Voynovich, Vladimir

Voynovich, Vladimir

▪ Russian author
in full  Vladimir Nikolayevich Voynovich 
born Sept. 26, 1932, Stalinabad, Tadzhik S.S.R., U.S.S.R. [now Dushanbe, Tajikistan]

      Soviet dissident writer known for his irreverent and perceptive satire.

      After serving in the Soviet army from 1951 to 1955 and attending the Moscow Pedagogical Institute (1957–59), Voynovich worked as a skilled labourer and then as an editor of radio programs. He published such well-received fiction as the short story “My zdes zhivyom” (1961; “We Live Here”) and the novellas Khochu byt chestnym (1963; “I Want to Be Honest”) and Dva tovarishcha (1964; “Two Comrades”), all of which concern pressures to conform to Soviet urban life. In 1974, after publishing a letter in defense of dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich), Voynovich was expelled from the Writers' Union of the U.S.S.R. and was forbidden to work as a professional writer. In 1980 he settled in West Germany. His Soviet citizenship was revoked in 1981 but was restored in 1990. In the 1980s he was a visiting writer at Princeton University and the University of Southern California.

      Voynovich's best-known work is the acclaimed underground novel Zhizn i neobychaynyye priklyucheniya soldata Ivana Chonkina (1975; The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin), about a naive and unsophisticated man who battles the Soviet bureaucracy. The pseudoepic, autobiographical Ivankiada: ili rasskaz o vselenii pisatelya Voynovicha v novuyu kvartiru (1976; The Ivankiad: The Tale of the Writer Voynovich's Installation in His New Apartment) details his personal battles with the Soviet bureaucracy to obtain a two-room apartment. After he emigrated, he continued to write slyly humorous accounts of the vagaries of life under the Soviet system in works such as Pretendent na prestol: novye priklyucheniya soldata Ivana Chonkina (1979; Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin), Anti Sovetsky Sovetsky Soyuz (1985; The Anti-Soviet Soviet Union), Moskva 2042 (1987; Moscow 2042), and Shapka (1988; The Fur Hat). He also wrote film scripts and plays.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Vladimir Voinovich — Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (alternatively spelled Voynovich, ru. Владимир Войнович, born September 26, 1932 in Dushanbe, Tajikstan) is a prominent Russian writer and a dissident. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in… …   Wikipedia

  • Mark Voynovich — Count Mark Ivanovich Voynovich ( ru. Марк Иванович Войнович; 1750 1807) was an Admiral of the Russian Imperial Navy, one of the founders of the Black Sea Fleet [http://gatchina3000.ru/great soviet encyclopedia/bse/006/174.htm Voynovich, Mark… …   Wikipedia

  • Russia — /rush euh/, n. 1. Also called Russian Empire. Russian, Rossiya. a former empire in E Europe and N and W Asia: overthrown by the Russian Revolution 1917. Cap.: St. Petersburg (1703 1917). 2. See Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 3. See Russian… …   Universalium

  • Russian literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the Russian language, beginning with the Christianization of Kievan Rus in the late 10th century.       The unusual shape of Russian literary history has been the source of numerous… …   Universalium

  • Marko Ivanovitch Voïnovitch — Marko Ivanovitch Voïnovitch, né en 1750 à Herceg Novi au Monténégro, décédé en 1807 à Atlanta dans la région de Vitebsk. Amiral russe, il fut l un des fondateurs de la Flotte de la mer Noire[1]. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn — This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Isayevich and the family name is Solzhenitsyn. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn After returning to Russia from exile in 1994. Born Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn 11 December 1918( …   Wikipedia

  • Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts — The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Serbian: Српска академија наука и уметности / Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti ; САНУ / SANU ) is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia. Foundation Since the Serbian Academy of Sciences and… …   Wikipedia

  • Black Sea Fleet — sleeve ensign Navies of Russia Imperial Russia …   Wikipedia

  • List of ships of the line of Russia — This is a list of Russian sail battleships of the period 1668 1860: The format is: Name, number of guns (rank/real amount), launch year (A = built in Arkhangelsk), fate (service = combat service, BU = broken up)Russian built battleshipsEarly… …   Wikipedia

  • Grigori Gorin — Grigori Israelevich Gorin( ru. Григорий Израилевич Горин, his real surname is Ofstein/Офштейн, March 12 1940, Moscow, USSR June 15, 2000, Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet/Russian dramatists (playwright) and a prose writer. Biography Graduated from… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”