Soloukhin, Vladimir Alekseevich

Born June 14, 1924, in the village of Alepino, Stavrovo Raion, Vladimir Oblast. Soviet Russian writer. Member of the CPSU since 1952.

Soloukhin began publishing in 1945. He graduated from the M. Gorky Institute of Literature in 1951. The principal themes of his poetry are the motherland, its past and present, and its natural beauty. Soloukhin’s poetry collections include Rain in the Steppe (1953), The She-Crane (1959), A Handful of Flowers (1962), To Live on Earth (1965), and Argument (1972). His poetry inclines toward philosophical reflections on life; his style and verse structure are highly individual, and he often makes use of blank verse.

Soloukhin has also written the books of sketches Vladimir Lanes (1957), A Dewdrop (1960), and The Third Hunt (1967), as well as many short stories. The prose in these works is filled with reminiscences of his rural childhood and meditations on the destiny of the Russian countryside. His novel Mother-Stepmother (1964) is an account of postwar student life.

Soloukhin’s publicistic works, including Letters From the Russian Museum (1966), contain reflections, largely polemical, on Russian art and national traditions. Soloukhin’s works have been translated into a number of foreign languages.

Soloukhin has been awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and several medals.