A family
Prokhanov's ancestors, the Molokans, were exiled to Transcaucasia during the reign of Catherine II. His grandfather, brother of Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov, leader of the Russian Baptist movement, founder and leader of the All-Russian Union of Evangelical Christians (1908-1928) and vice-president of the World Baptist Alliance (1911). The uncle of A.A. Prokhanov, a scientist botanist, remained in the USSR after the emigration of I.S. Prokhanov, was repressed, but then released due to the abandonment of the significant state inherited after I.S.Prokhanov's death in Berlin in favor of the state.
He is married and has two sons and a daughter. One of the sons is a publicist Andrey Fefelov.
Biography
Alexander Prokhanov was born on February 26, 1938 in Tbilisi. In 1960 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute, worked as an engineer at a research institute. In the last year of the university, he began to write poetry and prose.
In 1962-1964 he worked as a forester in Karelia, took tourists to the Khibiny, took part in a geological party in Tuva. During these years, Prokhanov discovered A.P. Platonov and became interested in V.V. Nabokov.
In 1968 he started working in "Literaturnaya gazeta".
Since 1970 he worked as a correspondent for Literaturnaya Gazeta in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Angola and other places. He was one of the first in 1969 to describe in his report the events on Damansky Island during the Soviet-Chinese border conflict.
In 1972, Alexander Prokhanov became a member of the USSR Writers' Union.
Since 1986 he has been actively publishing in the magazines "Young Guard", "Our Contemporary", as well as in the "Literary Gazette".
From 1989 to 1991 Prokhanov worked as editor-in-chief of the magazine "Soviet Literature".
I have never been a member of the CPSU.
In 1990 he signed the "Letter of the 74s".
In December 1990 he creates his own newspaper "Day", where he also becomes editor-in-chief.
On July 15, 1991, the newspaper published an "anti-perestroika" appeal "The Word to the People". The newspaper became one of the most radical opposition publications in Russia in the early 1990s and was published regularly until the October 1993 events, after which it was closed by the authorities.
In 1991, during the presidential elections of the RSFSR, Prokhanov was the confidant of the candidate general Albert Makashova... During the August putsch he supports GKChP.
In September 1993, spoke in his newspaper against what he believed to be anti-constitutional actions Yeltsin, calling them a coup d'état and supported the RF Armed Forces. After the shooting of parliament, the newspaper Den was banned by the Ministry of Justice. The editorial office of the newspaper was destroyed by riot police, its employees were beaten, property and archives were destroyed. Two issues of the newspaper, already banned by that time, were clandestinely printed in Minsk as special issues of the communist newspaper "We and Time".
On November 5, 1993, the writer's son-in-law A.A.Hudorozhkov established and registered the newspaper "Tomorrow", of which Prokhanov became the editor-in-chief. Some organizations accuse the newspaper of publishing anti-Semitic materials.
During the presidential elections in 1996, Alexander Prokhanov does not hide his preference - he strongly supports the candidacy of the leader. Subsequently, he was attacked several times, and the identity of the attackers was never established, as was the reason for the attacks themselves.
In 1997 he became a co-founder Patriotic Information Agencies.
In 1999, after a series of apartment bombings, Prokhanov describes his version of what happened in an artistic style, blaming the Russian special services for the incident. His considerations are set out in a literary work "Mister Hexogen", for which Prokhanov received the National Bestseller award in 2002.
From 2007 to January 2014 - a regular guest of the "Minority Opinion" radio program on the Echo of Moscow radio station. He explained his termination of cooperation with the radio station as follows: " I work here as a journalist ... I am not a journalist. I want to talk to the world, with my friends as an artist, as a writer, as a philosopher, as a preacher and confessor, because I have lived a gigantic life and I would like to tell my listeners about this life".
Since September 2009 - at the radio station "Russian News Service" on Mondays at 21:05 he takes part in the program "Soldier of the Empire", and since January 2014 on Mondays at 20:05 he participates in the program "No Questions".
2003-2009 - one of the regular participants in Vladimir Solovyov's television talk show "Towards the Barrier!"
Since 2010 - one of the regular participants in the television talk show "Duel" by Vladimir Solovyov.
2013-2014 - one of the leading columns "Replica" on the TV channel "Russia 24".
November 2014 - The court ordered Prokhanov to pay 500 thousand rubles for a lie in an article in the newspaper Izvestia, which claimed that Makarevich gave a concert in Slavyansk, " and this music was heard by the captive militiamen languishing in the basements, whose hands were crushed with bats and their eyes were gouged out with knives". Makarevich assured (and was able to prove in court) that the case was not in Slavyansk, but in Svyatogorsk, and he sang not in front of the" punishers ", but in front of refugees. Prokhanov claims that the musician's representative put pressure on the court.
Prokhanov is an extremely prolific writer: his novel is published almost every year. Many critics consider Prokhanov's style to be original, colorful, emphasized individual. " Prokhanov's language is replete with vivid metaphors, original, flowery epithets, the characters are written out convexly, clearly, with an abundance of details, the description itself has a pronounced emotional and even passionate coloring, the author's attitude to this or that character is clearly traced". At the same time, there is another point of view among literary scholars, who find his style" banal "," writing style - sugary, based on shameless lies and oversaturated with cheap adorning epithets".
Prokhanov is fond of drawing in the style of primitivism. Collects butterflies (there are over 3 thousand items in the collection).
Scandals, rumors
Prokhanov is credited with very close contacts with Berezovsky during his London exile. In particular, BAB's interview to the chief editor of the newspaper "Zavtra" was the reason for the exclusion of Boris Abramovich from the party "Liberal Russia".
During the tragedy in Nord-Ost, Boris Berezovsky, State Duma deputy Victor Alksnis and Aleksandr Prokhanov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Zavtra, criticized the actions of the Russian authorities to free the hostages.
