A. S. Novikov-Priboĭ
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Aleksey Silych Novikov-Priboy (russian: Алексей Силыч Новиков-Прибой; real name Aleksey Silantyevich Novikov, ; 24 March 1877 – 29 April 1944) was a Russian and Soviet writer and
marine artist Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre part ...
, noted for his stories with a nautical theme.Katerina Clark, Evgeniĭ Aleksandrovich Dobrenko, « Soviet Culture and Power: A History in Documents, 1917-1953
» Yale University Press, 2007,


Biography

Novikov-Priboy was the second son of a peasant family from Matveyevskoye village of the Spassky Uyezd. His mother, of Polish descent, had hoped that he would enter the church as a monk, but he was attracted to the thought of adventure by hearing stories from travelling sailors, and volunteered for the Imperial Russian Navy instead. He served as a seaman with the Russian Baltic Fleet from 1899 to 1906. He became involved with revolutionary activities from an early age and after publishing an article in a Kronstadt newspaper in 1903, was arrested from spreading "subversive propaganda". However, due to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, he was soon released, and with his records marked "unreliable" was transferred to the 2nd Pacific Squadron's
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
, on which he participated at the climactic
Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...
. Taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese, while in prison camp he began gathering stories from fellow survivors. After the war, he returned to his hometown and began writing, and his first works describing the war in highly critical terms were published in 1906. He soon fell foul of the tsarist authorities however, who banned his works, and Novikov-Priboy was forced to go into hiding. He fled to Finland in 1907, and between 1907 and 1913 lived in England, visiting France, Spain, North Africa and
Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...
, where he befriended the exiled Maxim Gorky, who provided him with advice on his writing. Novikov-Priboy supported himself working part-time as a blacksmith, accountant, and as a merchant sailor. He returned to Russia in 1913 under a false passport. During World War I, from 1915 to 1918, Novikov-Priboy worked on hospital trains, and afterwards settling at Barnaul, where he lived until 1920 in a commune with fellow writers and artists. His first collection of short stories, Sea Stories, was published in 1917 after some difficulties with the publishers. Novikov-Priboy's early works were influenced by Gorky and are part of the mainstream of Russian realistic literature. These include classic "seafaring" works, including (the
novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
''The Call of the Sea'' (1919) and the novels ''The Submariners'' (1923) and ''The Salty Font'' (1929). From 1920, Novikov-Priboy began work on a historical epic ''Tsushima'', and was able to access government archives. The first part of the book was published in 1932, and the second part was awarded the Stalin Prize, (2nd degree). The novel describes the heroism of Russian sailors and certain officers, the increase in revolutionary activity, and what he considered criminal negligence of the Imperial Russian Naval command. After the start of World War II, Novikov-Priboy continued to publish works about the navy. He died in 1944 in Moscow, with his final novel ''Captain First Class'', unfinished. His grave is at the
Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...
. Novikov-Priboy was honored by
commemorative postage stamps A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...
issued in 1952 and 1977, and numerous streets in the former Soviet Union were named after him. His honors include Order of the Red Banner of Labour and
Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" The Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" (russian: Медаль «За оборону Москвы») was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union awarded to military and civilians who had participated in the Battle of Moscow. History T ...
. In 1969, his daughter opened a private museum in his honor, at his former '' dacha'' at Cherkizovo, near
Pushkino, Moscow Oblast Pushkino (russian: Пушкино) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Altai Krai As of 2010, one rural locality in Altai Krai bears this name: *Pushkino, Altai Krai, a settlement in Rubtsovsky Selsoviet of Rubtsovsky District ...
.


English translations

* ''The Captain'', Hutchinson International, 1946. * ''The Sea Beckons'', Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1965. * ''Tsushima'', Hyperion Press, 1978.


Further reading

* Prokhorov, A. M. (Editor). Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Bol'shaia Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia) (A Translation Of The Third Edition, Volumes 1 thru 31) . Collier Macmillan Publishers (1973) ASIN: B000Q70HJQ


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novikov-Priboi, Aleksey Silych 1877 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian short story writers People from Spassky Uyezd (Tambov Governorate) Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Stalin Prize Maritime writers Socialist realism writers Russian historical novelists Soviet male writers Soviet novelists Soviet short story writers Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery