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Leonid Leonov

Leonid Leonov
Leonid Leonov 1929.jpg
Photograph circa 1929
Born (1899-05-31)May 31, 1899
Moscow, Russia
Died August 8, 1994(1994-08-08) (aged 95)
Moscow, Russia
Genre Fiction, drama
Notable works Sot
Soviet River
The Badgers
The Thief
The Russian Forest

Leonid Maximovich Leonov (Russian: Леони́д Макси́мович Лео́нов; May 31 [O.S. May 19] 1899 — 8 August 1994) was a Soviet novelist and playwright. His works have been compared with Dostoyevsky's deep psychological torment.

Leonid was born in Moscow in 1899. His father, Maxim Leonov, was a self-educated peasant poet who was at one time the chairman of the Surikov Literary and Musical circle (Surikov was also of peasant origin). Maxim Leonov later joined the Sreda literary group of Moscow, which counted Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, and Ivan Bunin among its members.

Leonid's earliest memory was of 1905, when Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was assassinated by the terrorist Kalyayev. In the same year Leonid's father was arrested for two pamphlets that he had published. Leonid was taken twice by his grandmother to visit his father in prison. After serving 20 months, Maxim Leonov was exiled to Arkhangelsk. Leonid visited him there several times, and his impressions and observations were later reflected in many of his works, especially Sot.

He attended the Moscow Third gymnasium from 1910 to 1918. His first poems, reviews, and news reports were published in 1915 in the journal Severnoe Utro. He had intended to study medicine at Moscow State University, but his plans were disrupted by the outbreak of the Russian Civil War.

During the Russian Civil War, he worked as a reporter with the Red Army. He was released from the Red Army in 1921 in order to continue his education. At that time he planned to study painting. Upon returning to Moscow he was unable to find any of his close relatives and acquaintances, but he was eventually accepted into the home of his uncle, a locksmith named Vasilyev. Leonid worked in his uncle's shop voluntarily in order to repay his uncle for taking him in. Later the famous graphic artist Falilyev took an interest in him. Falilyev introduced him to some well-known literary figures and artists of the early 20s, including the publishers Koppleman (of the Shipovnik Publishing House), and Sergey Saposhnikov. After seeing some of his early stories they both offered to publish them. This was the beginning of Leonov's professional literary career. Among his first stories were Buryga and The Wooden Queen (1923).


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