Belyaev's works are the most famous on the list. Belyaev Alexander Romanovich. "The Last Man from Atlantis"

Born on March 4 (16 NS) in Smolensk in the family of a priest. Since childhood, I read a lot and was fond of adventure literature, especially Jules Verne. Subsequently, he flew airplanes of one of the first designs and made gliders himself.

In 1901 he graduated from theological seminary, but did not become a priest; on the contrary, he left there as a convinced atheist. He loved painting, music, theater, played in amateur performances, took up photography, and studied technology.

He entered the legal lyceum in Yaroslavl and at the same time studied violin at the conservatory. To earn money for his studies, he played in a circus orchestra, painted theatrical scenery, and studied journalism. In 1906, after graduating from the Lyceum, he returned to Smolensk and worked as a lawyer. Acted as music critic, theater reviewer in the Smolensky Vestnik newspaper.

He never stopped dreaming of distant countries and, having saved money, in 1913 he traveled to Italy, France, and Switzerland. He retained the impressions from this trip for the rest of his life. Returning to Smolensk, he worked at the Smolensky Vestnik, and a year later became the editor of this publication. A serious illness - bone tuberculosis - confined him to bed for six years, three of which he was in a cast. Not giving in to despair, he is engaged in self-education: he studies foreign languages, medicine, biology, history, technology, and reads a lot. Having overcome the disease, in 1922 he returned to a full life, serving as an inspector for juvenile affairs. On the advice of doctors, he lives in Yalta, works as a teacher in orphanage.

In 1923 he moved to Moscow and began serious literary activity. He publishes science fiction stories and novellas in the magazines “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power”, “World Pathfinder”, earning the title of “Soviet Jules Verne”. In 1925 he published the story “The Head of Professor Dowell,” which Belyaev himself called an autobiographical story: he wanted to tell “what a head without a body can experience.”

In the 1920s, such famous works as “The Island of Lost Ships,” “Amphibian Man,” “Above the Abyss,” and “Struggle on the Air” were published. He writes essays about great Russian scientists - Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Pavlov, Tsiolkovsky.

In 1931 he moved to Leningrad, continuing to work hard. He was especially interested in the problems of space exploration and ocean depths. In 1934, after reading Belyaev’s novel “Airship,” Tsiolkovsky wrote: “... wittily written and scientific enough for fantasy. Let me express my pleasure to Comrade Belyaev.”

In 1933 the book “Leap into Nothing” was published, 1935 - “The Second Moon”. In the 1930s, “KETS Star”, “Wonderful Eye”, “Under the Arctic Sky” were written.

Last years spent his life near Leningrad, in the city of Pushkin. I met War in the hospital.

On January 6, 1942, Belyaev died of starvation in occupied Pushkin.
Books:

No series

Witches Castle

(Heroic fantasy)

Star KEC

(Heroic fantasy)

Nelly KRAVKLIS, writer and local historian, Mikhail LEVITIN, member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, local historian.

The expression “The book is the source of knowledge” can well be called the motto of the science fiction writer Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. He carried his love of reading, the desire to learn new things, exploring new spaces, new areas of science throughout his life.

In those years when this photograph was taken, young Sasha Belyaev was attracted to distant countries, travel and adventures - everything that had nothing to do with everyday reality.

“A charming man with a wide range of interests and an inexhaustible sense of humor,” recalls V.V. Bylinskaya, who knew him in those years, “Alexander Belyaev united a circle of Smolensk youth around himself and became the center of this small society.

Memorial plaque installed on the building where the editorial office of Smolensky Vestnik was located.

“In his youth, my father loved to dress fashionably,” recalls the writer’s daughter Svetlana Aleksandrovna, “if not to say, even with panache...”

2009 marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Romanovich Belyaev, a Soviet science fiction writer, one of the founders of science fiction literature, who has earned worldwide recognition. A lot has been written about Belyaev, but the years of his life in the city of Smolensk, where he was born and raised, are not fully reflected, and moreover, the texts repeat errors that we correct using archival materials.

Alexander Belyaev was born on March 16 (new style) 1884 in a house on Bolshaya Odigitrievskaya Street (now Dokuchaev Street) in the family of the priest of the Odigitrievskaya Church, Roman Petrovich Belyaev, and his wife Nadezhda Vasilyevna. In total, the family had three children: Vasily, Alexander and Nina.

The plot of land, according to the recollections of local historian A.N. Troitsky, consisted of a very picturesque garden descending along a steep slope into a ravine leading to the cathedral.

Alexander's parents were deeply religious people. And Sasha’s interests from the very early childhood lay on a completely different plane: he was fascinated by travel, extraordinary adventures inspired by reading his beloved Jules Verne.

“My brother and I,” recalled Alexander Romanovich, decided to go traveling to the center of the Earth. We moved tables, chairs, beds, covered them with blankets and sheets, stocked up on an oil lantern and delved into the mysterious bowels of the Earth. And immediately the prosaic tables and chairs disappeared. We saw only caves and abysses, rocks and underground waterfalls as the wonderful pictures depicted them: creepy and at the same time somehow cozy. And my heart sank from this sweet horror.

Later Wells came with the nightmares of the “Struggle of the Worlds.” This world was no longer so comfortable...”

It is not difficult to imagine how the boy’s imagination was excited by the event that happened on July 6, 1893: in the Lopatinsky garden he rose balloon with a gymnast sitting on a trapeze to a height of one kilometer, after which she jumped off the trapeze. The spectators gasped in horror. But a parachute opened above the gymnast, and the girl landed safely.

The sight shocked Sasha so much that he immediately decided to experience the feeling of flying and jumped from the roof with an umbrella in his hands, then on a parachute made from a sheet. Both attempts brought very sensitive bruises. But Alexander Belyaev still managed to make his dream come true: his latest novel “Ariel” tells the story of a man who can fly like a bird.

But the time for carefree hobbies is over. By the will of his father, the boy was sent to a religious school. Publications about the writer report that he entered there at the age of six. But that's not true.

The Smolensk Diocesan Gazette published annually official information about students of theological school and seminary. And in No. 13 for 1895 there is a “List of students of the theological school, compiled by the school board after one-year tests at the end of 1894/1895 school year and approved by His Eminence on July 5, 1895 for No. 251.” Among the first grade students: “Yakov Alekseev, Dmitry Almazov, Alexander Belyaev, Nikolai Vysotsky...” At the end of the list it is indicated that these students are transferred to the second grade of the school. Thus, Alexander Belyaev was 11 years old in 1895. Therefore, he entered at the age of 10.

The school was located near the Avraamievsky Monastery, not far from the Belyaev estate, about five minutes' walk at a leisurely pace.

Classes were easy for him. The same statements (No. 12 for 1898) provide a list of fourth grade students: “First category: Pavel Dyakonov, Alexander Belyaev, Nikolai Lebedev, Yakov Alekseev<...>graduated from the full course of the school and were awarded transfer to the first class of the seminary.”

This is when Alexander Belyaev becomes a seminarian - at the age of 14, and not at the age of 11, as indicated in the well-established biographical information for collected works of his works and in many other publications about the writer.

Expert in the local area, local historian SM. Yakovlev wrote: “The Smolensk Theological Seminary existed for 190 years. It was founded in 1728 by the former rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Bishop Gideon Vishnevsky... “a most learned man of great severity,” classes were taught by highly educated teachers invited from Kiev. Studying Latin, Ancient Greek and Polish languages was mandatory.

At the seminary, Belyaev was famous not only for his success in his studies, but also for his “speeches at evenings - reading poems.”

In the first years of its existence, the Smolensk Seminary hosted spectacular performances spiritual content (mystery) with the aim of strengthening moral and religious principles in the viewer, loyalty to Orthodoxy and the throne. Alexander Belyaev is their constant participant.

In the prefaces to several collections, biographers claim that Belyaev graduated from the seminary in 1901. This is another inaccuracy. “Diocesan Gazette” (Nos. 11-12 for 1904) provides alphabetical list graduates: among them - Belyaev Alexander.

After graduating from the seminary, contrary to the wishes of his father, who saw his son as his successor, Alexander entered the Demidovsky Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl (established in 1809 as a school on the initiative and at the expense of P. G. Demidov with a three-year period of study, this educational institution reorganized in 1833, first into a lyceum with the same period of study, and in 1868 into a four-year legal lyceum with university rights). At the same time, Alexander received a musical education in violin class.

The unexpected death of his father in 1905 left the family without a livelihood. To get money to pay for his studies, Alexander gave lessons, painted scenery for the theater, and played the violin in the Truzzi Circus orchestra. But grief does not come with one thing: brother Vasily drowned in the Dnieper, and then sister Ninochka died. Alexander remained the only protector and support of his mother, so after graduating from the lyceum (1908) he returned to Smolensk.

It is known that in 1909 he worked as an assistant to a sworn attorney. But Alexander Romanovich’s creative nature required an outlet, and he became an active participant in the Smolensk Society of Lovers of Fine Arts, where he gave lectures, then a member of the board of the Smolensk Public Entertainment Club and a member of the board of the Symphony Society. IN summer months Theater troupes usually toured Smolensk, most often Basmanov. Belyaev writes reviews in the Smolensky Vestnik for almost every performance staged in the Lopatinsky Garden, and also acts as a music critic. Signed under the pseudonym "B-la-f". They published “Smolensk feuilletons” on the topic of the day.

Anyone who has read his works knows how keenly the writer responded to injustice. This quality manifested itself in the very first years of independent life and became the reason that in 1909 Alexander Belyaev found himself under police surveillance. The information is in the gendarme file “Diary of external surveillance, reports on the Smolensk organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.” The Belyaev case began on December 30, 1908. The report of Colonel N. G. Ivanenko for November 10, 1909 presents a list of persons belonging to local organization, led by a certain Karelin. This list also contains the surname of Alexander Romanovich Belyaev: “...assistant attorney at law, 32 years old (in fact, he was 25 years old. - Author’s note), nickname “Live” (given in connection with his character. - Approx. auto.)". The report states that the suspects' premises were searched on November 2, 1909. “Alive” appears in the secret police diary until the end of its recording (January 19, 1910).

We managed to find in the Smolensky Vestnik (for the same years) reports about several trials conducted by A. Belyaev as an assistant sworn attorney. But one of them - dated October 23, 1909 - is of particular interest, since Belyaev spoke in the trial of the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. And on December 25, as reported in the newspaper, “... V. Karelin, who was arrested a month ago, was released from the Smolensk prison.” I think this can be considered proof of how successfully Alexander Romanovich conducted the defense. In 1911, Belyaev won a major court case against timber merchant Skundin, for which he received a significant fee. He set aside this amount for a long-planned trip to Europe. True, it was possible to make the trip only two years later, as evidenced by the “Report on foreign passports issued since March 1, 1913 by the Smolensk Governor”: “... to hereditary honorary citizen, assistant attorney at law Alexander Romanovich Belyaev for No. 57.”

In his autobiography about the purposes of this trip, the writer writes: “I studied history, art, went to Italy to study the Renaissance. I’ve been to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the south of France.” The trip became an invaluable source from which the writer drew the impressions he needed until the end of his days. After all, most of his novels take place “abroad.” And the first trip turned out to be the only one.

Belyaev is not an idle tourist, but an inquisitive tester. In the biographical information to the 9-volume collected works of the writer, confirmation of this is given: “In 1913, there were not so many daredevils who flew on Blériot and Farman airplanes - “bookcases” and “coffins”, as they were called then. However, Belyaev is in Italy, in Ventimiglia, flying in a seaplane.”

Here is an excerpt from the description of this flight: “The sea beneath us is going lower and lower. The houses surrounding the bay appear not white, but red, because from above we only see red roofs. The surf stretches like a white thread near the shore. Here is Cape Martin. The aviator waves his hand, we look in that direction, and the coast of the Riviera unfolds before us, as in a panorama.”

Belyaev would then convey his feelings, in particular, in the story “The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep”: “Some kind of river appeared in the distance. The city lies on the high coastal hills. On the right bank, the city was surrounded by the ancient battlements of the Kremlin with high towers. A huge five-domed cathedral reigned over the entire city. “Dnieper!.. Smolensk!.. The airplane flew over the forest and smoothly landed on a good airfield.”

During a trip to Italy, Belyaev climbed Vesuvius and published an essay about the ascent in the Smolensky Bulletin. In these notes one can already feel the confident pen of not only a talented journalist, but also a future brilliant writer: “Suddenly, bushes began to appear, and we found ourselves in front of a whole sea of ​​black frozen lava. The horses snored, shuffled their feet, and they decided to step onto the lava, as if it were water. Finally, nervously, with jumps, the horses climbed onto the lava and walked at a walk. The lava rustled and broke off under the horses' feet. The sun was setting. Below, the bay was already covered with a bluish haze. There came a short, gentle evening. On the mountain, the sun snatched several houses from the encroaching darkness, and they stood as if heated by the internal fire of the crater. The proximity of the peak had an effect... Vesuvius is a symbol, the god of southern Italy. Only here, sitting on this black lava, under which a deadly fire is seething somewhere below, does it become clear the deification of the forces of nature reigning over the little man, just as defenseless, despite all the conquests of culture, as he was thousands of years ago in blooming Pompeii."

And in the crater of the fire-breathing giant “... everything was filled with acrid, suffocating steam. It either lay along the black, uneven edges of the vent, corroded by moisture and ash, or flew up in a white ball, as if from a giant chimney of a steam locomotive. And at that moment, somewhere deep below, the darkness was illuminated, as if by the distant glow of a fire...”

The writing talent of Alexander Romanovich is manifested not only in descriptions natural phenomena, he also understands people with their contradictions: “These Italians are amazing people! They know how to combine sloppiness with a deep understanding of beauty, greed with kindness, petty passions with a truly great impulse of the soul.”

Everything he saw, refracted through the prism of his perception, the writer will later reflect in his works.

It can probably be argued that the trip helped him finally decide on his final choice of profession. In 1913-1915, having left the bar, Alexander Romanovich worked in the editorial office of the Smolensky Vestnik newspaper, first as a secretary, then as an editor. Today, a memorial plaque is installed on the building where the editorial office was located.

Only his craving for the theater remained unrealized so far. Since childhood, he organized home performances, in which he was an artist, a screenwriter, and a director, playing any role, even women’s. Transformed instantly. They quickly learned about Belyaev’s theater and began inviting friends to perform. In 1913, Belyaev, together with the beautiful Smolensk cellist Yu. N. Saburova, staged the fairy tale opera “The Sleeping Princess.” The Smolensky Vestnik (February 10, 1913) noted that the noisy big success the performance “was created by tireless energy, loving relationship and the subtle understanding of the leaders Yu. N. Saburova and A. R. Belyaev, who took upon themselves a grandiose, if you think about it, task - to stage an opera, even for children, using only the resources of an educational institution.”

A resident of Smolensk, SM, writes about this side of Alexander Romanovich’s creative nature in his memoirs. Yakovlev: “The charming image of A. R. Belyaev sank into my soul from the time when he helped us - students of the N. P. Evnevich gymnasium - to stage, together with the students of the women's gymnasium E. G. Sheshatka, at one of our student evenings the wonderful fantastic fairy tale play "Three years, three days, three minutes." Taking the plot core of the fairy tale as a basis, A. R. Belyaev, as a stage director, managed to creatively refine it, enrich it with many interesting introductory scenes, color it with bright colors, saturate it with music and singing. His imagination knew no bounds! He organically “integrated” into the fabric of the fairy tale the witty remarks, dialogues, crowd scenes, choral and choreographic numbers he invented<...>His data was excellent. He had a good appearance, a high level of speech culture, great musicality, a bright temperament and an amazing art of impersonation. He had a particularly strong talent for mimicry, which is easy to judge from the numerous mask photographs of him preserved by the writer’s daughter, Svetlana Alexandrovna, which unusually accurately and expressively convey the range of various states of the human psyche - indifference, curiosity, suspicion, fear, horror, bewilderment. , tenderness, delight, sadness, etc.”

Alexander Romanovich's first literary work - the play "Grandma Moira" - appeared in 1914 in the Moscow magazine for children "Protalinka".

While visiting Moscow (which beckoned and attracted him), Belyaev met with Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky and even passed his acting tests.

So far he has succeeded in everything. The future promised success in his endeavors. But the tragic year 1915 came for A. Belyaev. On young man collapsed serious illness: spinal tuberculosis. His wife leaves him. Doctors recommend changing the climate, his mother and nanny transport him to Yalta. Alexander Belyaev was bedridden for six years, three of which were in a plaster corset.

And what terrible years those were! October Revolution, Civil War, devastation... Belyaev is saved only by reading a lot, especially translated science fiction literature; studies literature on medicine, biology, history; interested in new discoveries and scientific achievements; masters foreign languages.

Only in 1922 did his condition improve somewhat. Of course, the love and care of Margarita Konstantinovna Magnushevskaya, who became his second wife, helped. They got married in 1922 before the Nativity Fast, and on May 22, 1923 they registered their marriage at the registry office. After marriage, “...I had to,” Belyaev recalled, “enter the criminal investigation office, and according to the staff I am a junior policeman. I am a photographer who takes pictures of criminals, I am a lecturer who teaches courses on criminal and administrative law and a “private” legal adviser. Despite all this, we have to starve.”

A year later, Alexander Romanovich's long-time dream comes true - he and his wife move to Moscow. A happy accident helped: in Yalta he met his old Smolensk acquaintance, Nina Yakovlevna Filippova, who invited Belyaev to go to Moscow, giving him two rooms in her large, spacious apartment. After the Filippovs moved to Leningrad, the Belyaevs had to vacate this apartment and live in a damp room in a semi-basement on Lyalin Lane. On March 15, 1924, a daughter, Lyudmila, was born into the Belyaev family.

During these years, Alexander Romanovich worked at the People's Commissariat of Postal and Telegraph as a planner, and after some time as a legal adviser at the People's Commissariat for Education. And in the evenings he studies literature.

1925 Belyaev is 41 years old. His story “The Head of Professor Dowell” was published on the pages of the World Pathfinder magazine. It's a story, not a novel. The science fiction writer's first attempt at writing. And the beginning of a new, creative life for Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. In the article “About my works” Belyaev will later say: “I can report that the work “The Head of Professor Dowell” is a work to a large extent... autobiographical. The disease once put me in a plaster bed for three and a half years. This period of illness was accompanied by paralysis of the lower half of the body. And although I controlled my hands, my life during these years was reduced to the life of a “head without a body,” which I did not feel at all - complete anesthesia. That’s when I changed my mind and experienced everything that a “head without a body” can experience.”

Belyaev’s professional literary activity began with the publication of the story. He collaborates with the magazines “World Pathfinder”, “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power”, “Struggle of Worlds”, publishes new fantastic works: “The Island of Lost Ships”, “Lord of the World”, “The Last Man from Atlantis”. He signs not only with his last name, but also with pseudonyms - A. Rom and Arbel.

Margarita Konstantinovna tirelessly types out his new works on an old Remington typewriter. The Belyaevs' life is getting better. They bought a piano. In the evenings they play music. They visit theaters and museums. We made new friends.

The year 1928 became significant in Belyaev’s work: the novel “Amphibian Man” was published. The chapters of the new work were published in the magazine “Around the World”. The success was extraordinary! Issues of magazines were snapped up instantly. Suffice it to say that the circulation of Around the World increased from 200,000 to 250,000 copies. In the same year, 1928, the novel was published twice as a separate book, and a year later a third edition appeared. The popularity of the novel exceeded all expectations. Critics explained the secret of its success by saying that it was “a universal novel that combined science fiction, adventure, social themes and melodrama.” The book was translated and published in many languages. Belyaev became famous! (Shot in 1961, after the death of the writer, the film of the same name was also a stunning success. It was watched by 65.5 million viewers - a record at that time!)

In December 1928, Belyaev left Moscow and moved to Leningrad. The apartment on Mozhaiskogo Street was furnished with taste. “On occasion,” recalls Svetlana Aleksandrovna Belyaeva, “my parents bought wonderful antique furniture - an office, in it there was a Swedish desk, a comfortable reclining chair, a large plush sofa, a piano and shelves with books and magazines.”

Alexander Romanovich writes a lot and enthusiastically. His fiction is not far-fetched, but is based on scientific basis. The writer follows the news of science and technology. His knowledge is encyclopedically diverse, and he easily navigates in new directions.

It would seem that life is going well. But... Belyaev falls ill with pneumonia. Doctors advise changing the climate. And the family moves to Kyiv, where his childhood friend Nikolai Pavlovich Vygotsky lives. Kyiv has a favorable climate, life is cheaper, but... publishing houses only accept manuscripts in Ukrainian! The writer is forced to make another move to Moscow.

Here the family suffered grief: on March 19, daughter Lyudmila died of meningitis, and Alexander Romanovich experienced an exacerbation of spinal tuberculosis. Bed again. And as a response to forced immobility, interest in the problems of space exploration is growing. Alexander Romanovich studies the works of Tsiolkovsky, and the science fiction writer’s imagination pictures a flight to the Moon, interplanetary travel, discovery of new worlds. “Airship” is dedicated to this topic. After reading it, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky noted in his review: “The story... is wittyly written and scientific enough for imagination.” Belyaev also sent the story “Leap into Nothing” - about a journey to Venus - to Tsiolkovsky, and the scientist wrote a preface to it. Their correspondence continued until Tsiolkovsky passed away. The writer dedicated his novel “KETS Star” (1936) to the memory of Konstantin Eduardovich.

In October 1931, the Belyaevs moved again - to Leningrad, where they lived until 1938. In recent years, the writer was ill and almost never got out of bed. And in the summer of 1938 they exchanged their living space in Leningrad for a five-room apartment in Pushkin.

Alexander Romanovich almost never leaves home. But writers, readers and admirers come to him, pioneers gather every week - he leads a drama club.

Here he finds Patriotic War. Belyaev died in the occupied city on January 6, 1942. At the Kazan cemetery in Pushkin, above his grave there is a white obelisk with the inscription “Belyaev Alexander Romanovich”, below is an open book with a quill pen. On the pages of the book it is written: “Science Fiction Writer.”

Belyaev created 17 novels, dozens of short stories and a huge number of essays. And this is for 16 years of literary work! His fascinating works are imbued with faith in the unlimited possibilities of the human mind and faith in justice.

Reflecting on the tasks of a science fiction writer, Alexander Romanovich wrote: “A writer working in the field of science fiction must himself be so scientifically educated that he can not only understand what the scientist is working on, but also on this basis foresee consequences and possibilities that are sometimes still unclear and to the scientist himself." He himself was just such a science fiction writer.

It is believed, and not without reason, that Alexander Romanovich Belyaev has three lives: one - from birth until the publication of the story “The Head of Professor Dowell”, the second - from this first story until the day of the writer’s death, the third - the longest life in his books.

The journal “Science and Life” became a laureate Literary Prize named after Alexander Belyaev 2009 in the nomination “To the Magazine - for the most interesting activity during the year preceding the award." The prize was awarded “for fidelity to the traditions of domestic popular science and fiction literature and journalism.”

The idea to establish a memorial prize in honor of Alexander Belyaev arose in 1984, when the centenary of the birth of the famous science fiction writer was celebrated, who wrote not only the science fiction novels “Amphibian Man”, “Ariel”, “The Head of Professor Dowell”, but also scientific -popular works. However, it was first awarded in 1990, and in its early years it was awarded for literary works in the science fiction genre. In 2002, the status of the prize was revised, and now it is given exclusively for works of popular science and scientific-art (educational) literature.

Alexander Romanovich Belyaev - born on March 4 (16 n.s.) in Smolensk in the family of a priest. Since childhood, I read a lot and was fond of adventure literature, especially Jules Verne. Subsequently, he flew airplanes of one of the first designs and made gliders himself.

In 1901 he graduated from theological seminary, but did not become a priest; on the contrary, he left there as a convinced atheist. He loved painting, music, theater, played in amateur performances, took up photography, and studied technology.

He entered the legal lyceum in Yaroslavl and at the same time studied violin at the conservatory. To earn money for his studies, he played in a circus orchestra, painted theatrical scenery, and studied journalism. In 1906, after graduating from the Lyceum, he returned to Smolensk and worked as a lawyer. He acted as a music critic and theater reviewer in the Smolensky Vestnik newspaper.

He never stopped dreaming of distant countries and, having saved money, in 1913 he traveled to Italy, France, and Switzerland. He retained the impressions from this trip for the rest of his life. Returning to Smolensk, he worked at the Smolensky Vestnik, and a year later became the editor of this publication. A serious illness - bone tuberculosis - confined him to bed for six years, three of which he was in a cast. Not giving in to despair, he is engaged in self-education: he studies foreign languages, medicine, biology, history, technology, and reads a lot. Having overcome the disease, in 1922 he returned to a full life, serving as an inspector for juvenile affairs. On the advice of doctors, he lives in Yalta, works as a teacher in an orphanage.

In 1923 he moved to Moscow and began serious literary activity. He publishes science fiction stories and novellas in the magazines “Around the World”, “Knowledge is Power”, “World Pathfinder”, earning the title of “Soviet Jules Verne”. In 1925 he published the story “The Head of Professor Dowell,” which Belyaev himself called an autobiographical story: he wanted to tell “what a head without a body can experience.”

In the 1920s, such famous works as “The Island of Lost Ships,” “Amphibian Man,” “Above the Abyss,” and “Struggle on the Air” were published. He writes essays about great Russian scientists - Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Pavlov, Tsiolkovsky.

In 1931 he moved to Leningrad, continuing to work hard. He was especially interested in the problems of space exploration and the ocean depths. In 1934, after reading Belyaev’s novel “Airship,” Tsiolkovsky wrote: “... wittily written and scientific enough for fantasy. Let me express my pleasure to Comrade Belyaev.”

In 1933 the book “Leap into Nothing” was published, 1935 - “The Second Moon”. In the 1930s, “KETS Star”, “Wonderful Eye”, “Under the Arctic Sky” were written.

He spent the last years of his life near Leningrad, in the city of Pushkin. I met War in the hospital.

In my early youth, I simply read the works of Alexander Belyaev. Everything was re-read more than once, or twice. Wonderful films have been made based on his works; in my opinion, “Amphibian Man” with Korenev and Vertinskaya especially stands out. But still, not a single film made such an impression on me as the books! But what did I know about the life of the writer, whose works gave me many wonderful moments while I enjoyed them? It turned out - nothing!

