How to write a short message for Boris Zhitkov. Life after the revolution

Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov was born on August 30 (September 11), 1882, in Novgorod, in the family of a mathematics teacher. Boris's mother was a talented pianist. Her teacher was A.G. Rubinstein.

The parents of the future writer lived in Odessa. The boy entered local gymnasium classes and studied there together with K. Chukovsky.

According to the recollections of his teachers, he was a very gifted student, always seriously passionate about something. The main interest of the youth Zhitkov was the sea.

Further training

At the insistence of his parents, Zhitkov entered Novorossiysk University, where he studied chemistry and mathematics.

The summer of 1905 was marked by the beginning of the first revolution. Having witnessed the uprising on the Potemkin, Boris Zhitkov instantly became involved in revolutionary activities. Under the cover of darkness, he delivered weapons to the rebel sailors. For this, the young man was expelled from the university. Zhitkov tried to transfer to St. Petersburg, but received a categorical refusal.

Studying the content of the biography of Boris Zhitkov, you should know that in 1909 he joined the Yenisei ichthyological expedition. In 1912, he set off on a circumnavigation of the world on a dry-cargo training ship. Zhitkov joined the ship as a cabin boy. Gradually he “rose” to the position of fireman, and by the end of the trip he became the captain’s mate. During his “around the world” trip he visited Japan, China, Ceylon and India.

Literary activity

Boris Zhitkov began publishing quite late - in 1924. Before that, he wrote “on the table”. He worked on diaries, wrote letters, poems, and short children's stories.

He began writing his first works for children in 1909. The story “Serezhin the Robber” was dedicated to the writer’s nephew, Sergei.

In the period from 1924 to 1937. The collections “Stories about Animals” and “What I Saw” were published. The stories are based on the writer's experiences while traveling around the world. The works included in these collections are currently being taught in 4th grade.

Zhitkov also periodically attempted to write a children's encyclopedia. He developed several options, but none of them saw the light of day.

For fifteen years of work in children's literature, Boris Stepanovich tried himself in a variety of genres and made a significant contribution to it. He is one of the founders of the scientific and artistic genre.

Zhitkov came up with the idea of developing a picture book for children who cannot read. Boris Stepanovich also actively developed the idea of a toy book.

Zhitkov’s only “adult” work is the novel “Viktor Vavich,” dedicated to the revolutionary events of 1905. It was not published during the writer’s lifetime.

Death

The last years of the writer’s life were quite difficult. He was diagnosed with lung cancer. Boris Zhitkov passed away on October 19, 1938, in Moscow. The writer continued to work until the very last day.

Other biography options

Boris's passion for travel awoke early - at the age of three. One day he disappeared. They found a boy on the Trade Side when he was trying to buy a ship. Three-year-old Boris prudently took the kopecks from home.
As a high school student, Boris became interested in sports and, together with his classmates, built a small sailing board with a cabin.
One day Zhitkov was able to persuade one of his classmates to go on a walking journey. Having briefly instructed his comrade, Boris led a small detachment and they set off for Kyiv. The travelers did not walk for long. Boris was a fairly categorical commander, and his classmate, as it turned out, had a very obstinate character.

Boris Stepanovich was born in early September 1882 in a small village near Novgorod. The family already had three sisters: Vera, Sasha and Nadya. My father was a mathematics teacher and author of textbooks. But due to his political views, he could not find a permanent job. The family had to move from one corner of Russia to another.

The family settled in Odessa when Boris was just over seven years old.

Here the boy went to the gymnasium, where he met Kolya Korneychukov (in the future Korney Chukovsky). The hobbies of the high school student Zhitkov were varied. Either he played the violin, then he learned to photograph and develop films, or he worked in workshops located near his home. But Boris Stepanovich’s passion for writing remained throughout his life. At the gymnasium, the boy, together with his friends, participated in the publication of a handwritten journal, often wrote down his impressions in diaries, constantly wrote interesting letters to relatives and friends, and composed poems. In addition, Zhitkov was an excellent storyteller, which attracted people. He talked about everything that happened in his life.

After graduating from high school, the man entered Novorossiysk University, where he began an in-depth study of mathematics and chemistry. Later, Zhitkov moved to St. Petersburg, where he began to master shipbuilding. The writer traveled half the world by ship, visiting many ports not only in Russia, but also in other countries. Zhitkov had to starve, and hide, and wander, without having a permanent roof over his head.

Being already a mature man, Boris Stepanovich began to write works. His creative path began with stories for children, and then the writer began to try his hand at other literary genres. The books of Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov were familiar to all schoolchildren of the Soviet Union. Over a relatively short period of time (about fourteen years), he created more than 190 works. Some works were published after the writer's death.

The life of Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov was interrupted in October 1938.

Biography of Zhitkov for children 2, 3, 4 grades

Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov was a great writer who dedicated all his works to children. Boris Zhitkov was not only a writer, but also a teacher. He was born in 1882 on August 30, in the city of Novgorod. The father of the future writer was a mathematics teacher. Mother worked as a pianist. The boy's parents sent him to study at a gymnasium for gifted children. Korney Chukovsky studied at the gymnasium with him. Zhitkov studied very well and was interested in the theme of the sea.

After graduating from high school, by order of his parents, the writer entered the university in Novorossiysk. There he studied mathematics and chemistry in depth. A little later, a revolution began in the country. Zhitkov became one of the revolutionaries and secretly plotted against the government. Because of the revolutions he was expelled from the university. Afterwards he wanted to transfer to St. Petersburg, but nothing worked out. In 1912, Zhitkov became a member of the ichthyological expedition. That same year he set off on a long journey by ship. On this ship he worked as a cabin boy. Gradually he began to be promoted to higher positions. During his travels, the writer visited different countries such as India and Ceylon, Japan, China, Thailand.

At the beginning of his writing career, Zhitkov wrote poems, stories for children, letters and fables. The writer wrote his first creation for children in 1909. The writer dedicated one of these works to his nephew. In 1924, he published his collections as Animal Stories and What Did I See? When composing the stories, the author relied on his knowledge gained during his travels. All his collections are currently being studied by schoolchildren. In addition to stories for children, the writer wrote encyclopedias. But these books never received public recognition. Zhitkov spent 15 years in the writing industry. Zhitkov tried to write in various genres. At the same time, he introduced it into scientific and fiction literature. Zhitkov came up with books - pictures for children who cannot read. In addition to books and pictures, the writer came up with books and toys. In addition to children's literature, Boris Zhitkov wrote the novel “Viktor Vavich”, which he dedicated to the revolutions in 1905. The book was published after the death of the writer.

Having studied Zhitkov’s full biography, several interesting facts should be highlighted. Zhitkov’s passion for traveling appeared in infancy. At the age of three, the boy disappeared. The boy was found in the trading part of one of the ships. Before leaving the house, the future writer took a pittance of money. While studying at the gymnasium, Zhitkov was very fond of sports. At the gymnasium, he and his friends built a small sailboat. During his studies, he persuaded his classmate to go on a walking trip. During this time, he assembled a small team and led it himself. The whole team went to Kyiv. The journey did not last long. Because Zhitkov had a bad character. And one of his classmates did not want to follow his commands.

In the last years of his life, the writer experienced very difficult days. Towards the end of his life, the writer was diagnosed with lung cancer. Zhitkov died suddenly in 1938 on October 19 in Moscow. He wrote works until the very last days of his life.

Option 3

There are many people among us who are not indifferent to the fate of animals and who are interested in their habits and behavior. So, Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov also loved our little brothers and wrote many exciting works about them. The writer’s life story cannot but interest us, since there were many moments in his biography that influenced his creative activity.

Boris Stepanovich was from Novgorod. His parents were fairly educated people. His father taught mathematics at a local teachers' institute, and his mother was a professional pianist. Initially, Boris was educated at home, and then continued to study at the gymnasium. Zhitkov was an excellent swimmer from childhood, and even went to sea by boat. All the yard boys envied him.

In addition, he skillfully mastered the techniques of tying a sea knot. No one could accurately predict the weather or recognize insects and birds better than him. Boris always liked strong-willed people who were not afraid of any dangers or obstacles. He always dreamed of traveling, realizing that he would definitely need various knowledge and therefore sought to obtain as much of it as possible.

After high school, Zhitkov studied at Novorossiysk University, where he successfully graduated in 1906. Will and perseverance helped him master many professions. He was a chemist, a shipbuilder and even a sea captain. His thirst for travel fascinated him so much that from 1911 to 1916 he studied at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in the shipbuilding department and worked for almost a year as an engineer in the port of Odessa.

But in 1923 he moved to Petrograd, and almost a year later he began publishing his stories. His funny works intended for children's audiences appeared in magazines, such as: “About a Monkey”, “Compass”, “Mongoose”, “About an Elephant” and many others. The writer reflected in his stories what true courage and friendship are like. The guys immediately fell in love with his books. Zhitkov also told us a lot about human compassion for animals. From his works one could learn how to make a hut and make an airplane. The writer died in 1938 in Moscow.

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(1882-1938) Russian writer

Over fourteen and a half years of literary work, Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov wrote 192 works, including 38 short stories for preschoolers. In addition to them, the writer created 74 essays, 59 novellas and short stories, 7 major works and 14 articles. Of the total number of works written by Boris Zhitkov, 8 remained unpublished, and 29 were published after the death of the writer.

Boris Zhitkov was one of those “experienced people” whom M. Gorky so persistently called into children’s literature. But not all of them knew how to tell their children about what they had experienced and seen in their lifetime. Zhitkov knew how to do this. He not only had rich worldly experience, but also possessed versatile knowledge and the rare gift of a narrator-improviser.

Until his old age, he retained the insatiable curiosity and variety of interests that children have. His hobbies changed every now and then, but in every task he took on, Boris Zhitkov achieved real mastery. He could not only write, he had truly golden hands. The writer was excellent with a plane, saw, and ax, and knew a lot about electrical and radio engineering. He was always making something: either building a boat or designing a glider. By profession, Zhitkov was a chemical engineer; in addition, he graduated from the shipbuilding department of the Polytechnic Institute, and in addition, he had the rank of navigator of long-distance voyages.

Boris Zhitkov came to literature as a middle-aged man - he was already over forty, but by that time he was already an established writer with his own style and handwriting, with a large amount of material accumulated over many years. Young and adult readers very soon recognized and fell in love with this lively and fascinating interlocutor, a keen observer and craftsman.

Much of what Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov talked about in his works was inspired by the impressions of childhood and youth, and family legends.

He was born in the summer, when their family lived in a dacha, a few kilometers from Novgorod, on the high bank of the Volkhov River. Boris was the last, fourth child in the family and the only boy.

Then, in his works, Boris Zhitkov wrote a lot about the sea, and this was not accidental. His father, Stepan Vasilyevich, came from a maritime family: his three brothers sailed on warships, all three became admirals, and two of them were Sevastopol heroes. The fourth brother was a marine engineer and built lighthouses on the Black Sea. The fifth drowned during a training voyage around the world, so the mother persuaded her husband not to send her youngest son to become a sailor.

Thus, Stepan began to study at a military gymnasium in St. Petersburg, although he was fond of mathematics and dreamed of a university. But the family did not have enough money, and he entered the Higher Military Engineering School, from where he was expelled from his last year for “harmful direction.” Then - for participating in revolutionary student protests - he was expelled from his fourth year at the Technological Institute.

Then Stepan Vasilyevich passed the exam to become a teacher, soon got married and began working in Novgorod at the Zemstvo Teachers' Seminary. He enthusiastically took up a new business: he wrote textbooks for teachers and students, and developed a methodology for teaching arithmetic. On his initiative, the Novgorod Physics and Mathematics Society was organized. He was a sociable person and knew how to unite people around him. And at the same time, he was a very demanding person, if it came to fulfilling his duty, he did not tolerate any negligence. He demanded the same from children. It was in such a family and in such an environment that the future writer was brought up.

He also learned a lot from his mother. She was an orphan and grew up with a rich aunt, who tried to teach her everything that a rich young lady was supposed to know. She studied at a German school in St. Petersburg, studied music at the conservatory and was a student of Anton Rubinstein. Secretly from her aunt, the girl attended the famous Vladimir courses for women who sought to obtain a higher education.

Little Boris grew up as a smart boy. From early childhood he loved to listen to Tolstoy’s stories for children, “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” and Pushkin’s fairy tales, which his father read to him. They often walked in the Novgorod Kremlin, around the monument to the millennium of Russia. The boy had a good memory. Even before entering the gymnasium, he knew by heart “Mtsyri” and “Demon” by Lermontov, and then the entire “Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin, “Woe from Wit” by Griboedov, as well as many poems by Nekrasov and Alexei Tolstoy. He never read children's books, but immediately began to get acquainted with the classics of Russian literature.