They set out their position on this issue in a joint statement adopted following the meetings held in London on October 25 and 26, 2002. In their opinion " the terrorist attack would have been impossible without the flagrant connivance and, possibly, complicity of certain government officials". "President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, from the very first hours of the tragedy withdrew from participating in the settlement of the crisis. Neither he himself nor his representatives offered any solution to the problem and did not take any part in the fate of the hostages", - note Berezovsky, Prokhanov and Alksnis." The most dramatic episode in less than three years of V. Putin's stay in power showed that today there is no leader in the Kremlin capable of protecting the citizens of Russia"- emphasized in the statement of Berezovsky, Prokhanov and Alksnis.
It is said that Alexander Prokhanov received $ 300,000 from Berezovsky in 2002 "for the development of his publication," tempting the exile with vague promises to become an opposition presidential candidate. No "development of the publication" happened: "to develop" A.A. Prokhanov decided his own dacha.
In 2003, the editorial office of Lenta.Ru received a statement from businessman Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Prokhanov, dedicated to the murder of a State Duma deputy Sergey Yushenkov... The authors of the letter claim that the responsibility for the murder of Yushenkov lies with the Russian authorities, and also promise that the opposition will win the elections and "prevent the death of the country coming from the Kremlin."
Site "a" opens a series of conversations with public and political figures of modern Russia. In the center of our conversation are the problems of strengthening Russian civilization, returning to spiritual roots and traditions, topical issues of modern life of our society, as well as, of course, reflections on the lessons of the history of our country. We will also try to find out what prominent politicians and public figures of Russia know about the Old Believers, about the Russian church tradition. Of course, first of all, we are interested in representatives of the patriotic wing of the Russian elite. People for whom the concept of "Russian civilization" is not an empty phrase. Today we are talking with the editor-in-chief of the Den TV channel, the deputy editor of the Zavtra newspaper Andrey Fefelov.
What is the "Russian world" in your understanding? How far does it extend geographically and what worldview concepts does it cover?
The Russian world is the whole universe, because the Russian people are with cosmic thinking, and Russia has no spatial, spiritual or temporal constraints. That is why one can only believe in it, and it is completely pointless to measure it in kilometers or kilograms. Russia is a territory of a miracle. The rays from this miracle penetrate walls, clouds, and zones of eternal emptiness, scattering throughout all the nooks and crannies of the universe.
Of course, the concept of the Russian world is associated with a complex, deep and mysterious phenomenon of the Russian language, inside which, as in a cradle, there are meanings, images and symbols of the universal consciousness.
For me, the Russian world is a springboard for the implementation of the plan for the worldwide Transformation. This is a platform for the embodiment of the idea of the immortality of mankind. Ideas encoded in Russian culture, and beyond.
But not only modern Russia is the Russian world. The seeds of Russianness, the Russian oikumene are scattered all over the planet, throughout the entire universe. In particular, Old Believers who have lived in Latin America for hundreds of years can be called a part of the Russian world. A lunar rover of some kind that was stuck on the moon many years ago can also be attributed to the Russian world. This is also a part of the Russian world. These are the touches left by Russian civilization, Russian culture, Russian technology, engineering, Russian thought.
The distant ancestors of your family were from the Molokans. Another relative, Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov (1869-1935), was a famous composer and preacher of the Evangelical Baptist Church. Moreover, his spiritual songs became famous even among the Old Believers. Your father, A. A. Prokhanov, identifies himself with Orthodoxy. What can you say about the spiritual path of your kind? Can you somehow compare it with the historical path of our country?
Some of my ancestors are from Russian sectarianism. And the Prokhanovs, and the Fefelovs, and the Mazayevs were once peasants and belonged to the Molokan environment. Their descendants, having become merchants, educated their children, sent their children to study in Europe.
My great-grandfather Alexander Stepanovich Prokhanov became a doctor of medicine in imperial Russia and received personal nobility for his scientific merits. Such people no longer expressed themselves in the format of the popular Molokan faith. This is how the variations of Russian Baptism, the "Evangelical Christians" sect, founded by the brother of my great-grandfather you mentioned, appeared.
However, the era soon changed, and spiritual issues faded into the background. For example, my grandmother, who came from a religious Molokan family, considered herself an atheist all her life, and only a year before her death, at the request of her son, her grandchildren and daughter-in-law, she was baptized at the age of 96. When she was accepted as a pioneer, Leon Trotsky spoke at a solemn meeting.
Thus, my father received a non-religious upbringing, but again the 70s came, when interest in religion grew among the intelligentsia. It was then that my parents were baptized. Thus, questions of faith, church, eschatology accompanied me from early childhood.
Probably, the choice of his father was influenced by his friend Lev Lebedev, who later became an archpriest, a famous church historian and theologian. In addition, Father Lev was also a monarchist, walking around Andropov's Moscow in a bowler hat and with an umbrella as long as a cane. His belt buckle was also old-fashioned, with an imperial double-headed eagle glimmering on it.
And the works of A.A.Prokhanov and the apocalyptic theme in them also originate in this period?
Eschatology is an integral part of the Orthodox worldview. However, in my father's texts, this theme flares up as a metaphor for the catastrophic nature of modern civilization. As a journalist, he took part in several wars, later earning the title of battle writer. With his own eyes, he saw the ruined reactor in Chernobyl. I watched the collapse of the Soviet society, its slide into the nightmarish 90s. Isn't this a parable of the End Times? Burning horizons, in dreams and in reality - this is what suggests the imminent Apocalypse.
Does this mean that the tradition of Molokanism is gone from you?
The tradition is gone, but the connections exist. Once a whole delegation of Molokans came to the newspaper Zavtra. Such solid, neat bearded people with calm faces. It turns out that Yuri Luzhkov at that time for some reason oppressed the Molokan community, deprived it of a prayer house. And then, knowing about our origin, they came to us for informational support. We did not refuse them and even sheltered them for a while. Several in a row on Sundays in the editorial office of Zavtra there were meetings of Molokans and psalms composed by my great-grandfathers were sung.
Now many patriots talk about the greatness of pre-revolutionary Russia. At the same time, it must be remembered that the Romanov dynasty took tragic steps towards the division of the Russian people. In the 17th century, under Alexei Mikhailovich, a church schism took place, when the Russians were divided into Old Believers and New Believers. At the beginning of the 18th century, under Peter I, there was a cultural split into the upper elite with balls and assemblies, on the one hand, and a stinking peasant, on the other, and already under the subsequent Romanovs, the ruling class of Russia became French-German-speaking, living abroad, in many respects comprador. What do you think of these divisions and could they have been avoided?
The Romanovs left an enormous mark on Russian history. And the western vector in their activities can be seen very clearly from the first years of the existence of the dynasty. However, I consider it harmful and stupid to give biting unambiguous assessments to this or that figure or an entire era. Let's say Alexander II is an extremely dubious figure. He was fond of spiritualism, carried out a peasant reform with colossal violations and bias in favor of the nobility, opened the way to Russia for foreign capital, gave Alaska almost for nothing to the United States. However, the era of Alexander II is the time of the dawn of Russian literature: Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky ...
The triumphs of the "white general" Skobelev are also the period of the reign of Alexander II. You can, of course, cry out: "Ah, the Romanov family, ruined Russia ...". And you can look at the history of the country more broadly and more attentively. In society, as always, there were complex and very contradictory processes, and the sovereigns from the Romanovs were also involved in these processes. It should be remembered that in Russia, after the overthrow of the dynasty, another period began, no less difficult, no less tragic and contradictory. And before the Romanovs there were Rurikovichs. And there may be questions for them too. Meanwhile, the Rurikovichs laid the foundation for the Russian empire.
It is interesting that the Romanov family - this cohort of sovereigns and sovereigns - stands between two pillars of Russian history: Ivan IV Rurikovich and Joseph Stalin. At the same time, we know that many terrible labels have been hung on both Stalin and Ivan the Terrible. They are sadists, bloodsuckers, and madmen. Moreover, these labels were invented not only by engaged historians. Painters, writers and filmmakers tried their best here. At least take a sneaky film by Pavel Lungin " Tsar". Only dirt and hoax! It is sad that the guru of modern patriotic youth Ivan Okhlobystin participated in the filming of this muck. In my opinion, he should apologize to the people for this role of the royal jester. To apologize for participating in the case that defamed the first Russian tsar, the entire Russian history and the very idea of the Russian state.
The figure of Peter the Great stands apart. He is a great destroyer and a great builder at the same time. In some ways it is similar to Patriarch Nikon and Lenin. Pushkin loved and felt Peter very much. He saw in him what no historian, no sociologist understood.
But still, without destroying Russian customs, without tearing off his beard, was it possible to build ships?
This is a debatable question, depending on which ships. After all, the Pomors also had their own ships - boats. But that was the merchant and fishing fleet. But to build caravels, you need a European outfit.
But this Westernizing period was apparently necessary. This is part of our growing up as a people. We have already begun to return to Russian origins, to ancient culture, to forms that sprout from our very nature, from language and faith.
We must understand that the whole history of Russia is sacred, therefore we must treat it as a kind of sacred gift from above and not sprinkle it with dust. Even the demons of Russian history, such as, for example, Leon Trotsky, should be carefully examined and read in a single grandiose, sacred context. It would seem that he is the enemy of the entire Russian people! But, nevertheless, it is "our" enemy, "our" unique demon. And no other history has produced a similar figure. By the way, objectively speaking, Trotsky is known as the creator of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, which became a striking force for the gathering of the territories of the Russian Empire, which collapsed in February 1917.
In modern Ukraine, it is customary to talk about the crimes of the Soviet regime, to knock down monuments to Lenin and to call for a ban on the Communist Party. Maidan demands to disavow and condemn the crimes of the totalitarian regime. Why, then, do they not demand to disavow such "crimes of the totalitarian regime" as the establishment of historically unfounded administrative borders of the USSR in the days of Lenin-Khrushchev?
Those people who are knocking down monuments to Lenin in Ukraine have no logic. Their logic is that Lenin is a Russian man, a "Muscovite" who, with his Bolshevik codes, came to Ukraine, this supposedly flourishing, mighty stately, "independent state." He enslaved her, and then planted the Bolshevik totalitarian regime in her, perpetrated the Holodomor, and so on. They really do not want to talk and even remember that the current territory of Ukraine is the territory of the Ukrainian SSR, created by the Bolsheviks, consisting of several provinces of the Russian Empire ...
The history that is taught to Ukrainian children is built more abruptly than Tolkien's books. This is not history, but pure invention, built on the ideology of "Bandera". In addition to ultra-ukronationalism, it is based on the demonization of Bolshevism, the association of Bolshevism with their invented "Muscovy", and "Muscovy" with "Asiaticism" ... Destroying ties with Russia, they allegedly make a European choice and move somewhere to Europe, away from Stalin, Lenin and Putin. In fact, they are turning their country into Somalia, with all the ensuing consequences.
Ukromancers show an obstinate desire to own foreign lands, to impose their language on a small people on all the other numerous peoples living in this country. The last Maidan spawned an expansionist wave among young people, and even with all the hatred for Lenin, no one is going to give up the "Leninist territorial heritage" there. But at the same time, the ruling elites of Ukraine have no understanding of what a true empire is.
It is always a kind of compromise between peoples, an agreement based on super-values. If an empire is built on the idea of total domination of one nation, then this empire is doomed. So one after another the German Reichs collapsed, because they did not give the opportunity to bloom for all peoples, all flowers in an inflorescence. Unfortunately, this imperial tolerance has not been observed throughout the entire history of Ukraine's "independence".
The policy of Ukrainization of the non-Ukrainian population has been vividly manifested in all recent years. This policy can be defined as ethnocide. Genocide is direct physical destruction, and here the recoding of consciousness, assimilation, resettlement and, of course, the expulsion of peoples are used. Now, if a certain integral Ukrainian ideology appeared, which would take into account all factors, was supranational, then it would be possible to say that Ukraine has taken place as a state.
But, unfortunately, current Ukrainianism is a small-town Westernism plus redneck, with elements of Nazism. The Galicia group can really influence the situation in Kiev, it is a truly passionate and active stratum. In fact, one of the artificial ethnic myths has been created about the cultural and linguistic superiority of the Western, Galician subethnos, which in the development of the peoples living in Ukraine would not be of particular importance if it were not for the political fate of Ukraine.
Why are there no rallies against the war in Ukraine?
