Boris Nikolayevich Polevoy (; – 12 July 1981) was a Soviet and Russian writer, screenwriter, journalist and war correspondent. He is the author of the book ''

The Story of a Real Man ''The Story of a Real Man'' () is an opera in four acts by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, his opus 117. It was written from 1947 to 1948, and was his last opera. The libretto, by the composer and his wife Mira Mendelson, is based on t ...

'' about Soviet

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

fighter pilot

Aleksey Maresyev Aleksey Petrovich Maresyev (; 20 May 1916 – 18 May 2001) was a Soviet and Russian military pilot who became a Soviet fighter ace during World War II despite becoming a double amputee. Biography Before joining the army in 1937 Maresye ...

Biography

Boris Polevoy was a pseudonym for Boris Nikolayevich Kampov. He was born in Moscow in 1908, the son of a lawyer from a Russian Orthodox priest family. His parents were Nikolay Petrovich and Lidiya (Vasilyevna) Kampov. He was a graduate of the Tver Industrial Technical College (now Kalinin Industrial College)."Boris Nikolayevich Kampov," ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Thomson Gale, 2007. Prior to starting his career as a writer, he worked as a technologist at a textile factory in Kalinin. As he began his journalism career in 1928, his talents were such that he was chosen to be patronized by

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

. His ''nom de plume'' has several variations based on transliterations. It was derived from translating Latin ''campus'' to Russian ''pole'' (″a field″). He is perhaps best known for his reporting on the atrocities at

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

soon after its liberation, which were the first to have been published in ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

''. Polevoy began reporting for ''Pravda'' in 1939 or 1941. At the time, he was still serving in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

as a lieutenant colonel. He would eventually attain the rank of colonel. He continued as a war correspondent for the newspaper until 1945. ''Story About a True Man'' (also translated as ''Story of a Real Man''), based on the life of

, was an immensely popular novel. It was eventually made into an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

. It was first published in English in 1952, and was reprinted in 1970. The protagonist was also honored by having an

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

named for him. He also served as a deputy to Supreme Soviet Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (R.S.F.S.R.) from 1951 to 1966 and was a member of 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 ...

from 1940 until his death. As such he was involved in party politics as a member of various organizations. He was chief editor of the literary youth magazine ''

Yunost ''Yunost'' (, ''Youth'') is a Russian language literary magazine created in 1955 in Moscow (initially as a USSR Union of Writers' organ) by Valentin Kataev, its first editor-in-chief, who was fired in 1961 for publishing Vasily Aksyonov's ''Tick ...

'' () from 1962 until his death and was a board member of the Union of Soviet Journalists from 1959. He also served on the Soviet Peace Committee and Bureau World Peace Council. For years, Polevoy exchanged a series of letters with

Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson. Biography Early life Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...

, an American writer who had been a member of the Communist Party for 15 years, and best known as the author of ''Spartacus''. The two had met briefly. Fast attempted to contact Polevoy when he decided to withdraw from the party, but there was no response from Polevoy. Fast decided to make his letters public. Polevoy eventually responded. Whether the delay was the result of the letters being intercepted or the result of Polevoy's reluctance to respond remains unclear. Polevoy writes that when he received Fast's news, that night I could not fall asleep. I kept thinking of your books. Their heroes crowded around me and together with them, as it were, I went over the whole situation. I felt sure that Gideon Jackson, who fought the good fight to the bitter end, would not have been less taken aback than I was by what happened. Neither would Spartacus, even if he did live at a time when there were neither the philosophical theories nor the practical experience that throw light over mankind's path today, a time without the cultural values of today or the progressive intellectuals bearing aloft the banner of peace at all circumstances." His popularity with Soviet readers never diminished. "Polevoy's books, articles, and political commentaries gained him an international readership well before the end of the war. He remained influential until his death in 1981, at which time he was secretary of the all-powerful

Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers () was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1932) a ...

," wrote Heddescheimer. During his lifetime, Polevoy was named a

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

and awarded the Stalin Prize for literature, three

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

, two Red Banners, the

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

, and the Gold Medal of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticize ...

Personal life

He married Yulia Osipovna in 1939; the couple had two sons and a daughter.Русские писатели и поэты
Краткий биографический словарь. Москва, 2000.

Select works

* '' Story of a Real Man'' (, 1947) * ''Gold'' (Золото, 1950) * ''Hot workshop'' (Горячий цех, 1940) * ''From Belgorod to the Carpathians. From a Soviet War Correspondent's Notebook'' (От Белгорода до Карпат, 1945). English translation published by Hutchinson, 1945. * ''We Are Soviet People'' (Мы советские люди, 1948). Short stories. Foreign Language Publishing House, 1949. * ''He Came Back'' (Вернулся, 1949). Foreign Language Publishing House, 1957. * ''Contemporaries'' (Современники, 1952) * ''American Diaries'' (Американские дневники, 1956) * ''At a Wild Shore'' (На диком бреге, 1962) * ''In a Great Offensive'' (В большом наступлении, 1967) * ''Doctor Vera'' (Доктор Вера, 1967) * ''Selected Works'' (Избранные произведения, in two volumes, 1969) * ''Creators of Seas'' (Создатели морей, 1975) * ''30 Years Later'' (Тридцать лет спустя, 1975

References

External links

''Story of a Real Man''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

(full text, English, DjVu)
The Moscow News

Moshkov's Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polevoy, Boris 1908 births 1981 deaths 20th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian short story writers Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1951–1955 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1955–1959 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1959–1963 Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Recipients of the Stalin Prize Pravda people Pseudonymous writers Socialist realism writers Yunost editors Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers Russian war correspondents Soviet novelists Soviet male writers Soviet military personnel of the Winter War Soviet short story writers Soviet war correspondents Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery