Yuri Olesha is a Soviet writer and playwright who created the famous novel Three Fat Men, as well as other amazing works. Many of them were staged on the stage and formed the basis of feature films and cartoons.
Biography
Yuri Olesha was born in 1899, and his birthplace was the city of Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi). The future writer grew up in a rather eminent and wealthy family: father Karl was a well-known official and owned his own estate, and his mother Olga was a talented artist. Already in high school, he began to write the first rhymed lines, and in 1917 he entered the law faculty of Odessa University.
During the years of the revolution, a rich literary life was in full swing in Odessa. Yuri Olesha became a member of the "Commune of Poets", which also included Valentin Kataev, Ilya Ilf and other talented writers. In the same period, Olesha wrote his first play - "Little Heart". She began to be actively staged on stage by members of literary studios and circles and was enthusiastically received by the audience.
In 1920, Odessa was occupied by the Red Army. Odessa writers were obliged to compose propaganda materials and stage performances for soldiers and workers. Yuri Olesha wrote a new play "Playing the Block", which was also a success on stage. Subsequently, however, the writer had to move to Moscow, where he began his career anew, working in the information department and processing editorial letters.
Gradually Olesha began to publish satirical works under the pseudonym "Chisel", which were placed in the magazine "Gudok". His popularity began to grow, and in 1924 the author's most famous novel, Three Fat Men, was published. The revolutionary orientation of the work was met with approval by adult readers, and the children liked its fabulous component. Since 1930, the novel began to be staged not only on the Soviet, but also on foreign theatrical stages, and in 1966 the film of the same name was shot by Joseph Shapiro and Alexei Batalov.
Personal life
An interesting fact is that the prototypes of the female characters from "Three Fat Men" were the sisters Olga, Lydia and Serafima, with whom Yuri Olesha made friends in Odessa. With the youngest of them, Sima, mutual feelings arose, but after three years of civil marriage, the girl preferred Yuri to his friend Vladimir Narbut.
Later, the writer married another sister, Olga, with whom he lived happily until the end of his days, unfortunately, leaving no children behind. After the 1940s, he rarely published works, since they did not undergo strict Soviet censorship. Yuri began to feel a strong need for money and became addicted to alcohol. He died in 1960 and was buried for his achievements in the first section of the Novodevichy cemetery.
