«Life as a Torch»

30.09.24 The Ilyas Yesenberlin Central District Library organized a post with the great writer «Life as a Torch» for regular readers. The purpose of the event: to introduce the biography and work of the writer. Nikolai Ostrovsky is a Soviet writer, a participant in the Civil War. He entered the history of literature as the author of the novel «How the Steel Was Tempered». Ostrovsky wrote the book when he was seriously ill, his wife and friends helped him. The novel did not immediately become popular, but eventually it was published in the 1930s in the Soviet Union in record print runs and was even translated into other languages. In the novel, Ostrovsky sought to convey the spirit of the times: he described a small pre-revolutionary town, the revolution, the war, the restoration of the country and socialist construction projects. The work tells the story of Pavel Korchagin’s life: he was expelled from a church school, went to work at a station buffet at the age of 12, became close to the Bolsheviks and became interested in the ideas of communism. Korchagin’s entire life is about overcoming illness and death: he could have died many times, but his willpower helped him overcome all obstacles. The work gained popularity thanks to the publication of journalist Mikhail Koltsov: in 1935, his essay «Courage» made the writer famous throughout the country. Ostrovsky appeared on the radio, corresponded with readers, and worked on a script for a film adaptation of the book. The writer was awarded the Order of Lenin, the highest government award of the USSR, and given an apartment in the capital. In 1936, the novel «How the Steel Was Tempered» was published in Leningrad in the author’s version «for older and middle-aged children.» That same year, the writer began work on a large novel, «Born by the Storm,» although his health had deteriorated and doctors forbade him to work. He did not manage to finish the work: he wrote only one part of the three planned. It was published when Ostrovsky was no longer alive. The writer died in Moscow in 1936. After his death, the novel How the Steel Was Tempered was republished many times in large print runs, the book was translated into different languages. The work was filmed many times: the hero of the novel, Pavel Korchagin, was considered an ideal that was supposed to inspire Soviet people to feats…