Vasilii Makarovich Shukshin was born into a peasant family on 25 July 1929. He was born in the village of Srostki in the Altai region of Siberia. His father, Makar Leont'evich, was sixteen years old at the time and his mother, Mariia Sergeevna, was eighteen. In 1933 Vasilii's mother gave birth to a daughter, Natal'ia, and, shortly after that, Vasilii's father was branded a kulak, arrested and taken away by the OGPU (Secret Police). He later died in unknown circumstances. His father's persecution had an effect on many aspects of Shukshin's life, both personal and professional. Much of his work addresses the issue of the outsider in Russian society, the individual who is not accepted by the collective or who chooses to remain outside it.
Shukshin's education was somewhat unorthodox. He
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Citation: Christian, Nicole. "Vasilii Shukshin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 October 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11740, accessed 22 November 2024.]
