Прощание из ниоткуда

Cover by artist N.I. Nikolenko

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Maksimov Vladimir Emelyanovich (real name Lev Alekseevich Samsonov; November 27, 1930, Moscow - March 26, 1995, Paris) - writer, publicist, editor.

Born into the family of a worker who went missing at the front in 1941.

Changed his last name and first name, ran away from home, became a homeless child, was brought up in orphanages and colonies for juvenile delinquents, from where he constantly escaped to Siberia, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia. He was convicted of criminal charges and spent several years in camps and exile.

After his release in 1951, he lived in Kuban, where he first began publishing in newspapers. He published a collection of poems, “Generation on the Clock” (Cherkessk, 1956).

Upon returning to Moscow (1956), he was engaged in a variety of literary work. The first significant work is “We are inhabiting the earth” (collection “Tarusa Pages”, 1961). The previously written story “A Man Lives” was published in the magazine “October” in 1962, then “The Ballad of Savva” (1964) and other works were published. In 1963 he was admitted to the Union of Soviet Writers. Member of the editorial board of the magazine "October" (October 1967 - August 1968).

The novels "Quarantine" and "Seven Days of Creation", not accepted by any publishing house, were widely circulated in samizdat. For these novels, their author was expelled from the Writers' Union (June 1973) and placed in a psychiatric hospital.

In 1974, Vladimir Maksimov was forced to emigrate. Lived in Paris.

In 1974 he founded the quarterly literary, political and religious magazine Continent, of which he remained editor-in-chief until 1992. He was the executive director of the international anti-communist organization Resistance International.

While in exile, he wrote “Ark for the Uninvited” (1976), “Farewell from Nowhere” (1974-1982), “Looking into the Abyss” (1986) — about the life of Admiral Kolchak, “Nomadism to Death” (1994), etc.