grossman's famous novel Life and Fate by smuggling photo films secretly taken by Andrei Sakharov.
Gorbachev restored his Russian citizenship in 1990 and since then the writer often visits new Russia. Voinovich has won many international awards and honor titles, such as Sakharov Award (2002), State Award of the Russian Federation (2000) and more. Since 1995 he has ventured into graphic arts.
Voinovich's latest novel to be translated and published in English is Monumental Propaganda.
Bibliography
- 1963 I Want to be Honest ("Khochu byt chestnym")
- 1967 Two Comrades ("Dva tovarishcha")
- 1969-1975 The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin ("Zhizn i neobychainye prikliucheniia soldata Ivana Chonkina") (translated 1977, reprinted 1995)
- 1972 A Degree of Trust ("Stepen doveriia")
- 1973 By Means of Mutual Correspondence ("Putem vzaimnoi perepiski")
- 1976 The Ivankiad ("Ivankiada")
- 1979 Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin ("Pretendent na prestol: Novye prikliucheniia soldata Ivana Chonkina")
- 1985 The Anti-Soviet Soviet Union ("Anti-sovetskii Sovetskii Soiuz")
- 1986 Moscow 2042 ("Moskva 2042") (translated 1987)
- 1988 The Fur Hat ("Shapka") (translated 1989)
- 1994 The Design ("Zamysel")
- 2000 Monumental Propaganda ("Monumentalnaia propaganda") (translated 2004)
- 2002 A Portrait Against the Background of a Myth ("Portret na fone mifa")
External links
- Official website (in Russian) (http://www.voinovich.ru) Contains autobiography, art gallery, the transcript of the Writers' Union 1974 meeting, etc.
- Magazine Hall (in Russian) (http://magazines.russ.ru/authors/v/vojnovich/)
- Biography at Literary Encyclopedia (http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5476)ru:Войнович, Владимир Николаевич