Author. One of the most honored Soviet writers of the mid-1900s. He was primarily a journalist and his novels and stories were thinly-veiled accounts of factual events. "Story of a Real Man" (1946), by far his best known book, was an inspirational saga based on World War II ace pilot Aleksei Maresyev, who lost both legs in a crash and fought his way back to combat duty using artifical limbs. Hailed as a model of "Socialist Realism", it sold 10 million copies and was awarded the 1947 Stalin Prize. Later it was the subject of a popular film and an opera by Sergei Prokofiev (premiered in 1960). Boris Nikolayevich Kampov was born in Moscow and raised in Tver. He adopted the pseudonym "Polevoy" when he began writing for newspapers in 1928. His first attempt at fiction was published in 1939. During World War II Polevoy was a leading correspondent for "Pravda", covering the victory at Stalingrad, the liberation of Auschwitz, and the fall of Berlin; his reportage was heavily propagandistic and historians have cast doubt on its accuracy. After "Story of a Real Man" he was made a figurehead of the USSR's official literary establishment and his subsequent books, lifeless puff pieces on government-approved themes, were brought out in huge editions. Polevoy was amply rewarded for towing the party line, receiving three Orders of Lenin, the Hero of Socialist Labor, and many other prizes, and at the time of his death he was head of the Union of Soviet Writers. Most of his work was quickly forgotten following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Only "Story of a Real Man" survives as a curio, kept alive by its historical baggage.
Author. One of the most honored Soviet writers of the mid-1900s. He was primarily a journalist and his novels and stories were thinly-veiled accounts of factual events. "Story of a Real Man" (1946), by far his best known book, was an inspirational saga based on World War II ace pilot Aleksei Maresyev, who lost both legs in a crash and fought his way back to combat duty using artifical limbs. Hailed as a model of "Socialist Realism", it sold 10 million copies and was awarded the 1947 Stalin Prize. Later it was the subject of a popular film and an opera by Sergei Prokofiev (premiered in 1960). Boris Nikolayevich Kampov was born in Moscow and raised in Tver. He adopted the pseudonym "Polevoy" when he began writing for newspapers in 1928. His first attempt at fiction was published in 1939. During World War II Polevoy was a leading correspondent for "Pravda", covering the victory at Stalingrad, the liberation of Auschwitz, and the fall of Berlin; his reportage was heavily propagandistic and historians have cast doubt on its accuracy. After "Story of a Real Man" he was made a figurehead of the USSR's official literary establishment and his subsequent books, lifeless puff pieces on government-approved themes, were brought out in huge editions. Polevoy was amply rewarded for towing the party line, receiving three Orders of Lenin, the Hero of Socialist Labor, and many other prizes, and at the time of his death he was head of the Union of Soviet Writers. Most of his work was quickly forgotten following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Only "Story of a Real Man" survives as a curio, kept alive by its historical baggage.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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