Yury Trifonov
Encyclopedia
Yury Valentinovich Trifonov was a leading representative of the so-called Soviet "urban prose", a 1970s movement inspired by the psychologically complicated works of Anton Chekhov
and his 20th-century American followers. He was considered a close contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.
and, with a two-year interval in Tashkent, spent his whole life in Moscow
. His father, Valentin Trifonov
(1888–1938), was of Don Cossack
descent. A Red Army veteran who commanded Cossacks in the Don during the civil was and later served as a Soviet official, he was arrested on 21/22 June 1937 and shot on 15 March 1938. He was rehabilitated on 3 November 1955.
Trifonov's mother, Evgeniya Abramovna Lurie (1904–1975), an engineer and accountant, spent eight years in prison for not denouncing her husband. She was allowed to return to Moscow in 1946. Later in life, she wrote children's books under the name E. Tayurina. She was half Russian
and half Jewish.
During their mother's imprisonment, Trifonov and his sister were raised by their maternal grandmother, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Lurie (née. Slovatinskaya, 1879—1957), who had been a professional revolutionary and took part in the civil war. His maternal grandfather, Abram Pavlovich Lurie (1875—1924), had been a member of an underground Menshevik group.
After the purge, Trifonov's family moved from the famous House on Embankment
(just across the river from the Kremlin
), into a sordid kommunalka
.
At school, Trifonov edited class newspapers, composed poetry and wrote short stories. He spent 1941 and 1942 in Tashkent, capital of the Uzbek SSR. During the war, in 1942-45, he worked as a fitter in a factory in Moscow. In 1945, he edited the factory's newspaper.
Trifonov attended a literary institute between 1944 and 1949. His first novel, The Students (1950), won him the Stalin Prize. Trifonov's subsequent works treated such topics as moral ambivalence of Soviet intelligentsia
and tragic vicissitudes of Cossack
dom during the Russian Civil War
.
Trifonov's best regarded and most widely read pieces are half a dozen "Muscovite novellas": Exchange (1969), Preliminary Conclusions (1970), The Long Good-Bye (1971), Another Life (1975), and (most importantly) House on the Embankment (1976
). These works are ranked among the most stylish, richly textured and aesthetically satisfying written in the Soviet period.
He was married from 1949 to 1966 to Nina Alekseevna Nelina, the daughter of a well-known artist and herself an opera singer. The marriage was ended by Nelina's death. In 1951, they had a daughter, Olga, who now lives in Düsseldorf, Germany.
In 1968, he married Anna Pavlovna Pastukhova, an editor. In 1975, he married for a third time, to Olga Romanovna Miroshnichenko (b. 1938), a writer formerly married to the writer Georgy S. Beryozko. Their son, Valentin Yurievich Trifonov, was born in 1979.
He died in 1981, aged 55, from a pulmonary embolism after an operation to remove a kidney. He is buried in Moscow's Kuntsevsky cemetery.
Olga Miroshnichenko-Trifonova subsequently published her late husband's diaries and notebooks, going back to the writer's schooldays and ending in 1980. She published her memoirs of Trifonov in 2003.
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
and his 20th-century American followers. He was considered a close contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.
Biography
Trifonov was born in the luxurious apartments on the Arbat StreetArbat Street
The Arbat is an approximately one-kilometer long pedestrian street in the historical centre of Moscow. The Arbat has existed at least since the 15th century, thus laying claim to being one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital. It forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow...
and, with a two-year interval in Tashkent, spent his whole life in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. His father, Valentin Trifonov
Valentin Trifonov
Valentin Andreyevich Trifonov was one of the leaders of Cossack revolutionary forces who played a major role in establishment of Soviet rule in the Don Voisko Province...
(1888–1938), was of Don Cossack
Cossack
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...
descent. A Red Army veteran who commanded Cossacks in the Don during the civil was and later served as a Soviet official, he was arrested on 21/22 June 1937 and shot on 15 March 1938. He was rehabilitated on 3 November 1955.
Trifonov's mother, Evgeniya Abramovna Lurie (1904–1975), an engineer and accountant, spent eight years in prison for not denouncing her husband. She was allowed to return to Moscow in 1946. Later in life, she wrote children's books under the name E. Tayurina. She was half Russian
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....
and half Jewish.
During their mother's imprisonment, Trifonov and his sister were raised by their maternal grandmother, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Lurie (née. Slovatinskaya, 1879—1957), who had been a professional revolutionary and took part in the civil war. His maternal grandfather, Abram Pavlovich Lurie (1875—1924), had been a member of an underground Menshevik group.
After the purge, Trifonov's family moved from the famous House on Embankment
House on Embankment
The House on the Embankment is a block-wide apartment house in downtown Moscow, Russia. It was completed in 1931 as the Government Building, a residence of Soviet elite...
(just across the river from the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
), into a sordid kommunalka
Kommunalka
A communal apartment or kommunalka appeared in the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, as a product of the “new collective vision of the future” and as a response to the housing crisis in urban areas. A communal apartment typically consisted of an apartment shared between two to...
.
At school, Trifonov edited class newspapers, composed poetry and wrote short stories. He spent 1941 and 1942 in Tashkent, capital of the Uzbek SSR. During the war, in 1942-45, he worked as a fitter in a factory in Moscow. In 1945, he edited the factory's newspaper.
Trifonov attended a literary institute between 1944 and 1949. His first novel, The Students (1950), won him the Stalin Prize. Trifonov's subsequent works treated such topics as moral ambivalence of Soviet intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
and tragic vicissitudes of Cossack
Cossack
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...
dom during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
.
Trifonov's best regarded and most widely read pieces are half a dozen "Muscovite novellas": Exchange (1969), Preliminary Conclusions (1970), The Long Good-Bye (1971), Another Life (1975), and (most importantly) House on the Embankment (1976
1976 in literature
The year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
). These works are ranked among the most stylish, richly textured and aesthetically satisfying written in the Soviet period.
He was married from 1949 to 1966 to Nina Alekseevna Nelina, the daughter of a well-known artist and herself an opera singer. The marriage was ended by Nelina's death. In 1951, they had a daughter, Olga, who now lives in Düsseldorf, Germany.
In 1968, he married Anna Pavlovna Pastukhova, an editor. In 1975, he married for a third time, to Olga Romanovna Miroshnichenko (b. 1938), a writer formerly married to the writer Georgy S. Beryozko. Their son, Valentin Yurievich Trifonov, was born in 1979.
He died in 1981, aged 55, from a pulmonary embolism after an operation to remove a kidney. He is buried in Moscow's Kuntsevsky cemetery.
Olga Miroshnichenko-Trifonova subsequently published her late husband's diaries and notebooks, going back to the writer's schooldays and ending in 1980. She published her memoirs of Trifonov in 2003.
English Translations
- Students: A Novel, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1953.
- Impatient Ones, Progress Publishers, 1978.
- The Long Goodbye: Three Novellas, Ardis, 1978.
- A Short Stay in the Torture Chamber, from The Wild Beach and Other Stories, Ardis, 1992.
- The Disappearance, Northwestern University Press, 1997.
- The Old Man, Northwestern University Press, 1999.
- Another Life and The House on the Embankment, Northwestern University Press, 1999.
- The Exchange and Other Stories, Northwestern University Press, 2002.