Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev (russian: link=no, Юрий Васильевич Бондарев, 15 March 1924 — 29 March 2020) was a Soviet and Russian writer and screenwriter. He was best known for co-authoring the script for the serial film franchise
''Liberation'' (1968–71).
Biography
Bondarev took part in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
as an artillery officer and became a member of the
CPSU
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
in 1944.
He graduated in 1951 from the
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute (russian: Литературный институт им. А. М. Горького) is an institution of higher education in Moscow. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow.
History
The insti ...
.
His first collection of stories entitled ''On a Large River'' was published in 1953.
His first successes in literature, the novels ''The Battalions Request Fire'' (1957) and ''The Last Salvoes'' (1959) were part of a new trend of war fiction which dispensed with pure heroes and vile villains in favor of emphasizing the true human cost of war.
''The Last Salvos'' was adapted for the cinema in 1961. His next novels ''Silence'' (1962), ''The Two'' (1964) and ''Relatives'' (1969) established him as a leading Soviet writer. His novel ''Silence'' became a landmark as the first work to depict a citizen who had been wrongly sentenced to the
Gulag
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
.
His novels generally cover topics of ethics and personal choices.
[Биография Юрия Бондарева](_blank)
/ref>
In the novel ''The Hot Snow'' (1969) he again used the theme of war, creating an epic canvas dealing with the Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...
from the viewpoint of its many participants including common soldiers and military commanders. In his novel ''The Shore'' (1975), a Soviet writer learns that a German woman, with whom he had a passionate love affair as a young officer, still loves him. He dies before reaching the promised "shore" of his youthful dream. In ''The Choice'' (1980) a terminally ill expatriate kills himself on a visit to Moscow so that he can be buried in the city of his youth. His fate causes an old Soviet friend of his to engage in a painful exploration of existential questions.
Bondarev did also much work for the cinema. Besides adapting his own novels for the screen, he co-authored the script for the serial film '' ''Liberation''''.
In political life during the early 1990s, Bondarev participated in Russia's national-communist opposition politics, belonging to the National Salvation Front leadership. Bondarev was a member of the central committee of the hardline Communist Party of the RSFSR at the end of the Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
era; in July 1991 he signed the anti-Perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
declaration "A Word to the People
"A Word to the People" (Russian: «Слово к народу») was an open letter signed by twelve Soviet public figures. The declaration was published in '' Sovetskaya Rossiya'' (a newspaper that expressed anti-perestroika views) on 23 July 199 ...
".
Bondarev died on 29 March 2020 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 ...
at the age of 96.
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 ...
* 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 b ...
, twice
* 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 October Revolution
The Order of the October Revolution (russian: Орден Октябрьской Революции, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferr ...
* Order of the Patriotic War
The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...
, 2nd class
* Order of the Badge of Honour
The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union.
It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...
* Medal For Courage, twice (14 October 1943, 21 June 1944)
* Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
* Alexander Fadeyev Medal for Military Literature
* State Prize of the USSR
The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...
, 1977, for his novel ''The Shore''
* State Prize of the USSR, 1983, for his novel ''The Choice''
* State Prize of the RSFSR Vasiliev brothers (1975) – a script for the movie "Hot Snow" (1972)
* Alexander Dovzhenko
Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko or Alexander Petrovich Dovzhenko ( uk, Олександр Петрович Довженко, ''Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko''; russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Довже́нко, ''Aleksandr Petro ...
Gold Medal for the screenplay of ''The Hot Snow'' (1972)
* Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
Award for Literature
* Mikhail Sholokov
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov ( rus, Михаил Александрович Шолохов, p=ˈʂoləxəf; – 21 February 1984) was a Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for writing about life ...
Award for Literature
* Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad"
The Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" (russian: Медаль «За оборону Сталинграда») was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union.
Medal history
The Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" was established on ...
*
* Lenin Prize (1972) – script for epic ''Liberation''
* National Award "Stalingrad".
* Medal of the CPRF Central Committee, 90 years of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
* Award CCF (1984) – a script for the film ''The Coast'' (1983)
In 1994 he refused to accept the award of 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 ...
from Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
.Евгений Евтушенко сгорел на работе
/ref>
English translations
*''Silence'', Houghton Mifflin, 1966.
*''The Last Shots'', Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1970.
*''The Hot Snow'', Progress Publishers, 1976.
*''The Vigil'', from ''Anthology of Soviet Short Stories'', Vol 2, Progress Publishers, 1976.
*''The Shore'', Raduga Publishers, 1984.
*''The Choice'', Raduga Publishers, 1984.
*''On Craftsmanship'', Raduga Publishers, 1984.
Filmography (writer)
*''The Last Salvos'' (1961)
* ''Silence
Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...
'' (1963)
* ''Liberation
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
'' (1968–71)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondarev, Yuri Vasilyevich
1924 births
2020 deaths
20th-century Russian male writers
20th-century Russian short story writers
People from Orsk
Eleventh convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Lenin Prize winners
Recipients of the Medal "For Courage" (Russia)
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Recipients of the Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR
Russian male novelists
Russian male short story writers
Russian male writers
Russian non-fiction writers
20th-century Russian screenwriters
Male screenwriters
Socialist realism writers
Soviet male writers
Soviet military personnel of World War II
Soviet non-fiction writers
Soviet novelists
Soviet screenwriters
Soviet short story writers
Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery