Boris Akunin
Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili
Aliases: Boris Akunin
Date of birth: 20 May 1956
Place of birth: Zestafoni, Georgian SSR, USSR
Citizenship: USSR, Russia Russia
Occupation: fiction writer, playwright, translator, literary critic
Genre: detective
Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili(born May 20, 1956, Zestafoni, Georgian SSR, USSR) - Russian writer, literary critic, translator, Japanese scholar. He publishes his artistic literary works under the pseudonyms Boris Akunin, Anna Borisova and Anatoly Brusnikin.
Grigory Chkhartishvili was born in the family of an artillery officer Shalva Chkhartishvili and a teacher of Russian language and literature Berta Isaakovna Brazinskaya (1921-2007). In 1958, the family moved to Moscow. In 1973 he graduated from school number 36 with in-depth study of the English language. Graduated from the History and Philology Department of the Institute of Asian and African Countries (Moscow State University), holds a diploma in Japanese history.
Grigory Chkhartishvili he was engaged in literary translation from Japanese and English. Chkhartishvili's translation was published by Japanese authors Mishima Yukio, Kenji Maruyama, Yasushi Inoue, Masahiko Shimada, Kobo Abe, Shinichi Hoshi, Takeshi Kaiko, Shohei Ooka, as well as representatives of American and English literature (T. Koragessan Boyle, Malcolm, Pitradinov and Dr. .)
Boris Akunin worked as deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Foreign Literature (1994-2000), editor-in-chief of the 20-volume Anthology of Japanese Literature, chairman of the board of the Pushkin Library megaproject (Soros Foundation).
Since 1998 Grigory Chkhartishvili writes fiction under the pseudonym “ B. Akunin". The decoding of "B" as "Boris" appeared a few years later, when they began to frequently interview the writer. The Japanese word for "akunin" (Japanese 悪 人) roughly corresponds to "a villain who is a strong and strong-willed person." You can learn more about this word in one of the books by B. Akunin(G. Chkhartishvili) "The Diamond Chariot". Grigory Chkhartishvili publishes critical and documentary works under his real name.
In addition to the novels and novels that brought him fame from the series "New Detective" ("The Adventures of Erast Fandorin"), Akunin created the series "Provincial Detective" ("The Adventures of Sister Pelagia"), "Adventures of the Master", "Genres" and was the compiler of the series "Cure for Boredom".
April 29, 2009 Boris Akunin became a Knight of the Order of the Rising Sun of the fourth degree. The award ceremony took place on May 20 at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow.
August 10, 2009 for his contribution to the development of cultural ties between Russia and Japan Boris Akunin was awarded the Government-sponsored Japan Foundation Prize.
Married. The first Boris Akunin's wife- a Japanese woman with whom Akunin lived for several years. The second wife, Erika Ernestovna, is a proofreader and translator. Have no children.
Artworks
Under the pseudonym Boris Akunin
The years in which the book takes place are given in brackets.
* New detective (the adventures of Erast Fandorin)
1.1998 - Azazel (1876)
2.1998 - Turkish Gambit (1877)
3.1998 - Leviathan (1878)
4.1998 - Death of Achilles (1882)
5.1999 - Jack of Spades (collection of "Special Orders") (1886)
6. 1999 - Decorator (collection "Special Orders") (1889)
7.199 - State Councilor (1891)
8.2000 - Coronation, or The Last of the Novels (1896)
9.2001 - Mistress of Death (1900)
10.2001 - Lover of Death (1900)
11.2003 - Diamond Chariot (1878 and 1905)
12.2007 - Jade rosary (Remakes of classic detective stories) (1881-1900)
13.2009 - The whole world theater (1911)
14.2009 - The Hunt for Odyssey (1914)
* Provincial Detective (The Adventures of Sister Pelagia)
1.2000 - Pelagia and the White Bulldog
2.11 - Pelagia and the Black Monk
3.2003 - Pelagia and the Red Rooster
* The Adventures of the Master (the descendants and ancestors of Erast Fandorin act in the cycle)
1.2000 - Altyn-Tolobas (1995, 1675-1676)
2002 - Extracurricular reading (2001, 1795)
3.2006 - F.M. (2006, 1865)
4.2009 - Falcon and Swallow (2009, 1702)
* Genres (descendants and ancestors of Erast Fandorin sometimes act in the cycle)
1.2005 - Children's book (future, 2006, 1914, 1605-1606)
2.2005 - Spy novel (1941)
3.2005 - Science Fiction (1980-1991)
4.2008 - Quest (1930, 1812)
* Death by brotherhood
1.2007 - Baby and Hell, Heartbreak Torment (1914)
2.2008 - Flying Elephant, Children of the Moon (1915)
3. 2009 - Strange man, Thunder of victory, be heard! (1915, 1916 years)
4. 2010 - "Maria", Maria ..., Nothing is sacred (1916)
5.111 - Operation "Transit", Battalion of Angels (1917)
* Selected books
1.2000 - Tales for idiots
2.000 - Seagull
3.2002 - Comedy / Tragedy
4.2006 - Yin and Yang (with the participation of Erast Fandorin)
Under the pseudonym Anatoly Brusnikin
1.2007 - Ninth Savior
2.2010 - Hero of a different time
3.2012 - Bellona
Under the pseudonym Anna Borisova
1.2008 - Creative
2.2010 - There
3.2011 - Vremena goda
Under real name
* 1997 - Writer and suicide (M .: New literary review, 1999; 2nd edition - M .: "Zakharov" 2006)
"Joint creativity of B. Akunin and G. Chkhartishvili"
* 2004 - Cemetery stories (in one of the stories Fandorin acts)
Confirmed authorship of Boris Akunin
On January 11, 2012, Boris Akunin in his blog on LiveJournal confirmed that he was the author, hiding under the pseudonym Anatoly Brusnikin. In addition, he revealed that he is also the author of novels under the female pseudonym "Anna Borisova" "There ...", "Creative" and "Vremena goda".
