Many writers take inspiration from a variety of things. Boris Zhitkov, for example, traveled a lot, arguing that if he wrote about what he did not know, it would be a lie, and he wants to write the truth. Therefore, the basis of all his works are the impressions received during his numerous wanderings. He so skillfully expressed his thoughts on paper that, reading his books, it seemed that he had been next to him, making a company on a journey.
Boris Zhitkov had five brothers, but one of them died in his youth due to an accident – he drowned. The writer’s mother was a pianist, her father was a mathematician. At the same time, the brothers tied their lives with the sea – three served in the fleet, the fourth was the builder of lighthouses on the shores of the Black Sea. In his youth, the future writer was engaged in sports rowing and even received several awards.
Since childhood, not indifferent to the sea, Boris Zhitkov, with the help of friends, built a small ship with a deck and a cabin. While studying at the gymnasium, Zhitkov met Korney Chukovsky, with whom he became very friendly later. During his life he changed a lot of professions – he taught mathematics and drafting, was a navigator on a sailboat, served as a seaman, even visited the captain of a research vessel. During the life of Boris Zhitkov wrote 192 works of different formats. In his youth, he traveled around the world while serving on a training and cargo ship. For the first time Zhitkov’s works were printed in 1924, and with the help of Korney Chukovsky. It was he who advised a friend, who was sitting at that moment without work and without money, to publish his stories.
During the notorious Jewish pogroms in 1905, Boris Zhitkov took part in the defense of the Jewish quarter. The writer knew about a dozen foreign languages in which he spoke fluently. The desire to convey stories to children led to the fact that he began to publish a magazine in pictures, designed for children who could not read. Boris Zhitkov was a very stubborn man. When he became interested in playing the violin, he devoted this lesson to four hours a day, while recognizing that he was not endowed with musical talent. Zhitkov considered his main work to be the novel “Victor Vavich”, which he worked on until his death in 1938. It was published only after the death of the writer.
