Boris Lvovich Vasilyev (russian: Борис Львович Васильев; 21 May 1924 – 11 March 2013) was a Soviet and Russian writer and screenwriter. He is considered the last representative of the so-called lieutenant prose, a group of former low-ranking Soviet officers who dramatized their traumatic

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

experience.

Biography

Born into a family of

Russian nobility The Russian nobility (russian: дворянство ''dvoryanstvo'') originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population) in the Russian Empire. Up until the February Revolutio ...

.''Boris Vasilyev (2003)''. Extraordinary Century. — Moscow: Vagrius, 236 pages. (Autobiography) His father Lev Aleksandrovich Vasilyev (1892—1968) came from a dynasty of military officers; he served in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, Romanization of Russian, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the earl ...

and took part in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

in the rank of

Poruchik The rank of lieutenant in Eastern Europe ( hr, poručnik, cs, poručík, pl, porucznik, russian: script=latn, poruchik, sr, script=latn, poručnik, sk, poručík) is one used in Slavophone armed forces. Depending on the country, it is either ...

before joining the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

. Vasilyev's mother Yelena Nikolayevna Alekseyeva (1892—1978) belonged to a noble Alekseyev family tree that traces its history back to the 15th century; her father was among the founders of the

Circle of Tchaikovsky The Circle of Tchaikovsky, also known as Tchaikovtsy/Chaikovtsy (russian: Чайковцы), or the Grand Propaganda Society (russian: Большое общество пропаганды, ''Bolshoye obshchestvo propagandy'') was a Russian literar ...

. In 1941, Boris Vasilyev volunteered for the

front line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or unint ...

and joined a destruction battalion. He fought as part of the

3rd Guards Airborne Division The 3rd Guards Airborne Division was a Red Army division of World War II. In December 1945 it appears to have become 125th Guards Rifle Division, while serving with 35th Guards Rifle Corps, 27th Army, Carpathian Military District.Feskov et al. 2 ...

up until 1943 when he was wounded in action and demobilized. After his World War II service, Vasilyev enrolled at the

Malinovsky Tank Academy The Malinovsky Military Armored Forces Academy (Военная академия бронетанковых войск имени Маршала Советского Союза Р. Я. Малиновского) was one of the Soviet military academi ...

. His short novel ''

The Dawns Here Are Quiet ''The Dawns Here Are Quiet'' (russian: А зори здесь тихие, A zori zdes tikhie) is a 1972 Soviet war drama directed by Stanislav Rostotsky based on Boris Vasilyev's novel of the same name. The film deals with antiwar themes and ...

'' was a Soviet bestseller, selling 1.8 million copies within a year after its publication in 1969. It was adapted for the stage and the screen; there is also an opera by Kirill Molchanov, and a Chinese TV series based on the story. ''The Dawns Here Are Quiet'' was the first of Vasilyev's sentimental patriotic tales of female heroism in the Second World War ("Not on the Active List", 1974; "Tomorrow Was the War", 1984) which brought him renown in the

Soviet Union 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, ...

, China, and other communist countries. Some of his books give a harsh picture of life in Stalin's Russia. Vasilyev's short novel ''Do Not Shoot at White Swans'' (1973), a milestone of Russian-language environmental fiction, is sharply critical of "the senseless destruction of beautiful creatures and the exploitation of nature for personal gain". It was made into a 1980 Soviet film. Vasilyev was awarded the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

for 1975 and was a member of the jury at the

39th Berlin International Film Festival The 39th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1989. The Golden Bear was awarded to American film ''Rain Man'' directed by Barry Levinson. The retrospective was dedicated to German film producer Erich Pommer a ...

. In 1989, he quit the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

but grew disillusioned with the Perestroika rather quickly. In October 1993, he signed the Letter of Forty-Two. Late in life, Vasilyev turned to historical fiction based on incidents from medieval Russian chronicles. Vasilyev died on 11 March 2013 following the deaths of his wife and his adopted son earlier the same year. He was buried at the

Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery (russian: Ваганьковское кладбище, Vagan'kovskoye kladbishche), established in 1771, is located in the Presnya district of Moscow. It started in the aftermath of the Moscow plague riot of 1771 outside the c ...

near his wife.Boris Vasilyev's tomb
/ref>

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasilyev, Boris 1924 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Russian male writers Academicians of the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences "Nika" Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Recipients of the Lenin Komsomol Prize Recipients of the Nika Award Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize Russian historical novelists Russian male writers Russian memoirists 20th-century Russian screenwriters Male screenwriters Soviet Army officers Soviet male writers Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet screenwriters Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery