Viktor Platonovich Nekrasov (russian: Ви́ктор Плато́нович Некра́сов, ) (17 June 1911,

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

– 3 September 1987,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a Russian writer, journalist and editor.

Biography

Nekrasov was born in

and graduated with a degree in architecture in 1936. Between 1937 and 1941, he was an actor and set designer with the . During

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 opposing ...

, he served in 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, afte ...

(1941–1944), reaching the rank of captain, and fought in the Battle of Stalingrad. As for many writers of his generation, the war was a formative experience for Nekrasov: in addition to combat, the close comradeship he observed there among soldiers of different backgrounds and classes changed his understanding of Soviet society. As Michael Falchikov writes, "Nekrasov 'discovered' the peasantry by fighting alongside them." After the war he became a journalist and based his first book ''Front-line Stalingrad'' (''V okopakh Stalingrada'', literal translation ''In the trenches of Stalingrad'', 1946) on his experiences there. The novel was awarded 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 ...

for literature in 1947. After

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's death in 1953, Nekrasov took advantage of the first wave of

destalinization De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...

to publish ''In the Home Town'' (1954), a novel which marked a departure from the Stalin-era

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...

in Soviet literature. His later works, especially his novel ''Kira Georgievna'' (1961), are markedly anti-Stalinist. In 1959 he was the first Soviet writer to openly call for a monument to be built at Baby Yar. A

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...

of his experiences in Italy in 1957 and the United States in 1960, ''Both Sides of the Ocean'', which was unusually open for its time, was published in 1962 and denounced by

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

in 1963. After Khruschev's ouster in October 1964, Nekrasov joined other Soviet intellectuals in protesting what he saw as the new government's gradual restoration of Stalinism. He signed numerous open letters protesting government policies in 1966-1973 and was expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1973. In 1974 he emigrated to France, where he became an associate editor of the emigre magazine ''Kontinent''. While in exile, he wrote an autobiography, ''Newspaper of a Peculiar One'' (1976), and a novel, ''Those of the Front'' (1978). In 1979, after he had made some ironic marks on

Brezhnev's trilogy The Brezhnev's trilogy (russian: link=no, Трилогия Брежнева) (1978–79) was a series of three memoirs published under name of Leonid Brezhnev: * ''The Minor Land'' (russian: link=no, Малая земля, lit=Malaya Zemlya, trans ...

, Nekrasov's Soviet citizenship was revoked.(in Russian)
/ref> He died in

and was buried in

Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery (french: Cimetière russe de Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois) is part of the ''Cimetière de Liers'' and is called the Russian Orthodox cemetery, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Paris, France. History The ...

, in the southern suburbs of Paris.

Works in English translation

*''Kira Georgievna''. Tr. Walter N. Vickery, New York, Pantheon Books

962 Year 962 ( CMLXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine e ...

183p. *''Front-line Stalingrad''. Tr. David Floyd, London, Harvill Press,

320 p. *''The Perch''. Tr. Vic Shneerson, in ''The Third Flare: Three War Stories'', Moscow, Foreign Languages Pub. House,

963 Year 963 ( CMLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 15 – Emperor Romanos II dies at age 25, probably of poison admini ...

229p. *''Both Sides of the Ocean; a Russian Writer's Travels in Italy and the United States'', New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 964 xv, 191p. * ''Postscripts'', Tr. Michael G. Falchikov; Quartet Books/Namara Group, London, 991 201p.

References

Sources

*"Nekrasov, Viktor" in ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'', Vol. 3, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1993. *

External links

* A comprehensive multimedia site, in Russian, offering biographical information, texts of Nekrasov's works, audio of his

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

broadcasts, his artwork, photographs, and video, as well as information on his network of friends
Виктор Некрасов. Сайт памяти писателя.

Viktor Nekrasov Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nekrasov, Viktor 1911 births 1987 deaths Writers from Kyiv Ukrainian people of World War II Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet short story writers 20th-century short story writers Soviet novelists Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers Soviet dissidents Recipients of the USSR State Prize Expelled members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Deaths from lung cancer in France People denaturalized by the Soviet Union Soviet emigrants to France 20th-century Russian journalists

Biography

Works in English translation

Further reading

References

Sources

External links