In November 2007 the publishing house AST published the historical adventure novel "The Ninth Savior", the author of which is Anatoly Brusnikin. Despite the fact that Brusnikin was hitherto unknown as the author, the publishing house spent a lot of money on the advertising campaign of the novel, which instantly gave rise to rumors that one of the famous Russian writers was hiding under the pseudonym Brusnikin.
Suspicion fell on Boris Akunin... The textual and stylistic analysis of the novel allows us to trace some similarities with the language of Akunin and the literary techniques used by him. This can mean both the fact that Akunin is the author of the novel, and that he may have taken part in its creation. Moreover, A.O. Brusnikin is an anagram named after Boris Akunin. AST also posted a photo of Brusnikin, the person in which may resemble Boris Akunin in his youth. In a correspondence interview, Brusnikin claims that this is his real name, and that he is a historian - the author of a monograph, but the monograph of the historian Anatoly Brusnikin does not appear in the catalogs of the RSL.
After the release of the novel, the writer Elena Chudinova accused AST of the fact that "The Ninth Savior" was an unsuccessful plagiarism from her novel "The Casket", which had previously been offered to the publishing house, but rejected by them, allegedly due to the commercial futility of the topic (an adventure fantasy novel, the action of which unfolds in the 18th century). Elena Chudinova herself believes that "The Ninth Savior" was written by a group of "literary blacks", and that rumors about Akunin's authorship that appeared in print are one of the advertising moves.
Screen adaptations
* 2001 - Azazel (director Alexander Adabashyan)
* 2004 - Turkish Gambit (directed by Janik Fayziev)
* 2005 - State Councilor (directed by Philip Yankovsky)
* 2009 - Pelagia and the White Bulldog (directed by Yuri Moroz)
* 2012 - The Winter Queen (directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk) [adaptation of the novel by Azazel]
* 2012 - Spy (directed by Alexey Andrianov) [film adaptation of the Spy novel]
Translations
* Mishima Yukio "Golden Temple"
* Mishima Yukio "Confessions of the Mask"
* Mishima Yukio "Death in the middle of summer"
* Mishima Yukio "Patriotism"
* Mishima Yukio "The Love of the Holy Elder from the Shiga Temple"
* Mishima Yukio "Sea and Sunset"
* Mishima Yukio "My friend Hitler"
* Mishima Yukio "Marquis de Sade"
* Mishima Yukio "Handan Pillow"
* Mishima Yukio "Brocade Drum"
* Mishima Yukio "Tombstone of Komachi"
* Mishima Yukio "Sun and Steel"
* Mishima Yukio "Sounds of Water"
Boris Akunin's political views
Grigory Chkhartishvili is known for his harsh statements and criticism of the Russian government. So, in an interview with the newspaper "Libération" Chkhartishvili compared Putin with the Emperor Caligula, "who preferred to be more feared than loved."
The writer spoke of the YUKOS case as “the most embarrassing page of the post-Soviet court”. After the second verdict was passed to M. Khodorkovsky and P. Lebedev in December 2010, he proposed a plan to "amputate" Russia.
After the announcement of the results of the elections to the State Duma (2011), Boris Akunin noted:
The main circus awaits us ahead. Now the candidate for rulers for life will come to the fore. All rotten tomatoes will fly not to a fake party, but personally to him, dear and beloved. For three months, stupid sycophants from Putin's entourage will stimulate the population to gag with their propaganda. And pay him, poor thing.
He will travel around the country, meet with voters. Whistle to him, he loves it. And envy the Muscovites. We have a wonderful opportunity to blow all horns when the national leader rushes past the paralyzed traffic flows. Doo-doo, Vladimir Vladimirovich. Can you hear our voices? And then let the press secretary explain that these are the sounds of popular jubilation.
Inevitably, a situation will arise when the lower classes no longer want, the upper classes are completely decayed, and the money ran out. A booze will begin in the country. It will be too late for you to leave in an amicable way, and you will order to shoot, and blood will be spilled, but you will be thrown off anyway. I do not wish you the fate of Muammar Gaddafi, honestly. Would have taken it away while there was still time, huh? There is always a plausible pretext. Health problems, family circumstances, the appearance of the archangel. You would give the reins to your successor (you can't do it differently), and he would take care of your calm old age. - Boris Akunin predicts the fate of Gaddafi to Putin, 12/06/2011.
In January 2012, Boris Akunin became one of the founders of the public and political organization League of Voters, whose goal is to monitor the observance of citizens' electoral rights.
Interesting facts about Boris Akunin
* In the book of the Jack of Spades, one of the heroines at the time of the "operation" is called "Princess Chkhartishvili" (Chkhartishvili is the real name of Akunin).
* The surname "Möbius" often appears in books with E.P. Fandorin's participation. Under this surname, some minor characters appear, and sometimes this surname just appears on the sign with the name of the company (for example, an insurance company). The common feature of "Mobius" is that they always appear "behind the scenes", that is, they either do not have any influence on the plot at all, or we learn about them from the words of other heroes.
* In the novel "Coronation" from the cycle about E.P. Fandorin, there is an English butler named Freyby. If you type his surname in English (while leaving the Russian keyboard layout on), you get the pseudonym of the author of the book.
* In most of the books from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin" published by "Zakharov" (except for "State Councilor", "Turkish Gambit", "Diamond Chariot"), the portrait of Boris Akunin is present on the first pages. He is portrayed as minor characters in the novels.
* The overwhelming majority of Akunin's works have English characters.
Real name Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili.
Russian writer, Japanese scholar, literary critic, translator, public figure. Also published under the pseudonyms Anna Borisova and Anatoly Brusnikin.
Grigory Chkhartishvili was born in the family of an artillery officer, participant of the Great Patriotic War Shalva Noevich Chkhartishvili (1919-1997) and a teacher of Russian language and literature Berta Isaakovna Brazinskaya (1921-2007). In 1958, the family moved to Moscow. In 1973 he graduated from school number 36 with in-depth study of the English language, and in 1978 - the history and philology faculty of the Institute of Asian and African Countries (Moscow State University).
He was engaged in literary translation from Japanese and English, Japanese authors Mishima Yukio, Kenji Maruyama, Yasushi Inoue, Masahiko Shimada, Kobo Abe, Shinichi Hoshi, Takeshi Kaiko, Shohei Ooka, as well as representatives of American and English literature were published in his translation.
Despite the fact that the hometown for the Georgian writer is the small town of Zestafoni, he practically did not live in the Caucasus. Already in 1958, when our today's hero was only two years old, his family moved to live in Moscow, where he subsequently spent almost the entire life of the now famous writer.
In the Russian capital, Georgy attended secondary school No. 36, which was distinguished by in-depth study of the English language, and after receiving a diploma, he began to study at the historical and philological department of Moscow State University (faculty of Asian and African countries). What caused such an unusual choice is not known for certain today. However, Japanese and Asian notes are easily distinguishable in almost all the works of our today's hero.
After receiving a degree in Japanese history, the future writer began working as a translator on English and Japanese texts. During that period, in the translation of Georgy Chkhartishvili, a whole lot of books were published by such well-known authors in Japan as Masahiko Shimada, Mishima Yukio, Shohei Ooka, Yasushi Inoue, Kenji Maruyama and many others. In addition, our today's hero had a hand in the creation of Russian-language adaptations of the novels by Malcolm Bradbury, T. Coragessan Boyle, and Peter Ustinov.
1994-2000
He worked as deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Foreign Literature (1994-2000), editor-in-chief of the 20-volume Anthology of Japanese Literature, chairman of the board of the Pushkin Library megaproject (Soros Foundation).
Since 1998 he has been writing fiction under the pseudonym “B. Akunin ". The decoding of "B" as "Boris" appeared a few years later, when they began to frequently interview the writer. The Japanese word "akunin" (Japanese ??), according to one of the literary heroes Chkhartishvili (in the novel "The Diamond Chariot"), is translated as "villain, villain", but of gigantic proportions, in other words, an outstanding personality, standing on the side of evil ... He publishes critical and documentary works under his real name.
In 1998, Boris begins to write his own fiction novels for the first time. Such works are published under the pseudonym “B. Akunin ". It is quite remarkable that the decoding of "B" as "Boris" will appear much later, when the writer begins to give interviews frequently. In turn, the surname "Akunin" is translated as "scoundrel". One of the heroes of Giorgi Chkhartishvili speaks about this in the novel "The Diamond Chariot".
It is also quite interesting that the first written book of the author is the project "The Writer and Suicide", which was completed in 1997, but saw the light only two years later (published under the name of Giorgi Chkhartishvili). The first work of the author, published under the pseudonym "Boris Akunin", was the sensational novel "Azazel", which became very popular almost immediately after its publication.
Such success allowed the writer to leave his previous job and devote himself entirely to literary creativity. Thanks to this, already next year three new books by Boris Akunin saw the light at once - "Turkish Gambit", "Leviathan", "Death of Achilles". The unifying link of all these works was the personality of the protagonist - Erast Fandorin, who would later become one of the permanent characters moving from one book of the writer to another.
2000-2003
In addition to the novels and novellas from the series "New Detective" ("The Adventures of Erast Fandorin") that brought him fame, Akunin created the series "Provincial Detective" ("The Adventures of Pelagia's Sister"), "The Adventures of a Master", "Genres" and was the compiler of the series "Medicine boredom".
In 2000, Akunin was nominated for the Booker - Smirnoff Prize for the novel The Coronation, or The Last of the Novels, but was not among the finalists. At the same time, in the same year he was nominated and became a laureate of the Antibooker Prize with the Coronation. In 2003, the novel "Azazel" was shortlisted by the British Association of Crime Writers in the "Golden Dagger" section.
Married. The first wife is a Japanese woman with whom Akunin lived for several years. The second wife, Erika Ernestovna, is a proofreader and translator. Have no children. Since 2014 he has been working and living in France, Brittany region.
To the nigi - Boris Akunin
History of the Russian state
Planet Water
A collection of three stories by the Russian writer Boris Akunin from the "New Detective" series. The book is subtitled The Adventures of Erast Fandorin in the 20th Century. Part one".
Fiery finger
The first art book from the series "History of the Russian State" by Boris Akunin.
Widow board
“The Widow's Wrap” is a book about the main misfortune of human history: that it was done by men, not women. Boris Akunin “Moscow is coming! Bury yourself! " shouted in Russia from time immemorial, fearing a quick reprisal and ruthless power. Two autocrats, two Ivans come to life before the reader in the new book by Boris Akunin. One of them, Ivan III, was called the Terrible by his contemporaries, the other - Ivan IV - by his descendants. The novel "The Widow's Plate", which takes place in the 1470s, is dedicated to the collision of two systems of government: the totalitarian Moscow and democratic Novgorod. The story “The Sign of Cain” describes the events that took place a century later, during the oprichnina period. And which of the two Ivanov was more formidable, to judge the reader ...
Another way
This book describes the history of the last Russian century through the life of a Moscow family. The new novel is set in the 1920s. If "Aristonomy" was dedicated to the "Big World", that is, the world of global ideas and a big history, then in the center of the novel "Another Way" is the "Small World" - the world of personal relationships and love.
Happy Russia
The title of the novel, Happy Russia, is intriguing in itself, and the fact that the action takes place in 1937 only adds to the expectations. The usual question “Will there be a continuation?” That arises from readers after each novel of this cycle also remains unanswered.
Azazel
The book by Boris Akunin, the first novel in a series about the extraordinary detective Erast Petrovich Fandorin.
Black City
A novel by Boris Akunin from the New Detective series about the adventures of Erast Petrovich Fandorin. The book was published by the publishing house "Zakharov" on November 21, 2012, 352 pages, in hardcover.
Leviathan
The third book by Boris Akunin from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin", dedicated to solving murders, traveling on the ship of the same name and searching for treasure.
Quest
Boris Akunin's novel from the Genres series. The novel consists of two parts, connected under one cover in the form of a flip-flop. The first part is partially stylized as a computer game. After reading each chapter, you are asked to answer the question of what decision the main character should make (there is only one correct answer). The second part is called "Hints" and is an independent novel, which, however, is connected with the first in some details.
Boch and Rogue
The two stories included in this book are the artistic accompaniment to the second volume of the History of the Russian State, dedicated to the Horde era. The action of the first story "The Star of the Spirit" dates back to the time of the Mongol conquest; the action of the second story "Boh and Rogue" - to the period of the struggle of the Russian lands for liberation.
Pelagia and the White Bulldog
The first novel in the trilogy "The Adventures of Pelagia" by Russian writer Boris Akunin. Published in 2001.
Tales for Idiots
A collection of satirical stories by Boris Akunin, published in 2000 by the GIF publishing house. In 2002, republished by the publishing houses Neva and Olma-Press, with illustrations by Viktor Bogorad.
Turkish gambit
Book by Boris Akunin from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin".
Coronation, or The Last of the Novels
Book by Boris Akunin from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin". This novel takes place in 1896, on the eve and during the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II.
The whole world is theater
A novel by Russian fiction writer Boris Akunin from the New Detective series. The thirteenth part of the adventures of detective Erast Petrovich Fandorin.
State Councillor
Death Lover
Book from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin".
Mistress of death
Book by Boris Akunin from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin". In Moscow, the "Lovers of Death" club opens - a community whose members, one after another, voluntarily commit suicide.
Great feelings. Alphabet truths
This book is about how to turn big feelings into a powerful force, a generator of energy, about how to be proud that you are able to experience them! - Elena Pasternak explains what “Apathy” is: “I look at familiar things and not that I don’t recognize them, but they seem to have lost their features and colors, gone out. My usual thoughts have left me too, I still can't catch them, and I'm reluctant. And how can you want? What is it to want? " It is written about apathy so that everyone can understand and feel. Examples are given on literary characters. Did Oblomov have apathy? And the heroes of Chekhov's stories ...
Quotes and aphorisms
In existence, there was a tendency to a deterioration in living conditions, or, to put it simply, things were nowhere shitty.
I sacrificed so much without asking for anything in return.
