Writer Belyaev's works. Alexander Romanovich Belyaev
Alexander Belyaev was called the “Russian Jules-Verne” for his ability to predict many events. In his books, Alexander predicted not only the invention of scuba gear and the orbital station, but also his own death...
Amphibian and scuba
When Alexander Belyaev, against the will of his parents, chose the profession of a lawyer, a woman who called herself a clairvoyant came to seek his protection. “I warned two women about the possible imminent death of their husbands,” she said. “And now the inconsolable widows accuse me of deliberately killing them.” Alexander just grinned: “Then predict for me,” said the writer.
“Your life will be hard, but very bright. And you yourself will be able to look into the future,” she said. After this, Alexander agreed to take on the woman’s case, and she was acquitted at the trial. But what was predicted did not take long to arrive. Belyaev was not a prophet, but he knew how to notice what ideas people had grown into modern society, on the verge of what new discoveries and achievements it is located.
One of his first novels of predictions was the famous “Amphibian Man,” where the writer foresaw the invention of an artificial lung and scuba gear with open system compressed air breathing, invented in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. By the way, the novel itself was largely biographical.
Still from the film “Amphibian Man” (1961)
As a child, Alexander had a dream in which he and his brother Vasily were crawling through a long dark tunnel. Somewhere ahead there was a light, but the brother could no longer move on. Overcoming himself, Alexander was able to get out, but without Vasily. Soon, his brother drowned while boating.
In the novel, Belyaev describes how Ichthyander, getting out into the vast expanses of the ocean, had to swim through a tunnel. He swam along it, “overcoming the cold oncoming current. It pushes off from the bottom, floats up... The end of the tunnel is near. Now Ichthyander can again give himself up to the current - it will carry him far into the open ocean.”
Air pollution
When Alexander Belyaev was forced, due to poor health, to go to Crimea for treatment, on the train he met people who had suffered as a result of a technological accident at a Kuzbass enterprise. This is how the idea of the “Air Seller” was born.
In his work, Belyaev warns of the impending environmental disaster, Where environment will be so polluted with gases and industrial emissions that clean air will turn into a commodity that will not be available to everyone.
Is it worth reminding that today, due to poor ecology, there is a constant danger of oncology walking around the world, and life expectancy is major cities is rapidly declining. Under these conditions, states are even forced to enter into international agreements, an example of which is the Kyoto Protocol to limit carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.
Orbital station
“The KETS Star” was written in 1936 under the influence of the writer’s correspondence with Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. As a matter of fact, KETS are the initials of the Soviet scientist. The entire novel is built on Tsiolkovsky’s ideas - the possibility of launching an orbital station, people going into open space, trip to the moon.
After the release of the book, which was published by the magazine “Around the World,” Tsiolkovsky wrote an enthusiastic review of it. The two dreamers were far ahead of their time - after all, the first real orbital station, Salyut, appeared in space only in 1973.
Drones
In the book “Lord of the World” (1926), Belyaev “invented” a device for transmitting thoughts over a distance on the principle of radio waves, which made it possible to instill a thought in a stranger at a distance - essentially a psychotropic weapon. In addition, in his book he predicted the emergence of unmanned aircraft; the first successful tests took place in Great Britain only in the 30s of the 20th century.
Plastic
In his novel “The Man Who Lost Face” (1929), the author presents the reader with the problem of change human body and related subsequent problems. As a matter of fact, the novel predicts modern advances plastic surgery, and the ethical problems that invariably follow.
According to the plot, the state governor turns into a black man and, as a result, experiences all the features of racial discrimination. It is somewhat reminiscent of the fate of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who changed his skin color to escape prejudice against black people.
Secret Bermuda Triangle
After the triumph of the novel “The Head of Professor Dowell,” at one of the meetings, journalists bombarded the writer with questions: “Who lives at the bottom of the ocean? Is there life on other planets? Do the Flying Dutchmen really exist? Having not found an answer to this question for himself, Belyaev delves into its study and begins to figure out...
Let's say somewhere, for example, in the area of Bermuda, there is a certain special zone. The nearby Sargasso Sea with its abundance of algae has always made local navigation difficult; ships left here after shipwrecks could easily accumulate in its waters. This is how the plot of the novel “The Island of Lost Ships” begins.
In his new work, Belyaev became the first to point out the mystery of the now famous Bermuda Triangle, the anomaly of which was first publicly announced by the Associated Press, calling this area “the devil’s sea.”
Last prediction
The year 1940 comes. Many in the country have gloomy premonitions that terrible war. And Belyaev special sensations- old illnesses make themselves felt, the writer has a presentiment - he will not survive this war. And he remembers his childhood dream, writes a novel about Ariel - a man who could fly. He himself would like to soar above the bustle of everyday life. Ariel, like Amphibian Man, is biographical. This work is a prediction of one’s own death. He wanted to fly away from this world like Ariel.
And so it happened. The writer died in 1943 from hunger in besieged Leningrad. The writer Belyaev was buried in a common grave along with many others. After this, Belyaev’s wife and daughter were captured by the Germans, and then in exile in Altai.
Upon returning from there, they found the writer’s glasses, to which was attached a note addressed to Belyaev’s wife:
“Do not look for my traces on this earth,” her husband wrote. - I'm waiting for you in heaven. Your Ariel...
Alexander Belyaev
Alexander Belyaev
Birthday: March 16, 1884. Place of Birth: Smolensk, Russia
Date of death: January 6, 1942 (57 years old)
A place of death: Pushkin, Russia
Citizenship: Russia
Biography
Alexander Romanovich Belyaev - Soviet science fiction writer, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction literature. His books are devoted to the problems of science and technology of the future. Among famous works: “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “Amphibian Man”, “Ariel”, “KETS Star” (KETS are the initials of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky) and many others (in total more than 70 science fiction works, including 13 novels).
He was born in Smolensk, into a family Orthodox priest. There were two more children in the family: sister Nina died in childhood from sarcoma; brother Vasily, a student at the veterinary institute, drowned while boating.
The father wanted to see his son as a successor to his work and sent him to a theological seminary in 1895. In 1901, Alexander graduated from theological seminary, but did not become a priest; on the contrary, he left there as a convinced atheist. In defiance of his father, he entered the Demidov Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl. Soon after his father's death, he had to earn extra money: Alexander gave lessons, painted scenery for the theater, and played the violin in the circus orchestra.
After graduating (in 1906) from the Demidov Lyceum, A. Belyaev received the position of a private attorney in Smolensk and soon gained fame as a good lawyer. He gained a regular clientele. His material opportunities also increased: he was able to rent and furnish a good apartment, acquire a good collection of paintings, and collect a large library. Having finished any business, he went to travel abroad; visited France, Italy, visited Venice.
In 1914 he left law for the sake of literature and theater.
At the age of thirty-five, A. Belyaev fell ill with tuberculous pleurisy. The treatment was unsuccessful - tuberculosis of the spine developed, complicated by paralysis of the legs. A serious illness for 6 years, three of which he was in a cast, confined him to bed. His young wife left him, saying that she didn’t get married to take care of her sick husband. In search of specialists who could help him, A. Belyaev, with his mother and old nanny, ended up in Yalta. There, in the hospital, he began to write poetry. Not giving in to despair, he is engaged in self-education: he studies foreign languages, medicine, biology, history, technology, and reads a lot (Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky). Having defeated the disease, in 1922 he returned to a full life and began to work. At first, A. Belyaev became a teacher in an orphanage, then he was given the position of criminal investigation inspector - he organized a photo laboratory there, and later he had to go to the library. Life in Yalta was very difficult, and A. Belyaev, with the help of friends, moved with his family to Moscow (1923) and got a job as a legal consultant. There he begins serious literary activity. He publishes science fiction stories and novellas in the magazines “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power”, “World Pathfinder”, earning the title of “Soviet Jules Verne”. In 1925 he published the story “The Head of Professor Dowell,” which Belyaev himself called an autobiographical story: he wanted to tell “what a head without a body can experience.”
A. Belyaev lived in Moscow until 1928; During this time he wrote “The Island of Lost Ships”, “The Last Man from Atlantis”, “Amphibian Man”, “Struggle on the Air”, and published a collection of short stories. The author wrote not only under his own name, but also under the pseudonyms A. Rom and Arbel.
In 1928, A. Belyaev and his family moved to Leningrad, and from then on he was exclusively engaged in literature, professionally. This is how “Lord of the World”, “Underwater Farmers”, “The Wonderful Eye”, stories from the series “The Inventions of Professor Wagner” appeared. They were published mainly in Moscow publishing houses. However, soon the disease made itself felt again, and I had to move from rainy Leningrad to sunny Kyiv.
The year 1930 turned out to be a very difficult year for the writer: his six-year-old daughter died of meningitis, his second daughter fell ill with rickets, and soon his own illness (spondylitis) worsened. As a result, in 1931 the family returned to Leningrad.
In September 1931, A. Belyaev handed over the manuscript of his novel “The Earth is Burning” to the editors of the Leningrad magazine “Around the World”
In 1934 he met with Herbert Wells, who arrived in Leningrad.
