Chudakov Alexander Pavlovich - one of the most interesting philologists, literary critics and writers of the Soviet Union, the successor of the academic traditions of philology.
Alexander Pavlovich devoted most of his literary career to the work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. His sudden demise left many questions and incomplete works.
Family and study
In the yard was a harsh 1938 year. Alexander Pavlovich was born into an intelligent family in the small town of Schuchinsk in Northern Kazakhstan (at that time the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic). It was not just an intelligent family, but a family of teachers - one of the few in the whole town. Despite his posts, his family often spoke negatively about the actions of the Soviet government and about the leadership of Stalin. However, by a coincidence of favorable circumstances, parents were never convicted or repressed precisely because they were almost the only teachers in a small Kazakh town.
However, the most interesting time began in 1955, when Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov arrived in Moscow and, at the first attempt, entered the philological faculty of Moscow State University. From the very beginning, he entered the top five best students in the course and stood out for his unique style of explanation and extraordinary thinking.
Studying at Moscow State University, in the first year, Alexander Pavlovich gets acquainted with a very interesting woman - Marietta Khan-Magomedova, whom she later married and lived all his life.
Creative way
Four years after graduating from university and graduate school, Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov began working at the Institute of World Literature. In addition, he taught at Moscow State University, Literary Institute, Russian State Humanitarian University. Later, they began to invite him to lecture at leading universities in Europe, the USA and Asia.
As a continuation of the academic traditions of philology, Alexander Pavlovich paid great attention to language and word and tried to preserve the traditional, powerful Russian language without substituting verbal concepts.
Alexander Chudakov, whose biography broke off very unexpectedly, published more than 200 articles, monographs and studies on the topic of Russian literature. In particular, he devoted most of his work to A.P. Chekhov. His famous work of 1971, "Chekhov's Poetics" made a lot of noise in the world of philology and won the hearts of both critics and researchers.
In addition, the literary critic studied the semantic poetics of Pushkin and devoted a whole study on the theme of the “beaver collar” of Eugene Onegin.
Conversations with the great
"The interlocutor of the great" - as many called Alexander Pavlovich. That's because the philologist was known for his incredible recordings and soul-catching conversations with the great literary scholars of the 20th century. Sergey Bondi, Lydia Ginzburg, Victor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynyanov - this is an incomplete list of interlocutors of a literary critic. Throughout his life, he carried a notebook with him, in which he wrote down all the opinions, stories, aphorisms and quotes of famous philosophers.
Working in Seoul, Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov released the work “I listen. I study. I ask. Three conversations. " This rather rare book was published in just 10 copies. It reflects conversations and literary opinions, starting from the 20s and ending with the 70s of the XX century.
“The darkness falls on the old steps”
This is his most famous novel - memories of his childhood and the life of his family in Kazakhstan. It was in him that the author conveyed the indescribable Chekhov atmosphere that was preserved in his family.
This book is not only memories of relatives and childhood, these are memories of an era, of people with a core, of high spirituality. They were able to overcome everything and survive in another, unfamiliar world of the exiled small town. Once, intellectuals had now to build their own house, lay a stove and grow crops to feed themselves.
Chudakov Alexander Pavlovich, whose biography is completely devoted to Russian literature, wrote an idyll novel. It was published in the Banner magazine in 2000, nominated for the Booker Prize, and after the death of the writer, received the Russian Booker of the Decade Prize in 2011. Two years later, Vremya Publishing House publishes the book in a separate run of 5, 000 copies. At the same time, the novel was sold out in the first few days.
Grandfather of Alexander Pavlovich
The main place in the book is occupied by the grandfather, the prototype of which was the grandfather of Alexander Pavlovich himself. At one time he was a priest and professor at the same time. Life made him leave everything and leave with his family in a small town on the border of Siberia and Kazakhstan. It combines the image of a powerful Russian peasant and a deep intellectual at the same time.
It was he who had an incredible impact on Chudakov in a personal and creative way. His friends recalled how a writer, physically working at a summer cottage in the village, followed by writing his articles. It was thanks to his grandfather that the famous writer decided to write the historical “encyclopedia of Russian life”.
Personal qualities
According to friends and colleagues, Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov was a powerful person both in life and in creativity. At 60, he could go to give a lecture, and before that, swim in the lake and work out.
Being a powerful person, he could become a good athlete. Leonid Meshkov, the famous Soviet swimmer and trainer, suggested Chudakov do swimming professionally, but the literary critic remained faithful to the world of pen and word.
Here is such an extraordinary biography of a wonderful person named Alexander Chudakov …
Books
Chudakov’s books are a whole “phenomenon of Russian life”. This is how friends and colleagues described the work of a literary critic. Liveliness, optimism and incredible energy were combined with a subtle mind and academic thinking. Being a liberal and a man of high humanism, Chudakov reflected all his feelings in his works. The content of most of his articles and works can tell a lot directly about the biography of the critic. He was a truly living person, with humor, able to find beauty in any, even not quite aesthetic fact.
Doom and creative legacy
On October 3, 2005, under ridiculous and strange circumstances, Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov died. The cause of death is a severe head injury. He was 69 years old, and he did not live only a few months to seventy. The accident occurred in the entrance of the house where the writer lived. A light bulb burned out on the landing. Chudakov, climbing the stairs, slipped and fell. Due to a serious fall, the head suffered, which was the cause of death.
Many contemporaries, colleagues and close people say that it was precisely untimely death, since the writer had many creative plans and ideas that he never managed to implement. One of these works is a collection of conversations and conversations with the great philologists, philosophers and thinkers of the 20th century listed above. Chudakov is still considered one of the best specialists in the work of A.P. Chekhov.
