Boris Pilnyak (Russian: 袘芯褉懈褋 袩懈谢褜薪褟泻; October 11, 1894 in Mozhaysk 鈥� April 21, 1938 in Moscow) was a Russian author.
He was Born Boris Andreyevich Vogau (Russian: 袘芯褉懈褋 袗薪写褉械械胁懈褔 袙芯谐邪褍) in Mozhaysk. His father was a doctor of German descent, and his mother came from an old merchant family from Saratov. Boris first became interested in writing at the age of nine. Among his early influences were Andrei Bely, Aleksey Remizov, and Yevgeny Zamyatin.
He was a major supporter of anti-urbanism and a critic of mechanized society. These views often brought him into disfavor with Communist critics. His most famous works are The Naked Year, Mahogany, and The Volga Falls into the Caspian Sea, all novels concerning revolutionary and post-revolutionary Russia. Another of his well-known works is OK, an unflattering travelogue of his 1931 visit to the United States.
In Artists in Uniform, Max Eastman wrote a chapter about him called "The Humiliation of Boris Pilnyak."
On October 28, 1937, he was arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary activities, spying and terrorism. One report alleged that "he held secret meetings with (Andr茅) Gide, and supplied him with information about the situation in the USSR. There is no doubt that Gide used this information in this book attacking the USSR." Pilnyak was tried on April 21, 1938. In the proceeding that lasted 15 minutes, he was condemned to death. A small yellow slip of paper attached to his file read: "Sentence carried out."
Publishing this so soon after Frunze's death is delightfully oblivious to the portentous winds of political change. Literary hooliganism of the finest sort.