Konstantin Georgievich Paustovskiy

Russian novelist. Born in Moscow, he studied at Kiev University (Ukraine) and Moscow State University. He published his first short story in 1912, and then traveled around Russia, working in various jobs such as conductor, nurse, teacher, and newspaper reporter, before writing his first full-length novel, The Romantics (1916-1923, published in 1935). His unique style of writing, which ignores the personal history of the characters and focuses solely on their emotional lives, is noteworthy. He continued to write short stories based on exoticism, such as The Chills (1925) and Labels on Colonial Goods (1928), and established his status as a writer with two novellas, Kara Bugas (1932), set on the Caspian coast during the socialist construction era, and Kolkhida (1934), set in the south. He later became known as a master of lyric prose with short stories such as "The Black Sea" (1936), "Isaac Levitan" (1937), "Tales of the North" (1939), and many others. After World War II, he settled in central Russia, and published "Stories of the Forest" (1949), which describes his love for nature, and "Golden Rose" (1956), which talks about the subtleties of his creative process. His six-part "The Story of a Life" (1945-1963) is a unique autobiographical work that looks at the early 20th century through the eyes and sensibilities of an individual from around the time of the revolution. In his later years, he defended the independence of literature in the Soviet Union at that time, and directed the editing of independent publications such as "Literary Moscow" (1956) and "Pages of Tarusa" (1961), and devoted himself to discovering new talent and restoring the rights of victims of the purges, earning him the respect of the literary world.

[Takashi Egawa]

"Forest Tales" translated by Setsuji Kita (1971, papyrus)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの小説家。モスクワに生まれ、キエフ大学（ウクライナ）、モスクワ大学に学ぶ。1912年に最初の短編を発表、以後ロシア各地を回り、車掌、看護卒、教師、新聞記者などの職を転々としながら最初の長編『ロマンチストたち』（1916～23、35刊）を書く。人物の経歴などは捨象して、もっぱらその感情生活に焦点をあてた特異な作風が注目される。『悪寒(おかん)』（1925）、『植民地商品のラベル』（1928）などエキゾチシズムを基調にした短編を書き続け、同じ感性で社会主義建設時代のカスピ海沿岸を描いた『カラ・ブガス』（1932）、南部を舞台にした『コルヒーダ』（1934）の両中編で作家的地位を確立した。以後『黒海』（1936）、『イサク・レビタン』（1937）、『北の物語』（1939）その他多くの短編で叙情的散文の名手として知られる。第二次世界大戦後は中部ロシアに定住、その自然への愛着をつづった『森の物語』（1949）、創作の機微を語った『黄金のバラ』（1956）などを発表。全6部からなる『生涯の物語』（1945～63）は20世紀初頭から革命前後までを個人の目と感性を通して眺めた異色の自伝文学である。晩年は当時のソ連での文学の自立性擁護の立場にたち、文集『文学モスクワ』（1956）、『タルーサのページ』（1961）など自主的出版の編集を指導、新人の発掘、粛清の犠牲者の復権に力を注ぎ、文学界の敬愛を集めた。

［江川　卓］

『喜田説治訳『森林物語』（1971・パピルス）』

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