Sergei Pavlovich Zalygin
Sergei Pavlovich Zalygin was a prominent Russian author and agronomist, born on December 6, 1913, in Durasovka, Ufa Province, Russia. He began his education at the Barnaul Agricultural Technical College and later pursued a degree in hydrotechnical agricultural engineering at the Omsk Agricultural Institute, graduating in 1939. Zalygin's career transitioned from hydrology to literature, and his early work included publishing short stories in local newspapers. His first book, "Rasskazy," was published in 1941, followed by several acclaimed novels and essays over the following decades.
After completing his graduate studies, he became a professor at the Omsk Agricultural Institute before moving to Novosibirsk to work with the Academy of Sciences. In 1970, he relocated to Moscow to focus on his writing. Zalygin's literary contributions include notable works such as "Solyonnaya pad," "Iuzhnoamerikanskii variant," and "Komissiia," as well as essays on various Russian writers. He received numerous accolades for his work, including the State Prize and the title of "Hero of Socialist Labor." Zalygin's writing is characterized by its realistic depiction of significant events in Soviet history, reflecting a keen analytical perspective on the social and political landscape of his time. He passed away on April 19, 2000.
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Sergei Pavlovich Zalygin
Writer
- Born: December 6, 1913
- Birthplace: Durasovka, Russia
- Died: April 19, 2000
- Place of death: Moscow, Russia
Biography
On December 6, 1913, Sergei Pavlovich Zalygin was born to exiled political activist Pavel Ivanovich and his wife, Liubov Timofeevna Apkina, who took the last name Zalygina after marriage. The couple’s only child, Zalygin was born in Durasovka, a village in the province of Ufa, Russia. Zalygin began attending the Barnaul Agricultural Technical College in 1928 and graduated in 1932.
Trained as an agronomist, Zalygin spent some time working in that field in central Siberia before determining that he might more effectively work in hydrology and land improvement. To this end, he enrolled at the Omsk Agricultural Institute. While a student there, Zalygin began dating a fellow student, Liubov Sergeevna Bahkirova, and began to publish essays and short stories in both the city newspaper and the student newspaper. In 1939, he graduated from the Institute with a degree in hydrotechnical agricultural engineering and married Bahkirova. They had a daughter, Galina Sergeevna. Two years later, his first book of short stories, Rasskazy (stories), was published in Omsk. He worked for a time as a hydrologist in northwestern Siberia before returning to the Omsk Agricultural Institute for graduate study. The year before defending his dissertation in 1948, his second book, Severnye rasskazy (northern stories), was published in Omsk.
Once he completed his degree, Zalygin became a professor at the Institute. After serving there until 1955 as chairman of the Department of Hydrotechnical Land Improvement, Zalygin took the position of senior research fellow at the Western Siberian division of the Academy of Sciences in the U.S.S.R. in Novosibirsk. Although he left that position in 1964, it was not until 1970 that he moved from Novosibirsk to Moscow to devote himself entirely to writing. During the next three decades before his death on April 19, 2000, Zalygin published a number of novels and a collection of reflections: Solyonnaya pad (salt valley) in 1968, Iuzhnoamerikanskii variant (The South American Variant, 1979) in 1974, Komissiia (The Commission, 1993) in 1975, the two-volume Posle buri (after the storm) in 1985, Ekologicheskii roman (ecological novel) in 1993, and both Klub volnykh dolgozhitelei (the voluntary old-timers club) and Svoboda vybora (freedom of choice) in 1998. In addition, Zalygin published essays and articles about Russian writers, from contemporary prose writers to established literary greats such as Nikolai Gogol and Anton Chekhov, and when appointed editor-in-chief of Novyi mir in August, 1986, he published works once forbidden in the Soviet Union.
Zalygin received the State Prize for Solyonnaya pad in 1968, received the title “Hero of Socialist Labor” for his literary and public work in 1988, and was awarded by Russian President Vladimir Putin a Presidential Prize for Literature and the Arts in March of 2000. Zalygin’s writing is notable for its realistic portrayal and sharp, clear-eyed analysis of the major events in Soviet history.