January 28, 1897
Born in Odessa Valentin Kataev. Writer. The elder brother of another writer, the co-author of "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf" - Evgeniya Petrova.
Man lives forever and at the same time dies forever.
Her father, Petr Kataev, was a teacher. Her mother, Evgenia Bachey, died when Valya was six and Zhenya was one. Valya would give her parents' names to Petya Bachey, the hero of her autobiographical novella, "The Lonely White Sail."
It is known that wealth acquired through crime does not benefit a person.
He started writing at the age of 9, convinced that he was “born a writer.” Before the First World War, he met Ivan Bunin, whom he considered a teacher.
“I tried to apply your principle of symphonic prose here,” I said, finishing reading. He looked at me and said with bitterness, as if answering his thoughts: "Well, well. That was to be expected. I don't see myself here anymore. You're leaving me for Leonid Andreyev. But tell me: would you really—like your hero—kill a man just to get his wallet?" — Me, no. But my character… "That's not true!" Bunin said sharply, almost shouting: "Don't blame it on your character! Every character is the writer himself."
In Bunin's "Cursed Days," a similar episode is described somewhat differently: "There was V. Kataev (a young writer). The cynicism of today's young people is simply unbelievable. He used to say: 'I'll kill anyone for a hundred thousand. I want to eat well, I want to have a good hat, excellent shoes...'"
By that time, Kataev had already served in the First World War and fought as a volunteer in the White Army. He would describe this chapter of his biography in 1980 in the novella "Werther Already Written." Andropov will consider it harmful and ban it.
In the 1920s, he worked as a "topical humorist" for the newspaper "Gudok." In 1932, he wrote the "industrial" novel "Time, Forward!" He provided financial support to the disgraced MandelstamHe was a war correspondent; his story "Son of the Regiment" was published in 1945.
Since 1955, he was the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Youth”, publishing works by “non-systemic” authors. Vasily Aksenova, Anatoly Gladilin and others.
He signed letters against the rehabilitation of Stalin and condemning Solzhenitsyn.
Died in 1986.