Fedin, Konstantin Aleksandrovich

Fedin, Konstantin Aleksandrovich kənstəntyēnˈ əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch fyĕdyēnˈ [key], 1892–1977, Russian novelist. Fedin was interned in Germany during World War I and returned to Russia in 1918. His first novels, Cities and Years (1924) and The Brothers (1928), concern the intellectual's problems in adjusting to Soviet society. Fedin traveled in Europe during the 1930s and based his novel The Rape of Europe (1934–35) on his observations. The three realistic novels of his postwar cycle—Early Joys (1945–46, tr. 1960), No Ordinary Summer (1948, tr. 1950), and The Bonfire (1961)—are among his best work, and the first two were awarded Stalin Prizes. They describe life in a small Russian town in the early 20th cent. Fedin also wrote reminiscences of Gorky (1943–44).

See J. M. Blum, Konstantin Fedin (1967).

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