Science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev Soviet Jules Verne. Alexander Belyaev - works and biography of the science fiction writer

In my early youth, I simply read the works of Alexander Belyaev. Everything was re-read more than once, or twice. Wonderful films have been made based on his works; in my opinion, “Amphibian Man” with Korenev and Vertinskaya especially stands out. But still, not a single film made such an impression on me as the books! But what did I know about the life of the writer, whose works gave me many wonderful moments while I enjoyed them? It turned out - nothing!

The famous Soviet science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev is called the “Russian Jules Verne.” Who among us in adolescence did not read “The Amphibian Man” and “The Head of Professor Dowell”? Meanwhile, in the life of the writer himself there was a lot of strange and incomprehensible things. Despite his fame, it is still not known exactly how he died and where exactly he was buried...

Belyaev was born in 1884 into the family of a priest. The father sent his son to the theological seminary, however, after graduating from it, he did not continue his religious education, but entered the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl. He was going to become a lawyer. Soon, Sasha’s father died, the family found themselves strapped for money, and in order to continue his studies, the young man was forced to earn extra money - giving lessons, drawing scenery for the theater, playing the violin in a circus orchestra.

Alexander was a versatile person: he played various musical instruments, performed in a home theater, and flew an airplane. Another hobby was filming so-called “horror” films (staged, of course). One of the pictures in this “genre” was called: “Human head on a platter in blue tones.”

A significant part of the young man’s life was connected with the theater, which he loved since childhood. He himself could act as a playwright, a director, and an actor. The Belyaevs' home theater in Smolensk was widely known and 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 success was complete, K. Stanislavsky even invited A. Belyaev to stay in the troupe, but for an unknown reason he refused.

Even as a child, Sasha lost his sister: Nina died of sarcoma. And a mysterious and creepy story happened to brother Vasily, a student at the Veterinary Institute. Once Alexander and Vasily were visiting their uncle. A group of young relatives decided to go boating. For some reason Vasya refused to go with them. For some reason, Sasha took a piece of clay with him and molded a human head from it right in the boat. Looking at it, those present were horrified: the head had Vasily’s face, only his features turned out to be somehow frozen, lifeless. Alexander threw the craft into the water with annoyance and then felt alarmed. Stating that something had happened to his brother, he demanded that the boat be turned towards the shore. They were met by a tearful aunt who said that Vasily had drowned while swimming. This happened, as it turned out, precisely at the moment when Sasha threw the clay cast into the water.

After graduating 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.

Belyaev plunges headlong into journalistic activity. He collaborates with the newspaper Smolensky Vestnik, where he becomes editor a year later. He also plays the piano and violin, works at the Smolensk People's House, and is a member of the Glinka Music Circle, the Smolensk Symphony Society, and the Society of Lovers of Fine Arts. He visited Moscow, where he auditioned for Stanislavsky.

He is thirty years old, he is married and he needs to somehow make decisions in life. Belyaev is seriously thinking about moving to the capital, where it will not be difficult for him to get a job. But at the end of 1915, illness suddenly struck him. For a young and strong man, the world is collapsing. Doctors for a long time could not determine his illness, and when they found out, it turned out that it was spinal tuberculosis. Even during a long-standing illness with pleurisy in Yartsevo, a doctor, while performing a puncture, touched the eighth spine with a needle. Now it has given such a severe relapse. In addition, his wife Verochka leaves him, and to his colleague. Doctors, friends, all relatives considered him doomed.

His mother Nadezhda Vasilievna leaves the house and takes her motionless son to Yalta. For six years, from 1916 to 1922, Belyaev was bedridden, of which for three long years (from 1917 to 1921) he was shackled in a cast. Belyaev will write about these years, when one government replaced another in Crimea, ten years later in the story “Among the Wild Horses.”

Belyaev's willpower endured, and during his illness he studied foreign languages (French, German and English), and was interested in medicine, history, biology, and technology. He couldn’t move, but some ideas for his future novels came to his mind right then, during real estate.

In the spring of 1919, his mother, Nadezhda Vasilievna, dies of hunger, and his son, sick, in a cast, with a high fever, cannot even accompany her to the cemetery. And only in 1921 he was able to take his first steps thanks not only to his willpower, but also as a result of his love for Margarita Konstantinovna Magnushevskaya, who worked in the city library. A little later, like Arthur Dowell, he will invite her to see his bride in the mirror, whom he will marry if he receives consent. And in the summer of 1922, Belyaev managed to get into a holiday home for scientists and writers in Gaspra. There they made him a celluloid corset and he was finally able to get out of bed. This orthopedic corset became his constant companion until the end of his life, because... Until his death, the illness either subsided or again confined him to bed for several months.

Be that as it may, Belyaev began working in the criminal investigation department, and then in the People's Commissariat for Education, as an inspector for minors in an orphanage seven kilometers from Yalta. The country, through the NEP, began to gradually raise its economy, and therefore the well-being of the country. In the same year, 1922, before the Nativity Fast, Alexander Belyaev got married in church to Margarita, and on May 22, 1923, they legalized their marriage with a civil status act in the registry office.

Then he returned to Moscow, where he got a job as a legal consultant. In his free time, Belyaev wrote poetry, and in 1925, his first story, “The Head of Professor Dowell,” began to be published in the newspaper “Gudok.” In three years, “The Island of Lost Ships,” “The Last Man from Atlantis,” “Amphibian Man,” and a collection of short stories were created. On March 15, 1925, their daughter Lyudmila was born.

ALEXANDER BELYAEV WITH WIFE MARGARETA AND FIRST DAUGHTER: the death of little Lyudochka was the first big grief in the science fiction writer’s family

In July 1929, Belyaev’s second daughter, Svetlana, was born, and in September the Belyaevs left for Kyiv, to a warmer and drier climate.

However, soon the disease made itself felt again, and I had to move from rainy Leningrad to sunny Kyiv. Living conditions in Kyiv turned out to be better, but obstacles arose for creativity - manuscripts there were accepted only in Ukrainian, so they had to be sent to Moscow or Leningrad.

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: ignorance of the Ukrainian language made life in Kyiv unbearable. Constant everyday troubles prevented him from writing, and yet A. Belyaev created during these years the play “Alchemists...” and the novel “Leap into Nothing.”

The year 1937 also affected the fate of Belyaev. He, unlike many of his friends and acquaintances, was not imprisoned. But they stopped printing. There was nothing left to live on. He goes to Murmansk and gets a job as an accountant on a fishing trawler. Depression and unbearable pain from the corset, to the surprise of many, give a completely opposite result - he writes the novel “Ariel”. The main character experiments with levitation: the young man becomes able to fly. Belyaev writes about himself, or more precisely, about the unfulfilled dreams of his life.

The war found the family in Pushkin. Belyaev, who had recently undergone spinal surgery, refused to evacuate, and soon the city was occupied by the Germans.

ALEXANDER BELYAEV: loved to fool around in spite of all diseases

According to the official version, the science fiction writer died of starvation in January 1942. The body was transferred to the crypt at the Kazan cemetery to wait in line for burial. The turn was supposed to come only in March, and in February the writer’s wife and daughter were taken captive to Poland.

SVETA BELYAEVA: this is how the writer’s daughter met the war

Here they waited for liberation by Soviet troops. And then they were sent into exile in Altai for 11 long years.

When they were finally able to return to Pushkin, the former neighbor handed over the miraculously surviving glasses of Alexander Romanovich. Margarita found a tightly wrapped piece of paper on the bow. She carefully unfolded it. “Do not look for my traces on this earth,” her husband wrote. - I'm waiting for you in heaven. Yours, Ariel."

MARGARITA BELYAEVA WITH DAUGHTER SVETA: they went through fascist camps and Soviet exile together

There is a legend that Belyaev’s body was taken out of the crypt and buried by a fascist general and soldiers. Allegedly, the general read Belyaev’s works as a child and therefore decided to honor his body to the ground. According to another version, the corpse was simply buried in a common grave. One way or another, the exact burial place of the writer is unknown.

Svetlana Belyaeva

Subsequently, a memorial stele was erected at the Kazan cemetery in Pushkin. But Belyaev’s grave is not under it.

One of the versions of the writer’s death is connected with the legendary Amber Room. According to publicist Fyodor Morozov, the last thing 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. But the answer to the question whether Belyaev could have been killed because of his interest in the Amber Room does not seem so difficult. Suffice it to remember what fate befell many researchers who tried to find the wonderful mosaic. Maybe he paid for knowing too much? Or died from torture? They also say that the science fiction writer’s corpse was charred. His death is as mysterious as his works.

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 modern society had grown to, and on the verge of what new discoveries and achievements it was on.

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 an open breathing system using compressed air, 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 an impending environmental disaster, where the 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 cancer walking around the world, and life expectancy in large 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 outer space, traveling 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 to the reader the problem of changing the human body and the subsequent problems associated with it. As a matter of fact, the novel predicts modern advances in 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.

The Mystery of the 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 that 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 people in the country have gloomy premonitions that a terrible war is coming. And Belyaev has special feelings - old illnesses are making 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

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 the 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, in the family of an 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.

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 a permanent contributor to the 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 A. Belyaev lived with his family in recent years, 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 the rest of his 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. The Belyaevs' home theater in Smolensk was widely known and 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 emergence of a huge number of 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, and “Eternal Bread” shows the achievements of modern biochemistry and genetics. A kind of continuation of these reflections were novels-hypotheses, placing a person in different environments of existence: the 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 devices. 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 the Alexander Belyaev Literary Prize, awarded for scientific, artistic and popular science works.

Years of life: from 03/16/1884 to 01/06/1942

Soviet science fiction writer, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction literature

Born in Smolensk. He studied at the Smolensk Theological Seminary. In 1901, Alexander graduated from it, but did not become a priest; on the contrary, he left there as a convinced atheist

Entered the Yaroslavl Demidov Law Lyceum. 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, at the same time he began publishing theater reviews in newspapers. His first artistic publication was the children's play “Grandma Moira” in 1914, at which time he tried himself as a director.

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.

In 1923, Belyaev moved to Moscow. There he begins serious literary activity. He publishes science fiction stories and novellas in magazines, eventually 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” and from that moment on he became known as a science fiction writer.

In subsequent years, he published many short stories and novellas, as well as the novels “Amphibian Man” (1928), “Lord of the World” (1929), “The Man Who Lost His Face” (1929), which played a significant role in the formation of the humanistic traditions of Russian science fiction. Belyaev’s later works, with the exception of his last novel “Ariel” (1941), are an inexpressive mixture of political propaganda and scientific ideas, which is largely explained by the harsh ideological pressure under which all writers had to exist in those years.

Shortly before the war, the writer underwent another operation, so he refused the offer to evacuate when the war began. The city of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoe Selo, a suburb of Leningrad), where A. Belyaev lived with his family in recent years, was occupied. In January 1942, the writer died of hunger.

In the title of the novel Star of KETS, KETS are the initials of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky.

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 claim that Alexander Romanovich died of hunger, others believe that he could not bear the horrors of the occupation, and others believe that the cause of the writer’s death should be sought in his last novel.

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.

Writer's Awards

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 a prize awarded for scientific, artistic and popular science works.

Bibliography

Cycle
Constructed Legends and Apocrypha (1929)
Flying Carpet (1936)
Devil's Mill (1929)
Above the Abyss (Above the Black Abyss) (1927)
The Man Who Doesn't Sleep (1926)
Guest from the Bookcase (1926)
Amba (1929)
Hoity-Toity (1930)
Invisible Light (1938)

Stories. Stories

Climbing Vesuvius (1913)
Seaplane Rides (1913)
In the Kyrgyz steppes (1924)
Three Portraits (1925)
White Savage (1926)
Ideophone (1926) [under the pseudonym A. Rom]
Neither life nor death (1926)
(1926)
Among the Wild Horses (1926)
Fear (1926)
(1927)
Eternal Bread (1928)
Death's Head (1928)
Sesame, open up!!! (Electric Servant) (1928) [under the pseudonyms A. Romé and A. Romé]
In the Pipe (1929)
Riding the Wind (1929) [under the pseudonym A. Rom]
Head west! (1929)
Golden Mountain (1929)

Alexander Romanovich Belyaev(March 16, 1884 - January 6, 1942) - Russian science fiction writer, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction literature. Among his most famous novels are: “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “Amphibian Man”, “Ariel”, “KEC Star” and many others (in total more than 70 science fiction works, including 13 novels). For his significant contribution to Russian science fiction and visionary ideas, Belyaev is called the “Russian Jules Verne.”

The future writer was born in Smolensk, in the family of an 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 school in 1894. After graduating in 1898, Alexander was transferred to the Smolensk Theological Seminary. He graduated from it in 1904, 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, played the violin in a circus orchestra, and published in city newspapers as a music critic.

After graduating (in 1908) from the Demidov Lyceum, A. Belyaev received the position of 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. In 1913, he traveled abroad: he visited France, Italy, and visited Venice.

In 1914 he left law for the sake of literature and theater.

At the age of 35, 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 confined him to bed for six years, three of which he spent in a cast. 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. In the same year he married Margarita Konstantinovna Magnushevskaya.
At first, A. Belyaev became a teacher in an orphanage, then he was given the position of criminal investigation inspector, where he organized a photo laboratory, and later he had to go to the library. Life in Yalta was very difficult, and A. Belyaev (with the help of a friend) in 1923 moved with his family to Moscow, where he got a job as a legal adviser. There he begins serious literary activity. He publishes science fiction stories and novellas in the magazines “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power”, “World Pathfinder”.
In 1924, he published a story in the newspaper Gudok. "Professor Dowell's Head", which Belyaev himself called autobiographical history, explaining: “The disease once put me in a plaster bed for three and a half years. This period of illness was accompanied by paralysis of the lower half of the body. And although I controlled 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 ... ".

A. Belyaev lived in Moscow until 1928; During this time, he wrote the novels “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 pseudonyms A. Rom And Arbel.

In 1928, A. Belyaev and his family moved to Leningrad and from then on became a professional writer. "Lord of the World" novels were written, "Underwater Farmers", "Wonderful Eye", stories from the series "The Inventions of Professor Wagner". 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. However, in Kyiv publishing houses accepted manuscripts only in Ukrainian, and Belyaev moved to Moscow again.

The year 1930 turned out to be a very difficult year for the writer: his six-year-old daughter Lyudmila died of meningitis, his second daughter Svetlana 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 1932 he lives in Murmansk. In 1934, he met with Herbert Wells, who arrived in Leningrad. In 1935, Belyaev became a permanent contributor to the magazine “Around the World”.
At the beginning of 1938, after eleven years of intensive cooperation, Belyaev left the magazine “Around the World”. In 1938 he published an article "Cinderella" about the plight of contemporary fiction.

Shortly before the war, the writer underwent another operation, so when the war began, he refused the offer to evacuate. The city of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoe Selo, a suburb of Leningrad), where A. Belyaev lived with his family in recent years, was occupied by the Nazis.
On January 6, 1942, at the 58th year of his life, Alexander Romanovich Belyaev died of hunger. He was buried in a mass grave along with other residents of the city. “The writer Belyaev, who wrote science fiction novels like “Amphibian Man,” froze from hunger in his room. “Frozen from hunger” is an absolutely accurate expression. People are so weak from hunger that they are unable to get up and fetch firewood. He was found completely frozen...".

Alexander Belyaev had two daughters: Lyudmila (March 15, 1924 - March 19, 1930) and Svetlana. The surviving wife of the writer and daughter Svetlana were taken prisoner by the Germans and were kept in various camps for displaced persons in Poland and Austria until liberation by the Red Army in May 1945. After the end of the war they were exiled to Western Siberia. They spent 11 years in exile. The daughter did not marry.

The writer's burial place is not known with certainty. A memorial stele at the Kazan cemetery in the city of Pushkin was installed on the grave of his wife, who was buried there in 1982.

Residence addresses

St. Dokuchaeva, 4. - Smolensk, Memorable place where stood the house in which the science fiction writer was born.
10.26.1936 - 07.1941 - Leningrad - House of Writers - Detskoe Selo, Proletarskaya street, 6.

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”). It is known that A. Belyaev studied the Esperanto language. Since childhood, I read a lot and was fond of adventure literature. Alexander grew up restless, loved all kinds of pranks and jokes; the result of one of his pranks was an eye injury with subsequent deterioration of 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.

One day, during another attempt to take off, he fell from the roof of the barn and crashed - significantly injuring his back. This injury affected the rest of his life. In the mid-1920s, Belyaev suffered from constant pain in his injured back and was even paralyzed for months.

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? Novels are dedicated to trying to solve these problems. "Professor Dowell's Head", "Lord of the world", "The Man Who Lost Face", stories "The Man Who Doesn't Sleep", "Hoyti-Toyti".

In his science fiction novels, Alexander Belyaev anticipated the emergence of a huge number of inventions and scientific ideas:

V "Zvezda KETS" depicts a prototype of modern orbital stations,
V "Amphibian Man" And "To the Head of Professor Dowell" the wonders of transplantology are shown,
V "Eternal Bread"- achievements of modern biochemistry and genetics.

A kind of continuation of these reflections were novels-hypotheses, placing a person in different environments of existence: the ocean ( "Amphibian Man") and air ( "Ariel").

His last novel, Ariel, written in 1941, echoes the famous novel by A. Greene, The Shining World. The heroes of both works are endowed with the ability to fly without additional devices. The image of the young man Ariel is an undoubted achievement of the writer, 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 the Alexander Belyaev Literary Prize, awarded for scientific, artistic and science-fiction works.

In addition to biographical literature, one of the television films in the series “Geniuses and Villains of the Past Era” of the television company “Civilization” is dedicated to Alexander Belyaev.

