Biography of Nikolai Yakovlevich Andreev. All books by Leonid Andreev

Leonid Andreev is a Russian writer and artist. He wrote not many works and lived short life. But the name of this author stands apart in the history of Russian literature. He doesn't look like anyone else. His prose is amazing and makes you think. I want to re-read the works of this extraordinary author again and again. The life and work of Leonid Andreev is the topic of the article.

Childhood

Leonid Andreev, whose stories are imbued with deep philosophy, was born in Orel on Pushkarnaya Street - the very same street where his characters Geraska and Bergamot lived. In the year when he was born future writer, some financial stability finally reigned in the family of the land surveyor-tax operator.

Nikolai Ivanovich Andreev - the father of the prose writer - was distinguished by his firm and decisive character. He was respected by everyone in the area for his extraordinary sense of justice, to which he was faithful, even while in a drunken stupor. Nikolai Ivanovich, like his son later, had a craving for alcohol.

Leonid Andreev inherited his love for creativity from his mother. Anastasia Nikolaevna, although she was an illiterate woman, knew how to compose extraordinary stories and stories, which greatly pleased her offspring.

As a high school student, Leonid demonstrated an extraordinary gift of speech. He often wrote school essays for your friends. He was remarkably able to recreate the style of great writers. But his real passion was drawing. Leonid Andreev, perhaps, would have become an outstanding artist. But there was nowhere to study painting in Orel at that time. Throughout his life, the writer returned to his hobby from time to time.

Andreev was prompted to write by reading. Serious attitude he developed a passion for the book when he was still a teenager. His life consisted of fights with neighboring gun boys, drawing, and the works of Jules Verne, Charles Dickens and Mine Reid. All this knowledge and impressions ultimately resulted in paper. Such characters as Sashka from the work “Angel”, Geraska and Bergamot were born.

Youth

Andreev's development as a writer was significantly influenced by the works of Schopenhauer. "The World as Will and Representation" long years was for him reference book. The future prose writer was barely seventeen when he made an entry in his diary in which he seemed to promise himself one day, thanks to his creative writing, destroy established canons, and even morality itself. It was as if he saw himself already in the future - a notorious writer, the author of “The Abyss”. After all, Leonid Andreev evoked rather contradictory feelings among his contemporaries. His stories, however, had not yet been created on the day when the legendary entry appeared in his diary, quotes from which are so often cited by the fiction writer’s biographers.

Andreev Leonid Nikolaevich, whose biography includes several suicide attempts and long-term alcoholic binges, was not able to lead a calm, measured life. In his youth he suffered from constant love interests. Even then, he was monstrously attracted by two forces: love and death.

IN Soviet years Leonid Andreev was forgotten. The biography of this writer was not of interest to literary scholars, because his work did not fit into the framework established by the censors. Today his books are again of interest to readers. But even now they cause controversial debate. It is enough just to remember one of the stories written by Leonid Andreev. “Judas Iscariot” - the story of the most terrible scoundrel in the history of Christianity - is presented so unexpectedly that, despite all the talent of the author, it cannot evoke exclusively positive reviews.

Student years

After graduating from high school, Andreev entered the Faculty of Law. But the training had to be interrupted. Unrequited love pushed the future writer to attempt suicide. Having recovered from emotional experiences and illness, he went back to university. This time in Moscow.

Leonid Andreev in student years, unlike most of his peers, had little interest in politics. He was not known to participate in prohibited organizations. But I spent a lot of time reading Nietzsche. So much that death German philosopher in 1900 became almost a personal tragedy for him.

Once during the holidays, while staying in Orel, Andreev met a girl. A romance began, which, like the previous one, ended in the betrayal of his beloved. And the young man again tried to commit suicide. This time the attempt was almost successful. This case had Negative consequences. Until the end of his days, Andreev suffered from chronic heart disease, acquired after a suicide attempt.

The beginning of creativity

After passing state exams Leonid Andreev found a job as an assistant lawyer. He had to write boring court reports. But even this he did differently from his colleagues. His notes and reports were distinguished by their lively literary language. It was then that Leonid Andreev began his journey in literature.

His works were first published in the magazine “Courier”. Then he begins to write for Moskovsky Vestnik. Leonid Andreev, whose life was spent with youth very violently, was in constant search for himself. His worldview changed, which can be seen by comparing his early and late works. But the topic of Christianity and forgiveness always interested him.

"Bergamot and Geraska"

This story was published in 1898 by order of the Courier. The work was published in the Easter issue. The story tells about two very different people. One of them is a guard, an efficient, but rather stupid person. The other one is Geraska, a mysterious creature. No one knows exactly where and what he lives on. Few of the residents of Pushkarnaya Street, where he lives, have ever seen him sober. Besides, Geraska steals. That’s why he often walks around beaten.

The story takes place on Easter. Bergamot is on duty. He dreams about when the working day will end and he will go home, where his beloved wife and little son. But the holiday is desecrated by the sudden appearance of Geraska: dirty, drunk, insignificant, swearing obscenely. Bergamot should have taken him to the station. But on the bright day of Easter, something happens in his soul. Instead of sending this unfortunate man to jail, the guard takes him to his home and sits him down at the festive table.

This story can be called Andreev's literary debut. It was after the publication of this work that Maxim Gorky turned to him. And a few months later, the author of “Song of the Petrel” asked young writer send to the senior editor of one of the most popular literary magazines of that time " good story" This is how “Petka at the Dacha” was published.

From jurisprudence to literature

At the time when Muscovites read Andreev’s first stories, he was still working in a law office. Last time he acted as a defender in 1900. Soon he made the final decision to take up literary creativity. His latest speech was praised by his fellow lawyers. Despite this, Andreev left the practice of law forever.

As you know, a writer needs not only readers, but also critics. Having freed himself from his unloved work, Andreev began to regularly visit literary evenings. He met Bunin, Kuprin and other prose writers. More experienced writers gave advice and sometimes criticized quite severely. All this was necessary for the young prose writer. He completely plunged into the world of literature. And already in 1901 the first collection of his stories was published.

Glory

After the publication of the first book, Leonid Andreev became famous. The collection was reprinted four times. Prominent literary critics left laudatory reviews. This collection does not include the works that make us so loved modern readers Leonid Andreev. “Judas Iscariot”, “The Diary of Satan” - all this was much later. Small prose works that made the aspiring writer famous are stories about ordinary people, stories with a simple plot.

Andreev spoke about what he saw in Orel and Moscow. He told readers ordinary stories, but extracted the main thing from them. And, of course, critics appreciated him live literary language. So, what stories are included in the collection?

“Once upon a time,” “Angel,” “Silence,” “Valya,” “Alyosha the Fool,” “Kusaka” - all these are works that served as the basis writing career the hero of this article. It’s worth talking about each of them in more detail and you can start with an essay that Leonid Andreev wrote for both children and adults.

"Angel"

Leonid Andreev, an analysis of whose work confirms his original thinking, as well as the influence of such philosophers as Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, entered literature thanks to works in which the so-called image of the little man, created by Pushkin, plays an important role. The story "Angel" tells about a boy from poor family. About a little man who was destined to grow up too early.

The father of Sashka, the main character of the story, drinks heavily. The mother is not inferior to her husband in this. Sashka is left to his own devices, and therefore behaves like an adult. This boy resembles an angry wolf cub. He is not used to tenderness and attention. Mother is rude. The father is a weak-willed man. Strangers don’t even like Sashka.

One day he is invited to a Christmas party children's party, where he sees a wonderful toy on the Christmas tree - a wax figurine in the shape of an angel. Some kind of pleasant excitement occurs in Sashka’s soul. He feels that he needs this angel.

The feelings of the boy, who is deprived of the care of his parents and irritates his teachers, are reminiscent of the experiences of Geraska from another work by Andreev. A resident of Pushkarnaya Street suddenly begins to cry during Easter lunch. Why did he suddenly become so sensitive? The fact is that Bergamot’s wife called him by his first and patronymic names. During his long, long-suffering life, no one addressed him in this way. Also, Sashka, seeing a wonderful toy, suddenly softens and stops being rude. His soul seems to thaw. Sashka brings the angel home, and, together with his father, looks at the Christmas toy for a long time.

