Vladimir Voinovich

Robert Porter (University of Glasgow)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

Born 26 Sep 1932
Died 27 Jul 2018
Activity 1961-2017

Places

Born in Russia
Active in Germany; Russia

Activities

Primary

Humorist
Novelist
Satirist
Story-writer

Other

Autobiographer
Essayist

Resources

Voinovich's Works

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Vladimir Nikolaevich Voinovich has become one of the most significant writers of comic fiction in Russia in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. Born in Dushanbe in 1932 and doing military service in the Red Army (1951-5), he witnessed army life only in peacetime. Yet, with a typical touch of idiosyncrasy, he came to produce a

magnum opus

that was set in the Second World War.

The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin

(

Zhizn' i neobychainye prikliucheniia soldata Ivana Chonkina

) - its sequels notwithstanding - remains unfinished in terms of simple plotline, but its depiction of the Russian war effort and the general absurdity of the whole Soviet experiment is conclusively irreverent and subversive.

Born of white-collar workers (mother a teacher, father a

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2089 words

Citation: Porter, Robert. "Vladimir Voinovich". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 August 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5476, accessed 22 November 2024.]