Mikhail Zoschenko

Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoschenko was born on August 9, 1894, into the family of an artist. Zoschenko studied law at St. Petersburg University for 2 years before WWI. In 1915 he went to war as a volunteer. He was decorated four times for his courage, rising to Captain and a Battalion commander. He was wounded in action three times, but continued active service on the front-line. He was hospitalized only after a severe gas poisoning while in action. In 1917 he served as the Commandant of the General Post and Telegraph in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). In 1918 he joined the Red Army in the Russian Civil War against the Czar's White Army. Zoschenko showed an early talent in his stories "Palto" (A Coat, 1907) and "Tscheslavie" (Vanity, 1913). From 1919-21 he studied under Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy. At that time he lived at the famous "Dom Iskusstv" (Art House) on the Nevsky Prospect, the community where many talented writers and artists lived. He joined the Serapion Brothers group with Mikhail Slonimsky, Viktor Shklovskiy, Vsevolod Ivanov, Konstantin Fedin and Nikolai Tikhonov. Inspired by the work of Yevgeni Zamyatin Zoschenko wrote satirical stories about Soviet people. He had over 100 publications between 1921 and 1946. Being one of the most popular satirists, Zoschenko was under surveillance. In 1929 he published a social study, based on many interesting letters that he received from his readers. His views were different from the official Soviet dogma. His satire revealed the shortcomings of life under the Soviet system. He brilliantly used literary hints on the Soviet colloquial speech. His highly original style was praised by Aleksei Tolstoy, Samuil Marshak, Yuriy Olesha, and Yuri Tynyanov. Vsevolod Meyerhold planned to stage his play "Dear Comrade", but it was banned. He wrote a letter to Iosif Stalin which caused him more troubles and restrictions. He worked as a scriptwriter for the Mosfilm Studios during the years of evacuation in Alma-Ata. There he worked on autobiographical and scientific study of the subconscious, titled "Pered Voskhodom Solntsa" (Before Sunrise). It was banned after publication of the first chapters in 1943. Zoschenko was ahead of time in his research on the subconscious. Affter WWII Iosif Stalin pushed repressions against intellectuals. Zoschenko and Anna Akhmatova were expelled from the Soviet Writer's Union and their publications were banned. Their life was in danger, after the recent executions of Vsevolod Meyerhold and Osip Mandelstam. Many leading intellectuals were censored, such as Boris Pasternak, Sergei Prokofiev, Aram Khachaturyan among others. Nikita Khrushchev made an effort to change the cultural environment in 1956. Zoschenko was published again and regained success, but his health was declining. He died in Leningrad on July 22, 1958. His posthumous fame was inevitable due to his talent and truthfulness in showing the Soviet reality. Vladimir Nabokov praised Zoschenko for his impeccable satirical works.