Valentin Savvich Pikul (russian: Валенти́н Са́ввич Пи́куль) (July 13, 1928 – July 16, 1990) was a popular and prolific

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

historical novelist of Ukrainian-Russian heritage. He lived and worked in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

. Pikul's novels were grounded in extensive research, blending historical and fictional characters and often focusing on Russian nationalistic themes. Pikul's best-selling 1978 novel ''At the Last Frontier'' was a dramatized telling of

Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...

's influence over the Russian imperial court. Richard Stites says he was "a name hardly known to literary scholars but the most widely read author in the Soviet Union from the seventies to today .e., 1991..Richard Stites, ''Russian Popular Culture'' (Cambridge UP, 1992, repr. 1995), p. 151. Pikul's works were wildly popular: more than 20 million copies were sold in his lifetim

Little of Pikul's work has been translated into English. In May 2001 a seagoing minesweeper of the

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

was named in his honor.

Works

* '' Ocean patrol'', (''Океанский патруль''), 1954 * '' Bajazet'', (''Баязет''), 1961 * ''

Tares Tare or Tares may refer to: * Tare (armour), a leg and groin protector used in a number of Japanese martial arts * Tare (surname), a surname * Tare (tufted grass), a genus of nine species of tufted grasses * Tare, Rwanda * Tare River, in Romania ...

'', (''Плевелы''), 1962 * '' Paris for three hours'', (''Париж на три часа''), 1962 * '' On the outskirts of a great empire'', (''На задворках великой империи''), 1964–66 * '' Out of the deadlock'', (''Из тупика''), 1968 * '' The Requiem for Convoy PQ-17'', (''Реквием каравану PQ-17''), 1970 * ''

Moonzund ''Moonzund'' (russian: Моонзунд) is a 1988 Soviet war film based on Valentin Pikul's 1970 novel of the same name. "Moonzund" refers to the West Estonian archipelago, where the Battle of Moon Sound took place during World War I. Plot ...

'', (''Моонзунд''), 1970 (screen version - ''

'', 1987) * '' By plume and sword'', (''Пером и шпагой''), 1972 * '' Stars over the marsh'', (''Звёзды над болотом''), 1972 * '' Boys with bows'', (''Мальчики с бантиками''), 1974 * '' The Word and the Action'', (''Слово и дело''), 1974–75 * '' The Battle of Iron Chancellors'',(''Битва железных канцлеров''), 1977 * '' Riches'', (''Богатство''), 1977 * '' The Demonic Forces'', (''Нечистая сила''), 1979 * '' The Three Ages of Okini-San'', (''Три возраста Окини-сан''), 1981 * '' To each his own'', (''Каждому своё''), 1983 * '' The Favorite'', (''Фаворит''), 1984 * '' Cruisers'', (''Крейсера''), 1985 * '' I have the honour'', (''Честь имею''), 1986 * '' Hard Labor'', (''Каторга''), 1986 * '' Go and sin no more'', (''Ступай и не греши''), 1990 * ''

Operation Barbarossa 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 ...

'', (''Барбаросса. Площадь павших борцов''), 1990 * '' Arakcheevshina'', (''Аракчеевщина'') * '' Domini canes'', (''Псы господни'') * ''

Janissary A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ...

'', (''Янычары'') * '' Fat, dirty and corrupt'', (''Жирная, грязная и продажная'')

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pikul, Valentin 1928 births 1990 deaths 20th-century Russian novelists Russian male novelists Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers Maritime writers Writers from Saint Petersburg Russian historical novelists Soviet novelists