Because Ukraine is now terribly warmed up. The media is setting people up so that everyone wants blood. The inhabitants became hostages of their own media, textbooks, and anti-Russian propaganda for many years. People were very, very warmed up. Maidan, which burst like an abscess in February, is a baby. The premature birth of the new government took place. The government is weak and afraid of the crowd. As for the peace marches in Russia, they are conducted by the liberal intelligentsia, which for some reason also shut up and no longer hold the “Peace March”. Liberals are now in favor of an active continuation of hostilities, for bombing, for the so-called "anti-terrorist operation".
They are engaged - it can be clearly seen. As soon as America began its most brutal operations in full measure, human rights defenders fell silent. As soon as Bashar al-Assad began to conduct some kind of military action, they began to shout, yell, stamp their feet, sprinkle ashes on their heads, tore off their shirts and tear the curtains with their teeth. It has always been and will be so, because this group is not self-sufficient and independent. The command center for the army of human rights defenders is located in the United States. Human rights organizations work only for the United States and in the interests of the United States.
Now there is such a thing as "Orthodox Stalinism". To what extent is it possible to combine these words together and does this concept make sense?
Yes, it makes a very serious sense, because Stalin at the turn of the epochs, at the terrible tumble of times, expressed the Russian idea. And part of the Russian idea is Orthodoxy. Building a just society based on Christian morality is what Stalin did. He also built a super-powerful state that maintains the world order. Stalin's Russia stood in the way of Leviathan, world usurious capitalism, from the depths of which the Antichrist will appear. The Stalinist USSR is the so-called catechon - the holding one ... A stone on the path of world evil. Therefore, Orthodox Stalinism is not only possible, but also organic. This trend can be considered a mystical projection of the entire Russian history of the twentieth century.
Alexander Prokhanov is a famous Russian writer and politician. Known as the chief editor of the newspaper "Zavtra", in 1982 he was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize. Already in 2002, he received the National Bestseller award for his novel Mr. Hexogen, which tells about the conspiracy of the secret services to change the government in Russia.
Childhood and youth
Alexander Prokhanov was born in 1938. He was born in Tbilisi. His ancestors were Molokans. They were forced to move from the Saratov and Tambov provinces to the Transcaucasus. The grandfather of the hero of our article was a prominent Molokan theologian, the brother of Stepan Prokhanov, who founded the All-Russian Union of Evangelical Christians.
Alexander Prokhanov received his higher education in Moscow. In 1960 he graduated from the Aviation Institute, worked as an engineer at a research institute. He became interested in literature in the last year of the university, actively began to write poetry and prose.
Labor activity
At the same time, at first, Alexander Prokhanov did not think about how to professionally engage in writing. Therefore, he worked as a forester in Karelia, as a tour guide in the Khibiny, participated in a geological party on the territory of Tuva. During these years of wandering throughout the Soviet Union, he was especially carried away by Vladimir Nabokov and Andrei Platonov.
In 1968 he got a job at Literaturnaya Gazeta, deciding to devote more time to his own writing opportunities. Mostly he is sent on business trips abroad. Alexander Prokhanov, whose photo is in this article, writes reports from Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia. They began to talk about him after, in 1969, he was one of the first to describe the armed border conflict between Russia and China on Damansky Island.
Member of the Writers' Union
Very soon, it was decided to officially recognize the talent of the writer Alexander Prokhanov. In 1972 he was admitted to the Writers' Union of the USSR.
The flowering of his journalistic talent fell on the perestroika period. In 1986 he began to actively publish in the magazines Our Contemporary and Molodaya Gvardiya, continuing his collaboration with Literaturnaya Gazeta. From 1989 to 1991, he headed the magazine "Soviet Literature" as editor-in-chief. He was a permanent member of the editorial board of the Soviet War magazine. At the same time, he never became a member of the Communist Party, which is surprising for a person who managed to build such a career in the Soviet Union.
He is one of the first to understand that society needs a new platform on which it will be possible to express thoughts and ideas in a fundamentally new language, without fear of censorship and any restrictions. Therefore, at the very end of 1990, he created a newspaper called The Day. Automatically becomes the editor-in-chief in it.
"Word to the people"
In the middle of the summer of 1991, it published the famous "anti-perestroika" appeal, known as "Word to the People." First of all, it was addressed to the army. In it, Soviet political scientists and cultural figures criticized the policies pursued by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. They called to stop the collapse of the USSR, to create an influential opposition movement. Many now see the "Word to the People" as an ideological platform for the August putsch, which took place exactly four weeks later.
The Day newspaper was viewed as one of the most oppositional and radical publications in Russia in the early 1990s. She came out regularly until October 1993. After the shooting of the White House and the Yeltsin coup, the publication was banned. But it immediately began to be published under the name "Tomorrow", in this form it has survived to this day. Its editor-in-chief is still the writer Alexander Prokhanov.
Participation in the political life of the country
In the early 90s, Alexander Prokhanov, whose biography is given in this article, was directly involved in the political life of the country not only through his newspaper. In 1991, at the presidential elections in the RSFSR, he was a confidant of General Albert Makashov. Makashov, who represented the CPSU in these elections, took fifth place, gaining less than 4% of the vote. During the August putsch, Prokhanov sided with the Emergency Committee.
In September 1993, the hero of our article, on the pages of his newspaper The Day, called upon to oppose the anti-constitutional actions of Boris Yeltsin, claiming that a coup d'etat had actually taken place in the country. Makashov, who took part in armed clashes in Moscow, became an active participant in the October events.
After the newspaper was banned by the Ministry of Justice, according to some sources, the editorial office was smashed by riot police officers, the workers were beaten, and all archives and property were destroyed.
Alexander Prokhanov founded the newspaper "Zavtra" on November 5. She is still distinguished by a radical position, often the materials that are published in it are accused of a pro-fascist, imperial, anti-Semitic nature.
At the same time, Prokhanov remains true to himself, supporting Gennady Zyuganov in the 1996 presidential elections. However, those elections for the communist leader ended in defeat. As you know, he lost to Boris Yeltsin in the second round.
At the same time, now the hero of our article is a member of the Council on Public Television, created in 2012.
Style features
Many people know exactly from books with Alexander Andreevich Prokhanov. His style is considered to be very colorful, original and individual. On the pages of the novels of the hero of our article, you can find a large number of metaphors, flowery epithets, interesting characters, a large number of various details.
In his artistic work and journalism, one can often find sympathy for the Christian religion, primordially Russian traditions, while he regularly criticizes liberalism and capitalism. He has repeatedly stated that he still considers himself a Soviet person.
According to a number of critics, as a writer, Prokhanov is a postmodernist, and from an ideological point of view, an imperial author.
Early works
Prokhanov's first works were published in the newspaper Literaturnaya Rossiya, then in the magazines Family and School, Krugozor, Olen, Rural Youth. From his early works, the story "Wedding", which was published in 1967, can be distinguished.
His first book was called "I'm on my way", it was published in 1971 with a foreword by Yuri Trifonov. This is a collection of stories in which the author depicts a real Russian village with its patriarchal ethics, rituals and traditions, distinctive landscapes and characters. Following this, in 1972, he wrote the essay "The Burning Color", where he discusses the problems facing the Soviet countryside.
From his stories, published in the 70s, it is necessary to single out "Two", "Tin Bird", "Trans-Siberian Engineer", "Stan 1220", "Fiery Font", "Red Juice in the Snow". In 1974 his second collection was published under the title "The Grass Turns Yellow".
The following year, his first novel appeared in print, which bears the title "The Wandering Rose". It is written in a semi-essay style, based on the author's impressions of business trips to the Far East, Siberia and Central Asia. In it, he addresses the urgent problems of contemporary Soviet society. They also bother Prokhanov in three subsequent novels: "The Place of Action", "Noon Time" and "The Eternal City".
Military-political novel
The writer's stylistics changed dramatically in the 80s. He begins to create in the genre of a military-political novel. The works are based on his business trips to different countries of the world.
During this period, his whole tetralogy "The Burning Gardens" was published, which includes the novels "A Tree in the Center of Kabul", "A Hunter in the Islands ...", "Africanist", "And Here Comes the Wind".
He again turns to the Afghan theme in the 1986 novel "Drawings of a Battle-Player". Its main character is the artist Veretenov, who, on the instructions of his editorial office, travels to Afghanistan to make a series of drawings of Soviet servicemen. At the same time, he also has a personal interest in seeing his son.
Soldiers who returned from Afghanistan are described in Alexander Prokhanov's 1988 book Six Hundred Years After the Battle.
"Seven Books"
The series of novels "The Seven Books" is becoming popular. It is united by the main character, General Beloseltsev, who stands out for his unique experience of contemplation and vision.
This cycle includes "A Dream of Kabul", "And Here Comes the Wind", "Hunter in the Islands", "Africanist", "The Last Soldier of the Empire", "Red-Brown", "Mister Hexogen".
The last novel on this list has become especially popular. Prokhanov published it in 2002. The book describes the events of 1999 in Russia. In particular, the series of bombings in residential buildings, which led to numerous casualties, is presented as a conspiracy by the authorities to transfer rule from the incumbent president to his successor.
The conspirators, including representatives of the special services, use intrigues, murders and all kinds of provocations in Prokhanov's novel. The author himself noted that initially he perceived Putin as a follower of Yeltsin, but then reconsidered his attitude towards him, stating that he stopped the disintegration of Russia, removed the oligarchs from the country's leadership.
In this novel, one can clearly see the favorite writing technique, when real events coexist with absolutely fantastic things. For example, the oligarch, in whom Berezovsky is guessed, literally melts under a dropper in the hospital and disappears into thin air. The chosen one, in whom a hint of Putin is guessed, asks to fly the plane alone and also disappears, turning into a rainbow.
"The tread of the Russian victory"
In 2012, Prokhanov publishes a new book entitled "The Tread of the Russian Victory", in a very unusual genre for himself. It tells about the ideology of modern Russia, and its history is conventionally divided into four time periods. These are Kievo-Novgorod Rus, the Moscow kingdom, the Russian Empire of the Romanovs and the Stalinist empire.
The entire book is divided into four parts. The first contains the main theses on the idea of the "Fifth Empire", it is called "The Hymns of the Russian Victory". In the second part, attention is paid to industrial enterprises, primarily defense plants, its name is "Marches of Russian Victory". The third part, "Psalms of Russian Victory", tells about Russian parishes and monasteries, and the final "Codes of Russian Victory" - about the Eurasian Union, which should fulfill the function of the forerunner of the "Fifth Empire".
Film and television
Several of Prokhanov's works were filmed or staged on the theater stage at once:
- In 1972, the film "Fatherland" was released according to his script.
- In 1983, Anatoly Granik filmed the melodrama "Place of Action" based on the novel of the same name by the hero of our article.
- In 1988, Alexei Saltykov's drama "Everything Paid For" was released, for which Prokhanov wrote the script.
- In 2012, a project was launched on the Russia-1 TV channel. The series of documentaries "Soldier of the Empire" tells in detail about the personality of Alexander Prokhanov himself.
- Passion for the State is a 2018 documentary in which the author analyzes the latest corruption scandals, explosions in the St. Petersburg metro, demonization of the country itself and its leaders in the West and the liberal public.
Public life
Prokhanov often participates in all kinds of political talk shows, expresses his opinion about the events taking place in the country. He is a regular guest of Vladimir Solovyov on his talk show "Towards the Barrier" and the new project "Duel". He is one of the hosts of the "Replica" column, which is broadcasted on the "Russia 24" channel.
Alexander Prokhanov expressed his opinion about the pension reform. He noted that Putin's address to the nation was impeccable, the president made convincing arguments. Therefore, he himself supports this reform.
Writer's wife
We can say that the personal life of Alexander Prokhanov has developed successfully. All his life he lived in marriage with Lyudmila Konstantinova, who after the wedding took his last name.
They had three children - a daughter and two sons. One of them, Andrei Fefelov, became a publicist. Now he works with his father as an editor for the Internet channel The Day. Vasily Prokhanov became a performer of the author's song and a photographer.
In 2011, Lyudmila Prokhanova passed away.
