Prishvin Mihail Mihaylovich
Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin is a Russian and Soviet writer, novelist, publicist, traveler and photographer. He is known for his works about nature and hunting, philosophical reflections on the connection of man with the outside world.
The main biographical milestones
Date and place of birth: February 4, 1873, village Khrushchevo‑Levshino, Yelets district, Oryol province, in a merchant family.
Education: graduated from a real estate college in Tyumen; graduated from the University of Leipzig in 1902 with a degree in land management engineering.
Early years and professional activity: worked as an agronomist in Oryol, Tula and St. Petersburg‑In the St. Petersburg provinces, he wrote articles on agriculture.
Arrest and exile: in 1897, he was arrested for participating in Marxist circles, spent a year in prison, then was exiled to Yelets for two years.
Literary debut: the first story is "Sashok" (1906) in the children's magazine Rodnichok.
Journeys: He made 11 trips (5 before the revolution and 6 after), collecting material for his works.
Death: he died on the night of January 16, 1954, and was buried at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Creation
Prishvin became famous as "the singer of Russian nature." His works combine accurate observations of the world around him with philosophical reflections.
Key works:
"In the land of undeterred birds. Essays on the Vygovsky Region (1907) is a book based on the results of an ethnographic expedition to the Russian North, for which the author received a silver medal from the Imperial Geographical Society.
"The Black Arab" (1910) is a series of essays about a trip to the Central Asian steppes.
Kashcheeva Chain (1927) is an autobiographical novel about the formation of a creative personality.
The Nature Calendar (1935) is a series of hunting and children's stories.
"Berendeyev's Thicket" (1939) is a series of short stories based on the results of a trip to Pinega.
"The Storeroom of the Sun" (1945) is a fairy tale, one of the most famous works for children.
"Osudareva Doroga" (1938-1953) is a later work.
A special legacy:
Diaries (1905-1954) — the main work of Prishvin's life, 18 volumes. This is a unique chronicle of Russian history, published uncut only in 1991-2017.
Photo art: Prishvin was professionally engaged in photography, took more than 2,000 pictures. He illustrated his books with images from his travels — animals, trees, landscapes.
Interesting facts
Car: I got behind the wheel for the first time at the age of 61 and became an avid car enthusiast. He traveled around the country in a Mashenka van (1930s), and later owned a Moskvich 401.
Family: he was married twice. His second wife was his literary secretary Valeria Pavlovna Lebedeva (Liorko), who after the writer's death worked with his archives and headed the Prishvin House Museum in Dunino.
Awards: the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1943), the Order of the Badge of Honor (1939).
Memory
The House Museum in Dunino (Moscow Region) is a department of the State Literary Museum, where the writer lived since 1946.
Streets in different cities, the Orel regional children's library, a school in Yelets, an asteroid, a mountain peak, a lake, and a cape on the island of Iturup are named after Prishvin.
Prize: M. M. Prishvin Regional Literary Prize (Moscow Region, since 2004) for prose on the theme of love for the native land.