Leonid Abramovich Yuzefovich (russian: Леонид Абрамович Юзефович, born December 18, 1947 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
) is a Russian writer known for the series of
crime fiction
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
stories taking place in pre-Revolution
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. He also writes non-fiction books about history, and currently adapts his stories for TV serials.
In 1975, he started working as a history teacher at a Moscow school and only retired in 2004 despite being in love with teaching. In 1981 he earned his Ph.D. (Candidate of Sciences) with his thesis on Russian diplomatic etiquette of the 15th-17th centuries.
His early fiction works were occasionally published in the USSR through the late 1970s and 1980s but he mostly owed his initial popularity to the well-distributed non-fiction book ''The Sovereign of the Desert'' about
Roman Ungern von Sternberg
Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (russian: link=no, Роман Фёдорович фон Унгерн-Штернберг, translit=Roman Fedorovich fon Ungern-Shternberg; 10 January 1886 – 15 September 1921), often refer ...
, issued in 1993. It influenced
Victor Pelevin
Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲɛɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects ...
's novel ''
Chapayev and Void
''Chapayev and Pustota'' (russian: links=no, italics=yes, Чапаев и Пустота), known in the US as ''Buddha's Little Finger'' and in the UK as ''Clay Machine Gun'', is a novel by Victor Pelevin first published in 1996. It follows the dre ...
'', issued in 1996.
He gained more popularity when in 2001 he switched to detective stories set in the late 19th century, re-inventing the fame of detective Ivan Putilin.
In 2003 the Russian Booker Prize short-listed Yuzefovich's detective story ''Kazaroza''.
Yuzefovich became the main winner of the 2009
Big Book, the Russian national literary award, for his novel ''Cranes and Pygmies'' on November 26.
Yuzefovich's books have been translated and issued in English, French, German, Italian,
Mongolian,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
, and Spanish languages. As of October 2012, only two of his fiction works were published as parts of anthologies in English.
Yuzefovich's daughter
Galina
Galina, Halyna, or Halina (russian: Галина; from Greek ''γαλήνη'' "Serenity") is an East Slavic feminine given name, also popular in Bulgaria and Slovenia during the period of Soviet influence. Galina is the standard transliteration fr ...
is a literary critic, by peers she is considered the most influential in her field.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuzefovich, Leonid
Russian crime fiction writers
Russian historical novelists
Russian screenwriters
Male screenwriters
Russian Jews
Writers from Moscow
Perm State University alumni
1947 births
Living people
Russian male novelists
20th-century Russian male writers