Julian Semenovich
Semenov
1931-1993
Julian Semyonovich Semyonov was a Russian Soviet writer, screenwriter, journalist, and teacher. He was honoured as an Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 1982 and won the Vasiliev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR for Literature in 1976. He founded the magazines “Detective and Politics” and “Top Secret” in 1989, pioneering the genre of investigative journalism in Soviet periodicals. He was born in Moscow on October 8th, 1931, in the family of a prominent journalist Semyon Lyandres. After completing high school in 1948, he entered the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, where he studied Afghan affairs and Pashto. He later completed his studies at Moscow State University, focusing on Persian history and politics as well as historical studies at the Faculty of History. During his career, Semyonov worked as a journalist and diplomat in various East Asian countries, contributing to Soviet literature and journalism. His works include novels, screenplays, and articles, many of which were published in the aforementioned magazines. Since 1955, Julian Semyonov began publishing his works in various Soviet publications, including Ogonyok, Pravda, Literaturnaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Smena. His early works were psychological novels, such as “Rain in Drainpipes”, “My Heart Is in the Mountains”, and “Farewell to the Woman I Love”. His first novel, “The Diplomatic Agent”, was written in 1958 after he had completed a business trip to Kabul as a translator of Pashto and Dari. In 1960, Julian Semyonov became a member of the USSR Writers’ Union. From 1962 to 1967, he served on the editorial board of a Moscow magazine and later worked as a correspondent for the newspaper “Literaturnaya Gazeta”, travelling to countries such as France, Spain, Germany, Cuba, Japan, the United States, and Latin America. One of his earliest successes was the short story “In the Line of Duty,” published in the magazine “Yunost” in 1962, which depicted the work of polar pilots. The same year, he published his first novel in the so-called “Militia Cycle” – “Petrovka, 38,” which explored the daily life of Soviet police officers. This cycle continued with stories such as “Ogareva, 6” (1972) and “Confrontation” (1980). Perhaps his most famous work was the novel about a Soviet intelligence agent, Stirlitz, titled “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” which was adapted into a popular television series in 1973. The role of Stirlitz, played by Vyacheslav Tikhonov, turned the character into a true folk hero. Later, Yulian Semyonov wrote several books about this character, including “The Spanish Version” (1973), “Alternative” (1974), “Third Map” (1977), and “Ordered to Survive” (1982), as well as three books in the “Expansion” series (1984). The last book in the cycle was “Despair” (1988), which told the story of Stirlitz returning to the post-war Soviet Union after successfully completing an operation to expose Nazis hiding in Argentina. In memory of the renowned writer, a memorial plaque has been installed at the editorial office of the “Moskovsky Komsomolets” newspaper.
Address: Moscow, 1905 goda str., 7, building 1
