Andreev's years of life and death. Biography of Leonid Andreev

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev was born in Orel in 1871. His family belonged to the small provincial intelligentsia. His father died early, and the Andreevs lived in poverty, but Leonid received an ordinary middle-class education at the Oryol gymnasium and then (in 1891) entered St. Petersburg University. At the end of the first semester, he tried to commit suicide due to love disappointment, returned home and spent several years in idleness.

Portrait of Leonid Andreev. Artist I. Repin, 1904

Andreev, like almost all Russian intelligent young people who are not absorbed revolutionary ideas, there were no vital interests. His whole life was an attempt to fill the spiritual emptiness with something. Usually, to fill the void, they started drinking, because a person needed intoxication in order to endure. He was not at all gloomy and lonely: he had many friends, he was sociable and cheerful. But his gaiety was artificial, strained, and underneath it lurked a vague, unformed confusion. It is characteristic that in his youth Andreev had such an episode: he lay down on the sleepers between the rails, and the train passed over him without hitting him. Andreev liked to play with horror; later his favorite reading was stories Edgar Poe.

Leonid Andreev. Darling of fate

In 1893, Andreev returned to university - this time Moscow - received a law degree and was admitted to the bar (1897). But even before that he began his literary career. At first he published courtroom reports and short stories in Oryol newspapers. He did not practice law for long, as he soon began to be published in literary magazines, and from 1898 his stories already attracted the attention of critics and fellow writers. One of the first to approve of Andreev was Gorky. They struck up a friendship that lasted until the end of 1905.

By 1900, Leonid Andreev’s prose began to sound his own Andreev note, and in 1901 one of his best stories – Lived once. He is immediately hailed as the hope of a new realism and worthy younger brother Gorky. The first book of his stories was a huge success. These were happiest years in Andreev's life. He had just been happily married, he was surrounded by devoted friends, mostly young prose writers, who looked at him as a master; his fame grew, he earned a lot of money. And it was at the height of happiness that he finally found a note of hopeless despair, which became main feature his literary creativity.

Two stories were published in 1902 Abyss And In the fog, in which the theme of sex was developed with unusual realism and boldness. Despite the obvious seriousness, even moralism, of both stories, the conservative and old-fashioned radical press greeted them with indignation, and Countess S. A. Tolstaya wrote angry letter to the newspaper, protesting against such dirt in literature. She couldn't help but notice in the story In the fog the influence of her husband. Since then, all of Russia has been arguing about Andreev; newspapers, mentioning him, lost their last vestiges of restraint. But Andreev’s success among readers only grew from this, and from 1902 to 1908 each of his new story was becoming literary event and brought it to him new glory and new money. He got rich.

In 1906, Andreev’s first wife died, he married a second time, but never again found his former happiness; darkness and emptiness now reigned in his life, as well as in his work. Andreev lived in Kuokkala in Finland, where he built an ambitious house in the Art Nouveau style. He dressed no less pretentiously. He needed constant stimulation. He did not stop drinking, but the need for stimulants was expressed mainly in the rapidly changing hobbies in which he indulged: now he was a sailor, now an artist - and everything he did, he did “to go out”: he loved grandiose things in life too. , and in literature. He worked the same way he lived: in fits and starts, dictating all night long, finishing stories and plays unusually quickly, and then doing nothing for months. When he dictated, his words flowed out in a monotonous flow of rhythmic prose at such a speed that the typists could barely keep up with him.

After 1908, Leonid Andreev's popularity began to decline. Now it was not only against him older generation, but also a more dangerous enemy - young literary schools, whose influence was rapidly growing: these simply considered him (and not without reason) soap bubble in literature. His talent also began to decline. After The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men(1908) he wrote nothing significant. By 1914 it had become its own literary shadow. But World War awakened him to new life. This was a new stimulant. He fell into patriotism and anti-Germanism, began to write openly propaganda books, and in 1916 became the editor of a new large anti-German newspaper.

In 1917 he took a strong anti-Bolshevik position and during Civil War - the sounds of which reached his Kuokkala dacha - made a great contribution to propaganda against Bolsheviks. His last piece – S.O.S.– was a passionate appeal to the allies to save Russia from communist tyranny. He died in September 1919 to the sound of red cannons reflecting the last white offensive on Petrograd.

