Mikhail Zoshchenko is a Russian and Soviet writer, screenwriter, playwright and translator. He rightfully belongs to the classics of Russian literature. His satirical works have always been aimed at eradicating ignorance and philistinism, coupled with the cruelty and pride of his contemporaries. The writer's personal life was filled with many novels, but only two women really left a deep mark in his heart. And the only son of the classic, Valery, on his own fate, experienced the attitude of the Soviet government to his father.
The famous Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Zoshchenko took a very extraordinary creative path. His fate is filled with many trials, because of which he even had to be treated for a mental disorder. Moreover, it was not the medical luminaries who were able to provide him with the proper help, but exclusively independent work on himself after the appropriate theoretical training. And the thematic personal experience, which became the subject of study in this area, he transferred to the pages of his book.
And his motto in life was an optimistic phrase: "Nothing bad, except good, will happen."
Brief biography of Mikhail Zoshchenko
On August 10, 1894, in the city on the Neva, the future famous writer was born into the noble family of Mikhail Zoshchenko (an Itinerant artist) and Elena Surina (actress and writer). The family had eight children, so the boy's development took place in noisy harmony with his brothers and sisters. And at the age of 8, he became a student of the gymnasium, where, according to his own words, he did not differ in diligence and academic performance.
After graduating from a general education institution, Zoshchenko was in the status of a student at the Imperial University for a year, from which he was forced to leave for financial reasons. And then in his life was work as a railway controller and defense of the Fatherland on the battlefields of the First World War, where he distinguished himself with 4 military awards and fearlessness.
After the October Revolution, Mikhail Mikhailovich flatly refused to leave his homeland, starting to cooperate with the new government. At first he worked as commandant of the post office in Petrograd, and then decided to move to Arkhangelsk. It is interesting that over the entire period of his life, the most talented writer was forced to try himself in 15 professions, among which there were even such unexpected specialties as a shoemaker, a member of the court and a specialist in breeding chickens and rabbits.
And in 1919, Zoshchenko volunteered for the Red Army to fight on the battlefields of the Civil War against his recent fellow soldiers. But this time it was not possible to really prove himself, since he was seriously wounded and after the hospital brought benefits to the new government only as a telephone operator.
Personal life of the writer
At the very end of 1918, fate brought Mikhail Zoshchenko to Vera Kerbits-Kerbitskaya, with whom he married a year and a half later. In this family union, which did not become fundamental and long-lasting for the writer, in the spring of 1922, a son, Valery, was born in Leningrad.
The dissolute, in the sense of seriousness of intentions, romantic life of the writer brought him in 1929 with Lydia Chalova. He was not even embarrassed by the 20-year age difference. Apparently her place of work (the department of fees in the "Krasnaya Gazeta") was not the least important for the creative personality, interrupted by fickle earnings even at the peak of popularity. This longest relationship in life had many bright moments of separation and reconciliation. In the end, Lydia left the man who loved her dearly forever. And the strength of the writer's feelings is evidenced by numerous lines from the correspondence that has survived to this day after their parting.
In recent years, his wife Vera was next to Mikhail Zoshchenko, who was later buried next to the writer.
Children
According to eyewitnesses, Valery Mikhailovich Zoshchenko was a short, but strong and broad-shouldered guy. Despite his neutral attitude to sports, many students and teachers admired his ability to perform exercises on the uneven bars when he went to this apparatus at a big break. The teenager received his school education first at Petershul, and then at Labor School No. 7, located next to the famous Kazan Cathedral. Like his parent at one time, Valery did not differ in good academic performance and exemplary behavior.
As a representative of the "golden youth", the guy was very attentive to his appearance, paying special attention to his clothes. He collected antiques (he was especially fond of weapons), visited the prestigious Kvisisan restaurant, and after receiving a high school diploma in 1939, he entered a theater university, having managed to unlearn it for two years before the start of the war.
Valery took part in raids of vigilantes who fought against crime in the city, fought and was even awarded military awards. After demobilization due to injury, he worked on the Komsomol line, and then in the active army (a detachment and a special department). Before the period of discrediting his father, when he also experienced all the "justice" of the current regime, the young man managed to work in the department of artistic manuscripts as a censor.
The black streak in the life of the heir to the famous writer during his total oblivion and persecution was accompanied by work in the suburbs of Leningrad, where he restored the functioning of houses of culture and rural clubs. Then he got a job at a drama theater in Novgorod, returned to his university, which he successfully graduated in 1949. The chartered theater critic began as a theater critic and subsequently worked as an actor and journalist.
From 1950 to 1962, he was the artistic director of various amateur creative teams, including several recreation centers and the Metal Plant. And beyond that, his track record included positions such as freelance literary worker, editor, industrial practice manager and senior laboratory assistant. In 1983 V. M. Zoshchenko went to retire.
In the city on the Neva, he lived at the address: Griboyedov Canal, 9, apt. 118. The son of the famous writer died on July 31, 1986 from lung cancer and was buried at the Sestroretsk cemetery next to his parents.
Death
The dacha in Sestroretsk became the last refuge of Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko during his lifetime. In the spring of 1958, due to nicotine poisoning, he had a stroke, after which he lost his speech and stopped recognizing loved ones.
And on July 22 of this year, the writer and playwright died of heart failure. At the Volkovskoye cemetery on Literatorskie Mostki, which at that time became a place of last refuge for many Russian writers, according to the authorities, there was no piece of land for him. Therefore, her body was buried in the local cemetery.
