Valentin Kataev is a wonderful master of fiction. His works were very popular among Soviet youth. The fame was brought to the author by the novels “The Lone Sail Whitens” and “The Son of the Regiment”.
short biography
Valentin Petrovich Kataev, whose father was a teacher of the diocesan school in Odessa, began as a poet, he wrote and published his poems at an early age. As Valentin Petrovich recalls, he began to compose at the age of 9 and believed that he was born a writer. The first poem entitled "Autumn" was published in 1910 in the newspaper "Odessa Herald". And in 1912 in the same edition his first small humorous stories were published.
Kataev did not finish school. In 1915, he decided to volunteer and went to war. He began his service as an ordinary and was soon promoted to ensign. He was wounded during the battle in the First World War, and in the 1919-20 years during the Civil War he served in the Soviet Red Army. Returning to Odessa, he worked as a journalist and wrote short stories, and in 1922 he moved to Moscow and began working in the Gudok newspaper and the Crocodile magazine.
Creative career of a writer
The story of Kataev "The Wasterers" (1926) brought the first significant success to the author. This is a phantasmagoric story about two adventurers, written in the Gogol tradition and dedicated to the fight against philistinism. His comic play “The Quadrature of the Circle” (1928) is an example of acute social satire. “The Lone Sail Whitens” (1936) - a story about two Odessa boys who find themselves in the maelstrom of the events of the 1905 revolution. "Time forward!" (1932) - a story about workers trying to build a huge steel mill in record time. Kataev’s children's book “Son of the Regiment” (1945) brought the writer great popularity.
In the 1950s and 60s, Kataev worked as the editor-in-chief of Yunost magazine and opened the pages of the publication for the most promising and talented young writers, including Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Bella Akhmadulina. A long list of his works continued to grow, and in 1966 the literary magazine "New World" published the story "The Holy Well", a wonderful lyrical and philosophical story. Then came out:
- "The grass of oblivion";
- "Broken Life, or the Magic Horn of Oberon";
- "My diamond crown";
- "Dry Estuary" and other works of the writer.
Kataev's limitless imagination, sensuality and originality made him one of the most prominent Soviet writers, but his reputation in post-Soviet Russia remains ambiguous. He was the winner of the Stalin Prize and awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor. These awards, as well as his membership in the Communist Party, closely connected him with the Soviet government. But he also showed his independence by supporting young writers and being the author of his own experimental prose.