In 1935 Belyaev became permanent employee magazine "Around the World".
At the beginning of 1938, after eleven years of intensive cooperation, Belyaev left the magazine “Around the World”.
Shortly before the war, the writer underwent another operation, so he refused the offer to evacuate when the war began. The city of Pushkin (a suburb of Leningrad), where he lived in last years A. Belyaev with his family was occupied. In January 1942, the writer died of hunger. The writer's surviving wife and daughter were deported by the Germans to Poland.
The place of his burial is not known with certainty. And the memorial stele at the Kazan cemetery in the city of Pushkin was installed only on the supposed grave.
Creation
A. Belyaev was an enthusiastic person. From an early age he was attracted to music: he independently learned to play the violin and piano, and loved to play music for hours. Another “fun” was photography (there was a photograph he took of a “human head on a platter in blue tones"). Since childhood, I read a lot and was fond of adventure literature, especially Jules Verne. Alexander grew up restless, loved all kinds of pranks and jokes; the result of one of his pranks was an eye injury with further damage to vision. The young man also dreamed of flying: he tried to take off with brooms tied to his hands, jumped from the roof with an umbrella, and eventually took off in a small airplane. However, while trying to take off, he received an injury that affected his entire life. later life. One day he fell from the roof of a barn and significantly injured his back. In the mid-20s, Belyaev suffered from constant pain in his injured back and was even paralyzed for months.
Even while studying at the Lyceum, A. Belyaev showed himself to be a theatergoer. Under his leadership, in 1913, students of male and female gymnasiums acted out the fairy tale “Three years, three days, three minutes” with crowd scenes, choral and ballet numbers. In the same year, A. R. Belyaev and cellist Yu. N. Saburova staged Grigoriev’s opera-fairy tale “The Sleeping Princess.” He himself could act as a playwright, director, and actor. Home theater Belyaev in Smolensk was widely known, toured not only around the city, but also in its environs. Once, during the visit of the capital’s troupe to Smolensk under the direction of Stanislavsky, A. Belyaev managed to replace a sick artist and act in several performances instead.
The writer was keenly interested in the question of the human psyche: the functioning of the brain, its connection with the body, with the life of the soul and spirit. Can the brain think outside the body? Is a brain transplant possible? What consequences can anabiosis and its widespread use have? Are there limits to the possibility of suggestion? What about genetic engineering? The novels “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “Lord of the World”, “The Man Who Lost Face”, the story “The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep”, “Hoyti-Toyti” are devoted to an attempt to solve these problems.
In his science fiction novels Alexander Belyaev anticipated the appearance huge amount inventions and scientific ideas: the “KEC Star” depicts the prototype of modern orbital stations, “Amphibian Man” and “The Head of Professor Dowell” show the wonders of transplantology, “Eternal Bread” shows the achievements of modern biochemistry and genetics. A kind of continuation of these reflections were novels-hypotheses that place a person in different environments existence: ocean (“Amphibian Man”), air (“Ariel”).
His last novel in 1941 - “Ariel” - echoes the famous novel by A. Green “The Shining World”. The heroes of both novels are endowed with the ability to fly without additional accessories. The image of Ariel is the writer’s achievement, in which the author’s faith in a person overcoming “gravity” was objectively realized.
Memory
In 1990, the section of scientific, artistic and science fiction literature of the Leningrad writers' organization of the Union of Writers of the USSR established literary prize named after Alexander Belyaev, awarded for scientific, artistic and popular science works.
For Alexander Belyaev, science fiction became his life’s work. He corresponded with scientists, studied works on medicine, technology, and biology. Famous novel Belyaev's "Amphibian Man" was praised H.G. Wells, A science stories Many Soviet magazines published.
“Forensic formalism” and dreams of travel: the childhood and youth of Alexander Belyaev
Alexander Belyaev grew up in the family of an Orthodox priest in Smolensk. At the request of his father, he entered the theological seminary. Seminarians could read newspapers, magazines, books and go to the theater only after special written permission from the rector, and Alexander Belyaev loved music and literature since childhood. And he decided not to become a priest, although he graduated from the seminary in 1901.
Belyaev played the violin and piano, was interested in photography and painting, read a lot and played in the Smolensk Theater People's House. His favorite author was Jules Verne. Future writer I read adventure novels and dreamed of superpowers like their heroes. One day he even jumped from the roof in an attempt to “fly up” and seriously injured his spine.
My brother and I decided to travel to the center of the Earth. We moved tables, chairs, beds, covered them with blankets and sheets, stocked up on an oil lantern and delved into the mysterious bowels of the Earth. And immediately the prosaic tables and chairs disappeared. We saw only caves and abysses, rocks and underground waterfalls as they were depicted wonderful pictures: creepy and at the same time somehow cozy. And my heart sank from this sweet horror.
Alexander Belyaev
At the age of 18, Belyaev entered the Demidov Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl. During the First Russian Revolution, he took part in student strikes, after which the provincial gendarme department kept an eye on him: “In 1905, as a student, he built barricades in Moscow squares. He kept a diary, recording the events of the armed uprising. Already during his legal profession he spoke on political matters and was subjected to searches. I almost burned my diary.".
After graduating from the Lyceum in 1909, Alexander Belyaev returned to his native Smolensk. Father died and young man I had to support my family: I designed the scenery for the theater and played the violin in the Truzzi Circus orchestra. Later, Belyaev received the position of a private attorney, practiced law, but, as he later recalled, "advocacy - all this judicial formalism and casuistry did not satisfy". At this time, he also wrote theater reviews, reviews of concerts and literary salons for the Smolensky Vestnik newspaper.
Traveling around Europe and passion for theater
In 1911, after a successful trial, the young lawyer received a fee and went around Europe. He studied art history, traveled to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and the south of France. Belyaev traveled abroad for the first time and received a mass vivid impressions from the trip. After climbing Mount Vesuvius, he wrote travel essay, which was later published in Smolensky Vestnik.
Vesuvius is a symbol, it is the god of Southern Italy. Only here, sitting on this black lava, under which a deadly fire is seething somewhere below, does it become clear the deification of the forces of nature reigning over a small man, just as defenseless, despite all the conquests of culture, as he was thousands of years ago in blooming Pompeii.
Alexander Belyaev, excerpt from an essay
When Belyaev returned from his trip, he continued his experiments in the theater, which he began at the Lyceum. Together with Smolensk cellist Yulia Saburova, he staged the fairy tale opera “The Sleeping Princess.” Belyaev himself played in amateur productions: Karandyshev in “Dowry” and Tortsov in the play “Poverty is not a vice” based on the works of Alexander Ostrovsky, Lyubin in “Provincial Girl” by Ivan Turgenev, Astrov in “Uncle Vanya” by Anton Chekhov. When artists from the Konstantin Stanislavsky Theater were touring in Smolensk, the director saw Belyaev on stage and offered him a place in his troupe. However, the young lawyer refused.
Belyaev the science fiction writer: stories and novels
When Alexander Belyaev was 35 years old, he fell ill with spinal tuberculosis: a childhood trauma took its toll. After a complication and unsuccessful operation, Alexander Belyaev could not move for three years and walked in a special corset for another three. Together with his mother, he went to Yalta for rehabilitation. There he wrote poetry and engaged in self-education: he studied medicine, biology, technology, foreign languages, and read his beloved Jules Verne, Herbert Wells and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. All this time, nurse Margarita Magnushevskaya was next to him - they met in 1919. She became Belyaev's third wife. The first two marriages broke up quite quickly: both spouses left the writer for various reasons.
In 1922, Belyaev felt better. He returned to work: first he got a job as a teacher in Orphanage, then became a criminal investigation inspector.
I had to enter the office of the criminal investigation department, and according to the staff I am a junior policeman. I am a photographer who takes pictures of criminals, I am a lecturer who teaches courses on criminal and administrative law and a “private” legal adviser. Despite all this, we have to starve.
Alexander Belyaev
Living in Yalta was difficult, and in 1923 the family moved to the capital. Here Alexander Belyaev began to study literature: his science fiction stories were published in the magazines “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power” and “World Pathfinder”. The latter published the story “The Head of Professor Dowell” in 1925. Later writer turned it into a novel: “The situation has changed since then. Tremendous advances have been made in the field of surgery. And I decided to rework my story into a novel, making it, without breaking away from the scientific basis, even more fantastic.”. The era of Belyaev's fiction began with this work. The novel is autobiographical: when the writer could not walk for three years, he came up with the idea to write about how a head without a body would feel: “...and although I had control over my hands, my life during these years was reduced to the life of a “head without a body,” which I did not feel at all - complete anesthesia...”
In the next three years, Belyaev wrote “The Island of Lost Ships,” “The Last Man from Atlantis,” and “Struggle on the Air.” The author signed his works with pseudonyms: A. Rom, Arbel, A. R. B., B. Rn, A. Romanovich, A. Rome.