Every person in life necessarily has a moment, which is the highest point of his existence. Very often you are not aware of this, and only then, looking back, you realize: this is it, the very thing for which I must have been born. But it’s too late, you won’t go back there and you won’t fix anything.
Finding your way is the most important thing in the life of any person. I am deeply convinced that each person is uniquely talented, each has a divine gift. The tragedy of humanity lies in the fact that we do not know how, and we do not strive to discover and nurture this gift in a child. Our genius is a rarity and even a miracle, but who is a genius? This is just a lucky person. His fate was such that life circumstances themselves pushed a person to the right choice of the path. A classic example is Mozart. He was born into the family of a musician and from early childhood found himself in an environment that ideally nourished the talent inherent in him by nature. Now imagine, dear sir, that Wolfgang Amadeus was born into a peasant family. He would make a nasty shepherd, entertaining the cows with a magical play on a pipe. Had he been born into the family of a soldier, he would have grown up as a mediocre officer who adores military marches. Oh, believe me, young man, every child, without exception, is fraught with a treasure, only this treasure must be able to get to the bottom!
What a time has come. The era of laconic decisive women and talkative reflective men.
“There are two beauties: the beauty of joy and the beauty of sadness. You Westerners prefer the first, we prefer the second. Because the beauty of joy is short-lived, like the flight of a butterfly. And the beauty of the sad is stronger than stone. Who remembers the millions of happy lovers who lived their lives peacefully, grew old and died? And they write plays about tragic love that live for centuries. "
Of all the pleasures given to a person, the most exquisite is to wiggle the brains.
You will not part with the one who took away a piece of your heart until the end of your life, and perhaps even longer than that.
In fact, there is no time, there is no tomorrow, there is only the eternal now.
Each of us has our own norm. And the duty of the individual to himself is to rise above this norm.
War, Varvara Andreevna, is a terrible filth. There are no b-right or wrong on it. And there are good and bad ones on both sides. Only the good ones are usually killed first.
An intelligent person should understand that there are concepts “objectively better” and “subjectively better”. Objectively, life in England is better than in Russia - who can argue. But ... Everything objective is worthless, only what is subjective matters.
I know a lot about you, you know little about me. From this, mistrust arises, from mistrust comes misunderstanding, misunderstanding leads to mistakes.
If there is a need for you, faith will come by itself when necessary, but you will not pull it out of your soul by the ears.
You need to be able to correctly formulate the question. This is half the battle. And the second half is the ability to hear the answer ... The whole person consists of questions, and life and the world around him - from the answers to these questions. Determine the sequence of questions that concern you, starting with the most important ones. Then tune in to receive the answers. They are everywhere - in every event, in every thing.
It is impossible to come to terms with the fact that you are not needed by the man that you need.
A smart person is never bored - he always has something to think about.
Imperfections also have their own charm.
Oddly enough, most people have no idea what they have a penchant for or what their gift is.
In some novel, I read that over the years, a person gradually creates his own self-portrait, applying a pattern of wrinkles, folds, dents and bulges to the smooth canvas of his inherited parsuna. As you know, wrinkles can be smart and stupid, kind and evil, funny and sad. And under the influence of this drawing, applied by life itself, some become more beautiful over the years, while others uglier.
Do you know what seems to me the most intriguing about the inhabitants of Moscow, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and even more so Rome or Jerusalem? The fact that most of them died ...
It is better to say stupidity than to miss the important.
Something I like you, it hurts well to keep quiet.
Society can change quickly only for the worse - this is called a revolution. And all the good changes, called evolution, happen very, very slowly.
When fighting men, use male weapons, and when fighting women, use female weapons. Here is the samurai code of honor, and there is nothing vile in it, because women know how to fight as well as men.
I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. True, I can drink.
It only seems to a person that he is fighting against the evil that is outside. In fact, he is fighting evil in himself, overcoming his own cowardice, self-interest, selfishness! The victory over evil is the victory over the bad in oneself. That is why when evil is defeated in dishonest, unworthy ways, this is not a victory, but a defeat. Because evil from the outside moves inside you, and it turns out that it won, and you lost!
In a moment of despondency, a person cannot be left alone.
We have Russia, not Europe. From time immemorial, it has been so customary: the state gives a service person a position, but he must feed himself - as they say, to the extent of his depravity.
God changes ... Like humanity, He grows up over the centuries, softens and grows wiser. And if so, then we can hope that over time, instead of the New Testament, the New Testament will be revealed to us, even more merciful and more enlightened than the previous one. After all, people and society have changed so much in two thousand years!
Source - Wikipedia, uznayvse.ru, labirint.ru
Boris Akunin - biography, books, quotes from novels, photos updated: August 24, 2017 by the author: site
Boris Akunin is an original and talented writer, one of the most widely read authors in Russia and the CIS countries, whose circulation sometimes reaches millions of copies a year, and whose income allows him to enter the lists of people earning the maximum annual royalties, literary critic, publicist, translator, public figure.
He was born on 05/20/1956 in the Georgian regional center of Zestafoni, located in the eastern part of the Colchis lowland.