My father was transferred from place to place several times. Finally, in 1899, the family moved to Odessa, where his father’s brothers and sister lived. Here Boris easily passed his gymnasium exams. When he was in first grade, the children decided to publish a home magazine. Boris's story from his school life, “The Trojan War,” turned out to be the best, longest and most interesting.

Then he was overcome by a passion for travel. At the age of thirteen, he traveled on a cargo ship from Odessa to Batumi and back. After graduating from the sixth grade of the gymnasium, Boris made another big trip, this time around the Caucasus.

After graduating from high school, he entered the Novorossiysk University at the Faculty of Science. After graduating from university, he could have stayed there in the department of chemistry or botany and engaged in scientific work, but he decided differently. After some time, Boris Zhitkov entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in the shipbuilding department. Obviously, family traditions, which were largely associated with the sea, played a role in this.

Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov completed his internship in Denmark, where he worked at a mechanical plant. He sailed on sailing ships in the Mediterranean Sea and off the Anatolian coast, and in 1912 he was on a long voyage on an ocean-going steamer. Zhitkov went through all types of naval service - from a cabin boy to a captain's mate. He worked in Nikolaev at the Russian Shipyard, then as an inspector in Arkhangelsk.

During the war of 1914-1918, Boris Zhitkov served in midshipman companies. After a short training, he went to England with the rank of midshipman to receive engines for Russian aircraft and submarines. He also had to visit France on business.

After the revolution, Boris Zhitkov worked as the head of a technical school in Tiraspol. In 1922, he moved to Odessa and began teaching physics and chemistry at the workers' faculty, and in the fall of 1923 he left for Petrograd. Here he met his school friend Korney Chukovsky, who invited him to write what he told the children so well. Chukovsky sent Zhitkov to the magazine “Sparrow” to Samuil Marshak. At the end of January 1924, the first story by Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov, “Squall,” appeared in print.

Since then, he has been working at the State Publishing House as an editor of popular science books, in the children's magazine "Sparrow" he runs the columns "How People Work" and "Wandering Photographer", then he came up with another column - "Artisan". He writes the book “Steam Locomotive” for the publishing house “Rainbow” and composes a play for the Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators. At the same time, the writer worked for the pioneer newspaper “Lenin Sparks”, and at the end of the summer of 1925 he traveled to Copenhagen at his own expense and sent correspondence from there for this newspaper “At the Pioneers of Denmark”.

In 1926, his collection “Sea Stories” was published. He works hard and enthusiastically, as if he is in a hurry to tell people about everything he saw and knew. Boris Zhitkov was the first to introduce the theme of labor into children's literature, highlighting its moral aspects and moral problems. His undoubted merit was that he found a successful synthesis of science and art in the scientific and artistic literature he created.

But Zhitkov especially loved to write for children and enjoyed working in the magazines “New Robinson”, “Pioneer”, “Chizh”, “hedgehog”, “Young Naturalist”, as well as in the children's calendar, inventing picture books and toy books, wrote plays for the Theater of Young Spectators, composed texts for filmstrips, wanted to find new forms of radio performances for children and dreamed of sound in cinema. Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov always remained true to himself in everything, trying to create works that were interesting for children.

The writer worked a lot both in the editorial office and at home, where he wrote his works. He constantly traveled between Moscow and Leningrad. His health was not a cause for concern, and he himself never spoke about it. At the beginning of August 1938, Boris Zhitkov arrived in Moscow. Here he suddenly felt great weakness. The temperature began to rise, severe pain appeared between the shoulder blades, and an x-ray showed lung cancer.

Back in October, he was keenly interested in the affairs of his comrades, who came to him for advice, he himself was going to work further and was thinking about new books. But the disease nevertheless overcame the talented writer, and Boris Zhitkov no longer got out of bed, and died on October 19, 1938. At that time he was only 56 years old.

Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov is a Russian writer and traveler. He was born on September 11, 1882 in Veliky Novgorod of the Russian Empire.

During his life he created 192 works. Among them are essays, stories, stories and articles. The prose writer preferred to write for children, although many of his works were also dedicated to adults. He managed to try almost all genres. Boris proved himself not only in literature; his hobbies were difficult to count.

Childhood and friendship with Chukovsky

Boris grew up in an intelligent family. His mother, Tatyana Pavlovna, was a pianist. She took lessons from Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein. The father of the future traveler taught mathematics at the seminary, and he also wrote textbooks. Three of Zhitkov's brothers were military sailors and received the rank of admiral. Two of them were recognized as heroes of the defense of Sevastopol. The fourth brother built lighthouses on the territory of the Black Sea, and the fifth drowned in his youth.

The boy spent his childhood in Odessa. He was interested in completely different activities: he quoted scenes from literary works, played the violin and learned to row. The future writer received several prizes for his sporting achievements. During his passion for rowing, he managed to build a small boat with a cabin, of course, with the help of friends.

At the gymnasium, the young man met Kolya Korneychukov, who later became the writer Korney Chukovsky. They didn’t manage to get to know each other for a long time, because Nikolai was extremely shy. But then the guys met by chance after school; Zhitkov was attracted by Korneychukov’s independence and audacity. They talked for a long time, Boris taught his friend maritime affairs, French and rowing.

One day the boys decided to walk from Odessa to Kyiv. Borya forced Kolya to sign a contract in which he promised to unquestioningly obey his “commander.” But Chukovsky disobeyed, making an unplanned stop. To this, Zhitkov stated that he was no longer going to talk to him. After some time, the friends met again in Kyiv. At first Boris behaved quite friendly, but then he said that he was pretending because he did not want to humiliate Nikolai in front of strangers.

Study and travel

Borya received his education at home, then he became a student at the gymnasium. After graduation, the young man entered the natural sciences department of Novorossiysk University. He initially chose to major in mathematics because of his father, but did not enjoy studying there.

Already in 1901 the student became a member of the yacht club. He even managed to drive a specific oar-sailing vehicle, which was popularly called a “thistle”. During his studies at the university, the young man managed to sail to Varna, Marseille, Jaffa and Constanta, and he successfully passed the exam to become a long-distance navigator.

In 1905, Zhitkov took part in revolutionary events. Together with the combat detachment, the student made nitroglycerin for bombs, ensuring the defense of the Jewish quarter. A year later he graduated from the university.

From 1911 to 1916, the future prose writer received a second education. This time he studied at the shipbuilding department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute.

After graduating from college, Boris began looking for work. Initially, he was sent to practice in Copenhagen, at the Atlas plant. After this, the future writer traveled around the world on a training cargo ship. He went all the way from cabin boy to ship captain, and Zhitkov was also a navigator. Since childhood, Zhitkov was an excellent storyteller, so he thought for a long time about an artistic profession.

In 1909, the traveler led an expedition that studied the fauna of the Yenisei.

In 1914, he was an employee of a shipbuilding plant located in Nikolaev. A year later, the young man moved to Arkhangelsk to check the serviceability of the ships.

In 1916, Zhitkov received English aircraft engines made specifically for Russian aircraft.

First works

The young man began publishing his stories in 1924. A year before, Boris arrived in Petrograd. He had no money, and his health left much to be desired. Because of this, the man went to his school friend Korney Chukovsky. There he entertained the writer’s children with his stories about the sea and travel, and as a result, Nikolai invited his friend to transfer these stories to paper.

In a few days, Zhitkov wrote the short story “Squall”. The novella was taken to the Vremya publishing house, and already in 1924 Zhitkov’s first book, entitled “The Evil Sea,” was published.

Chukovsky was amazed by his friend’s skill; he didn’t even have to edit the story. He admired the unmistakable sense of style and writing style of his comrade, whom he had previously considered an amateur. This is not surprising, because by 1923 Boris had several notebooks with poems and letters, and he was constantly improving.

Boris Stepanovich preferred to write about what he knew well, so his works were filled with amazing stories about travel and distant countries. The prose writer put a moral into each of his stories and sought to teach children and adults what he already knew. For example, in the Zhitkovs’ house there actually lived a tame wolf, who later became the hero of the story of the same name.

The writer skillfully trained animals, was a carpenter, sailor and hunter. He worked on the creation of fictional scientific films, wrote plays, and taught students. Boris played the violin masterfully and knew everything about ships. The prose writer often made people think about the scientific riddles he invented. He managed to achieve success in almost any business he undertook.

