1911–1998
○ Natural causes
The writer whose banned novel became the emblem of glasnost
Stalin speaks in Children of the Arbat: "Death solves all problems — no man, no problem." In one sentence, the cold logic of an era.
A Soviet Jewish writer who grew up on Moscow's Arbat Street. Arrested by the NKVD in 1933 and exiled to Siberia for three years, he later commanded a tank unit through to Berlin. His novel Children of the Arbat, written in the 1960s, was suppressed for over twenty years until glasnost finally brought it to light in 1987, making it a literary landmark of de-Stalinization. Heavy Sand (1979), depicting a Jewish family's struggle under Nazi occupation, was hailed as the first Russian-language Holocaust novel.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1933–36Arrested by NKVD, three years Siberian exile
- 1941–46Tank commander, Moscow to Berlin
- 1948–56Children's books debut (Kortik, Bronze Bird)
- 1950Stalin Prize for Drivers
- 1960s–87Children of the Arbat written, samizdat, suppressed
- 1979Heavy Sand — first Russian-language Holocaust novel
- 1987Children of the Arbat published under glasnost; global sensation
- 1989–91President, Soviet PEN Center
Related historical events
Children of the Arbat and its delayed publication
Rybakov began writing the Children of the Arbat cycle in the early 1950s. Its first volume, about people raised on revolutionary ideals and the repressive state apparatus, was completed in 1982, but publication was delayed until 1987, during perestroika. EBSCO's biographical account says the book had originally been scheduled for publication in 1966 and was held back by censorship. Rybakov repeatedly declined offers to publish it abroad, insisting that Soviet readers should be able to read it. Its 1987 publication in the Soviet Union, exposing the violence of the Stalin era, made a considerable impact; it was adapted for television in 2004.