These books are about the exploits of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, about death, love and hope, about grief and joy, about the desire to live and self-sacrifice for others - in a word, about what this war was like and what we had to pay for it.

Valentin Rasputin. "Live and Remember"

The story takes place in 1945, in the last months of the war, when Andrei Guskov returns to his native village after being wounded and hospitalized - but it just so happens that he returns as a deserter. Andrei just really didn’t want to die, he fought a lot and saw a lot of death. Only Nasten’s wife knows about his actions; she is now forced to hide her fugitive husband even from her relatives. She visits him from time to time at his hideout, and it is soon discovered that she is pregnant. Now she is doomed to shame and torment - in the eyes of the entire village she will become a walking, unfaithful wife. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading that Guskov is not dead or missing, but is hiding, and they are starting to look for him. Rasputin's story about serious spiritual metamorphoses, about moral and philosophical problems facing the heroes, was first published in 1974.

Boris Vasiliev. “Not on the lists”

The time of action is the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the place is the Brest Fortress besieged by the German invaders. Along with other Soviet soldiers there is also Nikolai Pluzhnikov, a 19-year-old new lieutenant, a graduate of a military school, who was assigned to command a platoon. He arrived on the evening of June 21, and in the morning the war begins. Nikolai, who was not included in the military lists, has every right leave the fortress and take his bride away from harm, but he remains to fulfill his civic duty. The fortress, bleeding and losing lives, heroically held on until the spring of 1942 and Pluzhnikov became its last warrior-defender, whose heroism amazed his enemies. The story is dedicated to the memory of all unknown and nameless soldiers.

Vasily Grossman. "Life and Fate"

The epic manuscript was completed by Grossman in 1959, was immediately recognized as anti-Soviet due to its harsh criticism of Stalinism and totalitarianism, and was confiscated in 1961 by the KGB. In our homeland, the book was published only in 1988, and then with abbreviations. The novel centers on the Battle of Stalingrad and the Shaposhnikov family, as well as the fate of their relatives and acquaintances. There are many characters in the novel whose lives are somehow connected with each other. These are fighters directly involved in the battle, and ordinary people, completely unprepared for the troubles of war. They all manifest themselves differently in war conditions. The novel changed a lot in popular ideas about the war and the sacrifices that the people had to make in an effort to win. This is, if you like, a revelation. It is large-scale in the scope of events, large-scale in freedom and courage of thought, in true patriotism.

Konstantin Simonov. "The Living and the Dead"

Trilogy (“The Living and the Dead”, “Soldiers Are Not Born”, “ Last summer") chronologically covers the period from the beginning of the war to July 1944, and in general - the people’s path to the Great Victory. In his epic, Simonov describes the events of the war as if he sees them through the eyes of his main characters Serpilin and Sintsov. The first part of the novel corresponds almost entirely personal diary Simonov (he served as a war correspondent throughout the war), published under the title “100 days of war.” The second part of the trilogy describes the period of preparation and the Battle of Stalingrad itself - the turning point of the Great Patriotic War. The third part is devoted to our offensive on the Belarusian front. War tests the novel's heroes for humanity, honesty and courage. Several generations of readers, including the most biased of them - those who themselves went through the war, recognize this great work as truly unique, comparable to the highest examples of Russian classical literature.

Mikhail Sholokhov. "They fought for their homeland"

The writer worked on the novel from 1942 to 1969. The first chapters were written in Kazakhstan, where Sholokhov came from the front to visit an evacuated family. The theme of the novel is incredibly tragic in itself - the retreat of Soviet troops on the Don in the summer of 1942. Responsibility to the party and the people, as it was understood then, could prompt smoothing out rough edges, but Mikhail Sholokhov, as a great writer, openly wrote about insoluble problems, about disastrous mistakes, about chaos in front-line deployment, about the absence of a “strong hand” capable of put things in order. The retreating military units, passing through the Cossack villages, did not, of course, feel welcome. It was not understanding and mercy that befell them from the inhabitants, but indignation, contempt and anger. And Sholokhov, having dragged ordinary person through the hell of war, showed how his character crystallized in the process of testing. Shortly before his death, Sholokhov burned the manuscript of the novel, and only separate pieces were published. Whether there is a connection between this fact and the strange version that Andrei Platonov helped Sholokhov write this work at the very beginning is not even important. The important thing is that there is another great book in Russian literature.

Victor Astafiev. "Cursed and Killed"

Astafiev worked on this novel in two books (“Devil’s Pit” and “Beachhead”) from 1990 to 1995, but never finished it. The title of the work, covering two episodes from the Great Patriotic War: the training of recruits near Berdsk and the crossing of the Dnieper and the battle to hold the bridgehead, was given by a line from one of the Old Believer texts - “it was written that everyone who sows unrest, war and fratricide on earth, will be cursed and killed by God." Viktor Petrovich Astafiev, a man by no means of a courtly nature, volunteered to go to the front in 1942. What he saw and experienced melted into deep reflections on the war as a “crime against reason.” The action of the novel begins in the quarantine camp of the reserve regiment not far from the Berdsk station. New recruits Leshka Shestakov, Kolya Ryndin, Ashot Vaskonyan, Petka Musikov and Lekha Buldakov find themselves there... they face hunger and love and reprisals and... most importantly, they face war.

Vladimir Bogomolov. "In August '44"

The novel, published in 1974, is based on actual documented events. Even if you have not read this book in any of the fifty languages ​​into which it has been translated, then you have probably all seen the film with the actors Mironov, Baluev and Galkin. But the movie, believe me, will not replace this polyphonic book, which gives a sharp drive, a sense of danger, a full platoon and at the same time a sea of ​​information about the “Soviet state and military machine” and about the everyday life of intelligence officers.

So, the summer of 1944. Belarus has already been liberated, but somewhere on its territory a group of spies goes on the air, transmitting strategic information to the enemies about Soviet troops preparing a grandiose offensive. A detachment of reconnaissance officers led by a SMERSH officer was sent to search for spies and a direction-finding radio.

