Nikolai Alekseevich Ostrovsky is the author of the novel How the Steel Was Tempered. This work immortalized the name of the writer. Pavel Korchagin, the main character of the book, has become for many generations of Soviet people a model of selfless heroism, strong will, resilience and unbending courage. The creation of the novel was a great challenge for the blind and bedridden writer.
From the biography of Nikolai Alekseevich Ostrovsky
The future writer was born on September 29, 1904 in the village of Viliya (Ukraine). His father was previously a military man, and then worked at a distillery. Mother was a cook. The Ostrovsky family brought up six children: Nikolai had four sisters and a brother. The two younger sisters died at an early age.
Need followed the family on the heels: it was not easy to feed the six children. Children started earning a living early by helping their parents. Nikolai went to a parish school, and his older sisters were already teaching. School teachers immediately saw in the boy a capable student: he quickly grasped any material. Nikolai received his school leaving certificate at the age of nine. A certificate of commendation was attached to it.
Subsequently, the family moved to Shepetovka. In this city, Nikolai entered the school. In 1915, after completing two courses, Ostrovsky went to work. Here are just a few of his professions:
- fireman;
- assistant in the station kitchen;
- cuber.
This hard, exhausting work made it possible to help parents at least a little.
The work was time consuming. But Nikolai was determined to get an education. Therefore, in 1918 he went to study at the Higher Primary School. During his student years, Nikolai realized the justice of the communist idea. He joined underground activities, played the dangerous role of a liaison, and participated in the distribution of leaflets.
Gradually, a militant revolutionary spirit completely seized the young man. In 1919, Ostrovsky became a Komsomol member and went to the front. In battle, he was seriously wounded in the head and stomach, fell from his horse, severely injuring his spine. For health reasons, the young soldier could not remain in the army. He was demobilized.
Ostrovsky after demobilization
However, Ostrovsky was in no hurry to complain about the difficult fate. And he could not sit around. In the rear, Nikolai actively helped the Chekists. Then he moved to Kiev, where he got a job as an assistant electrician. At the same time, Ostrovsky once again went to study. This time - to the electrical engineering school.
However, the injuries were not the only misadventures of Nicholas. In 1922, during an emergency rafting, Ostrovsky spent several long hours in icy water. Such a test could not pass without a trace for health. The next day, the young man came down with a severe form of fever. He developed rheumatism. And then the weakened body could not resist typhoid. This illness nearly drove Niklai to the grave.
Ostrovsky was still able to cope with the disease. Typhus and fever are a thing of the past. But all these diseases completely undermined Nikolai's health. He gradually began to develop muscle paralysis, complicated by joint damage. It was getting harder and harder to move. The doctors' predictions were disappointing.
The work of Nikolai Ostrovsky
Nikolai Alekseevich loved to read since childhood. I swallowed books greedily, rereading many of them over and over again. Favorite authors:
- Walter Scott;
- Fenimore Cooper;
- Jules Verne;
- Rafaello Giovagnoli;
- Ethel Lilian Voynich.
Ostrovsky began to pursue his own literary work in a hospital bed. In order not to waste the time spent in hospitals, Nikolai Alekseevich began to compose short plays and stories.
Since 1927, Ostrovsky could no longer walk on his own. Diagnosis: ankylosing spondylitis and polyarthritis. Nikolay underwent several complex operations. But this did not improve his condition.
The disease did not break the young man. He continued to work hard on self-education and even graduated from Sverdlovsk University by correspondence. At the same time, Ostrovsky tried to write. This is how the manuscript of the book "Born by the Storm" was born. This was the first version of the future novel "How the Steel Was Tempered." The author devoted several months to this work. But a big nuisance happened: the manuscript was lost in transit.
All work had to be started anew. But then a new misfortune arose: Ostrovsky began to lose his sight. For a while, courage left Nicholas. He even contemplated suicide. But the iron will of the professional revolutionary prevailed over weakness. Ostrovsky began to restore the lost manuscript. At first he tried to write blindly. Then his relatives and his wife began to help him, to whom he dictated the text. Subsequently, the writer began to use a special stencil. Thanks to this device, he could write out straight lines. The work went faster.
Ostrovsky sent the finished manuscript to one of the publishing houses in Leningrad. There was no answer. Then the manuscript was sent to the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house. After a while, a refusal came: the characters in the book seemed "unreal" to the editor.
Another would have retreated in the place of Nikolai. But Ostrovsky was not timid. He made sure that the manuscript was re-reviewed. Only after that it was decided to publish the work. However, the source code was rewritten in places by the editors. At times, every paragraph had to be defended. After an intense struggle with the publishing house, the first part of How the Steel Was Tempered was published in 1932. After a while, the final part of the book was also published.
The success of the work was overwhelming. In the country's libraries, queues lined up for the novel. People discussed the book in groups, read aloud selected passages from the novel. During Ostrovsky's lifetime alone, his book was reprinted several dozen times. Encouraged by his success, Ostrovsky began to work on a new work, but did not manage to complete his creative idea.
Personal life of the hero
The disease did not prevent Ostrovsky from being happy in his personal life. Raisa Matsyuk, a longtime acquaintance of Nikolai's family, became his wife. The wife supported Ostrovsky in the most difficult moments of his life, helped to work on books. Thanks to this support, the writer retained faith in himself. After the death of Nikolai Alekseevich, his wife directed the Ostrovsky museum in the capital.
Nikolai devoted the last few weeks of his life to working on another book. But he could not finish the novel. On December 22, 1936, Ostrovsky passed away. The writer was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
