Mikhail Weller, one of the most published non-commercial writers in Russia today, “everything grew together” only by the end of the 90s: the time and place coincided, wide popularity came, big money appeared. Finally, when he reached the age of half a century, he managed to correlate his abilities and capabilities. The life credo of the author of more than 50 books has become even stronger: “I say what I think”.
Weller's literary role
Currently, Mikhail Weller, who in 1976 decided to devote his further life to literary activity, is one of the most published authors in Russia. As for the role of a writer, the prose writer can hardly be counted among modernists, or even more so postmodernists (despite the abundance of hidden quotes and experiments with form). He is focused on the classics, considers Leo Tolstoy as his creative teacher. According to critics, Weller's books are "one of the most thoroughbred copies of the literary variety of mass culture in our country." The work of the famous Soviet and Russian writer clearly demonstrates: mass culture, which arose in the struggle against the old author's philosophy based on the category of self-expression, was replaced by the idea of success and deliberate manipulation of the reader's interest."
In addition to writing books, Weller is engaged in journalism, conducts active social activities, and performs a lot in public. Mikhail Iosifovich became widely known for his work on the radio: since 2006, Radio Russia has broadcast the program “Let's talk with Mikhail Weller” weekly for 8 years. The author's program of the writer on "Echo of Moscow" entitled "Only think" did not last long - from 2015-18-10 to April 2017. It is worth noting that Mikhail Iosifovich in relation to himself does not accept the use of the term "journalist". He considers this profession incompatible with the craft of a writer.
Prose and publicist career
The student philologist Misha Weller showed his first literary work in the wall newspaper of the Leningrad Literary Institute. Having received a higher specialized education in 1972, the young man makes a notebook and pencil as his constant companions and begins his writing career. The first works were published in 1975 on the pages of Skorokhodovsky Rabochy, a printed edition of the Leningrad Shoe Association. However, other editions did not agree to cooperate with the young talent. Weller had to limit himself to the publication of short humorous stories in city newspapers. He earned his money mainly by editing military memoirs at Lenizdat and writing reviews for the Neva magazine. This state of affairs did not suit the aspiring ambitious author. In search of a "place in the sun" he leaves for Estonia. It was much easier to publish in the Baltic states of the Soviet era due to the more loyal attitude towards writers.
Weller's writing career took off in 1983, after the release of his first collection of short stories, I Want to Be a Janitor. The success was not limited to the borders of the native country (translations into Estonian, Armenian and Buryat languages). The book became the beginning of acquaintance with the work of Weller for foreign readers in Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, France, Scandinavian countries. A steep rise in the career ladder fell on the "dashing 90s". By the way, Weller insists that it was he who first introduced this term into colloquial use. One by one in Ogonyok, as well as in the thick magazines Neva and Zvezda, the following works are published: Rendezvous with a Celebrity, Narrow-Gauge Railway, I Want to Paris, and Entombment. At the same time, a film adaptation of the story "But those shish" appeared on "Mosfilm". Later, filmmakers from the Netherlands made a film based on the story "The Ring", which was presented at the Amsterdam Film Festival.
Circulations of Weller's books are growing fantastically fast: from 500 copies of The Legends of Nevsky Prospekt short stories published in 1993 by the Estonian Cultural Foundation to the 100,000th edition of The Adventures of Major Zvyagin in 1994. The novel gained instant popularity and entered the top 10 "Book Review". In the mid-90s, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Lan" reissued all the writer's books in massive cheap editions. Following him, Weller's works are published in Neva and in the Moscow publishing house Vagrius. It should be noted that in 2000 alone, his works were published 38 times with a total circulation of about 400 thousand copies.
At the moment, Mikhail Weller is the author of more than fifty literary works translated into several dozen languages of the world. Works of recent years: 2018 - "Veritophobia", "Fire and Agony"; 2019 - “And Here And Tomorrow”, “The Heretic”.
As for the personality of the writer, he is a rather peculiar person, a little strange, hot-tempered and emotionally unrestrained. He gained notoriety, becoming the hero of problematic television broadcasts and radio programs (especially at the beginning of 2017). Often the subject of discussion in the media is his extraordinary statements and eccentric behavior on television debates and talk shows on political topics. Along with this, Mikhail Iosifovich has a number of undoubted advantages: unsurpassed erudition, philosophical mindset, clear political positions, an incredible supply of creative forces, impeccable taste.
Such a "bouquet of contradictions" arouses increased interest in Weller's person on the part of readers, attracts the attention of the general public, excites fellow writers and literary critics. It is difficult to say which of the two opposing camps is larger - fanatical fans or ardent opponents. Be that as it may, Mikhail Weller has firmly established himself as one of the most emotional and scandalous writers of our time.
Russian writer with foreign citizenship
M. I. Weller, being an Estonian citizen, is positioned around the world as a Soviet and Russian writer. Since the fall of 1976, for almost a quarter of a century he lived and worked in Tallinn. He currently lives in Moscow. Having wandered pretty much in search of a better literary lot in the Soviet country, and later in the post-Soviet space, Mikhail Iosifovich did not return to the city of his youth, Leningrad (so, and only so, he still calls the northern capital of Russia). He moved into a Moscow apartment, bought with funds earned from literary work, in 2000. However, life "for two houses" did not end there. The writer works mainly in Estonia, which he figuratively calls "dacha". I must say that this word has a certain symbolic meaning for Weller. While still a third-year philologist, he dreamed of earning nothing more or less from writing, namely to the dacha (and this was in Brezhnev's times, when this was an unattainable luxury from the realm of fantasy).
Over time, thanks to his talent and enterprise, Mikhail Weller managed to earn not only on the coveted real estate, but also to become a millionaire. A man with a difficult and dizzying fate, who recently exchanged his seventh decade, lives exclusively on royalties and royalties. According to media reports and data from the fiscal authorities, the famous prose writer has no other sources of income.
About the theory of energy evolutionism
Weller's portfolio includes a number of philosophical works. They are dedicated to the place and role assigned to humanity in the evolutionary transformations of the Universe. The first publication of the writer's philosophical views was the 1981 story "Report Line". The reader got the opportunity to get acquainted with the author's views on the universe in 1988. Then in the magazine "Aurora" they published the story "The Test of Happiness". Weller's detailed exposition of the foundations of his philosophy was made 10 years later in the 800-page work "All About Life."
The thinker, being a supporter of the theory of the evolution of the primary energy of the Big Bang, sets out his own "general theory of everything." In 2001, Weller publishes the book "Cassandra" containing some of the interpretation of his theory. In the work, which is presented in academic language in a thesis form, a new term "energovitalism" is used. Two years later, in the story "The White Donkey", the author gives the main distinguishing features of his model and assigns the name "energy evolutionism" to it.
From a subjective point of view, human existence is considered by Weller as the sum of sensations and the desire to receive them. On the objective side, in the course of the progress of civilization, humanity captures free energy, transforms it and releases it outward, on a constantly increasing scale, with an increasing speed. As a result, a person changes the surrounding matter and is at the peak of the evolution of the Universe.
Says what he thinks
Veteran prose writer Mikhail Weller continues to publish bestsellers, but is not limited to this. From the pen of the author of more than fifty books, numerous publicistic reviews, critical articles about the vicissitudes of literature and writers' fees are published. With incredible constancy and stability, Mikhail Iosifovich publicly expresses his judgments (sometimes light and ironic, sometimes harsh and caustic) about everything and everyone: about ideology, patriotism, intelligentsia, nationalism; about the Russian language and literature.
At the same time, anything positive about the objects that are the sources of his popularity and well-being, for Weller - absolutely zero: not a word of recognition for the country that formed his civic position; no praises for the craft in which he took place as a professional writer. The creative forces of Mikhail Iosifovich are aimed at creating new works, promoting the philosophical theory of energy evolutionism created by him, defending his political views. At the same time, the writer, publicist, public figure and master of public speaking Mikhail Weller is consistent and tendentious in realizing his life credo: “I say what I think”.