Bogomolov is a front-line soldier himself, so he was terribly meticulous in describing the details, and in particular, the work of counterintelligence (the Soviet reader learned a lot from him for the first time). Vladimir Osipovich simply tormented several directors who were trying to film this exciting novel; he nagged the then editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda for inaccuracy in the article, proving that it was he who was the first to talk about the Macedonian shooting technique. He is a delightful writer, and his book, without the slightest loss of historicity and ideological content, became a real blockbuster in the best sense.

Anatoly Kuznetsov. "Babi Yar"

A documentary novel based on childhood memories. Kuznetsov was born in 1929 in Kyiv and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War his family did not have time to evacuate. And for two years, 1941 - 1943, he saw how destructively the Soviet troops retreated, then, already under occupation, he saw atrocities, nightmares (for example, sausage was made from human flesh) and mass executions in the Nazi concentration camp at Babi Yar. It’s terrible to realize, but this “formerly in the occupation” stigmatized his entire life. He brought the manuscript of his truthful, uncomfortable, scary and piercing novel to the magazine “Youth” during the Thaw, in ’65. But there the frankness seemed excessive, and the book was redrawn, throwing out some parts that were so to speak “anti-Soviet”, and inserting ideologically verified ones. Kuznetsov managed to defend the title of the novel by a miracle. Things got to the point that the writer began to fear arrest for anti-Soviet propaganda. Kuznetsov then simply shoved the sheets into glass jars and buried them in the forest near Tula

In all the stories of the Belarusian writer (and he mostly wrote stories), the action takes place during the war, of which he himself was a participant, and the center of meaning is the moral choice of a person in a tragic situation. Fear, love, betrayal, sacrifice, nobility and baseness - all this is mixed in different heroes Bykova. The story “Sotnikov” tells about two partisans who were captured by the police, and how in the end, one of them, in complete spiritual baseness, hangs the other. Based on this story, Larisa Shepitko made the film “The Ascension”. In the story “It Hurts Not the Dead,” a wounded lieutenant is sent to the rear, with the order to escort three captured Germans. Then they come across a German tank unit, and in the shootout the lieutenant loses both prisoners and his companion and is himself wounded in the leg for the second time. Nobody wants to believe his report about the Germans in the rear. In “The Alpine Ballad,” Russian prisoner of war Ivan and Italian Julia escaped from a fascist concentration camp. Pursued by the Germans, exhausted by cold and hunger, Ivan and Julia become closer. After the war, the Italian lady will write a letter to Ivan’s fellow villagers, in which she will tell about the feat of their fellow countryman and about three days of their love.

The famous book, written by Granin in collaboration with Adamovich, is called the book of truth. For the first time it was published in a magazine in Moscow; the book was published in Lenizdat only in 1984, although it was written back in 1977. Publishing the “Siege Book” in Leningrad was prohibited as long as the city was led by the first secretary of the regional committee, Romanov. Daniil Granin called the 900 days of the blockade “an epic of human suffering.” On the pages of this amazing book, the memories and torments of exhausted people in a besieged city seem to come to life. It is based on the diaries of hundreds of blockade survivors, including records of the deceased boy Yura Ryabinkin, the scientist-historian Knyazev and other people. The book contains siege photographs and documents from the archives of the city and the Granin Foundation.

It became the bloodiest in the history of mankind and lasted almost 4 years, reflected in the heart of everyone as a cruel tragedy that claimed the lives of millions of people.

People of the pen: the truth about war

Despite the growing temporal distance between those distant events, interest in the topic of war is constantly increasing; the current generation does not remain indifferent to the courage and exploits of Soviet soldiers. The words of writers and poets, apt, elevating, guiding and inspiring, played a big role in the truthfulness of the description of the events of the war years. It was they, the writers and poets-front-line soldiers, who spent their youth on the battlefields, who conveyed to the modern generation the history of human destinies and the actions of people on whom life sometimes depended. The writers of the bloody wartime truthfully described in their works the atmosphere of the front, the partisan movement, the severity of campaigns and life in the rear, strong soldier friendship, desperate heroism, betrayal and cowardly desertion.

Creative generation born of war

Front-line writers are a separate generation of heroic individuals who experienced the hardships of the war and post-war period. Some of them died at the front, others lived longer and died, as they say, not from old age, but from old wounds.

The year 1924 was marked by the birth of a whole generation of front-line soldiers, known throughout the country: Boris Vasiliev, Viktor Astafiev, Yulia Drunina, Bulat Okudzhava, Vasil Bykov. These front-line writers, the list of which is far from complete, encountered the war at the moment when they had just turned 17 years old.

Boris Vasiliev is an extraordinary person

Almost all the boys and girls of the 20s failed to escape during the terrible wartime. Only 3% survived, among whom Boris Vasiliev miraculously turned out to be.

He could have died in 1934 from typhus, in 1941 when surrounded, in 1943 from a mine tripwire. The boy volunteered for the front, went through cavalry and machine gun regimental schools, fought in an airborne regiment, and studied at the Military Academy. In the post-war period, he worked in the Urals as a tester of tracked and wheeled vehicles. He was demobilized with the rank of engineer captain in 1954; The reason for demobilization was the desire to engage in literary activities.

The author devoted such works as “Not on the lists”, “Tomorrow there was a war”, “Veteran”, “Don’t shoot white swans” to the military theme. Boris Vasiliev became famous after the publication in 1969 of the story “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet...”, staged in 1971 on the stage of the Taganka Theater by Yuri Lyubimov and filmed in 1972. Approximately 20 films were made based on the writer’s scripts, including “Officers”, “Tomorrow there was a war”, “Aty-Bati, the soldiers were coming...”.

Front-line writers: biography of Viktor Astafiev

Viktor Astafiev, like many front-line writers of the Great Patriotic War, in his work showed the war as a great tragedy, seen through the eyes of a simple soldier - a man who is the basis of the entire army; It is he who receives punishment in abundance, and rewards pass him by. Astafiev largely copied this collective, half-autobiographical image of a front-line soldier, living the same life with his comrades and accustomed to fearlessly looking death in the eyes, from himself and his front-line friends, contrasting it with the rear-line residents, who for the most part lived in the relatively harmless front-line zone throughout war. It was for them that he, like other poets and writers from the front lines of the Second World War, felt the deepest contempt.

The author of such famous works as “King Fish”, “Cursed and Killed”, “The Last Bow”, for his alleged commitment to the West and the penchant for chauvinism that critics saw in his works, in his declining years was abandoned to the mercy of fate by the state, for who fought and was sent to die in his home village. It was precisely this bitter price that Viktor Astafiev, a man who never renounced what he wrote, had to pay for his desire to tell the truth, bitter and sad. The truth, which front-line writers of the Great Patriotic War were not silent about in their works; they said that the Russian people, who not only won, but also lost much of themselves, simultaneously with the impact of fascism, experienced the oppressive influence of the Soviet system and their own internal forces.

Bulat Okudzhava: a hundred times the sunset turned red...

The poems and songs of Bulat Okudzhava (“Prayer”, “Midnight Trolleybus”, “The Cheerful Drummer”, “Song about Soldier’s Boots”) are known throughout the country; his stories “Bless you, schoolboy”, “A date with Bonaparte”, “The Journey of Amateurs” are among best works Russian prose writers. Famous films - “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha”, “Loyalty”, of which he was the screenwriter, were watched by more than one generation, as well as the famous “Belorussky Station”, where he acted as a songwriter. The singer’s repertoire includes about 200 songs, each of which is filled with its own story.

Bulat Okudzhava, like other front-line writers (the photo can be seen above), was a bright symbol of his time; his concerts were always sold out, despite the lack of posters about his performances. Spectators shared their impressions and brought their friends and acquaintances. The whole country sang the song “We need one victory” from the film “Belorussky Station”.

Bulat became acquainted with the war at the age of seventeen, having volunteered for the front after the ninth grade. Private, soldier, mortarman, who fought mainly in North Caucasus Front, was wounded by an enemy aircraft, and after recovery he fell into the heavy artillery of the High Command. As Bulat Okudzhava said (and his fellow front-line writers agreed with him), everyone was afraid in the war, even those who considered themselves braver than others.

War through the eyes of Vasil Bykov

Coming from a Belarusian peasant family, Vasil Bykov went to the front at the age of 18 and fought until the Victory, passing through countries such as Romania, Hungary, and Austria. Was wounded twice; after demobilization he lived in Belarus, in the city of Grodno. The main topic his works were not about the war itself (historians, not front-line writers, should write about it), but about the possibilities human spirit, manifested in such difficult conditions. A person must always remain a person and live according to his conscience; only in this case can the human race survive.

The peculiarities of Bykov's prose became the reason for accusations by Soviet critics of desecration of the Soviet mode. There was widespread persecution in the press, censorship of his works, and their banning. Due to such persecution and a sharp deterioration in health, the author was forced to leave his homeland and live for some time in the Czech Republic (the country of his sympathies), then in Finland and Germany.

The most famous works writer: “The Death of Man”, “Crane Cry”, “Alpine Ballad”, “Kruglyansky Bridge”, “It Doesn’t Hurt the Dead.” As Chingiz Aitmatov said, Bykov was saved by fate for honest and truthful creativity on behalf of an entire generation. Some works were filmed: “Until Dawn”, “The Third Rocket”.

Front-line writers: about the war in a poetic line

The talented girl Yulia Drunina, like many front-line writers, volunteered to go to the front. In 1943 she was seriously wounded, for which reason she was declared disabled and was discharged. This was followed by a return to the front, Yulia fought in the Baltic states and the Pskov region. In 1944, she was again shell-shocked and declared unfit for further service. With the rank of sergeant major and the medal “For Courage,” after the war, Yulia published a collection of poems, “In a Soldier’s Overcoat,” dedicated to the time at the front. She was accepted into the Writers' Union and forever enrolled in the ranks of front-line poets, being assigned to the military generation.

Along with creativity and the release of such collections as “Anxiety”, “You Are Near”, “My Friend”, “Country of Youth”, “Trench Star”, Yulia Drunina was actively involved in literary and social work, was awarded prestigious prizes more than once was elected a member of the editorial boards of central newspapers and magazines, and secretary of the board of various writers' unions. Despite universal respect and recognition, Julia devoted herself completely to poetry, describing in poetry the role of a woman in war, her courage and tolerance, as well as the incompatibility of the life-giving feminine principle with murder and destruction.

human destiny

Front-line writers and their works made a significant contribution to literature, conveying to posterity the truthfulness of the events of the war years. Perhaps one of our loved ones and relatives fought with them shoulder to shoulder and became the prototype for stories or tales.

In 1941, Yuri Bondarev - future writer- along with his peers, participated in the construction of defensive fortifications; After graduating from the infantry school, he fought at Stalingrad as a mortar crew commander. Then a shell shock, slight frostbite and a wound in the back, which did not become an obstacle to returning to the front, participation in the war went a long way to Poland and Czechoslovakia. After demobilization, Yuri Bondarev entered them. Gorky, where he had the opportunity to attend a creative seminar led by Konstantin Paustovsky, who instilled in the future writer a love for the great art of the pen and the ability to say his word.

All his life, Yuri remembered the smell of frozen, stone-hard bread and the aroma of cold burns in the steppes of Stalingrad, the icy cold of frost-hardened guns, the metal of which could be felt through his mittens, the stench of gunpowder from spent cartridges and the deserted silence of the starry night sky. The creativity of front-line writers is permeated with the acuteness of man’s unity with the Universe, his helplessness and at the same time incredible strength and perseverance, increasing a hundredfold in the face of terrible danger.

Yuri Bondarev became widely known for his stories “The Last Salvos” and “The Battalions Ask for Fire,” which vividly depicted the reality of wartime. The theme of Stalin’s repressions was addressed in the work “Silence,” which was highly praised by critics. In the most famous novel " Hot snow“The theme of the heroism of the Soviet people during the period of their most difficult trials was acutely raised; the author described last days The Battle of Stalingrad and the people who stood up to defend their homeland and their own families from the fascist invaders. Stalingrad runs as a red line in all the works of the front-line writer as a symbol of soldier’s fortitude and courage. Bondarev never embellished the war and showed “little great people” who were doing their job: defending the Motherland.

