Yevgeny Yevtushenko years of life. Evgeny Yevtushenko: unknown facts about the famous poet

Evgeny Yevtushenko is a Russian poet and prose writer, director and screenwriter, publicist, reader-speaker and actor. Was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

His father, Alexander Rudolfovich Gangnus, was half-German and a little-known poet. Mother, Zinaida Ermolaevna Yevtushenko, was a popular actress.

An interesting fact is that initially the boy had the surname Gangnus, but at the beginning the mother gave her son her surname so as not to have problems with documents.

Childhood and youth

At the height of the war, the Yevtushenko family moved to. Interestingly, while studying at school, Evgeniy received poor grades in many subjects.

Soon he began attending a poetry studio in the House of Pioneers. During this period of his biography, he managed to attend poetry evenings of disgraced poets and.

Since Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s mother worked as an actress, various cultural figures often came to their house. Thanks to this boy, he managed to learn a lot interesting facts and stories from the lives of outstanding contemporaries.

Poems by Yevtushenko

In 1949, a significant event occurred in Yevtushenko’s biography. His first poem was published at the Soviet Sport publishing house. Soon Evgeniy successfully passed the exams at the Gorky Literary Institute, but was never able to graduate.

Officially, Yevtushenko was expelled for frequent absenteeism, but in reality he was expelled due to views that ran counter to the ideology of the time.

An interesting fact is that the poet will receive higher education only in 2001, when he will already be 69 years old.

After expulsion from the institute, Evgeny Yevtushenko began to actively engage in writing. In 1952, a year before his death, he published his first collection of works, Scouts of the Future.

Soon, several serious poems came from Yevtushenko’s pen, among which were “Wagon” and “Depth”. His work was appreciated by critics, as a result of which in the same year he became the youngest member of the Writers' Union.

Feeling confident in his own abilities, Yevgeny Yevtushenko continued to write poetry. Of particular interest to readers were his collections “Promise”, “Tenderness” and “Wave of the Hand”.

They began to talk about Yevtushenko as one of the most talented Soviet poets.

Soon, Evgeny Alexandrovich read his poems at creative evenings, being on the same stage with Robert Rozhdestvensky, Bella Akhmadulina and.

Then he wrote several prose works, after which he published the first novel in his biography, “Berry Places.”

After, Yevtushenko went to America, where he continued his writing. He taught Russian poetry at American universities and was also able to publish several more collections.

An interesting fact is that while in the USA, he periodically came to, because he was always homesick for his homeland.

During the biography period 1993-2013. Evgeny Yevtushenko has published more than 10 collections of his poems. The most popular works were “My very best”, “I will break through into the 21st century...” and “I don’t know how to say goodbye.”

Also at this time he wrote the novel “Don’t Die Before You Die.” The book paid much attention to political events, namely the August 1991 coup.

For his creative success he received a lot of prestigious awards and prizes. In 1963 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

It was named in honor of Yevgeny Yevtushenko minor planet, called “4234 Evtushenko”. Yevtushenko is also an honorary professor at four American universities.

Music

Yevtushenko began collaborating with composers back in the 60s of the last century. In 1961 he wrote the poem “Babi Yar”.

After reading it, the famous composer Dmitry Shostakovich composed the 13th symphony, which soon became worldwide popular.

Many Russian artists used the poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko in their work.

Songs based on his poems were performed by Magomayev, Gradsky, Malinin, Talkov, Gurchenko and other artists.

Movies

An interesting fact is that Yevtushenko has proven himself well as a screenwriter. In 1964, he, co-authored with Enrique Pineda Barnet, wrote the script for the two-part drama “I Am Cuba.” It's also worth adding that almost the entire film was shot with a handheld camera.

In 1979, Yevgeny Yevtushenko starred in the film “Take Off,” playing the famous Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. In addition, he had cameo roles in the films " Kindergarten" and "Stalin's Funeral".

Personal life

There were 4 women in the biography of Yevgeny Yevtushenko. His first wife was the poetess Bella Akhmadulina, whom he married in 1954. However, their union lasted less than 4 years.

The poet's next wife was Galina Sokol-Lukonina, with whom he married in 1961. From Galina he had a son, Peter.

For the third time, Yevtushenko married his Irish admirer Jen Butler. In this marriage they had 2 boys - Alexander and Anton.

The last wife in the poet’s biography was doctor Maria Novikova. Yevtushenko lived with her for 26 years. During this time, the couple had two sons - Dmitry and Evgeny.

