Yuri Olesha

Yuri Karlovich Olesha (February 19 [March 3] 1899, Elisavetgrad - May 10, 1960, Moscow) - Russian Soviet writer, poet and playwright, journalist, screenwriter. One of the key figures of the Odessa literary circle of the 1920s. Yuri Olesha was born on February 19 (March 3), 1899 in Elisavetgrad (now Kropivnitsky) in a family of impoverished Belarusian nobles. The family of Olesha (originally Orthodox) originates from the boyar Olesha Petrovich, who received in 1508 from Prince Fedor Ivanovich Yaroslavich-Pinsky village of Berezhnoye in Stolin region. Subsequently, the genus Polonized and adopted Catholicism. Father, excise official Karl Antonovich Olesha, after the revolution went to Poland, where he died in the 1940s [4]. Mother Olympia Vladislavovna (1875–1963), who also lived after the revolution in Poland, survived her son. Older sister Wanda (1897-1919) in her youth died of typhoid. Yuri's native language was Polish. In 1902, the family moved to Odessa. Here Yuri entered the Richelieu gymnasium, played football for the gymnasium team; in the years of study he began to write poems. The poem "Clarimond" (1915) was published in the newspaper "Southern Bulletin". After graduating from high school, in 1917, Olesha entered Odessa University, studied law for two years. In Odessa, he, together with the young literary men Valentin Kataev, Eduard Bagritsky and Ilya Ilf formed the group “The Team of Poets”. During the Civil War, Olesha remained in Odessa, in 1921 he moved at the invitation of V. Narbut to work in Kharkov. He worked as a journalist and printed poems in newspapers. In 1922, Olesha’s parents emigrated to Poland, while he himself survived a tumultuous affair with Seraphim Suok.