Alexandra Yakovlevna Brushtein (Алекса́ндра Я́ковлевна Бруште́йн; née Vygodskaya; 11 August 1884 – 20 September 1968) was a Russian and Soviet writer, playwright, and memoirist. She authored more than sixty plays, mostly for children and youth. But she is most remembered for her widely-acclaimed autobiographical series .

Life

Brushtein was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

as Alexandra Yakovlevna Vygodskaya. Her father was

Jakub Wygodzki Jakub Wygodzki (18561941; , ) was a Polish–Lithuanian Jewish politician, Zionist activist and a medical doctor. He was one of the most prominent Jewish activists in Vilnius (Vilna, Wilno). Educated as a doctor in Russia and Western Europe, he e ...

, a doctor and writer. Her mother was Yelena Semyonovna Vygodskaya (nee Yadlovkina), also from a medical family. Elena's father, Semyon Mikhailovich Yadlovkin, was a military doctor in

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...

. She graduated from the

Bestuzhev Courses The Bestuzhev Courses () in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia. The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the first director ...

. She participated in the revolutionary movement, and was active in the

Political Red Cross Political Red Cross was the name borne by several organizations that provided aid to political prisoners in the Russian Empire and later in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union. The first organization using this name was founded in St. Petersburg i ...

. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, she participated in

Likbez Likbez (, ; a portmanteau of , , meaning "elimination of illiteracy") was a campaign of eradication of illiteracy in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s. The term was also used for various schools and courses established dur ...

, the Soviet campaign to eradicate illiteracy. She organized literacy schools in Petrograd, and worked on creating a repertoire for children's theaters. In 1942 she joined the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. She died 20 September 1968 in Moscow.

Works

She authored more than sixty plays, mostly for children and youth, and adapted classic works such as ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

'' and ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'' under a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

. She also authored a collection of theatrical memoirs, ''Pages of the Past'' (1952).

The Road Goes into the Distance

Alexandra Brushtein would become most famous for her autobiographical series ''The Road Goes into the Distance'': * ''The Road Goes Into the Distance'' (1956) * ''At Dawn Hour'' (1958) * ''Spring'' (1961) * ''Flowers of Shlisselburg'' * ''Evening Lights'' (1963) Written during the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...

and thus not so heavily restrained by Soviet censorship, the book series is considered one of the best examples of

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

Soviet literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its émigrés, and to Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different ethnic origins, including bilingual ...

; its popularity has endured in contemporary Russia. ''The Road Goes into the Distance'' shows life in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

during its last decades from the perspective of a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

girl from an educated

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

family. The protagonist slowly grows into a

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

. The

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

of the author's father (who chaired the city's Zionist organization) is never mentioned, the role of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

is underplayed, and many Jewish names of the people who became the prototypes of the book's characters are changed to

Russian names East Slavic naming customs are the traditional way of identifying a person's family name, given name, and patronymic name in East Slavic cultures in Russia and some countries formerly part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. They ar ...

, which may be attributed both to

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse, typically out of fear or deference to the perceived preferences, sensibilities, or infallibility of others, and often without overt external pressure. Self-censorship is c ...

and

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

due to the USSR's policy. , ''The Road Goes into the Distance'' is not translated to English or any other language. The book is "barely known outside the Russian-speaking world".

Family

* Husband Sergei Aleksandrovich Brushtein (1873–1947), one of the founders of Soviet physical therapy. ** Son Mikhail Sergeyevich Brushtein (1907–1965), participant in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, later chief engineer in a confectionery factory and inventor of techniques for producing confectionery. ** Daughter

Nadezhda Nadezhdina Nadezhda Sergeevna Nadezhdina (Russian: Надежда Надеждина) (1904/8–1979) was a Russian choreographer, ballerina, and former director of the Russian female dance troupe Beroyzka ("little birch") from its inception in 1948 unt ...

(1904–1979), choreographer and ballerina, director of the dance troupe Beryozka. * Younger brother Semyon Vygodsky (1892–1956), hydrological engineer. * Uncle Gavril Efimovich Vygodsky, ophthalmologist and head of the department of eye diseases of the Leningrad Institute for Advanced Studies. ** His son Aleksandr Gavrilovich Vygodsky (died 1941), a historian. ** His daughter Yevgeniya Maksimovna Kolpakchi, a Japanologist.A. R. Brushtein, Excerpts from the Book of Memories
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External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brushtein, Alexandra 1884 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Russian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Russian women writers Jewish writers from Vilnius Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Jewish Russian writers Russian women dramatists and playwrights Soviet dramatists and playwrights Soviet Jews Soviet women writers Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers