Writer Vladimir Maximov, whose photodecorated the covers of books published in Paris in the second half of the twentieth century, was widely known far beyond the literature of the n abroad. At home, his works were delivered illegally. But they were read with interest and discussed by everyone who cares about Russia's past and future.
Maksimov Vladimir Emelyanovich is aliterary pseudonym invented for himself Lev Alekseevich Samsonov, who was born on November 27, 1930 in Moscow. The childhood of the future writer was difficult. His family belonged to the category of disadvantaged, which led to the escape of the boy from home. The young man wandered about Central Asia and Southern Siberia, visited several orphanages and colonies for juvenile offenders. Later he was tried on criminal charges and was serving a term of imprisonment. The beginning of life was promising ...
Severe life tests by no means brokefuture writer. Moreover, the experience of survival in a constant conflict with the surrounding social environment largely shaped his character. After his release from prison in 1951, Vladimir Maximov lived in the Krasnodar Territory. Feeling a taste for literary creativity, interrupted by casual earnings for the opportunity to write poetry and prose. Here the first publications in local periodicals were held. A little later, he was able to print the first collection of poems in the provincial publishing house in the Kuban. But, as is known, the way to the big literature in Russia traditionally runs through the capital.
In Moscow, Vladimir Maximov was able to return only in1956 year. His return coincided with the beginning of the so-called Khrushchev's "thaw". In the life of the country at this time there were great changes. A new generation of young people quickly burst into Soviet literature. Many of them passed the war and Stalin's camps. Vladimir Maksimov writes a lot and is published in the capital literary magazines. A notable event was his publication in the well-known literary almanac "Tarusa pages." In 1963 he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In addition, the writer conducts active social activities. In 1967 he was elected a member of the editorial board of the influential Soviet literary magazine "October". Books and publications by Vladimir Maksimov enjoy readership success and are actively discussed on the pages of periodicals.
But to be an orthodox Soviet writerVladimir Maximov could not. His political views were at odds with the official ideology. And books that negatively reflect Soviet realities could not be published in the country. This sad fact was more than compensated by the attention of readers to his work. Very soon he went beyond the permissible in the Soviet Union. Maximov's novels "Quarantine" and "Seven Days of Creation" dispersed among the reading public in a typewritten form, and later were published abroad. In 1973, Vladimir Maximov was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers and placed on compulsory treatment in a psychiatric clinic. This practice in the USSR was quite common. In 1974, the writer manages to emigrate to France.
In Paris, Vladimir Maximov is actively involved inliterary work and in public activities. Elected executive director of the international anti-communist organization "Internationale Resistance". In the capital of France, he publishes everything that was not possible to print in the Soviet Union. His books on Soviet realities are very successful and translated into many European languages. But the main business of his life, Vladimir Yemelyanovich considered the publication of the literary, artistic and socio-political magazine "Continent." This edition, edited by Maximov, publishes a significant volume of Russian literary heritage in verse and prose, regardless of where these works were created. In addition, the magazine "Continent" becomes the largest in the Russian literary foreign countries open publicistic platform. For many decades, many writers and thinkers, from liberals to conservatives, express their ideas and assess the events.