During the war, Yuri Bondarev finally realized that a person is born not for hatred, but for love. It was in front-line conditions that the crystal clear commandments of love for the Motherland, loyalty and decency entered the writer’s consciousness. After all, in battle everything is naked, good and evil are distinguishable, and everyone made their own conscious choice. According to Yuri Bondarev, a person is given life for a reason, but to fulfill a certain mission, and it is important not to waste oneself on trifles, but to educate one’s own soul, fighting for a free existence and in the name of justice.

The writer's stories and novels have been translated into more than 70 languages, and during the period from 1958 to 1980, more than 130 works of Yuri Bondarev were published abroad, and films based on them (Hot Snow, Shore, Battalions Ask for Fire) watched by a huge audience.

The writer's work has been marked by many public and state awards, including the most important - universal recognition and reader's love.

“An Inch of Earth” by Grigory Baklanov

Grigory Baklanov is the author of such works as “July of 1941”, “It was the month of May...”, “An Inch of Earth”, “Friends”, “I was not killed in the war”. During the war, he served in a howitzer artillery regiment, then, with the rank of officer, he commanded a battery and fought on the Southwestern Front until the end of the war, which he describes through the eyes of those who fought on the front line, with its menacing everyday life at the front. Baklanov explains the reasons for the severe defeats at the initial stage of the war by mass repressions, the atmosphere of general suspicion and fear that ruled in the pre-war period. The story “Forever Nineteen Years Old” became a requiem for the young generation destroyed by the war and the exorbitantly high price for victory.

In his works dedicated to the peace period, Baklanov returns to the destinies of former front-line soldiers who turned out to be distorted by a merciless totalitarian system. This is especially clearly shown in the story “Karpukhin”, where the life of the hero of the work was broken by official callousness. 8 films were made based on the writer’s scripts; the best film adaptation is “It was the month of May...”.

Military literature - for children

Children's writers who were front-line soldiers made a significant contribution to literature by writing works for teenagers about their peers - boys and girls just like them, who happened to live in wartime.

• A. Mityaev “The sixth incomplete.”
• A. Ochkin “Ivan - me, Fedorovs - we.”
• S. Alekseev “From Moscow to Berlin.”
• L. Kassil “Your defenders.”
• A. Gaidar “Timur’s Oath.”
• V. Kataev “Son of the Regiment.”
• L. Nikolskaya “Must stay alive.”

Front-line writers, the list of which above is far from complete, conveyed the terrible reality of war in a language accessible and understandable to children, tragic fates people and the courage and heroism they showed. These works cultivate the spirit of patriotism and love for the Motherland, teach to appreciate loved ones and relatives, and to protect peace on our planet.

21.04.2013

Central city ​​library offers a brief virtual overview of the best works of Belarusian writers.

Belarusian literature received the opportunity to develop widely only since the time of the first Russian revolution. This is explained by the peculiarities of the socio-historical situation in the country under tsarism, which suppressed the sprouts of national culture. In the history of Belarusian literature, the work of democratic writers F.K. Bogushevich, Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas occupies an honorable place. These authors were the founders of modern national Belarusian literature.

The high artistic level of Belarusian democratic literature was supported by the authors Ivan Melezh, Vasil Bykov, Ivan Shamyakin, their works contributed to the rapid development of the method of realism and the success of the literature of modern Belarus.

Ivan Melezh

Born into a peasant family, he graduated with honors from school in Khoiniki and in 1939 entered the Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy and Literature, and fought. He worked in the editorial office of the magazine "Polymya", as deputy chairman of the board of the BSSR SP. Deputy of the Supreme Council of the BSSR

Published since 1930

The central place in the work of Ivan Melezh is occupied by the trilogy “Polessia Chronicle” (“People in the Swamp”, “Breath of a Thunderstorm”, “Blizzard, December”). It describes the life of a Polish village in the 20s and 30s - the difficulties of the transition to socialism, collectivization, dispossession. Both the historical background and the relationships of the trilogy's heroes are shown with great talent.

Performances based on the works of I. Melezh were staged and filmed feature films. Author of literary critical articles, essays, and journalistic speeches.

WillownPetrohivShamyakin(1921-2004)

Belarusian Soviet writer, public figure. People's Writer of the Belarusian SSR (1972). Hero of Socialist Labor (1981). Winner of the Stalin Prize, third degree (1951). Member of the CPSU(b) since 1943. Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1994).

Ivan Shamyakin was born on January 30, 1921 into a poor peasant family.

In 1944, he wrote a story in Belarusian, “At the Snowy Desert.” From this time on, the serious work of the writer in literature begins. The first serious work of I.P. Shamyakin's story "Litter", published in 1945 in the Belarusian magazine "Polymya". In December 1945, I. Shamyakin participated in the first post-war plenum of the management of the Union of Writers of the BSSR.

The author's first significant work is the novel about the Belarusian partisans “Glybokaya Plyn”. The novel was published in 1949 and was filmed in 2005.

Since 1954, he worked as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Union of Writers of the BSSR. In 1957, a novel about the life of rural intellectuals called “Krinitsy” appeared. The reader is familiar with the cycle of five stories, united by the common title “Anxious Happiness.” Novels by I.P. are becoming popular. Shamyakin “Heart in the Palm”, “Snowy Winters”, “Atlantes and Caryatids” and many other works dedicated to the problems of modern life.

Vasyal ( Vasyaliy) Wouldcove

Born June 19, 1924, village. Bychki, Ushachi district, Vitebsk region - Belarusian writer and public figure, participant in the Great Patriotic War, captain.

Most of the works are stories set during the Great Patriotic War, showing a person’s moral choice in the most dramatic moments of life. In 1955, Vasil Bykov’s first stories in the Belarusian language, “The Death of a Man” and “Oboznik,” were published. Vasil Bykov's works are mostly dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.

The writer’s first fame came from the release of Vasil Bykov’s book “The Third Rocket.” Basically, Vasil Bykov wrote his works in Belarusian, many of them he translated into Russian. The works of Vasil Bykov show the war with his characteristic realism. “The Alpine Ballad” is the first work of Soviet literature in which captivity was shown not as a guilt, but as a tragedy of the hero.

In the 70s, Vasil Bykov’s books “Sotnikov”, “Obelisk”, “To Live Until Dawn”, “To Go and Never Return” were published.

Some of Vasil Bykov's stories are related to the life of people during the fascist occupation in partisan detachments and villages. These are Vasil Bykov’s stories “On Black Lines” and “Before the End”.

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XX - early XXI centuries deeply and comprehensively, in all its manifestations: the army and the rear, the partisan movement and the underground, the tragic beginning of the war, individual battles, heroism and betrayal, the greatness and drama of the Victory. Authors of military prose, as a rule, are front-line soldiers; their works are based on real events, on their own front-line experience. In the books about the war by front-line writers, the main line is soldier's friendship, front-line camaraderie, the hardship of life on the march, desertion and heroism. Dramatic events unfold in war human destinies, sometimes life or death depends on a person’s actions. Front-line writers are a whole generation of courageous, conscientious, experienced, gifted individuals who endured war and post-war hardships. Front-line writers are those authors who in their works express the point of view that the outcome of the war is decided by a hero who recognizes himself as a part of the warring people, bearing his cross and a common burden.

The most reliable works about the war were created by front-line writers: G. Baklanov, B. Vasiliev,.

One of the first books about the war was the story “In the Trenches of Stalingrad” by Viktor Platonovich Nekrasov (1911-1987), which another front-line writer, Vyacheslav Kondratyev, spoke of with great respect. He called it his reference book, which contained the entire war with its inhumanity and cruelty, it was “our war that we went through.” This book was published immediately after the war in the magazine “Znamya” (1946, No. 8–9) under the title “Stalingrad” and only later was it given the title “In the Trenches of Stalingrad.”

And in 1947, the story “Star” was written by Emmanuel Genrikhovich Kazakevich (1913-1962), a front-line writer, truthful and poetic. But at that time it was deprived of a true ending, and only now it is filmed and restored to its original ending, namely, the death of all six intelligence officers under the command of Lieutenant Travkin.

Let us also recall other outstanding works about the war of the Soviet period. This is the “lieutenant’s prose” of such writers as G. Baklanov, K. Vorobyov.

Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev (1924), former artillery officer who fought in 1942-1944 at Stalingrad, on the Dnieper, in the Carpathians, author best books about the war - “Battalions Ask for Fire” (1957), “Silence” (1962), “Hot Snow” (1969). One of the reliable works written by Bondarev about the war is the novel “Hot Snow” about the Battle of Stalingrad, about the defenders of Stalingrad, for whom he personified the defense of the Motherland. Stalingrad as a symbol of soldier's courage and perseverance runs through all the works of the front-line writer. His war works are permeated with romantic scenes. The heroes of his stories and novels - boys, along with the heroism they perform, still have time to think about the beauty of nature. For example, Lieutenant Davlatyan cries bitterly like a boy, considering himself a failure not because he was wounded and in pain, but because he dreamed of getting to the front line, wanted to knock out a tank. About the difficult life after the war of former war participants new novel“Non-resistance”, what the former boys became. They do not give up under the weight of post-war and especially modern life. “We have learned to hate falsehood, cowardice, lies, the fleeting glance of a scoundrel talking to you with a pleasant smile, indifference, from which one step away from betrayal,” writes Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev many years later about his generation in the book “Moments.”

Let us remember Konstantin Dmitrievich Vorobyov (1919-1975), the author of harsh and tragic works, who was the first to tell about the bitter truth of being captured and going through earthly hell. The stories of Konstantin Dmitrievich Vorobyov “This is us, Lord”, “Killed near Moscow” were written from his own experience. While fighting in a company of Kremlin cadets near Moscow, he was captured and passed through camps in Lithuania. He escaped from captivity, organized a partisan group that joined the Lithuanian partisan detachment, and after the war he lived in Vilnius. The story “This is us, Lord,” written in 1943, was published only ten years after his death, in 1986. This story about the torment of a young lieutenant in captivity is autobiographical and is now highly rated as a phenomenon for the resistance of the spirit. Torture, executions, hard labor in captivity, escapes... The author documents a nightmarish reality, exposes evil. The story “Killed near Moscow,” written by him in 1961, remains one of the most reliable works about the initial period of the war in 1941 near Moscow, where a company of young cadets ends up, almost without weapons. Soldiers die, the world collapses under bombs, the wounded are captured. But their lives were given to the Motherland, which they served faithfully.

Among the most notable front-line writers of the second half of the 20th century is the writer Vyacheslav Leonidovich Kondratiev (1920-1993). His simple and beautiful story “Sashka,” published back in 1979 in the magazine “Friendship of Peoples” and dedicated to “All those who fought near Rzhev - living and dead,” shocked readers. The story “Sashka” promoted Vyacheslav Kondratiev to the ranks of the leading writers of the front-line generation; for each of them the war was different. In it, a front-line writer talks about the life of an ordinary person during the war, several days of front-line life. The battles themselves were not the main part of a person’s life during the war, but the main thing was life, incredibly difficult, with enormous physical exertion, a difficult life. For example, a morning mine attack, getting shag, sipping thin porridge, warming up by the fire - and the hero of the story, Sashka, understood that he had to live, he had to knock out tanks, shoot down planes. Having captured a German in a short battle, he does not experience any particular triumph; he seems to be unheroic at all, an ordinary fighter. The story of Sashka became the story of all front-line soldiers, tormented by the war, but who retained their human face even in an impossible situation. And then follow the stories and short stories, united by a cross-cutting theme and characters: “The Road to Borodukhino”, “Life-Being”, “Leave due to injury”, “Meetings on Sretenka”, “ Significant date" Kondratiev’s works are not just truthful prose about the war, they are true testimonies about time, about duty, about honor and loyalty, they are the painful thoughts of the heroes afterward. His works are characterized by the accuracy of the dating of events, their geographical and topographic reference. The author was where and when his heroes were. His prose is an eyewitness account, it can be considered as an important, albeit peculiar, historical source, but at the same time it is written according to all the canons work of art. The breakdown of the era that occurred in the 90s, which haunts the war participants and they experience moral suffering, had a catastrophic effect on front-line writers, leading them to tragic feelings of devalued feat. Is it not because of moral suffering that front-line writers tragically passed away in 1993, Vyacheslav Kondratyev, and in 1991, Yulia Drunina.

