Yakov Gordin: biography, photos and reviews

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Yakov Gordin is a famous Russian historian and publicist. His career achievements surprise everyone.

Gordin's biography

Gordin Yakov Arkadyevich, whose biography is full of bright moments, was born on December 23, 1935, in the cultural capital - St. Petersburg (at that time - the city of Leningrad).

His father was a literary critic, and his mother was a writer. Yakov's grandfather was from the city of Rezhitsa and was considered a successful merchant of the first Pskov guild. Despite the high position of his relatives, Yakov's uncle was an activist in the political movement within the RCP in the 1920s, represented by Trotsky and Preobrazhensky. Soon he was arrested as a political offender. An uncle on the other side of the family was also arrested for participation in the left opposition, and subsequently shot.

However, one of the relatives held a high position in the People's Commissariat of Finance of the USSR, taking the place of a deputy and making a career in this field.

Education

After graduating from school, Gordin Yakov entered the Faculty of Philology at Leningrad University. Despite his abilities in this scientific field, he never graduated from the university.

Yakov Gordin decided to build his career in a completely different area - an unsuccessful start in the linguistic sciences gave impetus to a completely different direction. Yakov graduated from technical and geophysical courses at the Arctic Research Institute of Geology, after which he worked in this field for five years. Yakov even managed to take part in an expedition to Northern Yakutia.

The beginning of a literary career

Only in 1963, Yakov Gordin began publishing his poems in Leningrad periodicals. Then he began work on the publication of historical and critical articles and plays.

One of the first plays was "Unarmed Mutiny", it was written in 1964. The play told about the life, fate and difficulties of the Decembrists.

Development in the literary path

Already in 1967, the play “Your Head, Emperor!” was released, which was immediately staged at the Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators.

Yakov Gordin became seriously interested in publishing and writing literary works. Inspired by his success, in 1972 Gordin published his first collection of poems, Space.

In 1973, Gordin's prose work "December 14 Day" was published. After the publication of this book, Yakov Gordin begins to develop his literary talent in writing works on historical topics.

From the moment he chose the genre of writing his works, Gordin is considered a novelist working in the historical genre, his books are based on a solid foundation of history. ExceptMoreover, Yakov Gordin is also a historical aesthete.

Television Writer

In 2004, Jacob decides to try his hand at creating a television program. He starts working on a documentary cycle, the historical television series “There is rapture in battle” appears on the Kultura channel, which tells in detail about the significance of noble fights in Russia and consists of twelve episodes.

Yakov Gordin became not only the creator of this television series, but also its presenter. The series was a success among the audience, because Gordin wrote the script understandable for everyone who does not have such deep knowledge in historical science.

Yakov Gordin: writer's books

The main genre, as mentioned earlier, for Gordin was historical prose. That is why all his books, one way or another, describe the historical events of different eras.

The most famous works authored by Yakov Gordin (writer) are considered to be a book about duelists, a work that exposes the personality of Nicholas I and a documentary story about Yermolov's life.

Duels and duelists: Panorama of life in the capital

Yakov's book about duelists and their way of life tells about the tradition of dueling, which was a great success in the circles of the Russian nobility. The writer tells in detail about the history of the Petersburg era. On the basis of historical documents, Yakov Gordin puts together a general picture of duels, the importance of which was very high in the 18th-19th centuries in the Russian Empire.

Yermolov

Everyone knows that Alexey Yermolov is an extremely mysterious historical figure, the significance of which is not fully understood and appreciated. However, also on the basis of archival documents and memoirs, Yakov Gordin managed to prove the true significance of Yermolov in Russian history. The book fully reveals Yermolov's character, showing how much he wanted the fame that Macedonian or Caesar had. How much effort Ermolov put into his self-education, standing out in his environment with special ambition. The book of Yakov Gordin is dedicated to this historical character.

Nicholas the First without retouching

The content of the book contains a large number of historical documents, correspondence and diaries that enable the reader to look at the personality of Nicholas the First from all angles. Fragments of the memoirs of other significant figures in the history of the Russian Empire can change the opinion of one of the rulers, showing his real essence and the thoughts that the emperor actually had.

Other books of the writer: classical poets in Russian history

Yakov Gordin has books in which he independently puts the history of Russia and the work of some poets together, drawing conclusions that also have a strong historical basis. These books consist, to a greater extent, of literary studies, writings and essays of the writer. Of all the works of this type, two works by Gordin can be distinguished - a book in two volumes “Pushkin. Brodsky. Empire and Destiny” and “Knight and Death, or Life as a Plan.”

“Pushkin. Brodsky. Empire and destiny”

The first volume of "The Drama of a Great Country" constantly mentions the life and work of Pushkin, which, one way or another, influenced the course of historical events. The key thing in the first book is the fact that Pushkin's work seemed to "look into the future through the centuries." During his lifetime, Alexander Sergeevich described the events and problems that were relevant in his time, only slightly touching on the topics of the future. However, the freedom-loving poetry of the poet has become even more relevant after almost a hundred years since the writing of the first works.

Pushkin wrote about how much the Russian people lack freedom in life, and his works were constantly quoted by people from the time of the October Revolution until the very moment of perestroika. The fate of the heroes of Gordin's work is inextricably linked with the fate of the whole empire.

The second volume of "Those who are on the other side of the river" already tells the life story of significant figures of the twentieth century - Joseph Brodsky, Yuri Davydov and Natan Eidelman. Each of these famous people perceived the development and collapse of the Russian Empire in their own way, but each had a close connection with the personality of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The book tells about how each hero comprehended the fate of such a majestic state as the Russian Empire.

The Knight and Death, or Life as a Plan

The book tells about the life of Joseph Brodsky, about all the difficulties that the poet had to endure in order to eventually live in peace. The book tells about all those terrible events thathappened to Brodsky: arrest, after trial, and then exile. The story begins from the moment of personal acquaintance of Joseph Brodsky and Yakov Gordin. It should be noted that this book was approved by Joseph himself, after which it was published in 1989.