Zoshchenko M.M. (1894-1958), writer

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ZOSHCHENKO Mikhail Mikhailovich (1895, St. Petersburg - 1958, Sestroretsk), writer. Studied at the Eighth Gymnasium, then at the Faculty of Law of Petersburg University (dismissed for non-payment). In 1915, after finishing special courses of Pavlovsky Military School, he went to the front with the rank of praporschik (awarded four medals, promoted to Staff-Captain). In 1918 he volunteered for the Red Army, was demobilised on account of heart-disease. From 1919 in Petrograd. From the early 1920s he was engaged in literary activities, in 1922 the first book by Zoshchenko, Stories of Nazar Ilych, Mr.Sinebryukhov, was published in Petrograd. His works appeared on the pages of Leningrad journals and newspapers, he also worked in radio. Zoshchenko was a member of Serapion Brothers Literary Group. The 1920s was a period of exceptional prolificacy (collections of short stories Aristocratic Woman and A Merry Life, both published in 1924, Monkeys' Language, 1925, My Dear Citizens, 1926, Who are You Laughing at?!, 1928, etc.) and led to his legendary popularity as a satirist. In 1929-31 his collected works in six volumes were issued in Leningrad. The books Returned Youth (Leningrad, 1933), Blue Book (Moscow; Leningrad, 1935) and others show the evolution of Zoshchenko's artistic methods. In the 1930s he was a member of the board of the Leningrad Department of Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1946 a member of the editorial board of Zvezda. By the resolution of the Central Committee of All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) On the journals Star and Leningrad (1946), he was accused of slandering Soviet reality and expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR (admitted for the second time in June 1953, but in 1954 he was again persecuted) and for a long time could not publish his works. Zoshchenko masterfully used a unique narration style he created; in his satirical works the speech of city-dwellers is brilliantly imitated. Petrograd-Leningrad (sometimes not named directly) is the scene of many of Zoshchenko 's works, the environment of the development of his typical character who had degenerated in the new social environment and lost connection with time and history. Zoshchenko's main addresses were 37 Maly Avenue of Vasilievsky Island; 64 Sredny Avenue of Vasilievsky Island; 30 Lakhtinskaya Street; 59 Moika River Embankment; 9 Griboedova Canal Embankment, 2/4 Malaya Konyushennaya Street (1934-58, except for the period of evacuation; memorial plaque; in 1992 in this building the Zoshchenko Literary Memorial Museum was opened). From the 1920s he spent a lot of time at his summer residence in Sestroretsk, from 1939 lived at 14a Polevaya Street (the house has not been preserved). Buried at Sestroretskoe cemetery; on his grave a monument was mounted (1995, sculptor V.F. Oneshko). The Central Library of Kurortny District in Sestroretsk bears his name.

References: Вспоминая Михаила Зощенко: Сб. Л., 1990; Старков А. Н. Михаил Зощенко: Судьба художника. М., 1990; Михаил Зощенко: Материалы к творч. биографии. СПб., 1997. Кн. 1.

D. N. Akhapkin. Oneshko Viktor Fedorovich
Zoschenko Mikhail Mikhailovich
Griboedova Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 9
Lakhtinskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 30
Malaya Konyushennaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 4/2
Maly Vasilievsky Island Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 37
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 59
Polevaya St./Sestroretsk, town, house 14, litera л. А
Sredny Ave of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 64
Старков А. Н. Михаил Зощенко: Судьба художника. М., 1990
Вспоминая Михаила Зощенко: Сб. Л., 1990
Михаил Зощенко: Материалы к творч. биогр. СПб., 1997 Serapion's Brothers
Zvezda (The Star), journal
M. M. Zoshchenko Literary Memorial Museum
1946
1958