It is known that in his free time the hero of our article collects butterflies and draws.
From the cycle: conversations with famous people.
Soviet and Russian writer, screenwriter, publicist, public figure.
Member of the Secretariat of the Writers' Union of Russia. Chief editor of the newspaper "Zavtra". Laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1982). Chevalier of the Orders of the Red Banner, the Red Banner of Labor (1984), the Badge of Honor and the Red Star.
Born on February 26, 1938, in Tbilisi. Ancestors, Molokans, who came from the Tambov region to the Transcaucasus.
His grandfather was the brother of Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov, leader of the Russian Baptist movement, founder and leader of the All-Russian Union of Evangelical Christians (1908-1928) and vice-president of the World Baptist Alliance (1911), who emigrated from Russia in 1928.
His son, Yaroslav Ivanovich, a famous botanist, was arrested in 1938 under Articles 58-10 and 58-11 (counterrevolutionary activity), but managed to agree on the transfer of a very large inheritance, which Ivan Stepanovich, who died in 1935, left him abroad.
* And then it was possible to agree. What is really there. It would be for what.
And thus, in 1939, he was released, all charges were dropped from him, although the persecution continued in the future due to the fact that, being a student of N.I. Vavilov, he continued to promote classical genetics.
Alexander Andreevich graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1960, but already in his last year of the institute began to write poetry and prose. After working as an engineer at a research institute for two years after graduation, he went to work as foresters in Karelia, took tourists to the Khibiny, and participated in a geological expedition in Tuva.
* So to speak, I was gaining life and writing experience. Little by little everywhere.
In 1968 he began working for Literaturnaya Gazeta and was the first in his report to describe the events on Damansky Island during the 1969 Soviet-Chinese conflict. Since 1970 he has been broadcasting reports as a correspondent in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Angola. In the 72nd he became a member of the USSR Writers' Union (he was 34 years old) and continues to publish in Literaturnaya Gazeta, in the magazines Molodaya Gvardiya and Our Contemporary. In addition, he has been working as editor-in-chief of the Soviet Literature magazine for two years (1989-1991).
He did not join the CPSU.
In December 1990, he created his own newspaper The Day, where he became the chief editor. On July 15, 1991, the newspaper published the "anti-perestroika" appeal "Word to the People". The newspaper became one of the most radical opposition publications in Russia in the early 1990s and was published regularly until the October 1993 events, after which it was closed by the authorities.
In 1991, during the presidential elections in the RSFSR, Prokhanov was a confidant of candidate General Albert Makashov. During the August putsch, Prokhanov supports the Emergency Committee.
In September 1993, he spoke in his newspaper against Yeltsin's anti-constitutional actions, calling them a coup d'etat, and supported the RF Armed Forces. After the tank shooting of parliament, the newspaper Den was banned by the Ministry of Justice. The editorial office of the newspaper was destroyed by riot police, its employees were beaten, property and archives were destroyed. Two issues of the newspaper, already banned by that time, were clandestinely printed in Minsk as special issues of the communist newspaper We and Time.
* As you can see, Prokhanov's experience in political struggle was already great.
On November 5, 1993, the writer's son-in-law, A. A. Khudorozhkov, founded and registered the newspaper Zavtra, of which Prokhanov became the editor-in-chief. Several organizations accuse the newspaper of publishing anti-Semitic materials.
In the 1996 presidential elections, Prokhanov supports the candidacy of the Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov. In 1997 he became a co-founder of the Patriotic Information Agency. Twice - in 1997 and 1999 he was attacked by unknown persons.
In 2002, Prokhanov's novel "Mister Hexogen", where he artistically portrayed the version about the organization of explosions of residential buildings in Russia in 1999 by the Russian special services, received the "National Bestseller" award.
He is fond of drawing in the style of primitivism. Collects butterflies (there are over 3 thousand items in the collection).
He is married and has two sons and a daughter. One of the sons is a publicist Andrei Fefelov.
* So briefly about the biography of AA Prokhanov, which traces the genes of relatives, the character of the journalist himself and his life in all three periods of time that passed before our eyes.
And now, in fact, the very interview with Alexander Andreevich. My notes are in italics.
“The USSR was a unique project. The Soviet can be copied, but it's still better to build something of your own. "
A. A. Prokhanov
Reflections of A. Prokhanov on the pages of "AiF" No. 15 2014. Recorded by Vitaly Tseplyaev.
About Russian power.
If Russian statehood continues to strengthen, then our geopolitical space will expand. And we do not necessarily have to include some new lands, like Crimea. The unification of the Russian world can be done without tank columns and without special forces units.
For example, the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
Kudrin (ex-finance minister) speaks of $ 150-160 billion that could flow out of the country in 2014. This is in connection with the annexation of the Crimea.
But the price we paid for the presence of "curls" in our politics is estimated in trillions of dollars.
* It will not work to create a separate "Slavic world" Alexander Andreevich. If "Slavianski Bazaar" I would agree. And with the name too. Well, look how many nationalities and confessions exist side by side on the territory of the Russian Federation. And how many non-Slavs entering the Russian Federation for a while, for permanent residence, unofficially
For example, the Armenians in their state are Christians, but they are 99.9% Armenians. Azerbaijan, having separated and become a Muslim country, seems to be tolerant of the Russian-speaking population. But let an Armenian try, even in the singular, or someone else, of a different nationality and in droves, to come there to work ...
And now, after the examples, consider how many subjects of these nations live on the territory of the Russian Federation. Officially, unofficially, temporarily, permanently ...
As for the types like "curls" I agree. There were so many of them that one salary that they were given would be many millions.
About Serdyukovism.
"Serdyukovshchina" has become a common noun, like Dostoevsky's "smerdyakovshchina".
* Everyone is outraged, everyone understands the destructiveness of the "Serdyukovism" existing in Russia, but they cannot do anything on the basis of the law. This means that there are forces in the state that are above the law. And these are only those who come up with them and those who approve them.
About points of development.
“The first thing to do is defense ...
The modernization of the military-industrial complex (military-industrial complex) will lead to the modernization of entire spheres of life, the entire environment. "
“The second super-project is related to the land. Perhaps now we will stop purchasing modified Western products, plow our Russian arable land and start our own livestock.