"Amphibian Man"
In 1928, one of his most popular works- novel “Amphibian Man”. The basis of the novel, as the writer’s wife later recalled, was a newspaper article about how a doctor in Buenos Aires performed prohibited experiments on people and animals. Belyaev was also inspired by the works of his predecessors - the works “Iktaner and Moisette” French writer Jean de la Hire "The Fish Man" Russian anonymous author. The novel "Amphibian Man" had big success, in the year of its first publication it was published twice as a separate book, and in 1929 it was republished for the third time.
It was my pleasure, Mr. Belyaev, to read your wonderful novels “The Head of Professor Dowell” and “Amphibian Man.” ABOUT! They compare very favorably with Western books. I'm even a little jealous of their success. In modern Western science fiction literature there is an incredible amount of baseless fantasy and just as incredibly little thought...
H.G. Wells
The Belyaevs moved to Leningrad for a short time, but due to the poor climate they soon moved to warm Kyiv. This period became very difficult for the family. Eldest daughter Lyudmila died, the youngest Svetlana became seriously ill, and the writer himself began to experience an exacerbation. Local publications accepted works only in Ukrainian. The family returned to Leningrad, and in January 1931 moved to Pushkin. At this time, Alexander Belyaev began to become interested in the human psyche: the work of the brain, its connection with the body and emotional state. About this he created the works “The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep”, “Hoyti-Toyti”, “The Man Who Lost Face”, “The Air Seller”.
Drawing attention to a big problem is more important than providing a bunch of ready-made scientific information. Push to do it on your own scientific work is the best and most that a work of science fiction can do.
Alexander Belyaev
“Understand what a scientist is working on”
In the 1930s, Belyaev became interested in space. He became friends with members of the group of Soviet engineer Friedrich Zander and members of the jet propulsion research group, and studied the works of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. After getting acquainted with the scientist’s work on an interplanetary airship, the idea for the novel “Airship” appeared. In 1934, after reading this novel, Tsiolkovsky wrote: “... wittyly written and scientific enough for imagination. Let me express my pleasure to Comrade Belyaev.”.
After this, a constant correspondence began between them. When Belyaev was undergoing treatment in Yevpatoria, he wrote to Tsiolkovsky that he was planning new novel- “Second Moon”. The correspondence was interrupted: in September 1935, Tsiolkovsky passed away. In 1936, the magazine “Around the World” published a novel about the first extraterrestrial colonies, dedicated to the great inventor, “The KETS Star” (KETS are the initials of Tsiolkovsky).
Writer working in the field science fiction, must himself be so scientifically educated that he can not only understand what the scientist is working on, but also on this basis foresee the consequences and possibilities that are sometimes unclear to the scientist himself.
Alexander Belyaev
Since 1939, Belyaev wrote articles, stories, and essays about Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Ivan Pavlov, Herbert Wells, and Mikhail Lomonosov for the Bolshevik Word newspaper. At the same time, another science fiction novel was published - “Laboratory of Dublve”, as well as the article “Cinderella” about the difficult position of science fiction in literature. Shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the writer's last lifetime novel, Ariel, was published. It was based on Belyaev’s childhood dream - to learn to fly.
In June 1941, the war began. The writer refused to be evacuated from Pushkin because he had undergone surgery. He did not leave the house, he could only get up to wash and eat. In January 1942, Alexander Belyaev passed away. His daughter Svetlana recalled: “When the Germans entered the city, we had several bags of cereal, some potatoes and a barrel sauerkraut, which was given to us by friends.<...>Even such meager food was enough for us, but for my father in his situation this was not enough. He began to swell from hunger and eventually died..."
Belyaev was buried in mass grave along with other city residents.
The circumstances of the death of the “Soviet Jules Verne” - Alexander Belyaev still remain a mystery. The writer died in the occupied city of Pushkin in 1942, but it is not very clear how and why this happened. Some argue that Alexander Romanovich died of hunger, others believe that he could not bear the horrors of the occupation, others believe that the cause of the writer’s death should be sought in his last novel.
Dying - so together
We started our conversation with the daughter of the “Soviet Jules Verne” from the “pre-occupation” period.
- Svetlana Alexandrovna, why wasn’t your family evacuated from Pushkin before the Germans entered the city?
My father had spinal tuberculosis for many years. He could move independently only in a special corset. He was so weak that leaving was out of the question. The city had a special commission that at that time was involved in the evacuation of children. He offered to take me out too, but my parents refused this offer too. In 1940, I developed tuberculosis of the knee joint, and I faced the war in a cast. Mom often repeated then: “We die together!”
