Venedikt Vasil'evich Erofeev
Venedikt Vasil'evich Erofeev was a notable Russian writer born on October 26, 1938, in Zapoliar'e, Murmansk region. Growing up under challenging circumstances, including his father's imprisonment for anti-Soviet activities, Erofeev developed a rebellious spirit that influenced his later life and work. He initially pursued philology at Moscow State University but faced expulsion due to his unconventional behavior. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Erofeev held various jobs while nurturing his passion for writing, which gained recognition during the glasnost period of the 1980s.
His most famous work, "Moskva-Petushki" (Moscow to the End of the Line), is celebrated in the West for its depiction of the struggles of communication within Soviet society, illustrated through the lens of the protagonist, Venichka, an alcoholic "holy fool." Erofeev's writings explore the tragic theme of the inability to articulate thoughts and emotions, further developed in his lesser-known play "Val'purgieva noch', ili shagi komandora." His works resonate with the themes of other prominent Russian authors, reflecting both the defiance and complicity of individuals in a repressive society. Erofeev's career was cut short by his death on May 11, 1990, from throat cancer, a poignant end for a voice that sought to critique the world around him.
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Venedikt Vasil'evich Erofeev
Fiction Writer and Playwright
- Born: October 26, 1938
- Birthplace: Zapoliar'e, Murmansk, Russia
- Died: May 11, 1990
- Place of death: Moscow, Russia
Biography
Venedikt Vasil’evich Erofeev was born on October 26, 1938, in Zapoliar’e, a town in the Murmansk region of Russia. One of three children, he grew up in Kivrosk, on the northern Kol’skii peninsula. In 1946, his father was arrested and charged with distributing anti-Soviet propaganda. His mother, unable to provide for the children single-handedly, sent her two sons to a children’s home until 1954, when their father was freed. Despite the father’s imprisonment, Venedikt was an excellent student, but he was also a rebel who refused to join any Communist youth organizations.
In 1955, he enrolled as a philology student at Moscow State University. After three semesters, he was expelled for “unconventional and erratic behavior,” but soon registered at the Vladimir Institute to remain in Moscow as a student. There he met his first wife, Valentina Zimakova. They separated in 1966 after the birth of their son. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Erofeev worked as a glassware inspector, stoker, watchman, and construction worker. From 1964 to 1969 he laid telephone cable throughout the Soviet Union. Over the next five years, Erofeev worked as a telephone repairman in Moscow and wrote in his spare time.
After 1974, Erofeev became a biological researcher. He wed his second wife, Galina Erofeeva, who helped him try to get his manuscripts published. Under Communism, he could only circulate his writings in manuscript; but in the glasnost period of the 1980’s he saw his works published and acclaimed. Death cut short his career on May 11, 1990; ironically, the cause was throat cancer, which literally and figuratively stopped his voice.
In the West, Erofeev is best known for his novel Moskva-Petushki (translated as Moscow to the End of the Line), which was written in the early 1970’s. Indeed, many in the West think this was his sole publication, partly because of the popular identification of Erofeev with the protagonist, Venichka, the alcoholic “holy fool” who dies at the end of the story. Actually, the themes of Moscow to the End of the Line are further developed in a dramatic work better known in Russia than in the West: Val’purgieva noch’, ili shagi komandora (1989). Both works present a tragic theme: the struggle against the inability to communicate. In Moscow to the End of the Line alcoholic hallucinations render Venichka inarticulate; the satiric message is that only constant inebriation makes Soviet life tolerable. In Val’purgieva noch’, ili shagi komandora, however, the central character, Gurevich, does not choose self-repression but has it forced upon him by doctors who arbitrarily diagnose him as insane and commit him to an asylum. The asylum is a microcosm of repressive Soviet society, which attempted to stop the mouths of its citizens, especially poets. Gurevich is given to speaking in iambic pentameter, in contrast to the bureaucratic language of the asylum officials and the profanity of the nurses and orderlies. But, paradoxically, Gurevich also tries to limit the communications of his fellow inmates.
The themes of Erofeev’s work echo those of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Bulgakov, and others who pondered the opposition between society and the poet, who represents humanity at large. But, perhaps reflecting his own ambiguous rebellion, Erofeev suggests that his heroes, while defiant, may also be complicit in this repression.