But Andreev would not be himself if he ended this story on a bright, optimistic note. Sashka falls asleep and at night the wax angel melts. The author seems to be making it clear that the unfortunate little man will remain so forever. Enlightenment in his life is a temporary phenomenon.

"Lived once"

The merchant Lavrenty Kosheverov was evil, envious person. And even being, as they say, on his deathbed, he did not soften. The hero of the story “Once upon a time” - a merchant, a deacon and a student - are in the hospital. They are terminally ill. But each of them faces death differently.

One is angry at the injustice of life that is leaving him. The other one humbly awaits his death. The third believes that death will bypass him. Andreev depicted the characters of people, how they state of mind changes after the announcement of a terrible diagnosis. The prose writer wrote this story when he was just beginning to live. He had three suicide attempts behind him. But he managed to surprisingly vividly describe the experiences of a man who, suffering from an incurable illness, cries only for the sun, which he will never see again.

The story "Silence" tells the story of the mysterious suicide of a priest's daughter. In “Alyosha the Fool” we are talking about a vague feeling of injustice creeping into a child’s soul. No matter who Andreev wrote about, he was always extremely sincere. His stories are so poignant, as if he had lived the life of each of his heroes.

Among the works written by Leonid Andreev, “Kusaka” is one of the few included in school curriculum. The story is dedicated to a dog who lives on the street and has the opportunity to observe human cruelty in its extreme manifestations.

"Abyss"

Andreev supplemented the second edition of the collection with stories in which the influence of Nietzsche was felt. His characters find themselves in a situation that changes their consciousness. It’s as if another person is waking up in them - a terrible person, following his bestial instincts.

The stories “The Abyss”, “Alarm”, “The Wall”, published in 1902, confirmed that Andreev as a writer was fully formed. The works caused controversy and discussion. In them, the author spoke about what one should not only remain silent about, but also not want to think about.

In "The Abyss" we're talking about O terrible event that happened to young people. A high school student and a student are walking in the evening. Their conversation concerns only lofty topics. Thoughts, it would seem, are also extremely pure. But on the way they meet the dregs of society. These people destroy the atmosphere of purity and romance. And having become a victim of their attack, the student, who not so long ago read poetry and talked about science and art, suddenly turns into a creature for whom instincts are above all.

"The Life of Vasily Fiveysky"

At first creative path critical analysis of modern social world for Andreev came first. But later skepticism became noticeable. The writer became interested in spiritualism, which was fashionable at that time. Reading his works, one gets the impression that he was tormented by constant doubts about his faith.

In the story "Basily of Thebes" he depicted the fate of a righteous man. The hero of this work meekly fulfills his duty. Vasily Fiveysky - priest. But parishioners do not want to listen to his sermons. One after another, tragedies destroy the peace in his home. The son dies, the wife drinks herself to death, then a sick child is born. And Vasily, being a clergyman, suddenly begins to think about whether God sees him, whether he hears his prayers.

"Notes of an Unknown"

Works created by Leonid Andreev at a later stage of his creativity:

"Judas Iscariot."
"Satan's Diary"
"Sashka Zhegulev."
"He. Notes of an unknown person"

Something dark and incomprehensible is present on the pages of Leonid Andreev’s works. The story “He,” published in 1913, is filled with vague pessimism. Unclear, because as soon as at the end the reader begins to understand that Andreev’s hero is sick, and most of from what he describes, it seems to him.

The hero of this work is a poor student. He receives a lucrative job offer. And then he goes abroad. There he must begin his duties as a teacher. His students are strange children. They play as if under duress, they laugh as if on command. They are like adults playing the role of children. But the main oddity of the house in which the poor student finds himself is a man increasingly looking out the window.

