The work of this writer remains in demand in the current chronological period. Leonid Leonov devoted a significant part of his creative life to the protection of the Russian forest. In the works written more than half a century ago, one can feel the breath of the present day.
Childhood and youth
To readers and critics of the Soviet period, Leonid Maksimovich Leonov is known as a recognized master of socialist realism. Today this genre has been written off to the archive. In his works, novels and plays, he revealed the acute problems of Christian morality and social values. The writer was one of the first in the civilized world to draw attention to environmental problems that were just beginning to manifest themselves. There is nothing surprising or supernatural in this, Leonov was distinguished by his increased insight from a young age.
The future writer was born on May 31, 1899 in the family of a Russian intellectual. Parents lived in Moscow. My father was engaged in publishing. He kept a bookstore and edited one of the city newspapers. The mother kept the household and raised the children. For participation in revolutionary activities, the head of the family was exiled to Arkhangelsk. Here an experienced journalist created the newspaper "Northern Morning". It was on the pages of this publication that the novice writer Leonid Leonov published his first poems, essays and theatrical reviews.
Creative way
In 1918 Leonov graduated from high school and entered Moscow University. But the whirlwinds of the Civil War carried away the young man. Leonid volunteered for the Red Army. He took part in battles on the Southern Front. Then he edited the newspaper of the Moscow Military District "Red Warrior". Returning to a peaceful life, Leonid in the most serious way, professionally engaged in literary work. The first stories "Buryga", "Tuatmur" and the story "Petushikhinsky break" were published in newspapers. In 1924, the novel Badgers was published as a separate book.
In the pre-war years, Leonov became interested in drama. This genre allows you to formulate a plot in a concise and figurative form and reveal it before your eyes and even with the participation of spectators. The plays "The Wolf" and "Polovchanskie Sady" were staged by Moscow theaters with a full house. The censorship turned the play "Snowstorm" as socially harmful. After the outbreak of the war, the writer was evacuated to the city of Chistopol. Here he created his best drama "Invasion", in which he shows the heroic resistance of the Soviet people to those who came to enslave the Soviet Union.
Recognition and privacy
In the post-war period, the writer worked on several novels. Leonov was very worried about the barbaric attitude towards the forest. He fought against the philistine approach, which was hidden behind the formula - there will be enough forests in Russia for our century. In the novel "Russian Forest" the author revealed the main abscesses and inflammations of this chronic disease. The party and the government highly appreciated the work of the writer. He was awarded the Lenin Prize.
The personal life of the writer does not attract fans of gossip and "strawberries". Leonov married Tatyana Mikhailovna Sabashnikova in 1923. Husband and wife have spent their entire lives under one roof. The writer passed away in August 1994.
