Mark Sergeyevich Kharitonov (, 31 August 1937 – 8 January 2024) was a Russian novelist, poet, essayist, and translator. He was awarded the first

Russian Booker Prize The Russian Booker Prize (, ''Russian Booker'') was a Russian literary award modeled after the Booker Prize. It was awarded from 1992 to 2017. It was inaugurated by English Chief Executive Sir Michael Harris Caine. It was awarded each year to ...

in 1992 for his novel ''Lines of Fate''.

Biography

Kharitonov was born in

Zhitomir Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, in 1937. He studied at the

Moscow State Pedagogical University Moscow State Pedagogical University or Moscow State University of Education is an educational and scientific institution in Moscow, Russia, with eighteen faculties and seven branches operational in other Russian cities. The institution had under ...

. He later worked as a teacher, executive secretary for a newspaper, editor for a publishing house, and a writer beginning in 1969. He also did many translations, including works by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...

Elias Canetti Elias Canetti (; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994; ; ) was a German-language writer, known as a Literary modernism, modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and nonfiction writer. Born in Ruse, Bulgaria, to a Sephardi Jews, Sephardic Jewish fam ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

, and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. After the publication in 1976 of his work ''A Day in February'' in the magazine ''

Novy Mir ''Novy Mir'' (, ) is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine. History ''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine ''Mir Bozhy'' ("God's World"), w ...

'', Soviet editors refused to publish his works until 1988, when he was able to publish a collection of prose. His novel ''Lines of Fate'', written between 1981 and 1985, brought him international recognition upon its publication in 1992. The novel was awarded the first Russian Booker Prize that year. In the novel, the narrator, a literary historian named Anton Lizavin, attempts to piece together the details of the life of a fictional Soviet writer and philosopher named Semyon Milasevich, whose works have been forgotten and neglected. He does this by examining Milasevich's writings, done on candy wrappers, the only paper available to him after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

of 1917, and through various archival research. Kharitonov's works, like those of

Vladimir Makanin Vladimir Semyonovich Makanin (; 13 March 1937 in Orsk, Orenburg Oblast, RSFSR, Soviet Union – 1 November 2017 in , Aksaysky District, Rostov Oblast, Russia) was a Russian writer of novels and short stories. Life Makanin graduated from the F ...

Viktor Pelevin Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲeɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects' ...

and others, use a combination of

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

and

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

. According to critic Neil Cornwell, ''Lines of Fate'' shows the influence of Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse. ''Lines of Fate'' won the Russian Booker Prize by beating out the contributions of much better known authors like Vladimir Makanin and

Lyudmila Petrushevskaya Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya (; born 26 May 1938) is a Russian writer, novelist and playwright. She began her career writing short stories and plays, which the Soviet government often Censorship, censored and published several well-respec ...

. His winning of the prize made him a recognized writer, making it easier to publish more of his works, including those he had written prior to ''Lines of Fate''. He published a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

novel ''Return from Nowhere'' in 1995. Kharitonov was married to Galina Edelman with one son and two daughters. He died on 8 January 2024, at the age of 86.

English translations

*''Lines of Fate: A Novel'', New Press, 1997.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kharitonov, Mark 1937 births 2024 deaths Soviet novelists Russian male novelists Soviet essayists Russian male essayists Soviet male poets Russian male poets Writers from Zhytomyr Russian translators Moscow State Pedagogical University alumni Russian Booker Prize winners