- There are still quite a few versions regarding the death of your father:
Dad died of hunger. In our family, it was not customary to make any supplies for the winter. When the Germans entered the city, we had several bags of cereal, some potatoes and a barrel of sauerkraut. And when these supplies ran out, my grandmother had to go to work for the Germans. Every day she was given a pot of soup and some potato peels, from which we baked cakes. Even such meager food was enough for us, but this was not enough for my father.
- Some researchers believe that Alexander Romanovich simply could not bear the horrors of the fascist occupation...
I don’t know how my father survived all this, but I was very scared. At that time anyone could be executed without trial or investigation. Just for violating curfew or being accused of theft. Most of all we were worried about my mother. She often went to our old apartment to pick up some things from there. She could easily have been hanged as a burglar. The gallows stood right under our windows.
Is it true that the Germans didn’t even let you and your mother bury Alexander Romanovich?
Dad died on January 6, 1942. Mom went to the city government, and there it turned out that there was only one horse left in the city, and she had to wait in line. The coffin with the father's body was placed in an empty apartment next door. Many people at that time were simply covered with earth in common ditches, but they had to pay for a separate grave. Mom took some things to the gravedigger, and he swore that he would bury his father like a human being. The coffin with the body was placed in a crypt at the Kazan cemetery and was supposed to be buried with the onset of first warmth. Alas, on February 5, my mother, grandmother and I were taken prisoner, so they buried my father without us.
Death near the Amber Room
The monument to the science fiction writer at the Kazan Cemetery of Tsarskoe Selo does not stand at the writer’s grave, but at the place of his supposed burial. The details of this story were unearthed by the former chairman of the local history section of the city of Pushkin, Evgeniy Golovchiner. At one time he managed to find a witness who was present at Belyaev’s funeral. Tatyana Ivanova was disabled since childhood and lived all her life at the Kazan cemetery.
She said that at the beginning of March 1942, when the ground had already begun to thaw a little, people who had been lying in the local crypt since winter began to be buried in the cemetery. It was at this time that the writer Belyaev, along with others, was interred. Why did she remember this? Yes, because Alexander Romanovich was buried in a coffin, of which there were only two left in Pushkin at that time. Professor Chernov was buried in the other. Tatyana Ivanova also indicated the place where both of these coffins were buried. True, from her words it turned out that the gravedigger still did not keep his promise to bury Belyaev like a human being; he buried the writer’s coffin in a common ditch instead of a separate grave.
The question of why Alexander Belyaev died seems much more interesting. Publicist Fyodor Morozov believes that the writer’s death could well be connected with the mystery of the Amber Room. The fact is that last thing, which Belyaev worked on, was dedicated to this very topic. Nobody knows what he was going to write about the famous mosaic. It is only known that Belyaev told many people about his new novel even before the war and even quoted some passages to his friends. With the arrival of the Germans in Pushkin, Gestapo specialists also became actively interested in the Amber Room. By the way, they could not fully believe that they had gotten their hands on an authentic mosaic. Therefore, we actively looked for people who would have information on this matter. It was no coincidence that two Gestapo officers also went to Alexander Romanovich, trying to find out what he knew about this story. Whether the writer told them anything or not is not known. In any case, no documents have yet been found in the Gestapo archives. And here is the answer to the question whether Belyaev could have been killed because of his interest in Amber room doesn't seem that difficult. It is enough to remember what fate befell many researchers who tried to find the wonderful mosaic.
P.S. Alexander Belyaev was born on March 4 (16), 1884 in Smolensk, in the family of an Orthodox priest. As a child, he was fond of the novels of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, and played at traveling to unknown countries. After graduating from the Demidov Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl in 1906, he began practicing as a lawyer. In 1914 he left law for the sake of literature and theater. Was married three times, last time married in 1923 to Margarita Magnushevskaya, with whom he lived until the end of his days. Author of more than 70 science fiction and adventure works. The most famous of them: “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “Amphibian Man”, “Lord of the World”, “Seller of Air”, “KEC Star”.
Belyaev Alexander Romanovich (1884-1942), writer.
Born on March 16, 1884 in Smolensk into the family of a priest. WITH early childhood Belyaev lived in a world created by his imagination. The boy thirsted for adventure, secrets and exploits.
His father sent him to study at a theological seminary, but his son went his own way. After graduating from the seminary, he entered the legal lyceum in Yaroslavl and at the same time studied violin at the Moscow Conservatory and studied journalism. Upon returning to Smolensk, he worked as a sworn attorney, was music critic and a theater reviewer in the newspaper “Smolensky Vestnik” (a few years later he became its editor-in-chief).
