MOSCOW, June 19, Pavel Surkov. He dreamed of a career as an officer, was listed as killed in action, but returned from the hospital to the front, became a platoon commander and created his works on the front lines. About the incredible fate and war prose of Vasil Bykov, whose 100th anniversary is celebrated today, — in the material .
He did not intend to be a writer, but wanted to make a career as an officer — he entered a military school. And when the Great Patriotic War began, — of course, he found himself at the front.
He fought in the terrible fire of the Kirovograd operation. He was seriously wounded in the leg and stomach — so much so that he did not even show signs of life, which is why he was listed among the dead. But after a series of operations, Bykov not only recovered, but also returned back to the front line, becoming the commander of an artillery platoon. Incredible fearlessness and a fierce desire to defeat the enemy were combined in him with the wisdom of a commander: despite his young age, he showed himself to be a skillful, insightful officer who cares about his soldiers and values each of the fighters.
After the Great Patriotic War, he did not leave his military career, but began to write and publish. The story «The Third Rocket», published in the magazine «Youth», brought him all-Union fame. The heroes of the book participate in a military operation on the territory of Romania — Bykov himself once served there. The soldiers fearlessly go on the attack, only one soldier from the platoon remains alive, but the Nazi attack is repulsed.
Vasil Vladimirovich, according to his own recollections, wrote “The Third Rocket” directly at military training — he read the works of Grigory Baklanov and decided to try to create something of his own. After lights out, when the soldiers went to bed, Bykov retired with a pencil and paper and sketched out the first pages of the future book.
Actually, this is how he combined a military career with military prose: accurate, bright, uncompromising, but filled with living, full-blooded and integral heroes.
Bykov first wrote in Belarusian and then translated into Russian. Even scientific articles were devoted to his bilingual creative method. For Vasil Vladimirovich, preserving the linguistic memory of his native people was no less important than demonstrating the authenticity of events in his works. As a result, he becomes the brightest representative of “lieutenant prose.”
He always reflects his own military experience and personal experiences in the texts. “It Doesn’t Hurt the Dead” is not a metaphorical, but a practically documentary recording of a front-line wound. Honest admissions that on war can be both scary and creepy, but true heroism lies precisely in overcoming this fear, not in outright recklessness, but in the ability to control oneself.
It is precisely their honesty and uncompromisingness that make Vasil Bykov’s books valuable.