The personality of Leonid Andreev has become the topic of numerous memoirs. The most interesting ones are Gorky and Chukovsky.

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev (1871-1919) - Russian writer, founder of Russian expressionism, one of the representatives Silver Age Russian literature.

Leonid Andreev was born on August 9 (21), 1871, in the city of Orel, Russian Empire. His father, Nikolai Ivanovich Andreev (1847-1889) was a land surveyor, and his mother Anastasia Nikolaevna Patskovskaya was the daughter of a Polish landowner.

Leonid showed an interest in reading from childhood. He studied at the Oryol classical gymnasium (1882-1891). He was fond of the works of Schopenhauer and Hartmann.

Youthful impressionability and developed imagination several times prompted him to act recklessly: at the age of 17, he decided to test his willpower and lay down between the rails in front of an approaching locomotive, but fortunately, he remained unharmed.

After graduating from high school, Andreev entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. After my father's death financial situation his family deteriorated, and Andreev himself began to abuse alcohol. At one time, Andreev even had to go hungry. In St. Petersburg, I tried to write my first stories, but, as Andreev recalls in his memoirs, they were returned from the editorial office with laughter. Expelled for non-payment, he entered the law faculty of Moscow University. In Moscow, in Andreev’s own words: “materially life was better: comrades and the committee helped.”

In 1894, after a love failure, Andreev tried to commit suicide. The consequence of an unsuccessful shot was church repentance and heart disease, which subsequently caused the death of the writer. After this incident, Leonid Andreev was again forced to live in poverty: now he needed to feed his mother, his sisters and brothers, who had moved to Moscow. He supported himself by doing odd jobs, teaching, and painting portraits to order. IN political activity did not participate.

In 1897, he successfully passed the final exams at the university, which opened the way for him to become a lawyer, which he practiced until 1902. In the same year he begins his journalistic activity in the newspapers “Moskovsky Vestnik” and “Courier”. He signed his feuilletons with the pseudonym James Lynch. In 1898, his first story was published in the Courier: “Bargamot and Garaska.” According to Andreev, the story was an imitation of Dickens, but the young author was noticed by Maxim Gorky, who invited Andreev to the “Knowledge” publishing partnership, which unites many young writers.

The first Russian revolution and pre-war years

The year 1901 became a turning point in the biography of the writer Leonid Andreev. Real fame came to him after his story “Once upon a time” was published in the magazine “Life”.

In 1902, Andreev married A. M. Veligorskaya, the great-niece of Taras Shevchenko. A few days before the wedding, Andreev gave the bride the first collection of his stories.

In the same year, he became the editor of the Courier, and was forced to give the police a written undertaking not to leave the place because of his connection with revolutionary-minded students. Thanks to the help of Maxim Gorky large circulation The first volume of his works was published. During these years, the direction of creativity and its literary style became clear.

In 1905 he welcomed the First Russian Revolution; hid hiding members of the RSDLP in his home, on February 10 he was sent to Taganskaya prison because the day before a secret meeting of the Central Committee was held at his apartment (on February 25 he was released on bail paid by Savva Morozov). In the same year, he wrote the story “The Governor,” which became a response to the murder of Moscow Governor-General Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich on February 17 by the Socialist-Revolutionary I. Kalyaev.

In 1906, the writer was forced to leave for Germany, where his second son, Daniel, was born, who would later become a writer (he wrote the treatise “Rose of the World”). In December of the same year, his wife died of postpartum fever (buried in Moscow in the cemetery Novodevichy Convent).

Andreev leaves for Capri (Italy), where he lives with Gorky (from December 1906 to the spring of 1907). After the start of the reaction in 1907, Andreev became disillusioned with the revolution itself. He moves away from Gorky's revolutionary-minded writing circle.

In 1908, Andreev married Anna Ilyinichna Denisevich (Karnitskaya) and moved to own house to Wammelsa. In the villa "Advance" (the name was chosen because the house was built with an advance from the publisher), Leonid Andreev writes his first dramatic works.

Since 1909, he has been actively collaborating with modernist almanacs from the publishing house "Rosehovnik". From a note in the Moscow Newspaper, 1912: “Leonid Andreev is going on a trip to Africa the other day. The journey will last about two months. The talented writer feels healthy and vigorous and is now busy studying various guidebooks and books about Africa.”

