Voznesenskaya Julia Nikolaevna: biography, works

The life path of this extraordinary woman - a poet, writer and missionary - was not easy. In addition to ordinary events, the book of life of Julia Voznesenskaya also contains such difficult pages as camps and prisons, recognition and condemnation, emigration. But all this thorny path is permeated with a bright light of love for God. She found her embodiment not only in the author's works, but in the support that Julia Nikolaevna Voznesensky rendered to people.

The beginning of the life path

Born Julia Nikolayevna Voznesenskaya September 14, 1940 in Leningrad. In 1945, after the war, the Tarapovskys moved the whole family to Berlin. Here, in the eastern part of the city, in the Soviet troops served as a father, who at that time worked as a military engineer.

In 1949, the family returned to their homeland. Here Voznesenskaya Yulia enters the Leningrad Institute of Theater, Music and Cinema and begins her creative career in the field of informal art. It is with this period of life that the first arrest is connected, which happened in 1964 and ended with a year of forced labor.

Young Years of Life

With the birth of the first-born, I had to leave my studies. Later, Yulia transferred to the medical faculty, which later also remained unfinished. He also tries his hand at journalistic activities. At the beginning of 1960 was a correspondent of a local Murmansk newspaper. There appeared one of her first publications - the verse "Lapland."

She tried herself and other hypostases. In the mid-1960s, Julia Nikolayevna with her husband and sons moved to the village of Vazhiny, closer to nature and clean air. This decision was associated with frequent illnesses of the youngest son. Here the couple also found themselves more than worthy of use. The husband was in charge of the House of Culture, and Julia Nikolaevna herself became a teacher in a music school. However, after the son's recovery and due to the pressure of local officials, the family had to leave these places.

Julia Voznesenskaya - poetess

Here a few words need to be said about the creative name. Julia Voznesenskaya, whose real name is Voznesenskaya-Okulova, received her creative pseudonym from her first husband. This union was very short and subsequently disintegrated. However, after the breakup Julia Nikolayevna decided to leave a harmonious name.

The first samples of the pen took place under the guidance of Tatyana Gnedich. Widely known in 1960, the poetess and translator created a literary association in which many talented poets and writers developed their talents. It was her Julia Nikolaevna Voznesenskaya called her first and only teacher, who discovered the sources of poetic mastery. Early work and the first publication in 1966 were favorably received by Tatyana Grigorievna and later were highly appreciated by readers.

In the late 60's, Julia Nikolayevna's works were printed in different literary magazines. It was then that she declared herself as a promising poet. On one of the poems was written a song that Edita Pieha performed.
However, in 1968 all of Julia Voznesenskaya's publications in Soviet publications ended. The reason for this turn of events was the poem "Invasion", in which the poet described the events that took place in Czechoslovakia.

The poem caused an ambiguous reaction from the Soviet authorities: Voznesenskaya was summoned to the KGB, where after long interrogations, without receiving confession and remorse, threatened to plant her. There were many such conversations in the life of the writer.
After this incident, Julia Nikolaevna could acquaint the reader with her works only thanks to samizdat. Many texts of poems were published in this way. But it is difficult to say exactly how many works she had at that time. Archives were kept by like-minded people and admirers of talent in different places. With this, too, there were many problems. The places where the manuscripts were kept were constantly searched.

The magazines in which she printed her poems Voznesenskaya Julia, were dissident. In some of them she acted as a publisher ("Lepta", "Woman and Russia").

Activities of the "Second Culture"

In 1970, Voznesenskaya Julia and her family lived in a communal apartment on Zhukovsky. Here they occupy a couple of rooms, one of which has become a meeting place for young talented people. The community called itself "Second Culture". This name was protest. It was directed against the first - a pompous Soviet culture.

Young people actively tried to assert themselves. In 1974, they created a collection of works called "Lepta". This included one of the poems of Julia Nikolaevna. The request for publication was firmly rejected by the Soviet authorities.

In 1975, the "Second Culture" organized a protest action: manifestation and hunger strike, dedicated to the anniversary of the Decembrist insurgency.
A few months later the young people "decorated" the walls of the buildings of the central streets of Leningrad with slogans exposing the Soviet authorities. Ascension Julia was detained one of the first, but refused to give testimony, she was soon released.
Later, already in 1976, during the search of the flat of the poetess, KGB officers found several publications containing anti-Soviet propaganda. On the basis of this, Julia Nikolayevna was detained, in the winter of 1977 the court was held. The writer was convicted and given her five years of exile in Vorkuta.

