In Ovsyanka near Krasnoyarsk celebrate the “Birthday of Private Astafyev”

Guests of the holiday will see a concert with the participation of artists from the Krasnoyarsk Hvorostovsky Opera and Ballet Theater, the exhibitions “I wrote to you about the war” and “Private Astafyev”, competitions and a quiz based on the works of the writer, a master class of amulets dolls will be held. And it will also be possible to write a “soldier’s letter” and visit the “Memory Car”.

Victor Astafiev was born on May 1, 1924 in Ovsyanka, lived there from 1924 to 1935, and “returned to die,” as he himself said, in 1980. In his native village, he sought peace, tired of the constant interest in his person, endless interviews, and most importantly – “from the oppressive memory of the war.” Astafiev was buried two kilometers from Ovsyanka, on Manskaya Mountain.

He went to the front as a volunteer in 1942, served in artillery, was a reconnaissance officer, signalman, driver, fought on the 1st Ukrainian Front, participated in the Korsun-Shevchenko operation, battles on the Kursk Bulge, crossed the Dnieper, liberated Poland, was wounded three times.

And I met Victory Day in Rivne, where he met his future wife and nurse Maria Koryakina. Together they lived for half a century.

On the eve of the celebrations on the occasion of the 99th anniversary, I managed to visit Ovsyanka together with the participants of the Stalker Human Rights Film Festival.

Each time, being in Krasnoyarsk, filmmakers certainly visit the writer’s homeland. Ovsyanka is located on the banks of the Yenisei, which strikes with the grandeur of the winter landscape even now, in spring. It’s still snowing and the ice hasn’t melted yet.

And in autumn, the forest glows with red-yellow foliage. Astafyev liked to walk alone to the river, going down the narrow passage along the houses. A photograph has been preserved where we see only his back – he walks in back streets to the Yenisei. His mother drowned in this river in 1931.

Astafyev’s memorial complex in Ovsyanka is now managed by the writer’s cousin Galina Nikolaevna Krasnobrovkina. Her father is Nikolai Potylitsyn, this is the brother of Astafyev’s mother Lidia Ilyinichna. Very similar to her brother. At one time, she became the prototype of the Galka girl in the story “The Songsinger” from the Zatesi cycle. She is already 80 years old. He does not hide his age, he says that it is time to retire.

For the first time I happened to visit Ovsyanka more than twenty years ago, during the lifetime of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev. Then, within the framework of the “Window to Russia” project, museum workers, cultural figures from various fields arrived there.

The writer lived like an ordinary villager, supported the local library, where even then there was an exposition dedicated to his life and work. Astafiev lived in a very modest wooden house, consisting of a couple of rooms and a kitchen-entrance hall. This is what strikes visitors the most today. Many famous people visited him. Now it is a house-museum. Astafiev died in 2001.

During the life of the writer, the whole village knew about whether he was at home or left. This could be determined by the lantern in the yard – whether it was on fire or not.

True, Galina Nikolaevna was surprised by this fact. She knows nothing of such a tradition. Perhaps this is a legend. But we were told about it on that first visit.

By the 100th anniversary of the writer, they want to install a lighthouse that will be visible at night from passing ships.

From time to time there is talk about whether to rename Ovsyanka to Astafyevo. The writer himself, according to Galina Nikolaevna, would be categorically against such initiatives.

The settlement has grown in recent years, a museum complex has appeared. This is Astafyev’s house, a monument erected in the yard (the sculptor depicted the writer and his wife on a bench), a small building in the yard where famous guests of the writer, for example, Oleg Tabakov, spent the night.

In addition, a museum of the story “The Last Bow” appeared. It is located in the newly rebuilt house of Catherine’s grandmother, the main character of this work. In this house, seven-year-old Viktor Astafyev lived with his grandmother after his mother drowned.

Galina Nikolaevna remembers her grandmother well and talks a lot about her, shows outbuildings, household items, collected bit by bit, what little is left.

Soon work will begin in the garden, everything is as it should be in the village. On the way to Ovsyanka, an observation deck was built on the cliff, the Tsar Fish monument was erected over the Yenisei, and now newlyweds come there on their wedding day. All this was erected for the 80th anniversary of the writer, when he was no more. And at the time of writing, “Tsar-fish” was considered anti-Soviet, two chapters were removed from it.

By the 100th anniversary of the writer, it is planned to build a modern Victor Astafiev National Center, directly opposite the house of Ekaterina’s grandmother, in fact, a window into the window, and next to the house where the writer lived in recent years.

So far, this is a metal fence, behind which there is still nothing really. But what will happen there – Galina Nikolaevna does not know.

It is curious that one of the Krasnoyarsk officials said that Ovsyanka would have a chance to become a kind of Shushensky, a place of exile for Vladimir Ulyanov – Lenin. That’s miracles! Shushenskoye has a magnificent museum-reserve that combines the past and the present, with a prison behind a high wooden fence, trading shops, peasant houses of the late 19th century – authentic and recreated. This is a large open-air ethnographic city, reminiscent of Lenin’s exile.

Why should Astafiev’s native village, where people live near his house and who are frightened by the coming transformations (farewell, quiet life!), become a “mini-Shushensky”? Oatmeal has its own special beauty. It gradually disappears with the onset of modern life, the dominance of ugly buildings. It’s getting harder and harder to keep it.