Sources of the Presidential Library about Yulian Semyonov, a writer of “fairly uneasy genre, rather serious, having a huge pedagogic impact”

On 8 Oct 2017 there will be the 86th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the Russian political detective Yulian Semyonov (also known as Julian Semenov) (1931—1993). There is an extensive electronic collection Yulian Semyonov (1931-1993) on the Presidential library website, which includes a variety of materials that illustrate an exciting life and active creative endeavor and public activity of the writer. Among these more than 100 collectibles are the digital copies of the books, manuscripts, articles, letters, archival documents and photographs.

The writer known in the domestic literature as an author of suspense fiction and spy novels such as “Petrovka, 38,” “Confrontation,” “TASS is Authorized to Announce…” “Major Whirlwind,” “Seventeen Moments of Spring” and others. All these works have been filmed, which brought the author even greater fame. In 1989, Yulian Semenov founded his own private bulletin named “Top Secret” (“Sovershenno sekretno”) and the same name TV show. And then he gathered all written by him books about the Soviet intelligence officer Maksim Isaev (Stierlitz) and published them under one cover in four-volume edition under the title “Alternative.”

The key challenge of Isaev — Stierlitz cycle, according to its title, is the problem of choice, moral and political, standing in front of each hero and, in fact, before every thinking person. All Semenov’s novels transcend a genre, going far beyond of it, and that why are loved by millions of readers: there are deep challenges in these fiction works, and psychological study of the characters. Seventeen Moments of Spring — a quintessence of the cycle.

“The writer not the prosecutor — Yulian Semenov wrote in his Unwritten novels. He is at liberty to his own version of the story, although the highest right of an impartial judgment belongs namely to History. Striving for unambiguous estimates hides a self-doubt or a fear of a thought. Only those conclusions to which a person comes alone really shape his ethical position.”

The writer started as a newspaper reporter — smart, assertive, not afraid of far away business trips. Having been in 1967 on the drifting “North Pole 15” station, the future novelist writes an article for the “Pravda” newspaper entitled This drop-dead gorgeous Arctic (1967). Later, these first newspaper experiences will translate into short stories. It's not surprising that in the Preface to the collection of Short Stories (1966) Y. Semenov shares with readers: “Writer must be a maverick — of course, in the best sense of that word. But when you are, by force of circumstances, deprived of the chance to travel around the country and live among those people who will be born later for the second time as the characters in your books, then you so vividly and edgy remember your wanderings — and delightful Yakutia, and snowy and quiet Zakopane. A story “My Heart’s in the Highlands” is from there.”

Among the materials of the digital collection from the section “On Julian Semenov” there is a verbal portrait of the writer created by his American colleague Walter Laqueur in his article for the Culture and Society magazine Yulian Semyonov and Soviet political novel (1986): “He has a round face with mobile features, short hair, restless eyes. Julian was dressed as pretended to be young hippy. Presenter introduced him as the “Russian Norman Mailer…” Today Semenov enjoys great popularity in the Soviet Union. Books of the writer of fairly uneasy genre, quite the opposite — serious, having a huge pedagogic impact, are well-known by the hundreds, if not the thousands of people.”

Correspondence is another interesting section of the collection. It contains letters of J. Semenov, who was effortlessly addressing to the heads of state, ministers and other senior officials in an attempt to solve some key problems associated with literary and filmmaking. Here, for example, written in 1979 short business letter Y. S. Semenov to Y. V. Andropov about the movie “TASS is Authorized to Announce…”. In it this letter the writer explains a need to increase funding of the famous series: “The situation is as follows: the scenario consists of nine episodes, while according to the accepted standards of Gosteleradio (state radio and television) there shall be a seven-episodes TV serial — and that’s that! But we don’t fit in the seven episodes! Please, let us shoot seven series, but filming a larger length footage — the 85 minutes duration instead of the 65 minutes (according to standards).”

The Photographs section of the collection of the Presidential Library includes images of Semenov from different years, as well as his parents and wife, Ekaterina Mikhalkova Konchalovskaya. Part of images of this section illustrates public work of Semenov.

The Perpetuating the memory section contains the digital copies of photographs of the memorial plaque to Y. Semenov on the wall of the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets,” the Memorial House of the writer in the Crimea, the graves of Y. Semenov and his family members at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, as well as the monument to the writer of A. Y. Rukavishnikov work, opened in Yalta in 2012.

An interest in the literary heritage of Yulian Semenov remains in generations. His works, after all, unquestionably represent serious literature, including all the best qualities of time-honored Russian fiction.