Writer Vladimir Maksimov: short biography

Writer Vladimir Maximov, whose photo was decorated with covers of books published in Paris in the second half of the twentieth century, was widely known far beyond the literature of the Russian emigre. At home, his works were delivered illegally. But they were read with interest and discussed by everyone who was not indifferent to the past and future of Russia.

Facts from biography

Maksimov Vladimir Emelyanovich - such a literary pseudonym was invented for himself by Lev Alekseevich Samsonov, who was born on November 27, 1930 in Moscow. Childhood of the future writer was difficult. His family was classified as disadvantaged, which led to the escape of the boy from home. The young man wandered about Central Asia and Southern Siberia, visited several children's homes and colonies for juvenile offenders. Later he was tried on criminal charges and was serving a term of imprisonment. The beginning of life was promising ... Without the slightest exaggeration, it can be argued that the writer Vladimir Maximov, whose biography ended in a respectable suburb of Paris, began his life journey from the very bottom.

Way up

Severe life tests by no means broke the future writer. Moreover, the experience of survival in a constant conflict with the surrounding social environment has largely shaped its character. After his release from prison in 1951, Vladimir Maximov lived in the Krasnodar Territory. Feeling a taste for literary creativity, interrupted by casual earnings for the sake of the opportunity to write poetry and prose. Here the first publications in local periodicals were held. A little later, he was able to print the first collection of poems in the provincial publishing house in the Kuban. But, as you know, the way to the big literature in Russia traditionally runs through the capital.

In the great literature

In Moscow, Vladimir Maximov was able to return only in 1956. His return coincided with the beginning of the so-called Khrushchev's "thaw". In the life of the country at that time, great changes took place. A new generation of young people quickly burst into Soviet literature. Many of them passed the war and Stalin's camps. Vladimir Maksimov writes a lot and is published in the capital literary magazines. A notable event was his publication in the famous literary almanac "Tarusa pages." In 1963 he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In addition, the writer conducts active social activities. In 1967 he was elected a member of the editorial board of the influential Soviet literary magazine "October". Books and publications by Vladimir Maksimov enjoy readership success and are actively discussed on the pages of periodicals.

Emigration

But Vladimir Maximov could not be an orthodox Soviet writer . His political views were at odds with the official ideology. And books that negatively reflect Soviet realities could not be published in the country. This sad fact was more than compensated by the readers' attention to his work. Very soon he went beyond the permissible limits in the Soviet Union. Maximov's novels "Quarantine" and "Seven Days of Creation" dispersed among the reading public in typewritten form, and later were published abroad. In 1973, Vladimir Maximov was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers and placed on compulsory treatment in a psychiatric clinic. Such practice in the USSR was quite widespread. In 1974, the writer manages to emigrate to France.

The magazine "Continent"

In Paris, Vladimir Maximov is actively involved in literary work and in public activities. Elected executive director of the international anti-communist organization "Internationale Resistance". In the capital of France, he publishes everything that was not possible to print in the Soviet Union. His books on Soviet realities are very successful and translated into many European languages. But the main business of his life, Vladimir Yemelyanovich considered the publication of the literary-artistic and socio-political magazine "Continent." This edition, edited by Maximov, publishes a significant volume of Russian literary heritage in verse and prose, no matter where these works were created. In addition, the magazine "Continent" becomes the largest in the Russian literary foreign countries open publicistic platform. Over the course of three decades, many writers and thinkers have expressed their ideas and evaluations of events, from liberals to conservatives. At the same time, the "Continent" is in constant controversy with another authoritative periodical - "Syntax" by Andrei Sinyavsky. Vladimir Maximov remained on the post of editor-in-chief until the day of his death in 1995. The writer was buried in the famous Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-de-Bois near Paris.