First World War and the revolution of 1917

Leonid Andreev greeted the beginning of the First World War with enthusiasm. From an interview with the New York Times, September 1914: “It is necessary to defeat Germany - this is a matter of life and death not only for Russia - the greatest Slavic state, all of whose possibilities lie ahead, but also for European states. The defeat of Germany will be the defeat of the All-European reaction and the beginning of a new cycle of European revolutions.”

During the war, Andreev published a drama about military events in Belgium (“The King, Law and Freedom”). In 1914, the drama was filmed by the A. Khanzhonkov Joint Stock Company. However, the writer’s works at that time were devoted mainly not to war, but to bourgeois life, the theme “ little man».

After February Revolution In 1917 he was a member of the editorial board of the reactionary newspaper “Russian Will”.

Leonid Andreev did not welcome the October Revolution. After the separation of Finland from Russia, he ended up in exile. Latest works The writer is imbued with pessimism and hatred of the Bolshevik authorities (“Diary of Satan”, “SOS”).

On September 12, 1919, Leonid Andreev died suddenly of a heart defect in the town of Mustamäki, (Neivola, Finland) at the dacha of his friend, the doctor and writer F. N. Falkovsky. He was buried in Marioki. In 1956 he was reburied in Leningrad on the Literary Bridge at the Volkov Cemetery.

Since 1956 it selected works often republished in the USSR. In 1991, the Leonid Andreev House-Museum opened in Orel, the writer’s homeland. The website of the house museum has been operating since 2015.

Creativity, basic ideas

The first works of Leonid Andreev, largely under the influence of the disastrous conditions in which the writer then found himself, are imbued with critical analysis modern world(“Bargamot and Garaska”, “City”). However, back in early period The writer’s creative work revealed his main motives: extreme skepticism, disbelief in the human mind (“The Wall”, “The Life of Basil of Thebes”), and a passion for spiritualism and religion arises (“Judas Iscariot”). The stories “The Governor”, “Ivan Ivanovich” and the play “To the Stars” reflect the writer’s sympathy for the revolution. However, after the start of the reaction in 1907, Leonid Andreev abandoned all revolutionary views, believing that a revolt of the masses could only lead to great casualties and great suffering (see “The Story of the Seven Hanged Men”). In his story “Red Laughter” Andreev painted a picture of horror modern warfare(reaction to the Russo-Japanese War). The dissatisfaction of his heroes with the surrounding world and order invariably results in passivity or anarchic rebellion. The writer's dying writings are imbued with depression and the idea of the triumph of irrational forces. In particular, in the unfinished novel “The Diary of Satan,” Andreev pursues the idea that modern man has become more evil and cunning than the devil himself. Andreev's poor Satan was duped by people he met in Rome and turned out to be a weak loser.

Leonid Andreev's creative style is unique and is a combination of various literary trends.

Despite the pathetic mood of the works, literary language Andreeva, assertive and expressive, with emphasized symbolism, met with a wide response in the artistic and intellectual environment pre-revolutionary Russia. Positive reviews Maxim Gorky, Roerich, Repin, Blok, Chekhov and many others wrote about Andreev. Andreev's works are distinguished by sharp contrasts, unexpected plot twists, combined with the schematic simplicity of the style. Leonid Andreev recognized an outstanding writer The Silver Age of Russian Literature.

Childhood

Born in Orel into a wealthy family of land surveyor Nikolai Ivanovich Andreev (1847-1889) and Anastasia Nikolaevna Andreeva (Patkovskaya), the daughter of a bankrupt Polish landowner. Since childhood, he showed interest in reading. He studied at the Oryol classical gymnasium (1882-1891). He was fond of the works of Schopenhauer and Hartmann.

Youth

His youthful impressionability and developed imagination prompted him to take reckless actions several times: at the age of 17, he decided to test his willpower and lay down between the rails in front of an approaching locomotive, but remained unharmed.

After graduating from high school, Andreev entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University; After the death of his father, the financial situation of his family worsened, and Andreev himself began to abuse alcohol. At one time, Andreev even had to go hungry. In St. Petersburg, I tried to write my first stories, but, as Andreev recalls in his memoirs, they were returned from the editorial office with laughter. Expelled for non-payment, he entered the Law Faculty of Moscow University. In Moscow, in Andreev’s own words: “materially life was better: comrades and the committee helped.”

In 1897 he successfully passed the final exams at the university, which opened the way for him to become a lawyer, which he practiced until 1902. In the same year he began his journalistic career in the newspapers Moskovsky Vestnik and Courier. He signed his feuilletons with the pseudonym “James Lynch.” In 1898, his first story was published in the Courier: “Bargamot and Garaska.” According to Andreev, the story was an imitation of Dickens, but the young author was noticed by Maxim Gorky, who invited Andreev to the “Knowledge” publishing partnership, which unites many young writers.

The first Russian revolution and pre-war years

Real glory came to Andreev after the publication of his story “Once Upon a Time” in the magazine “Life” in 1901.

In 1902, Andreev married A. M. Veligorskaya, the great-niece of Taras Shevchenko. In the same year, he became the editor of the Courier, and was forced to give the police a written undertaking not to leave the place because of his connection with revolutionary-minded students. Thanks to the help of Maxim Gorky, the first volume of his works was published in large quantities. During these years, the direction of creativity and its literary style became clear.

In 1905 he welcomed the First Russian Revolution; hid hiding members of the RSDLP in his home; on February 10 he was put in prison because the day before a secret meeting of the Central Committee was held at his apartment (on February 25 he was released on bail paid by Savva Morozov). In the same year, he will write the story “The Governor,” which became a response to the murder of Moscow Governor-General Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich on February 17 by the Socialist-Revolutionary I. Kalyaev.

In 1906, the writer was forced to leave for Germany, where his second son, Daniel, was born, who would later become a writer (he wrote the treatise “Rose of the World”). His wife dies from childbirth (she is buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Convent cemetery).

Andreev leaves for Capri (Italy), where he lives with Gorky. After the start of the reaction in 1907, Andreev became disillusioned with the revolution itself. He moves away from Gorky's revolutionary-minded writing circle.

In 1908, Andreev married A.I. Denisevich (Karnitskaya) and moved to his own house in Wammelsu. In the villa "Advance" (the name was chosen because the house was built with an advance from the publisher), Leonid Andreev writes his first dramatic works.

Since 1909, he has been actively collaborating with modernist almanacs from the publishing house "Rosehovnik".

The First World War, the 1917 Revolution and the death of the writer

Leonid Andreev met the beginning of the First World War with enthusiasm:

During the war, Andreev published a drama about military events in Belgium (“The King, Law and Freedom”). However, the writer’s works at that time were mainly devoted not to war, but to bourgeois life, the theme of the “little man.”

After the February Revolution of 1917, he was a member of the editorial board of the reactionary newspaper Russkaya Volya.

He did not accept the October Revolution. After the separation of Finland from Russia, he ended up in exile. The writer’s latest works are imbued with pessimism and hatred of the Bolshevik authorities (“Diary of Satan”, “SOS”).

On September 12, 1919, Leonid Andreev died suddenly from a heart defect. He was buried in Marioki. In 1956 he was reburied in Leningrad at the Volkov cemetery. Since 1956, his selected works have been frequently republished in the USSR.

In 1991, the house-museum of Leonid Andreev was opened in Orel, the writer’s homeland.

sons

Vadim Leonidovich (1902-1976) - poet, society. activist
Daniil Leonidovich (1906-1959) - poet, prose writer, mystical philosopher.
Savva Leonidovich (1909-1970) - artist, ballet dancer.
Valentin Leonidovich (1912-1988) - artist, choreographer, writer, translator.

Daughter

Vera Leonidovna (1910-1986) - prose writer, memoirist.

Addresses in St. Petersburg - Petrograd

1907?1908 - apartment building K. Kh. Geldalya - Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, 13;
1914–1917 - apartment building of K. I. Rosenstein - Bolshoi Avenue of the Petrograd Side, 75.

Creativity, basic ideas

The first works of Leonid Andreev, largely influenced by the disastrous conditions in which the writer then found himself, are imbued with a critical analysis of the modern world (“Bargamot and Garaska”, “City”). However, even in the early period of the writer’s work, his main motives appeared: extreme skepticism, disbelief in the human mind (“The Wall”, “The Life of Basil of Thebes”), and a passion for spiritualism and religion arises (“Judas Iscariot”). The stories “The Governor”, “Ivan Ivanovich” and the play “To the Stars” reflect the writer’s sympathy for the revolution. However, after the start of the reaction in 1907, Leonid Andreev abandoned all revolutionary views, believing that a revolt of the masses could only lead to great casualties and great suffering (see “The Story of the Seven Hanged Men”). In his story “Red Laughter,” Andreev painted a picture of the horrors of modern war (a reaction to the Russo-Japanese War of 1905). The dissatisfaction of his heroes with the surrounding world and order invariably results in passivity or anarchic rebellion. The writer's dying writings are imbued with depression and the idea of the triumph of irrational forces.

Despite the pathetic mood of his works, Andreev’s literary language, assertive and expressive, with emphasized symbolism, met with a wide response in the artistic and intellectual circles of pre-revolutionary Russia. Maxim Gorky, Roerich, Repin, Blok, Chekhov and many others left positive reviews about Andreev. Andreev’s works are distinguished by sharp contrasts, unexpected turns plot, combined with the schematic simplicity of the syllable. Leonid Andreev is recognized as a bright writer of the Silver Age of Russian literature.

Works

Stories

1898 - “Bargamot and Garaska”
1898 - “From the life of staff captain Kablukov”
1898 - “Defense”
1898 - “Alyosha the Fool”
1899 - “Angel”
1899 - "Friend"
1899 - " Grand slam»
1899 - “At the Window”
1899 - “Petka at the Dacha”
1899 - “Melkom”
1900 - “Into the Dark Distance”
1901 - "The Abyss"
1900 - "Silence"
1901 - “Biter”
1901 - “Case”
1901 - “The Wall”
1902 - “In the Fog”
1902 - "City"
1902 - “Theft was coming”
1902 - “Thought”
1904 - "The Thief"
1904 - “Red Laughter”
1904 - “No Forgiveness”
1905 - “The Governor”
1905 - "Christians"
1905 - “La Marseillaise”
1906 - “So it was”
1906 - “Eleazar”
1907 - “From a story that will never be finished”
1907 - "Darkness"
1908 - “Ivan Ivanovich”
1908 - “The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men”
1909 - “Son of Man”
1910 - “A snake’s story about how it got poisonous teeth”
1911 - “Rules of Good”
1913 - “Earth”
1913 - “He (Tale of the Unknown)”
1913 - “Flight”
1914 - “Herman and Margarita”
1915 - “Donkeys”
1916 - “Two Letters”
1916 - “Victim”

Plays

1906 - “To the Stars”
1907 - “The Life of a Man”
1907 - “Savva”
1908 - “Tsar Hunger”
1909 - “Anatema”
1909 - “Days of Our Lives”
1910 - “Anfisa”
1910 - "Gaudeamus"
1912 - “Ekaterina Ivanovna”
"Thought"
"The One Who Gets Slapped"

Novels and stories

1903 - “The Life of Vasily Fiveysky”
1905 - “The Governor”
1907 - “Judas Iscariot and others”
1911 - “Sashka Zhegulev”
1916 - “The Yoke of War”
1919 - “The Diary of Satan” (not finished)

Film adaptations of works

1916 - The one who gets slapped ( Russian empire)
1920 - The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men (the film has not survived)
1924 - The One Who Gets Slapped (USA)
1928 - White Eagle (based on the story “The Governor”)
1987 - Christians
1988 - Love for one’s neighbor (based on the stories “Monument” and “Love for one’s neighbor”)
1988 - In a familiar street.. (based on the story “Ivan Ivanovich”)
1989 - The Jubilant Beast (short film, based on the story “The Abyss”)
1990 - Purification
1991 - Night of Sinners (based on the story “Darkness”) (also called “The Highest Truth of Bomber Alexei”)
2009 - Abyss (Russia)

Editions

Leonid Andreev. Complete collection works., vol. I-VIII. St. Petersburg, ed. A. F. Marx, 1913.
Leonid Andreev. Novels and short stories in two volumes. - M., IHL, 1971. (T.1: 1898-1906 - 688 pp. T.2: 1907-1919 - 432 pp.)
Andreev L. N. Dramatic works. In 2 volumes / Comp., author intro. Art. and note. Yu. N. Chirva. - L.: Art, 1989. (T. 1.: To the stars, Savva, Human life, Tsar Hunger, Anathema, Ocean; T. 2.: Days of our lives, Ekaterina Ivanovna, Cain’s seal, Thought, Samson in chains, Dog Waltz, He Who Gets Slapped, Requiem)

Russian literature of the Silver Age

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev

Biography

Andreev Leonid Nikolaevich (1871 - 1919), prose writer, playwright.

Born on August 9 (21 NS) in the city of Orel in the family of an official. At the age of six he learned to read “and read extremely a lot, everything that came to hand.” At the age of 11 he entered the Oryol gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1891. early childhood“I felt a passionate attraction to painting,” I painted a lot, but since there were no schools or teachers in Orel, “the whole thing was limited to fruitless amateurism.” Despite such a strict assessment of Andreev’s own painting, his paintings were subsequently exhibited at exhibitions next to the works of professionals and reproduced in magazines. In his youth he did not think of becoming a writer.

At the age of 26, having graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, he was planning to become a sworn attorney and took this activity very seriously, but unexpectedly received an offer from a lawyer he knew to take the place of a court reporter in the Moskovsky Vestnik newspaper. Having received recognition as a talented reporter, literally two months later he moved to the Kurier newspaper. Thus began the birth of the writer Andreev: he wrote numerous reports, feuilletons, and essays. The very first story, “Bargamot and Garaska” (1898), published in “Courier,” attracted the attention of readers and delighted Gorky. The plots of many works of this time were directly suggested by life, for example, the story “Petka at the Dacha” (1899). In 1889 - 99, new stories by L. Andreev appeared, including “The Grand Slam” and “Angel”, which are distinguished from the first stories (based on incidents from life) by the author’s interest in chance, chance in human life. In 1901, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Znanie", headed by Gorky, published "Stories" by L. Andreev, including famous story- "Lived once". The success of the writer, especially among young people, was enormous. Andreev was worried about increasing alienation and loneliness modern man, his lack of spirituality - the stories “City” (1902), “In the Grand Slam” (1899). Early Andreev is concerned with themes fatal accident, madness and death - “Thought” (1902), “The Life of Vasily of Fiveysky” (1903), “Ghosts” (1904). In 1904, at the height of the Russian-Japanese War, Andreev wrote the story “Red Laughter,” which determined new stage in his work. The madness of war is expressed in symbolic image Red laughter, beginning to dominate the world. During the revolution of 1905, Andreev provided assistance to the revolutionaries, for which he was arrested and imprisoned. However, he was never a convinced revolutionary. His doubts were reflected in his work: the play “To the Stars,” imbued with revolutionary pathos, appeared simultaneously with the story “It Was So,” which skeptically assessed the possibilities of the revolution. In 1907 - 10 such modernist works as “Sava”, “Darkness”, “Tsar Hunger” were published. philosophical dramas- “Human Life”, “Black Masks”, “Anatema”. During these years, Andreev began to actively collaborate with the modernist almanacs of the publishing house "Rosehovnik". In the 1910s, none of Andreev’s new works became a literary event, nevertheless Bunin writes in his diary: “Still, this is the only one modern writers, to whom I am attracted, whose every new thing I read it right away.” Andreev's last major work, written under the influence of world war and revolution, is “Notes of Satan.” October revolution Andreev did not accept. At that time he lived with his family at a dacha in Finland and in December 1917, after Finland gained independence, he found himself in exile. Andreev died on September 12, 1919 in the village of Neivola in Finland.

Andreev Leonid Nikolaevich was born on August 9, 1871 in the city of Orel. His father was an official. I started reading at the age of six, and read a lot. At the age of eleven he was admitted to the Oryol gymnasium, and graduated from it in 1891. From early childhood he was drawn to painting, he painted a lot of pictures, although he did not study anywhere. As a result, his paintings were exhibited next to paintings by professionals. Then he studied to become a lawyer at Moscow University. In the future I wanted to become a sworn attorney, but unexpectedly I received an offer for the position of a court reporter in the local newspaper Moskovsky Vestnik. A couple of months later I changed the newspaper to Kurier. In this newspaper he published his first creation “Bargamot and Garaska” in 1898. He took some of the plots of his stories from life - “Petka in the Dacha” 1899. During next year Andree writes the stories “Grand Slam”, “Angel”.