The famous Soviet science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev is called the “Russian Jules Verne.” Who among us in adolescence did not read “The Amphibian Man” and “The Head of Professor Dowell”? Meanwhile, in the life of the writer himself there was a lot of strange and incomprehensible things. Despite his fame, it is still not known exactly how he died and where exactly he was buried...

Belyaev was born in 1884 into the family of a priest. The father sent his son to the theological seminary, however, after graduating from it, he did not continue his religious education, but entered the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl. He was going to become a lawyer. Soon, Sasha’s father died, the family found themselves strapped for money, and in order to continue his studies, the young man was forced to earn extra money - giving lessons, drawing scenery for the theater, playing the violin in a circus orchestra.

Alexander was a versatile person: he played different musical instruments, performed in a home theater, flew on an airplane. Another hobby was filming so-called “horror” films (staged, of course). One of the pictures in this “genre” was called: “Human head on a platter in blue tones.”

A significant part of the young man’s life was connected with the theater, which he loved since childhood. He himself could act as a playwright, a director, and an actor. The Belyaevs' home theater in Smolensk was widely known and toured not only around the city, but also in its environs. Once, during the visit of the capital’s troupe to Smolensk under the direction of Stanislavsky, A. Belyaev managed to replace a sick artist and act in several performances instead. The success was complete, K. Stanislavsky even invited A. Belyaev to stay in the troupe, but for an unknown reason he refused.

Even as a child, Sasha lost his sister: Nina died of sarcoma. And a mysterious and mysterious thing happened to brother Vasily, a student at the Veterinary Institute. creepy story. Once Alexander and Vasily were visiting their uncle. A group of young relatives decided to go boating. For some reason Vasya refused to go with them. For some reason, Sasha took a piece of clay with him and molded it from it right in the boat human head. Looking at it, those present were horrified: the head had Vasily’s face, only his features turned out to be somehow frozen, lifeless. Alexander threw the craft into the water with annoyance and then felt alarmed. Stating that something had happened to his brother, he demanded that the boat be turned towards the shore. They were met by a tearful aunt who said that Vasily had drowned while swimming. This happened, as it turned out, precisely at the moment when Sasha threw the clay cast into the water.

After graduating from the Demidov Lyceum, A. Belyaev received the position of a private attorney in Smolensk, and soon gained fame as a good lawyer. He gained a regular clientele. His material opportunities also increased: he was able to rent and furnish a good apartment, acquire a good collection of paintings, collect large library. Having finished any business, he went to travel abroad; visited France, Italy, visited Venice.

Belyaev plunges headlong into journalistic activity. He collaborates with the newspaper Smolensky Vestnik, where he becomes editor a year later. He also plays the piano and violin and works in Smolensk people's house, is a member of the Glinka Music Circle, the Smolensk Symphony Society, and the Society of Lovers of Fine Arts. He visited Moscow, where he auditioned for Stanislavsky.

He is thirty years old, he is married and he needs to somehow make decisions in life. Belyaev is seriously thinking about moving to the capital, where it will not be difficult for him to get a job. But at the end of 1915, illness suddenly struck him. For the young and strong man the world is collapsing. Doctors for a long time could not determine his illness, and when they found out, it turned out that it was spinal tuberculosis. Even during a long-standing illness with pleurisy in Yartsevo, a doctor, while performing a puncture, touched the eighth spine with a needle. Now it has given such a severe relapse. In addition, his wife Verochka leaves him, and to his colleague. Doctors, friends, all relatives considered him doomed.

His mother Nadezhda Vasilievna leaves the house and takes her motionless son to Yalta. For six years, from 1916 to 1922, Belyaev was bedridden, three of which many years(from 1917 to 1921) he was shackled in plaster. Belyaev will write about these years, when one government replaced another in Crimea, ten years later in the story “Among the Wild Horses.”

Belyaev's willpower endured, and during his illness he studied foreign languages ​​(French, German and English), and was interested in medicine, history, biology, and technology. He couldn’t move, but some ideas for his future novels came to his mind right then, during real estate.

In the spring of 1919, his mother, Nadezhda Vasilievna, dies of hunger, and his son is sick, in a cast, with high temperature- can’t even take her to the cemetery. And only in 1921 he was able to take his first steps thanks not only to his willpower, but also as a result of his love for Margarita Konstantinovna Magnushevskaya, who worked in the city library. A little later, like Arthur Dowell, he will invite her to see his bride in the mirror, whom he will marry if he receives consent. And in the summer of 1922, Belyaev managed to get into a holiday home for scientists and writers in Gaspra. There they made him a celluloid corset and he was finally able to get out of bed. This orthopedic corset became his constant companion until the end of his life, because... Until his death, the illness either subsided or again confined him to bed for several months.

Be that as it may, Belyaev began working in the criminal investigation department, and then in the People's Commissariat for Education, as an inspector for minors in an orphanage seven kilometers from Yalta. The country, through the NEP, began to gradually raise its economy, and therefore the well-being of the country. In the same year, 1922, before the Nativity Fast, Alexander Belyaev got married in church to Margarita, and on May 22, 1923, they legalized their marriage with a civil status act in the registry office.

Then he returned to Moscow, where he got a job as a legal consultant. IN free time Belyaev wrote poetry, and in 1925 his first story, “The Head of Professor Dowell,” began to be published in the newspaper “Gudok.” In three years, “The Island of Lost Ships,” “The Last Man from Atlantis,” “Amphibian Man,” and a collection of short stories were created. On March 15, 1925, their daughter Lyudmila was born.

