Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a Soviet and Russian writer,Э. Кузьмина. Прочная основа // «Новый мир», 1964, № 4, с.244-246. actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altai region who specialized in rural themes.Neil Cornwell, Reference Guide to Russian Literature Routledge, 2013, , 734 p.Mauricio Borrero, Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present Infobase Publishing, 2009, , 318 p. A prominent member of the Village Prose movement, he began writing short stories in his early teenage years and later transitioned to acting by his late 20s.

Biography Vasiliy Makarovich Shukshin was born on 25 July 1929 to a peasant family of assimilated Moksha Mordvin«Мы процентов на 90: мордва...» [We are 90% Mordvin] // Vecherniy Saransk, 29 April 2016. Quote from Shukshin's daughter:

«Почему Саранск? Мы мордва. Предки Василия Макаровича из Мордовии, мы знаем, что сначала они переселились в Самарскую область, а затем в Алтайский край.»

["Why Saransk? Because we are Mordvin. The ancestors of Vasily Shukshin came from Mordovia; we know they first settled in Samara Oblast and then in Altai Krai"] origin in the village of Srostki near Biysk in Siberian Krai, Soviet Union (now in Altai Krai, Russia). In 1933, his father, Makar Leontievich Shukshin, was arrested and executed on the charges of participating in an "anti-kolkhoz plot" during the Soviet collectivization. He was only rehabilitated 23 years later, in 1956. His mother, Maria Sergeyevna (née Popova), thus had to look after the survival of the entire family. By 1943, Shukshin had finished seven years of village school and entered an automobile technical school in Biysk. In 1945, after two and a half years at the school but before finishing, he quit to work in a kolkhoz.Марьин Д. В. Радист Василий Шукшин. // Военно-исторический журнал. — 2009. — No. 10.

In 1946, Shukshin left his native village and worked as a metal craftsman at several enterprises in the trust Soyuzprommekhanizatsiya: at the turbine plant in Kaluga,биография на rusactors.ru at the tractor plant in Vladimir, etc. In 1949, Shukshin was drafted into the Navy. He first served as a sailor in the Baltic Fleet, then a radio operator on the Black Sea. In 1953, he was demobilized due to a stomach ulcer and returned to his native village. Having passed an external exam for high school graduation, he became a teacher of Russian, and later a school principal in Srostki.

In 1954, Shukshin entered the directors' department of the VGIK; he studied under Mikhail Romm and Sergei Gerasimov, and graduated in 1960. While studying at VGIK in 1958, Shukshin had his first leading role in Marlen Khutsiyev's film Two Fedors and appeared in Andrei Tarkovsky's graduation film.

In 1958 he published his first short story "Two on the Cart" in the magazine Smena. His first collection of stories, Сельские жители (Village Dwellers) was published in 1963. That same year, he became staff director at the Gorky Film Studio in Moscow. He wrote and directed Живёт такой парень (There Is This Lad). The film premiered in 1965, winning top honours at the All-Union Film Festival in Leningrad and the Golden Lion at the XVI International Film Festival in Venice. Shukshin was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1967), and was designated Distinguished Artist of the RSFSR (1969).

Shukshin's main interest lay in the situation of ordinary, simple people in the Soviet Union of his time. He laced his films with both humor and melancholy.

He married actress Lidiya Fedoseyeva in 1964; she also appeared in several of his films. Their daughter Mariya is a TV presenter.

Shukshin died suddenly of a supposed heart attack on 2 October 1974, on the motor ship Dunai, on the Volga River, while filming They Fought for Their Country. He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

English translations I Want to Live, Progress Publishers, 1978. Snowball Berry Red and Other Stories, Ardis Publishers, 1979. Short Stories, Raduga Publishers, 1990. Roubles in Words, Kopeks in Figures, Marion Boyars, 1994. Stories from a Siberian Village, Northern Illinois University Press, 1996.

Theatre adaptation Latvian theatre director Alvis Hermanis adapted eight of Shuksin's short stories for stage, in a collaboration with the Theatre of Nations in Moscow, entitled Shuksin's Stories or Shuksin's Tales. it is still touring the world, having first being staged in around 2009, and has won several awards. Starring Yevgeny Mironov, the play was staged at The Barbican in London in October 2019.

Filmography

1956: The Killers () (Short) as Ole Andreson 1957: And Quiet Flows the Don () as minor role (uncredited) 1958: Two Fyodors () as Great Fyodor 1959: The Golden Eshelon () as Andrey Nizovtsev 1960: A Simple Story () as Ivan Lykov 1961: Mission () as combine operator 1962: Alyonka () as Stepan Revan 1962: When the Trees Were Tall () as chairman of the kolkhoz 1963: We, Two of Men () as Mikhail Gorlov 1964: There Is Such a Lad () (director, screenwriter) 1965: Your Son and Brother () (director, screenwriter) 1967: The Journalist () 1967: The Commissar () as The Commandant 1968: Three Days of Viktor Chernyshov () as Kravchenko 1969: Strange People () (director, screenwriter) as Nikolay Nikolayevich Larionov 1970: By the Lake () as Vasily Chernykh 1970: Liberation I: The Fire Bulge () as Gen. Konev 1970: Liberation II: Breakthrough () as Gen. Konev 1970: Lyubov Yarovaya () as Roman Koshkin 1971: Dauria () as Vasily Ulybin 1971: Liberation III: Direction of the Main Blow () as Gen. Konev 1971: Liberation IV: The Battle of Berlin () as Ivan Konev 1971: Liberation V: The Last Assault () as Ivan Konev 1971: Soldier Came From The Front () (screenwriter) 1972: Happy Go Lucky () (director, screenwriter) as Ivan Rastorguyev 1974: The Red Snowball Tree () (director, screenwriter) as Yegor Prokudin 1974: If You Want To Be Happy () as Vladimir Fedotov 1974: Fellows () (screenwriter) 1975: They Fought for Their Country () as Piotr Lopakhin 1976: I Want the Floor () as Fedya, plawright (final film role) 1977: Call Me To The Light Far () (screenwriter) 1988: Yolki-palki () (writer) 2004: High Boots () (writer)

References

External links

Vasily Shukshin: Personality and Legend О чувашских корнях выдающегося писателя