Sometimes a person discovers in himself a writer’s talent as an adult. The same happened to the Soviet journalist and writer Pavel Bazhov, who was seriously engaged in literary activity at the retirement age, and in a relatively short period of time achieved considerable success in this field.
Bazhov was always to literature, and throughout his life he collected fairy tales he had heard in the villages. He himself created a literary genre, called “Soviet literary tale.” During the civil war, Bazhov was a member of the “Red Eagles” detachment, pursuing clergy and civilians who did not hide their religiosity. One of the pseudonyms of the writer was “Koldunkov.” It was also his childish nickname.
His works for children brought glory to Bazhov, in particular, The Mistress of the Copper Mountain and The Stone Flower. In several fairy tales, Bazhov personally mentioned V.I. Lenin. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Pavel Bazhov adored children, and they answered him in return. In 1937, because of the denunciation, the writer was expelled from the Communist Party. Bazhov was twice elected a deputy to the Supreme Council.
In Moscow there is Bazhova Street, and next to it is Malakhitovaya Street, which got its name in honor of his work “Malachite Shokatulka”. On the Volga runs the ship called “Pavel Bazhov”. In 1999, the Bazhov Special Literary Prize was instituted. Some characters of Bazhov’s tales were subsequently used by foreign writers in their own works.
