Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin (russian: Дании́л Алекса́ндрович Гра́нин; 1 January 1919 – 4 July 2017), original family name German (russian: Ге́рман), was a Soviet and Russian author.

Life and career

Granin started writing in the 1930s, while he was still an engineering student at the

Leningrad Polytechnical Institute Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU (also, formerly "Saint Petersburg State Technical University", abbreviated as SPbSTU), is a Russian technical university located in Saint Petersburg. Other former names i ...

. After graduation, Granin began working as a senior engineer at an energy laboratory, and shortly after

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

broke out, he volunteered to fight as a soldier. One of the first widely praised works of Granin was a short story about graduate students titled "Variant vtoroi" (The second variant), which was published in the journal '' Zvezda'' in 1949. Granin had continued to study engineering and work as a technical writer before he achieved literary success, thanks to his ''Iskateli'' (''The Seekers'', 1955), a novel inspired by his career in engineering. This book was about the overly bureaucratic Soviet system, which tended to stifle new ideas. Granin served as a board member of the Leningrad Union of Writers, and he was a winner of many medals and honors including the

State Prize State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

for Literature in 1978 and

Hero of Socialist Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

1989. He continued writing in the post-Soviet era.

Writing

According to the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

'': "The main theme of Granin’s works is the romance and poetry of scientific and technological creativity and the struggle between searching, principled, genuine scientists imbued with the communist ideological context and untalented people, careerists, and bureaucrats (the novels ''Those Who Seek'', 1954, and ''Into the Storm'', 1962)". In 1979, he published ''Blokadnaya kniga'' (translated as ''A Book of the Blockade''), which mainly revolves around the lives of two small children, a 16-year-old boy and an academic during the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of ...

. Written together with Ales Adamovich, the book is based on the interviews, diaries and personal memoirs of those, who survived the siege during 1941–44. It was nominated for the 2004

Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage The Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage has been given annually since 2003 for the best texts in the genre of literary reportage, which must have been first published during the previous two years. The award was initiated by Lettre Intern ...

. On September 8, 2021, the film "The Blockade Diary," based on Granin's "A Book of the Blockade," was presented in Moscow cinemas. One of his most popular books is ''The Bison'' (1987), which tells the story of the Soviet geneticist Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky. In October 1993, he signed the

Letter of Forty-Two The Letter of Forty-Two (russian: Письмо́ сорока́ двух) was an open letter signed by forty-two Russian literati, aimed at Russian society, the president and government, in reaction to the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. It was ...

Honours and awards

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

(1989) * Order of St. Andrew (28 December 2008) – for outstanding contribution to the development of national literature, many years of creative and social activities *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

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 ...

(12 June 2017)

Works

Below is a list of works by Granin translated into English: *''Those Who Seek'' (1954) *''Into the Storm'' (1962, tr. 1965) * ''The House on the Fontanka'' (1967, tr. 1970) *''A Book of the Blockade'' (1979, tr. 1983) *''The Bison: A Novel about the Scientist Who Defied Stalin'' (1987, tr. 1990)

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Granin, Daniil 1919 births 2017 deaths People from Rylsky District People from Rylsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers Soviet male writers Soviet novelists Soviet short story writers 20th-century male writers 20th-century Russian short story writers Soviet Army officers Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni Academicians of the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences "Nika" Honorary Members of the Russian Academy of Arts Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the USSR State Prize State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Recipients of the Medal of Zhukov Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany