Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born August 26 (September 7) 1870 in the town of Narovchat, Penza province. Of the nobles. Kuprin's father is a collegiate registrar; mother - from an ancient family of Tatar princes Kulunchakovs.
Lost his father early; was brought up in the Moscow Razumovsky boarding school for orphans. In 1888... A. Kuprin graduated from the cadet corps, in 1890- Aleksandrovskoe military school (both in Moscow); served as an infantry officer. After retiring with the rank of lieutenant in 1894 changed a number of professions: he worked as a land surveyor, forest ranger, estate manager, prompter in a provincial acting troupe, etc. For many years he collaborated in the newspapers of Kiev, Rostov-on-Don, Odessa, Zhitomir.
The first publication is the story "The Last Debut" ( 1889 ). The story "Inquiry" ( 1894 ) opened a series of war stories and stories by Kuprin ("Lilac Bush", 1894 ; "Overnight", 1895 ; "Warrant Officer Army", "Breget", both - 1897 ; and others), reflecting the writer's impressions of military service. Kuprin's trips to southern Ukraine were the material for the story "Moloch" ( 1896 ), in the center of which is the theme of industrial civilization, depersonalizing man; the comparison of the melting furnace with a pagan deity requiring human sacrifice is intended to warn of the dangers of worshiping technological progress. Literary fame brought A. Kuprin the story "Olesya" ( 1898 ) - about the dramatic love of a savage girl who grew up in the wilderness and a novice writer who came from the city. The hero of Kuprin's early works is a man with a fine mental organization, who cannot withstand the collision with the social reality of the 1890s and the test of great feeling. Among other works of this period: "Polissya stories" "In the wilderness" ( 1898 ), "On wood grouse" ( 1899 ), "Werewolf" ( 1901 ). In 1897... Kuprin's first book, Miniatures, was published. In the same year Kuprin met I. Bunin, in 1900- with A. Chekhov; since 1901 participated in Teleshov's "Wednesday" - a Moscow literary circle, uniting writers of a realistic direction. In 1901 A. Kuprin moved to St. Petersburg; collaborated in the influential magazines "Russian wealth" and "Peace of God". In 1902 met M. Gorky; was published in the series of collections initiated by the publishing association "Knowledge", here in 1903 year The first volume of Kuprin's stories was published. Kuprin gained wide popularity with the story "Duel" ( 1905 ), where an unsightly picture of army life with drills and semi-conscious cruelty reigning in it are accompanied by reflections on the absurdity of the existing world order. The publication of the story coincided with the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese war. 1904-1905., which contributed to its public outcry. The story was translated into foreign languages and opened the name of the writer to the European reader.
In the 1900s - the first half of the 1910s... the most significant works of A. Kuprin were published: the story "At the Turn (Cadets)" ( 1900 ), "Pit" ( 1909-1915 ); stories "Swamp", "In the circus" (both 1902 ), "Coward", "Horse thieves" (both 1903 ), "Peaceful Life", "White Poodle" (both 1904 ), "Headquarters Captain Rybnikov", "River of Life" (both 1906 ), "Gambrinus", "Emerald" ( 1907 ), "Anathema" ( 1913 ); a cycle of essays about the fishermen of Balaklava - "Listrigones" ( 1907-1911 ). Admiration for strength and heroism, an acute sense of beauty and joy of being, prompts Kuprin to search for a new image - an integral and creative nature. The story "Shulamith" ( 1908 ; based on the biblical Song of Songs) and "Garnet Bracelet" ( 1911 ) - a touching story about the unrequited and selfless love of a small telegraph operator for the wife of a high-ranking official. Kuprin also dabbled in science fiction: the hero of the story "Liquid Sun" ( 1913 ) Is a genius scientist who gained access to a source of super-powerful energy, but hides his invention for fear that it will be used to create a deadly weapon.
In 1911 Kuprin moved to Gatchina. In 1912 and 1914. traveled to France and Italy. With the outbreak of the First World War, he returned to the army, but the next year he was demobilized for health reasons. After the February Revolution 1917 year edited the Socialist-Revolutionary newspaper Svobodnaya Rossiya, collaborated with the World Literature publishing house for several months. After the October Revolution 1917 year, which he did not accept, returned to journalism. In one of the articles, Kuprin spoke out against the execution of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, for which he was arrested and imprisoned for a short time ( 1918 ). The writer's attempts to cooperate with the new government did not give the desired results. Having adjoined in October 1919 to the troops of N.N. Yudenich, Kuprin reached Yamburg (from 1922 Kingisepp), from there through Finland to Paris (1920 ). In emigration, the following were created: the autobiographical story “The Dome of St. Isaac of Dalmatian "( 1928 ), the story “Janet. Princess of four streets "( 1932 ; separate edition - 1934 ), a number of nostalgic stories about pre-revolutionary Russia ("The One-Armed Comedian", 1923 ; "Shadow of the Emperor" 1928 ; "Tsarev's guest from Narovchat", 1933 ), etc. The works of the emigre period are characterized by idealistic images of monarchical Russia, patriarchal Moscow. Among other works: the story "The Star of Solomon" ( 1917 ), the story "The Golden Rooster" ( 1923 ), cycles of essays "Kiev types" ( 1895-1898 ), "Blessed South", "Home Paris" (both - 1927 ), literary portraits, stories for children, feuilletons. In 1937 Kuprin returned to the USSR.
Kuprin's work gives a broad panorama of Russian life, covering almost all strata of society. 1890-1910s.; the traditions of everyday prose of the second half of the 19th century are combined with elements of symbolism. A number of works embodied the writer's attraction to romantic plots and heroic images. A. Kuprin's prose is distinguished by its figurativeness, authenticity in depicting characters, richness with everyday details, and a colorful language that includes argotisms.
Russian literature of the Silver Age
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin
Biography
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich (1870 - 1938) - Russian writer. Social criticism marked the story "Moloch" (1896), in which industrialization appears in the form of a monster plant that enslaves people morally and physically, the story "Duel" (1905) - about the death of a spiritually pure hero in the deadening atmosphere of army life and the story "The Pit" (1909 - 15) - about prostitution. The variety of finely outlined types, lyrical situations in the stories and stories "Olesya" (1898), "Gambrinus" (1907), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911). Cycles of essays (Listrigones, 1907 - 11). In 1919 - 37 in exile, in 1937 he returned to his homeland. Autobiographical novel "Juncker" (1928 - 32).
Big Encyclopedic Dictionary, M.-SPb., 1998
Biography
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich (1870), prose writer.
Born on August 26 (September 7, NS) in the town of Narovchat, Penza province, in the family of a minor official who died a year after the birth of his son. Mother (from the ancient family of the Tatar princes Kulanchakovs) after the death of her husband moved to Moscow, where the future writer spent his childhood and youth. At the age of six, the boy was sent to the Moscow Razumovsky boarding house (orphanage), from where he left in 1880. In the same year he entered the Moscow Military Academy, which was transformed into the Cadet Corps.
After graduation, he continued his military education at the Aleksandrovsk cadet school (1888 - 90). Subsequently, he will describe his "military youth" in the stories "At the Break (Cadets)" and in the novel "Juncker". Even then he dreamed of becoming a "poet or novelist."
Kuprin's first literary experience was poetry that remained unpublished. The first work to be published was the story "The Last Debut" (1889).
In 1890, after graduating from a military school, Kuprin, with the rank of second lieutenant, was enrolled in an infantry regiment stationed in the Podolsk province. The officer's life, which he led for four years, provided rich material for his future works. In 1893 - 1894 in the St. Petersburg magazine "Russian wealth" published his story "In the Dark" and stories "Moonlit Night" and "Inquiry". A series of stories is devoted to the life of the Russian army: "Overnight" (1897), "Night shift" (1899), "Campaign". In 1894 Kuprin retired and moved to Kiev, having no civilian profession and having little life experience. In the following years he traveled a lot across Russia, having tried many professions, eagerly absorbing life impressions, which became the basis of his future works. In the 1890s he published the essay "Yuzovsky Plant" and the story "Molokh", the stories "Wilderness", "The Werewolf", the stories "Olesya" and "Cat" ("Warrant Officer of the Army"). During these years Kuprin met Bunin, Chekhov and Gorky. In 1901 he moved to St. Petersburg, began to work for the "Journal for Everyone", married M. Davydova, had a daughter, Lydia. In St. Petersburg magazines, Kuprin's stories appeared: "Swamp" (1902); Horse thieves (1903); "White Poodle" (1904). In 1905 his most significant work was published - the story "The Duel", which had great success. The writer's speeches with the reading of individual chapters of the "Duel" became an event in the cultural life of the capital. His works of this time were very well-behaved: the essay "Events in Sevastopol" (1905), the stories "Staff Captain Rybnikov" (1906), "The River of Life", "Gambrinus" (1907). In 1907 he married a second marriage to the sister of mercy E. Geynrikh, daughter Ksenia was born. Kuprin's work in the years between the two revolutions resisted the decadent moods of those years: a cycle of essays "Listrigones" (1907 - 11), stories about animals, stories "Shulamith", "Garnet Bracelet" (1911). His prose became a noticeable phenomenon in Russian literature at the beginning of the century. After the October Revolution, the writer did not accept the policy of war communism, the "Red Terror", he felt fear for the fate of Russian culture. In 1918 he came to Lenin with a proposal to publish a newspaper for the countryside - "Earth". At one time he worked in the publishing house "World Literature", founded by Gorky. In the fall of 1919, while in Gatchina, cut off from Petrograd by Yudenich's troops, he emigrated abroad. The seventeen years that the writer spent in Paris was an unproductive period. Constant material need, homesickness led him to the decision to return to Russia. In the spring of 1937, seriously ill Kuprin returned to his homeland, warmly received by his admirers. Published the essay "Native Moscow". However, new creative plans were not destined to come true. In August 1938 Kuprin died of cancer in Leningrad
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin (1870-1938) - famous Russian writer. His father, a small official, died a year after the birth of his son. Mother, a native of the Tatar princes Kulanchakovs, after the death of her husband moved to the capital of Russia, where Kuprin spent his childhood and youth. At the age of 6, Alexander was sent to an orphanage, where he stayed until 1880. And immediately upon leaving he entered the Moscow Military Academy.
After - he studied at the Alexander School (1888-90). In 1889, his first work, The Last Debut, saw the light of day. In 1890 Kuprin was assigned to the infantry regiment in the Podolsk province, life in which became the basis of many of his works.
In 1894 the writer retired and moved to Kiev. The following years were devoted to wandering in Russia.
In 1890 he presented to readers a variety of publications - "Molokh", "Yuzovsky Plant", "Werewolf", "Olesya", "Cat".
A talented writer. Genus. in 1870 he was brought up in Moscow, in the 2nd cadet corps and the military Alexander's school. He began to write as a cadet; his first work ("The Last Debut") was published in the Moscow humorous ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia
Kuprin, Alexander Ivanovich- Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. KUPRIN Alexander Ivanovich (1870 1938), Russian writer. In 1919 he emigrated, in 1937 he returned to his homeland. In his early works he showed the lack of freedom of man as a fatal social evil (the story of Moloch, 1896). Social ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
A talented writer. Born in August 1870 in the Penza province; on the mother's side comes from the clan of the Tatar princes Kolonchaki. He studied at the 2nd cadet corps and the Alexander military school. He began to write as a cadet; his first story: ... ... Biographical Dictionary
Russian writer. Born into the family of a poor official. He spent 10 years in closed military educational institutions, 4 years he served in an infantry regiment in the Podolsk province. In 1894 ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich- (1870-1938), writer. In 1901 he settled in St. Petersburg. He was the head of the fiction department at the Journal for All. In 1902 07 he lived at 7 Razyezzhaya Street, where the editorial office of the magazine "The World of God" was located, in which Kuprin edited for some time ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"
- (1870 1938), Russian. Writer. Perceived the poetry of L. as one of the brightest and brightest phenomena in Russian. culture of the 19th century K.'s attitude to L.'s prose is evidenced by his letter to F.F. 1924: “Do you know that the cutters of precious ... ... Lermontov Encyclopedia
- (1870 1938) Russian writer. Social criticism marked the story of Moloch (1896), in which industrialization appears in the form of a monster factory that enslaves a person physically and morally, the story Duel (1905) about the death of the spiritually pure ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (1870 1938), writer. In 1901 he settled in St. Petersburg. He was the head of the fiction department at the Journal for All. In 1902 07 he lived at 7 Razyezzhaya Street, where the editorial office of the magazine "The World of God" was located, in which K. edited for some time ... ... Saint Petersburg (encyclopedia)
The Kuprin request is redirected here. Cm. also other meanings. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin Date of birth: September 7, 1870 Place of birth: village Narovchat ... Wikipedia
- (1870 1938), Russian writer. Social criticism marked the story "Moloch" (1896), in which modern civilization appears in the form of a monster plant that enslaves a person morally and physically, the story "Duel" (1905) about death ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- Alexander Kuprin. Complete collection of novels and stories in one volume, Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich. 1216 pages. One volume contains all the novels and stories of the famous Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, written by him in Russia and in exile. ...
- Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Collection, A.I. Kuprin. Alexander Kuprin lived an unusually diverse life, which is reflected in his works. A recognized master of the laconic genre, he left us such masterpieces as "Garnet Bracelet", "In ...
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, Russian prose writer, author of stories and novels "Olesya", "At the Turning Point" (Cadets), "Duel", "Shulamith", "Pit", "Pomegranate Bracelet", "Juncker", as well as many stories and essays.
A.I. Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7, NS), 1870 in the town of Narovchat, Penza province, in the family of a hereditary nobleman, a minor official.
Alexander Kuprin as a writer, a person and a collection of legends about his stormy life is a special love of the Russian reader, akin to the first youthful feeling for life.
Ivan Bunin, jealous of his generation and rarely distributing praise, no doubt understood the inequality of everything Kuprin wrote, nevertheless he called him a writer by the grace of God.
And yet it seems that by nature, Alexander Kuprin was supposed to become not a writer, but rather one of his heroes - a circus strongman, an aviator, the leader of the Balaklava fishermen, a horse thief, or, perhaps, he would pacify his violent temper somewhere in a monastery (by the way, he made such an attempt). The cult of physical strength, a penchant for gambling, risk-taking, riot were the distinguishing features of the young Kuprin. And later he loved to measure his strength with life at the age of forty-three, suddenly began to learn stylish swimming from the world record holder Romanenko, together with the first Russian pilot Sergei Utochkin, he climbed in a balloon, sank in a diving suit to the seabed, with the famous wrestler and aviator Ivan Zaikin flew on the plane "Farman" ... However, the spark of God, apparently, cannot be extinguished.
Kuprin was born in the town of Narovchatov, Penza province on August 26 (September 7), 1870. His father, a petty official, died of cholera when the boy was not even two years old. In the family left without funds, besides Alexander, there were two more children. The mother of the future writer Lyubov Alekseevna, nee Princess Kulunchakova, came from Tatar princes, and Kuprin loved to remember his Tatar blood, even, there was a time, he wore a skullcap. In the novel "Juncker" he wrote about his autobiographical hero "... the frenzied blood of the Tatar princes, the irrepressible and indomitable of his ancestors on the maternal side, pushing him to harsh and thoughtless actions, distinguished him among the dozen cadets."
In 1874, Lyubov Alekseevna, a woman, according to the memoirs, "with a strong, unyielding character and high nobility", decides to move to Moscow. There they settle in the common room of the Widows' House (described by Kuprin in the story "Holy Lie"). Two years later, due to extreme poverty, she sends her son to the Aleksandrovskoe juvenile orphanage school. For six-year-old Sasha, the period of existence in a barracks position begins - seventeen years in length.
In 1880 he entered the Cadet Corps. Here the boy, yearning for home and freedom, draws closer to the teacher Tsukanov (in the story "At the Turning Point" - Trukhanov), a writer who "remarkably artistically" read to the pupils of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev. The teenager Kuprin also begins to try his hand at literature - of course, as a poet; who at this age has not even once crumpled a sheet of paper with the first poem! He is fond of the then fashionable poetry of Nadson. At the same time, the cadet Kuprin, already a convinced democrat, "progressive" ideas of the time seeped even through the walls of a closed military school. He angrily denounces in a rhymed form the "conservative publisher" M.N. Katkov and Tsar Alexander III himself, stigmatizes the "vile, terrible case" of the tsarist trial over Alexander Ulyanov and his accomplices, who attempted to kill the monarch.
At the age of eighteen, Alexander Kuprin enters the Third Aleksandrovskoe cadet school in Moscow. According to the memoirs of his classmate L.A. Limontova, this was no longer a "nondescript, small, clumsy cadet", but a strong young man, most of all valuing the honor of a uniform, a clever gymnast, a dancer, falling in love with every pretty partner.
His first appearance in print also belongs to the cadet period - on December 3, 1889, Kuprin's story “The Last Debut” appeared in the magazine “Russian Satirical Leaflet”. This story really almost became the first and last literary debut of the cadet. Later he recalled how, having received a fee of ten rubles for the story (for him then a huge amount), to celebrate, he bought his mother "goat boots", and for the remaining ruble he rushed to the arena to dance on a horse (Kuprin was very fond of horses and considered this " the call of the ancestors "). A few days later, the magazine with his story caught the eye of one of the teachers, and the cadet Kuprin was summoned to the authorities "Kuprin, your story" - "That's right!" - "To the punishment cell!" The future officer was not supposed to do such "frivolous" things. Like any debutant, he, of course, longed for compliments and in the punishment cell read his story to a retired soldier, an old school uncle. The latter listened attentively and said, “Well written, your honor! But you can’t understand anything ”. The story was indeed weak.
After the Alexander School, Second Lieutenant Kuprin was sent to the Dnieper Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Proskurov, Podolsk province. Four years of life “in an incredible wilderness, in one of the border towns in the southwest. Eternal dirt, herds of pigs in the streets, huts smeared with clay and dung ... "(" To glory "), many hours of drills for soldiers, gloomy officer revelations and vulgar romances with local" lionesses "made him think about the future, how he thinks about the hero of his famous story "The Duel", second lieutenant Romashov, who dreamed of military glory, but after the savagery of provincial army life, decided to retire.
These years gave Kuprin knowledge of the military life, the customs of the shtetl intelligentsia, the customs of the Polesie village, and the reader was subsequently presented with such works of his as "Inquiry", "Night Lodging", "Night Shift", "Wedding", "Slavic Soul", "Millionaire" , "Zhidovka", "Coward", "Telegraphist", "Olesya" and others.
At the end of 1893 Kuprin submitted his resignation letter and left for Kiev. By that time, he was the author of the story "In the Dark" and the story "Moonlit Night" (magazine "Russian wealth"), written in the style of sentimental melodrama. He decides to seriously engage in literature, but this "lady" is not so easy to grasp. According to him, he suddenly found himself in the position of a schoolgirl, who was taken at night into the jungle of the Olonets forests and thrown without clothes, food and a compass; “... I had no knowledge, neither scientific nor everyday,” he writes in his Autobiography. In it, he gives a list of professions that he tried to master, taking off his military uniform; he was a reporter for Kiev newspapers, a manager during the construction of a house, bred tobacco, served in a technical office, was a psalm reader, played in the theater of the city of Sumy, studied dentistry, tried to get a haircut as a monk , worked in a smithy and a carpentry workshop, unloaded watermelons, taught at a school for the blind, worked at the Yuzovsky steel plant (described in the story "Molokh") ...
This period ended with the publication of a small collection of essays "Kiev types", which can be considered Kuprin's first literary "drill". Over the next five years, he makes a rather serious breakthrough as a writer in 1896, publishes the story “Moloch” in Russkoye Wealth, where the rebellious working class was shown for the first time on a large scale, publishes the first collection of stories “Miniatures” (1897), which included “Dog's happiness "," Centenary "," Breget "," Allez "and others, followed by the story" Olesya "(1898), the story" Night shift "(1899), the story" At the turn "(" Cadets "; 1900).
In 1901 Kuprin came to St. Petersburg as a rather famous writer. He already knew Ivan Bunin, who immediately upon arrival introduced him to the house of Alexandra Arkadyevna Davydova, the publisher of the popular literary magazine Mir Bozhiy. There were rumors about her in Petersburg that she would lock up writers who begged her for an advance in her office, give them ink, a pen, paper, three bottles of beer, and release them only on condition of a finished story, immediately giving out a fee. In this house Kuprin found his first wife - the flamboyant, Hispanic Maria Karlovna Davydova, the publisher's adopted daughter.
A capable student of her mother, she, too, had a firm hand in dealing with the writing brethren. For at least seven years of their marriage - the time of Kuprin's greatest and stormy glory - she managed to keep him at his desk for quite long periods (up to the deprivation of breakfast, after which Alexander Ivanovich felt sleepy). Under her, works were written that put Kuprin in the first row of Russian writers, the stories "Swamp" (1902), "Horse thieves" (1903), "White Poodle" (1904), the story "Duel" (1905), stories "Headquarters-Captain Rybnikov "," River of Life "(1906).
After the release of "Duel", written under the great ideological influence of the "petrel of the revolution" Gorky, Kuprin became an All-Russian celebrity. Attacks on the army, exaggeration of colors - downtrodden soldiers, ignorant, drunken officers - all this "indulged" the tastes of the revolutionary-minded intelligentsia, who considered the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Russian-Japanese war their victory. This story, no doubt, was written by the hand of a great master, but today it is perceived in a slightly different historical dimension.
Kuprin passes the most powerful test - fame. “It was time,” Bunin recalled, “when the publishers of newspapers, magazines and collections on reckless drivers chased him around ... restaurants where he spent days and nights with his random and constant drinking companions, and humiliatedly begged him to take a thousand, two thousands of rubles in advance for only one promise not to forget them on occasion by his mercy, and he, overweight, big-faced, only squinted, kept silent and suddenly abruptly threw in such an ominous whisper, "Get the hell out of this minute!" - that timid people seemed to sink into the ground at once. " Dirty taverns and expensive restaurants, beggar tramps and polished snobs of the Petersburg bohemia, gypsy singers and runners, finally, an important general thrown into a pool with sterlet ... - the whole set of "Russian recipes" for the treatment of melancholy, which for some reason pours out noisy glory, was tried by him (how can you not recall the phrase of the Shakespearean hero "In what expresses the melancholy of a great spirit of man In the fact that he wants to drink").
By this time, the marriage with Maria Karlovna, apparently, had exhausted itself, and Kuprin, who does not know how to live by inertia, with youthful fervor falls in love with the teacher of his daughter Lydia - a small, fragile Lisa Geynrikh. She was an orphan and had already gone through her bitter story, visited the Russian-Japanese war as a sister of mercy and returned from there not only with medals, but also with a broken heart. When Kuprin, without delay, declared his love to her, she immediately left their house, not wanting to be the cause of the family discord. After her, Kuprin left home, having rented a room in the St. Petersburg hotel "Palais Royal".
For several weeks he rushes around the city in search of poor Lisa and, of course, grows overgrown with a sympathetic company ... When his great friend and admirer of talent, professor of St. Petersburg University Fyodor Dmitrievich Batyushkov, realized that there would be no end to this madness, he found Lisa in a small hospital, where she got a job as a sister of mercy. What did he talk to her about Maybe that she should save the pride of Russian literature .. Unknown. Only Elizaveta Moritsovna's heart trembled and she agreed to immediately go to Kuprin; however, with one firm condition, Alexander Ivanovich must be treated. In the spring of 1907, the two of them left for the Finnish sanatorium "Helsingfors". This great passion for a little woman was the reason for the creation of a wonderful story "Shulamith" (1907) -Russian "Song of Songs". In 1908, they had a daughter, Ksenia, who would later write her memoirs “Kuprin is my father”.
From 1907 to 1914 Kuprin created such significant works as the stories "Gambrinus" (1907), "Garnet Bracelet" (1910), the cycle of stories "Listrigona" (1907-1911), in 1912 he began work on the novel "The Pit". When he came out, critics saw in him an exposure of another social evil in Russia - prostitution, while Kuprin considered paid "priestesses of love" to be victims of social temperament from time immemorial.
By this time, he had already disagreed with Gorky in political views, withdrew from revolutionary democracy.
The war of 1914 Kuprin called just, liberation, for which he was accused of "state patriotism." A large photograph of him with the caption “A.I. Kuprin, drafted into the army. " However, he did not get to the front - he was sent to Finland to train recruits. In 1915, he was declared unfit for military service for health, and he returned home to Gatchina, where his family lived at that time.
After the seventeenth year, despite several attempts, Kuprin did not find a common language with the new government (although, under the patronage of Gorky, he even met with Lenin, but he did not see a "clear ideological position" in him) and left Gatchina together with the retreating army of Yudenich. In 1920, the Kuprins ended up in Paris.
After the revolution, about 150 thousand emigrants from Russia settled in France. Paris became the Russian literary capital - Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, Ivan Bunin and Alexei Tolstoy, Ivan Shmelev and Alexei Remizov, Nadezhda Teffi and Sasha Cherny, and many other famous writers lived here. All sorts of Russian societies were formed, newspapers and magazines were published ... There was even such an anecdote that two Russians are found on the Parisian boulevard. "Well, how is your life here?"
At first, while the illusion of the homeland taken away with him still lingered, Kuprin tried to write, but his gift was gradually fading away, like his once mighty health, more and more often he complained that he could not work here, because he was used to "writing off" his heroes from life ... “They are wonderful people,” Kuprin said about the French, “but he does not speak Russian, and in the shop and in the pub - it’s not our way everywhere ... So this is what - you’ll live, live, and you’ll stop writing.” His most significant work of the émigré period is the autobiographical novel Juncker (1928-1933). He became more and more quiet, sentimental - unusual for his acquaintances. Sometimes, however, the hot Kuprin blood still made itself felt. Once the writer was returning with friends from a suburban restaurant by taxi, and they started talking about literature. Poet Ladinsky called "The Duel" his best work. Kuprin insisted that the best of all that he wrote - "Garnet Bracelet" there is a high, precious feelings of people. Ladinsky called this story implausible. Kuprin was furious "Garnet bracelet" - a reality! " and challenged Ladinsky to a duel. With great difficulty, we managed to dissuade him, rolling all night around the city, as Lydia Arsenyeva recalled (“Dalnie shores”. M. “Respublika”, 1994).
Apparently, Kuprin really had something very personal connected with the "Garnet Bracelet". At the end of his life, he himself began to resemble his hero - the aged Zheltkov. "Seven years of hopeless and polite love" Zheltkov wrote unrequited letters to Princess Vera Nikolaevna. The aged Kuprin was often seen in a Parisian bistro, where he sat alone with a bottle of wine and wrote love letters to a woman he did not know well. The magazine Ogonyok (1958, No. 6) published a poem by the writer, possibly composed at that time. There are such lines "And no one in the world will know, That for years, every hour and moment, A polite, attentive old man languishes and suffers from love."