In 1913, Belyaev went on a trip to Europe. This trip gave a lot of impressions, which were later reflected in books: he flew on a seaplane, climbed mountains, descended into craters extinct volcanoes, explored the lives of the urban poor. Two years later, a misfortune happened: a serious illness - bone tuberculosis of the spine - on for a long time Belyaev was chained to bed. Deprived of the opportunity to move, he immersed himself in reading: he studied books on medicine, biology, history, technology, followed the latest achievements Sciences. Having risen to his feet, he was forced to wear special corset, overcoming severe pain.
Since 1923, Belyaev lived in Moscow. His literary activity began in 1925, when the World Pathfinder magazine published the story "The Head of Professor Dowell" (revised into novel of the same name in 1937). His prose combines exciting fantasy plots with precise knowledge and insightful hypotheses. The main character most works became science with sensational discoveries, which can serve for the benefit of humanity or be used to its detriment, for selfish purposes.
Motifs of goodness, justice, humanism, and the responsibility of a scientist permeate Belyaev’s novels and stories (“Amphibian Man,” 1928; “Seller of the Air,” “Lord of the World,” both 1929; “Ariel,” “The Man Who Found His Face” ", both 1941, etc.).
Drawing pictures of the future, Belyaev made predictions that seemed unrealistic in those years: he described the transplantation of human organs, the use of wind energy, the extraction of water in the desert, artificial rain, gliding, all-metal airships, and talked about intra-atomic energy.
In the 30s, when the idea of conquering outer space many were skeptical; Belyaev, on the pages of his novels, had already flown to the moon, made interplanetary travel, launched rockets and scientific stations into space.
K. E. Tsiolkovsky, with whom Belyaev began to correspond, warmly supported the writer and enthusiastically read his space works (“Jump into Nothing,” 1933; “Airship,” 1934-1935).
Belyaev used different genres - from fairy tale before the pamphlet novel. He is recognized as one of the founders of modern Russian science fiction.
2014 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian writer Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. This outstanding creator is one of the founders of the genre of science fiction literature in the Soviet Union. Even in our time, it seems simply incredible that a person in his works can depict events that will happen several decades later.
The early years of the writer
So, who is Alexander Belyaev? The biography of this person is simple and unique in its own way. But unlike the millions of copies of the author’s works, not much has been written about his life.
Alexander Belyaev was born on March 4, 1884 in the city of Smolensk. In the family of an Orthodox priest, from childhood the boy was taught to love music, photography, and developed an interest in reading adventure novels and studying foreign languages.
Having graduated from theological seminary at the insistence of his father, the young man chooses the path to law, in which he has good success.
First steps in literature
While earning decent money in the legal field, Alexander Belyaev began to become more interested in works of art, travel and theater. He is also actively involved in directing and dramaturgy. In 1914 in Moscow children's magazine"Thawed Land" published his debut play "Grandma Moira".
An insidious disease
In 1919, tuberculous pleurisy suspended the young man’s plans and actions. Alexander Belyaev struggled with this disease for more than six years. The writer tried his best to eradicate this infection within himself. Due to unsuccessful treatment, it developed which led to paralysis of the legs. As a result, of the six years spent in bed, the patient spent three years in a cast. The indifference of the young wife further undermined the writer's morale. During this period, this is no longer the carefree, cheerful and cheerful Alexander Belyaev. His biography is full of tragic life moments. In 1930, his six-year-old daughter Lyuda died, and his second daughter Svetlana fell ill with rickets. Against the backdrop of these events, the illness tormenting Belyaev is also worsening.
Throughout his life, battling his illness, this man found strength and immersed himself in the study of literature, history, foreign languages and medicine.
Long-awaited success
In 1925, while living in Moscow, the aspiring writer published the story “The Head of Professor Dowell” in Rabochaya Gazeta. And from that moment on, the works of Alexander Belyaev were published en masse in the then famous magazines “World Pathfinder”, “Knowledge is Power” and “Around the World”.
During his stay in Moscow, the young talent creates many magnificent novels - “Amphibian Man”, “The Last Man from Atlantis”, “Island of Lost Ships” and “Struggle on the Air”.
At the same time, Belyaev is published in the unusual newspaper “Gudok”, in which people like M.A. also left their mark. Bulgakov, E.P. Petrov, I.A. Ilf, V.P. Kataev,
Later, after moving to Leningrad, he published the books “The Wonderful Eye”, “Underwater Farmers”, “Lord of the World”, as well as the stories “The Inventions of Professor Wagner”, which Soviet citizens read with rapture.
