Biography

Yury Karlovich Olesha (3 March 1899 – 10 May 1960) was a Ukranian-born Russian prose writer and playwright whose works address the conflict between old and new mentalities in the early years of the Soviet Union. He is best known for his satirical novel 'Envy' (1927), revolutionary fairy tale 'Three Fat Men' (1928), stage play 'A List of Benefits' (1931), the screenplay for Abram Room's 1936 film 'A Severe Young Man' and his posthumously published memoir 'No Day Without a Line' (1965). He is sometimes grouped with his contemporaries Ilf and Petrov, Isaac Babel, and Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky into the Odessa School of Writers. He is considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of the 20th century, one of the few to have succeeded in writing works of lasting artistic merit despite the stifling censorship of the era. Writing in expressionistc style, Olesha's work differed radically from the school of the Socialist Realism. When the authorities realized that Olesha was more ambiguous than was permissible, he fell from favor. After Stalin's death, Olesha was rehabilitated.

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