Kondrat Krapiva is a Belarusian Soviet writer, playwright, satirist, translator and poet. He was engaged in social and literary activities. The people's writer of the republic was a doctor of philological sciences, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR. Laureate of Stalin and State Prizes.
Belarusian writer Kondrat Kondratovich Atrakhovich wrote feuilletons, fables, stories. He was also the author of works on national linguo-geography.
The beginning of the path to the vocation
The biography of the writer began in the village of Nizok in 1896. A boy was born into a peasant family on February 22 (March 5). His parents wanted their only son, when he grows up, to be engaged in agriculture.
The child studied at the parish rural school. Then he entered the public school, finished 4 classes of the school in Stolbtsy. He was transferred from there to the Koydanov School. In 1913 the exam for the title of national teacher was passed as an external student.
In the fall of 1914, Kondrat Kondratovich began to teach. A year later he was mobilized. In March 1916 he graduated from the school of warrant officers in Gatchina. The future writer fought on the Romanian front. Mobilization began in February 1918. Krapiva returned to work as a teacher in the village of Kamenka.
From there he was again drafted into the army, where the young man served until 1923. When he returned, he began teaching in the village of Ostrovok. Deciding to get further education, in 1926 Kondrat entered the pedagogical department at the university. Four years later, the studies were completed.
From 1932 to 1936 the graduate worked as an editor for the Flame of Revolution magazine. Then Krapiva was sent to Western Belarus. He also had a chance to take part in the Finnish war. Then the writer stayed to work as a front-line journalist for the newspaper.
Literary activity
Work in the Vozhyk edition lasted from 1945 to 1947. The writer held an editorial position. He was sent in 1946 as a delegate from the republic to the UN General Assembly. At the Institute of Language and Literature at the Academy of Sciences, Krapiva headed the sector of linguistics. Then he became director of the University of Linguistics.
Until 1982, Kondrat Kondratovich served as vice president at the Republican Academy of Sciences. At the Yakub Kolos Institute, he was a leading consultant in the Department of Lexicology.
The future famous writer took up writing unexpectedly. While walking, he saw the newspaper "Soviet Belarus". The future author decided to read the notes. The young man liked them. He decided to try his own hand at the role of a writer.
Every day he wrote at least a few lines, but he never told anyone what work he was working on. The author wrote his compositions at once in Belarusian and Russian. His literary debut was the poetic feuilleton "Once Upon a Time". It was published in 1922 in Krasnoarmeiskaya Pravda. At the same time, "Soviet Belarus" released a satirical poetic composition called "Matchmakers".
Confession
In the mid-twenties, the first collections of the writer "Osti" and "Nettle" were published. Known as a satirist, the author tried to write serious works. The editors accepted all works with approval, but only satirical ones were allowed for publication. Krapiva mastered the prose direction on feuilletons. Then this activity was forgotten.
In all publications where Kondrat Kondratovich had a chance to edit, he defended his native language, ridiculing baseless criticism of the national. This topic is dedicated to the author's fable called "Goat".
The personal life of the writer turned out to be happy. Elena Konstantinovna Makhnach became the wife of the writer. They lived together for over forty years. The acquaintance took place in the native village of Kondrat. The family had two children, daughter Lyudmila and son Igor.
The author has made many translations. He translated the works of Shevchenko, Mayakovsky, Pushkin, Tvardovsky, Chekhov, Shakespeare into Belarusian. Until the end of his life, the author did not stop writing. The typewriter had to be postponed only because of the sharply deteriorated vision.
The final piece was the work "On a vystryni" created when Krapiva turned 86. In 1983 a documentary was shot about the writer.
Interesting Facts
Work on the "Gate of Immortality" lasted about six years. Nobody knew about working with a book.
Kondrat Kondratovich had an amazing memory. He did not recognize diaries, did not write down addresses and telephone numbers. If any of the people around him needed someone's number, they should turn to Nettle. If the right person was known to the writer, he gave out the numbers instantly.
When editorial work became much more difficult due to a sharp deterioration in vision, phenomenal memory came to the rescue again. The author edited the dictionaries without using specialized literature. He remembered all dialect variants, any meaning of terms.
The famous writer often took notes. He has accumulated quite a few notebooks. Usually, travel notes or quotes were recorded in them. The author's handwriting was excellent. He never took notes in the margins, never painted.
Besides literature, the author had a passion for chess. The people's writer spent a lot of time at the blackboard. He had a special set with figures carved from rare wood.
The writer passed away in 1991, on January 7. The Institute of Art History, Ethnography and Folklore of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus is named in his honor. The school and the street in Uzda bear the name of Nettle. Streets in several cities of the republic are named after the writer. In 1996, Belarus issued a postage stamp in honor of the writer.
