Vasily Aksyonov

Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov (; August 20, 1932 – July 6, 2009) was a Soviet and Russian novelist. He became known in the West as the author of The Burn (Ожог, Ozhog, from 1975) and of Generations of Winter (Московская сага, Moskovskaya Saga, from 1992), a family saga following three generations of the Gradov family between 1925 and 1953.

Early life and education

Vasily Aksyonov was born to Pavel Aksyonov and Yevgenia Ginzburg in Kazan, USSR on August 20, 1932. His mother, Yevgenia Ginzburg, was a successful journalist and educator and his father, Pavel Aksyonov, had a high position in the administration of Kazan. Both parents "were prominent communists." Vasily's half-brother Alexei (from Ginzburg's first marriage to Dmitriy Fedorov) died from starvation in besieged Leningrad in 1941.

In the 1960s Aksyonov was a frequent contributor to the popular Yunost ("Youth") magazine and eventually became a staff writer. Aksyonov thus reportedly became "a leading figure in the so-called "youth prose" movement and a darling of the Soviet liberal intelligentsia and their western supporters: his writings stood in marked contrast to the dreary, socialist-realist prose of the time." "Aksyonov's characters spoke in a natural way, using hip lingo, they went to bars and dance halls, had premarital sex, listened to jazz and rock'n'roll and hustled to score a pair of cool American shoes." "Soon afterwards, he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship, regaining it only 10 years later during Gorbachev's perestroika." "He [also] taught literature at a number of [other] American universities, including USC and Goucher College in Maryland... [and] worked as a journalist for Radio Liberty."

"He continued to write novels, among which was the ambitious Generations of Winter (1994), a multi-generational saga of Soviet life that became a successful Russian TV mini-series." He was reportedly "forever a hipster [and] was used to being in the avant garde, be it in fashion or literary innovation."

Novels His other novels include: Colleagues ("Коллеги" – Kollegi, 1960) Ticket to the Stars ("Звёздный билет" – Zvyozdny bilet, 1961) Oranges from Morocco ("Апельсины из Марокко" – Apel'siny iz Marokko, 1963) It's Time, My Friend, It's Time ("Пора, мой друг, пора" – Pora, moy drug, pora, 1964) It's a Pity You Weren't with Us ("Жаль, что вас не было с нами" – Zhal', chto vas ne bylo s nami, 1965) "Half-way To The Moon" ("На полпути к Луне", 1966) Overstocked Packaging Barrels ("Затоваренная бочкотара" – Zatovarennaya bochkotara, 1968) "My Grandfather Is A Monument" ("Мой дедушка – памятник", 1970) "Love for Electricity" ("Любовь к электричеству", 1971) In Search of a Genre ("В поисках жанра" – V poiskakh zhanra, 1972) "Our Golden Piece Of Metal ("Золотая наша Железка", 1973) "The Burn" ("Ожог", 1975) Translation of E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime into Russian (1976) The Island of Crimea ("Остров Крым" – "Ostrov Krym", 1979) "The Steel Bird and Other Stories" ("Стальная Птица и Другие Рассказы", 1979) "Paper Landscape" ("Бумажный пейзаж", 1982) Say Cheese ("Скажи изюм" – Skazhi izyum, 1983) In Search of Melancholy Baby ("В поисках грустного бэби" – V poiskakh grustnogo bebi, 1987) Yolk of the Egg (written in English, author's translate in Russian – "Желток яйца" – Zheltok yaytsa, 1989) Generations of Winter (English ed. of "Московская сага", 1994). Random House. . The Winter's Hero (English ed. of Tiur ma i mir, 1996). Random House. . The New Sweet Style ("Новый сладостный стиль" – Novy sladostny stil''', 1998) "Cesarean" ("Кесарево свечение", 2000) Voltairian Men and Women ("Вольтерьянцы и вольтерьянки" – Volteryantsy i volteryanki, 2004 – won the Russian Booker Prize). Moscow ow ow ("Москва Ква-Ква" – Moskva Kva-Kva, 2006) Rare Earths ("Редкие земли" – Redkie zemli, 2007)

Theatre Colleagues 1959 Always In Sale 1965 Duel 1969 The Four Temperaments'' published in the Literary Almanac "Metropol", New York and London 1979,

Literature "The Poet Vasily Aksyonov" essay 1980 and thesis of Herbert Gantschacher for obtaining the academic title "Master of Arts" at the Academy, today University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Re / 1653/1988, July 1988 "A Life 'In A Burning Skin'" essay by Jürgen Serke in "The Banned Poets", Hamburg 1982,