Konstantin Simonov
Encyclopedia
Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov (born Kirill) ' onMouseout='HidePop("4823")' href="/topics/Moscow">Moscow
) was a Russia
n/Soviet
author, known especially as a war poet
.
, and Simonov, after completing the course in the factory workshop school of precision engineering, went to work in a factory, where he worked until 1935. During these same years he began to write poems. In 1936 in the journals Young Guard and October the first of K. Simonov's poems were published. After completing a course at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
in 1938, Simonov entered a graduate course at the Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy, and Literature (IFLI), but he was sent as a war correspondent to the Khalkhin Gol campaign
in Mongolia
and didn't return to the institute until 1939.
Leninist Komsomol Theatre ; in 1941 - the second - A Lad from Our Town. He spent a year on the course for war correspondents in the military-political academy, and obtained the service rank of quartermaster of the second rank. At the beginning of the war he was posted into the army, where he worked on the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda
[Red Star]. In 1942 he became a senior battalion commissar, in 1943 a lieutenant colonel, and after the war a colonel. Most of his war reports were published in Red Star. During the war years, he wrote the plays Russian people, Wait for me, So it will be, the short novel Days and Nights (1943-44), and two books of poems With you and without you and War. His poem "Wait for me", about a soldier in the war asking his beloved to wait for his return, was addressed to his future wife, the actress Valentina Serova
; it was immensely popular at the time and remains one of the best-known poems in the Russian language. Simonov wrote many more poems to Valentina, subsequently included in the collection With you and without you. As a war correspondent he spent time on all the fronts; he served in Romania
, Bulgaria
, Yugoslavia
, Poland
and Germany
and was present at the Battle of Berlin
. His collected reports appeared after the War: Letters from Czechoslovakia, Slav friendship, Yugoslavian notebook and From the Black to the Barents Sea: Notes of a war correspondent.
, the USA and China
. From 1958 to 1960, he lived in Tashkent
as the correspondent of Pravda
in the republics of Central Asia
. His novel Comrades in Arms appeared in 1952, the longer novel The Living and the Dead in 1959. In 1961, Simonov's play The Fourth was performed at the Contemporary theatre. In 1963-64 he wrote the novel Soldatami ne rozhdaiutsia, which can be translated "Soldiers Are Made, Not Born" or "One Isn't Born a Soldier." In 1970 - 71 he wrote a continuation, The Last Summer. Simonov's postwar public career may be summarised thus: from 1946 through 1950 and from 1954 through 1958 he was the editor in chief of the journal New World
; from 1950 through 1953 - editor in chief of the Literary Gazette
; from 1946 through 1959 and from 1967 through 1979 - secretary of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
K. Simonov died in 1979 in Moscow.
. He was also awarded three Orders of Lenin
, Lenin Prize
(1974), USSR State Prize
(1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950).
on Simonov's scenarios and based on his works:
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n/Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
author, known especially as a war poet
War poet
A War poet is a poet writing in time of and on the subject of war. The term, which is applied especially to those in military service during World War I, was documented as early as 1848 in reference to German revolutionary poet, Georg Herwegh.-Crimean War:...
.
Early years
He was born in Petrograd. His mother was born Princess Obolenskaya, of a Rurikid family.http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/obolensky.html His father, an officer in the Tsar's army, left Russia after the Revolution in 1917. He died in Poland after 1921. His wife Alexandra remained in Russia with Konstantin. In the early 1920s his mother married Alexader Ivanischev, a Red Army officer and veteran of World War I. Konstantin spent several years as a child in Ryazan while his stepfather was employed as an instructor at the military school there. They later moved to Saratov where Konstantin spent the remainder of his childhood. After completing his basic seven-year education in 1930 in Saratov, he went into the factory workshop school (FZU) to learn to be a lathe-turner. In 1931, his family moved to MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, and Simonov, after completing the course in the factory workshop school of precision engineering, went to work in a factory, where he worked until 1935. During these same years he began to write poems. In 1936 in the journals Young Guard and October the first of K. Simonov's poems were published. After completing a course at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute is a higher education institute in Moscow. It is located at 25 Tver Bulvar in Central Moscow.It was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, and received its current name at Gorky's death in 1936....
in 1938, Simonov entered a graduate course at the Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy, and Literature (IFLI), but he was sent as a war correspondent to the Khalkhin Gol campaign
Battle of Khalkhin Gol
The Battles of Khalkhyn Gol was the decisive engagement of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese Border Wars fought among the Soviet Union, Mongolia and the Empire of Japan in 1939. The conflict was named after the river Khalkhyn Gol, which passes through the battlefield...
in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
and didn't return to the institute until 1939.
War correspondent
In 1940 he wrote his first play The History of One Love, performed on the stage of the LeningradSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
Leninist Komsomol Theatre ; in 1941 - the second - A Lad from Our Town. He spent a year on the course for war correspondents in the military-political academy, and obtained the service rank of quartermaster of the second rank. At the beginning of the war he was posted into the army, where he worked on the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda
Krasnaya Zvezda
Krasnaya Zvezda is an official newspaper of Soviet and later Russian Ministry of Defence. It was founded on January 1, 1924. Today its official designation is "Central Organ of the Russian Ministry of Defence."...
[Red Star]. In 1942 he became a senior battalion commissar, in 1943 a lieutenant colonel, and after the war a colonel. Most of his war reports were published in Red Star. During the war years, he wrote the plays Russian people, Wait for me, So it will be, the short novel Days and Nights (1943-44), and two books of poems With you and without you and War. His poem "Wait for me", about a soldier in the war asking his beloved to wait for his return, was addressed to his future wife, the actress Valentina Serova
Valentina Serova
Valentina Serova was a Soviet film and theatre actress of Ukrainian origin.-Life:Serova was born Valentina Polovikova in 1917 in Kharkiv. In 1938, she married her first husband, Anatoli Serov, a Soviet Air Force general, a test and fighter pilot. In 1939 Anatoli Serov died in a crash testing a...
; it was immensely popular at the time and remains one of the best-known poems in the Russian language. Simonov wrote many more poems to Valentina, subsequently included in the collection With you and without you. As a war correspondent he spent time on all the fronts; he served in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and was present at the Battle of Berlin
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
. His collected reports appeared after the War: Letters from Czechoslovakia, Slav friendship, Yugoslavian notebook and From the Black to the Barents Sea: Notes of a war correspondent.
Post-war works
After the war, for three years he served in several foreign missions - in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the USA and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. From 1958 to 1960, he lived in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
as the correspondent of Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
in the republics of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. His novel Comrades in Arms appeared in 1952, the longer novel The Living and the Dead in 1959. In 1961, Simonov's play The Fourth was performed at the Contemporary theatre. In 1963-64 he wrote the novel Soldatami ne rozhdaiutsia, which can be translated "Soldiers Are Made, Not Born" or "One Isn't Born a Soldier." In 1970 - 71 he wrote a continuation, The Last Summer. Simonov's postwar public career may be summarised thus: from 1946 through 1950 and from 1954 through 1958 he was the editor in chief of the journal New World
Novy Mir
Novy Mir is a Russian language literary magazine that has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine Mir Bozhy , which was published from 1892 to 1906, and its follow-up, Sovremenny Mir , which was published 1906-1917...
; from 1950 through 1953 - editor in chief of the Literary Gazette
Literaturnaya Gazeta
Literaturnaya Gazeta is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and Soviet Union.- Overview :...
; from 1946 through 1959 and from 1967 through 1979 - secretary of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
K. Simonov died in 1979 in Moscow.
Awards and honors
In 1974 he was honored by the Title of Hero of Socialist LaborHero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...
. He was also awarded three Orders of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
, Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
(1974), USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
(1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950).
Movie adaptations of Simonov's works
Numerous films were released in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
on Simonov's scenarios and based on his works:
- Lad from Our Town (1942), directed by Aleksandr StolperAleksandr StolperAleksandr Borisovich Stolper – 12 January 1979, Moscow) was a Russian/Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1940 and 1977...
- Wait for Me (1943), directed by Aleksandr StolperAleksandr StolperAleksandr Borisovich Stolper – 12 January 1979, Moscow) was a Russian/Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1940 and 1977...
- In the Name of the FatherlandIn the Name of the FatherlandIn the Name of the Fatherland is a 1943 Soviet film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Dmitriy Vasilyev based on the play Russian People by Konstantin Simonov.-Cast:* Nikolai Kryuchkov - Safonov * Yelena Tyapkina - Safonova* Mikhail Zharov - Globa...
(1943), directed by Vsevolod PudovkinVsevolod PudovkinVsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor who developed influential theories of montage...
and Dmitriy VasilyevDmitri Vasilyev (director)Dmitri Ivanovich Vasilyev was a Soviet film director. He directed in 9 films between 1931 and 1960.-Selected filmography:* Iron Brigade ; co-directed with Mikhail Verner* Lenin in October ; co-directed with Mikhail Romm...
(play Russian People) - Days and Nights (1945), directed by Aleksandr StolperAleksandr StolperAleksandr Borisovich Stolper – 12 January 1979, Moscow) was a Russian/Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1940 and 1977...
- The Russian Question (1947)
- The Immortal GarrisonThe Immortal GarrisonThe Immortal Garrison is a 1956 Soviet war film directed by Zakhar Agranenko and Eduard Tisse.- Cast :*Vasili Makarov as Baturin*Vladimir Yemelyanov as Kondratiev*Nikolai Kryuchkov as Kukharkov...
(1956) - The Normandy - Neman (1960), joint production by the USSR and FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; together with Charles SpaakCharles SpaakCharles Spaak was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s...
and Elsa TrioletElsa TrioletElsa Yur'evna Triolet was a French writer.-Biography:Born Ella Kagan into a Jewish family of a lawyer and a music teacher in Moscow, she and her sister, Lilya Brik received excellent educations; they were able to speak fluent German and French and play the piano...
) - The Alive and the DeadThe Alive and the DeadThe Alive and the Dead is a 1964 Soviet film directed by Aleksandr Stolper based on the eponymous novel by Konstantin Simonov.-Cast:* Kirill Lavrov - Ivan Sinzov* Viktor Avdyushko* Anatoli Papanov - General Serpilin* Aleksei Glazyrin - Malinin...
(1964), directed by Aleksandr StolperAleksandr StolperAleksandr Borisovich Stolper – 12 January 1979, Moscow) was a Russian/Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1940 and 1977...
, starring Kirill LavrovKirill LavrovKirill Yuryevich Lavrov was a well-known Soviet and Russian film and theatre actor and director.-Childhood:Kirill Yuryevich Lavrov was born on September 15, 1925, in Leningrad, USSR . He was baptized by the Russian Orthodox Church of St. John the Divine in Lavrushinskoe Podvorie Monastery in...
, Anatoli PapanovAnatoli PapanovAnatoli Dmitrievich Papanov was a popular Soviet film and theatre actor.Papanov starred in some of the best and well-known Soviet films, often together with his friend, Andrei Mironov. Mostly known for his great performances in comedies, he also had serious and dramatic roles, such as that of the...
, Oleg YefremovOleg YefremovOleg Nikolayevich Yefremov was a Soviet/Russian actor and Moscow Art Theatre producer. People's Artist of the USSR , Hero of Socialist Labour .... - Retribution (1967), directed by Aleksandr StolperAleksandr StolperAleksandr Borisovich Stolper – 12 January 1979, Moscow) was a Russian/Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1940 and 1977...
- Grenada, Grenada, My Grenada... (1967), documentaryDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, co-directed with Roman KarmenRoman KarmenRoman Lazarevich Karmen was a Soviet war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making; insofar as his propaganda is concerned he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl, though the comparison is by no means absolute.-Communist... - The Polunin Case (1970)
- The Fourth (1972), directed by Aleksandr StolperAleksandr StolperAleksandr Borisovich Stolper – 12 January 1979, Moscow) was a Russian/Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1940 and 1977...
- Twenty Days Without War (1976), directed by Aleksei GermanAleksei GermanAleksei Yuryevich German is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, most active as a director and screenwriter. His last name is pronounced with a hard "g" and in English is frequently spelled Guerman or Gherman to avoid confusion.Almost all of German's films have been set during the Stalin era and have...
, starring Yuri NikulinYuri NikulinYuri Vladimirovich Nikulin was a well-known Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films.He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1973 and Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990...
and Lyudmila GurchenkoLyudmila GurchenkoLyudmila Markovna Gurchenko was a popular Soviet and Russian actress, singer and entertainer.-Biography:Lyudmila was born in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR in 1935 to Mark Gavrilovich Gurchenko and Yelena Aleksandrovna Simonova-Gurchenko . Before the World War II they lived in a single room apartment on... - From Lopakhin's Notes (1977)