Ian, Vasilii

(pen name of V. G. Ianchevet-skii). Born Dec. 23, 1874 (Jan. 4, 1875), in Kiev; died Aug. 5, 1954, in Zvenigorod, Moscow Oblast. Soviet Russian writer.

The son of a teacher, Ian graduated from the faculty of history and philology at the University of St. Petersburg in 1897. His impressions from a two-year trip throughout Russia provided the basis for his Memoirs of a Pedestrian (1901). He was a military correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. In the 1920’s, Ian published primarily historical and adventure stories. Ian’s historical novellas gained popularity due to their skillful plot construction, vivid descriptions, and the abundance of information they contained. Works of this genre included The Phoenician Ship (1931), Fires on the Barrows (1932; supplementary edition, 1959), and The Hammerers (1933). Ian’s principal work was the trilogy The Mongol Invasion, which consisted of the novels Genghis Khan (1939; State Prize of the USSR, 1942), Batu (1942), and To the “Last Sea” (published 1955).