After the publication of the first book, Boris constantly collaborated with children's magazines and newspapers. These include such publications as “Chizh”, “Young Naturalist”, “Lenin Sparks”, “New Robinson” and many others.

Zhitkov constantly wanted to create something new, thanks to him picture magazines appeared for children who could not read. The writer dreamed of publishing a textbook, but throughout his life he never managed to do this. But Zhitkov created an encyclopedia for children 4 years old.

Boris Stepanovich had outstanding abilities for languages; he picked up pronunciation on the fly. During his life, the prose writer learned modern Greek, Arabic, Polish, Turkish and many other languages. Once in London, a salesman mistook him for his fellow countryman from Derby when Zhitkov came to him for cigarettes.

Boris was married, but almost nothing is known about his wife. They lived together for a short time and then divorced. After the separation, Zhitkov began to live with his friend Schwartz. His room was kept perfectly clean. In his free time, the prose writer brewed tinctures and liqueurs according to his own recipes.

The famous prose writer died on October 19, 1938 in Moscow. He worked until the last day of his life, although the cause of death was lung cancer, which significantly complicated the writer’s existence. The novel about the revolution “Viktor Vavich,” which Zhitkov considered his main work, was published only after his death.

And Henry Rider Haggard. But few people remember the Russian writer, teacher and researcher-traveler Boris Stepanovich Zhitkov, whom his fellow writer called the Eternal.

Childhood and youth

Boris was born on August 30, 1882. This happened in the city of Veliky Novgorod. The boy became the second child in the family - the first was daughter Vera. Boris's father, Stepan Vasilyevich, was a teacher at the Novgorod Teachers' Institute. Using Stepan Vasilyevich's textbooks, several generations of children studied arithmetic, algebra and geometry. The boy's mother, Tatyana Pavlovna, was a popular pianist, a student of the Russian composer Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein.

Because of his Jewish roots, Stepan Vasilyevich was closely watched by people from government agencies. Therefore, when, after the birth of the future writer, a conflict arose between Zhitkov Sr. and a local politician, Stepan Vasilyevich decided to take his family to another place. After riding around Russia for a year, but not getting hooked anywhere, Zhitkov Sr. takes his family to Odessa, where his brother and sister lived at that time.

In Odessa, Stepan Vasilyevich gets a job as a cashier-accountant on a ship, and Tatyana Pavlovna becomes a private tutor in playing the keyboard. Vera and Boris receive their primary education at home, and then enter gymnasium No. 5. It was in this educational institution that Zhitkov Jr. met the future writer and translator, as well as Vladimir Evgenievich Zhabotinsky, the future founder of the Jewish Legion.

In 1901, Boris graduated from high school and entered the Imperial Novorossiysk University in the department of natural sciences. As a university student, Zhitkov first became interested in playing the violin, but later decided to exchange it for photography (unfortunately, not a single photo of Zhitkov from those years has survived). The guy also does not forget about physical development - already in his third year he won prizes at sailing competitions.

Boris's hyperactive character and certainty in his beliefs lead him to help smuggle weapons for sailors who decided to revolt during the Russian Revolution of 1905. In 1906, Boris received a university diploma. Due to the unstable situation in the country, he cannot find a job for a long time. As a result, on the advice of a friend, he decides to become a sailor. After several trips to sea, the guy passes the exam to become a navigator. As a navigator of a sailing ship, he makes trips to Turkey and Bulgaria.

Literature

Boris Zhitkov came to literature quite late. On the other hand, it was his stormy and eventful life that became the basis for many of the author’s works. In addition, the writer kept a diary and regularly wrote letters to his family, thus getting better at the craft of writing. In 1909, he became the captain of a research vessel that took part in an ichthyological expedition along the Yenisei.

Upon returning from the expedition, Boris submits documents to the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University for the shipbuilding department. In 1910 he went to Denmark to undergo training as a metal worker. In 1912 he went on his first trip around the world. During his trip around the world, Boris was most impressed by the countries of Asia - India, Japan and China. In 1916 he graduated from the university with a degree in shipbuilding engineer.

By the time he graduated from the Polytechnic University, Zhitkov had already served in naval aviation for a year. In 1916, Boris received the rank of ensign in the aviation unit, and a year later - second lieutenant in the admiralty. In 1917, Zhitkov left the service and went to work in his specialty at the Odessa seaport, where he worked until 1924. This year Zhitkov moved to Petrograd.

There were two reasons for this: firstly, Boris was tired of sitting in one place - his “quick” character made itself felt, and secondly, Zhitkov decided to take his manuscript “The Evil Sea” to the publishing house. The editors appreciated the work and published it the same year. Since 1925, Zhitkov got a job as a teacher at a local school, and spent all his free time on writing. According to Boris's biographers, he wrote 74 essays, 59 novellas and short stories, 7 novels and 14 articles.

Boris Stepanovich became famous mainly as a children's writer. It was for children that he wrote most of his works - in particular, the collections “What I Saw”, “What Happened”, “Sea Stories” and “Stories about Animals”. The collection “Stories about Animals”, published in 1935, contained stories based on his impressions from visiting India - “The Stray Cat”, “The Brave Duckling”, “About the Monkey”, “About the Elephant”, “About the Snake and Mongoose", "Jackdaw" and "Wolf".

However, the work that Zhitkov put at the pinnacle of his creativity was the novel “Viktor Vavich,” dedicated to the events of 1905. For a long time the work was not published because it was banned. The uncut version was released only in 1999 thanks to Korney Chukovsky’s daughter, Lydia, who discovered the manuscript in her father’s archives.

It is worth noting that many people admired the novel “Viktor Vavich”. Among those who liked the work were a writer, a TV presenter and a publicist. Critics noted that if not for censorship, “Viktor Vavich” could have taken a place in Russian classics between “Quiet Don” and “Doctor Zhivago”. In 1988, when the fiftieth anniversary of the writer’s death was celebrated, the first collection of his works was published.

Personal life

Little is known about Zhitkov’s personal life. The nomadic lifestyle did not allow the writer to start a normal family, so towards the end of his days he lived in a civil marriage with Vera Mikhailovna Arnold (1896-1988), the daughter of the director of the Belogorodsky School and a Soviet cryptographer.

The couple had no children, but Boris had a nephew, Alyosha, the son of his older sister. It was Alyosha who became the prototype of the character in the stories from the collection “What I Saw.” However, there is evidence that Zhitkov has several children from a certain Felitsata Fedorovna Guseva - son Nikolai and daughter Felitsata. At least that's what some media say.

Death

Back in 1937, Boris Stepanovich felt unwell. On the advice of a friend, I decided to try therapeutic fasting, but this only worsened my situation. The writer finished the book, which Zhitkov planned as an “Encyclopedia for four-year-old citizens “Pochemuchka””, already dictating to his wife. This book was later published under the title What I Saw.

The writer did not have time to finish his other book, “Help is Coming,” dedicated to technology that serves the benefit of humanity. However, it was also later published under the title “Stories about Technology.” Boris Stepanovich died on August 19, 1938. He was buried in Moscow, in the sixth section of the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Based on his works, the cartoons “Buttons and Little Men” (the story “How I Caught Little People”), “Why Elephants?” (based on the story “About an Elephant”), “Pudya”, as well as the films “Sea Stories”, “Day of an Angel” and “Storm on Land”. Elements of Zhitkov’s biography were used in the poems “Mail” (1927) and “Military Post” (1943), as well as in the film “Look Back for a Moment” (1984).

Quotes from Boris Zhitkov

“It is impossible for it to be difficult to study: it is necessary to study joyfully, reverently and victoriously.”
“This is the worst thing - new pants. You don’t walk, but wear your pants: always watch that it doesn’t drip or anything else. They call you to play - be afraid. You leave the house - these conversations! And the mother will run out and shout after her all over the stairs: “If you tear it up, it’s better not to come back home!” It's a shame right now. I don’t need these pants of yours! It’s because of them that everything happened.”
“Christ went into the city: people were running, fussing, donkeys were barking furiously, everyone was shouting, fussing, trampling, as if there was a fire in the city all day long. All Greeks are noisy people. Some Turks are sitting in the shade. Those who smoke a hookah, and those who suck on a straw, await their fate.”
“So this is where the cats moved from the city.”

Bibliography

1924 – “The Evil Sea”
1925 – “Sea Stories”
1931 – “Stone Seal”
1935 – “Tales of Animals”
1939 - “What I Saw”
1940 – “Stories”
1941 – “Viktor Vavich”
1942 – “Stories about technology”