Before leaving for Russia in 1937, he no longer recognized anyone, and even he was hardly recognized. Bunin writes in his "Memoirs" "... I somehow met him on the street and gasped inwardly and there was no trace of the former Kuprin! He walked with small, pitiful steps, trudging so thin, weak that it seemed that the first gust of wind would blow him off his feet ... "
When Kuprin's wife took Kuprin to Soviet Russia, the Russian emigration did not condemn him, realizing that he was going there to die (although such things were perceived painfully in the emigre environment; they said, for example, that Alexei Tolstoy simply fled to Sovdepia from debts and creditors) ... For the Soviet government, this was politics. In the newspaper Pravda, dated June 1, 1937, a note appeared “On May 31, the famous Russian pre-revolutionary writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, who returned from emigration to his homeland, arrived in Moscow. At the Belorussky station A.I. Kuprin was met by representatives of the writers' community and the Soviet press ”.
They settled Kuprin in a rest house for writers near Moscow. One sunny summer day, Baltic sailors came to visit him. Alexander Ivanovich was carried in an armchair onto the lawn, where the sailors sang for him in chorus, approached, shook hands, said that they had read his "Duel", thanked ... Kuprin was silent and suddenly burst into tears (from the memoirs of N.D. ").
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin died on August 25, 1938 in Leningrad. In his last emigre years, he often said that you need to die in Russia, at home, like a beast that goes off to die in its den. I would like to think that he passed away reassured and reconciled.
Love Kalyuzhnaya,
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a famous Russian writer. His works, woven from real life stories, are filled with “fatal” passions and exciting emotions. Heroes and villains, from privates to generals, come to life on the pages of his books. And all this against the backdrop of unfading optimism and piercing love for life, which the writer Kuprin gives to his readers.
Biography
He was born in 1870 in the town of Narovchat in the family of an official. A year after the birth of the boy, the father dies, and the mother moves to Moscow. The childhood of the future writer passes here. At the age of six, he was sent to the Razumovsky boarding house, and upon graduation in 1880 - to the Cadet Corps. At the age of 18, after graduation, Alexander Kuprin, whose biography is inextricably linked with military affairs, enters the Alexandrovsky cadet school. Here he writes his first work "The Last Debut", which was published in 1889.
Creative way
After graduating from college, Kuprin is enrolled in an infantry regiment. Here he spends 4 years. The life of an officer provides a wealth of material for him. During this time, his stories "In the Dark", "Lodging", "Moonlit Night" and others were published. In 1894, after the resignation of Kuprin, whose biography begins with a clean slate, he moved to Kiev. The writer tries various professions, gaining valuable life experience, as well as ideas for his future works. In the years that followed, he wandered around the country a lot. The result of his wanderings are the famous stories "Moloch", "Olesya", as well as the stories "Werewolf" and "Wilderness".
In 1901, the writer Kuprin began a new stage in his life. His biography continues in St. Petersburg, where he marries M. Davydova. Here his daughter Lydia and new masterpieces are born: the story "Duel", as well as stories "White Poodle", "Swamp", "River of Life" and others. In 1907, the prose writer marries again and finds a second daughter, Xenia. This period is flourishing in the work of the author. He writes the famous stories "Garnet Bracelet" and "Shulamith". In his works of this period, Kuprin, whose biography unfolds against the background of two revolutions, shows his fear for the fate of the entire Russian people.
Emigration
In 1919 the writer emigrates to Paris. Here he spends 17 years of his life. This stage of the creative path is the most unproductive in the life of a prose writer. Homesickness, as well as a constant lack of funds, forced him to return home in 1937. But creative plans were not destined to come true. Kuprin, whose biography has always been associated with Russia, writes the essay "Native Moscow". The disease progresses, and in August 1938, the writer dies of cancer in Leningrad.
Artworks
Among the most famous works of the writer are the stories "Moloch", "Duel", "Pit", stories "Olesya", "Pomegranate bracelet", "Gambrinus". Kuprin's work touches upon various aspects of human life. He writes about pure love and prostitution, about heroes and the decaying atmosphere of army life. There is only one thing in these works - that which can leave the reader indifferent.
