THE BAGGAGE OF WRITER ANDREI BITOV

Russia-InfoCenter, Russia
Nov 22 2006

Andrei Bitov who has been recently granted with the Bunin Award 2006
for his selected prose works "Palace Without a Tsar" is deservedly
considered a classic of Russian literature of the second half of the
20th century. His intellectual prose in a spontaneous and yet exquisite
style takes a special niche in contemporary Russian literature. Bitov’s
works have been translated into a number of European languages such
as English, German, Swedish, French and Italian.

Bitov Andrei Georgievich was born on May 27, 1937 in Leningrad (St.
Petersburg). During the siege of Leningrad in 1942 Andrei and his
mother were evacuated to the Urals and then to Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

In 1955 Andrei entered Leningrad Institute of Mines. In 1957 – 1958
the studies were interrupted by serving the army, in the North of the
country. After graduating from the institute in 1962 Bitov worked as
a foreman having boring duties in geological expeditions.

Bitov started writing in 1956. The first publication took place in
1960, when the almanac Young Leningrad issued his short story Grandma’s
Tea Bowl. His first collection of short stories A Big Ball was
published in 1963. In the 60s the main character of Andrei Bitov was
a person clashing with reality by existential rather than ideological
reasons. In this sense Bitov’s protagonist was different from literary
characters created by the majority of "men of the sixties".

In 1965 Bitov entered the Soviet Writers Union. In 1967 he
graduated from the Higher Courses for scriptwriters at the Union of
Cinematographers in Moscow to start working in the sphere of cinema.

He became the co-author of the script for the Soviet-Japanese film
Malenkiy beglets (aka The Little Runaway) (1966) by Eduard Bocharov
and Teinosuke Kinugasa, and wrote the scenario for V chetverg i
bolshe nikogda (aka On Thursday and Never Again) (1977) by Anatoli
Efros. Bitov even had a small actor experience in the film Chuzhaya
belaya i ryaboy (Wild Pigeon) (1986) by Sergei Solovyov.

Andrei Bitov traveled much around the former Soviet Republic
territories and a number of his books are ingenious travel memoirs,
such as The Lessons of Armenia (1969), and Seven Adventures (1976)
about his experience in Armenia, Georgia, Bashkiria, the Middle Asia,
and the Russian North.

Andrei Bitov provided a deep insight into the history and the present
reality of Russia in his novel Pushkin House published in the USA in
1978. The experimental style of the book made it deservedly considered
one of the first postmodern novels.

After this publication in America and Bitov’s participation in
the compilation of the non-censored almanac Metropol in 1979 the
authorities banned publication of his works in the USSR. He was
also prohibited to leave the country. Nevertheless, his books were
published in Western Europe and the States. And it was only the start
of Perestroika in 1985 that made Bitov’s further publications in
homeland possible. The year 1986 saw the publication of his books
Georgian Album, Man in Landscape, and Articles from the Novel in
Russia. In 1987 Bitov wrote the novel Flying-Away Monakhov, which
made him the laureate of the National Award of the RF in 1992.

In 1992-1993 the Berlin Scientific Board ("Wisshenschafts Kolleg")
provided Bitov with conditions to work on his favorite theme.

Interestingly, such a privilege had been given only to two Russians
before Bitov: Alfred Shnitke and Otar Ioseliani. This resulted in
completing The Empire in Four Dimensionspublished in Russia in 1996.

The Empire… corresponds to the sequence of English-language
publications: Life in Windy Weather, Pushkin House, Captive of the
Caucasus, and The Monkey Link.

Bitov is also a poet: his two books of poetry are The Tree and On
Thursday after the Rain.

Andrei Bitov initiated the creation of the Russian Pen-Club, which
he has been the president of since 1991.

As for his spare time, the writer says that time often turns his
hobbies into professions. Love of cinema gave him the profession of
scriptwriter, love of books brought him to participation in designing
his own books, and love of music resulted in creation of the Pushkin
Jazz project, in which recital of Pushkin’s drafts is accompanied by
jazz improvisations.

In 1998-1999 the Pushkin Jazz toured in New York, Berlin, St.
Petersburg and Moscow.

Bitov’s dislike of monumental sculpture brought him to the idea of
mini-monumentalism (jointly with Revaz Gabriadze): some of the examples
are represented by such works as the monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik in
St.-Petersburg or to Hare in Mikhailovskoye, etc.

The very idea of uniting profession with hobby resulted in creation
of the informal association BaGaGe (Baggage) (Bitov, Akhmadullina,
Zhvanetsky, and others).

As Bitov has once said, all his life is "an entire journey that can
be no longer called a hobby".

Andrei Bitov lives in Moscow and St. Petersburg and teaches in
universities of Europe and the USA.