Here is another one of the front-line writers, Vladimir Osipovich Bogomolov (1926-2003), who in 1973 wrote an action-packed work “The Moment of Truth” (“In August 1944”) about military counterintelligence - SMERSH, whose heroes neutralize the enemy in the rear of our troops. In 1993, he published the vivid story “In the Krieger” (a krieger is a carriage for transporting the seriously wounded), which is a continuation of the story “The Moment of Truth” and “Zosya”. The surviving heroes gathered in this krieger car. The terrible commission assigned them to undergo further service in remote areas of the Far North, Kamchatka, and the Far East. They, who gave their lives for their Motherland, were maimed, were not spared, and were sent to the most remote places. The last novel about the Great Patriotic War by Vladimir Osipovich Bogomolov “My life, or did I dream about you...” (Our contemporary. – 2005. – No. 11,12; 2006. – No. 1, 10, 11, 12; 2008. – No. 10) remained unfinished and was published after the writer’s death. He wrote this novel not only as a participant in the war, but also based on archival documents. The events in the novel begin in February 1944 with the crossing of the Oder and last until the early 90s. The story is told on behalf of a 19-year-old lieutenant. The novel is documented by orders of Stalin and Zhukov, political reports, and excerpts from the front-line press, which give an impartial picture of the fighting. The novel, without any embellishment, conveys the mood in the army that entered enemy territory. The seamy side of the war is depicted, which has not been written about before.

Vladimir Osipovich Bogomolov wrote about what he considered his main book: “This will not be a memoir, not a memoir, but, in the language of literary scholars, an “autobiography of a fictional person.” And not entirely fictional: by the will of fate, I almost always found myself not only in the same places with the main character, but also in the same positions: I spent a whole decade in the shoes of most of the heroes, the root prototypes of the main characters were those closely known to me during the war and after her officers. This novel is not only about the history of a person of my generation, it is a requiem for Russia, for its nature and morality, a requiem for the difficult, deformed destinies of several generations - tens of millions of my compatriots.”

Front-line writer Boris Lvovich Vasiliev (b. 1924), laureate of the USSR State Prize, the President of Russia Prize, and the Independent April Prize. He is the author of everyone’s favorite books “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet”, “Tomorrow There Was a War”, “Not on the Lists”, “Aty-Bati Soldiers Came”, which were filmed in Soviet times. In an interview " Rossiyskaya newspaper" dated January 1, 2001, a front-line writer noted the demand for military prose. Unfortunately, his works were not republished for ten years and only in 2004, on the eve of the writer’s 80th birthday, were they republished again by the Veche publishing house. A whole generation of youth was brought up on the war stories of Boris Lvovich Vasiliev. Everyone remembers the bright images of girls who combined love of truth and perseverance (Zhenya from the story “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet...”,” Spark from the story “Tomorrow There Was War,” etc.) and sacrificial devotion to a high cause and loved ones (the heroine of the story “In was not on the lists”, etc.)

Evgeny Ivanovich Nosov (1925-2002), awarded the Sakharov Literary Prize together with Konstantin Vorobyov (posthumously) for creativity in general (devotion to the theme), is distinguished by his belonging to the village theme. But he also created unforgettable images of peasants who are preparing to be sent to war (the story “Usvyatsky Helmet Bearers”) as if it were the end of the world, saying goodbye to the measured peasant life and preparing for an irreconcilable battle with the enemy. The first work about the war was the story “Red Wine of Victory,” written by him in 1969, in which the hero celebrated Victory Day on a government bed in a hospital and received, along with all the suffering wounded, a glass of red wine in honor of this long-awaited holiday. Reading the story, adults who survived the war will cry. “A true trencher, an ordinary soldier, he does not like to talk about war... A fighter’s wounds will speak more and more powerfully about the war. You can’t waste holy words in vain. By the way, you can’t lie about the war. But writing poorly about the suffering of the people is shameful. A master and worker of prose, he knows that the memory of dead friends can be insulted with an awkward word, clumsy thoughts...” - this is what his friend, front-line writer Viktor Astafiev wrote about Nosov. In the story “Khutor Beloglin,” Alexey, the hero of the story, lost everything in the war - no family, no home, no health, but, nevertheless, he remained kind and generous. Yevgeny Nosov wrote a number of works at the turn of the century, about which Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn said, presenting him with a prize named after him: “And, 40 years later, conveying the same military theme, with bitter bitterness Nosov stirs up what hurts today... With this unrequited grief Nosov closes the half-century wound Great War and everything that has not been told about her even today.” Works: “Apple Savior”, “Commemorative Medal”, “Fanfares and Bells” - from this series.

Among front-line writers, Andrei Platonovich Platonov (1899-1951) was undeservedly deprived in Soviet times, whom literary criticism made such only because his works were different, too reliable. For example, critic V. Ermilov, in the article “The Slanderous Story of A. Platonov” (about the story “Return”) accused the author of “the most vile slander of the Soviet family” and the story was declared alien and even hostile. In fact, Andrei Platonov served as an officer throughout the war, from 1942 to 1946. He was a war correspondent for “Red Star” on the fronts from Voronezh, Kursk to Berlin and Elbe and his man among the soldiers in the trenches, he was called the “trench captain.” Andrei Platonov was one of the first to write the dramatic story of a front-line soldier’s return home in the story “Return,” which was published in Novy Mir already in 1946. The hero of the story, Alexey Ivanov, is in no hurry to go home, he has found a second family among his fellow soldiers, he has lost the habit of being at home, from his family. The heroes of Platonov’s works “... were now going to live as if for the first time, in illness and the happiness of victory. They were now going to live as if for the first time, vaguely remembering what they were like three or four years ago, because they had turned into completely different people...” And in the family, next to his wife and children, another man appeared, who was orphaned by the war. It is difficult for a front-line soldier to return to another life, to his children.

(b. 1921) – participant in the Great Patriotic War, colonel, scientist-historian, author of a series of books: “In the Lines”, “Milestones of Fire”, “The Fighting Continues”, “Colonel Gorin”, “Chronicle of the Pre-War Years”, “ In the snowy fields of the Moscow region." What caused the tragedy of June 22: the criminal carelessness of the command or the treachery of the enemy? How to overcome the confusion and confusion of the first hours of the war? About perseverance and courage Soviet soldier in the first days of the Great Patriotic War is told in the historical novel “Summer of Hopes and Disruptions” (Roman-newspaper. – 2008. – Nos. 9–10). There are also images of military leaders: Commander-in-Chief Stalin, marshals Zhukov, Timoshenko, Konev and many others. Another historical novel, “Stalingrad,” is written excitingly and dynamically. Battles and Fates" (Roman-newspaper. - 2009. - Nos. 15-16.) The battle of the century is called the battle on the Volga. The final parts of the novel are dedicated to the harsh winter of the years, when more than two million soldiers fought in mortal combat.

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(real name - Fridman) was born on September 11, 1923 in Voronezh. He volunteered to fight. From the front he was sent to an artillery school. Having completed his studies, he ended up on the Southwestern Front, then on the 3rd Ukrainian Front. Participated in the Iasi-Kishinev operation, in battles in Hungary, in the capture of Budapest and Vienna. He finished the war in Austria with the rank of lieutenant. In studied at the Literary Institute. The book “Forever Nineteen Years Old” (1979) was awarded the State Prize. In 1986-96. was the editor-in-chief of the Znamya magazine. Died 2009

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(real name - Kirill) was born on November 28, 1915 in Petrograd. He studied at MIFLI, then at the Literary Institute. M. Gorky. In 1939, he was sent to Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia as a war correspondent. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Konstantin Simonov was in the army: he was his own correspondent for the newspapers “Krasnaya Zvezda”, “Pravda”, “ Komsomolskaya Pravda", etc. In 1942 he was awarded the rank of senior battalion commissar, in 1943 - the rank of lieutenant colonel, and after the war - colonel. As a war correspondent, he visited all fronts, was in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany, and witnessed the last battles for Berlin. After the war he worked as editor of the magazine " New world" and "Literary Gazette". Died on August 28, 1979 in Moscow.

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Front-line writers, contrary to the tendencies that developed in Soviet times to gloss over the truth about the war, depicted the harsh and tragic war and post-war reality. Their works are a true testimony of the time when Russia fought and won.

In the post-war years it continued creative activity Y. Brylya, S. Dergay, I. Melezh, I. Shemyakin and others. Among the best works of those years are the novels by I. Shemyakin “Deep Current”, I. Melezh “Minsk Direction”, M. Lynkov “Unforgettable Days”, dramatic works A. Movzon “Konstantin Zaslonov”, K. Gubarevich “Brest Fortress”, etc.

Since about 1953 in Belarusian literature, as well as in the all-Union literature, new trends have emerged related to the activation public life. The process of overcoming the description, deepening into inner world heroes, in particular of the conflicts of the post-war era. In the community of writers, a discussion has developed about the place of the writer in the life of society, about the need to revise the concepts of conflict-freeness that have taken root in literature. Universal human moral and ethical values, the struggle for moral purity and the bright in man are gradually coming to the fore. This was most clearly manifested in Y. Bril’s story “On Bystrantsy”, and especially in I. Shemyakin’s novel “Krynitsy”.

In the first half of the 60s. as a result of internal ideological and artistic enrichment, Belarusian prose came to significant discoveries. The following novels appeared: “People on the Balots” by I. Melezh, “Birds and Nests” by Y. Bril, “Serca on the Dalon” by I. Shemyakin, “Sasna pry daroz” by I. Naumenko, “On the Paroz of Buduchyn” by M. Loban, “Scenic Malinauka" by A. Chernyshevich.

V. Korotkevich opened poetry and the philosophy of history to the reader (“Kalasy pad syarpom tvaim”, “Chorny zamak Alshanski”), and V. Bykov, from the position of humanism and anti-militarism, analyzes and comprehends man in war (“Zhurauliny Kryk”, “Sotnikau”, “Vuchaya zgraya”, etc.).

Particular attention to the moral and ethical problems of our time, to the image of a contemporary, to the relationship between the scientific and technological revolution and the fate of man is especially characteristic of I. Shemyakin - his novels “Antlantas and Kariyatyds” (1974), “I Will Take Your Pain” (1978), I. Ptashnikov “Mscizhy” (1972), V. Adamchik “Alien Father”, “Year of Zero” (1983).

Belarusian dramaturgy

After the liberation of Belarus, theaters that had been evacuated returned to their homeland. Already in 1945, 12 theaters were operating. Their activities were regulated by the well-known resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the repertoire drama theaters and measures to improve it" (1946). Plays about the Great Patriotic War were successfully performed on theater stages: "The Young Guard", "Konstantin Zaslonov", "It Was in Minsk" and others. Performances were staged on historical themes " Nesterka" by V. Volsky, "Peacock", "Scattered Nest" by Y. Kupala, "Pinsk Nobility" by V. Dunin-Martsinkevich, etc. Ideological dictate could not restrain the creativity of such famous actors, like G. Glebov. B. Platonov, S. Stanyuta and others.

The operas, symphonies and contatas of E. Tikotsky, N. Aladov, A. Bogatyrev were dedicated to the courage of the people. In the post-war years, the names of composers V. Olovnikov appeared. Y. Semenyaki, G. Wagner and others. In 1951, the state folk choir of the BSSR, led by Tsitovich, began performing. The State Academic Choir of the BSSR under the direction of G. Shirma worked actively.

The late 60s and 70s were very productive for Belarusian drama. when many plays were created that were destined to become literary classics.

