Arkady Averchenko
| Arkady Averchenko | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
27 March 1881 Sevastopol, Russia |
| Died | 12 March 1925 (aged 43) Prague, Czech Republic |
Arkady Timofeevich Averchenko (Russian: Арка́дий Тимофе́евич Аве́рченко; March 27, 1881, Sevastopol – March 12, 1925, Prague) was a Russian playwright and satirist. He published his stories in the journal Satyricon, of which he was also an editor, in the series of "New Satyricon", and other publications. He published a total of around 20 books. Averchenko's satirical writings can be described as liberal. After the Russian Civil War, he emigrated to Central Europe and died in Prague.
Averchenko was born on 27 March 1881 in Sevastopol. He was the son of a poor merchant, Timofey Petrovich Averchenko.
Averchenko completed only two courses at the Gymnasia because of his poor eyesight, which rendered him unable to work on his studies for extended periods. His eye had been damaged by a childhood accident. However, as time went by, his lack of formal education was compensated by his natural intellect, as the writer has described.
Averchenko started to work at the age of 15, employed by a private transport company. He remained there for slightly over a year before pursuing other employment. In 1897 Averchenko left for Donbass to work as a clerk in the Bryansk mine. He worked there for three years and later wrote several stories about life at the mine, including "In the Evening" and "Lightning."
In 1903, at the age of 22, he moved to Kharkiv where his first story appeared in the newspaper "South Territory" on 31 October.
During 1906 to 1907 he edited the satirical magazines Bayonet and Sword. Finally in 1907 he was fired from this work, reportedly with the words, "You are a good man, but suitable for nothing." After this, in January 1908 Averchenko left for Saint Petersburg where he was to achieve success in his career.
In 1908 Averchenko became secretary of the satirical magazine Dragonfly (later renamed to Satyricon) and in 1913 he became its editor. For many years Averchenko worked successfully as a member of the magazine's staff together with many other notable people, including Nadezhda Teffi, Sasha Chorny, and Aleksey Remizov. His most lauded humorous stories were published in the magazine. During Averchenko's work at the Satyricon it became very popular, and theatrical works based on his stories were put on by many theatres throughout the country.
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