The year is 1901, the publishing house “Znanie” publishes “Stories” by Andreev, including “Once Upon a Time.” In the stories “City” of 1902 and “In a Big Helmet” the author worries about moving away from his spiritual contemporary. He is also interested in the themes of death and madness, a fatal accident of fate - the stories “Thought” 1902, “The Life of Vasily Fiveysky” 1903. “Red Laughter” 1904 is a cry from the soul about the madness of war, which is beginning to dominate the world (the height of the Russian- Japanese war). In 1905 Andreev was imprisoned for helping the revolutionaries. Later he began to have doubts about the beliefs of the revolution. And the play “To the Stars” and the story “So It Was” appeared on paper. “Sava”, “Darkness”, “Tsar Hunger” - works in a modernist manner, and philosophical dramas - “Anatema”, “Human Life”, “Black Masks”, were published in 1907 - 1910. During these same years, the writer began collaborating with the almanacs of the Rosehip publishing house.

The Silver Age gave Russian literature many bright names. One of the founders of Russian expressionism, Leonid Andreev, with his unique style, rightfully takes his place in the galaxy of talents turn of XIX-XX centuries.

Childhood and youth

On August 9, 1871, a boy was born into the family of land surveyor Nikolai Ivanovich and the daughter of a Polish landowner Anastasia Nikolaevna, née Patskovskaya. The baby was named Leonid, and it was he who was destined to write works in the future that still touch hearts and touch hidden strings human soul.

The Andreevs lived in the city of Orel on 2nd Pushkarnaya Street - the one on which the writer later settled the characters of one of his first stories, “Bargamot and Garaska.” By the time the child was born, the land surveyor's family had finally gained at least some kind of financial stability.

Leonid's father was respected by his neighbors for his strong character and love of justice. Unfortunately, Nikolai Ivanovich liked to drink, and when he drank, he liked to fight. Leonid Andreev later said that he inherited his craving for alcohol and his character from his father. And from a mother, albeit poorly educated, but with a rich imagination, - creative gift.

At the Oryol classical gymnasium, the future prose writer studied carelessly and even stayed for the second year. What he was good at was essays, which he often wrote for his classmates. Then Leonid showed a talent for imitation - he could easily “fake” a style, for example, or.

IN school years Leonid was fond of drawing. Alas, in hometown there were no opportunities to gain fundamental knowledge of painting, which the writer later regretted more than once. And from time to time he still took up the brush - Leonid Andreev himself created illustrations for some of his own works.

Writing grew out of a passion for reading. Leonid read a lot: Tolstoy, Hartmann, . The latter had big influence on the writer’s work, especially the book “The World as Will and Representation,” one of Andreev’s favorite books. Under the influence of his favorite authors, at the age of 15-16, the young man began to suffer from “damned questions.”

Then Andreev promised himself to destroy own works love, morality, religion and “end your life in destruction.” This phrase became known to descendants thanks to the Russian writer, Andreev’s contemporary Vasily Brusyanin.

Andreev did not know how to live in peace; his biography has many sharp corners - suicide attempts, long binges, endless love interests. In general, the word “hobby” cannot fully characterize the painful and subtle feelings of a writer. There was love for him driving force, a natural necessity.

While a student at the Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg University, Leonid was forced to drop out of his studies due to a failed suicide due to non-reciprocal feelings. Another reason for leaving the university was the death of his father. The family’s financial situation has sharply deteriorated, and, as a result, the opportunity to pay for studies has disappeared. Then Andreev began to drink - and write. The first story about a hungry student appeared then, but the editors did not accept it.

The writer continued his studies at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. Leonid earned a living for himself and his orphaned family by teaching. He also painted portraits to order. As a student, the young man was not interested in politics, unlike the youth of those years, but was imbued with philosophy.

Especially close to him were the ideas of the meaninglessness of life and the value of the individual in itself. While at home on vacation in 1894, Leonid fell in love again, and again unsuccessfully. Another suicide attempt followed. After this, Andreev received a chronic disease (heart disease), which ultimately killed him.

Having successfully graduated from the university in 1897, the writer practiced law until 1902. At the same time, Andreev worked as a journalist in Moscow publications - “Courier” and “Moskovsky Vestnik”.

Literature

In 1898, Andreev’s story “Bargamot and Garaska” was first published in Courier. And fame came to the writer in 1901, after the publication of the story “Once Upon a Time” in the magazine “Life”. Soon Leonid Andreev left the legal profession and became closely involved in literature.

Visited literary evenings, made acquaintance with , and other writers, absorbed criticism and advice like a sponge. He noted the writer’s creativity and helped him publish the first collection of stories, and in large quantities. It was reprinted four times due to its popularity.

“Once upon a time,” “Angel,” “Valya,” “Kusaka” are simple and at the same time vivid sketches of the surrounding reality, inspiring compassion, written in living language. The heroes of the stories live nearby - yes, on the same 2nd Pushkarnaya in Orel.

The stories, published in 1902, caused heated debate. The author spoke about what is customary to remain silent about - about dark side human soul, about fear, about instincts that are in stressful situation will easily prevail over human mind, as, for example, in the story “The Abyss”.

The famous “Red Laughter” by Andreev, depicting events Russo-Japanese War 1904, is especially scary. The writer himself did not fight, but there were enough newspaper reports and eyewitness accounts for the rich imagination of the writer and artist to generate scary pictures madness of war.

At the next stage creative life Andreev created voluminous works - plays, novels, stories: “The Diary of Satan”, “The One Who Gets Slapped”, “Judas Iscariot”, etc. “Judas Iscariot” caused a lot of controversy and discontent among believers, because in this story the apostles - ordinary people, not alien to vices, but an unhappy person. The story was published in German, English and French, has gone through several film adaptations.

A peculiarity of Leonid Andreev’s work from the point of view of literary scholars is the impossibility of classifying the writer’s works as a certain direction in literature. The ones used by the writer vary too much artistic methods, the style is too unusual.

Personal life

In 1902, Andreev married Alexandra Veligorskaya, great-niece, and in the same year the couple had their first child, Vadim. In 1906, a son was born, and Alexandra died of postpartum fever.

In 1908, Leonid Andreev married for the second time - to Anna Ilyinichna Denisevich (Karnitskaya). From his second marriage, sons Savva (1909) and Valentin (1912) and daughter Vera (1910) were born. All five children, like their father, were creative people.

Not many people know interesting fact from the life of the writer: Leonid Andreev was seriously interested in color photography. He is still considered one of the the best masters in the world who worked using the autochrome technique. This technique was invented, and until 1935 it was the only affordable way get color photos.

Death

The writer did not accept the October Revolution of 1917; the Bolsheviks evoked a sharply negative attitude in him. In the year that Finland gained independence, Leonid Andreev lived in this country and thus found himself in forced emigration. There, in the town of Mustamaki, on September 12, 1919, Leonid Andreev died. The cause of sudden death was heart disease. The writer was buried nearby, in Marioki.

In 1956, Andreev’s ashes were reburied in Leningrad at the Volkov cemetery. The writer, undeservedly forgotten in his homeland, was remembered, and since 1956, his selected works have often been republished. The legacy that the writer left includes 89 stories, 20 plays, 8 novellas and novels. Thoughts put by the author into the mouths of the characters or written in the first person were divided into quotes. Since 1991, the Leonid Andreev House Museum has been operating in Orel.

Bibliography

Plays

1906 - To the stars
1907 - Life of a Man
1907 - Savva
1908 - Tsar Hunger
1908 - Black masks
1909 - Anathema
1909 - Days of Our Lives
1910 - Anfisa
1910 - Gaudeamus
1911 - Ocean
1912 - Ekaterina Ivanovna
1912 - Professor Storitsyn
1913 - The Beautiful Sabine Women
1913 - Thou shalt not kill
1914 - Thought
1914 - Samson in chains
1915 - The one who gets slapped
1915 - Requiem
1917 - Lovely Ghosts
1922 - Dog Waltz

Novels and stories

1903 - Life of Vasily Fiveysky
1904 - Red Laughter
1907 - Judas Iscariot
1908 - My notes
1908 - The Story of the Seven Hanged Men
1911 - Sashka Zhegulev
1916 - Yoke of War
1919 - Satan's Diary