Lev Abramovich Kassil (; 10 July 1905 – 21 June 1970) was an influential Soviet and Russian writer of juvenile and
young adult literature
Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...
and screenwriter, depicting Soviet life, teenagers, school, sports, culture, and war.
Biography
He was born into a Jewish family in Pokrovskaya Sloboda (now
Moscow State University
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
, where he studied
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
. He published his first short story in 1925, and eventually became a REF and LEF member. In 1927
Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist mov ...
invited him to participate in the magazine called New LEF. His most important works were two autobiographical novels for young people dealing with student life before the Revolution, ''Konduit'' (The conduct book, 1929, tr. as ''The Black Book'') and ''Shvambraniya'' (1931, tr. as ''The Land of Shvambrania''); the two were revised and combined into one book called ''Konduit i Shvambraniya'' (1935, tr. as ''The Black Book and Shwambrania'').
The film '' The Goalkeeper'', written by Kassil, premiered in 1936.
His books were often "development novels", describing how young people could, despite their mistakes, reach a mature view of life. Modesty, unselfishness, endurance, and courage were virtues that Kassil held dear.
In 1950 he received the Stalin Prize for his book «Улица младшего сына» (1949, co-authored with M. Polyanovsky), the life story of young Volodia Dubinin and his struggle during the
German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...
.
Kassil taught at the
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in Moscow, Russia. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow.
History
The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, a writer, foun ...
for an extended period of time. In 1965 he was elected as a member of the Academy of Pedagogical Science of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
Kassil was married twice, first to Elena Iljinichna Kassil, with whom he had two children. Following their divorce, he married Swetlana Leonidovna Sobinova. They had one child. On June 21st, 1970, Kassil died in Moscow.
A
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
Nikolai Chernykh
Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...
, is named after the fictional land from his novel ''The Black Book and Schwambrania''.
Selected works
*''The Black Book and Schwambrania'' (1930-1933) - ''Кондуит и Швамбрания''
*''The Great Opposition''
*''The Goalkeeper of the Republic'' (1939) - ''Вратарь республики''
*''Queen of Snows'' (1956)- ''Ход белой королевы''