The narration in “Notes of an Unknown” is told in the first person. The author shows this way internal state a man who is gradually losing his mind. The man in the window looks at the hero more and more often. Children are becoming more and more unbearable in his eyes. At the conclusion of this work, the teacher dies. What caused his madness remains a mystery.

"Judas Iscariot"

Andreev wrote this story in just two weeks. Maxim Gorky, having read the work, said that it would not be understandable to everyone and would cause big noise. And so it happened.

Andreev's Judas is, of course, an extremely negative hero. But at the same time, very unhappy. The apostles in the story of the Russian writer - ordinary people who are no strangers to such a vice as cowardice. Such an interpretation could not but cause controversy and discontent on the part of deeply religious people. Nevertheless, the book was translated into French, German, English languages, and has been filmed several times by Western and Russian filmmakers.

You should also list other works created by the writer on different stages creativity.

"In the Fog."
"Signs."
"Marseillaise".
"Son of Man"
"My notes."
"Red Laughter"
"The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men."
"The Yoke of War."

Last years

Leonid Andreev did not accept the revolution. Moreover, he felt extreme hostility towards the Bolshevik government. The writer spent his last years in Finland. Books written in exile are permeated with special pessimism. Among them is “The Diary of Satan,” a story about the Devil, who, finding himself among mortals, was amazed and oppressed by the treachery of ordinary people.

Leonid Andreev, whose books were temporarily forgotten, today again arouses the interest of both literary scholars and readers. He is called a prominent representative Silver Age Russian literature. In 1956 at small homeland writer, a museum dedicated to his work was created.

Writer Leonid Andreev died in Finland in 1919 from a heart attack. He was buried in a small Finnish town.

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev is a great Russian writer of the Silver Age, who created a number of equally significant works, both in realistic and symbolic prose. He is rightfully considered one of the strangest and most mysterious authors. Enormous talent: seeing the interesting in the ordinary, the ability to turn the most, at first glance, ordinary character into a personality, showing unpleasant sides human soul, the ability to make a reader of any age look into themselves and wander with a cleansing lantern in the darkness of their own psyche.

A few interesting facts from the biography will help us better understand the thoughts and feelings of the author. This will become for us a real guide to the world of his gloomy works. The life and work of Leonid Andreev are closely intertwined.

L.N. was born. Andreev in the Oryol province, which was the birthplace of many talented authors. I.A. also walked along the same streets. Bunin, and I.S. Turgenev. The famous philosopher M.M. was born here. Bakhtin.

Nature endowed Leonid Andreev not only with talent, but also with impeccable appearance. As F.M. would have written. Dostoevsky: “possessed extraordinary, terrible beauty.” Many passers-by looked around as he passed by. He was drawn by I.E. Repin, V.A. Serov, L.O. Parsnip.

Andreev studied, by his own admission, “badly.” After graduating from high school, he decided to enter St. Petersburg University to become a lawyer, but was expelled because the family had financial difficulties. But, despite this, Andreev educated himself and read a lot. “Leonid Andreev had more talent than taste,” Chukovsky wrote in his reviews.

1889 became one of the most difficult years in the life of young Andreev; he experienced the loss of his father, as well as the crisis of his first unhappy love. All this left a huge imprint on the author’s delicate psyche. A manic idea to go to another world appears in his soul, and his first attempt to commit suicide occurs (he falls on the rails). However, fortune smiled on Leonid Andreev, and he remained alive, giving the world a lot of works. Subsequently, he will try to commit suicide more than once: such is his violent, restless nature. In general, Andreev with a pistol or a razor in his hands is a common sight for his inner circle. He is the man who has been captive to his passions throughout his life. “Nature is boiling water.” He inherited his father's sin - alcohol addiction. But, having tasted all the abundance of vices and having gone through thorns on his own, Leonid Nikolaevich gave us a huge bouquet of insightful texts.

Phenomenal abilities of Leonid Andreev

Many argue that the writer had the gift of foresight. 2 months before the death of his first wife Shurochka Veligorskaya (she died after giving birth to Daniil Andreev, who would become a writer in the future), Leonid Nikolaevich created famous play"Human Life". He read this work to her - she turned pale. In this text, L.N. Andreev foresaw his own suffering and torment after some time. Andrei Bely defined the tone of this play as “sobbing despair”, and called Andreev himself a person “behind whom chaos swirls.”

How did Andreev feel about the revolution?

Andreev, in his work, foresaw all the events that took place in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was a rebel by nature. He stood for what he considered right and fair. Even as a student, Andreev participated in anti-government circles, and after that he supported both the First World War and the February Revolution with all his might. Initially, the author saw the benefit and flourishing of democracy during the October Revolution of 1917, but the stronger the power of the Bolsheviks became, the more more Andreev realized the senselessness and wrongness of this action. “The conqueror Lenin walks on puddles of blood,” he wrote in a pamphlet about Lenin. “The heart does not want to beat, the blood does not want to flow, life does not want to live,” Leonid Nikolaevich left this entry in his diary at the end of 1917.

Andreev was not afraid of persecution and punishment; he openly condemned both his own government and foreign authorities. In the article “S.O.S” (short for “save our souls”, translated: “Save our souls!”), the author openly reproaches the Allied governments for their attitude towards “torn Russia”.

“You must have no sense of dignity at all in order to wash yourself with slop instead of water, in order to absorb with a pleasant smile, like a sugared pineapple, all those insults and ridicule, mocking mockery and outright sincere kicks that were awarded to representatives of all allied peoples in Bolshevik Petrograd...”

Journalism of Leonid Andreev: analysis

Leonid Andreev was a critic by nature. His journalistic works are distinguished by brevity and causticity. For example, in a note dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Nekrasov’s death, Andreev sincerely made it clear that Nekrasov is not his favorite poet, he does not like poems at all. It’s surprising that the author’s vulnerable soul is more affected by the prose. Why is Andreev so brief in his note? He probably did not want to offend with his carelessness and subjectivity the feelings of those readers who value Nekrasov’s genius, but he could not help but notice: “At present, Nekrasov, it seems to me, is respected more than ever, and less than ever before.” Anyway, let’s read.” Let it be brief, but sincerely, it was not in vain that one said famous writer: “Only that which is empty from within rattles.”

Leonid Nikolaevich devoted much more lines to Maxim Gorky, who often acted as a mentor and critic and more than once gave advice to young Andreev. However, in “careless thoughts” Andreev does not “sing laudatory praises” to Alexei Maksimovich, but, on the contrary, actively criticizes: “The basis of Gorky’s artistic individuality is his despotism”; “There is no peace in his artistic kingdom, and that is why there is an eternal “war of all against all””; “and like Chronos, devouring his children, one by one, Gorky little by little swallows his heroes.”

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Biography

Creativity, basic ideas

Works

Stories

Novels and stories

Film adaptations of works

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev(August 9 (21), 1871, Orel, Russian Empire - September 12, 1919, Neivola, Finland) - Russian writer. Representative of the Silver Age of Russian literature. Considered the founder of Russian expressionism.

Biography

Childhood

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

Youth

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

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

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

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

The first Russian revolution and pre-war years

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

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

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

In 1906, the writer was forced to leave for Germany, where his second son, Daniel, was born, who would later become a writer (he wrote the treatise “Rose of the World”). His wife dies from childbirth (buried in Moscow at the cemetery Novodevichy Convent). Andreev leaves for Capri (Italy), where he lives with Gorky. After the start of the reaction in 1907, Andreev became disillusioned with the revolution itself. He moves away from Gorky's revolutionary-minded writing circle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On September 12, 1919, Leonid Andreev died suddenly from a heart defect. He was buried in Marioki. In 1956 he was reburied in Leningrad at the Volkov cemetery.

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

Addresses in St. Petersburg - Petrograd

1907−1908 - apartment building K. Kh. Geldalya - Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, 13;
1914−1917 - apartment building of K. I. Rosenstein - Bolshoi Avenue, 75.