The last days of the prose writer's life
The Belyaev family lived in the suburbs of Leningrad, the city of Pushkin, and found themselves under occupation. The weakened body could not withstand the terrible hunger. In January 1942, Alexander Belyaev passed away. After some time, the writer’s relatives were deported to Poland.
Before today It remains a mystery where Alexander Belyaev was buried, short biography which is filled with man’s constant struggle for life. And yet, in honor of the talented prose writer, a memorial stele was erected in Pushkin at the Kazan cemetery.
The novel "Ariel" is Belyaev's latest creation; it was published by the publishing house " Modern writer"shortly before the author's death.
"Life after death
More than 70 years have passed since the Russian science fiction writer passed away, but his memory lives on in his works to this day. At one time, the work of Alexander Belyaev was subjected to strict criticism, and sometimes he heard mocking reviews. However, the science fiction writer’s ideas, which previously seemed ridiculous and scientifically impossible, eventually convinced even the most inveterate skeptics of the opposite.
Many films have been made based on the novels of the prose writer. Thus, since 1961, eight films have been filmed, some of them are part of the classics of Soviet cinema - “The Amphibian Man”, “The Testament of Professor Dowell”, “The Island of Lost Ships” and “The Air Seller”.
The story of Ichthyander
Perhaps the most famous work A.R. Belyaev’s novel “Amphibian Man,” which was written in 1927. It was he, along with “The Head of Professor Dowell,” that H.G. Wells highly appreciated.
Belyaev was inspired to create “Amphibian Man” by, firstly, memories of reading the novel “Iktaner and Moisette” by the French writer Jean de la Hire, and secondly, a newspaper article about the trial taking place in Argentina in the case of a doctor who conducted various experiments over people and animals. Today, it is practically impossible to establish the name of the newspaper and the details of the process. But this once again proves that, when creating his science fiction works, Alexander Belyaev tried to rely on real life facts and events.
In 1962, directors V. Chebotarev and G. Kazansky filmed “Amphibian Man.”
"The Last Man from Atlantis"
One of the author’s very first works, “The Last Man from Atlantis,” did not go unnoticed in Soviet and world literature. In 1927, it was included in Belyaev’s first author’s collection along with “The Island of Lost Ships.” From 1928 to 1956, the work was forgotten, and only since 1957 it was republished several times in the territory of the Soviet Union.
The idea of searching for the disappeared Atlantean civilization dawned on Belyaev after reading an article in the French newspaper Le Figaro. Its content was such that in Paris there was a society for the study of Atlantis. At the beginning of the twentieth century this kind associations were quite common, they enjoyed increased interest among the population. The insightful Alexander Belyaev decided to take advantage of this. The science fiction writer used the note as a prologue to “ To the last man from Atlantis." The work consists of two parts and is perceived by the reader quite simply and excitingly. The material for writing the novel was drawn from the book by Roger Devigne “The Vanished Continent. Atlantis, the sixth part of the world."
Prophecies of a science fiction writer
When comparing the predictions of science fiction representatives, it is important to note that the scientific ideas of books Soviet writer Alexandra Belyaev were 99 percent successful.
So, main idea novel "The Head of Professor Dowell" became the possibility of reviving the human body after death. Several years after the publication of this work, Sergei Bryukhonenko, the great Soviet physiologist, carried out similar experiments. A widespread achievement in medicine today - surgical restoration of the lens of the eye - was also foreseen by Alexander Belyaev more than fifty years ago.
The novel “Amphibian Man” became prophetic in the scientific development of technologies for long-term human stay under water. Thus, in 1943, the French scientist Jacques-Yves Cousteau patented the first scuba gear, thereby proving that Ichthyander is not such an unattainable image.
Successful tests of the first in the thirties of the twentieth century in Great Britain, as well as the creation of psychotropic weapons - all this was described by the science fiction writer in the book “Lord of the World” back in 1926.
The novel “The Man Who Lost Face” tells the story of the successful development of plastic surgery and the ethical problems that arose in connection with this. In the story, the state governor transforms into a black man, taking upon himself all the burdens of racial discrimination. Here we can draw a certain parallel in the destinies of the mentioned hero and the famous American singer Michael Jackson, who, fleeing unjust persecution, underwent a considerable number of operations to change the color of his skin.
All my creative life Belyaev struggled with the disease. Deprived physical capabilities, he tried to reward the heroes of the books unusual abilities: communicate without words, fly like birds, swim like fish. But infecting the reader with interest in life, in something new - isn’t this the true talent of a writer?
