Leonid Solovyov -Russian/Syrian author

 Leonid Solovyov - 1906-1962

Leonid Soloviev - author of "The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin"

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For the reading man, Leonid Soloviev is first and foremost the author of two stories about Khoja Nasreddin. This hero came from the oral folklore of the peoples of the East and Central Asia and taught to do good, to treat life with wisdom and optimism.

Only the writer himself had the opportunity to live in a country that did not appreciate the uniqueness of an individual, at a time when blind faith was needed more than intelligence and talent.

 

Born in Syria, grew up in Central Asia

He was born in 1906 in a family of Russian intellectuals, but in distant and hot Syria, in the city of Tripoli (today Lebanon). Parents worked in the Middle East through the missionary Orthodox Palestinian Society, and when they returned to Russia, they began to teach in schools in the Volga region. After the revolution, Leonid Soloviev, whose biography and work turned out to be closely connected with the culture of the East, with his family found himself in Central Asia, in Kokand.

Children’s susceptibility allowed the future writer to absorb the true values of oral folk art of the Central Asian peoples, imbued with its beauty and color. After graduating from school in 1922, impressions of traveling around Turkestan, demanding an exit from studying folklore, and Leonid Soloviev tried himself in journalism - in the newspaper "Turkestan Pravda".

The first literary experience

In 1927, he participated in the literary contest, announced by the magazine "World of Adventures", and receives a second prize. Belief in the correctness of the chosen path is growing stronger - in 1930, Leonid Soloviev entered the Institute of Cinematography at the scriptwriting department and after two years graduated from it.

The ease of writing and the innate optimism of Solovyiev can be seen in the case of a funny hoax. For the collection of folk songs and legends about V. I. Lenin, he presented texts written by him himself, presenting them as collected in the course of folklore studies. Fortunately, this did not entail serious consequences, and expeditions specifically sent to Turkestan were able to discover the “originals” of these creations.

The first tale of Hodja Nasreddin

According to Solovyov’s script, the film is put on, his works are noticed by critics and venerable masters, among whom was a living classic - Maxim Gorky, and the publication in 1940 of the book “Distressor”, makes him very popular among readers. This surprisingly workshop in form and fascinating in content is a story about a legendary joker and sage, the public protector became a vivid expression of the experience and memories that Leonid Solovyov amassed during the years he lived in the East.

 

The beginning of the war did not allow him to continue working on "Khoja Nasreddin", the writer leaves to serve as the war correspondent for the newspaper "Red Fleet". There are collections of his military stories, according to the story “Ivan Nikulin - Russian Sailor”, a film is shot. The film is being screened and his main book, but when the film about the adventures of the merry sage-dervish was played around the country, the scriptwriter was already in the camp on charges of plotting an assassination attempt on top leaders of the country.

"Enchanted Prince"

It is said that Leonid Soloviev, a writer who created one of the most optimistic literary images, in life was a little like his hero. The hard character, exposure to a certain weakness that accompanies a Russian person both in grief and glory, brought a lot of suffering to him and to his relatives.

 

Against adversity, he knew one remedy - creativity, and the second part of the dilogy about Hodja Nasreddin he wrote in the camp. Among the administration of the GULAG there were fans of his story about the merry hodge. He was not sent to the distant stage and was allowed to write in his spare time. But the situation could not but tell: in the second part of Nasreddin's adventures, a slightly different intonation appears - pensive and elusively sad.

The “Enchanted Prince” was received very well, the “Tale of Khoja Nasreddin” was eventually translated into many languages and was often reprinted in the country. But the time spent in custody, failures in his personal life did not pass without a trace. Psychological condition and physical health were irretrievably undermined. After his release and rehabilitation in 1954, the writer lived only 8 years. In 1962 he died in Leningrad.

In the history of Soviet literature there are quite a few people who lived in peace and prosperity, accepted official awards and recognition, published ideologically adjusted volumes and considered themselves writers. But there were few such as Leonid Solovyov - those who left the books, which are interesting only by the talent and imagination of the author, who will read after a very long time.

Leonid Soloviev. Bibliography

Peru Solovyov belong such works:

·         1932 - "The Nomadic";

·         1934 - "Campaign" Winner "";

·         1935 - "The end of the station" (script);

·         1938 - “Sad and funny events in the life of Mikhail Ozerov” (“High Pressure”);

·         1940 - "Troublemaker";

·         1943 - “The Great Exam”, “Nasreddin in Bukhara” (script);

·         1943 - “Ivan Nikulin is a Russian sailor” (story and script);

·         1944 - “Sevastopol Stone”, “I am the Black Sea Champion” (script), “The Adventures of Nasreddin” (script);

·         1954 - The Enchanted Prince;

·         1959 - The Overcoat (script based on the novel by N. Gogol);

·         1960 - “Anathema” (scenario based on the story by A. Kuprin of the same name);

·         1963 - From the Book of Youth.

  

In English translation, we know that the following are available:

Black Sea Sailor – to become a Stillwoods Edition because of rarity.

The Beggar in the Harem – book 1 in Khoja Nasreddin series

The Enchanted Prince– book 2 in Khoja Nasreddin series; to become a Stillwoods Edition because of rarity.

 

Various spellings of the family name exist in English web pages:

Solovyev

Solovyov

Solov’ev

Soloviev

/drf