Creativity, basic ideas

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

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

Works

Stories

Plays

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

Novels and stories

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

Film adaptations of works

1916 - The one who gets slapped ( Russian empire)
1924 - The One Who Gets Slapped (USA)
1987 - Christians
1990 - Purification
1991 - Night of Sinners (based on the story “Darkness”) (also called “The Highest Truth of Bomber Alexei”)
2009 - Abyss (Russia)

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev- an outstanding Russian writer. Born on August 21, 1871 in Orel in the family of a land surveyor, who (according to family legends) was illegitimate son landowner. The mother was also from a noble family, so it can be argued that the person who came into this world was an aristocrat both in spirit and in blood.

In 1882, he was sent to the Oryol gymnasium, where Leonid, by his own admission, “was a bad student.” But I read a lot: Jules Verne, Edgar Poe, Charles Dickens, Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev, Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Eduard Hartmann, Arthur Schopenhauer. The latter had a particularly strong influence on the worldview of the future writer: Schopenhauerian motifs permeate many of his works.

In 1889, the young man grieved the loss of his father. In the same year, another test awaits him - a severe mental crisis due to unhappy love. The psyche of the impressionable young man couldn’t stand it, and he even tried to commit suicide: to tempt fate, he lay down under a train between the rails. Fortunately, everything worked out, and domestic literature enriched with another great name.

In 1891, after graduating from high school, Leonid Andreev entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, from where he was expelled in 1893 for non-payment. He managed to transfer to Moscow University, where tuition fees were paid by the Society for Benefits to the Needy. At the same time, Andreev began to publish: in 1892, his story “In Cold and Gold,” which tells the story of a hungry student, was published in the magazine “Zvezda.” However, life's troubles again drive the aspiring writer to suicide, but the attempt is again unsuccessful. (He will try his luck again in 1894. And again he remains alive.)

All this time, the poor student ekes out a half-starved existence, lives with private lessons, and paints portraits to order. In addition, in 1895, Leonid Andreev came under police surveillance for participating in the affairs of the Oryol student community in Moscow, since the activities of such organizations were banned.

Nevertheless, he continues to publish in Orlovsky Vestnik. And in 1896 he met his future wife, Alexandra Mikhailovna Veligorskaya.

In 1897, Leonid Andreev graduated from the university as a candidate of law. He began serving as an assistant attorney, appearing in court as a defense attorney. Perhaps from his practice he learned the plot of the work, which is considered the beginning of his literary career: On April 5, 1898, the newspaper “Courier” (which in the coming years will also publish Andreev’s feuilletons under the pseudonyms James Lynch and L.-ev) publishes the story “Bargamot and Garaska.” This debut did not go unnoticed - Andreev’s first story was approved by M. Gorky and was highly praised by influential critics of the time. Inspired by success, the aspiring writer felt an extraordinary surge of creative energy. From 1898 to 1904, he wrote over fifty stories, and in 1901, the publishing house “Znanie” published eight editions of the first volume of his works one after another. Before the young writer, who quickly gained a reputation among his generation as a “ruler of thoughts,” the doors of the editorial offices of the best magazines opened wide; his talent was recognized by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Korolenko, not to mention Gorky, with whom he developed close friendly relations (which over time grew into “friendship-enmity” and ending in a break).

In 1900, Gorky introduced his young writer to the Sreda literary circle. This is how Gorky himself describes his meeting with Leonid: “Dressed in an old sheepskin coat, with a shaggy sheepskin hat askew, he resembled young actor Ukrainian troupe. Beautiful face it seemed to me that he was inactive, but his gaze dark eyes glowed with that smile that shone so well in his stories and feuilletons. He spoke hastily, in a muffled, booming voice, coughing like a cold, slightly choking on his words and monotonously waving his hand - as if he was conducting. It seemed to me that he was a healthy, always cheerful person, capable of living laughing at the hardships of life.”

Gorky invited Andreev to work in the “Magazine for Everyone” and the literary and political magazine “Life”. But because of this work (as well as collecting money for illegal student funds), the writer again came to the attention of the police. Both he and his works were widely discussed literary critics. Rozanov, for example, wrote: “Mr. Artsybashev and gentlemen Leonid Andreev and Maxim Gorky tore the veil of fantasy from reality and showed it as it is.”

On January 10, 1902, the newspaper “Courier” published the story “The Abyss,” which shook the reading public. In it, man is presented as a slave to base, animal instincts. A wide controversy immediately developed around this work by L. Andreev, the nature of which was no longer literary, but rather philosophical character. (Later writer even conceived an “Anti-Abyss”, where he wanted to depict best sides person, but never realized his plan.)

After his marriage to Alexandra Mikhailovna Veligorskaya on February 10, 1902, the calmest and happiest period in Andreev’s life began, which, however, did not last long. In January 1903 he was elected a member of the Society of Amateurs Russian literature at Moscow University. He continued literary activity, and now more and more rebellious motives appeared in his work. In January 1904, the Courier published the story “No Forgiveness,” directed against agents of the Tsarist secret police. Because of him, the newspaper was closed.

An important event - not only literary, but also social - was the anti-war story "Red Laughter". The writer enthusiastically welcomes the first Russian revolution and tries to actively promote it: he works for the Bolshevik newspaper Borba, and participates in a secret meeting of the Finnish Red Guard. He again came into conflict with the authorities, and in February 1905, for providing an apartment for meetings of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, he was placed in solitary confinement. Thanks to the bail provided by Savva Morozov, he manages to get out of prison. Despite everything, Andreev does not stop revolutionary activity: in July 1905, he and Gorky perform at a literary and musical evening, the proceeds of which go to the benefit of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP and the families of the striking workers of the Putilov plant. From persecution by the authorities, he now had to hide abroad: at the end of 1905, the writer went to Germany.

There he experienced one of the most terrible tragedies of his life - the death of his beloved wife at the birth of his second son. At this time, he was working on the play “The Life of a Man,” about which he later wrote to Vera Figner: “Thank you for your review of “The Life of a Man.” This thing is very dear to me; and now I see that they won’t understand her. And this offends me very painfully, not as an author (I have no pride), but as a “Man.” After all, this thing was the last thought, the last feeling and pride of my wife - and when they take it apart coldly, scold it, then I feel some kind of huge insult in this. Of course, why should critics care that “the man’s wife” died, but it hurts me. Yesterday and today the play is being staged in St. Petersburg, and it makes me sick to think about it.” In December 1907, L. Andreev met with M. Gorky in Capri, and in May 1908, having somehow recovered from grief, he returned to Russia.

He continues to promote the revolution: he supports the illegal foundation of prisoners of the Shlisselburg fortress, and shelters revolutionaries in his house.

The writer works as an editor in the anthology “Rosehip” and the collection “Knowledge”. Invites A. Blok, whom he highly values, to Znanie. Blok, in turn, speaks of Andreev like this: “They find something in common with Edgar Allan Poe. This is true to a certain extent, but the huge difference is that in Mr. Andreev’s stories there is nothing “extraordinary,” “strange,” “fantastic,” or “mysterious.” All simple everyday incidents.”

But the writer had to leave Znanie: Gorky resolutely rebelled against the publications of Blok and Sologub. Andreev also broke up with Rosehip, which published the novels of B. Savinov and F. Sologub after he rejected them.

However, the work, large and fruitful, continues. Probably the most significant work of this period became "Judas Iscariot", where the well-known biblical story. The disciples of Christ appear as cowardly ordinary people, and Judas appears as a mediator between Christ and people. The image of Judas is dual: formally he is a traitor, but in essence he is the only devoted to Christ Human. He betrays Christ in order to find out whether any of his followers are capable of sacrificing themselves to save their teacher. He brings weapons to the apostles, warns them of the danger threatening Christ, and after the death of the Teacher follows him. The author puts a very deep ethical postulate into the mouth of Judas: “Sacrifice is suffering for one and shame for all. You took on all the sin. You will soon kiss the cross on which you crucified Christ!.. Did he forbid you to die? Why are you alive when he is dead?.. What is truth itself in the mouths of traitors? Doesn’t it become a lie?” The author himself described this work as “something on the psychology, ethics and practice of betrayal.”

Leonid Andreev is constantly busy searching for style. He develops techniques and principles of expressive rather than figurative writing. At this time, such works as “The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men” (1908), which tells about government repressions, the plays “Days of Our Lives” (1908), “Anatema” (1910), “Ekaterina Ivanovna” (1913), and the novel “ Sashka Zhegulev" (1911).

First world war L. Andreev welcomed “the struggle of democracy throughout the world against Caesarism and despotism, of which Germany is a representative.” He expected the same from all figures of Russian culture. At the beginning of 1914, the writer even went to see Gorky in Capri to convince him to abandon his “defeatist” position and at the same time restore shaken friendly relations. Returning to Russia, he began working for the newspaper Morning of Russia, the organ of the liberal bourgeoisie, and in 1916 became editor of the newspaper Russkaya Volya.

Andreev and the February Revolution enthusiastically welcomed him. He even tolerated violence if it was used to achieve “lofty goals” and served the public good and the triumph of freedom.

However, his euphoria waned as the Bolsheviks strengthened their positions. Already in September 1917, he wrote that “the conqueror Lenin” was walking “on puddles of blood.” An opponent of any dictatorship, he could not come to terms with the Bolshevik dictatorship. In October 1917, he left for Finland, which was actually the beginning of emigration (in fact, thanks to a sad curiosity: when the border between Soviet Russia and Finland, Andreev and his family lived in the country and, willy-nilly, ended up “abroad”).

On March 22, 1919, his article “S.O.S!” was published in the Paris newspaper “Common Cause!”, in which he appealed to “noble” citizens for help and called on them to unite in order to save Russia from “the savages of Europe who rebelled against its culture, laws and morality,” which turned it “into ashes, fire, murder, destruction, cemetery, dungeons and insane asylums.”

The writer’s restless state of mind also affected his physical well-being. On December 9, Leonid Andreev died of cardiac paralysis in the village of Neivala in Finland at the dacha of a friend, writer F. N. Valkovsky. His body was temporarily buried in a local church.

This “temporary” period lasted until 1956, when his ashes were reburied in Leningrad at the Literatorskie Mostki Volkov Cemetery.

The ideas and plots of Leonid Andreev turned out to be poorly compatible with ideology Soviet state, and for many years the name of the writer was forgotten. The first sign of the revival was a collection of short stories and novellas published by the State Publishing House of Fiction in 1957. It was followed two years later by a collection of plays. The composition of these books is emphatically neutral; “dangerous” works like “The Abyss” and “Thoughts” were not included in them.

The first and only to date (except for the two-volume 1971 edition) posthumous collected works of Leonid Andreev was published by the publishing house Fiction(Moscow) in 1990-1996.

IN last years historical justice has been restored: Andreev’s collections are published year after year and republished, individual stories and tales of the writer are included in the school curriculum.

(1882-1891). He was interested in the works of Schopenhauer and Hartmann.

Youth

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

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

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

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

The first Russian revolution and pre-war years

Real fame came to Andreev after the publication of his story “Once upon a time” in the magazine “Life” in 1901.

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

“My life was a desert and a tavern, and I was alone, and I had no friend in myself. There were days, bright and empty, like someone else's holiday, and there were nights, dark, terrible, and at night I thought about life and death, and was afraid of life and death, and did not know what I wanted more - life or death. The world was infinitely great, and I was alone - a sick, yearning heart, a troubled mind and an evil, powerless will.<…>And I shrank from the horror of life, alone in the middle of the night and people, and without a friend in myself. My life was sad, and I was afraid to live. I have always loved the sun, but its light is terrible for the lonely, like the light of a lantern over an abyss. The brighter the lantern, the deeper the abyss, and my loneliness before bright sun. <…>My death was already close. And I know, I know with all my body trembling with memories, that the hand that now leads the pen would have been in the grave - if your love had not come, for which I waited for so long, about which I dreamed so much, so much and cried so bitterly in in his hopeless loneliness..."

Andreev Vadim. Childhood, p. 156-159

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

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

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

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

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