It was at this time that the theatrical society of our and other republics former USSR got acquainted with the original plays “The Brahma of the Neumiruchastsi” by K. Krapiva, “Tribunal”, “Zatsyukany Apostal”, “The Tablet Falls Tongue”, “Kashmare” (“Holy Prastata”) by A. Makaenok, “Vechar”, “Parog” by A. Dudarev ”, “Salt”, “Tryvoga” by A. Petrashkevich, with new works by M. Matukovsky, K. Gubarevich, U. Karatkevich, A. Delendik and many others.

A great contribution to the development of the Belarusian theater was made by directors B. Lutsenko, V. Mazynsky, V. Raevsky, actors Z. Bravarskaya, A. Kliova, G. Makarova, S. Stanyuta, Z. Stoma, V. Tarasov, F. Shmakov, G. Glebov, R. Rzhetskaya, U. Dyadyushko, N. Radyalovskaya, G. Yankovsky, M. Eremenko.

The Belarusian State Theater and Art Institute has been training actors, directors, stage designers, and theater experts all these years.

Of those that existed before 1985. 17 theatres, 9 were dramatic, 6 puppet theatres, 2 musical. Huge role in cultural life Republic played the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater. Talented artists L. Aleksandrovskaya, Z. Babiy, I. Sarokin, N. Tkachenko, T. Nizhnikova, T. Shimko, V. Chornabaev, A. Korzenkova, N. Dovidenko, R. Krasovskaya, L. Brzhazovskaya, Yu. Troyan, V. Sarkosyan and others.

The ballets “The Chosen One”, “Kurgan”, “Alpine Balada”, “Tyl Ulenspiegel”, “The Little Prince” by Y. Glebov (the latter was staged on stage) became phenomena of cultural life Bolshoi Theater USSR in 1983), “Paslya Balyu” by G. Wagner, the opera “New Land” by Y. Seminyaki, “I’m Fingering the Life” by G. Wagner, “The Gray Legend” by D. Smolsky, “Mother Courage” by S. Cortez.

A critical rethinking of complex problems of history and modernity during the “thaw” period contributed to the emergence of a new galaxy of writers - A. Adamovich, V. Bykov, R. Borodulin, V. Korotkevich, I. Naumenko, I. Chigrinov, N. Gilevich and others. In the military In prose, the main theme becomes a man in war. The works of V. Bykov “Alpine Ballad”, “Crane Cry”, “The Third Rocket” and others received universal recognition. I. Shemyakin’s novels “Heart in the Palm”, “I’ll Take Your Pain” and others became famous. In 1981 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Historical theme was reflected in the works of V. Korotkevich “The Wild Hunt of King Stakh”, “The Black Castle of Olshansky”, etc.

In the 50s life was getting better, but in order to successfully build the future, you need to honestly evaluate the past. In 1954, Y. Kolas completed the trilogy “On Rostanakh,” in which he gave a broad panorama of the life and aspirations of the Belarusian peasantry and rural intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century.

I. Shamyakin’s books “At Good Hour”, “Trouble Shchastse”) and V. Karpov (“Year After Year”) dedicated their books to important problems of social everyday life and human life, to the difficult destinies of people. Lyricism and civic spirit were heard in the poems of P. Brovka, P. Glebka, M. Tank, A. Kuleshov, P. Panchenka, R. Borodulin. However, even in the post-war period, doctrinaire, limited socialist realism was still considered the only correct direction in literature and art. It is no coincidence that in 1952-1954. The collected works of Y. Kupala were published, but a number of the poet’s works in which national liberation ideas were expressed were not included in it.

With the onset of the Khrushchev “thaw”, A. Aleksandrovich, S. Grakhovsky, J. Skrigan and other disgraced writers returned from the camps. They brought their vision of the problems of Stalinism, ways to renew the life of society and democratize the country.

In the 60-80s. The talent of the remarkable writer, poet, playwright and journalist Vladimir Korotkevich (1930-1984) developed. He was a deep connoisseur of the historical past of his people (“Kalasy fell syarpom tvaim”, 1968; “Christ jumped at Garodnya”, 1972; “Chorny zamak Alshanski”, 1983) and at the same time a subtle lyricist (poetry collections “Matchyna Dusha”, 1958, “Vyachernya windazi, 1960).

In the works of some Belarusian writers, the theme of the Great Patriotic War remained decisive. Ivan Naumenko dedicated his novels to her (“Sasna pry daroz”, “Vetser u pine”, “Sorak trezi”). The theme “war and people” received an impressive artistic embodiment in the work of Vasil Bykov (1924-2003). Translated to foreign languages his works “Zhurauliny Kryk” (1960), “The Dead Nebalits” (1965), “The Sign of Byady” (1984).

The prose that made Bykov famous was called “lieutenant’s”, and it was written by a former lieutenant who learned the truth about the war on the front line. He knew how difficult it was to preserve the best human qualities in extreme conditions, because the price could be life. War is a tragedy, it gives rise to complex destinies of people, and sometimes confronts a person with a difficult choice: heroism and courage or cowardice and betrayal.

The literary life of V. Bykov was not cloudless. Dogmatically minded critics accused him of abandoning principles socialist realism and adherence to existentialism. But years passed and the world-famous writer received public recognition. For great services in the development of literature, showing the harsh truth of war, heroism and courage of the Soviet people, V. Bykov was awarded the USSR State Prize (1974), the Lenin Prize (1986), State awards BSSR named after. Y. Kolas (1964, 1978). In 1984 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

During this period, there was a noticeable creative upsurge in the field national dramaturgy. The Belarusian playwright Andrei Makayonok gained particular popularity. His comedies were staged in famous theaters of the Union republics. The treasury of national drama includes such plays as “Zatsyukany Apostal” (1969), “Tribunal” (1970). Playwright Alexei Dudarev, the author of action-packed plays “Vybar” (1979), “Parog” (1981), “Vechar” (1983), “Radavyya” (1984), received wide public recognition. A prominent representative of the older generation is Anatoly Delendik, whose first play, “Out of the Bahamas,” was staged in 109 theaters in the Soviet Union.

Belarusian culture architecture art