Writer Alexander Belyaev biography. Alexander Belyaev is a science fiction writer who became a visionary. Theater productions, film scripts

Alexander Romanovich Belyaev(March 4 (16), 1884 - January 6, 1942) - Soviet science fiction writer, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction literature. Among his most famous novels are: “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “The Amphibian Man”, “Ariel”, “The Star of KEC” and many others. He is sometimes called the Russian "Jules Verne".

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, 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 these came out famous works, like “Island of Lost Ships”, “Amphibian Man”, “Above the Abyss”, “Struggle in the Air”. 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.

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

His life was not very cheerful - serious illness, lack of money, forced wanderings and tragic death under German occupation. And it is all the more surprising that this man was able to create such life-affirming books.

In 1901, Alexander graduated from the Smolensk Theological Seminary. But he did not want to become a priest and therefore entered the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl.

After his father's death, he had to earn a living by painting, playing the violin and giving private lessons.

After graduating from the lyceum, he became a good lawyer and acquired his own clientele. His affairs were successful, he often visited abroad. But in 1914 he leaves everything and devotes himself to writing.

When he was 35 years old, he became seriously ill with tuberculous pleurisy. The treatment was unsuccessful - tuberculosis of the spine developed, complicated by paralysis of the legs. In search of specialists who could help him, Belyaev ended up in Yalta. There, in the hospital, he began to write poetry.

He was bedridden for six years, three of which were in a cast.

But he managed to recover and return to a full life. At first he lived in Yalta, worked as a teacher, criminal investigation inspector, then moved to Moscow and again took up law, continuing to write.

In the 1920s he wrote the following famous novels like "The Island of Lost Ships" and "Amphibian Man".

In 1928, he moved again, this time to Leningrad, and was already completely immersed in literary activity. Having become interested in the problems of the functioning of the psyche, he wrote the novels “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “Lord of the World”, “The Man Who Lost Face”.

Alexander Belyaev was called the “Russian Jules-Verne” for his ability to predict many events. In his books, the writer predicted not only the invention of scuba gear and the orbital station, but also his own demise.

Amphibious and scuba gear. Still from the film "Amphibian Man", 1961

When Alexander Belyaev, against the will of his parents, chose the profession of a lawyer, a woman who called herself a clairvoyant came to seek his protection.

“I warned two women about the possible imminent death of their husbands,” she said. “Now the inconsolable widows accuse me of deliberately killing them.” Alexander just grinned: “Predict it for me then.”

“Your life will be hard, but very bright. And you yourself will be able to look into the future” - this is how she answered the writer.

After this, Alexander agreed to take on the woman’s case, and she was acquitted at the trial.

But what was predicted did not take long to arrive. Belyaev was not a prophet, but he knew how to notice what ideas people had grown into modern society, on the verge of what new discoveries and achievements it is located.

One of his first novels-predictions was the famous “Amphibian Man”

where the writer foresaw the invention of an artificial lung and scuba tank with an open breathing system on compressed air, invented in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

By the way, the novel itself was largely biographical. As a child, Alexander had a dream in which he and his brother Vasily were crawling through a long dark tunnel. Somewhere ahead there was a light, but the brother could no longer move on. Overcoming himself, Alexander was able to get out, but without Vasily. Soon his brother drowned while boating.

In the novel, Belyaev describes how Ichthyander, getting out into the vast expanses of the ocean, had to swim through a tunnel. He swam along it, “overcoming the cold oncoming current. It pushes off from the bottom, floats up... The end of the tunnel is near. Now Ichthyander can once again give himself up to the current - it will carry him far into the open ocean.”

Poster for the film "The Air Seller", 1967

When Alexander Belyaev was forced as a result poor health to go to Crimea for treatment, on the train he met people who had suffered as a result of a technological accident at a Kuzbass enterprise. This is how the idea of ​​the “Air Seller” was born.

In his work, Belyaev warns of an impending environmental disaster, where environment will be so polluted by gases and industrial emissions that clean air will turn into a commodity that will not be available to everyone. Is it worth reminding that today, due to poor ecology, there is a constant danger of oncology walking around the world, and life expectancy is major cities is rapidly declining.

Under these conditions, states are even forced to go to international agreements, an example of which is the Kyoto Protocol to limit carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

Orbital station

“The KETS Star” was written in 1936 under the influence of the writer’s correspondence with Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky.

As a matter of fact, KETS are the initials of the Soviet scientist. The entire novel is built on Tsiolkovsky’s ideas: the possibility of launching an orbital station, people going into outer space, traveling to the moon.

The two dreamers were far ahead of their time - the first real orbital station, Salyut, appeared in space only in 1973.

In the book “Lord of the World” (1926), Belyaev “invented” a device for transmitting thoughts at a distance on the principle of radio waves, which made it possible to instill a thought in a stranger at a distance - essentially a psychotropic weapon.

In addition, in his book he predicted the emergence of unmanned aircraft, the first successful tests of which took place in Great Britain only in the 1930s.

In his novel “The Man Who Lost Face” (1929), the author presents to the reader the problem of changing the human body and the subsequent problems associated with it.

As a matter of fact, the novel predicts modern advances plastic surgery, and the ethical problems that invariably follow.

According to the plot, the state governor turns into a black man and, as a result, experiences all the features of racial discrimination. Somewhat reminiscent of the fate of the King of Pop Michael Jackson, who changed his skin color to escape prejudice against black people.

Still from the film "The Testament of Professor Dowell", 1984

In his new work "Island of Lost Ships" Belyaev was the first to note the mystery of the now famous Bermuda Triangle, the anomaly of which was first publicly announced by the Associated Press agency, calling this area the “devil's sea.”

Let's say somewhere, for example, in the area of ​​​​Bermuda, there is a certain special zone. The nearby Sargasso Sea with its abundance of algae has always made local navigation difficult; ships left here after shipwrecks could easily accumulate in its waters.

The year 1940 comes. Many in the country have gloomy premonitions that terrible war. At Belyaev's special sensations- old illnesses make themselves felt, the writer has a presentiment - he will not survive this war.

He remembers his childhood dream and writes a novel about Ariel, a man who could fly. He himself would like to soar above the bustle of everyday life. Ariel, like Amphibian Man, is biographical.

This work is a prediction own death. He wanted to fly away from this world like Ariel. And so it happened.

The writer died on January 6, 1942 from hunger in occupied Pushkin Leningrad region. The writer Belyaev was buried in a common grave along with many others. The location of his grave is unknown. Therefore, a memorial stele at the Kazan cemetery in the city of Pushkin was installed on the supposed grave of Belyaev in 1968. He had two daughters - Lyudmila (1924 - 1930) and Svetlana (born in 1929).

After his death, his wife and daughter Svetlana were captured by the Germans.

Upon returning from there, they found the writer’s glasses, to which was attached a note addressed to Belyaev’s wife: “Don’t look for my traces on this earth,” her husband wrote. - I'm waiting for you in heaven. Yours, Ariel."

In 1984, when the centenary of the birth of the famous science fiction writer was celebrated, the idea was expressed to establish a memorial prize in honor of Alexander Belyaev. It was first awarded in 1990.

Used materials:

http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/3331706/post317337318/

http://blog42.ws/aleksandr-belyaev/

He was born in Smolensk, into a family Orthodox priest. There were two more children in the family: sister Nina died in childhood from sarcoma; brother Vasily, a student at the veterinary institute, drowned while boating.

The father wanted to see his son as a successor to his work and sent him to the Smolensk Theological Seminary in 1895. In 1901, Alexander graduated from it, but did not become a priest; on the contrary, he left there as a convinced atheist. In defiance of his father, he entered the Demidov Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl. Soon after his father's death, he had to earn extra money: Alexander gave lessons, painted scenery for the theater, and played the violin in the circus orchestra.

After graduating (in 1906) from the Demidov Lyceum, A. Belyaev received the position of 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: he visited France, Italy, and visited Venice.

In 1914 he left law for the sake of literature and theater.

At the age of thirty-five, A. Belyaev fell ill with tuberculous pleurisy. The treatment was unsuccessful - tuberculosis of the spine developed, complicated by paralysis of the legs. A serious illness confined him to bed for six years, three of which he spent in a cast. His young wife left him, saying that she didn’t get married to take care of her sick husband. In search of specialists who could help him, A. Belyaev, with his mother and old nanny, ended up in Yalta. There, in the hospital, he began to write poetry. Not giving in to despair, he is engaged in self-education: he studies foreign languages, medicine, biology, history, technology, and reads a lot (Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky). Having defeated the disease, in 1922 he returned to a full life and began to work. At first, A. Belyaev became a teacher in an orphanage, then he was given the position of criminal investigation inspector - he organized a photo laboratory there, and later he had to go to the library. Life in Yalta was very difficult, and A. Belyaev, with the help of friends, moved with his family to Moscow (1923), where he got a job as a legal adviser. There he 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.”

