The Sad Detective (Russian : Печальный Детектив) is a novella by Russian author Viktor Astafyev. It was firstly published in the January 1986 issue of Oktyabr magazine. [1] The book tells the story of urban life during the era of stagnation in the Soviet Union as seen by the protagonist, Russian policeman Soshnin. The main topics of Sad Detective are criminality and deprivation of human beings. The setting is in two imaginary towns: Veysk and Khaylovsk. The work was written between 1982 and 1985, and published in 1986 at the beginning of Perestroika. Upon its release, the novella saw a mixed critical reception. Some critics praised Astafyev's piece for showing a realistic picture of urban life in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, while many accused the author of anti-intellectualism. The Encyclopædia Britannica characterises the novel as "a gruesome look at the alcoholism, violence, and animosity among Soviet people.″ [2]
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its émigrés, and to Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different ethnic origins, including bilingual writers, such as Kyrgyz novelist Chinghiz Aitmatov. At the same time, Russian-language literature does not include works by authors from the Russian Federation who write exclusively or primarily in the native languages of the indigenous non-Russian ethnic groups in Russia, thus the famous Dagestani poet Rasul Gamzatov is omitted.
Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and was part of the third space crew to die during a space flight. On board the space station Salyut 1 he operated the Orion 1 Space Observatory ; he became the first man to operate a telescope outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Reginald Charles Hill FRSL was an English crime writer and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 1978.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia is the largest Soviet Russian-language encyclopedia, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later Boljšaja rossijskaja enciklopjedija in an updated and revised form. The GSE claimed to be "the first Marxist–Leninist general-purpose encyclopedia".
The Pushkin Prize was a Russian literary award presented to a Russian writer considered to have achieved the highest standard of literary excellence. It was established in 1881 by the Russian Academy of Sciences to honor one of the greatest Russian poets Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), then discontinued during the Soviet period. It was restored in 1989 by Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg. In 1995, the State Pushkin Prize was established by Boris Yeltsin's decree, with Vladimir Sokolov being the first laureate. Both lasted till 2005. In 2005 the New Pushkin Prize was established by the Aleksander Zhukov Fund, as well as the Pushkin and Mikhaylovskoye museums. In 2017 the International Creative Contest "World Pushkin" was established by the Russkiy Mir Foundation and the A. Pushkin State Literary Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve Boldino.
Vitaly Mefodievich Solomin was a Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter, best remembered for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations for Soviet television. He was the younger brother of Yury Solomin.
Viktor Petrovich Astafyev also spelled Astafiev or Astaf'ev, was a Soviet and Russian writer, playwright and screenwriter. He was recognized with the title Hero of Socialist Labour in 1989.
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Adamovich was a Soviet Belarusian writer, screenwriter, literary critic and democratic activist. He wrote in both the Russian and Belarusian languages.
Dmitri Aleksandrovich Prigov was a Russian writer and artist. Prigov was part of the unofficial Moscow Conceptualists during the era of the Soviet Union and was briefly sent to a psychiatric hospital in 1986.
Village prose was a movement in Soviet literature beginning during the Khrushchev Thaw, which included works that focused on the Soviet rural communities. Some point to the critical essays on collectivization in Novyi mir by Valentin Ovechkin as the starting point of village prose, though most of the subsequent works associated with the genre are fictional novels and short stories. Authors associated with village prose include Aleksander Yashin, Fyodor Abramov, Boris Mozhayev, Vasily Belov, Viktor Astafyev, Vladimir Soloukhin, Vasily Shukshin, and Valentin Rasputin. Some critics also count Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn among the village prose writers for his short novel Matryona's Place.
The National Salvation Front was a broad coalition of communist, socialist, and right-wing nationalist movements against the government of President Boris Yeltsin in Russia. Established in 1992, the FNS was the first group to be banned in post-Soviet Russia before playing a leading role in the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.
The Oak and the Calf, subtitled Sketches of Literary Life in the Soviet Union, is a memoir by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about his attempts to publish work in his own country. Solzhenitsyn began writing the memoir in April 1967, when he was 48 years old, and added supplements in 1971, 1973, and 1974. The work was first published in Russian in 1975 under the title Бодался телёнок с дубом. It has been translated into English by Harry Willetts.
Astafyev is a Russian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Vasily Ivanovich Belov was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold seven million copies. A prominent member of the influential 1970s–1980s derevenschiki movement, Belov's best known novels include Business as Usual, Eves, The Best is Yet to Come and The Year of a Major Breakdown.
Sonechka is a novella and collection of short stories by Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya. It was originally published in Russian in the literary journal Novy Mir in 1992, and translated into English by Arch Tait in 2005. Sonechka was nominated for the Russian Booker Prize.
Sergey Vasilyevich Vikulov was a Soviet and Russian poet, editor, and the Union of Soviet Writers' official.
Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation, and the author of more than 30 novels and short story collections. He is the editor-in-chief of Russia's extreme-right newspaper Zavtra, that combines ultranationalist and anti-capitalist views.