1. Years of study.
2. Resignation, beginning of literary activity.
3. Emigration and return to homeland.
A. I. Kuprin was born in 1870 in county town Narovchat of the Penza province in the family of a minor official, secretary of the world congress. His father Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin died of cholera in August 1871. Almost three years later, the widow Lyubov Alekseevna moved with three children to Moscow, sent her daughters to closed educational institutions, Alexander lived with his mother until he was six years old in the Kudrinsky widow's house. For the next four years, Kuprin studied at the Razumovsky orphanage, where in 1877 he began writing poetry. The story “Brave Fugitives” (1917) is about this period of his life.
After graduating from the boarding school, he enters the Moscow Military Gymnasium (cadet corps). He studied in the cadet corps for eight years, where he wrote lyrical and comic poems, and translated from French and German. This period of life is reflected in the story “At the Turning Point” (“Cadets”) (1900). Enters the Alexander Military School, graduating as a second lieutenant in 1890. In 1889, the magazine “Russian Satirical List” published Kuprin’s first story, “The Last Debut.” The author considered the story a failure. For the publication, Kuprin received two days in a punishment cell - the cadets were forbidden to speak in the press. This is described in the novel “Junker” (1928-1932) and in the story “Printing Ink” (1929).
Service in the Dnieper infantry regiment in 1890-1894 was Kuprin’s preparation for a military career, but due to his violent temper when drunk, he was not accepted into the General Staff Academy (the strongman Kuprin threw a policeman into the water).
The lieutenant resigned. His life was stormy, he had the opportunity to try himself in a variety of fields, from wandering to a loader and a dentist. He was an inveterate adventurer and explorer - he went underwater as a diver, flew an airplane, and created an athletic society. He based many of his life experiences as the basis for his works. The years of service were reflected in the military stories “Inquiry” (1894), “The Lilac Bush” (1894), “Night Shift” (1899), “Hike” (1901), “Overnight” (1895), in the story “Duel” (1904 -1905), the story “The Wedding” (1908).
In 1892, Kuprin began work on the story “In the Dark.” In 1893, the manuscript was transferred to the editors of “Russian Wealth,” an almanac published by V. G. Korolenko, N. K. Mikhailovsky, I. F. Annensky. The story was published in the summer, and already at the end of autumn the story “ Moonlit night».
IN early works Kuprin can see how his skill grew. There is less and less imitation, a tendency to psychological analysis. Army-themed stories are distinguished by their sympathy for to the common man, acute social orientation. Feuilletons and essays paint the life of a big city with rich colors.
After his resignation, Kuprin moved to Kyiv and worked in newspapers. The Kyiv period was a fruitful time in Kuprin’s life. He gets acquainted with the life of the townspeople and tells the most interesting things in the collection “Kyiv Types”. These essays appeared at the end of 1895 in the newspaper “Kyiv Slovo”, and the following year they were published a separate book. Kuprin works as an accountant at a steel mill in the Donbass, writes the story “Moloch”, the story “ Wonderful doctor", the book "Miniatures: Essays and Stories", wanders, meets I. A. Bunin. In 1898, he lived with the family of his sister and brother-in-law, a forester, in the Ryazan province. In these wonderful places he began work on the story “Olesya”. Residents of Polesie forests, such as rich inland and external beauty Olesya, continue to interest Kuprin later as an object for depiction - in the story “Horse Thieves” he draws the image of the horse thief Buzyga, a strong, brave hero. In these works, Kuprin creates his “ideal of a natural man.”
In 1899, the story “Night Shift” was published. Kuprin continues to collaborate in newspapers in Kyiv and Rostov-on-Don, and in 1900 he publishes the first version of the story “Cadets” in the Kyiv newspaper “Life and Art”. He leaves for Odessa and Yalta, where he meets Chekhov and works on the story “At the Circus.” In the fall he leaves again for the Ryazan province, taking on a contract to measure six hundred acres peasant forest. Returning to Moscow, in the same year he entered literary circle N. D. Teleshova “Wednesday”, meets L. N. Andreev, F. I. Chaliapin.
At the end of the year, Kuprin moved to St. Petersburg to head the fiction department at the Magazine for Everyone. Introduced by I. A. Bunin to the publisher of the magazine “World of God” A. Davydova, he publishes there the story “In the Circus”. The story is imbued with the mood of the death of all that is beautiful. Kuprin reconsiders the “ideal of the natural man.” Man is beautiful by nature, capable of inspiring an artist, but in life beauty is belittled, therefore it evokes a feeling of regret, Kuprin believes. Chekhov assessed the story in this way: “Bunin’s “In Autumn” was made with a constrained, tense hand, in any case, Kuprin’s “At the Circus” is much more higher. “At the Circus” is a free, naive, talented work, and, moreover, written, undoubtedly, knowledgeable person" He also informed Kuprin that L.N. Tolstoy also read the work, and he liked it. IN family life Kuprin changes - he marries M. Davydova, his daughter Lydia is born. Now he is a co-editor of the magazine together with A. I. Bogdanovich and F. D. Batyushkov. He is introduced to L.N. Tolstoy, M. Gorky. In 1903, the story “Swamp” appeared in print, and the first volume of works was published.
In Crimea, the writer makes the first drafts of the story “The Duel”, but destroys the manuscript. Based on his impressions of meeting a traveling circus, he writes a story “ White poodle" At the beginning of 1904, Kuprin resigned from editorship of the magazine. Kuprin's story "Peaceful Life" has been published. He leaves for Odessa, then to Balaklava.
Kuprin was far from revolutionary movement, but the approach of the revolution was reflected in his work - it acquired a critical, revealing beginning. The essay “Ugar” (1904), which expresses Kuprin’s ideological position, satirically depicts the “masters of life”, a contrast among the quiet lyrical southern night the fun of an idle audience is depicted. The stories "Measles", "The Good Society" and "The Priest" depict the conflict between the "good society" and the democratic intelligentsia. In reality, “good society” turns out to be mired in fraud; these are rotten people with imaginary virtue and ostentatious nobility.
Kuprin works for a long time on the manuscript of the “duel”, reads excerpts to Gorky and receives his approval, but during the search the gendarmes seized part of the manuscript. When it was published, the story brought fame to the author and caused great resonance in criticism. The writer observes with his own eyes the uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov", for this he travels every day from Balaklava to Sevastopol. He witnessed the shooting of the cruiser and sheltered the surviving sailors. The St. Petersburg newspaper “Our Life” publishes Kuprin’s essay “Events in Sevastopol.” In December, Kuprin was expelled from Balaklava and banned from living there in the future. He dedicated a series of essays “Listrigons” (1907-1911) to this city. In 1906, the second volume of Kuprin's stories was published. In the magazine “World of God” there is a story “Staff Captain Rybnikov.” Kuprin said that he considered “The Duel” to be his first real work, and “Staff Captain Rybnikov” as his best.
In 1907, the writer divorced and married E. Heinrich, and in this marriage a daughter, Ksenia, was born. Kuprin writes “Emerald” and “Shulamith”, publishes another volume of stories. In 1909 he received Pushkin Prize. During this time he creates the “River of Life”, “The Pit”, “Gambrinus”, “ Garnet bracelet", "Liquid Sun" ( Science fiction with elements of dystopia).
In 1918, Kuprin criticized the new times and was arrested. After his release, he leaves for Helsinki and then to Paris, where he actively publishes. But this does not help the family live in prosperity. In 1924, he was offered to return, and only thirteen years later did the seriously ill writer come to Moscow, and then to Leningrad and Gatchina. Kuprin's esophageal disease worsened and in August 1938 he died.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin - famous writer, a classic of Russian literature, whose most significant works are “The Junkers”, “The Duel”, “The Pit”, “The Garnet Bracelet” and “The White Poodle”. Also high art are considered short stories Kuprin about Russian life, about emigration, about animals.
Alexander was born in the district town of Narovchat, which is located in the Penza region. But the writer spent his childhood and youth in Moscow. The fact is that Kuprin’s father, hereditary nobleman Ivan Ivanovich, died a year after his birth. Mother Lyubov Alekseevna, who also came from a noble family, had to move to large city, where it was much easier for her to give her son upbringing and education.