Curious facts

Both the biography and the work of Belyaev, after several decades of Soviet “canonization” (and rather poor coverage), became the subject of conflicting judgments. Thus, the famous Russian critic and historian of science fiction Vsevolod Revich (including in the book “Crossroads of Utopias”) gave Belyaev’s work a sharply negative assessment, reproaching the author for the poor elaboration of the actual fantastic elements and the socio-moralistic message of the works, for opportunistic ruthlessness towards “class enemies" and "sadism" in relation to the heroes on whom physiological experiments were carried out. Literary critic Boris Myagkov, in turn, believed that Vs. Revich, for example, did not understand the deliberately parodic nature of the stories about Professor Wagner(“The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep” and others).

According to Soviet legislation, which was in force until October 1, 1964, Belyaev’s works entered the public domain 15 years after the author’s death. After the collapse of the USSR, copyright legislation in Russia changed, and the term of copyright protection first increased to 50, and from 2004 to 70 years, after the death of the author. In addition, the Law of the Russian Federation “On Copyright and Related Rights” increased these terms by four years for authors who worked during the Great Patriotic War or participated in it. Currently, copyright issues are regulated by part 4 of the Civil Code, as well as by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 No. 231-FZ “On the introduction into force of part four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation”, which limits the application of the Civil Code in some cases ( see Article 6): " The terms of protection of rights provided for in Articles 1281, 1318, 1327 and 1331 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation apply in cases where the fifty-year validity period of copyright or related rights has not expired by January 1, 1993».

In 2008, the Terra publishing house entered into an agreement with Belyaev’s heir (daughter Svetlana) to publish his works. Following this, Terra filed a lawsuit against the publishing houses AST-Moscow and Astrel (both are part of the AST publishing group), which published Belyaev after Terra concluded the agreement. The Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied the claim for more than 7.5 billion rubles and banned the Astrel publishing house. distribute illegally published copies of A. Belyaev’s works" The appellate instance overturned the decision of the first instance regarding the recovery of compensation and state duty costs. The cassation court overturned the judicial acts of the lower authorities and completely rejected the claim, considering the works of A. Belyaev to have passed into the public domain since 01/01/1993. and are currently not subject to protection.

Meanwhile, the Krasnodar Regional Court recognized Belyaev’s works as being in the public domain.

On October 4, 2011, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation decided to change the decisions of lower courts: A. Belyaev’s property rights are subject to protection at least until January 1, 2017. The courts will now have to re-examine the case as it has been remanded for retrial.

Novels

"Professor Dowell's Head" ( 1 (story): “Gudok”, 1924; "World Pathfinder", 1925, No. 3-4; "Workers' Newspaper", 1925, June 16-21, 24-26; "Professor Dowell's Head". M.-L.: ZiF, 1926; 2 (story). “Around the World”, 1937, No. 6-10, 12; 3 (novel). “Smena” (gaz., Leningrad), 1937, 1-6, 8-9, 11, 14-18, 24, 28 February, 1, 3-6, 9-11 March; dept. ed. - L.-M, “Sov. writer", 1938) - film directed
“Island of Lost Ships” (“World Pathfinder”, 1926, No. 3-4; 1927, No. 5-6; departmental edition - M., “ZiF”, 1927) - film produced
“The Last Man from Atlantis” (“World Pathfinder”, 1926, No. 5-8; departmental edition - M., “ZiF”, 1927)
“Lord of the World” (“Gudok”, 1926, 19-24, 26-31 Oct., 2-6, 10-14, 16-18 Nov.; departmental ed. - Leningrad, “Krasnaya Gazeta”, 1929)
“Struggle on the Air” (“Life and Communication Technology”, 1927, No. 1-9, under the title “Radiopolis”; departmental edition - M.-L., “Young Guard”, 1928)
“Amphibian Man” (“Around the World”, 1928, No. 1-6, 11-13; departmental edition - M., “ZiF”, 1928) - film produced
“Air Seller” (“Around the World”, 1929, No. 4-13) - film directed
“The Man Who Lost Face” (“Around the World”, 1929, No. 19-25)
“Underwater farmers” (“Around the World”, 1930, No. 9-23)
“Leap into Nothing” (departmental ed. - L.-M., “Young Guard”, 1933)
“Airship” (“Around the World”, 1934, No. 10-12, 1935, No. 1-6)
“The Wonderful Eye” (department ed. - K.: Molodyiy Bilshovik, 1935, in Ukrainian; translation by I. Vasiliev - Selected science fiction works in 2 volumes. M., “Young Guard”, 1956. T. 1)
“Star of KETS” (“Around the World”, 1936, No. 2-11; departmental edition - M.-L.: Detizdat, 1940)
“Heavenly Guest” (“Lenin Sparks”, 1937, Dec. 17-27; 1938, Jan. 4-29, 9, Feb. 27, March 3-27, Apr. 3-21, May 5-27, 3- June 21, July 3)
“Under the Sky of the Arctic” (“Into the Battle for Equipment!”, 1938, No. 4-7, 9-12; 1939, No. 1-2, 4; previously an excerpt entitled “Prisoners of Fire” - “Around the World”, 1936 , No. 1; excerpt entitled “Underground City” - “Around the World”, 1937, No. 9)
“Laboratory Dublve” (“Around the World”, 1938, No. 7-9, 11-12; “Bolshevik Word”, 1939, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 26, 28 Jan., 4, 8, 10, 15, 21 February, 4, 6 March [publication not completed])
“The Man Who Found His Face” (departmental ed. - Leningrad, “Soviet Writer”, 1940)
“Ariel” (department ed. - Leningrad, “Soviet Writer”, 1941) - film produced

Stories

“Eternal Bread” (“Struggle on the Air.” M.-L., “Young Guard”, 1928)
“Golden Mountain” (“Struggle of the Worlds” (L.), 1929, No. 2)
“The Earth is Burning” (“Around the World”, 1931, No. 30-36)
“The Witches’ Castle” (“Young Collective Farmer”, 1939, No. 5-7)

Stories

“Neither life nor death” (“World Pathfinder”, 1926, No. 5-6)
“Ideophone” (“World Pathfinder”, 1926, No. 6, signature: A. Rom)
"White Savage" (World Pathfinder, 1926, No. 7)
“The Hunt for the Big Dipper” (“Around the World”, 1927, No. 4)
“Sesame, open!!!” (“The World Pathfinder”, 1928, No. 4, signature: A. Rom; “Around the World”, 1928, No. 49, under the title. "Electric Servant", caption: A. Rome)
“Death's Head” (“Around the World”, 1928, No. 17-22)
“Ancestor Instinct” (“On Land and Sea”, 1929, No. 1-2)
“Doomsday” (“Around the World”, 1929, No. 1-4,7)
“Keep to the West!” (“Knowledge is power”, 1929, No. 11)
“Is it easy to be cancer?” (“Around the World”, 1929, No. 13, signature: A. Rom)
“Lapel remedy” (“Around the World”, 1929, No. 27)
“In the pipe” (“Around the World”, 1929, No. 33, signature: A. Rom)
“The Imperishable World” (“Knowledge is power”, 1930, No. 2)
"City of the Winner" (World Pathfinder, 1930, No. 4)
“VTsBID” (“Knowledge is power”, 1930, No. 6-7)
“Green Symphony” (“Around the World”, 1930, No. 22-24)
“On the pillars of air” (“Struggle of the Worlds”, 1931, No. 1)
“Sunny Horses” (“Nature and People”, 1931, No. 19-20, signature: Arbel)
“Correspondence Engineer” (“Revolution and Nature”, 1931, No. 2 (21))
“Kite” (“Knowledge is power”, 1931, No. 2)
“Storm” (“Revolution and Nature”, 1931, No. 3-5)
“Stronger than God” (“Nature and People”, 1931, No. 10, signature: Arbel)
“Devil's Swamp” (“Knowledge is power”, 1931, No. 15)
“Extraordinary Incidents” (“Hedgehog”, 1933, No. 9-11)
“Record flight” (“Hedgehog”, 1933, No. 10)
“Meeting the New Year, 1954” (“Hedgehog”, 1933, No. 12)
“Blind Flight” (“Ural Pathfinder” [Sverdlovsk], 1935, No. 1; pp. 27-34)
“The Lost Island” (“Young Proletarian”, 1935, No. 12)
"Mr. Laughter" (Around the World, 1937, No. 5)
“Invisible Light” (“Around the World”, 1938, No. 1, signature: A. Romanovich)
“Horned Mammoth” (“Around the World”, 1938, No. 3)
“Anatomical Groom” (“Bolshevik Word”, 1940, February 12; “Leningrad”, 1940, No. 6)
Professor Wagner's inventions
- “The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep” (“The Head of Professor Dowell.” M., “ZiF”, 1926)
- “Guest from the Bookcase” (“The Head of Professor Dowell.” M., “ZiF”, 1926)
- “Above the Abyss” (“Around the World”, 1927, No. 2, under the title “Above the Black Abyss”; “Struggle on the Air”. M.-L., “Young Guard”, 1928)
- “Created Legends and Apocrypha”: 1. The Incident of the Horse, 2. About Fleas, 3. Thermo Man (“World Pathfinder”, 1929, No. 4)
- “Devil's Mill” (“World Pathfinder”, 1929, No. 9)
- "Amba" ("World Pathfinder", 1929, No. 10)
- "Hoyti-Toyti" ("World Pathfinder", 1930, No. 1-2)
- “Flying carpet” (“Knowledge is power”, 1936, No. 12)

Nelly KRAVKLIS, writer and local historian, Mikhail LEVITIN, member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, local historian.

The expression “The book is the source of knowledge” can well be called the motto of the science fiction writer Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. He carried his love of reading, the desire to learn new things, exploring new spaces, new areas of science throughout his life.

In those years when this photograph was taken, young Sasha Belyaev was attracted to distant countries, travel and adventures - everything that had nothing to do with everyday reality.

“A charming man with a wide range of interests and an inexhaustible sense of humor,” recalls V.V. Bylinskaya, who knew him in those years, “Alexander Belyaev united a circle of Smolensk youth around himself and became the center of this small society.

Memorial plaque installed on the building where the editorial office of Smolensky Vestnik was located.

“In his youth, my father loved to dress fashionably,” recalls the writer’s daughter Svetlana Aleksandrovna, “if not to say, even with panache...”

2009 marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Romanovich Belyaev, a Soviet science fiction writer, one of the founders of science fiction literature, who has earned worldwide recognition. A lot has been written about Belyaev, but the years of his life in the city of Smolensk, where he was born and raised, are not fully reflected, and moreover, the texts repeat errors that we correct using archival materials.

Alexander Belyaev was born on March 16 (new style) 1884 in a house on Bolshaya Odigitrievskaya Street (now Dokuchaev Street) in the family of the priest of the Odigitrievskaya Church, Roman Petrovich Belyaev, and his wife Nadezhda Vasilyevna. In total, the family had three children: Vasily, Alexander and Nina.

The plot of land, according to the recollections of local historian A.N. Troitsky, consisted of a very picturesque garden descending along a steep slope into a ravine leading to the cathedral.

Alexander's parents were deeply religious people. And from early childhood, Sasha’s interests lay in a completely different plane: he was fascinated by travel, extraordinary adventures, inspired by reading his beloved Jules Verne.

“My brother and I,” recalled Alexander Romanovich, decided to go traveling 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 the wonderful pictures depicted them: creepy and at the same time somehow cozy. And my heart sank from this sweet horror.

Later Wells came with the nightmares of the “Struggle of the Worlds.” This world was no longer so comfortable...”

It is not difficult to imagine how the boy’s imagination was excited by the event that happened on July 6, 1893: in the Lopatinsky Garden, a hot air balloon with a gymnast sitting on a trapeze rose to a height of one kilometer, after which she jumped off the trapeze. The spectators gasped in horror. But a parachute opened above the gymnast, and the girl landed safely.

The sight shocked Sasha so much that he immediately decided to experience the feeling of flying and jumped from the roof with an umbrella in his hands, then on a parachute made from a sheet. Both attempts brought very sensitive bruises. But Alexander Belyaev still managed to make his dream come true: his latest novel “Ariel” tells the story of a man who can fly like a bird.

But the time for carefree hobbies is over. By the will of his father, the boy was sent to a religious school. Publications about the writer report that he entered there at the age of six. But that's not true.

The Smolensk Diocesan Gazette annually published official information about students of the theological school and seminary. And in No. 13 for 1895 there is a “List of students of the theological school, compiled by the school board after one-year tests at the end of the 1894/1895 academic year and approved by His Eminence on July 5, 1895 under No. 251.” Among the first grade students: “Yakov Alekseev, Dmitry Almazov, Alexander Belyaev, Nikolai Vysotsky...” At the end of the list it is indicated that these students are transferred to the second grade of the school. Thus, Alexander Belyaev was 11 years old in 1895. Therefore, he entered at the age of 10.

The school was located near the Avraamievsky Monastery, not far from the Belyaev estate, about five minutes' walk at a leisurely pace.

Classes were easy for him. The same statements (No. 12 for 1898) provide a list of fourth grade students: “First category: Pavel Dyakonov, Alexander Belyaev, Nikolai Lebedev, Yakov Alekseev<...>graduated from the full course of the school and were awarded transfer to the first class of the seminary.”

This is when Alexander Belyaev becomes a seminarian - at the age of 14, and not at the age of 11, as indicated in the well-established biographical information for collected works of his works and in many other publications about the writer.

Expert in the local area, local historian SM. Yakovlev wrote: “The Smolensk Theological Seminary existed for 190 years. It was founded in 1728 by the former rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Bishop Gideon Vishnevsky... “a most learned man of great severity,” classes were taught by highly educated teachers invited from Kyiv. The study of Latin, ancient Greek and Polish was mandatory.

At the seminary, Belyaev was famous not only for his success in his studies, but also for his “speeches at evenings - reading poems.”

In the first years of its existence, the Smolensk Seminary hosted spectacular performances of spiritual content (mysteries) for city residents in order to strengthen the viewer’s moral and religious principles, loyalty to Orthodoxy and the throne. Alexander Belyaev is their constant participant.

In the prefaces to several collections, biographers claim that Belyaev graduated from the seminary in 1901. This is another inaccuracy. “Diocesan Gazette” (Nos. 11-12 for 1904) provides an alphabetical list of graduates: among them is Alexander Belyaev.

After graduating from the seminary, contrary to the wishes of his father, who saw his son as his successor, Alexander entered the Demidovsky Lyceum in Yaroslavl (established in 1809 as a school on the initiative and at the expense of P. G. Demidov with a three-year period of study, this educational institution was reorganized in 1833 first to a lyceum with the same period of study, and in 1868 to a four-year legal lyceum with university rights). At the same time, Alexander received a musical education in violin class.

The unexpected death of his father in 1905 left the family without a livelihood. To get money to pay for his studies, Alexander gave lessons, painted scenery for the theater, and played the violin in the Truzzi Circus orchestra. But grief does not come with one thing: brother Vasily drowned in the Dnieper, and then sister Ninochka died. Alexander remained the only protector and support of his mother, so after graduating from the lyceum (1908) he returned to Smolensk.

It is known that in 1909 he worked as an assistant to a sworn attorney. But Alexander Romanovich’s creative nature required an outlet, and he became an active participant in the Smolensk Society of Lovers of Fine Arts, where he gave lectures, then a member of the board of the Smolensk Public Entertainment Club and a member of the board of the Symphony Society. During the summer months, theater troupes usually toured Smolensk, most often Basmanova. Belyaev writes reviews in the Smolensky Vestnik for almost every performance staged in the Lopatinsky Garden, and also acts as a music critic. Signed under the pseudonym "B-la-f". They published “Smolensk feuilletons” on the topic of the day.

Anyone who has read his works knows how keenly the writer responded to injustice. This quality manifested itself in the very first years of independent life and became the reason that in 1909 Alexander Belyaev found himself under police surveillance. The information is in the gendarme file “Diary of external surveillance, reports on the Smolensk organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.” The Belyaev case began on December 30, 1908. The report of Colonel N. G. Ivanenko for November 10, 1909 presents a list of persons who belonged to the local organization, led by a certain Karelin. This list also contains the surname of Alexander Romanovich Belyaev: “...assistant attorney at law, 32 years old (in fact, he was 25 years old. - Author’s note), nickname “Live” (given in connection with his character. - Approx. auto.)". The report states that the suspects' premises were searched on November 2, 1909. “Alive” appears in the secret police diary until the end of its recording (January 19, 1910).

We managed to find in the Smolensky Vestnik (for the same years) reports about several trials conducted by A. Belyaev as an assistant sworn attorney. But one of them - dated October 23, 1909 - is of particular interest, since Belyaev spoke in the trial of the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. And on December 25, as reported in the newspaper, “... V. Karelin, who was arrested a month ago, was released from the Smolensk prison.” I think this can be considered proof of how successfully Alexander Romanovich conducted the defense. In 1911, Belyaev won a major court case against timber merchant Skundin, for which he received a significant fee. He set aside this amount for a long-planned trip to Europe. True, it was possible to make the trip only two years later, as evidenced by the “Report on foreign passports issued since March 1, 1913 by the Smolensk Governor”: “... to hereditary honorary citizen, assistant attorney at law Alexander Romanovich Belyaev for No. 57.”

In his autobiography about the purposes of this trip, the writer writes: “I studied history, art, went to Italy to study the Renaissance. I’ve been to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the south of France.” The trip became an invaluable source from which the writer drew the impressions he needed until the end of his days. After all, most of his novels take place “abroad.” And the first trip turned out to be the only one.

Belyaev is not an idle tourist, but an inquisitive tester. In the biographical information to the 9-volume collected works of the writer, confirmation of this is given: “In 1913, there were not so many daredevils who flew on Blériot and Farman airplanes - “bookcases” and “coffins”, as they were called then. However, Belyaev is in Italy, in Ventimiglia, flying in a seaplane.”

Here is an excerpt from the description of this flight: “The sea beneath us is going lower and lower. The houses surrounding the bay appear not white, but red, because from above we only see red roofs. The surf stretches like a white thread near the shore. Here is Cape Martin. The aviator waves his hand, we look in that direction, and the coast of the Riviera unfolds before us, as in a panorama.”

Belyaev would then convey his feelings, in particular, in the story “The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep”: “Some kind of river appeared in the distance. The city lies on the high coastal hills. On the right bank, the city was surrounded by the ancient battlements of the Kremlin with high towers. A huge five-domed cathedral reigned over the entire city. “Dnieper!.. Smolensk!.. The airplane flew over the forest and smoothly landed on a good airfield.”

During a trip to Italy, Belyaev climbed Vesuvius and published an essay about the ascent in the Smolensky Bulletin. In these notes one can already feel the confident pen of not only a talented journalist, but also a future brilliant writer: “Suddenly, bushes began to appear, and we found ourselves in front of a whole sea of black frozen lava. The horses snored, shuffled their feet, and they decided to step onto the lava, as if it were water. Finally, nervously, with jumps, the horses climbed onto the lava and walked at a walk. The lava rustled and broke off under the horses' feet. The sun was setting. Below, the bay was already covered with a bluish haze. There came a short, gentle evening. On the mountain, the sun snatched several houses from the encroaching darkness, and they stood as if heated by the internal fire of the crater. The proximity of the peak had an effect... Vesuvius is a symbol, 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 the little man, just as defenseless, despite all the conquests of culture, as he was thousands of years ago in blooming Pompeii."

And in the crater of the fire-breathing giant “... everything was filled with acrid, suffocating steam. It either lay along the black, uneven edges of the vent, corroded by moisture and ash, or flew up in a white ball, as if from a giant chimney of a steam locomotive. And at that moment, somewhere deep below, the darkness was illuminated, as if by the distant glow of a fire...”

Alexander Romanovich’s writing talent is manifested not only in descriptions of natural phenomena, he also understands people with their contradictions: “These Italians are an amazing people! They know how to combine sloppiness with a deep understanding of beauty, greed with kindness, petty passions with a truly great impulse of the soul.”

Everything he saw, refracted through the prism of his perception, the writer will later reflect in his works.

It can probably be argued that the trip helped him finally decide on his final choice of profession. In 1913-1915, having left the bar, Alexander Romanovich worked in the editorial office of the Smolensky Vestnik newspaper, first as a secretary, then as an editor. Today, a memorial plaque is installed on the building where the editorial office was located.

Only his craving for the theater remained unrealized so far. Since childhood, he organized home performances, in which he was an artist, a screenwriter, and a director, playing any role, even women’s. Transformed instantly. They quickly learned about Belyaev’s theater and began inviting friends to perform. In 1913, Belyaev, together with the beautiful Smolensk cellist Yu. N. Saburova, staged the fairy tale opera “The Sleeping Princess.” “Smolensky Vestnik” (February 10, 1913) noted that the noisy great success of the play “was created by the tireless energy, loving attitude and subtle understanding of the leaders Yu. N. Saburova and A. R. Belyaev, who took upon themselves a grandiose, if you think about it, task - to stage an opera, even for children, using only the resources of the educational institution.”

A resident of Smolensk, SM, writes about this side of Alexander Romanovich’s creative nature in his memoirs. Yakovlev: “The charming image of A. R. Belyaev sank into my soul from the time when he helped us - students of the N. P. Evnevich gymnasium - to stage, together with the students of the women's gymnasium E. G. Sheshatka, at one of our student evenings the wonderful fantastic fairy tale play "Three years, three days, three minutes." Taking the plot core of the fairy tale as a basis, A. R. Belyaev, as a stage director, managed to creatively refine it, enrich it with many interesting introductory scenes, color it with bright colors, saturate it with music and singing. His imagination knew no bounds! He organically “integrated” into the fabric of the fairy tale the witty remarks, dialogues, crowd scenes, choral and choreographic numbers he invented<...>His data was excellent. He had a good appearance, a high level of speech culture, great musicality, a bright temperament and an amazing art of impersonation. He had a particularly strong talent for mimicry, which is easy to judge from the numerous mask photographs of him preserved by the writer’s daughter, Svetlana Alexandrovna, which unusually accurately and expressively convey the range of various states of the human psyche - indifference, curiosity, suspicion, fear, horror, bewilderment. , tenderness, delight, sadness, etc.”

Alexander Romanovich's first literary work - the play "Grandma Moira" - appeared in 1914 in the Moscow magazine for children "Protalinka".

While visiting Moscow (which beckoned and attracted him), Belyaev met with Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky and even passed his acting tests.

So far he has succeeded in everything. The future promised success in his endeavors. But the tragic year 1915 came for A. Belyaev. The young man was struck by a serious illness: spinal tuberculosis. His wife leaves him. Doctors recommend changing the climate, his mother and nanny transport him to Yalta. Alexander Belyaev was bedridden for six years, three of which were in a plaster corset.

And what terrible years those were! The October Revolution, the Civil War, devastation... Belyaev is saved only by reading a lot, especially translated fantastic literature; studies literature on medicine, biology, history; interested in new discoveries and scientific achievements; masters foreign languages.

Only in 1922 did his condition improve somewhat. Of course, the love and care of Margarita Konstantinovna Magnushevskaya, who became his second wife, helped. They got married in 1922 before the Nativity Fast, and on May 22, 1923 they registered their marriage at the registry office. After marriage, “...I had to,” Belyaev recalled, “enter the criminal investigation office, 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.”

A year later, Alexander Romanovich's long-time dream comes true - he and his wife move to Moscow. A happy accident helped: in Yalta he met his old Smolensk acquaintance, Nina Yakovlevna Filippova, who invited Belyaev to go to Moscow, giving him two rooms in her large, spacious apartment. After the Filippovs moved to Leningrad, the Belyaevs had to vacate this apartment and live in a damp room in a semi-basement on Lyalin Lane. On March 15, 1924, a daughter, Lyudmila, was born into the Belyaev family.

During these years, Alexander Romanovich worked at the People's Commissariat of Postal and Telegraph as a planner, and after some time as a legal adviser at the People's Commissariat for Education. And in the evenings he studies literature.

1925 Belyaev is 41 years old. His story “The Head of Professor Dowell” was published on the pages of the World Pathfinder magazine. It's a story, not a novel. The science fiction writer's first attempt at writing. And the beginning of a new, creative life for Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. In the article “About my works” Belyaev will later say: “I can report that the work “The Head of Professor Dowell” is a work to a large extent... autobiographical. The disease once put me in a plaster bed for three and a half years. This period of illness was accompanied by paralysis of the lower half of the body. And although I controlled 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. That’s when I changed my mind and experienced everything that a “head without a body” can experience.”

Belyaev’s professional literary activity began with the publication of the story. He collaborates with the magazines “World Pathfinder”, “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power”, “Struggle of the Worlds”, publishes new science fiction works: “The Island of Lost Ships”, “Lord of the World”, “The Last Man from Atlantis”. He signs not only with his last name, but also with pseudonyms - A. Rom and Arbel.

Margarita Konstantinovna tirelessly types out his new works on an old Remington typewriter. The Belyaevs' life is getting better. They bought a piano. In the evenings they play music. They visit theaters and museums. We made new friends.

The year 1928 became significant in Belyaev’s work: the novel “Amphibian Man” was published. The chapters of the new work were published in the magazine “Around the World”. The success was extraordinary! Issues of magazines were snapped up instantly. Suffice it to say that the circulation of Around the World increased from 200,000 to 250,000 copies. In the same year, 1928, the novel was published twice as a separate book, and a year later a third edition appeared. The popularity of the novel exceeded all expectations. Critics explained the secret of its success by saying that it was “a universal novel that combined science fiction, adventure, social themes and melodrama.” The book was translated and published in many languages. Belyaev became famous! (Shot in 1961, after the death of the writer, the film of the same name was also a stunning success. It was watched by 65.5 million viewers - a record at that time!)

In December 1928, Belyaev left Moscow and moved to Leningrad. The apartment on Mozhaiskogo Street was furnished with taste. “On occasion,” recalls Svetlana Aleksandrovna Belyaeva, “my parents bought wonderful antique furniture - an office, in it there was a Swedish desk, a comfortable reclining chair, a large plush sofa, a piano and shelves with books and magazines.”

Alexander Romanovich writes a lot and enthusiastically. His fiction is not far-fetched, but is based on a scientific basis. The writer follows the news of science and technology. His knowledge is encyclopedically diverse, and he easily navigates in new directions.

It would seem that life is going well. But... Belyaev falls ill with pneumonia. Doctors advise changing the climate. And the family moves to Kyiv, where his childhood friend Nikolai Pavlovich Vygotsky lives. Kyiv has a favorable climate, life is cheaper, but... publishing houses only accept manuscripts in Ukrainian! The writer is forced to make another move to Moscow.

Here the family suffered grief: on March 19, daughter Lyudmila died of meningitis, and Alexander Romanovich experienced an exacerbation of spinal tuberculosis. Bed again. And as a response to forced immobility, interest in the problems of space exploration is growing. Alexander Romanovich studies the works of Tsiolkovsky, and the science fiction writer’s imagination pictures a flight to the Moon, interplanetary travel, and the discovery of new worlds. “Airship” is dedicated to this topic. After reading it, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky noted in his review: “The story... is wittyly written and scientific enough for imagination.” Belyaev also sent the story “Leap into Nothing” - about a journey to Venus - to Tsiolkovsky, and the scientist wrote a preface to it. Their correspondence continued until Tsiolkovsky passed away. The writer dedicated his novel “KETS Star” (1936) to the memory of Konstantin Eduardovich.

In October 1931, the Belyaevs moved again - to Leningrad, where they lived until 1938. In recent years, the writer was ill and almost never got out of bed. And in the summer of 1938 they exchanged their living space in Leningrad for a five-room apartment in Pushkin.

Alexander Romanovich almost never leaves home. But writers, readers and admirers come to him, pioneers gather every week - he leads a drama club.

Here the Patriotic War finds him. Belyaev died in the occupied city on January 6, 1942. At the Kazan cemetery in Pushkin, above his grave there is a white obelisk with the inscription “Belyaev Alexander Romanovich”, below is an open book with a quill pen. On the pages of the book it is written: “Science Fiction Writer.”

Belyaev created 17 novels, dozens of short stories and a huge number of essays. And this is for 16 years of literary work! His fascinating works are imbued with faith in the unlimited possibilities of the human mind and faith in justice.

Reflecting on the tasks of a science fiction writer, Alexander Romanovich wrote: “A writer working in the field of 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 consequences and possibilities that are sometimes still unclear and to the scientist himself." He himself was just such a science fiction writer.

It is believed, and not without reason, that Alexander Romanovich Belyaev has three lives: one - from birth until the publication of the story “The Head of Professor Dowell”, the second - from this first story until the day of the writer’s death, the third - the longest life in his books.

The journal “Science and Life” became the laureate of the 2009 Alexander Belyaev Literary Prize in the category “The magazine - for the most interesting activity during the year preceding the award.” The prize was awarded “for fidelity to the traditions of domestic popular science and fiction literature and journalism.”

The idea to establish a memorial prize in honor of Alexander Belyaev arose in 1984, when the centenary of the birth of the famous science fiction writer was celebrated, who wrote not only the science fiction novels “Amphibian Man”, “Ariel”, “The Head of Professor Dowell”, but also scientific -popular works. However, it was first awarded in 1990, and in its early years it was awarded for literary works in the science fiction genre. In 2002, the status of the prize was revised, and now it is given exclusively for works of popular science and scientific-art (educational) literature.