An interesting fact is that Yevtushenko was often reproached for pretentious rhetoric and hidden self-praise. The outstanding Russian poet and Nobel Prize winner in literature in 1972 said the following about Yevtushenko in one of his interviews:

Yevtushenko? You know - it's not that simple. He is, of course, a very bad poet. And he is an even worse person. This is such a huge factory for reproducing itself. By self-reproduction...

He has poems that, in general, you can even remember, love, and like. I just don’t like the general level of this whole thing.

Death

Shortly before his death, Yevtushenko was hospitalized in one of the American clinics. He had cancer in the last fourth stage, which had returned after surgical removal of a kidney about six years ago.

According to the poet's last will, he was buried near Moscow at the Peredelkinskoye cemetery next to the grave of Boris Pasternak.

The legendary writer Yevgeny Yevtushenko was born in Siberia in 1932, and from his very birth his whole life was associated with change. Evgeniy’s mother, Zinaida Ivanovna, changed her husband’s surname to her maiden name and registered her son as Yevtushenko. This is not surprising. The head of the family, Alexander Rudolfovich, was half German, half Baltic and bore the last name Gangnus. A little later, during the evacuation of the Great Patriotic War, in order to avoid problems with documents, the mother had to change the year in Evgeniy’s birth certificate to 1933.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko grew up in a creative family: his father was an amateur poet, and his mother was an actress, who later received the title of Honored Cultural Worker of the RSFSR. From an early age, his parents instilled in him a love of books: they read aloud, retold interesting facts from history, teaching the child to read. So, at the age of six, dad taught little Zhenya to read and write. For his development, little Yevtushenko chose not children's authors at all, reading the works of Cervantes and Flaubert.

In 1944, Evgeniy’s family moved to Moscow, and after a while his father left the family and went to another woman. At the same time, Alexander Rudolfovich continues to study literary development son. Evgeniy studied in the poetry studio of the House of Pioneers, attending poetry evenings at Moscow State University with his father. Yevtushenko attended creative evenings by Alexander Tvardovsky. And my mother, being a soloist of the theater named after. , often gathered artists and poets at home. Mikhail Roshchin, Evgeny Vinokurov, Vladimir Sokolov and others came to visit little Zhenya.

Poetry

In such a creative atmosphere, young Zhenya was precocious and tried to imitate adults, also writing poetry. In 1949, Yevtushenko’s poem was published for the first time in one of the issues of the newspaper “Soviet Sport”.

In 1951, Evgeniy entered the Gorky Literary Institute and was soon expelled for not attending lectures, but the real reason was hidden in public statements that were unacceptable for that time. By the way, Yevtushenko received a diploma of higher education only in 2001.

Absence higher education did not prevent the young talent from achieving success in creativity. In 1952, the first collection “Scouts of the Future” was published, consisting of praising poems and pretentious slogans. And the poetry “Before the Meeting” and “Wagon” gave the start to the poet’s serious career. In the same year, Yevtushenko was accepted into the Union of Writers of the USSR, and the twenty-year-old boy became the youngest member of the organization.

The real fame of the young poet comes from such works as “The Third Snow”, “Poems of Different Years” and “Apple”. In just a few years, Yevgeny Yevtushenko achieves such recognition that he is called to speak at poetry evenings. The young poet read his poems along with such legends as Bella Akhmadulina.

In addition to poetry, prose that readers loved came from his pen. The first work, “The Fourth Meshchanskaya,” was published in 1959 in the magazine “Youth,” and later the second story, “The Chicken God,” was published. Yevtushenko published his first novel, “Berry Places,” in 1982, and the next, “Don’t Die Before You Die,” eleven years later.

In the early nineties, the writer moved to the United States, but did not stop his creative activity there either: he taught courses in Russian poetry at local universities and even published several works. Evgeny Yevtushenko still publishes his collections. So, in 2012, “Happiness and Reckoning” was released, and a year later, “I Can’t Say Goodbye.”

During his creative life More than one hundred and thirty books have been published, and his works are read in 70 languages ​​of the world.

Evgeniy Alexandrovich not only received recognition among readers, but also earned countless awards. So, Yevtushenko was a laureate Nobel Prize in literature, the USSR State Prize and the Tefi Prize. The poet was awarded the “Badge of Honor” and the medal “For Services to the Fatherland” - and this is only a small part of the awards. A small planet is named after the writer solar system, which is called 4234 Evtushenko. Evgeniy Alexandrovich is also an honorary professor at King's College in Queens, the University of Santo Domingo, the University new school in New York "Nonoris Causa" and at the University of Pittsburgh.

Music

The poet's poems inspire many musicians to create songs and musical performances. For example, based on Yevtushenko’s poem “Babi Yar,” the composer created the famous thirteenth symphony. This work has gained worldwide recognition: “Babi Yar” is known in seventy-two languages ​​of the world. Evgeny began collaborating with composites back in the sixties, working with such celebrities as Evgeny Krylatsky, Eduard Kolmanovsky and.

Songs based on the poet's poems became real hits. There is probably not a person in the post-Soviet space who does not know the compositions “And It’s Snowing,” “When the Bells Ring” and “Motherland.” The poet managed to work with musical groups: his poems formed the basis of the rock operas “The Execution of Stepan Razin” and “White Snow is Falling.” The last work premiered at the Olimpiysky sports complex in Moscow in 2007.

Movies

Yevtushenko managed to prove himself in films. The script for the film “I Am Cuba,” which was released in 1964, was co-written by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Enrique Pineda Barnet. In Savva Kulish's film "Takeoff" the poet performed main role.

The film was released in 1979. And in 1983, the writer tried himself as a screenwriter and directed the film “Kindergarten”, where he played a small role. In 1990, he wrote the script and directed the film "Funeral".

Personal life

The poet and writer was married four times. Evgeniy first married in 1954 to a poetess. But the creative union did not last long, and in 1961 Yevtushenko led Galina Sokol-Lukonina down the aisle. In this marriage they had a son, Peter.

The writer’s third wife was his admirer from Ireland, Jen Butler, and although the foreigner gave birth to Yevtushenko’s two sons, Anton and Alexander, their marriage also fell apart.

The fourth chosen one was the doctor and philologist Maria Novikova. Yevtushenko has been married to her for 26 years, raising two sons - Dmitry and Evgeny.

Death

April 1, 2017 at the age of 85. The legendary poet died in a US clinic where he was. The writer’s wife, Maria Novikova, said that doctors gave Evgeniy Alexandrovich virtually no chance of recovery, but fought for his life until the last minutes.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko died in his sleep from cardiac arrest, surrounded by family and friends. He also managed to announce his last will- the poet’s dying wish was a request to bury him in the village of Peredelkino near Moscow.

Bibliography

• Scouts of the future
• Highway Enthusiasts
• White snows are falling
• I am Siberian breed
• Compromise Kompromisovich
• Almost at last
• Darling, sleep
• I will break through into the twenty-first century...
• Happiness and retribution
• I don't know how to say goodbye

Yevgeny Yevtushenko has admitted more than once that he has maintained friendly relations with his spouses. And he didn’t abandon his children. The ability to part as friends is a special talent that was bestowed on him along with literary

Bella Akhmadulina

The love of rock stars Soviet literature there was a poetic beginning. “Having dropped his head on the lever, the telephone receiver is fast asleep...” - these Akhmadulin lines in the magazine “October” captured Yevtushenko’s imagination. The poet immediately called editor Evgeny Vinokurov: “Who is this Akhmadulina?” - and soon appeared at the literary circle at ZIL, where 18-year-old Bella Akhatovna read her poems. The picture coincided with the “magazine” impression: “In fact, she had no equal rivals, at least young ones, neither in poetry nor in beauty,” Evgeniy Alexandrovich later recalled. However, they were not destined to become the Philemon and Baucis of Russian literature: the union lasted only three years. Akhmadulina realized that she was expecting a child. But the young husband did not want to hear about paternity. The young wife had an abortion, and the relationship broke up.

Later, the poet repented of his frivolity: “I did not understand then that if a man forces his beloved woman to kill their common child in her womb, then he kills her love for himself... Then I suffered for a long time, thinking that because of my young Due to stupid cruelty, she lost the opportunity to have children - that’s what the doctors told us. But a few years later, when I learned that she had given birth to a daughter, I thanked God...”

Galina Lukonina-Sokol

This love grew out of a 12-year friendship. Galina Semyonovna was married to Yevtushenko's friend, Mikhail Lukonin. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich admitted that “he never crossed the line until his marriage with Misha and my marriage with Bella began to fall apart...”. Then he admitted that he felt guilty before Lukonin, although the poets continued to be friends.

Galina Semyonovna could not have children, and in 1968 the couple adopted a boy, Petya (In 2015, the poet’s adopted son Peter, who became an artist, died in Moscow). Parenthood did not save the family from disintegration.

Galina was a powerful personality, a “flint,” as contemporaries write. Sometimes she criticized her husband, reproaching him for his lack of character: “I sew well, and we will somehow live on it. Why do you sometimes make corrections and spoil poetry! All the best will break through anyway...” The poet felt a little under pressure. “I still loved her, but I was already trying to fall in love with someone, I was trying...”, Yevtushenko recalled about the story of the break with his second wife. When he left her, she tried to commit suicide by cutting her wrists. But I couldn’t keep my loved one...

Jan Butler

In the summer of 1974, the Irishwoman Jan Butler, a translator at the Progress publishing house, became the third chosen one. In an interview, Evgeniy Alexandrovich told how she wittily conquered him. The poet saw a bright red-haired girl in a restaurant and asked: “Are you American?” And he received a brisk answer that England is not yet part of the North American United States... Two boys were born in this marriage - Alexander and Anton. The relationship began to cool after the birth of their second, seriously ill son. It is clear that the wife, burdened with two children, could not accompany him on endless creative business trips. Of course, she had a grudge against her husband. Evgeniy Alexandrovich himself recalled this divorce as quite calm. The relationship lasted 12 years.

Maria Evtushenko (Novikova)

In the summer of 1986, in Petrozavodsk, the poet met his fourth muse, a graduate of a medical school. Maria asked the master for an autograph for her mother. And on December 31, the lovers got married. Subsequently, the poet dedicated the lines to his young wife: The last attempt to become happy,

It's like my ghost before a cliff

And wants to jump from all the insults

To where I was broken a long time ago...

Despite the 30-year age difference, the “attempt to become happy” turned out to be far from illusory and not tragic. The couple lived in love and harmony for 30 years - until the poet’s death, giving each other sons Evgeniy and Dmitry.

] July 18 – born in the city of Nizhneudinsk, Irkutsk region. Mother - Zinaida Ermolaevna Yevtushenko (1910–2002). Father - Alexander Rudolfovich Gangnus (1910–1976). Both are geologists. Soon the child was transported to Zima station, to his mother’s relatives, the Dubinins.

1933 – moving to the house of my grandfather, Rudolf Aleksandrovich Gangnus, at the address: Moscow, Fourth Meshchanskaya, 17, apt. 2, in Maryina Roshcha.

1937 – first poem “I woke up early, early...”

1940 – study at Moscow school No. 254.

1941 , autumn - evacuation to Winter. The mother, who became a singer, goes to the front with concerts.

1944 – Grandmother Maria Baykovskaya changes her grandson’s father’s surname to his mother’s.
End of July - return with mother to Moscow; To simplify entry into the capital, the year of my son’s birth has been changed to 1933.

1945 – studies at the school of “incorrigibles” No. 607.
Spring - mother returns from the front. Birth of sister Elena.

1948 – attends a literary consultation with the publishing house “Young Guard”.
Autumn – expelled from school. He leaves to work in his father’s geological exploration party in Kazakhstan.

1949 , June 2 – first publication: the poem “Two Sports” in the newspaper “Soviet Sport”.
October 9 - the first mention of the name of Yevgeny Yevtushenko as a poet in a review of poems sent to the editorial office of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.

1950 – active publications in newspapers.
Autumn - attends B. Pasternak’s reading of Goethe’s translation of “Faust” at the Central House of Writers. First meeting with Y. Smelyakov.

1952 , April – the first book of poems “Scouts of the Future” (Soviet Writer Publishing House).
August - admission (without a matriculation certificate) to the Literary Institute. A.M. Gorky. The beginning of friendship with V. Sokolov, R. Rozhdestvensky, V. Morozov, Yu. Kazakov, M. Roshchin, M. Tarasov. Joining the Writers' Union of the USSR.

1953 , summer - trip to Siberia (Winter, Irkutsk); an attempt to publish a collection of poems in Irkutsk; participation in a conference on the works of Mayakovsky; beginning of work on the poem “Winter Station”.
Autumn – meeting Bella Akhmadulina.

1955 - marriage to Bella Akhmadulina.
Book of lyrics “The Third Snow” (Soviet Writer Publishing House).

1956 , summer–autumn – publication of the book of poems “Highway of Enthusiasts” (Moscow Worker Publishing House); trips to Georgia and Abkhazia. Completion and publication of the poem “Winter Station” (October magazine, No. 10).

1957 , March 8 – speech at a meeting of writers dedicated to discussing V. Dudintsev’s novel “Not by Bread Alone.”
May - expelled from the Literary Institute.
June–July – trip to Far East and to Siberia.

1958 , June–July - second trip to the Far East and Siberia. Poem "Where are you from?"
End of October – refusal to participate in the condemnation of B. Pasternak due to the publication of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” abroad.

1959 – first prose: the story “The Fourth Bourgeois”; poem "Loneliness".
May 3 – personal acquaintance with B. Pasternak; parting autograph of the senior poet on the book “My Sister is Life.”

1960 – first visit to the USA as part of a delegation of Soviet writers. Beginning of friendship with Albert Todd, professor of Slavic studies at Queens College (New York).
The poem “The Fence” (magazine “Yunost”, No. 12) is in memory of B. Pasternak with a mystified dedication “To the memory of V. Lugovsky.”

1961 , August – visit Babi Yar in the company of Anatoly Kuznetsov.
September 19 – publication of the poem “Babi Yar” in Literaturnaya Gazeta.
Stay in Cuba, work on a film script and the film “I am Cuba”. Communication with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Meeting Yuri Gagarin.
The song “Do the Russians want war?..” was written with composer E. Kolmanovsky; performed by M. Bernes.

1962 – beginning of work with Dm. Shostakovich on the Thirteenth Symphony to the verses of Evg. Yevtushenko.
Summer - the book “Wave of the Hand” (Molodaya Gvardiya Publishing House): first 100,000th circulation.
The publishing house "Volk und Welt" (GDR) publishes the first foreign book by Eug. Yevtushenko “This is what is happening to me.”
July–August – VII World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki. Poem "Snotty fascism."

1964 , July – second trip to the North with Yu. Kazakov. New northern poems (“Long screams”, “Smearing mosquitoes on your bald head…”, etc.).

1965 , April – publication “ Bratsk hydroelectric power station" in the magazine "Youth" and the nomination of the poem for the Lenin Prize.
Summer – trip to Italy. Italian poems. Efforts about the return of I. Brodsky from exile.

1966 , March 5 – death of Anna Akhmatova. A poem in her memory.
March – trip around Australia with successful performances.
June - I. Brodsky and V. Aksenov are visiting Yevtushenko.

1967 , April–June – poem “Bullfight”.
May - the story “Pearl Harbor” in the magazine “Youth”.
Summer – expedition along the Lena River on the Mikeshkin carbass, led by Leonid Shinkarev. Lena cycle.
Autumn – production of the play “Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station” at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya.

1968 , spring is a big trip around Latin America(12 countries). David Siqueiros paints a portrait of Yevtushenko.
June 6 – assassination of Robert Kennedy. Poem "Freedom to Kill". Visiting the American Embassy together with I. Brodsky and E. Rein as a sign of condolences.
August 22 – sends a protest telegram addressed to L.I. Brezhnev (and A.N. Kosygin) in connection with the introduction Soviet troops to Czechoslovakia.
August 23 – poem “Tanks are moving through Prague.”

1969 , February 10 - becomes a resident of a high-rise building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment.
March - receives the Order of the Badge of Honor.
A book of favorites “White Snows Are Coming...” is published (Goslitizdat). Poem "Silver Forest".
Evg. Yevtushenko and V. Aksenov were removed from the editorial board of the Yunost magazine.

1970 – fight with officials for the play “Under the Skin of the Statue of Liberty” (“Protest is a weapon of the unarmed”) at the Taganka Theater.
April – poem “Come to my grave...”.
End of summer - trip to Siberia.

1972 , January – stay in Vietnam.
Spring - an attack on Yevtushenko by the descendants of Bandera during a performance at a stadium in the city of San Paul (Minnesota). The poet’s one-volume book “Stolen Apples” is published in the USA. American poems (“Grand Canyon”, “House of the Wolf”, etc.). Seizure of luggage (books) at customs upon return from America.
May – meeting with I. Brodsky at Yevtushenko’s house.
Summer - the decision of the Moscow writers' organization to expel B. Okudzhava from the party. Yevtushenko's efforts in his defense.

1973 , February–May – poem “Full Growth”.
June – trip to Japan, the Philippines and Hawaii. Poem "Tokyo".

1974 , the beginning of the year - the poem “Snow in Tokyo”.
March–April – business trip to Naberezhnye Chelny. Poem "KAMAZ begins."

1975 – publication of the two-volume book “Selected Works” (publishing house “Khudozhestvennaya Literatura”).
August-December - poem "Glade".

1976 , the beginning of the year - the poem “Ivanovo Calicoes”.
December 28 – death of Alexander Rudolfovich Gangnus, the poet’s father.

1977 , June - the poem “Northern Surcharge” is published in the magazine “Youth”. Trip around Kolyma. The beginning of friendship with V. Tumanov.
November 16 – Yevtushenko’s review of O. Chukhontsev’s first book “From Three Notebooks” was published in Literaturnaya Gazeta.

1978 , January 8 – publication of the article “For the great cause of love” on the 100th anniversary of the death of N.A. Nekrasov in Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Poem “Dove in Santiago” in “New World” (No. 11).

1979 – beginning of professional photography.
The first exhibitions of Yevtushenko's photographs.
Summer – the film “Take Off” receives the Silver Prize on the ninth International Film Festival in Moscow.

1980 – publication of the story “Ardabiola” in the magazine “Youth” (No. 3).
May – evening dedicated to the 70th birthday of Olga Berggolts. The poem “Victory does not have a girl’s face...”.

1981 , beginning of the year - goes to Italy to receive the Fregene Prize. Awarding the prize to them. Galaktion Tabidze.
Book release: “Ardabiola”; "Berry places"; “Fulcrum” (literary and journalistic works).
The East Siberian newsreel studio is releasing a film essay “The Poet from Zima Station.”

1982 , January - the first public reading of the poem “Mother and the Neutron Bomb” in the Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky.
Poem “Mom and the Neutron Bomb” in the magazine “ New world"(No. 7). Work on the film "Kindergarten".

1983 – awarded the order Red Banner of Labor.
July 18 – concert at the Olimpiysky sports complex (12 thousand spectators).

1984 , April – trip to Latin America. The idea of ​​the poem "Fuku!" Publication of the first volume of the three-volume “Collected Works” (Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house).
Simba Academy Award (Italy).

1986 – distribution of the film “Kindergarten” in New York and Paris.

1987 – book “Tomorrow’s Wind” (Pravda Publishing House).

1989 – a photo album by Evg is published in the USA. Yevtushenko co-authored with Boyd Norton “Twins Separated. Alaska and Siberia" (Viking publishing house).
Creation of the Memorial Society: co-chairs - A. Adamovich, Y. Afanasyev, Evg. Yevtushenko, A. Sakharov.

1991 , August 19-21 – August Revolution. Performance on the balcony of the White House with the poem “August 19th”.

1992 , July 18 – poem “No Years”, written at Zima station. Celebrating the 60th anniversary in Irkutsk.
Yevtushenko becomes an honorary citizen of Zima.

1995 – publication of the anthology “Strophes of the Century” (Minsk – Moscow, publishing house “Polifact”).

1996 , May - the poem “Thirteen” was completed (started in October 1993).

2001 , July 22 – trip to Siberia: Zima station, Irkutsk, Bratsk, Angarsk. Siberian International Poetry Festival.
Opening of the house-museum of Evg. Yevtushenko in Winter.

2002 , January 11 – death of Zinaida Ermolaevna Yevtushenko, the poet’s mother.
November – international award Aquila (Italy). Hospitalized in Tulsa (USA). A cycle of poems.

2007 , January 16 – evening in the Great Hall of the Central House of Writers. Release of the one-volume book “All Yevtushenko: Poems and Poems 1937–2007” (publishing house “Slovo”); republished in 2010.
June – “zigzag tour with poetry readings” to the globe- in the USA, Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela, where he performed in both Russian and Spanish, and then in the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, Petrozavodsk, Sartaval, Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk.”

2009 , March - the one-volume book “All of Yevtushenko” wins in the “Poetry” category at the “Book of the Year” competition for 2008.

2010 , June – award of the State Prize of Russia.
July 17 – opening of a museum-gallery in Peredelkino, donated to the state by Evgeny Yevtushenko.

2013 , April 24-25 – premiere of the play “No Years” based on the poems of Eug. Yevtushenko directed by V. Smekhov at the Taganka Theater.
July 18 - the poet’s 80th birthday: receives congratulations from V.V. Putin, D.A. Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill. Release of the first volume of the five-volume anthology “A poet in Russia is more than a poet. Ten centuries of Russian poetry" (Russkiy Mir publishing house), books "Happiness and Retribution" (Eksmo publishing house) and "One Hundred Poems" (Progress-Pleiada publishing house).
November 26 – announced as a laureate of the special nomination “For Honor and Dignity” as part of the “Big Book” award.

2017 , April 1 - died at the age of 85, surrounded by family at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa (Oklahoma, USA).

OUTSTANDING SIXTEAYERS EVGENY YEVTUSHENKO

- poet with capital letters and even much more than the Russian Poet. This one word absorbed all facets of his work - from writer to director and songwriter. Sometimes it seems like it's overwhelming creative biography Even a multi-volume edition cannot, because his life is so intense. Even at an advanced age, he was cheerful and active, continued to create and teach, repeating that writing poetry and life itself were equivalent concepts for him.