ALEXANDER BELYAEV WITH WIFE MARGARETA AND FIRST DAUGHTER: the death of little Lyudochka was the first great grief in the family of a science fiction writer

In July 1929, Belyaev’s second daughter, Svetlana, was born, and in September the Belyaevs left for Kyiv, to a warmer and drier climate.

However, soon the disease made itself felt again, and I had to move from rainy Leningrad to sunny Kyiv. Living conditions in Kyiv turned out to be better, but obstacles arose for creativity - manuscripts there were accepted only in Ukrainian, so they had to be sent to Moscow or Leningrad.

The year 1930 turned out to be a very difficult year for the writer: his six-year-old daughter died of meningitis, his second daughter fell ill with rickets, and soon his own illness(spondylitis). As a result, in 1931 the family returned to Leningrad: ignorance Ukrainian language made life in Kyiv unbearable. Constant everyday troubles prevented him from writing, and yet A. Belyaev created during these years the play “Alchemists...” and the novel “Leap into Nothing.”

The year 1937 also affected the fate of Belyaev. He, unlike many of his friends and acquaintances, was not imprisoned. But they stopped printing. There was nothing left to live on. He goes to Murmansk and gets a job as an accountant on a fishing trawler. Depression and unbearable pain from the corset, to the surprise of many, give a completely opposite result - he writes the novel “Ariel”. Main character conducts experiments with levitation: the young man becomes able to fly. Belyaev writes about himself, or more precisely, about unfulfilled dreams own life.

The war found the family in Pushkin. Belyaev, who had recently undergone spinal surgery, refused to evacuate, and soon the city was occupied by the Germans.

By official version, the science fiction writer died of starvation in January 1942. The body was transferred to the crypt at the Kazan cemetery to wait in line for burial. The turn was supposed to come only in March, and in February the writer’s wife and daughter were taken captive to Poland.

Here they waited for liberation Soviet troops. And then they were sent into exile in Altai for 11 long years.

When they were finally able to return to Pushkin, former neighbor handed over the miraculously surviving glasses of Alexander Romanovich. Margarita found a tightly wrapped piece of paper on the bow. She carefully unfolded it. “Do not look for my traces on this earth,” her husband wrote. - I'm waiting for you in heaven. Yours, Ariel."

There is a legend that Belyaev’s body was taken out of the crypt and buried by a fascist general and soldiers. Allegedly, the general read Belyaev’s works as a child and therefore decided to honor his body to the ground. According to another version, the corpse was simply buried in a common grave. Anyway, exact location The writer's burial place is unknown.

Subsequently, a memorial stele was erected at the Kazan cemetery in Pushkin. But Belyaev’s grave is not under it.

One of the versions of the writer’s death is connected with the legendary Amber Room. According to publicist Fyodor Morozov, the last thing Belyaev worked on was dedicated to this very topic. Nobody knows what he was going to write about the famous mosaic. It is only known that Belyaev told many people about his new novel even before the war and even quoted some passages to his friends. With the arrival of the Germans in Pushkin, Gestapo specialists also became actively interested in the Amber Room. By the way, they could not fully believe that they had gotten their hands on an authentic mosaic. Therefore, we actively looked for people who would have information on this matter. It was no coincidence that two Gestapo officers also went to Alexander Romanovich, trying to find out what he knew about this story. Whether the writer told them anything or not is not known. In any case, no documents have yet been found in the Gestapo archives. And here is the answer to the question whether Belyaev could have been killed because of his interest in Amber room doesn't seem that difficult. Suffice it to remember what fate befell many researchers who tried to find the wonderful mosaic. Maybe he paid for knowing too much? Or died from torture? They also say that the science fiction writer’s corpse was charred. His death is as mysterious as his works.

2014 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian writer Alexander Romanovich Belyaev. This outstanding creator is one of the founders of the genre of science fiction literature in the Soviet Union. Even in our time, it seems simply incredible that a person in his works can depict events that will happen several decades later.

The early years of the writer

So, who is Alexander Belyaev? The biography of this person is simple and unique in its own way. But unlike the millions of copies of the author’s works, not much has been written about his life.

Alexander Belyaev was born on March 4, 1884 in the city of Smolensk. In family Orthodox priest From childhood, the boy was taught to love music, photography, and developed an interest in reading adventure novels and studying foreign languages.

Having graduated from theological seminary at the insistence of his father, the young man chooses the path to law, in which he has good success.

First steps in literature

While earning decent money in the legal field, Alexander Belyaev began to become more interested in works of art, travel and theater. He is also actively involved in directing and dramaturgy. In 1914, his debut play “Grandma Moira” was published in the Moscow children's magazine Protalinka.

An insidious disease

In 1919, tuberculous pleurisy suspended the young man’s plans and actions. Alexander Belyaev struggled with this disease for more than six years. The writer tried his best to eradicate this infection within himself. Due to unsuccessful treatment, it developed which led to paralysis of the legs. As a result, of the six years spent in bed, the patient spent three years in a cast. The indifference of the young wife further undermined the writer's morale. During this period, this is no longer the carefree, cheerful and cheerful Alexander Belyaev. His biography is full of tragic life moments. In 1930, his six-year-old daughter Lyuda died, and his second daughter Svetlana fell ill with rickets. Against the backdrop of these events, the illness tormenting Belyaev is also worsening.

Throughout his life, battling his illness, this man found strength and immersed himself in the study of literature, history, foreign languages ​​and medicine.