Childhood
The parents of the child, whose present day Grisha is very educated people: an officer and a teacher, and the whole apartment was littered with literature: books, as well as pages torn from thick literary magazines. The boy was addicted to reading from childhood.
Suffice it to say that at the age of 10 he picked up Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, a work that not all adults understand and perceive. As Akunin recalls in her memoirs, my mother intrigued an eleven-year-old boy in a very interesting way and forced him to read War and Peace.
Boris (Grigory) in his youth
She drew his attention to the fact that there was a four-volume book on the table, which she had forbidden to take in her hands due to the fact that her son was still small and did not understand what was at stake. And the forbidden fruit always beckons. And instead of playing toy soldiers, he read it and waited all the time for what his mother had warned about would come.
Grisha read everything, but he was mainly interested in his historical novels. He even developed a kind of sensory program in himself, like in bats, when he walked the streets with a book in his hands, and very quickly, but almost never bumped into anyone.
In addition, the boy was very interested in geography. In this lesson, among all the students, the countries of the world were distributed about which they had to prepare information.
Grisha went to Tunisia and Japan. And, if there were very few reports about Tunisia in the Soviet press, then news about the Land of the Rising Sun appeared quite often. Akunin's love for this Asian state will remain forever.
Career
After graduating from a specialized English school and visiting the circle of a young orientalist, whose graduate was awarded a special diploma, in 1973 Chkhartishvili entered the Philology Institute of Asia at Moscow State University, where he chose Japan. During the holidays, he visits Japan on an international student exchange program and falls in love with this country even more.
Japanese culture is no longer exotic for him, especially since he is successfully studying the language of this state.
After graduation, Grigory was enrolled in the staff of the publishing house "Russian language", where he translates Japanese writers. In 1986, Chkhartishvili took him to the editorial office of the journal "Foreign Literature", of which he will become editor-in-chief in a few years.
Soon, the well-known young translator took the responsible post of the chairman of the board of the "Pushkin Literature" project, organized by the world famous Soros Foundation.
Fiction
In ancient times in Japan, a samurai could change his name several times throughout his life. By this, the man showed that his inner essence is changing, and he becomes different. Therefore, Chkhartishvili decides to be liberated and tries to get rid of any number of complexes. Already in 1998, his fictional prose began to appear under the pseudonym "B. Akunin".
The name Boris appears with this author a little later, after a few years. The author interprets his full literary name in different ways. In the novel about the protagonist Erast Petrovich Fandorin "The Diamond Chariot" the Japanese word "aku-nin", consisting of several hieroglyphs, one of the characters translates as "bad man", "scoundrel" their own laws ”, but this villain is not a small one, but a giant, demanding the attention and respect of others.
Sometimes the author compares himself with the famous Russian revolutionary Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, who is one of the most prominent theorists of anarchism, a man who never welcomed Marxist views.
The first novel about Fandorin "Azazel" became a significant phenomenon in Russian fiction at the end of the last century. The very surname of the protagonist was searched for a very long time. According to Akunin's plan, it was supposed to be some kind of Russified German surname, because the story of a man whose ancestors came from Germany was originally conceived.
Just in time, the Chekhov character Dorn surfaced in my head, who immediately acquired the prefix von. Well, the name, Erast Petrovich, was inspired by Pushkin himself, he just had a friend with such a sweet archaic combination of initials. It is interesting to remember that Akunin's first work did not immediately find its reader.
Many critics attribute this to the fact that the publishing house issued a print run with a very discreet cover. When this flaw was eliminated, the novel sold out with a bang. Since then, Erast Fandorin has become the main feature of Akunin.
He was born exactly one hundred years before the author himself, in 1856. A descendant of a ruined noble family, he is smart and observant, although he does not differ in phenomenal intellect. After the death of a loved one, he becomes unnecessarily detached in his emotions, incredibly lucky in gambling, including Russian roulette.
For Akunin, Fandorin became a completely living person. He even bought a portrait of an unknown person, dated 1894, in an antique shop. According to the writer, this is the spitting image of Erast Petrovich!
But Fandorin is not the only one who knows Chkhartishvili. From under his pen periodically come out journalistic essays and essays signed by his real name. In January 2012, it became known that several historical novels presented under the pseudonym "A.O. Brusnikin" also belong to him.
Interestingly, this fictitious name is an anagram to the pseudonym "Boris Akunin". In addition, his novels "There", "The Creative Man" and "The Four Seasons" were published under the female name Anna Borisova, as confirmed by the writer himself.
Akunin is a laureate of various prizes, awarded with diplomas and the Order of the Rising Sun of the fourth degree for the development of cultural ties between Russia and Japan. Recently, he has been a prominent public figure who opposes the official policy of the Kremlin, for which he is often criticized in the literary and intellectual circles of Russia.
Personal life
Akunin does not really like to devote journalists to his personal life, therefore, a minimum of information is known about the writer's first wife. She was a Japanese citizen, a graduate student of the university, where the writer himself studied, who often attended his alma mater.
There they met and then got married. But at that time it was not very encouraged to advertise his relationship with a foreign woman, although his wife accepted the standards of domestic life, for which her friends called her "Soviet Japanese." But in the end, the spouses did not agree on characters, and they had to part.
Akunin's second wife was Erica Ernestovna Voronova, an excellent professional editor, proofreader and translator. This is a rather businesslike and decisive person who took on the whole burden of communication and negotiations with publishers, journalists and literary agents. Akunin calls his current wife the most adored woman.
With wife Erica
Boris Akunin (real name Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili). (1956) - Russian writer, fiction writer, literary critic, translator, Japanese scholar, public figure. Also published under the pseudonyms Anna Borisova and Anatoly Brusnikin.
Childhood and youth
Grigory Chkhartishvili was born on May 20, 1956 in a Georgian-Jewish family in the city of Zestafoni, Georgian SSR. His father Shalva Noevich Chkhartishvili (1919-1997) was an artillery officer, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, and his mother, Berta Isaakovna Brazinskaya, was a teacher of Russian language and literature. Two years after the birth of his son Grigory, in 1958, his parents decided to move to Moscow, where in 1973 Grigory graduated from school No. 36 with an in-depth study of the English language. Impressed by the Japanese theater, Kabuki entered the History and Philology Department of the Institute of Asian and African Countries, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. In 1978 he received a Japanese historian. He was engaged in literary translations from English and Japanese.
Literary creativity.
Works by Kobo Abe, Takeshi Kaiko, Shohei Ooka, Shinichi Hoshi, Masahiko Shimada, Mishima Yukio, Yasushi Inoue, Kenji Maruyama were published in translation from the Japanese language by Boris Akunin. And also from the English language works by T. Coraghessan Boyle, Malcolm Bradbury, Peter Ustinov and others.
The creative biography of "Boris Akunin" - Grigory Chkhartishvili begins in 1998, when he begins to publish his fiction under the pseudonym "B. Akunin", while he publishes critical and documentary works under his real name.
In his novel "The Diamond Chariot" Chkhartishvili deciphers the concept of the word "akunin", translated from Japanese as "villain, villain", but a villain of gigantic proportions, in other words - an extraordinary personality, acting on the side of evil.
Author of the book "The Writer and Suicide", novels and novellas of the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin", "The Adventures of Sister Pelagia" and "The Adventures of a Master", "Genres", and was also the compiler of the series "Cure for Boredom".
"Genres" is a series of novels by Boris Akunin, in which the writer attempts a kind of experiment in genre literature, presenting the reader with "pure" samples of different genres of fiction, each of the books being called the corresponding genre. This collection includes: "Children's book for boys", "Spy novel", "Fantasy", "Quest", "Children's book for girls" (co-authored with Gloria Mu).
In 2000, B. Akunin was nominated for the Smirnoff-Booker 2000 prize for the novel Coronation, but was not included in the number of finalists. However, in the same year and for the same novel, the writer received the Antibooker Prize. In 2003, the novel "Azazel" by Chkhartishvili was included in the short list of the British Association of Criminal Writers in the "Golden Dagger" section.
Three of his historical novels were published under the pseudonym "Anatoly Brusnikin": "The Ninth Savior", "A Hero of Another Time" and "Bellona". And also under the female pseudonym Anna Borisova: "There ...", "Creative" and "Vremena goda".
Social and political activity
1994 to 2000 served as editor-in-chief of the journal Foreign Literature, editor-in-chief of the twenty-volume Anthology of Japanese Literature, chairman of the board of the Pushkin Library megaproject (Soros Foundation).
In January 2012, Grigory Chkhartishvili became one of the founders of the public and political organization League of Voters, the purpose of which is to control the observance of the electoral rights of citizens.
In 2005, the Japanese Foreign Ministry awarded Grigory Chkhartishvili with an honorary diploma for his contribution to the deepening of Russian-Japanese relations. The occasion for the awarding was the 150th anniversary of the establishment of interstate relations between Japan and Russia.
In 2007 he was awarded the Noma Prize for the best translation from Japanese of works by the writer Yukio Mishima.
On April 29, 2009, Chkhartishvili became a Chevalier of the Order of the Rising Sun of the fourth degree. The award ceremony took place on May 20 at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow.
On August 10, 2009, he was awarded the prize of the Japanese Foundation, acting under the auspices of the government, for his contribution to the development of cultural ties between Russia and Japan
On March 26, 2014, on the opening day of the 17th National Exhibition-Fair "Books of Russia", Chkhartishvili was awarded the professional anti-award "Paragraph", which is awarded to the worst works in the book publishing business in Russia. The special prize "Honorary Illiteracy" for "especially cynical crimes against Russian literature" was awarded to Boris Akunin for the book "History of the Russian State. From the origins to the Mongol invasion ”.
Screen adaptations
2001 - Azazel (director Alexander Adabashyan)
2004 - Turkish Gambit (directed by Janik Fayziev)
2005 - State Councilor (directed by Philip Yankovsky)
2009 - Pelagia and the White Bulldog (directed by Yuri Moroz)
2012 - Spy (directed by Alexey Andrianov) - based on the "Spy Romance"
2017 - Decorator (director Anton Bormatov)
2012 - shooting in the documentary "Swamp Fever", where Chkhartishvili acts as a commentator on the political situation in the country.
