Vassily Aksyonov papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
George Mason University
2400 Fenwick Library
Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library MS2FL
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Mieko Palazzo
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-2669
Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Preferred citation:

Vassily Aksyonov papers, C0062, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
8 Linear Feet 20 boxes
Creator:
Aksenov, Vasiliĭ, 1932-2009
Abstract:
This collection contains papers, manuscripts, and some correspondence, research material, interviews, and reviews, of acclaimed novelist and former George Mason University Robinson Professor Vassily Aksyonov.
Language:
Russian
Preferred citation:

Vassily Aksyonov papers, C0062, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains papers, manuscripts, and some correspondence, research material, interviews, and reviews, of acclaimed novelist and former George Mason University Robinson Professor Vassily Aksyonov. The collection includes handwritten and typed notes for novels, plays, articles, poems, and other writings in Russian and English. Writings include "The Caesaian Selection", "Kesarevo Svechenie", "Desyatiletie Kleveti", Noviy Sladostniy Stil'", "Ten Years of Slander", "Generations of Winter", "The Wiesbaden Journal", "The Yolk of the Egg", "Say Cheese", "Zheltok Yaitsa", "Blues with a Russian Accent", "In Search of Melancholy Baby", and "Pik Kommunizma". A small selection of audio visual material is comprised of two audio cassette tapes that include recordings of interviews with Aksyonov and three VHS tapes, one of which features his retirement at George Mason University.

Biographical / historical:

Born in 1932, Vassily Pavlovich Aksyonov was a prominent Russian novelist who spent much of his later career writing and teaching in the Washington, DC area. Aksyonov was born in the Russian city of Kazan and grew up under Stalin's rule. Askyonov's parents, although devoted communists, were accused of being Trotskyites and sent to gulags when he was still a child. Aksyonov was subsequently raised in an orphanage for "children of enemies of the state" before moving in with his aunt and uncle, who tried to keep the truth of his parents' disappearance a secret. He spent much of his youth listening to jazz and reading American novels, which would influence his work as much as the disenchantment and paranoia of life under Stalinism.

Though trained as a medical doctor, Vassily Aksyonov gave up his medical career in the 1960s to pursue a career as a novelist. His 1961 novel, A Ticket to the Stars, drew a great deal of praise from readers and helped launch his career. His writings quickly became controversial as they celebrated Western popular culture and criticized life under Stalin and his successors. During the 1960s he wrote several plays that were denounced by the state press for spreading "negativism," and after voicing public opposition to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, no publisher would print his work for the next 12 years, during which he worked as a translator to support his family. By the 1970s, Aksyonov had become one of the most popular prose writers in Russia, but his popularity only exacerbated his low standing with the communist party, which disapproved of his criticism and revoked his citizenship in 1980, when he decided to emigrate to the United States. Aksyonov settled in Washington, DC, where he taught literature and continued to write until moving back to Russia in 2004.

During his stay in America, Aksyonov published several novels that he had kept hidden in drawers during the 1970s, including The Burn (1980) and The Island of Crimea (1983). His later works include In Search of Melancholy Baby (1987), Say Cheese (1989), Generations of Winter (1994), The Winter's Hero (1996), and The New Sweet Style (1999). Aksyonov taught at The Johns Hopkins University and Goucher University before coming to George Mason University, where he taught from 1988 to 2004, when he moved back to Russia to live out his remaining years. He died in 2009.

Acquisition information:
Collection donated by Vassily Aksyonov in 2004.
Processing information:

Processed by Vera Zimmerman in 2011. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in August 2009. EAD updated by Greta Kuriger Suiter in October 2012.

Arrangement:

Organized by subject.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard