Alexander Belyaev, a "Russia's Jules Verne"

2015 is named The Year of Literature in Russia. The relevant decree was signed by Vladimir Putin last summer. On the 17^th of March, 1884 Russian science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev was born. His works from the 1920s and 1930s made him a highly regarded figure in Russian science fiction, often referred to as "Russia's Jules Verne". Belyaev's best known books include Professor Dowell's Head, Amphibian Man, Ariel, and The Air Seller.

Alexander Belyaev was born in Smolensk in the family of an Orthodox priest. His father wanted him to continue the family tradition and enrolled Alexander into Smolensk seminary. Belyaev, on the other hand, didn't feel particularly religious and even became an atheist in seminary. After graduating he enrolled into a law school.

After graduating from the school in 1906 Belyaev became a practicing lawyer and made himself a good reputation. Literature, however, proved increasingly appealing to him, and in 1914 he left law to concentrate on his literary pursuits. At the same time, at the age of 30, Alexander became ill with tuberculosis. In search for the right treatment he moved to Yalta together with his mother and old nanny. During his convalescence, he read the work of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and began to write poetry in his hospital bed.

By 1922 he had overcome the disease and in 1923 he moved to Moscow where he started to practice law again. At the same time Belyaev began his serious literary activity as writer of science fiction novels. In 1925 his first novel, Professor Dowell's Head was published. In the last years of his life Belyaev lived in the Leningrad suburb of Pushkin. At the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during Second World War he refused to evacuate because he was recovering after an operation that he had undergone a few months earlier. Belyaev died of starvation in the Soviet town of Pushkin in 1942 while it was occupied by the Nazis. A German officer and four soldiers carried his body from his home and conducted a burial.

Illustration for the Amphibian Man

Illustration for the Professor Dowell's Head

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