Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the city of Narovchat (Penza province) into a poor family of a minor official.

1871 was a difficult year in Kuprin’s biography - his father died, and the poor family moved to Moscow.

Training and the beginning of a creative path

At the age of six, Kuprin was sent to a class at the Moscow Orphan School, from which he left in 1880. After this, Alexander Ivanovich studied at the military academy, the Alexander Military School. The time of training is described in such works by Kuprin as: “At the Turning Point (Cadets)”, “Junkers”. “The Last Debut” is Kuprin’s first published story (1889).

From 1890 he was a second lieutenant in an infantry regiment. During the service, many essays, short stories, and novellas were published: “Inquiry,” “On a Moonlit Night,” “In the Dark.”

Creativity flourishes

Four years later, Kuprin retired. After this, the writer travels a lot around Russia, trying himself in different professions. At this time, Alexander Ivanovich met Ivan Bunin, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky.

Kuprin builds his stories of those times on life impressions gleaned during his travels.

Kuprin's short stories cover many topics: military, social, love. The story “The Duel” (1905) brought real success to Alexander Ivanovich. Love in Kuprin’s work is most vividly described in the story “Olesya” (1898), which was his first major and one of his most beloved works, and the story of unrequited love, “The Garnet Bracelet” (1910).

Alexander Kuprin also loved to write stories for children. For children's reading he wrote the works “Elephant”, “Starlings”, “White Poodle” and many others.

Emigration and last years of life

For Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, life and creativity are inseparable. Not accepting the policy of war communism, the writer emigrated to France. Even after emigration, in the biography of Alexander Kuprin, the writer’s fervor does not subside; he writes novellas, short stories, many articles and essays. Despite this, Kuprin lives in material need and yearns for his homeland. Only 17 years later he returns to Russia. At the same time, the writer’s last essay was published - the work “Native Moscow”.

After a serious illness, Kuprin died on August 25, 1938. The writer was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery in Leningrad, next to the grave

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a famous Russian writer and translator. He made a significant contribution to the fund of Russian literature. His works were particularly realistic, thanks to which he received recognition in the most different layers society.

Brief biography of Kuprin

We present to your attention short biography Kuprina. She, like everything, contains a lot.

Childhood and parents

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26, 1870 in the city of Narovchat, in the family of a simple official. When little Alexander was only one year old, his father, Ivan Ivanovich, died.

After the death of her husband, the mother of the future writer, Lyubov Alekseevna, decided to go to Moscow. It was in this city that Kuprin spent his childhood and youth.

Training and the beginning of a creative path

When young Sasha was 6 years old, he was sent to study at the Moscow Orphan School, from which he graduated in 1880.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin

In 1887, Kuprin was enrolled in the Alexander Military School.

During this period of his biography, he had to face various difficulties, which he would later write about in the stories “At the Turning Point (Cadets)” and “Junkers”.

Alexander Ivanovich had good ability to write poetry, but they remained unpublished.

In 1890, the writer served in an infantry regiment with the rank of second lieutenant.

While in this rank, he writes such stories as “Inquiry”, “In the Dark”, “Night Shift” and “Hike”.

Creativity flourishes

In 1894, Kuprin decided to resign, being at that time already in the rank of lieutenant. Immediately after this, he begins to travel around, meeting different people and gaining new knowledge.

During this period, he manages to meet Maxim Gorky and.

Kuprin’s biography is interesting in that he immediately took all the impressions and experiences he received during his considerable travels as the basis for future works.

In 1905, the story “The Duel” was published, which received real recognition in society. In 1911, his most significant work appeared “ Garnet bracelet", which made Kuprin truly famous.

It should be noted that it was easy for him to write not only serious literature, but also children's stories.

Emigration

One of the most important moments The October Revolution became the life of Kuprin. In a short biography it is difficult to describe all the writer’s experiences associated with this time.

Let us briefly note that he flatly refused to accept the ideology of war communism and the terror associated with it. Having assessed the current situation, Kuprin almost immediately decides to emigrate to.

In a foreign land, he continues to write novels and short stories, as well as engage in translation activities. For Alexander Kuprin it was unthinkable to live without creativity, which is clearly visible throughout his biography.

Return to Russia

Over time, in addition to material difficulties, Kuprin increasingly begins to feel nostalgia for his homeland. He manages to return back to Russia only after 17 years. Then he writes his last piece, which is called “Native Moscow”.

Last years of life and death

Soviet officials benefited from a famous writer returning to his homeland. They tried to create from him the image of a repentant writer who came from a foreign land to sing the praises of the happy.

However, the internal memos of the competent authorities record that Kuprin is weak, ill, incapacitated and, practically, unable to write anything.

By the way, this is why information appeared that “Native Moscow” belongs not to Kuprin himself, but to the journalist assigned to him, N.K. Verzhbitsky.

On August 25, 1938, Alexander Kuprin died of esophageal cancer. He was buried in Leningrad at the Volkovsky cemetery, next to the great writer.

• When Kuprin was not yet famous, he managed to master many different professions. He worked in a circus, was an artist, teacher, land surveyor and journalist. In total, he mastered more than 20 different professions.
• The writer's first wife, Maria Karlovna, really did not like the unrest and disorganization in Kuprin's work. For example, having caught him sleeping at work, she deprived him of breakfast. And when he did not write the necessary chapters for a story, his wife refused to let him into the house. How can one not remember the American scientist who was under pressure from his wife!
• Kuprin loved to dress in national Tatar attire and walk the streets like that. On his mother's side he had Tatar roots, which he was always proud of.
• Kuprin personally communicated with Lenin. He suggested that the leader create a newspaper for villagers called “Earth”.
• In 2014, the television series “Kuprin” was filmed, telling about the life of the writer.
• According to the recollections of his contemporaries, Kuprin was truly a very kind person who was not indifferent to the destinies of others.
• Many settlements, streets and libraries are named after Kuprin.

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Alexander Kuprin as a writer, a person and a collection of legends about his turbulent life is a special love of the Russian reader, akin to the first youthful feeling for life. Ivan Bunin, who was jealous of his generation and rarely gave out praise, undoubtedly understood the inequality of everything written by Kuprin, nevertheless called him a writer by the grace of God.

And yet it seems that by his character Alexander Kuprin should have become not a writer, but rather one of his heroes - a circus strongman, an aviator, the leader of Balaklava fishermen, a horse thief, or perhaps he would have tamed his violent temper somewhere in a monastery (by the way, he made such an attempt). Cult physical strength, a penchant for excitement, risk, and violence distinguished the young Kuprin. And later, he loved to measure his strength with life: at the age of forty-three he suddenly began to learn stylish swimming from the world record holder Romanenko, together with the first Russian pilot Sergei Utochkin he climbed the hot-air balloon, descended in a diving suit to the seabed, and flew with the famous fighter and aviator Ivan Zaikin on a Farman plane. However, the spark of God, apparently, cannot be extinguished.

Kuprin was born in the town of Narovchat, Penza province, on August 26 (September 7), 1870. His father, a minor official, died of cholera when the boy was not even two years old. In the family left without funds, besides Alexander, there were two more children. The mother of the future writer Lyubov Alekseevna, nee Princess Kulunchakova, came from Tatar princes, and Kuprin loved to remember his Tatar blood, there was even a time when he wore a skullcap. In the novel “Junkers”, he wrote about his autobiographical hero: “... the frenzied blood of the Tatar princes, the uncontrollable and indomitable ancestors on his mother’s side, pushing him to harsh and rash actions, distinguished him among the dozens of junkers.”

In 1874, Lyubov Alekseevna, a woman, according to her memoirs, “with a strong, unyielding character and high nobility,” decides to move to Moscow. There they settle in the common room of the Widow's House (described by Kuprin in the story “Holy Lie”). Two years later, due to extreme poverty, she sends her son to the Alexander Orphanage School for Children. For six-year-old Sasha, a period of existence in a barracks situation begins - seventeen years long.

In 1880 he entered the Cadet Corps. Here the boy, yearning for home and freedom, becomes close to the teacher Tsukhanov (in the story “At the Turning Point” - Trukhanov), a writer who “remarkably artistically” read Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev to his students. The teenager Kuprin also begins to try his hand at literature - as a poet, of course; Who at this age has not at least once crumpled a piece of paper with the first poem! He is interested in the then fashionable poetry of Nadson. At the same time, Cadet Kuprin is already a convinced democrat: the “progressive” ideas of the time seeped even through the walls of a closed military school. He angrily denounces in rhymed form the “conservative publisher” M. N. Katkov and the Tsar himself Alexandra III, denounces the “vile, terrible thing” of the royal trial of Alexander Ulyanov and his accomplices who attempted to assassinate the monarch.