Family status.
The first wife of Grigory Chkhartishvili was a Japanese woman, with whom Akunin lived for several years. The second wife, Erika Ernestovna, is a proofreader and translator. There are no children from both marriages. Since 2014 he has been working and living in France, Brittany region.
Boris Akunin (full real name Georgy Shalvovich Chkhartishvili) is a famous and talented writer, whose name is well known today both in Russia and abroad. His books have been translated into dozens of languages, many of his novels have already been filmed. Such facts inspire respect.But what else do we know about the life and work of this bright and interesting writer? How did his literary career start? And at what stage is it now? In order to shed light on all these questions, today we will try to look into the past of the great writer. After all, where, if not there, to look for the truth about this or that person?
Early years, childhood and the family of Boris Akunin
Grigory Chkhartishvili (and this is how the real name of Boris Akunin sounds) was born in the Georgian-Jewish family of Shalva Chkhartishvili and Berta Isaakovna Brazinskaya. The father of our today's hero was an artillery officer, and my mother devoted almost her entire life to the study and teaching of the Russian language and literature.Despite the fact that the hometown for the Georgian writer is the small town of Zestafoni, he practically did not live in the Caucasus. Already in 1958, when our today's hero was only two years old, his family moved to live in Moscow, where he subsequently spent almost the entire life of the now famous writer.
In the Russian capital, Georgy attended secondary school No. 36, which was distinguished by in-depth study of the English language, and after receiving a diploma, he began to study at the historical and philological department of Moscow State University (faculty of Asian and African countries). What caused such an unusual choice is not known for certain today. However, Japanese and Asian notes are easily distinguishable in almost all the works of our today's hero.
After receiving a degree in Japanese history, the future writer began working as a translator on English and Japanese texts. During that period, in the translation of Georgy Chkhartishvili, a whole lot of books were published by such well-known authors in Japan as Masahiko Shimada, Mishima Yukio, Shohei Ooka, Yasushi Inoue, Kenji Maruyama and many others. In addition, our today's hero had a hand in the creation of Russian-language adaptations of the novels by Malcolm Bradbury, T. Coragessan Boyle, and Peter Ustinov.
Boris Akunin. About his book “History of the Russian State. Part of Europe "
During this period, "Boris Akunin" studied the writing style of other authors, and also hatched plans to create his own literary works.
However, in this period, more mundane things were still in the first place for him. In 1994, our today's hero took the post of editor-in-chief of the Foreign Literature publication, and also began working on the twenty-volume (!) Anthology of Japanese Literature. In addition, with the support of the well-known Soros Foundation, Georgy Chkhartishvili began working on a large-scale project "Pushkin Library".
Literary work of Boris Akunin
In 1998, our today's hero begins to write his own fiction novels for the first time. Such works are published under the pseudonym “B. Akunin ". It is quite remarkable that the decoding of "B" as "Boris" will appear much later, when the writer begins to give interviews frequently. In turn, the surname "Akunin" is translated as "scoundrel". One of the heroes of Giorgi Chkhartishvili speaks about this in the novel "The Diamond Chariot".It is also quite interesting that the first written book of the author is the project "The Writer and Suicide", which was completed in 1997, but saw the light only two years later (published under the name of Giorgi Chkhartishvili). The first work of the author, published under the pseudonym "Boris Akunin", was the sensational novel "Azazel", which became very popular almost immediately after its publication.
Such success allowed the writer to leave his previous job and devote himself entirely to literary creativity. Thanks to this, already next year three new books by Boris Akunin saw the light at once - "Turkish Gambit", "Leviathan", "Death of Achilles". The unifying link of all these works was the personality of the protagonist - Erast Fandorin, who would later become one of the permanent characters moving from one book of the writer to another.
Boris Akunin's performance at Bolotnaya
Returning to the topic of Akunin's literary works, we note that our today's hero was also able to demonstrate impressive productivity in 1999, when three more new novels from the cycle about Erast Fandorin appeared on the shelves of bookstores (Jack of Spades, Decorator, "State Councillor"). Giorgi Chkhartishvili was able to move somewhat away from the image of his beloved character only a year later - in 2000. During this period, he began two new series of novels - "The Adventures of a Master" and "Provincial Detective" (with the nun Pelagia as the central character).
In the subsequent career of the writer, several directions in his work were clearly distinguished. So, our today's hero wrote works of art under the pseudonym Boris Akunin; and he published documentary and critical works exclusively under his own name. In addition, relatively recently, the Georgian writer admitted that it was he who published his novels in the past under the pseudonyms Anatoly Brusnikin and Anna Borisova.
Political views, Boris Akunin today
Grigory Chkhartishvili has repeatedly criticized the current system of Russian power. So, in particular, in one of his interviews, he called Vladimir Putin Emperor Caligula, "who prefer to be feared more than loved." In addition, he repeatedly spoke about his negative attitude towards the idea of an "eternal ruler". 
In January 2012, our today's hero became one of the founders of the public organization "League of Voters", which was engaged in protecting the rights of citizens to fair and impartial elections.