Already at the age of 6, Kuprin was sent to the Moscow Razumovsky boarding school, which operated on the principle of an orphanage. After 4 years, Alexander was transferred to the Second Moscow Cadet Corps, after which the young man entered Aleksandrovskoe military school. Kuprin graduated with the rank of second lieutenant and served for exactly 4 years in the Dnieper Infantry Regiment.
After his resignation, the 24-year-old young man leaves for Kyiv, then to Odessa, Sevastopol and other cities Russian Empire. The problem was that Alexander did not have any civilian specialty. Only after meeting him does he manage to find a permanent job: Kuprin goes to St. Petersburg and gets a job at the “Magazine for Everyone.” Later he would settle in Gatchina, where during the First World War he would maintain a military hospital at his own expense.
Alexander Kuprin enthusiastically accepted the abdication of the Tsar's power. After the arrival of the Bolsheviks, he even personally approached with a proposal to publish a special newspaper for the village “Zemlya”. But soon, seeing that the new government was imposing a dictatorship on the country, he became completely disillusioned with it.
It is Kuprin who owns the derogatory name Soviet Union- “Sovdepiya”, which will become firmly established in the jargon. During civil war volunteered to join the White Army, and after a major defeat he went abroad - first to Finland and then to France.
By the early 30s, Kuprin was mired in debt and could not provide his family with even the most necessary things. Moreover, the writer did not find anything better than to look for a way out of difficult situation in a bottle. As a result, the only solution was to return to his homeland, which he personally supported in 1937.
Books
Alexander Kuprin began writing in his last years in the cadet corps, and his first attempts at writing were in poetic genre. Unfortunately, the writer never published his poetry. And his first published story was “The Last Debut.” Later, his story “In the Dark” and a number of stories on military topics were published in magazines.
In general, Kuprin devotes a lot of space to the theme of the army, especially in early work. Suffice it to recall his famous autobiographical novel“Junkers” and the previous story “At the Turning Point”, also published as “Cadets”.
The dawn of Alexander Ivanovich as a writer came at the beginning of the 20th century. He published the story “The White Poodle,” which later became a classic of children’s literature, his memoirs about his trip to Odessa, “Gambrinus,” and, probably, his most popular work, the story “The Duel.” At the same time, such creations as “Liquid Sun”, “Garnet Bracelet”, and stories about animals were released.
Separately, it is necessary to say about one of the most scandalous works of Russian literature of that period - the story “The Pit” about the life and destinies of Russian prostitutes. The book was mercilessly criticized, paradoxically, for “excessive naturalism and realism.” The first edition of "The Pit" was withdrawn from publication as pornographic.
In exile, Alexander Kuprin wrote a lot, almost all of his works were popular with readers. In France, he created four major works - “The Dome of St. Isaac of Dalmatia”, “The Wheel of Time”, “Junker” and “Zhaneta”, as well as large number short stories, including the philosophical parable about beauty “Blue Star”.
Personal life
The first wife of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was young Maria Davydova, the daughter of the famous cellist Karl Davydov. The marriage lasted only five years, but during this time the couple had a daughter, Lydia. The fate of this girl was tragic - she died shortly after giving birth to her son at the age of 21.
The writer married his second wife Elizaveta Moritsovna in 1909, although they had been living together for two years by that time. They had two daughters - Ksenia, who later became an actress and model, and Zinaida, who died at three years old. complex shape pneumonia. The wife outlived Alexander Ivanovich by 4 years. She committed suicide during the siege of Leningrad, unable to withstand the constant bombing and endless hunger.
Since Kuprin’s only grandson, Alexei Egorov, died due to injuries received during World War II, the line of the famous writer was interrupted, and today his direct descendants do not exist.
Death
Alexander Kuprin returned to Russia with his health already in poor health. He had an alcohol addiction, plus old man I was quickly losing my sight. The writer hoped that in his homeland he would be able to return to labor activity, but my health did not allow this.
A year later, while watching a military parade on Red Square, Alexander Ivanovich contracted pneumonia, which was also aggravated by esophageal cancer. On August 25, 1938, the famous writer’s heart stopped forever.
Kuprin’s grave is located on the Literary Bridge of the Volkovsky Cemetery, not far from the burial place of another Russian classic -.
Bibliography
- 1892 - “In the Dark”
- 1898 - “Olesya”
- 1900 - “At the Turning Point” (“Cadets”)
- 1905 - “Duel”
- 1907 - "Gambrinus"
- 1910 - “Garnet Bracelet”
- 1913 - “Liquid Sun”
- 1915 - “The Pit”
- 1928 - “Junkers”
- 1933 - “Zhaneta”
Various life circumstances and dramatic stories in the works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin are explained primarily by the fact that his own life was very “action-packed” and difficult. It seems that when, in his review of Kipling’s story “The Bold Mariners,” he wrote about people who had gone through “the iron school of life, full of need, danger, grief and resentment,” he recalled what he himself had experienced.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26, 1870 in the Penza province in the city of Narovchat. The father of the future writer, Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a commoner (an intellectual who did not belong to the nobility) held the modest position of secretary of a justice of the peace. Mother, Lyubov Alexandrovna, came from nobles, but impoverished ones.
When the boy was not even a year old, his father died of cholera, leaving the family without a livelihood. The widow and her son were forced to settle in the Moscow Widow's House. Lyubov Alexandrovna really wanted her Sashenka to become an officer, and when he was 6 years old, his mother sent him to the Razumovsky boarding school. He prepared the boys for admission to a secondary military educational institution.
Sasha stayed in this boarding house for about 4 years. In 1880, he began studying at the 2nd Moscow Military Gymnasium, which was later reorganized into a cadet corps. It must be said that discipline with a stick reigned within the walls of the military gymnasium. The situation was aggravated by searches, espionage, supervision, and bullying of older students over younger ones. This whole situation coarsened and corrupted the soul. But Sasha Kuprin, while in this nightmare, managed to maintain spiritual health, which later became a charming feature of his work.
In 1888, Alexander completed his studies in the corps and entered the 3rd Military Alexander School, which trained infantry officers. In August 1890, he graduated from it and went to serve in the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment. After this, the service began in remote and godforsaken corners of the Podolsk province.
In the fall of 1894, Kuprin retired and moved to Kyiv. By this time, he had already written 4 published works: “The Last Debut”, “In the Dark”, “On a Moonlit Night”, “Inquiry”. In the same 1894, the young writer began to collaborate in the newspapers “Kievskoye Slovo”, “Life and Art”, and at the beginning of 1895 he became an employee of the newspaper “Kievlyanin”.
He wrote a number of essays and combined them into the book “Kyiv Types”. This work was published in 1896. Even more significant for young writer The year was 1897, since the first collection of his stories, “Miniatures,” was published.
In 1896, Alexander Kuprin went on a trip to the factories and mines of the Donetsk basin. Burning with desire to thoroughly study real life, he gets a job at one of the factories as head of accounting for the forge and carpentry workshop. The future famous writer worked in this new capacity for several months. During this time, material was collected not only for a number of essays, but also for the story “Moloch”.
In the second half of the 90s, Kuprin’s life began to resemble a kaleidoscope. He organized an athletic society in Kyiv in 1896 and began to actively engage in sports. In 1897, he became a manager of an estate located in Rivne district. Then he became interested in dental prosthetics and worked for some time as a dentist. In 1899 he joined a traveling theater group for several months.
In the same 1899, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin arrived in Yalta. Happened in this city significant event his life - a meeting with Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. After this, Kuprin visited Yalta in both 1900 and 1901. Chekhov introduced him to many writers and publishers. Among them was V. S. Mirolyubov, publisher of the St. Petersburg “Magazine for Everyone.” Mirolyubov invited Alexander Ivanovich to the position of secretary of the magazine. He agreed and in the fall of 1901 he moved to St. Petersburg.
In the city on the Neva there was a meeting with Maxim Gorky. Kuprin wrote about this man in his letter to Chekhov in 1902: “I met Gorky. There is something stern, ascetic, and preaching about him.” In 1903, the Gorky publishing house “Znanie” published the first volume of stories by Alexander Kuprin.
In 1905 something very happened important event V creative life writer. Again, his story “The Duel” was published by the Znanie publishing house. It was followed by other works: “Dreams”, “Mechanical Justice”, “Wedding”, “River of Life”, “Gambrinus”, “Killer”, “Delusion”, “Resentment”. All of them were a response to the first Russian revolution and expressed dreams of freedom.
The revolution was followed by years of reaction. During this period, unclear philosophical and Political Views. At the same time, he created works that became worthy examples of Russian classical literature. Here you can name “Garnet Bracelet”, “Holy Lie”, “The Pit”, “Grunya”, “Starlings”, etc. During the same period, the idea of the novel “Junker” was born.
During February Revolution Alexander Ivanovich lived in Gatchina. He warmly welcomed the abdication of the sovereign and the transfer of power to the Provisional Government. But he perceived the October Revolution negatively. He published articles in bourgeois newspapers published until mid-1918 in which he questioned the reorganization of society on socialist principles. But gradually the tone of his articles began to change.
In the second half of 1918, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin already spoke with respect about the activities of the Bolshevik Party. In one of his articles, he even called the Bolsheviks people of “crystal purity.” But apparently this man was characterized by doubts and hesitations. When Yudenich's troops occupied Gatchina in October 1919, the writer supported the new government, and then, together with the White Guard units, left Gatchina, fleeing the advancing Red Army.
He first moved to Finland, and in 1920 he moved to France. The author of “Olesya” and “The Duel” spent 17 years in a foreign land, living most of the time in Paris. It was a difficult but fruitful period. From the pen of the Russian classic came such collections of prose as “The Dome of St. Isaac Dolmatsky”, “The Wheel of Time”, “Elan”, as well as the novels “Zhaneta”, “Junker”.
Living abroad, Alexander Ivanovich had little idea of what was happening in his homeland. He heard about the greatest achievements of Soviet power, about great construction projects, about universal equality and brotherhood. All this aroused great interest in the classic’s soul. And every year he was drawn more and more to Russia.
In August 1936, the USSR Plenipotentiary Representative in France V.P. Potemkin asked Stalin to allow Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin to come to the USSR. This issue was considered by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and it was decided to allow the writer Kuprin to enter the country of the Soviets. On May 31, 1937, the great Russian classic returned to his homeland in the city of his youth - Moscow.
However, he came to Russia seriously ill. Alexander Ivanovich was weak, incapacitated and could not write. In the summer of 1937, an article “Moscow is native” appeared in the Izvestia newspaper. Under it was the signature of A.I. Kuprin. The article was laudatory, and every line of it breathed admiration for socialist achievements. However, it is assumed that the article was written by another person, a Moscow journalist assigned to the writer.
On the night of August 25, 1938, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin died at the age of 67. The cause of death was esophageal cancer. The classic was buried in the city of Leningrad on the “Literary Bridge” of the Volkovsky Cemetery, not far from Turgenev’s grave. This is how I finished my life path talented Russian writer who embodied in his works the best traditions of Russian literature of the 19th century century.
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich is one of the most prominent figures Russian literature 1st half of the 20th century. He is the author of such famous works, like “Olesya”, “Garnet Bracelet”, “Moloch”, “Duel”, “Junkers”, “Cadets”, etc. Alexander Ivanovich an unusual, worthy life. Fate was sometimes harsh to him. Both the childhood of Alexander Kuprin and mature years marked by instability in various fields life. He had to fight alone for financial independence, fame, recognition and the right to be called a writer. Kuprin went through many hardships. His childhood and youth were especially difficult. We will talk about all this in detail.
The origin of the future writer
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich was born in 1870. His hometown- Narovchat. Today it is located in the House where Kuprin was born, which is currently a museum (its photo is presented below). Kuprin's parents were not wealthy. Ivan Ivanovich, the father of the future writer, belonged to a family of impoverished nobles. He served as a minor official and drank often. When Alexander was only in his second year, Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin died of cholera. The childhood of the future writer thus passed without a father. His only support was his mother, which is worth talking about separately.
Mother of Alexander Kuprin
Lyubov Alekseevna Kuprina (nee Kulunchakova), the boy’s mother, was forced to settle in the Widow’s House in Moscow. It is from here that the first memories flow that Ivan Kuprin shared with us. His childhood is largely connected with the image of his mother. She played the role of a supreme being in the boy’s life and was the whole world for the future writer. Alexander Ivanovich recalled that this woman was strong-willed, strong, strict, similar to an eastern princess (the Kulunchaks belonged to an old family of Tatar princes). Even in the squalid surroundings of the Widow's House, she remained like that. During the day, Lyubov Alekseevna was strict, but in the evening she turned into a mysterious sorceress and told her son fairy tales, which she rewrote in her own way. These interesting stories Kuprin listened with pleasure. His childhood, which was very harsh, was brightened up by tales about distant countries and unknown creatures. While still being Ivanovich was faced with a sad reality. However, difficulties did not prevent such a talented person as Kuprin from realizing himself as a writer.
Childhood spent in the Widow's House
Alexander Kuprin's childhood was spent far from the comfort of noble estates, dinner parties, father's libraries, where you could sneak quietly at night, Christmas gifts, which you so delightfully looked for under the tree at dawn. But he knew well the drabness of orphans’ rooms, the meager gifts given out on holidays, the smell of government clothes and slaps from teachers, which they did not skimp on. Of course, his personality was left imprinted early childhood His subsequent years were marked by new difficulties. We should briefly talk about them.
Kuprin's military drill childhood
There weren't many options for kids in his position. future fate. One of them is a military career. Lyubov Alekseevna, taking care of her child, decided to make her son a military man. Alexander Ivanovich soon had to part with his mother. A dull military drill period began in his life, which continued Kuprin’s childhood. His biography from this time is marked by the fact that he spent several years in government institutions in Moscow. First there was the Razumovsky orphanage, after a while - the Moscow Cadet Corps, and then the Alexander Military School. Kuprin hated each of these temporary shelters in his own way. The future writer was equally irritated by the stupidity of his superiors, the institutional environment, spoiled peers, the narrow-mindedness of educators and teachers, the “cult of the fist,” the same uniform for everyone and public flogging.
This was how difficult Kuprin’s childhood was. It is important for children to have loved one, and in this sense, Alexander Ivanovich was lucky - he was supported by a loving mother. She died in 1910.
Kuprin goes to Kyiv
Alexander Kuprin, after graduating from college, spent another 4 years in military service. He retired at the first opportunity (in 1894). Lieutenant Kuprin took off his military uniform forever. He decided to move to Kyiv.
The real test for the future writer was big city. Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich spent his entire life in government institutions, so he was not adapted to independent life. On this occasion, he later ironized that in Kyiv it was like a “Smolyanka institute” who was taken into the wilds of the forests at night and left without a compass, food and clothing. It was not easy for such a great writer as Alexander Kuprin at this time. Interesting facts about him during his stay in Kyiv are also connected with what Alexander had to do in order to earn his living.
How Kuprin made a living
In order to survive, Alexander took on almost any business. He's in short terms I tried myself as a shag seller, a construction foreman, a carpenter, an office worker, a factory worker, a blacksmith's assistant, and a psalm-reader. At one time, Alexander Ivanovich even seriously thought about entering a monastery. Kuprin’s difficult childhood, briefly described above, probably forever left a mark on the soul of the future writer, who youth I had to face harsh reality. Therefore, his desire to retire to a monastery is understandable. However, Alexander Ivanovich was destined for a different fate. He soon found himself in the literary field.
Important literary and life experience became a reporter in Kyiv newspapers. Alexander Ivanovich wrote about everything - about politics, murders, social problems. He also had to fill out entertainment columns and write cheap, melodramatic stories, which, by the way, enjoyed considerable success among the unsophisticated reader.
First serious works
Little by little, serious works began to emerge from Kuprin’s pen. The story "Inquiry" (another title is "From the Distant Past") was published in 1894. Then the collection “Kyiv Types” appeared, in which Alexander Kuprin included his essays. His work from this period is marked by many other works. After some time, a collection of stories called "Miniatures" was published. The story "Moloch", published in 1996, made a name for the aspiring writer. His fame was strengthened by the subsequent works “Olesya” and “Cadets”.
