Alexander Romanovich Belyaev (russian: Алекса́ндр Рома́нович Беля́ев, ; – 6 January 1942) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n writer of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

. His works from the 1920s and 1930s made him a highly regarded figure in

Russian science fiction Science fiction and fantasy have been part of mainstream Russian literature since the 18th century. Russian fantasy developed from the centuries-old traditions of Slavic mythology and folklore. Russian science fiction emerged in the mid-19th c ...

, often referred to as "Russia's Jules Verne". Belyaev's best known books include ''

Professor Dowell's Head ''Professor Dowell's Head'' is a 1925 science fiction and horror story (and later novel) by Russian author Alexander Belyaev. Plot Professor Dowell and his assistant surgeon Dr. Kern are working on medical problems including life support in s ...

'', ''

Amphibian Man ''Amphibian Man'' (rus. Человек-амфибия) is a science fiction adventure novel by the Soviet Russian writer Alexander Beliaev. It was published in 1928. Plot Argentinean doctor Salvator, a scientist and a maverick surgeon, giv ...

'', ''

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

'', and '' The Air Seller''.

Biography

Alexander Belyaev was born in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

in the family of an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

. His father, after losing two other children (Alexander's sister Nina died at childhood from

sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal ( connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sar ...

and his brother Vasiliy, a veterinary student, drowned during a boat trip), wanted him to continue the family tradition and enrolled Alexander into Smolensk

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

. Belyaev, on the other hand, didn't feel particularly religious and even became an atheist in seminary. After graduating he didn't take his vows and enrolled into a law school. While he studied law his father died and he had to support his mother and other family by giving lessons and writing for theater. After graduating from the school in 1906 Belyaev became a practicing lawyer and made himself a good reputation. In that period his finances markedly improved, and he traveled around the world extensively as a vacation after each successful case. During that time he continued to write, albeit on small scale. Literature, however, proved increasingly appealing to him, and in 1914 he left law to concentrate on his literary pursuits. However, at the same time, at the age of 30, Alexander became ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. Treatment was unsuccessful; the infection spread to his spine and resulted in paralysis of the legs. Belyaev suffered constant pain and was paralysed for six years. His wife left him, not wanting to care for the paralyzed. In search for the right treatment he moved to

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

together with his mother and old nanny. During his convalescence, he read the work of Jules Verne,

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...

, and began to write poetry in his hospital bed. By 1922 he had overcome the disease and tried to find occupation in Yalta. He served a brief stint as a police inspector, tried other odd jobs such as a librarian, but life remained difficult, and in 1923 he moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

where he started to practice law again, as a consultant for various Soviet organizations. At the same time Belyaev began his serious literary activity as writer of science fiction novels. In 1925 his first novel, ''Professor Dowell's Head'' (Голова Профессора Доуэля) was published. From 1931 he lived in Leningrad with his wife and oldest daughter; his youngest daughter died of meningitis in 1930, aged six. In Leningrad he met H. G. Wells, who visited the USSR in 1934. In the last years of his life Belyaev lived in the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

suburb of

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

(formerly

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the c ...

). At the beginning of the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

during the Second World War he refused to evacuate because he was recovering after an operation that he had undergone a few months earlier.

Death

Belyaev died of starvation in the Soviet town of Pushkin in 1942 while it was occupied by the Nazis. A German officer and four soldiers carried his body from his home and conducted a burial. The general spoke a short eulogy, saying that when he was a boy, he had loved reading the writer's books translated into German; as a gesture of respect, they gave him an Orthodox burial, in the ground. The exact location of his grave is unknown. A memorial stone at the Kazanskoe cemetery in the town of Pushkin is placed on the mass grave where his body is assumed to be buried. His wife and daughter survived and were registered as

Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of '' volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sin ...

(Belyaev's wife's mother was of Swedish descent). Near the end of the war they were taken away to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

by the Nazis. Due to this, after the war, Soviets treated them as collaborators: they were exiled to

Barnaul Barnaul ( rus, Барнау́л, p=bərnɐˈul) is the largest city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob Rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As of the 2021 Census, its population was ...

(Western Siberia) and lived there for 11 years.

Posthumous copyright dispute

According to the

Soviet copyright law The Copyright law of the Soviet Union went through several major revisions during its existence. The first Socialist copyright law was passed in 1925. Three years later, it was superseded by a second version that remained in force for more than thr ...

in effect until 1964, Belyaev's works entered the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

15 years after his death. In the post-Soviet era, Russia's 1993 copyright law granted copyright protection for 50 years after the author's death. With the adoption of Part IV of the

Civil Code of Russia The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (russian: Гражданский кодекс Российской Федерации, frequently abbreviated 'ГК РФ') is the prime source of civil law for the Russian Federation. The Russian Civil Law ...

in 2004, copyright protection was extended to 70 years after the author's death, and by an additional 4 years for authors who worked or fought during the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

. And a 2006 law stated that the Civil Code's copyright protections described under articles 1281, 1318, 1327, and 1331 do not apply to works whose 50 year '' p.m.a.'' copyright term expired before the 1993 law came into force. All of this contributed to confusion about whether or not Belyaev's works are protected by copyright, and for how long. In 2008, Terra publishing company acquired exclusive rights to print Belyaev's works from his heirs, and proceeded to sue Astrel and AST-Moskva publishing companies (both part of AST) for violating those exclusive rights. The Moscow arbitration court found in favor of Terra, awarding 7.5 billion rubles in damages and barring Astrel from distributing the "illegally published" works. An appellate court found that the awarded damages were calculated unjustifiably and dismissed them. On further appeal, a federal arbitration court found that Belyaev's works entered the public domain on 1 January 1993, and could not enjoy copyright protection at all. In 2010, a Krasnodar cassation panel agreed that Belyaev's works are in the public domain. Finally, in 2011 the Supreme Court of Arbitration of Russia found that Belyaev's works are protected by copyright until 1 January 2017 due to his activity during the Great Patriotic War, and remanded the case to lower courts for retrial.

Bibliography

Selected novels

* ''

'' (Голова профессора Доуэля, short story — 1924, novel — 1937), New York, Macmillan, 1980. * ''The Ruler of the World'' (Властелин мира, 1926) * ''The Shipwreck Island'' (Остров погибших кораблей, 1926) Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. * '' The Amphibian Man'' (Человек-амфибия, 1928), Moscow, Raduga Publisher, 1986. * ''The Last Man from Atlantis'' (Последний человек из Атлантиды, 1926) * ''Battle in the Ether'' (Борьба в эфире, 1928; 1st edition named ''Radiopolis'' — 1927) * ''Eternal Bread'' (Вечный хлеб, 1928) * ''The Man Who Lost His Face'' (Человек, потерявший лицо, 1929) * '' The Air Seller'' (Продавец воздуха, 1929) * ''

Hoity Toity ''Hoity Toity'' (german: Adel Verpflichtet, Noblesse oblige) is a board game created by Klaus Teuber in 1990. Publication history German game designer Klaus Teuber created ''Adel Verpflichtet'' in 1990, and it was published in Germany by F.X. ...

'' (Хойти-Тойти, 1930) * ''Jump into the Void'' (Прыжок в ничто, 1933) * ''The Wonderful Eye'' (Чудесное око, 1935) * ''The Air Vessel'' (Воздушный корабль, 1935) * ''KETs Star'' (Звезда КЭЦ, 1936) (KETs are the initials of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky) * ''The W Lab'' (Лаборатория Дубльвэ, 1938) * ''The Man Who Found His Face'' (Человек, нашедший своё лицо, 1940) * ''

'' (Ариэль, 1941)

Anthologies edited

*''A Visitor from Outer Space'' (2001)

Film adaptations

* ''

'' («Человек-амфибия», 1961) * ''The Air Seller'' («Продавец воздуха» 1967) * '' Professor Dowell's Testament'' («Завещание профессора Доуэля», 1987) * ''

Island of Lost Ships ''Island of Lost Ships'' (russian: Остров погибших кораблей, Ostrov pogibshikh korabley) is a 1987 Soviet two-part musical television miniseries directed by Evgeniy Ginzburg and Rauf Mamedov and based on the eponymous novel b ...

'' («Остров погибших кораблей», 1987) * ''A Satellite of planet Uranus'' («Спутник планеты Уран», 1990) * ''Ariel'' («Ариэль», 1992) * ''Rains in the Ocean'' («Дожди в океане», 1994) * ''Amphibian Man: The Sea Devil'' («Человек-амфибия: Морской Дьявол», 2004)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belyaev, Alexander 1884 births 1942 deaths Deaths by starvation People from Smolensk Russian science fiction writers Soviet science fiction writers Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian writers Russian male novelists 20th-century Russian novelists Victims of the Siege of Leningrad