At the age of eighteen, Alexander Kuprin entered the Third Alexander Junker School in Moscow. According to the recollections of his classmate L.A. Limontov, he was no longer a “nondescript, small, clumsy cadet,” but a strong young man who valued the honor of his uniform most of all, a dexterous gymnast, a lover of dancing, who fell in love with every pretty partner.

His first appearance in print also dates back to the Junker period - on December 3, 1889, Kuprin’s story “The Last Debut” appeared in the magazine “Russian Satirical Leaflet”. This story really almost became the first and last literary debut of the cadet. Later, he recalled how, having received a fee of ten rubles for a story (for him then a huge sum), to celebrate, he bought his mother “goat boots”, and with the remaining ruble he rushed to the arena to prance on a horse (Kuprin loved horses very much and considered it “ call of the ancestors"). A few days later, a magazine with his story caught the eye of one of the teachers, and cadet Kuprin was summoned to his superiors: “Kuprin, your story?” - "Yes sir!" - “To the punishment cell!” A future officer was not supposed to engage in such “frivolous” things. Like any debutant, he, of course, longed for compliments and in the punishment cell he read his story to a retired soldier, an old school guy. He listened carefully and said: “Nicely written, your honor! But you just can’t understand anything.” The story was really weak.

After the Alexander School, Second Lieutenant Kuprin was sent to the Dnieper Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Proskurov, Podolsk province. Four years of life “in an incredible wilderness, in one of the border southwestern towns. Eternal dirt, herds of pigs on the streets, huts smeared with clay and dung...” (“To Glory”), hours-long training of soldiers, gloomy officer revelries and vulgar romances with local “lionesses” made him think about the future, as he thought about in it, the hero of his famous story “The Duel,” second lieutenant Romashov, dreamed of military glory, but after the provincial savagery army life decided to retire.

These years gave Kuprin knowledge of military life, the customs of the small-town intelligentsia, the customs of the Polesie village, and subsequently gave the reader such works as “Inquiry”, “Overnight”, “Night Shift”, “Wedding”, “Slavic Soul”, “Millionaire” , “Jew”, “Coward”, “Telegraphist”, “Olesya” and others.

At the end of 1893, Kuprin submitted his resignation and left for Kyiv. By that time, he was the author of the story “In the Dark” and the story “On a Moonlit Night” (Russian Wealth magazine), written in the style of heartbreaking melodrama. He decides to take up literature seriously, but this “lady” does not fall into his hands so easily. According to him, he suddenly found himself in the position of a college girl who was taken at night into the wilds of the Olonets forests and abandoned without clothes, food or a compass; “...I had no knowledge, either scientific or everyday,” he writes in his “Autobiography.” In it, he gives a list of professions that he tried to master after taking off his military uniform: he was a reporter for Kiev newspapers, a manager during the construction of a house, he grew tobacco, served in a technical office, was a psalm-reader, played in the theater of the city of Sumy, studied dentistry, tried to get a haircut in monks, worked in a forge and carpentry workshop, unloaded watermelons, taught at a school for the blind, worked at the Yuzovsky steel mill (described in the story “Moloch”)...

This period ended with the publication of a small collection of essays, “Kyiv Types,” which can be considered Kuprin’s first literary “drill.” Over the next five years, he made a rather serious breakthrough as a writer: in 1896 he published the story “Moloch” in “Russian Wealth”, where the rebellious working class was shown on a large scale for the first time, he published the first collection of stories “Miniatures” (1897), which included “Dog happiness”, “Stoletnik”, “Breguet”, “Allez!” and others, followed by the story “Olesya” (1898), the story “Night Shift” (1899), the story “At the Turning Point” (“Cadets”; 1900).

In 1901, Kuprin came to St. Petersburg as a fairly famous writer. He was already familiar with Ivan Bunin, who immediately upon arrival introduced him to the house of Alexandra Arkadyevna Davydova, publisher of the popular literary magazine “World of God.” There were rumors about her in St. Petersburg that she locked writers who asked her for an advance in her office, gave them ink, a pen, paper, three bottles of beer, and released them only if they had a finished story, immediately giving them a fee. In this house, Kuprin found his first wife - the bright, Spanish Maria Karlovna Davydova, the adopted daughter of a publisher.

A capable student of her mother, she also had a firm hand in dealing with the writing brethren. At least during the seven years of their marriage - the time of Kuprin’s greatest and stormiest fame - she managed to keep him at his desk for quite long periods (even to the point of depriving him of breakfast, after which Alexander Ivanovich fell asleep). During her tenure, works were written that put Kuprin in the first rank of Russian writers: the stories “Swamp” (1902), “Horse Thieves” (1903), “White Poodle” (1904), the story “Duel” (1905), the stories “Staff Captain Rybnikov", "River of Life" (1906).

After the release of “The Duel,” written under the great ideological influence of the “petrel of the revolution” Gorky, Kuprin becomes an all-Russian celebrity. Attacks on the army, exaggeration of colors - downtrodden soldiers, ignorant, drunken officers - all this “appealed” to the tastes of the revolutionary-minded intelligentsia, who also defeated the Russian fleet in Russian-Japanese war I considered it a victory. This story, without a doubt, was written by the hand of a great master, but today it is perceived in a slightly different historical dimension.

Kuprin passes the most powerful test - fame. “It was time,” Bunin recalled, “when the publishers of newspapers, magazines and collections on reckless cars chased him around ... restaurants, in which he spent days and nights with his casual and regular drinking companions, and humiliatedly begged him to take a thousand, two thousands of rubles in advance for the mere promise not to forget them on occasion with his mercy, and he, heavyset, big-faced, just squinted, was silent and suddenly abruptly said in such an ominous whisper: “Get to hell this very minute!” - that timid people immediately seemed fell through the ground." Dirty taverns and expensive restaurants, poor tramps and polished snobs of St. Petersburg bohemia, gypsy singers and races, finally, an important general, thrown into a pool with sterlet... - the whole set of “Russian recipes” for the treatment of melancholy, which for some reason always noisy glory pours out, he was tried (how can one not recall the phrase of Shakespeare’s hero: “What is the melancholy of a great-spirited man expressed in? That he wants to drink”).

By this time, the marriage with Maria Karlovna had apparently exhausted itself, and Kuprin, unable to live by inertia, with youthful ardor fell in love with his daughter Lydia’s teacher, the small, fragile Lisa Heinrich. She was an orphan and had already experienced her own bitter story: she had been a nurse in the Russian-Japanese War and returned from there not only with medals, but also with a broken heart. When Kuprin, without delay, declared his love to her, she immediately left their house, not wanting to be the cause of family discord. Following her, Kuprin also left home, renting a room at the Palais Royal hotel in St. Petersburg.

For several weeks he has been rushing around the city in search of poor Lisa and, of course, acquires a sympathetic company... When his great friend and admirer of talent, Professor of St. Petersburg University Fyodor Dmitrievich Batyushkov, realized that there would be no end to these madnesses, he found Lisa in a small hospital, where she got a job as a nurse. What was he talking to her about? Maybe that she should save the pride of Russian literature... It is unknown. Only Elizaveta Moritsovna’s heart trembled and she agreed to immediately go to Kuprin; however, with one firm condition: Alexander Ivanovich must undergo treatment. In the spring of 1907, the two of them went to the Finnish sanatorium “Helsingfors”. This great passion for the little woman became the reason for the creation of the wonderful story “Shulamith” (1907) - the Russian “Song of Songs”. In 1908, their daughter Ksenia was born, who would later write the memoirs “Kuprin is my father.”

From 1907 to 1914 Kuprin created such significant works, like the stories “Gambrinus” (1907), “The Garnet Bracelet” (1910), the cycle of stories “Listrigons” (1907-1911), in 1912 he began work on the novel “The Pit”. When it came out, critics saw in it an exposure of another social evil in Russia - prostitution, while Kuprin considered paid “priestesses of love” to be victims of social temperament from time immemorial.