Camps and Links

She stayed there for long. After learning about the trial of her associates, she fled. Its purpose was to warn them that they did not want to repent of what they had done.

However, she did not succeed in getting to the court. The arrest took place before the trial began. After Julia Nikolaevna was sent to the village of Bozoy, who was in the Irkutsk region. The five-year reference was replaced by two and a half years of camps.

The time spent in the dungeons of the camps, she embodied in the pages of her novels and essays, narrating about the hard life of women in these places. And even talking about such difficult things, Julia Nikolaevna represents everything in a wonderful figurative form, highlighting all the most kind and bright. During her stay in the camp, she wrote letters to her friends, telling about terrible things that sometimes did not fit in the head. But, despite all this, each line was imbued with optimism, which Yulia Nikolaevna "infected" others. Especially women-cellmates, who read poetry of such poets as Akhmatova, Esenin, Tsvetaeva. She told some of them about Jesus Christ.

Her urgent need to remember and tell her contemporaries, their children and grandchildren what actually happened at that time, was embodied in the stories of the national novel "Notes from the Sleeve". There are many small stories about those circles of hell that many people of the Soviet era and the writer herself had to pass through.

In addition to the notes, there are other works that tell about the lives of women in detention: "Women's Camp in the USSR", "Camomile White".

Emigration and life after

In 1980, Yulia Nikolaevna was almost forcibly expelled from the country. Together with her family, she lived for some time in Vienna. Later she applied for political asylum to the authorities of the FRG. The first four years of emigration was held in Frankfurt am Main. Here she devoted herself to working in an international organization that defends human rights. Later, after moving to Munich, she worked for ten years as an editor on Radio Liberty.

In 2002, Julia Nikolayevna returned to the capital of Germany. Most Orthodox works were written here. A few years before her death, she had learned that she was ill. During the illness she underwent several operations. Julia died on February 20, 2015 and was buried in Berlin.

Orthodox choice

In 1973, Voznesenskaya Julia Nikolaevna set foot on the path of the Orthodox faith and took holy baptism. This choice was conscious. It was he who helped her to pass the testing of camps and references and to keep in her heart the love of God and people.

Later, already in exile, Julia Nikolaevna got acquainted with her future spiritual father - the priest Mark Arndt, who later was replaced by Father Nikolai Artemov. After the husband's death, Voznesenskaya decides to settle in the monastery. And in 1996 she was received by Lesninskaya women's monastery, in which Julia Nikolayevna spent several years of her life.

It was here that Orthodox works were seen, among which the first was the story-parable "My posthumous adventures."

Orthodoxy and its place in the writer's work

It should be noted that the works of the last years of the author's life were devoted mainly to Orthodox themes. Among the most famous - the novels "My posthumous adventures", "The Way of Cassandra", "Pilgrimage of Lancelot" and others. For the first two in 2003, Julia Voznesenskaya was awarded the honorary title "The Best Author of the Year".

Known as the story: "100 days before the Flood" and "The Son of the Leader." Yulia Nikolaevna also has children's works. Among them, the trilogy "Julianne", as well as a collection of "Bright Glade".

For many of her works she was awarded honorary titles and prizes. Particular attention was drawn to "Posthumous adventures." For this story Julia Nikolavna began to consider the ancestor of a special genre - Orthodox fantasy. Those metamorphoses that occur with the main character, very brightly and figuratively draw the afterlife.

The creative way of the writer testifies that Julia Voznesenskaya is a poet of the Orthodox direction. And although she writes not poetry, but prose, all of her works are very poetic. Perhaps that's why they are so easy to read, and their characters are remembered.

The Missionary Way

Julia Nikolaevna Voznesenskaya, whose biography is full of such different events, is an image of a man who is trying to help others.

This man could very simply talk about the most difficult. In recent years, she collaborated with psychologists who helped severely ill people. Gradually, this activity grew into communication with the help of letters. Acting as a moderator on the sites of Perezhim.ru and Pobedishi.ru, together with Orthodox psychologists, she provided invaluable support to those who needed assistance in particular. Among the people who turned to the site, there were potential suicides, and those who could not survive the death of loved ones.

Julia Nikolaevna Voznesenskaya, whose photo always radiates some invisible light and kindness, will remain in the hearts of many people not only as a wonderful writer, a sincerely believing person, but also as a kind friend - helping, compassionate and consoling.