Vasily Ivanovich Belov (; 23 October 1932 – 4 December 2012) was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold (as of 1998) seven million copies. A prominent member of the influential 1970s–1980s derevenschiki movement, Belov's best known novels include ''Business as Usual'' (Привычное дело, 1966), ''Eves'' (Кануны, 1972–1987), ''The Best is Yet to Come'' (Всё впереди, 1986) and ''The Year of a Major Breakdown'' (Год великого перелома, 1989–1994). Vasily Belov was a harsh critic of the Soviet rural policies (particularly

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

), which he felt were dominated by the

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

doctrines aiming at repressing the Russian national identity. Even detractors, though, praised Vasily Belov's tough stance on ecological issues and his activities aimed at restoration of the old Russian historic sites and churches. A great admirer of

Ivan Ilyin Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin (; – 21 December 1954) was a Russian jurist, religious and political philosopher, publicist, orator, and conservative monarchist. While he saw Russia's 1917 February Revolution as a "temporary disorder", the October ...

and his legacy, Belov financed the publication of the first ''Complete Ilyin'' collection and wrote a preface for it.Russian Writers and Poets. The Brief Biographical Dictionary. Moscow, 2000. Василий Белов Vasily Belov, the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

(1981) and the

State Prize of the Russian Federation The State Prize of the Russian Federation, officially translated in Russia as Russian Federation National Award, is a state honorary prize established in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates ...

(2003) laureate, was also a recipient of the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(1982), the

Order 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 ...

(1984), the

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

, 4th class (2003) and the Order of Honour (2003).

Biography

Vasily Ivanovich Belov was born in Timonikha,

Kharovsky District Kharovsky District () is an administrativeLaw #371-OZ and municipalLaw #1127-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-six in Vologda Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center of the oblast and borders with Vozhegodsky District in the north, Syamz ...

Northern Krai Northern Krai () was an administrative-territorial unit (''krai'') of the Russian SFSR from 1929 to 1936. Its seat was in the city of Arkhangelsk. The krai was located in the north of European Russia, and its territory is currently divided betwe ...

, now

Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The oblast has a population of 1,202,444 (Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census). The largest city is Cherepovets, t ...

, into a peasant family, the eldest of five children. His father Ivan Belov was killed in 1943 in the

Second World War 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 ...

. While at school, Vasily had to work at the local

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

, helping his mother to raise the family. His main memory of childhood, as Belov once recalled, was that of "overbearing hunger, for food and books." In 1949 he joined a professional college in

Sokol, Vologda Oblast Sokol () is a town in the center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Sukhona River. Population: . History The village of Sokolovo () existed on this location since at least 1615. Since 1796, the village was part of Kadni ...

to learn the craft of

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

and

joiner Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...

. After the army he worked in one of the Molotov factories, then in 1956 moved back to Vologda where he started contributing to the regional ''Communard'' newspaper. Supported by

Aleksander Yashin Alexander Yakovlevich Yashin (; March 27, 1913 – July 11, 1968) was a Soviet writer associated with the Village Prose movement. Biography Early life Yashin was born in the northern Russian village of Bludnovo, Nikolsky Uyezd, Vologda Gover ...

, an established Vologda writer, Belov in 1959 enrolled into 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 ...

in Moscow.

Career

In 1961 Vasily Belov's first book of poetry ''My Small Forest Village'' was published, along with the ''Village Berdyaika'' novella, his debut in prose. In 1963 he became a member of the

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 ...

and a year later, having graduated the Gorky Institute, returned to Vologda. In 1964 his book of short stories ''Sultry Summer'' was published, followed by ''Beyond the Three Voloks'' (1965). It was the novella ''Privychnoye delo'' (Business as Usual, 1966) published by ''Sever'' magazine, that made Belov a well-known author, its main character Ivan Africanovich soon becoming the village prose movement's token figure. ''Business as Usual'' was miles apart from the standards of Socialist realism, and the magazine's editor Dmitry Gusarov even had to place the "To be concluded" tag in the end of it to appease censors who felt the story's finale was "too pessimistic". It was followed in 1968 by the ''Carpenter Tales'' short stories collection (published in

Aleksandr Tvardovsky Aleksandr Trifonovich Tvardovsky ( rus, links=no, Александр Трифонович Твардовский, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈtrʲifənəvʲɪtɕ tvɐrˈdofskʲɪj; – 18 December 1971) was a Soviet poet and writer and chief editor of ' ...

's ''

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 ...

'') and then ''Vologda Bukhtinas'' (1969) a set of modern local folklore pieces.Bukhtina, бухтина – in the local Vologda argot, a joke, funny anecdote. The leitmotif of the collection ''Upbringing According to Dr. Spock'' (1974) was the rural-against-urban lifestyle dilemma, the latter seen by the author as unnatural, amoral and deficient. In contrast, 1979's ''Lad'' (Harmony) compilation of ethnographical essays proved to be Belov's most cheerful book, portraying the traditional Russian rural ways of life as an idyll of man living in harmony with nature. An outspoken opponent of some of the Soviet official policies, Vasily Belov has not for a moment been considered a

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

, having found his ideological stronghold in the opposite corner of the ideological specter. In 1981 he received the

("For creating works of superb artistic quality"), then the

(1982) and

(1984). In the early 1980s he became one of the leading figures in the Soviet Writers Union and the Russian Federation Writers Union's first secretary. His plays ''Over the Light Waters'', ''On the 206th'', ''The Immortal Koshchey'' were running in theatres all over the country, all highlighting the idea of fighting amorality (the natural consequence of urbanization, as he saw it) and concentrating upon preserving the Russian natural riches. The 1986 ''The Best is Yet to Come'' novel, again targeting the urban set of values, caused controversy and brought about heated discussion in the Soviet press. It was followed by ''Such Was the War'' (1987), a collection comprising a novel and some short stories. Before that, in 1983, one of Belov's best-known works, the ''Eves'' (the novel which he started in 1972) came out, followed by ''The Year of a Major Breakdown'' (1989–1991) and ''The Sixth Hour (The 1932 Chronicle)''. This epic trilogy, telling the tragic story of three peasant families, became arguably the strongest statement against collectivization in the non-dissident Soviet literature, exploring what the author saw as the conflict between Russian rural traditionalism and the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

-imposed 'rootlessness', the latter leading to chaos, mass murder and degradation. In 1989–1991 Belov published a series of children's books: ''The Old and the Small'', ''The Little Spring'' fairytale and others. He started to get involved in the practical politics, first as the People's deputy, then (in 1991–1992) the member of the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

. In 1993–1995 the Sovremennik Publishers issued the first ''Complete Vasily Belov'' collection in five volumes. ''The Honeymoon'' novella came out in 1996, but by this time Belov became better known as an author of highly emotional essays (appearing mostly in pro-

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

Moskva Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents within the city limits, over 19.1 million residents in the urban area, and over ...

'', ''

Nash Sovremennik ''Nash Sovremennik'' (Наш современник, Our Contemporary) is a Russian literary magazine, founded in 1956, as a successor to the ''Yearly Almanac''. History The predecessor of ''Nash Sovremennik'' was the Maxim Gorky-founded Almana ...

'' magazines and ''

Zavtra Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov (; born 26 February 1938) is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation, and the author of more than 30 novels and short story collections. He is the editor-in-chi ...

'' newspaper) on issues like the demise of small Russian villages and the degradation of the Russian language. In 1997 Vasily Belov became the Honorary citizen of Vologda. In the 2000s he was awarded the

Order of Reverend Sergius of Radonezh Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

(2002), the

, 4th class (2003) and the

(2004) for literature and arts. In March 2005 he was a signatory to the antisemitic Letter of 5000. Vasily Belov devoted his last years to the restoration of the Nikolskaya church in Timonikha where he had been baptized as a child. He financed the project and worked on scaffolds himself. In 2011 the church was robbed and desecrated. On the next day Belov suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. Vasily Belov died on 4 December 2012, aged 80, in Vologda.

Accolades

(1981) *

(2003) *

(1982) *

(1984) *

(Russian Orthodox Church, 2002) *

, 4th class (2003) * Order of Honour (2008)

Selected works

* ''My Small Forest Village'' (Деревенька моя лесная, 1961, poetry collection) * ''Village Berdyaika'' (Деревня Бердяйка, 1961, novelet) * ''Sultry Summer'' (Знойное лето, 1963, short stories) * ''Beyond the Three Voloks'' (За тремя волоками, 1965, novelet) * ''Business as Usual'' (Привычное дело, 1966, novelet) * ''The Carpenter's Tales'' (Плотницкие рассказы, 1968, short stories) * ''Vologda's Buktinas'' (Бухтины волгодские, 1969, a collection of modern local folklore) * ''Eves'' (Кануны, 1972–1983, a novel in three parts) * ''The Upbringing According to Dr. Spock'' (Воспитание по доктору Споку, 1974, short stories) * ''The Best is Yet to Come'' (Всё впереди, 1986, novel) * ''Such Was the War'' (Такая была война, 1987, a collection of wartime prose) * ''The Year of a Major Breakdown'' (Год великого перелома, 1989–1991, novel) * ''The Sixth Hour. The 1932 chronicle'' (Час шестый. Хроника 1932 года, novel) * ''The Old and the Small'' (Старый да малый, 1990, novelet) * ''Honeymoon'' (Медовый месяц, 1996, novelet)

References

External links