A. Belyaev lived in Moscow until 1928; During this time he wrote “The Island of Lost Ships”, “ Last Man from Atlantis,” “Amphibian Man,” “Struggle on the Air,” a collection of short stories published. The author wrote not only under his own name, but also under the pseudonyms A. Rom and Arbel.

In 1928, A. Belyaev and his family moved to Leningrad and from then on he was exclusively engaged in literature, professionally. This is how “Lord of the World”, “Underwater Farmers”, “The Wonderful Eye”, stories from the series “The Inventions of Professor Wagner” appeared. They were published mainly in Moscow publishing houses. However, soon the illness made itself felt again, and I had to move from rainy Leningrad to sunny Kyiv.

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) worsened. As a result, in 1931 the family returned to Leningrad.

In September 1931, A. Belyaev handed over the manuscript of his novel “The Earth is Burning” to the editors of the Leningrad magazine “Around the World”.

In 1932, he lives in Murmansk (source: newspaper “Evening Murmansk” dated 10/10/2014). In 1934, he met with Herbert Wells, who arrived in Leningrad. In 1935, Belyaev became a permanent contributor to the magazine “Around the World”. At the beginning of 1938, after eleven years of intensive cooperation, Belyaev left the magazine “Around the World”. In 1938 he published the article “Cinderella” about the plight of contemporary fiction.

Shortly before the war, the writer underwent another operation, so he refused the offer to evacuate when the war began. The city of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoe Selo, a suburb of Leningrad), where he lived in last years A. Belyaev with his family was occupied. In January 1942, the writer died of hunger. He was buried in a mass grave along with other residents of the city. From Osipova’s book “Diaries and Letters”: “The writer Belyaev, who wrote science fiction novels like “Amphibian Man,” froze from hunger in his room. “Frozen from hunger” is an absolutely accurate expression. People are so weak from hunger that they are unable to get up and fetch firewood. He was found completely frozen..."

The surviving wife of the writer and daughter Svetlana were taken prisoner by the Germans and were kept in various camps for displaced persons in Poland and Austria until liberation by the Red Army in May 1945. After the end of the war, the wife and daughter of Alexander Romanovich, like many other citizens of the USSR who found themselves in German captivity, were exiled to Western Siberia. They spent 11 years in exile. The daughter did not marry.

The burial place of Alexander Belyaev is not known for certain. The memorial stele at the Kazan cemetery in the city of Pushkin was installed only on the supposed grave.

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 life young man turned out to be 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, and collect a 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 illness 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) worsened. 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.

(1884-1942) Russian science fiction writer

His first science fiction works appeared almost simultaneously with “The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin” (1925) by A. Tolstoy. The publication of the last novel was interrupted by the war. During this short period of time, Alexander Belyaev wrote several dozen stories, novellas and novels. He became the founder of Soviet science fiction. Belyaev turned out to be the first writer in the history of Russian literature of the 20th century for whom the fantastic genre became the main one in his work. He left his mark on almost all of its varieties and created his own variations - the cycle of humoresques “The Inventions of Professor Wagner”, entering the history of world science fiction.

Although the novels of Alexander Romanovich Belyaev are read even today, the peak of their popularity still occurs at the time when the writer was still alive. True, at that time they were published in small editions, but each of them immediately and forever entered the mainstream literature.

Alexander Belyaev was born in Smolensk into the family of a priest. The father wanted his son to also become a priest, so the young man was sent to a theological seminary. But a year later he abandoned spiritual education and entered the Demidov Lyceum, planning to become a lawyer. Soon his father died, and Alexander had to look for funds to continue his studies. He gave lessons, worked as a theater decorator, and played the violin in a circus orchestra. On own funds the young man was able not only to graduate from the lyceum, but also to receive a musical education.

After graduating from the lyceum, he began working as an assistant to a sworn attorney and acted as a lawyer in court. Gradually, Belyaev became a well-known lawyer in the city. At the same time, he began writing short essays for Smolensk newspapers, reviews of performances and new books.

In 1912, Alexander Romanovich Belyaev traveled around Europe - visited Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Returning to Smolensk, he publishes his first literary work - the fairy tale play “Grandma Moira”.

It seemed that his life was going quite well. But suddenly he became seriously ill with pleurisy, after which he began to develop a complication - ossification of the spine. The illness was complicated by the fact that Belyaev was left by his young wife, who refused to care for the disabled person. Doctors advised him to change the climate, and he and his mother moved to Yalta. There they received news of the revolution.

After difficult many years of treatment, some improvement occurred, and Belyaev was able to return to active work, although he never left until the end of his life wheelchair. He worked as a teacher in an orphanage, a photographer in the criminal investigation department, and a librarian.

Life in Yalta was very difficult, and in 1923 Alexander Belyaev moved to Moscow. With the help of friends, he managed to get a job as a legal adviser at the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs. Just at this time his first story appeared in the newspaper Gudok. fantasy novel"Professor Dowell's Head". After this publication, Belyaev became a regular contributor to the World Pathfinder and Around the World magazines.

Alexander Belyaev lived in Moscow for five years and during this time he wrote the stories “The Island of Lost Ships” (1925), “The Last Man from Atlantis” (1926) and the novel “Amphibian Man” (1927), as well as a collection of short stories called “Struggle” on the air."

All these works were well received by critics, and the writer left his job as a lawyer. Since the late twenties, he devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1928, Belyaev moved to Leningrad, to the parents of his second wife. He settled in Pushkin, from where he sent his new works to Moscow - the novels “Lord of the World”, “Underwater Farmers” (1928) and “The Wonderful Eye” (1929).

But the Leningrad climate caused an exacerbation of the disease, and Alexander Belyaev had to move to Kyiv. The mild Ukrainian climate had a beneficial effect on the writer’s health. But he was unable to publish in Ukraine because he did not know the language. Therefore, everything written had to be sent to Moscow and Leningrad publishing houses.

Belyaev spent two years in Kyiv and returned to Leningrad after he lost his six-year-old daughter, who died of meningitis. He again settles in Pushkin, which he does not leave until the end of his life. Despite difficult life circumstances, Alexander Romanovich Belyaev does not interrupt his literary work for a single day. His works gradually become philosophical, the characteristics of the characters deepen, and the composition becomes more complex. Meanwhile, the writer’s fame is growing all over the world. The first translations of his works appeared in England and the USA. And the novel “The Head of Professor Dowell” is highly praised by H. Wells. English writer visited Belyaev in 1934 and said that he envied his popularity.

Belyaev’s true masterpiece is the novel “Ariel” (1939), which tells dramatic story flying man. The writer worked on it for more than ten years. The novel was published in parts, and its final version appeared at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

However, there was criticism latest novels Alexandra Belyaev is very cold. Many did not like the too clear connection of his works with modernity. He showed himself not only as a pacifist, but also as an opponent totalitarian regime. Indicative in this regard is the novel “Eternal Bread” (1935), which poses complex questions related to a person’s desire to assert himself at the expense of the misfortune of others. Dictatorial sentiments were alien to Belyaev.

In the thirties, the writer appeared in his work new topic. It is connected with the problem of space exploration. Thus, in the novel “Leap into Nothing” (1933) it was first described interplanetary travel- flight of a scientific expedition to Venus. It is interesting that the novel’s consultant was K. Tsiolkovsky, with whom Belyaev corresponded for many years.

Under the influence of the scientist’s ideas, the writer wrote two stories - “Airship” and “KETS Star”. In his last work, he paid tribute to Tsiolkovsky by naming an extraterrestrial scientific station after him. In addition, Belyaev spoke about the life and everyday life of scientists who worked in extraterrestrial conditions. In fact, the writer was able to foresee the emergence of future interplanetary stations. It is noteworthy that the problems of the story seemed so unrealistic to the editor that he significantly shortened the work. Only after the writer's death was the story published in the author's version.

Shortly before the start of the war, Belyaev underwent serious surgery on his spine, so doctors forbade him to evacuate. The city of Pushkin was occupied by the Germans, and the writer died of hunger in 1942. His wife and daughter were taken to Poland and returned home only after the war.

But the works of Alexander Romanovich Belyaev were not forgotten. At the end of the 50s, filming began on the first Soviet science fiction film, “Amphibian Man.” And again the familiar accusations were heard: it was believed that science fiction was an alien genre. However, the triumphant screening of the film throughout the country refuted the opinions of critics. And soon a collection of the writer’s works was published.