Ukrainian+Pole

The poet's life began in the distant Siberian town of Zima, Irkutsk region, in 1932. He spent his childhood years there, and then the family moved to the capital. often recalls how his father introduced his son to the world around him through books and art, and spent hours telling his son about history ancient world, taught him to write and read, so Evgeniy avidly read world classics at an early school age.

Eugene’s dad, Alexander Gangnus, was a geologist and raised his eldest son with poetry. When he had another family, he did not interrupt communication, often met with him and appreciated his early attempt at writing. Mom - Zinaida Ermolaevna Yevtushenko - sincerely believed in her son’s poetic abilities, kept his notebooks with rhymes, sent her son’s poems to her ex-husband and instilled in him Evgeniy love for the theater. She worked at the Moscow Stanislavsky Theater, and later graduated from a music school and, at the same time, a geological exploration institute. Theater celebrities and pop artists came to their house for friendly gatherings. Evgeniy absorbed the creative atmosphere from childhood.

Ukrainian, Polish, Latvian and Belarusian blood was mixed in Yevtushenko’s veins. My maternal great-grandfather was a Polish nobleman, came to work in Zhitomir and married a Ukrainian woman there. He headed peasant revolt against the cruelty of the landowner, for which he and other villagers were sent into exile in the Irkutsk region. These people covered the entire path from Ukraine to Siberia on foot in shackles. Grandmother Evgenia Yevtushenko spoke Ukrainian, and my grandson fell in love with the poetry of Taras Shevchenko since childhood. His father added Latvian and Belarusian roots to him.

Victim of hunger

When the war began, the boy was sent alone to be evacuated to his grandmothers in the Irkutsk region. For four whole months he traveled by train to visit his relatives. The nine-year-old child had to endure a lot during this time - bombings, hunger and trips on the roof of carriages. On the platforms, he read poetry to earn a single piece of bread and a cup of boiling water. For life Evgeniy I remember how at one of the Ural stations he I saw women selling hot potatoes at the market. He couldn’t help himself, he came up, took one potato and began to greedily inhale its aroma. The traders immediately attacked him and began to brutally beat the starving child. Local street children saved him, tearing him out of the angry crowd. Evgeniy miraculously survived, paying with two broken ribs.

Mom performed at the fronts, then for a long time could not recover from typhus, and in 1944 she returned with her son from evacuation to Moscow. During this trip, she changed his date of birth to 1933 so as not to receive the pass required at his age. And so it turned out that in official documents he is a year younger.

Evgeny Yevtushenko - scout of the future

In the capital, Evgeny began to attend the poetry studio at the House of Pioneers, school teachers also worked on developing his abilities, and in the house his mother hospitably met his many “associates” - Robert Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Lukonin, Mikhail Roshchin, Evgeny Urbansky, Yuri Kazakov and, who later became his wife.

First published poems Yevtushenko appeared in the newspaper "Soviet Sport" in 1949, and in 1952 he became the youngest member of the USSR Writers' Union. His first book was called “Scouts of the Future,” but he considers the poems “Before the Meeting” and “Wagon” to be the beginning of serious work. Evgeniy studied at the Literary Institute, but was expelled from it for supporting the novel “Not by Bread Alone” by Vladimir Dudintsev.

Two collections of his poems, “Highway of Enthusiasts” and “Promise,” showed that a poet of a new formation had appeared in the country, an extraordinary creator, the brightest representative of the generation that would later be called the “sixties.”

A poet in Russia is more than a poet

In 1963, the French weekly Expresso published a prose "Autobiography" Evgenia Yevtushenko, which aroused the ire of the Soviet party leadership. The ideologists of the CPSU Central Committee deliberately fanned a scandal out of this event, perhaps hoping to expel the poet from the country or intimidate all dissenters.

His works “Babi Yar”, “Stalin’s Heirs” and “Tanks Are Walking Through Prague” caused no less resonance. They became an act of real civil courage and a bright event in literary life countries.

By the way, after the publication of the poem “Babi Yar” Evgenia Yevtushenko he was “excommunicated” from Ukraine for twenty years - he was not allowed to hold creative evenings and meetings with poetry lovers. In addition, the poet interceded with the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Vladimir Shcherbitsky on behalf of the poet Ivan Drach and the dissident publicist Ivan Dzyuba.

His civic poetry was certainly accompanied by actions in support of those talented poets, writers, artists and sculptors who experienced persecution by the authorities. He wrote letters against the persecution of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the repression of General Pyotr Grigorenko, Ernst Neizvestny, Joseph Brodsky, Vladimir Voinovich and others, as well as against the actual occupation Soviet Union Czechoslovakia.

