Valentin Savvich Pikul (1928-1990) - Soviet writer, prose writer, author of many works of fiction on historical and naval topics.
Even during the life of the writer, the total circulation of his books was about 20 million copies. As of today, the total circulation of his works exceeds half a billion copies.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Pikul, which we will talk about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Valentin Pikul.
Biography of Pikul
Valentin Pikul was born on July 13, 1928 in Leningrad. He grew up in a simple family that has nothing to do with writing.
His father, Savva Mikhailovich, worked as a senior engineer at the construction of a shipyard. He went missing during the Battle of Stalingrad. His mother, Maria Konstantinovna, came from the peasants of the Pskov region.
Childhood and youth
The first half of the future writer’s childhood passed in a good atmosphere. However, everything changed with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). A year before the start of the military conflict, Pikul and his parents moved to Molotovsk, where his father worked.
Here Valentin graduated from the 5th grade, at the same time attending the "Young sailor" circle. In the summer of 1941, the boy and his mother went on vacation to his grandmother, who lived in Leningrad. Due to the outbreak of war, they were unable to return home.
As a result, Valentin Pikul and his mother survived the first winter in besieged Leningrad. By that time, the head of the family had become a battalion commissar in the White Sea Fleet.
During the blockade of Leningrad, local residents had to endure many difficulties. The city was sorely lacking food, in connection with which the inhabitants suffered from hunger and disease.
Soon Valentin fell ill with scurvy. In addition, he developed dystrophy from malnutrition. The boy could have died if not for the saving evacuation to Arkhangelsk, where Pikul Sr. served. The teenager, together with his mother, managed to leave Leningrad along the famous "Road of Life".
It is worth noting that from September 12, 1941 to March 1943, "The Road of Life" was the only transport artery passing through Lake Ladoga (in summer - by water, in winter - by ice), linking besieged Leningrad with the state.
Not wanting to sit in the rear, 14-year-old Pikul fled from Arkhangelsk to Solovki in order to study at the Jung school. In 1943 he graduated from his studies, having received a specialty - "helmsman-signalman". After that he was sent to the destroyer "Grozny" of the Northern Fleet.
Valentin Savvich went through the entire war, after which he entered the naval school. However, he was soon expelled from the educational institution with the wording "for lack of knowledge."
Literature
The biography of Valentin Pikul developed in such a way that his formal education was limited to only 5 grades of the school. In the postwar years, he began to actively engage in self-education, spending a lot of time reading books.
In his youth, Pikul led a diving detachment, after which he was the head of the fire department. Then he entered the literary circle of Vera Ketlinskaya as a free listener. By that time, he had already written several works.
Valentin was dissatisfied with his first two novels, as a result of which he refused to give them to print. And only the third work, entitled "Ocean Patrol" (1954), was sent to the editor. After the publication of the novel, Pikul was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR.
During this period, the man became friends with the writers Viktor Kurochkin and Viktor Konetsky. They appeared everywhere together, which is why colleagues called them "The Three Musketeers."
Every year Valentin Pikul showed an increasing interest in historical events, which prompted him to write new books. In 1961, the novel "Bayazet" was published from the pen of the writer, which tells about the siege of the fortress of the same name during the Russian-Turkish war.
An interesting fact is that it was this work that Valentin Savvich considered the beginning of his literary biography. In subsequent years, several more works of the writer were published, among which the most popular were "Moonsund" and "Pen and Sword".
In 1979, Pikul presented his famous novel-chronicle "Unclean Power", which caused a great resonance in society. It is curious that the book was published in full only 10 years later. It told about the famous elder Grigory Rasputin and his relationship with the royal family.
Literary critics accused the author of misrepresenting the moral character and habits of Nicholas II, his wife Anna Fedorovna, and representatives of the clergy. Friends of Valentin Pikul said that because of this book the writer was beaten, and under Suslov's order, secret surveillance was established.
In the 80s Valentin Savvich published the novels "Favorite", "I have the honor", "Cruiser" and other works. In total, he wrote over 30 major works and a lot of small stories. According to his wife, he could write books for days on end.
It is worth noting that for each literary hero, Pikul started a separate card in which he noted the main features of his biography.
An interesting fact is that he had about 100,000 of these cards, and in his library there were over 10,000 historical works!
Shortly before his death, Valentin Pikul said that before describing any historical character or event, he used at least 5 different sources for this.
Personal life
The first wife of 17-year-old Valentine was Zoya Chudakova, with whom he lived for several years. Young people legalized the relationship due to the girl's pregnancy. In this union, the couple had a daughter, Irina.
In 1956, Pikul began caring for Veronica Feliksovna Chugunova, who was 10 years older than him. The woman had a firm and domineering character, for which she was called the Iron Felix. After 2 years, the lovers played a wedding, after which Veronica became a reliable companion for her husband.
The wife solved all everyday issues, doing everything possible so that Valentin was not distracted from writing. Later the family moved to Riga, settling in a 2-room apartment. There is a version that the prose writer got a separate apartment for his loyalty to the current government.
After Chugunova's death in 1980, Pikul made an offer to a library employee named Antonina. For a woman who already had two adult children, this was a complete surprise.
Antonina said that she wanted to consult with the children. Valentine replied that he would take her to the house and wait for her there for exactly half an hour. If she doesn't go outside, he will go home. As a result, the children were not against their mother's wedding, as a result of which the lovers legalized their relationship.
The writer lived with his third wife until the end of his days. Antonina turned out to be the main biographer of Pikul. For books about her husband, the widow was admitted to the Writers' Union of Russia.
Death
Valentin Savvich Pikul died on July 16, 1990 of a heart attack at the age of 62. He was buried at the Riga Forest Cemetery. Three years later, he was posthumously awarded the. M. A. Sholokhov for the book "Unclean Power".
Pikul Photos