By this time he had already dispersed political views with Gorky, moved away from revolutionary democracy. Kuprin called the war of 1914 fair and liberating, for which he was accused of “official patriotism.” A large photograph of him appeared in the St. Petersburg newspaper “Nov” with the caption: “A. I. Kuprin, drafted into the active army.” However, he did not go to the front - he was sent to Finland to train recruits. In 1915, he was declared unfit for military service due to health reasons, and he returned home to Gatchina, where his family lived at that time.

After the seventeenth year, Kuprin, despite several attempts, common language did not find a new government (although, under the patronage of Gorky, he even met with Lenin, but he did not see in him a “clear ideological position”) and left Gatchina along with Yudenich’s retreating army. In 1920, the Kuprins ended up in Paris.

After the revolution, about 150 thousand emigrants from Russia settled in France. Paris became the Russian literary capital - Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, Ivan Bunin and Alexey Tolstoy, Ivan Shmelev and Alexey Remizov, Nadezhda Teffi and Sasha Cherny, and many others lived here famous writers. All kinds of Russian societies were formed, newspapers and magazines were published... There was even this joke: two Russians meet on a Parisian boulevard. “Well, how do you like life here?” - “It’s okay, you can live, there’s just one problem: there are too many French.”

At first, while the illusion of his homeland being taken away with him still persisted, Kuprin tried to write, but his gift gradually faded away, like his once powerful health; more and more often he complained that he could not work here, because he was accustomed to “writing off” his heroes from life . “They are a wonderful people,” Kuprin said about the French, “but they don’t speak Russian, and in the shop and in the pub - everywhere it’s not our way... Which means this is what it is - you’ll live, you’ll live, and you’ll stop writing.”

His most significant work of the emigrant period is the autobiographical novel “Junker” (1928-1933).

He became more and more quiet, sentimental - unusual for his acquaintances. Sometimes, however, the hot Kuprin blood still made itself felt. One day, the writer and friends were returning from a country restaurant by taxi, and they started talking about literature. The poet Ladinsky called “The Duel” his best work. Kuprin insisted that the best of everything he wrote was “The Garnet Bracelet”: it contains the lofty, precious feelings of people. Ladinsky called this story implausible. Kuprin became furious: “The Garnet Bracelet is true!” and challenged Ladinsky to a duel. With great difficulty, we managed to dissuade him, driving around the city all night, as Lydia Arsenyeva recalled (“Far Shores.” M.: “Respublika”, 1994).

Apparently, Kuprin really had something very personal connected with the “Garnet Bracelet”. At the end of his life, he himself began to resemble his hero - the aged Zheltkov. “Seven years of hopeless and polite love” Zheltkov wrote unrequited letters to Princess Vera Nikolaevna. The aged Kuprin was often seen in a Parisian bistro, where he sat alone with a bottle of wine and wrote love letters to an unfamiliar woman. The magazine “Ogonyok” (1958, No. 6) published a poem by the writer, possibly composed at that time. There are these lines:

And no one in the world will know
That for years, every hour and moment,
It languishes and suffers from love
Polite, attentive old man.

Before leaving for Russia in 1937, he recognized few people, and they hardly recognized him. Bunin writes in his “Memoirs”: “... I once met him on the street and gasped inwardly: there was no trace left of the former Kuprin! He walked with small, pitiful steps, trudged so thin and weak that it seemed that the first gust of wind would blow him off his feet...”

When his wife took Kuprin to Soviet Russia, the Russian emigration did not condemn him, understanding that he was going there to die (although such things were perceived painfully in the emigrant environment; they said, for example, that Alexei Tolstoy simply fled to the “Sovdepia” from debts and creditors) . For the Soviet government it was politics. A note appeared in the Pravda newspaper on June 1, 1937: “On May 31, the famous Russian pre-revolutionary writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, who returned from emigration to his homeland, arrived in Moscow. At the Belorussky railway station, A.I. Kuprin was met by representatives of the literary community and the Soviet press.”

Kuprin was settled in a rest home for writers near Moscow. On a sunny day summer days Baltic sailors came to visit him. Alexander Ivanovich was carried out in a chair onto the lawn, where the sailors sang for him in chorus, came up, shook his hand, said that they had read his “Duel”, thanked him... Kuprin was silent and suddenly began to cry loudly (from the memoirs of N. D. Teleshov “Notes of a Writer ").

He died on August 25, 1938 in Leningrad. In his last years as an emigrant, he often said that one should die in Russia, at home, like an animal that goes to die in its den. I would like to think that he passed away calmed and reconciled.

Talented writer. Genus. in 1870. He was educated in Moscow, in the 2nd Cadet Corps and the Alexander Military School. He began writing as a cadet; his first work ("The Last Debut") was published in the Moscow humorous... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Kuprin, Alexander Ivanovich- Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. KUPRIN Alexander Ivanovich (1870 1938), Russian writer. In exile in 1919, he returned to his homeland in 1937. In his early works he showed human unfreedom as a fatal social evil (story Moloch, 1896). Social... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Talented writer. Born in August 1870 in the Penza province; On his mother's side, he comes from the family of Tatar princes Kolonchaki. He studied at the 2nd Cadet Corps and the Alexander Military School. He began writing as a cadet; his first story:... ... Biographical Dictionary

Russian writer. Born into the family of a poor official. Spent 10 years in closed military educational institutions, 4, served in an infantry regiment in the Podolsk province In 1894 ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich- (18701938), writer. In 1901 he settled in St. Petersburg. He headed the fiction department at the Magazine for Everyone. In 1902 07 he lived at 7 Razyezzhaya Street, where the editorial office of the magazine “God’s World” was located, in which Kuprin edited for some time... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

- (1870 1938), Russian. writer. He perceived L.'s poetry as one of the brightest and brightest phenomena of Russian. culture of the 19th century K.’s attitude towards L.’s prose is evidenced by his letter to F. F. Pullman dated August 31. 1924: “Do you know that you are precious stone cutters... ... Lermontov Encyclopedia

- (1870 1938) Russian writer. Social criticism marked the story Moloch (1896), in which industrialization appears in the image of a monster factory that enslaves a person physically and morally, the story The Duel (1905) about the death of a spiritually pure... ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1870 1938), writer. In 1901 he settled in St. Petersburg. He headed the fiction department at the Magazine for Everyone. In 1902 07 he lived at 7 Razyezzhaya Street, where the editorial office of the magazine “God’s World” was located, in which K. edited for some time... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

"Kuprin" request is redirected here. See also other meanings. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin Date of birth: September 7, 1870 Place of birth: village of Narovchat ... Wikipedia

- (1870 1938), Russian writer. Social criticism marked the story “Moloch” (1896), in which modern civilization appears in the image of a monster factory that enslaves a person morally and physically, the story “The Duel” (1905) about the death... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Alexander Kuprin. Complete collection of novels and stories in one volume, Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich. 1216 pp. All the novels and stories of the famous Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, written by him in Russia and in exile, are collected in one volume.…
• Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Collection, A. I. Kuprin. Alexander Kuprin lived an unusually varied life, which is reflected in his works. A recognized master of the laconic genre, he left us such masterpieces as “Garnet Bracelet”, “In…

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the city of Narovchat, Penza province. From the nobles. Kuprin's father is a collegiate registrar; mother - from ancient family Tatar princes Kulunchakov.

Lost his father early; was brought up in the Moscow Razumovsky boarding school for orphans. In 1888. A. Kuprin graduated cadet corps, in 1890– Alexander Military School (both in Moscow); served as an infantry officer. After retiring with the rank of lieutenant in 1894 changed a number of professions: he worked as a land surveyor, a forest surveyor, an estate manager, a prompter in a provincial acting troupe, etc. For many years he collaborated in newspapers in Kyiv, Rostov-on-Don, Odessa, and Zhitomir.

The first publication is the story “The Last Debut” ( 1889 ). Story "Inquiry" ( 1894 ) opened a series of war stories and stories by Kuprin (“The Lilac Bush”, 1894 ; "Overnight" 1895 ; "Army ensign", "Breguet", both - 1897 ; etc.), reflecting the writer’s impressions of military service. Kuprin's trips around Southern Ukraine provided material for the story "Moloch" ( 1896 ), in the center of which is the theme of industrial civilization, which depersonalizes man; the juxtaposition of the smelting furnace with a pagan deity demanding human sacrifices is intended to warn of the dangers of worshiping technological progress. A. Kuprin’s story “Olesya” ( 1898 ) - about the dramatic love of a savage girl who grew up in the wilderness and an aspiring writer who came from the city. Hero early works Kuprina is a person with a fine mental organization who cannot withstand the collision with the social reality of the 1890s and the test great feeling. Among other works of this period: “Polesie stories” “In the wilderness” ( 1898 ), "On the wood grouse" ( 1899 ), "Werewolf" ( 1901 ). In 1897. Kuprin's first book, “Miniatures,” was published. In the same year, Kuprin met I. Bunin, in 1900– with A. Chekhov; since 1901 participated in Teleshov’s “environments” - a Moscow literary circle that united writers of a realistic direction. In 1901 A. Kuprin moved to St. Petersburg; collaborated in the influential magazines “Russian Wealth” and “World of God”. In 1902 met M. Gorky; was published in a series of collections initiated by him by the publishing company “Znanie”, here in 1903 The first volume of Kuprin's stories was published. The story “The Duel” brought wide popularity to Kuprin ( 1905 ), where the unsightly picture of army life with drill and half-conscious cruelty reigning in it is accompanied by reflections on the absurdity of the existing world order. The publication of the story coincided with the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905., which contributed to its public resonance. The story has been translated into foreign languages and opened the name of the writer to European readers.

In the 1900s - first half of the 1910s. The most significant works of A. Kuprin were published: the story “At the Turning Point (Cadets)” ( 1900 ), "Pit" ( 1909-1915 ); stories “Swamp”, “At the Circus” (both 1902 ), "Coward", "Horse Thieves" (both 1903 ), "Peaceful Life", "White Poodle" (both 1904 ), "Staff Captain Rybnikov", "River of Life" (both 1906 ), "Gambrinus", "Emerald" ( 1907 ), "Anathema" ( 1913 ); a series of essays about fishermen of Balaklava - “Listrigons” ( 1907-1911 ). Admiration for strength and heroism, acute sensation The beauty and joy of existence prompt Kuprin to search for a new image - an integral and creative nature. The story “Shulamith” is dedicated to the theme of love ( 1908 ; based on the biblical Song of Songs) and “Garnet Bracelet” ( 1911 ) is a touching story about the unrequited and selfless love of a small telegraph operator for the wife of a high-ranking official. Kuprin tried himself in science fiction: hero of the story “Liquid Sun” ( 1913 ) is a brilliant scientist who gained access to a source of super-powerful energy, but hides his invention for fear that it will be used to create deadly weapons.

In 1911 Kuprin moved to Gatchina. In 1912 and 1914 traveled to France and Italy. With the outbreak of the First World War he returned to the army, but the following year he was demobilized for health reasons. After February Revolution 1917 edited the Socialist-Revolutionary newspaper “Free Russia”, and collaborated with the publishing house “World Literature” for several months. After October revolution 1917, which he did not accept, returned to journalism. In one of the articles, Kuprin spoke out against the execution of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, for which he was arrested and briefly imprisoned ( 1918 ). The writer's attempts to cooperate with the new government did not produce the desired results. Having joined in October 1919 to the troops of N.N. Yudenich, Kuprin reached Yamburg (from 1922 Kingisepp), from there through Finland to Paris (1920 ). In emigration the following were created: autobiographical story"Dome of St. Isaac of Dalmatia" ( 1928 ), the story “Zhaneta. Princess of Four Streets" ( 1932 ; separate edition - 1934 ), a series of nostalgic stories about pre-revolutionary Russia("The One-Armed Comedian" 1923 ; "Emperor's Shadow" 1928 ; "Tsar's guest from Narovchat" 1933 ) etc. The works of the emigrant period are characterized by idealistic images of monarchical Russia and patriarchal Moscow. Among other works: the story “The Star of Solomon” ( 1917 ), story "The Golden Rooster" ( 1923 ), series of essays “Kyiv types” ( 1895-1898 ), “Blessed South”, “Paris at Home” (both 1927 ), literary portraits, stories for children, feuilletons. In 1937 Kuprin returned to the USSR.

Kuprin’s work provides a wide panorama Russian life covering almost all segments of society 1890-1910s.; the traditions of everyday life prose of the second half of the 19th century are combined with elements of symbolism. A number of works embodied the writer’s attraction to romantic plots and heroic images. A. Kuprin's prose is distinguished by its figurativeness, authenticity in the depiction of characters, richness in everyday details, and colorful language that includes argotisms.