Pavel Petrovich Bazhov (russian: Па́вел Петро́вич Бажо́в; 27 January 1879 – 3 December 1950) was a Russian writer and publicist. Bazhov is best known for his collection of

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s ''

The Malachite Box ''The Malachite Box'' or ''The Malachite Casket'' ( rus, Малахитовая шкатулка, r=Malakhitovaya Shkatulka, p=məlɐˈxʲitəvəjə ʂkɐˈtulkə) is a book of fairy tales and folk tales (also known as ''skaz'') of the Ural regi ...

'', based on

Ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and published in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1939. In 1944, the translation of the collection into English was published in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Later

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

created the ballet '' The Tale of the Stone Flower'' based on one of the tales. Bazhov was also the author of several books on the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

and the Civil War.

Yegor Gaidar Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Его́р Тиму́рович Гайда́р; ; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 Jun ...

, who served as Prime Minister of Russia, was his grandson.

Early life

Bazhov was born in

Sysert Sysert (russian: Сысе́рть) is a town and the administrative center of Sysertsky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Sysert River ( Ob basin, right tributary of the Iset), south of Yekaterinburg. Population: Histo ...

, a city in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European ...

. His father Pyotr Bazhov was the master of the welding shop of the Sysert Steel Plant. His family, like most in factory towns, struggled to make ends meet and had virtually no political power in

Czarist Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I ...

. From these beginnings, Bazhov found a calling in public service. Between 1889 and 1893 he studied in a religious school in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

. He took part in many protests, the most famous one resulting in him receiving a note of political disloyalty from his reactionary teacher on his certificate. The city made a huge impression on him, and he would return to live there many years later. In 1899, Bazhov graduated third in his class from Perm Theological Seminary, where

Alexander Stepanovich Popov Alexander Stepanovich Popov (sometimes spelled Popoff; russian: Алекса́ндр Степа́нович Попо́в; – ) was a Russian physicist, who was one of the first persons to invent a radio receiving device. declassified 8 Januar ...

and D.N. Mamin previously studied. He dreamt of attending Tomsk Seminary University, but was rejected. Instead, he worked temporarily as a Russian language teacher, first in

, then later in

Kamyshlov Kamyshlov (russian: Камышло́в) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Pyshma River ( Ob's basin) at its confluence with the Kamyshlovka River. Population: History It was founded in 1668 Kamyshevsky ...

. From 1907 to 1914 Bazhov worked at the Women’s Diocesan College teaching Russian language. During this time he met and married Valentina Ivanitsky, a graduate from the Diocesan School. She was his muse for many of his poems about love and happiness.

Career

When the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

began, Bazhov had two daughters. He was a member of the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

until 1917. In 1918, he joined the

Bolshevik Party " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

, volunteered for the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

, and was deployed into military actions in the Ural frontline. In the autumn of 1920, Bazhov moved to

Semipalatinsk Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhst ...

and was elected a member of the Party Committee of that province. He was instructed to lead the provincial council of trade unions, but often served assignments that went beyond his office. From 1923 to 1929 he lived in Yekaterinburg and worked in the editorial board of the ''Krestianskaya'' (''Peasants'') Newspaper, as well as contributing his essays on old factory life conditions and the civil war throughout 1924. In that year, Bazhov published his first book, ''Urals Tales'' (''Уральские были'') on the images of life in the Urals during the 1880-1890s. It was also during this period that he wrote over forty tales on themes of Ural factory folklore that contributed to his collection, ''The Malachite Box''. Publication of Bazhov's most famous work – the collection of fairy tales - earned Bazhov 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 ...

. Later on Bazhov supplemented the book with new tales. Bazhov had every reason to speak with pride about his activities between 1917 and 1920. D.A. Kuhn named Bazhov in the report on the 60th anniversary of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and the Communist Party of Kazakhstan among those wonderful people, "who in the years of revolution and civil war, with a rifle, a plow, or a book, claimed a life on the Kazakh space, with high international quality, resilience, courage and heroism". From these actions, he was decorated with an

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 ...

and won the

USSR State Prize 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 ...

. During the

Second World War 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 ...

Bazhov worked with both Yekaterinburg writers and those already evacuated from different corners of the Soviet Union. After the war his eyesight started weakening dramatically, but he went on his editing work, as well as collecting and creatively adapting local folklore. In 1946 he was elected to the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet (russian: Верховный Совет, Verkhovny Sovet, Supreme Council) was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ...

. Bazhov died in 1950 in Moscow and was laid to rest in his home, Yekaterinburg.

Legacy

In 1968 Sverdlovsk Film Studio released a

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) a ...

feature film ''Tales of the Ural Mountains'' ( rus, Сказы уральских гор, Skazy uralskikh gor, links=no) about the work of Bazhov. The film, directed by Olgerd Vorontsov, was created for the 90th anniversary since the birth of the writer. It combined information about the conception and creation of Bazhov's stories with acted scenes from his tales. It also had information about some popular characters such as the Fire-Fairy. The film was narrated by

Yevgeny Vesnik Yevgeny Yakovlevich Vesnik (russian: Евге́ний Я́ковлевич Ве́сник; 15 January 1923 in Petrograd – 10 April 2009 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian actor. The son of Yakov Vesnik, the first director of the Kryvorizhstal pl ...

, but also contained the unique recordings of Pavel Bazhov's voice. A documentary film ''Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. A remembrance documentary film'' ( rus, Павел Петрович Бажов. Фильм-воспоминание, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. Film-vospominanie, links=no) was made in 1979 by the same studio. It was directed by Liya Kozyreva. Another documentary ''The Soviet skaz of Pavel Bazhov'' ( rus, Советский сказ Павла Бажова, Sovetskij skaz Pavla Bazhova, links=no), directed by Yury Malyugin, was released by

Russia-K Russia-K (russian: Россия Культура, translit=Rossiya Kul'tura "Russia - Culture") is a Russian nationwide not-for-profit television channel that broadcasts shows regarding arts and culture. It belongs to the state-controlled VGTRK ...

in 2010.

Early life

Career

Legacy

References

Further reading