Ivan Efremov was an encyclopedic educated person. His scientific knowledge and experience as a paleontologist found application in literary work. Efremov's works have taken a worthy place in the "golden fund" of world science fiction. Critics considered Ivan Antonovich's style elegant, but very cold. Efremov himself preferred to call himself not a science fiction writer, but a dreamer.
From the biography of Ivan Antonovich Efremov
The future scientist and science fiction writer was born on April 22, 1908 in the village of Vyritsa (now the Leningrad Region). His father's name was Antipom Kharitonovich. He was a simple peasant, but then he became a merchant. And he even received the rank of titular counselor. When the revolution happened, Efremov's parents divorced. In order not to incur accusations of belonging to the exploiting class, Ivan took a different patronymic and became Ivan Antonovich.
Ivan's mother, Varvara Alexandrovna, was engaged in raising children. But she paid more attention to her youngest son, Vasily. He was constantly ill. In 1914, the family moved to Ukraine, to Berdyansk. There Vanya went to the gymnasium.
The Civil War began. Efremov ended up at the front, where he received a light concussion. In memory of her, Efremov kept a slight stutter all his life. Returning from the front, Efremov settled in Petrograd. I had to work as a loader, a driver. In his free time, Ivan read a lot. He was fascinated not only by fiction, but also by books on biology.
Efremov managed to learn to be a navigator. For more than a year, he walked on the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. After graduating from marine life, Ivan entered the biological department of the university. However, he soon became interested in geology, dropped out of university and moved to the Mining Institute. He took part in research expeditions, visited Siberia, Central Asia and Mongolia. The result of his scientific research was a number of works on paleontology, for which Efremov was awarded the degree of candidate of biological sciences. Before the start of the war with the Nazis, Efremov became a doctor of sciences.
Creativity of Ivan Efremov
Efremov began his literary experiments during a forced evacuation to Kazakhstan. There he became seriously ill with typhus and was bedridden for a long time. In order to pass the time somehow, Ivan Antonovich began to compose short stories and novellas. His first works were:
- The Last Marseille;
- Starships;
- "Observatory Nur-i-Desht";
- "The paths of the old miners";
- "Bay of Rainbow Streams";
- "Lake of Mountain Spirits".
In his works, Efremov combined fiction with real scientific facts. Many of his sketches later became prophetic. For example, in Yakutia, the kimberlite pipes described by Efremov were found, deposits of mercury and a cave of ancient people with drawings were discovered. Deep-sea vehicles appeared that could explore the seabed and drill wells in it.
The plot of "Shadows of the Past" is based on fantasies that images of past events can be preserved in rocks under certain conditions. A few years later, scientists theoretically substantiated the principle of constructing holographic images.
Efremov developed a special attitude towards the story "The Heart of the Serpent". The writer called this work a mine of mistakes. The first version of the story did not stand up to criticism. Readers with knowledge of chemistry and biology pointed out inaccuracies in the descriptions. Efremov began to take his subsequent literary experiments more seriously.
Efremov did not think of the future of human civilization outside of contact with other worlds. He connected the progress of mankind with the development of interstellar space. The idea of the Andromeda Nebula came to the writer when he took part in an expedition to the Gobi Desert. The author described in bright colors what humanity subsequently had to face. We are talking about the consequences of ill-considered handling of nuclear energy.
The book mentions:
- unidentified flying objects;
- artificially synthesized food products;
- substances with a special structure, having the highest hardness.
Efremov dedicated his novel "Hour of the Bull" to his wife Taisiya. In fact, the book has become a philosophical parable about the consequences of life in a totalitarian society. The heroes of the Andromeda Nebula are mentioned in the novel as figures from the distant past. "Hour of the Bull" can be seen as part of the dispute between Efremov and his colleagues, who argued that life is just a road to death. The main idea of the work: the man of the Earth will never give in to the onslaught of animal instincts. The book glorifies the triumph of all that is brightest and just.
The last creative work of Efremov was the book "Thais of Athens". The author delved into the past of civilization and told a story from the life of a hetera, who became a companion of the Egyptian king Ptolemy and Alexander the Great. In this work, fiction gave way to rigorous historical research. Critics consider this novel a hymn to beauty, love, intelligence, fidelity. "Tais of Athens" was published after Efremov's death.
Personal life of Ivan Efremov
The first wife of the writer was Ksenia, the daughter of the eminent scientist Nikolai Svitalsky. He investigated ore deposits on which the Magnitogorsk Combine was later erected. Evil tongues said that Ivan Antonovich needed a marriage with Ksenia in order to make a breakthrough in his career. Efremov did not have children in this marriage.
In the course of his scientific activity, Efremov had to move from Leningrad to Moscow: the Paleozoological Museum moved there. Ivan Antonovich arrived in the capital of the USSR with his second wife, Elena Konzhukova. A son was born in the family, who was named Allan. Subsequently, he became interested in geology and followed in his father's footsteps.
In 1961, Elena passed away. After that, Efremov married for the third time. Taisiya Yukhnevskaya became his wife. They met back in 1950. Taisiya worked at the institute as a typist, and later was Ivan Antonovich's secretary. The family lived modestly. The biggest "excess" was the car: Efremov was able to acquire it after receiving the Stalin Prize for his scientific achievements.
Ivan Antonovich passed away on October 5, 1972. A few hours earlier, he had consulted with a colleague. The doctors named the cause of death as a heart attack.
On the second day, the writer's body was cremated. For some reason, this fact aroused suspicion among the KGB.
A few weeks after the cremation, a group of KGB officers visited Yefremov's apartment, where a search was carried out. According to one of the unofficial versions, shortly before his death, Efremov received a letter by mail; the envelope allegedly contained fine powder particles. However, this fact was not confirmed in the official expert opinion. What exactly the science fiction writer was suspected of is unknown. However, subsequently, Efremov's works were not published for a long time. His novel "Hour of the Bull" was withdrawn from libraries: it was believed that the author secretly carried out anti-Soviet propaganda in it.
