The novel "How the Steel Was Tempered" is a literary monument to Nikolai Ostrovsky's fortitude and civic courage. The only completed work of a bedridden, blind writer.
The novel How the Steel Was Tempered is largely autobiographical. Nikolai Ostrovsky began writing it in Moscow in the fall of 1930. Shackled by illness, he lay alone all day in a room in a large communal apartment on the Arbat.
Diseases in spite of
The hands still obeyed, but the eyes, due to the inflammation, saw almost nothing. However, Ostrovsky did not abandon his idea. He used a device he called a banner. In the cover of an ordinary stationery folder, parallel cuts were made - lines.
I wrote myself first. But it was difficult for the family to disassemble the drafts. The letters jumped and ran over each other. I had to ask for help from my relatives and my neighbor Galya Alekseeva.
We worked hard and hard. They took a break when Nikolai had a severe headache.
Become a writer
In October 1931, the first part of the novel was completed. We typed the manuscript on a typewriter and sent it to Kharkov and Leningrad. The book had to be published.
The manuscript was not taken anywhere, they did not want to risk it. The writer was unknown.
I. P. Fedenev brought it to the editorial office of the "Molodaya Gvardiya" magazine, but the response was negative. Ostrovsky's friend insisted, and the manuscript ended up in the hands of a caring person. One of the directors of the magazine, Mark Kolosov, undertook to edit it.
The first part of How the Steel Was Tempered was published in April and completed in the September 1932 issue of the magazine. The novel was significantly cut due to a lack of paper. Ostrovsky was upset about this.
But the main goal was achieved. A serious illness did not prevent him from becoming a writer! In May 1932 Nikolai left for Sochi. There he writes the second part of the book and answers numerous letters from readers.
Courage
In the south, the writer was sick a lot. The room where he lived had a leaking ceiling. The bed had to be moved, it caused severe pain. There were no groceries in the stores. But despite the difficulties, work on the novel was completed in mid-1933. In the same year it was published as a separate book.
Readers simply filled up Nicholas with letters. They asked to send at least one copy. There were not enough books.
In the spring of 1935, the newspaper Pravda published an article by the then famous journalist Koltsov "Courage". Millions of readers have learned that the author of the novel became the prototype of Pavka Korchagin. Only his fate is even more tragic.
Recognition and fame came to the writer. On November 24, 1935, Nikolai Ostrovsky was awarded the Order of Lenin in Sochi.