This is what's happening to me

Poems Evgenia Yevtushenko proved to many critics his genre diversity and mastery of different styles from the lyrical poem “Winter Station” to the epic “Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station”. Many of the poet’s works inspired composers to create musical works - The Thirteenth Symphony and “The Execution of Stepan Razin”, as well as the popularly known songs “The river runs, it melts in the fog...”, “And the snow will fall, it will fall...”, “Do the Russians want war”, “Thank you for the silence”, “ Waltz about a waltz”, “God willing”, “Your traces” and others.

Andrey Eshpai wrote poetry Yevtushenko the song “And it’s snowing”, which was performed in the film “Dima Gorin’s Career” performed by the unsurpassed. Gelena Velikanova made the song “Crying for a Communal Apartment” to the music of Louise Khmelnitskaya recognizable. The song based on the verses of Evgeniy Aleksandrovich “This is what is happening to me” still does not lose popularity. In the cult film by Eldar Ryazanov “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” it was performed by Sergei Nikitin. Poetry Yevtushenko set to music by Mikael Tariverdiev, and the song was dedicated to Bella Akhmadulina.

It was difficult to imagine the musical life of the country in the 1960-70s without a song based on poetry Yevtushenko"Ferris Wheel" performed by. And they adored the song “The River Runs” to the music of Eduard Kolmanovsky.

Visiting Evgeniy Yevtushenko

WITH youth Evgeniy Aleksandrovich passionately loved cinema, and over the years he developed a professional interest in it. His prose poem “I am Cuba” formed the basis for the script of the film by Mikhail Kalatozov and Sergei Urusevsky. The creative stimulus was a close acquaintance and then friendship with the great Federico Fellini and other masters of world cinema. In the film "Take Off", which was released in 1979, Yevtushenko starred in the role of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

The poet had no less affection for the theater stage. He became the author of plays and stage compositions, brilliantly recited poetry to audiences of thousands and held creative evenings.

Number of released collections Yevtushenko has long exceeded one hundred, and his works have been published in many countries and translated into 70 languages ​​of the world. The routes of his foreign tours have no equal among writers - he traveled to all continents (except Antarctica).

Yevtushenko became one of the first in the Soviet Union who was allowed to travel abroad, not to the countries of the socialist camp, but to the United States of America. Naturally, this also had ideological overtones and the hope that young poets and writers would veil the terrible image of the USSR among the Western public.

Stanzas of the century

I haven't been very busy for the last twenty years poetic creativity, since he devoted most of his time to teaching in the United States of America (where the poet lived with his family since 1991), tried himself in other genres of literature and different types art. His first novel, Berry Places, was written in 1982 and received polarizing reviews. Then for many years he plunged into a deep study of Russian poetry of the past century and published in English and Russian the fundamental anthology “Strophes of the Century” - more than 1000 pages that talk about 875 writers. Abroad, this work is considered a valuable tool for students universities and emphasize its scientific significance.

In his personal life, as in his work, Evgeniy Alexandrovich did not know how to pretend, so he was married four times. His first wife was the poetess Bella Akhmadulina. His second wife was Galina Sokol-Lukonina, with whom they adopted a child, Peter. The third wife (Irish fan Jen Butler) gave birth to Yevtushenko two sons - Alexander and Anton. Since 1987, the poet lived with Maria Novikova, who gave him two more sons, Evgeniy and Dmitry.

On the last day of March 2017 Evgenia Yevtushenko was hospitalized in serious condition with stage 4 cancer. The disease returned six years after the kidney was removed. the great died in his sleep from cardiac arrest. The 85-year-old poet was surrounded by relatives in Tulsa (Oklahoma in the USA).

In its complex but unique life path Yevtushenko I just walked forward, without fear of being judged or rejected. For example, in 1993 he refused the Order of Friendship, expressing his protest against Chechen war. Most of today's artists cannot boast of such actions.

FACTS

In the early 1980s, the issue of legalization was raised in society fascism in Russia, when in Moscow there was a demonstration of young people, as they said then, playing swastikas. The poet already saw then what this could lead to. In the mid-1990s, these “harmless guys” became entire fascist movements and organized paramilitary forces.

Fans know Yevtushenko’s love for fashionable jackets of unimaginable colors and everything bright. He himself explained this by his gray military childhood, when in Siberia he saw endless lines of prisoners in quilted jackets with numbers on the back. Then his craving for bright colors appeared.

Updated: April 8, 2019 by: Elena