And Russia will become a flourishing ultra-modern agrarian power.
* With these two most important directions, I agree entirely and completely. I will only add that all borders: land, sea and air must again be locked. At least temporarily, but for unwanted persons and companies, perhaps forever.
Otherwise, our constant laxity, inherent in genes friendliness, laziness and "short memory" can lead to the constant penetration of alien elements, pests, and not only by illegal means into the territory of the country.
And as for plowing, do not forget the experience of the virgin land of the 50s of the last century. In order not to get, after the tremendous successes of the first years of virgin lands, a drop in yields and restoration of land to arable state within a decade and a half.
On the symbols of the USSR.
The return of the TRP, MTR, the title of Hero of Labor, VDNKh - this is cosmetics, copying samples. The Soviet style is unique, it is impossible to reproduce it!
We are going through a period of powerful historical creativity, when the state of Russia is being re-created. Since 1991, it essentially did not exist.
“Instead of the state, there was a sticky, disgusting, disgusting puddle in which a drunken monster was sitting. In the place of this puddle, nothing should have ever grown. "
And we are growing up again!
And each facet of the newly growing crystal must have a new name. History cannot go backwards.
* History and does not move backwards. It repeats itself. Okay, when several generations have passed, or even in the memory of one generation.
About our mission.
Everyone got the golden calf with its hegemony of money, with the primacy of vile banking mathematics. People want to take off, they want a miracle ...
And Russia, albeit sometimes in harsh forms, brings the hopes of people closer.
Putin rebuked the West for becoming more and more like Sodom, trampling on Christian values.
At the same time, despite the fact that there is a wild stratification in Russia, there is a forgiven Serdyukov, there is a robbery of the country by bribe-taking officials, there are so many bitches that belong to bitches, Putin took on the mission of preserving Christian values.
And this huge world outlook movement inspires hope that everything will be all right with Russia.
* The revival of values is welcomed by many Russians, Alexander Andreevich. But that's why some are Christian. And it would not have happened that Christianity would begin to occupy an increasingly important place in the policy of the Russian state under the "noise". At the same time, he got rich, impudent, using his influence on the minds. And this is also dangerous. Not everything is so good with Orthodoxy, as one would like to see those who are more and more inclined to the faith.
And the last one.
“My books are a laboratory where I formed my ideas about Russian history and Russian messianism. All these novels are about the Russian state. I traveled to construction sites and factories, to oil fields, wrote about the cruises of nuclear boats. I was delighted with the victories of my state and felt melancholy when it suddenly fell and crashed.
But today I see that my state is being revived, and I am writing about it again.
The novel that I am concluding describes everything that preceded the Crimean events. Such a "pre-Crimea" ...
* Feels like nostalgia? This is not a breakdown, or disappointment at the end of the road. This is a true statement of your thoughts without a hint of "PR". Why does he, a well-known writer for a long time, need "PR"?
Afterword.
In addition to the above, I want to show you a little information about how a lawsuit was filed against Prokhanov for the article "Singers and scoundrels" in the newspaper Izvestia on August 17, 2014 and against the newspaper itself.
MOSCOW, October 28 - RIA Novosti. The leader of the Mashina Vremeni rock group Andrei Makarevich (born in 1953), if he wins the trial against Izvestia and the writer Alexander Prokhanov, plans to spend the money on charity.
“... Andrei Vadimovich filed a lawsuit to protect honor, dignity and business reputation. The defendants are the Izvestia newspaper and the writer Alexander Prokhanov, whose comments were especially outrageous, "said Chernin (Makarevich's secretary). According to him, the lawsuit was preceded by correspondence with the editor-in-chief. “We demanded a refutation, the newspaper refused to publish it, and then we had to file a lawsuit,” the spokesman added.
"The publication claims that Makarevich gave a concert in Sloviansk in a Ukrainian military unit, but in fact he performed in a refugee camp in the city of Svyatogorsk," Chernin said.
According to Chernin, if the musician wins the case, he will transfer all the money to refugee children who have suffered from the hostilities in Ukraine.
* By the way, Makarevich demanded money for his honor, dignity and business reputation in the amount of 1,000,000 rubles.
He won back 500,000 rubles in court, but the writer appealed to the Moscow City Court against the decision of the Savelovsky court in Moscow.
So I have a question for readers who have read this issue of "Conversations with Famous People" to the end:
Don't you think that such a "bazaar" among the creative intelligentsia absolutely does not lead to "Slavic Peace" and peace in general?
But on the "brains" of the masses they act negatively, showing who is who ?!
My findings.
I am inclined to think that genes, a person's knowledge of his relatives from childhood, reflections, ultimately give the development of a personality in which the features of his ancestors are present. But here is how the personality uses all this in the future, it is a matter for each individual. For the benefit of others or only ourselves, what do we, those around us, end up with from such individuals - is this a question?
In this case, I cannot say that Prokhanov's personality, his biography and work can negatively affect the minds of the environment. And he still occupies a worthy place among a part of the creative intelligentsia, to whose words one can heed ...
Or at least take it to mind.
Altaich
with. Altai
Soviet and Russian public figure, writer, publicist. Member of the Secretariat of the Writers' Union of Russia. Chief editor of the newspaper "Zavtra".
A family
Prokhanov's ancestors, the Molokans, were exiled to Transcaucasia during the reign of Catherine II. His grandfather, brother of Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov, leader of the Russian Baptist movement, founder and leader of the All-Russian Union of Evangelical Christians (1908-1928) and vice-president of the World Baptist Alliance (1911). The uncle of A.A. Prokhanov, a scientist botanist, remained in the USSR after the emigration of I.S. Prokhanov, was repressed, but then released due to the abandonment of the significant state inherited after I.S.Prokhanov's death in Berlin in favor of the state.
He is married and has two sons and a daughter. One of the sons is a publicist Andrey Fefelov.
Biography
Alexander Prokhanov was born on February 26, 1938 in Tbilisi. In 1960 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute, worked as an engineer at a research institute. In the last year of the university, he began to write poetry and prose.
In 1962-1964 he worked as a forester in Karelia, took tourists to the Khibiny, took part in a geological party in Tuva. During these years, Prokhanov discovered A.P. Platonov and became interested in V.V. Nabokov.
In 1968 he started working in "Literaturnaya gazeta".
Since 1970 he worked as a correspondent for Literaturnaya Gazeta in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Angola and other places. He was one of the first in 1969 to describe in his report the events on Damansky Island during the Soviet-Chinese border conflict.
In 1972, Alexander Prokhanov became a member of the USSR Writers' Union.
Since 1986 he has been actively publishing in the magazines "Young Guard", "Our Contemporary", as well as in the "Literary Gazette".
From 1989 to 1991 Prokhanov worked as editor-in-chief of the magazine "Soviet Literature".
I have never been a member of the CPSU.
In 1990 he signed the "Letter of the 74s".
In December 1990 he creates his own newspaper "Day", where he also becomes editor-in-chief.
On July 15, 1991, the newspaper published an "anti-perestroika" appeal "The Word to the People". The newspaper became one of the most radical opposition publications in Russia in the early 1990s and was published regularly until the October 1993 events, after which it was closed by the authorities.
In 1991, during the presidential elections of the RSFSR, Prokhanov was the confidant of the candidate general Albert Makashova... During the August putsch he supports GKChP.
In September 1993, spoke in his newspaper against what he believed to be anti-constitutional actions Yeltsin, calling them a coup d'état and supported the RF Armed Forces. After the shooting of parliament, the newspaper Den was banned by the Ministry of Justice. The editorial office of the newspaper was destroyed by riot police, its employees were beaten, property and archives were destroyed. Two issues of the newspaper, already banned by that time, were clandestinely printed in Minsk as special issues of the communist newspaper "We and Time".
On November 5, 1993, the writer's son-in-law A.A.Hudorozhkov established and registered the newspaper "Tomorrow", of which Prokhanov became the editor-in-chief. Some organizations accuse the newspaper of publishing anti-Semitic materials.
During the presidential elections in 1996, Alexander Prokhanov does not hide his preference - he strongly supports the candidacy Gennady Zyuganov, leader Communist Party... Subsequently, he was attacked several times, and the identity of the attackers was never established, as was the reason for the attacks themselves.
In 1997 he became a co-founder Patriotic Information Agencies.
In 1999, after a series of apartment bombings, Prokhanov describes his version of what happened in an artistic style, blaming the Russian special services for the incident. His considerations are set out in a literary work "Mister Hexogen", for which Prokhanov received the National Bestseller award in 2002.
From 2007 to January 2014 - a regular guest of the "Minority Opinion" radio program on the Echo of Moscow radio station. He explained his termination of cooperation with the radio station as follows: " I work here as a journalist ... I am not a journalist. I want to talk to the world, with my friends as an artist, as a writer, as a philosopher, as a preacher and confessor, because I have lived a gigantic life and I would like to tell my listeners about this life".
Since September 2009 - at the radio station "Russian News Service" on Mondays at 21:05 he takes part in the program "Soldier of the Empire", and since January 2014 on Mondays at 20:05 he participates in the program "No Questions".
2003-2009 - one of the regular participants in Vladimir Solovyov's television talk show "Towards the Barrier!"
Since 2010 - one of the regular participants in the television talk show "Duel" by Vladimir Solovyov.
2013-2014 - one of the leading columns "Replica" on the TV channel "Russia 24".
November 2014 - The court ordered Prokhanov to pay Andrey Makarevich 500 thousand rubles for a lie in a publication in the Izvestia newspaper, which claimed that Makarevich gave a concert in Slavyansk, " and this music was heard by the captive militiamen languishing in the basements, whose hands were crushed with bats and their eyes were gouged out with knives" Mikhail Barshchevsky representing the musician in the trial put pressure on the court.
Prokhanov is an extremely prolific writer: his novel is published almost every year. Many critics consider Prokhanov's style to be original, colorful, emphasized individual. " Prokhanov's language is replete with vivid metaphors, original, flowery epithets, the characters are written out convexly, clearly, with an abundance of details, the description itself has a pronounced emotional and even passionate coloring, the author's attitude to this or that character is clearly traced". At the same time, there is another point of view among literary scholars, who find his style" banal "," writing style - sugary, based on shameless lies and oversaturated with cheap adorning epithets".
Prokhanov is fond of drawing in the style of primitivism. Collects butterflies (there are over 3 thousand items in the collection).
Scandals, rumors
Prokhanov is credited with very close contacts with Berezovsky during his London exile. In particular, BAB's interview to the chief editor of the newspaper "Zavtra" was the reason for the exclusion of Boris Abramovich from the party "Liberal Russia".
During the tragedy in Nord-Ost, Boris Berezovsky, State Duma deputy Victor Alksnis and Aleksandr Prokhanov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Zavtra, criticized the actions of the Russian authorities to free the hostages.
They set out their position on this issue in a joint statement adopted following the meetings held in London on October 25 and 26, 2002. In their opinion " the terrorist attack would have been impossible without the flagrant connivance and, possibly, complicity of certain government officials". "President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, from the very first hours of the tragedy withdrew from participating in the settlement of the crisis. Neither he himself nor his representatives offered any solution to the problem and did not take any part in the fate of the hostages", - note Berezovsky, Prokhanov and Alksnis." The most dramatic episode in less than three years of V. Putin's stay in power showed that today there is no leader in the Kremlin capable of protecting the citizens of Russia"- emphasized in the statement of Berezovsky, Prokhanov and Alksnis.
It is said that Alexander Prokhanov received $ 300,000 from Berezovsky in 2002 "for the development of his publication," tempting the exile with vague promises to become an opposition presidential candidate. No "development of the publication" happened: "to develop" A.A. Prokhanov decided his own dacha.
In 2003, the editorial office of Lenta.Ru received a statement from businessman Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Prokhanov, dedicated to the murder of a State Duma deputy Sergey Yushenkov... The authors of the letter claim that the responsibility for the murder of Yushenkov lies with the Russian authorities, and also promise that the opposition will win the elections and "prevent the death of the country coming from the Kremlin."