Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov (Russian: 袗谢械泻褋邪薪写褉 袙邪谢械薪褌懈薪芯胁懈褔 袙邪屑锌懈谢芯胁) (19 August 1937, Cheremkhovo, near Irkutsk 鈥� 17 August 1972 at Lake Baikal [1]) was a Russian playwright. His play Elder Son was first performed in 1969, and became a national success two years later. Many of his plays have been filmed or televised in Russia. His four full-length plays were translated into English and Duck Hunting was performed in London. Vampilov was the fourth child in the family of schoolteachers. 袧is father, Valentin Nikitich, was of Buryat ancestry, and his mother, Anastasia Prokopievna was Russian, daughter of Russian Orthodox Church priest. His father was arrested for alleged nationalist activity.
The young Alexander taught himself guitar and mandolin, and his first comic short stories appeared in magazines in 1958, later collected as A Confluence of Circumstances under the name "A. Sanin". After studying literature and history at the Department of Philology at Irkutsk University, graduating in 1960, he turned to theatre. He was executive secretary of an Irkutsk newspaper from 1962 to 1964, and later formed an acquaintance with popular dramatist Aleksei Arbuzov.
The first production of Farewell in June in Moscow in 1966 was unsuccessful, but by the early 1970s he was becoming very well known, and his humanity and insight has been compared with that of Chekhov[1].
He married in the early 1970s, and drowned in 1972, while fishing on Lake Baikal. Last Summer in Tchulimsk was his final play.
Works
Farewell in June (袩褉芯褖邪薪懈械 胁 懈褞薪械) (1966, rewritten 1970) The Elder Son (小褌邪褉褕懈泄 褋褘薪) (1967) House, Overlooking the Field (袛芯屑 芯泻薪邪屑懈 胁 锌芯谢械) Provincial Ancedotes (袩褉芯胁懈薪褑懈邪谢褜薪褘械 邪薪械泻写芯褌褘) (1968, comprising the one-act plays An Incident with a Paginator (小谢褍褔邪泄 褋 屑械褌褉邪薪锌邪卸械屑) and Twenty Minutes with an Angel (袛胁邪写褑邪褌褜 屑懈薪褍褌 褋 邪薪谐械谢芯屑)) Duck Hunting (校褌懈薪邪褟 芯褏芯褌邪) (1970) Last Summer in Chulimsk (袩褉芯褕谢褘屑 谢械褌芯屑 胁 效褍谢懈屑褋泻械) (1972