Pavel Ulitin
Encyclopedia
Pavel Pavlovich Ulitin (1918–1986) was a Russian
underground writer.
village located on the Don
. His father was a surveyor murdered in 1921 by White Army bandits. His mother was a doctor and highly educated, having completed the most advanced courses then available to women in St. Petersburg. After finishing primary school Ulitin entered the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History (IFLI), where he and his friends organized an anti-Stalin
Communist club. This led to his arrest in 1938. Sixteen months later he was released due to poor health. The injuries he received during his imprisonment left him permanently disabled.
At the end of the Second World War Ulitin returned to Moscow and began correspondence studies at the Moscow State Linguistic University. In 1951 he attempted to seek asylum in the United States
embassy, but was arrested and committed to the Leningrad Prison Psychiatric Hospital, where he remained until 1954. He returned to his hometown, then went back to Moscow. In 1957 he completed his correspondence studies. He supported himself by teaching English
and working as a clerk in a bookstore. He died in Moscow in 1986.
, Ulitin created his own style, in which a 'concealed subject' is gradually created by the interlacing of a stream of consciousness, recollections of the narrator, quotations (many in foreign languages), scraps of dialogue, and monologues by incidental characters.
Within the Soviet Union
Ulitin's works were distributed through the samizdat
. Beginning in 1976, thanks to the advocacy of Zinovy Zinik
, his works began to appear in émigré periodicals. The first post-Soviet publication of his works took place in the 1990s, and three more have been published since 2000 by Ivan Akhmetev. However, the greater part of Ulitin's oeuvre remains unpublished.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
underground writer.
Life
Ulitin was born in Migulinsky, a CossackCossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
village located on the Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
. His father was a surveyor murdered in 1921 by White Army bandits. His mother was a doctor and highly educated, having completed the most advanced courses then available to women in St. Petersburg. After finishing primary school Ulitin entered the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History (IFLI), where he and his friends organized an anti-Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
Communist club. This led to his arrest in 1938. Sixteen months later he was released due to poor health. The injuries he received during his imprisonment left him permanently disabled.
At the end of the Second World War Ulitin returned to Moscow and began correspondence studies at the Moscow State Linguistic University. In 1951 he attempted to seek asylum in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
embassy, but was arrested and committed to the Leningrad Prison Psychiatric Hospital, where he remained until 1954. He returned to his hometown, then went back to Moscow. In 1957 he completed his correspondence studies. He supported himself by teaching English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and working as a clerk in a bookstore. He died in Moscow in 1986.
Work
Ulitin's early writings do not survive. It is known that the manuscript of a novel was confiscated following his arrest in 1951, as were further writings following a search of his home in 1962. Inspired by the techniques of James JoyceJames Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Ulitin created his own style, in which a 'concealed subject' is gradually created by the interlacing of a stream of consciousness, recollections of the narrator, quotations (many in foreign languages), scraps of dialogue, and monologues by incidental characters.
Within the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Ulitin's works were distributed through the samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
. Beginning in 1976, thanks to the advocacy of Zinovy Zinik
Zinovy Zinik
Zinovy Zinik is a novelist and broadcaster.Zinik was born in Moscow in 1945. He studied painting at an art school and later studied topology at Moscow University. He started writing prose in the 1960s and contributed to the journal Teatr.He emigrated to Israel in 1975...
, his works began to appear in émigré periodicals. The first post-Soviet publication of his works took place in the 1990s, and three more have been published since 2000 by Ivan Akhmetev. However, the greater part of Ulitin's oeuvre remains unpublished.