Writer Boris Zaitsev: biography, creativity

Boris Zaitsev is a famous Russian writer and publicist of the early 20th century, who ended his life in exile. He is widely known for his works on Christian themes. Particularly critics are the "Life of Sergius of Radonezh", where the writer presented his point of view on the life of the saint.

Boris Zaitsev: Biography

The writer was born in a noble family on January 29 (February 10) in 1881 in the city of Orel. My father often took little Boris with him to work at the mining plants. However, most of his childhood passed in the family estate near Kaluga, later Zaitsev described this time as an idyllic observation of nature and communication with relatives. Despite the well-being of his family, Zaitsev saw a different life: a ruined gentry, a tightly developing factory production, gradually emptying estates, deserted peasant fields, a remote Kaluga. All this will later be reflected in his work, showing how much this environment influenced the formation of the personality of the future writer.

Up to 11 years old Zaitsev was at home school, then he was sent to the Kaluga real school, which he graduated in 1898. In the same year he entered the Moscow Technical Institute. However, already in 1899 Zaytsev was expelled from the educational institution as a participant in student unrest.

But already in 1902 Boris Konstantinovich goes to the law faculty, which, however, also does not end. This is due to the fact that the writer goes to Italy, where he is fascinated by antiquities and art.

Beginning of creativity

Zaitsev Boris Konstantinovich began to write in 17 years. And already in 1901 he published in the magazine "Courier" the story "On the road." From 1904 to 1906 he worked in the magazine "Pravda" as a correspondent. In this same magazine, his stories "Dream" and "Mist" were printed. In addition, the magazine "New Way" published a mystical story "Silent Dawns".

The first collection of stories of the writer was published in 1903. It was dedicated to the description of the life of noble intellectuals, vegetating in the backwoods, the destruction of aristocratic estates, the devastation of fields, destructive and terrible city life.

Even at the beginning of his creative career, Zaitsev was lucky enough to meet such eminent writers as AP Chekhov and LN Andreev. With Anton Pavlovich fate brought the writer in Yalta in 1900, and a year later he met Andreev. Both writers rendered serious assistance at the beginning of Zaitsev's literary career.

At this time, Boris Konstantinovich lives in Moscow, is in the Literary and Art Circle, publishes the magazine "Zori", is the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Journey to Italy

In 1904, Boris Zaitsev for the first time goes on a trip to Italy. This country greatly impressed the writer, later he even called it his spiritual homeland. He spent a lot of time there in the prewar years. Many Italian impressions formed the basis of Zaitsev's works. Thus, in 1922 a collection was published under the title "Raphael", which included a series of essays and impressions about Italy.

In 1912 Zaitsev got married. Soon, his daughter Natalya is born.

World War I

During the First World War, Boris Zaitsev graduated from the Alexandrov Military School. And as soon as the February Revolution was over, he was promoted to the officers. However, he did not get to the front because of pneumonia. And he lived a war time in Pritykino estate with his wife and daughter.

After the war, Zaitsev returned to Moscow with his family, where he was immediately appointed chairman of the All-Russian Writers' Union. Also at one time he worked part time in the Cooperative Shop of Writers.

Emigration

In 1922, Zaitsev fell ill with typhus. The disease was severe, and for quick rehabilitation he decides to go abroad. He receives a visa and goes first to Berlin, and then to Italy.

Boris Zaitsev is an emigre writer. It is from this time begins overseas stage in his work. By this time, he already managed to feel the strong influence of the philosophical views of N. Berdyaev and V. Solovyov. This dramatically changes the creative direction of the writer. If earlier works of Zaitsev belonged to pantheism and paganism, now the Christian orientation began to be clearly traced in them. For example, the story "The Golden Pattern", the collection "Revival", essays on the life of the saints "Athos" and "Valaam", etc.

The Second World War

At the very beginning of the Second World War, Boris Zaitsev turned to his diary entries and began to publish them. So, in the newspaper "Vozrozhdenie" his series "Days" is printed. However, already in 1940, when Germany occupies France, all of Zaitsev's publications cease. For the rest of the war, nothing was said about the writer's work in newspapers and magazines. Boris Konstantinovich himself remained aloof from politics and war. As soon as Germany was defeated, he again returned to the old religious and philosophical subjects and in 1945 published the story "King David".

The last years of life and death

In 1947 Boris Zaitsev began to work in the Paris newspaper Russkaya Mysl. In the same year he became chairman of the Union of Russian Writers in France. This post was preserved for him until the last days of his life. Similar meetings were common for European countries, where the Russian creative intelligentsia emigrated after the February revolution.

In 1959, he began a correspondence with Boris Pasternak, while simultaneously collaborating with the Munich almanac "Bridges".

In 1964, the story "The Time River" by Boris Zaitsev is published. This is the last published work of the writer, completing his creative path. Later, a collection of stories by the author with the same title will be published.

However, Zaitsev's life did not stop there. In 1957, his wife suffers a severe stroke, the writer remains with her forever.

The writer himself died at the age of 91 in Paris on January 21, 1972. His body was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois, where many Russian emigrants who moved to France are buried.

Boris Zaitsev: books

Creativity Zaitsev is divided into two major stages: pre-emigrant and post-emigrant. This is due not to the fact that the writer's residence has changed, but to the fact that the semantic orientation of his works has fundamentally changed. If in the first period the writer appealed more to pagan and pantheistic motives, he described the gloom of the revolution, which captures the souls of people, then in the second period he devoted all his attention to Christian themes.

Note that the most famous works are related specifically to the second stage of Zaitsev's work. In addition, it is the emigrant time that has become the most fruitful in the author's life. So, over the years about 30 books have been published and about 800 more works have appeared on the pages of magazines.

This is mainly due to the fact that Zaitsev concentrated all his efforts on literary activity. In addition to writing his works, he is engaged in journalism and translations. Also in the 1950s, the writer was a member of the Commission for the Translation of the New Testament into Russian.

A special fame was the trilogy "The Journey of Gleb." This is an autobiographical work in which the writer describes the childhood and youth of a man born at a crucial time for Russia. The life story ends in 1930, when the hero realizes his connection with the holy Great Martyr Gleb.

"St. Sergius of Radonezh"

Appealed to the lives of the saints Boris Zaitsev. Sergius of Radonezh became a hero for him, on the example of which he showed the transformation of an ordinary man into a saint. Zaitsev managed to create a more vivid and lively image of the saint than describe it in other lives, thereby making Sergius more understandable to the simple reader.

We can say that this work embodied religious searches of the author himself. Zaitsev himself understood for himself how a person can achieve holiness through a gradual spiritual transformation. The writer himself, like his hero, went through several stages on the way to realizing the true holiness, and all his steps were reflected in the work.