Maxim Alexandrovich Osipov (; born 4 October 1963) is a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

writer and cardiologist. His short stories and essays have won a number of prizes, and his plays have been staged and broadcast on the radio in Russia.

Biography

Osipov was born in Moscow and received his medical training at the

Russian National Research Medical University Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (formerly known as Russian State Medical University or RSMU) is a medical higher education institution in Moscow, Russia founded in 1906. It is fully accredited and recognized by Russia's Min ...

. In the early 1990s, he was a research fellow at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

. Upon returning to Moscow, he continued to practice medicine, co-authored a textbook on clinical cardiology, and founded a publishing house, Practica, which specialized in medical, musical, and theological material. After moving to

Tarusa Tarusa () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Tarussky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, northeast of Kaluga, the administrative center of the oblast. ...

, a town 101 kilometers from Moscow, Osipov began working at the local hospital. He also established a charitable foundation to ensure the hospital's survival and to improve its standard of care. He lived, wrote, and practiced medicine in Tarusa until March 2022. After the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

he left Russia. He first travelled to Armenia and then to Germany.

Literary career

Osipov made his literary debut in 2007, in the journal ''

Znamya ''Znamya'' ( rus, Знамя, p=ˈznamʲə, a=Ru-знамя.ogg, lit. "The Banner") is a Russian monthly literary magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931–1932, the magazine was published under the name of ''Lokaf'' ("Лок ...

'', with a lyrical essay on his experiences in Tarusa. He has since published several volumes of fiction and non-fiction and his works have been translated into 18 languages. His debut collection in English, ''Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Stories'', translated by

Boris Dralyuk Boris Dralyuk (born in 1982) is a Ukrainian-American writer, editor and translator. He obtained his high school degree from Fairfax High School and his PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from UCLA. He teaches in the English Department at th ...

, Alex Fleming and Anne Marie Jackson, appeared in April 2019 from NYRB Classics, followed by a second compilation (''

Kilometer 101 ''Kilometer 101'' is the second full-length collection to appear in English by Russian writer Maxim Osipov. The book was published by New York Review Books Classics on October 11, 2022, after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ...

'') in 2022.

Literary style

In an interview with Daniel Medin, published in the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'', Osipov explained his affinity for shorter forms: "I think that short stories, even long short stories (my personal preference), can be closer to poetry than to novels. It’s not the subject matter that I find central to short fiction, but style and form, which far exceed content in their importance. Being deeply knowledgeable about your material — in my case, about medicine and, to a lesser extent, religion, music, theater, politics, even chess — is not essential, however much it may help." In the same interview, he spoke of the role of music in his life, as well as of its influence on his approach to writing: "I’m not the first to observe that music is the greatest teacher of composition in any art, including writing. There are many similarities between short stories and musical sonatas. Both last between 15 and 40 minutes. They 'make nothing happen,' as Auden said of poetry. When we listen to a sonata for the first time the purpose is to decide whether we want to listen to it again or not. The same should occur when you read a short story." Nobel laureate

Svetlana Alexievich Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich (born 31 May 1948) is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to s ...

writes of the lingering impact of his stories: "When you delve into Osipov’s texts you see that they are deceptively simple, just like Shalamov’s: Behind this childish ordinariness there lies a hidden chasm. The whole time they leave you thinking how difficult it is to love humanity — wonderful, repulsive, and terrifying as it is — but in order to stay human, that’s exactly what you must do: You must love man. Your soul is restless — it is thinking. To inspire such thoughts — that’s something that only true literature can do.""Svetlana Alexievich in Praise of Maxim Osipov," translated by Alex Fleming
''

Literary Hub ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and '' Electric Literatur ...

'', 9 April 2019.

Selected bibliography

* Грех жаловаться (2009). ''It's Wrong to Complain'' * Крик домашней птицы (2011). ''The Cry of the Domestic Fowl'' * Человек эпохи Возрождения (2012). ''Renaissance Man'' * Волною морскою (2014). ''The Waves of the Sea'' * пгт Вечность (2017). ''Town of Eternity'' * 101-й километр: очерки из провинциальной жизни (2019). ''Kilometer 101: Essays from Provincial Life'' * Люксембург и другие русские истории (2020). ''Luxembourg and Other Russian Stories'' Compilations in English * ''Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Stories'', ed. Boris Dralyuk, trans. Boris Dralyuk, Alex Fleming, and Anne Marie Jackson (New York Review Books, 2019) * ''

'', ed. Boris Dralyuk, trans. Boris Dralyuk, Nicolas Pasternak Slater, and Alex Fleming (New York Review Books, 2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osipov, Maxim Living people 1963 births Russian short story writers Russian non-fiction writers Writers from Moscow Physicians from Moscow Russian cardiologists

Biography

Literary career

Literary style

Selected bibliography

Further reading

References