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Soviet writer Valentin Pikul would turn 90 today

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Soviet writer Valentin Pikul would turn 90 today


13.07.2018


One of the most read authors in the Soviet Union, Valentin Pikul would turn 90 today, TV Kultura informs. Valentin Pikul was a popular historical novelist whose books focused on Russia's sweeping upheavals. While Pikul was not well known by Western audiences, his works sold over a million copies in Russia between 1967-79. 

Pikul was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, but grew up in the small town of Molotovsk on the shores of the White Sea. At the outbreak of WW2 Pikul and his mother were visiting relatives in Leningrad. In the ensuing violence, they became trapped by the blockade of the city that lasted over 900 days. Later the future writer and his mother managed to escape the siege by traversing the frozen surface of Lake Ladoga, popularly called ‘the road of life’.Upon his return to the Russian North, Pikul enrolled in the Midshipman school in the Solovetsky Islands, and throughout the duration of the war, he served as a cadet on the minelayer vessel. During this time, he developed a strong connection to the sea, and an enduring fascination with naval history.

His first novel, Ocean Patrol (1954), was about the Soviet fleet. In 1961, he wrote Bayazet novel dedicated to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. In the beginning of 1960s Pikul moved to Riga, where he produced most of his best works, such as With Pen and Rapier, Moon Sound and Word and Deed, Favourite, etc.

The writer often digged into topics that were long taboo, like the downfall of Russian royalty and the influence of the monk Grigori Rasputin over the family of Czar Nicholas II. At the same time there were always discussions over the historical facts he was using to support the plots. For example, he was accused of being anti-Semitic when in At the Final Frontier novel he hints at Zionists ties of mysterious Grigori Rasputin, who had a  powerful influence over last Tsar of Imperial Russia. 

“Let others write better than me,” he'd always answer critics, 'The novel is the form of self-expression that I love. I love a novel with a multitude of characters and a furious succession of events.''


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