Long-awaited success

In 1925, while living in Moscow, the aspiring writer published the story “The Head of Professor Dowell” in Rabochaya Gazeta. And from that moment on, the works of Alexander Belyaev were published en masse in the then famous magazines “World Pathfinder”, “Knowledge is Power” and “Around the World”.

During his stay in Moscow, the young talent creates many magnificent novels - “Amphibian Man”, “The Last Man from Atlantis”, “Island of Lost Ships” and “Struggle on the Air”.

At the same time, Belyaev is published in the unusual newspaper “Gudok”, in which people like M.A. also left their mark. Bulgakov, E.P. Petrov, I.A. Ilf, V.P. Kataev,

Later, after moving to Leningrad, he published the books “The Wonderful Eye”, “Underwater Farmers”, “Lord of the World”, as well as the stories “The Inventions of Professor Wagner”, which Soviet citizens read with rapture.

The last days of the prose writer's life

The Belyaev family lived in the suburbs of Leningrad, the city of Pushkin, and found themselves under occupation. The weakened body could not withstand the terrible hunger. In January 1942, Alexander Belyaev passed away. After some time, the writer’s relatives were deported to Poland.

Before today It remains a mystery where Alexander Belyaev was buried, short biography which is filled with man’s constant struggle for life. And yet, in honor of the talented prose writer, a memorial stele was erected in Pushkin at the Kazan cemetery.

The novel “Ariel” is Belyaev’s last creation; it was published by the “Modern Writer” publishing house shortly before the author’s death.

"Life after death

More than 70 years have passed since the Russian science fiction writer passed away, but his memory lives on in his works to this day. At one time, the work of Alexander Belyaev was subjected to strict criticism, and sometimes he heard mocking reviews. However, the science fiction writer’s ideas, which previously seemed ridiculous and scientifically impossible, eventually convinced even the most inveterate skeptics of the opposite.

Many films have been made based on the novels of the prose writer. Thus, since 1961, eight films have been filmed, some of them are part of the classics of Soviet cinema - “The Amphibian Man”, “The Testament of Professor Dowell”, “The Island of Lost Ships” and “The Air Seller”.

The story of Ichthyander

Perhaps the most famous work A.R. Belyaev’s novel “Amphibian Man,” which was written in 1927. It was he, along with “The Head of Professor Dowell,” that H.G. Wells highly appreciated.

Belyaev was inspired to create “Amphibian Man” by, firstly, memories of reading the novel “Iktaner and Moisette” by the French writer Jean de la Hire, and secondly, a newspaper article about the trial taking place in Argentina in the case of a doctor who conducted various experiments over people and animals. Today, it is practically impossible to establish the name of the newspaper and the details of the process. But this once again proves that, when creating his science fiction works, Alexander Belyaev tried to rely on real life facts and events.

In 1962, directors V. Chebotarev and G. Kazansky filmed “Amphibian Man.”

"The Last Man from Atlantis"

One of the author’s very first works, “The Last Man from Atlantis,” did not go unnoticed in Soviet and world literature. In 1927, it was included in Belyaev’s first author’s collection along with “The Island of Lost Ships.” From 1928 to 1956, the work was forgotten, and only since 1957 it was republished several times in the territory of the Soviet Union.

The idea of ​​​​searching for the disappeared Atlantean civilization dawned on Belyaev after reading an article in the French newspaper Le Figaro. Its content was such that in Paris there was a society for the study of Atlantis. At the beginning of the twentieth century, such associations were quite common; they enjoyed increased interest among the population. The insightful Alexander Belyaev decided to take advantage of this. The science fiction writer used the note as a prologue to The Last Man of Atlantis. The work consists of two parts and is perceived by the reader quite simply and excitingly. The material for writing the novel was drawn from the book by Roger Devigne “The Vanished Continent. Atlantis, the sixth part of the world."

Prophecies of a science fiction writer

When comparing the predictions of science fiction representatives, it is important to note that scientific ideas books by Soviet writer Alexander Belyaev were sold at 99 percent.

So, main idea novel "The Head of Professor Dowell" became the possibility of reviving the human body after death. Several years after the publication of this work, Sergei Bryukhonenko, the great Soviet physiologist, carried out similar experiments. A widespread achievement in medicine today - surgical restoration of the lens of the eye - was also foreseen by Alexander Belyaev more than fifty years ago.

The novel "Amphibian Man" became prophetic in scientific developments technologies for prolonged human stay under water. Thus, in 1943, the French scientist Jacques-Yves Cousteau patented the first scuba gear, thereby proving that Ichthyander is not such an unattainable image.

Successful tests of the first in the thirties of the twentieth century in Great Britain, as well as the creation psychotropic weapons- all this was described by the science fiction writer in the book “Lord of the World” back in 1926.

The novel "The Man Who Lost Face" tells the story of the successful development plastic surgery and the ethical issues that arise from this. In the story, the state governor transforms into a black man, taking upon himself all the burdens of racial discrimination. Here we can draw a certain parallel in the destinies of the mentioned hero and the famous American singer Michael Jackson, who, fleeing unjust persecution, underwent a considerable number of operations to change the color of his skin.

All my creative life Belyaev struggled with the disease. Deprived of physical capabilities, he tried to reward the heroes of books unusual abilities: communicate without words, fly like birds, swim like fish. But infecting the reader with interest in life, in something new - isn’t this the true talent of a writer?