Vasily Aksyonov
Vasily
Pavlovich Aksyonov, Aksyonov also spelled
Aksenov (b. Aug. 20, 1932, Kazan, Russia,
U.S.S.R.—d. July 6, 2009, Moscow, Russia),
Russian novelist and short-story writer, one of
the leading literary spokesmen for the
generation of Soviets who reached maturity after
World War II.
The son of
parents who spent many years in Soviet prisons,
Aksyonov was raised in a state home and
graduated from medical school in 1956. After
working for a few years as a doctor, he turned
to writing, and in the cultural thaw of the late
1950s and early ’60s he published a number of
short stories and novels. His novels Kollegi
(1960; Colleagues), Zvezdnyi bilet (1961; A
Ticket to the Stars), and Apelsiny iz Morokko
(1963; “Oranges from Morocco”) are fast-moving
narratives dealing with youthful rebels and
misfits in Soviet society. In these books
Aksyonov excels in reproducing the racy slang
and jargon of characters who are attracted to
Western culture even though they share the
collectivist ideals of the previous generation.
Aksyonov began
incorporating stronger elements of fantasy,
satire, and parody in such later novels as
Zatovarennaia bochkotara (1968; Surplussed
Barrelware) and Ostrov Krym (1981; The Island of
Crimea). His independent spirit had incurred the
disfavour of the Soviet authorities beginning in
the late 1960s. Because of his reputation and
his involvement in the attempted publication of
Metropol, an uncensored literary journal, in
1980 he was forced into exile in the West. His
citizenship was restored by decree in 1990, and
he later lived in Moscow.
One of his most
important later novels was Ozhog (1980; The
Burn), an anarchic blend of memory, fantasy, and
realistic narrative in which the author tries to
sum up Russian intellectuals’ spiritual
responses to their homeland. Another, Skazhi
izyum (1985; Say Cheese!), is an irreverent
portrait of Moscow’s intellectual community
during the last years of Leonid Brezhnev’s
leadership. Pokolenie zimy (Generations of
Winter, 1994) chronicles the fate of a family of
intellectuals at the hands of the Soviet regime
during the period of Stalin’s rule.
