The work of the Russian writer and playwright Yuri German opened with modernist prose. The writing style of the Stalin Prize laureate then changed dramatically. A screenwriter and a recognized classic of Russian literature, he became one of the first in Russia to write a family novel.
For the forty years of his creative activity, Yuri Pavlovich German has created stories, and stories, and novels, and scripts, and plays. His major works are still popular. Films have been made based on many of his books.
At the beginning of the creative path
The biography of the future writer began in 1910. The child was born on April 4 in Riga in the family of a serviceman. Mom taught Russian. For her husband mobilized for the war, Nadezhda Konstantinovna went with a 4-year-old baby. She became a nurse in a field hospital.
Little Yuri spent his childhood in the artillery battalion. My father finished his service as a staff captain, head of a division. He mobilized, settled in his family in Kursk and began working as a financial inspector.
Yuri, while studying at school, became interested in literature, began to write. He created few poetic works. They were published in Kurskaya Pravda. The editor advised the boy not to waste time, but to start writing reports and essays.
Creativity was continued by stories published in the newspaper Lgov. Soon the young man switched to drama. At first he was a prompter in the theater, then he began to direct amateur performances, finally he himself composed small plays for staging
After graduating from school in Kursk, the graduate decided to continue his education in Leningrad. He entered the College of Performing Arts. At the same time, Yuri got a job at an engineering plant and continued to write. The first significant work was the novel Raphael from the Barber Shop. However, after the completion of the work, the seventeen-year-old author did not feel like a writer. This feeling came to him only 3 years later, after the publication of the second novel. Herman's stories "Sivash" and "Shkura" were published in the youth magazine "Young Proletarian".
Confession
Herman wrote essays on workers in factories and plants. After meeting with them at factories, he decided to write a second novel. After the release of "Entry" its author became famous. The main character is a chemical engineer. He gets into an atmosphere of enthusiasm when he comes to the Soviet Union from Shanghai. The book was approved by Gorky, predicting a wonderful future for the writer.
A real event in Russian literature was Herman's new work "Our Friends". He was among the first writers to write about the birth and growth of his contemporaries.
During the Patriotic War, Yuri Pavlovich was a military commander on the Karelian front, he also visited the Northern Fleet.
In the winter of 1942, the novel was published in the form of a diary "Far in the North". The writer was inspired by the theme of caravan postings. He created the play "Convoy". The prototype was a real person, a captain, thanks to whose skillful actions a valuable cargo was saved from an enemy raid.
The military actions inspired the writer to create an epic book about Peter the Great. The author got acquainted with the materials of the archives, read the literature about Peter in the North, the construction of a fortress in Novodvinsk, the shipyards of Solombala, the life of that era. At first, a play was conceived about the helmsman Ivan Ryabov. Then the idea grew to a novel about the exploits of sailors in battles with the Swedes.
Iconic works
Several essays were written about the birth of the Northern Fleet, and in October 1943 Yuri Pavlovich presented the play "Near the White Sea" for the first time. Its premiere took place in Arkhangelsk a year later. The success became the reason for the work on the epic novel. The first chapters were published in the fall of 1945 in the newspaper Pravda Severa.
Readers first saw the work in 1952. The epic story tells about Russia being created by the tsar. There are many real historical characters among the characters, there are little-known and famous facts of the beginning of the tsar's reign.
Already in peacetime, the prose writer decided to make his hero a person capable of thinking in universal human criteria. In 1957-1064 he presented a trilogy about the doctor Vladimir Ustimenko "The cause you serve."
In its second part, "My Dear Man," the heroism of the Northern Fleet sailors during the war is described. The final part of the trilogy "I'm in charge of everything" was released in the mid-sixties.
In the late forties, the prose writer worked on the story "Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service." The work is dedicated to spiritual development, loyalty to the cause. The main character, Alexander Markovich Levin, works as a doctor. He is the head of the surgical department at the North Sea hospital. Even knowing that he is hopelessly ill, he continues to fully devote all his strength to work, fighting for the lives of patients until his last days.
The writer created his works for both adults and children. Young readers received "Secret and Service", "Give a paw, friend". From the perspective of a seven-year-old boy Misha, who remained in the city during the blockade, the story "This is how it was" about Leningrad was written.
Family and vocation
To a large extent, Herman's work is associated with cinema. He worked with Sergei Gerasimov in the thirties. The prose writer created the script for "The Seven Brave", "Doctor Kalyuzhny", "Cases of Rumyantsev", "Pirogov".
Based on his father's novel in 1984, the film was directed by Alexei German, the writer's son. The drama "My friend Ivan Lapshin" is known to all film lovers.
The personal life of the writer did not settle down immediately. His first chosen one, Sophia Khenkina, became his wife in 1928. The writer broke up with her a couple of years later.
In 1930, Yuri Pavlovich married Lyudmila Reisler. She gave her husband in 1933 a child, the son of Mikhail. He chose the career of an art critic. The family existed for 6 years.
Only the third marriage turned out to be lasting. Tatiana Rittenberg remained with Herman until his last days. She became the mother of the second son of the writer Alexei, a screenwriter and director. The dynasty was continued by Herman the Younger. Alexei Alekseevich filmed the melodrama "Dovlatov" in 2018.
The famous writer passed away on January 16, 1967.