Moving to St. Petersburg
In this city a new one began for Alexander Ivanovich, bright life with many meetings, acquaintances, carousings and creative achievements. Contemporaries recalled that Kuprin loved to have a good walk. In particular, Andrei Sedykh, a Russian writer, noted that in his youth he lived wildly, was often drunk and at that time became scary. Alexander Ivanovich could do reckless things and sometimes even cruel ones. And Nadezhda Teffi, a writer, recalls that he was a very complex person, by no means the kind-hearted and simpleton that he might seem at first glance.
Kuprin explained that creative activity took a lot of energy and strength from him. For every success, as well as for failure, I had to pay with my health, nerves, and my own soul. But evil tongues they saw only unsightly tinsel, and then there were invariably rumors that Alexander Ivanovich was a reveler, a rowdy and a drunkard.
New works
No matter how Kuprin splashed out his ardor, he always returned to his desk after another drinking session. During the wild period of his life in St. Petersburg, Alexander Ivanovich wrote his now iconic story “The Duel.” His stories “Swamp”, “Shulamith”, “Staff Captain Rybnikov”, “River of Life”, “Gambrinus” belong to the same period. After some time, already in Odessa, he completed the “Garnet Bracelet” and also began creating the “Listrigons” cycle.
Personal life of Kuprin
In the capital, he met his first wife, Davydova Maria Karlovna. From her, Kuprin had a daughter, Lydia. Maria Davydova gave the world a book called “Years of Youth.” After some time, their marriage broke up. Alexander Kuprin married 5 years later to Heinrich Elizaveta Moritsovna. He lived with this woman until his death. Kuprin has two daughters from his second marriage. The first is Zinaida, who died early from pneumonia. The second daughter, Ksenia, became a famous Soviet actress and model.
Moving to Gatchina
Kuprin, tired of the busy life in the capital, left St. Petersburg in 1911. He moved to Gatchina (a small town located 8 km from the capital). Here, in his “green” house, he settled with his family. In Gatchina, everything is conducive to creativity - the silence of a dacha town, a shady garden with poplars, a spacious terrace. This city today is closely connected with the name of Kuprin. There is a library and a street named after him, as well as a monument dedicated to him.
Emigration to Paris
However, sedate happiness came to an end in 1919. At first, Kuprin was mobilized into the army on the side of the whites, and a year later the whole family emigrated to Paris. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin will return to his homeland only after 18 years, already at an advanced age.
IN different times The reasons for the writer's emigration were interpreted differently. As Soviet biographers claimed, he was almost forcibly taken away by the White Guards and all subsequent for many years, until his return, he languished in a foreign land. Ill-wishers sought to prick him, presenting him as a traitor who exchanged his homeland and talent for foreign benefits.
Return to homeland and death of the writer
If you believe numerous memoirs, letters, diaries, which became available to the public a little later, then Kuprin objectively did not accept the revolution and the established government. He called her familiarly "scoop."
When he returned home as a broken old man, he was driven through the streets to demonstrate the achievements of the USSR. Alexander Ivanovich said that the Bolsheviks - wonderful people. One thing is unclear - where they get so much money from.
Nevertheless, Kuprin did not regret returning to his homeland. For him, Paris was a beautiful city, but alien. Kuprin died on August 25, 1938. He died of esophageal cancer. The next day, a crowd of thousands surrounded the Writers' House in St. Petersburg. Both famous colleagues of Alexander Ivanovich and loyal fans of his work came. They all gathered to send to last path Kuprina.
The childhood of the writer A.I. Kuprin, unlike the youth of many other literary figures of that time, was very difficult. However, it was largely thanks to all these difficulties he experienced that he found himself in creativity. Kuprin, whose childhood and youth were spent in poverty, acquired and material well-being, and fame. Today we get acquainted with his work back in our school years.
(August 26, old style) 1870 in the city of Narovchat, Penza province, in the family of a minor official. The father died when his son was two years old.
In 1874, his mother, who came from an ancient family of Tatar princes Kulanchakov, moved to Moscow. From the age of five, due to his difficult financial situation, the boy was sent to the Moscow Razumovsky orphanage, famous for its harsh discipline.
In 1888, Alexander Kuprin graduated from the cadet corps, and in 1890, from the Alexander Military School with the rank of second lieutenant.
After graduating from college, he was enrolled in the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment and sent to serve in the city of Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky, Ukraine).
In 1893, Kuprin went to St. Petersburg to enter the Academy of the General Staff, but was not allowed to take the exams due to a scandal in Kyiv, when in a barge restaurant on the Dnieper he threw overboard a tipsy bailiff who was insulting a waitress.
In 1894, Kuprin left military service. He traveled a lot in the south of Russia and Ukraine, tried himself in various fields of activity: he was a loader, storekeeper, forest walker, land surveyor, psalm-reader, proofreader, estate manager and even a dentist.
The writer's first story, "The Last Debut," was published in 1889 in the Moscow "Russian Satirical Sheet."
He described army life in the stories of 1890-1900 “From the Distant Past” (“Inquiry”), “Lilac Bush”, “Overnight”, “Night Shift”, “Army Ensign”, “Hike”.
Kuprin's early essays were published in Kyiv in the collections "Kyiv Types" (1896) and "Miniatures" (1897). In 1896, the story “Moloch” was published, which brought the young author wide fame. This was followed by "Night Shift" (1899) and a number of other stories.
During these years, Kuprin met writers Ivan Bunin, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky.
In 1901, Kuprin settled in St. Petersburg. For some time he headed the fiction department of the Magazine for Everyone, then became an employee of the World of God magazine and the Znanie publishing house, which published the first two volumes of Kuprin’s works (1903, 1906).
Alexander Kuprin entered the history of Russian literature as the author of the stories and novels “Olesya” (1898), “Duel” (1905), “The Pit” (part 1 - 1909, part 2 - 1914-1915).
He is also known as a great master of storytelling. Among his works in this genre are “At the Circus”, “Swamp” (both 1902), “Coward”, “Horse Thieves” (both 1903), “Peaceful Life”, “Measles” (both 1904), “Staff Captain Rybnikov " (1906), "Gambrinus", "Emerald" (both 1907), "Shulamith" (1908), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911), "Listrigons" (1907-1911), "Black Lightning" and "Anathema" ( both 1913).
In 1912, Kuprin traveled through France and Italy, the impressions of which were reflected in the series of travel essays “Côte d'Azur”.
During this period, he actively mastered new, previously unknown types of activities - he climbed hot air balloon, made a flight in an airplane (which almost ended tragically), went underwater in a diving suit.
In 1917, Kuprin worked as editor of the newspaper Free Russia, published by the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party. From 1918 to 1919, the writer worked at the World Literature publishing house, created by Maxim Gorky.
After the arrival of white troops in Gatchina (St. Petersburg), where he had lived since 1911, he edited the newspaper "Prinevsky Krai", published by Yudenich's headquarters.
In the fall of 1919, he emigrated with his family abroad, where he spent 17 years, mainly in Paris.
During the emigrant years, Kuprin published several collections of prose: “The Dome of St. Isaac of Dolmatsky”, “Elan”, “The Wheel of Time”, the novels “Zhaneta”, “Junker”.
Living in exile, the writer lived in poverty, suffering both from lack of demand and from isolation from his native soil.
In May 1937, Kuprin returned with his wife to Russia. By this time he was already seriously ill. Soviet newspapers published interviews with the writer and his journalistic essay “Native Moscow.”
On August 25, 1938, he died in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) from esophageal cancer. He was buried on the Literary Bridge of the Volkov Cemetery.
Alexander Kuprin was married twice. In 1901, his first wife was Maria Davydova (Kuprina-Iordanskaya), adopted daughter publisher of the magazine "World of God". She subsequently married the editor of the magazine " Modern world" (which replaced "The World of God"), publicist Nikolai Iordansky, and she herself worked in journalism. In 1960, her book of memoirs about Kuprin, "Years of Youth", was published.