Alexander Romanowitsch Belyaew – Wikipedia

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Alexander Romanowitsch Beljajew ( Russian Aleksandr Romanovich Belyayev ; * 4th of March jul. / March 16, 1884 greg. in Smolensk; † January 6, 1942 in Puschkin) was a Russian writer and one of the first science fiction authors of the Soviet Union. Outside the Soviet Union, he was mainly through his novel The amphibian person known, which was filmed in the 1960s.

Beljajew was born in Smolensk as the son of a clergyman. Against the will of his father, who had the wish that his son would also take the priestly career, Beljajew took up in 1901 at the legal lyceum in Jaroslawl, which he also completed five years later. He then worked in a law firm for several years. In addition, he was increasingly devoting himself to acting, a hobby that he had been maintaining since his youth. In 1914 he finally gave up his legal activity in favor of art after he had financially independent as a result of a great process. He undertook extensive trips through Europe and then worked as a music and theater critic at a children’s magazine.

Due to severe vertebral sala tuberculosis, from which Beljajew did not recover properly throughout his life, he had to move to Jalta in 1916 to be treated in hospital. Unable to work for years – he was in the plaster bed from 1917 to 1921 – he started writing poems in Jalta; At the same time, he read a lot, including science fiction classics such as Jules Verne or H. G. Wells, from which he later inspired himself.

After completing the medical treatment, Beljaev was an employee of a crime department and educator in a children’s home, for a short time he drove to sea as a fisherman. In 1923 Beljaev moved to Moscow. There he worked as a lawyer again and received a post in the People’s Commissioner for Post and Telegraphy, but began in parallel with his writer’s work. Some of his most famous SF works already date from this time, including The head of Prof. Dowell (1925) and The amphibian person (1928). In 1928, Beljajew moved to Leningrad with his family, where he has primarily worked as an author since then. In the 1930s, Beljaev was probably the best known representative of the SF genre in Russia and wrote over ten novels and dozens of stories during this time. Beljajew’s works not only experienced positive response from many fellow writers, but also from renowned scientists such as Konstantin Ziolkowski and Alexander Fersman. In 1934 Beljaev met in Leningrad with H. G. Wells, who also praised his works.

Beljajew spent his last years in the Leningrad suburb of Puschkin. After the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, he refused to be evacuated into the Soviet hinterland, even though he was severe in terms of health. This was doomed to him and his family: the city of Puschkin was occupied by the German Wehrmacht, the wife and daughter of Beljajews to the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. Beljajew himself died of malnutrition in January 1942; His exact burial site is still unknown.

According to the until October 1, 1964 [first] Valid Soviet legislation went to Beljaev’s works 15 years after the author’s death [2] in public property. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, copyright legislation was changed in Russia, and the corresponding period of validity was first extended to 50 [3] , and after 2004 to 70 years [4] From the time of death of the author. In addition, the Russian “Law on Copyright and Related Rights Rights” extended these deadlines by another four years for the authors who worked during the Great Patriotic War or belonged to the military troops. [5]

In 2008, the “Terra” publisher with Beljaev’s heir had concluded a contract for the publication of his works. After that, “Terra” submitted a lawsuit against the publishers “Ast Moscow” and “Astrel”. The two publishers belong to the AST publishing group and have also published Beljaev’s texts after “Terra’s” conclusion of the contract. The Moscow Commercial Court had granted the complaint with the value in dispute of over 7.5 billion rubles and banned the “Astrel” publisher to “spread the illegally published specimens by A. Beljaevs works”. [6] The first revision instance revoked the resolution clause on compensation and state tax. [7] The Court of Court revoked the decisions of the subordinate instances and completely dismissed the lawsuit by recognizing Beljaev’s works since January 1, 1993 as public property, which is currently not subject to property rights. [8]

In the meantime, the district court of Krasnodar had also recognized Beljaev’s works on public property. [9]

Roman
  • The last person from Atlantis ( Last Tschelowek is Atlantis , 1927)
  • The fight on the air ( Borba in Efire , 1928)
  • Eternal bread ( Wtschny bread , 1928)
  • Lord of the world ( Wlastelin mira , 1928)
  • Amphibian Man ( Tschelowek-amfibija , 1928)
    • German: The amphibian person. Translated by Gisela Frankenberg. New life, 1984.
  • Air seller ( Prodawez Wosducha , 1929)
  • Star “KEC” ( Swesda times , 1936)
  • Professor Dowell’s Head ( GOLOWA TEACHER DOUELJA , 1937)
  • A person who has found his face ( Tschelowek, NaschedSchi Swoio Lizo , 1940)
  • Ariel ( Ariel , 1941)
stories
  • Professor Dowell’s Head ( GOLOWA TEACHER DOUELJA , 1926)
  • Island of the dead ships ( OSTROW POGIBSCHICH Korablei , 1927)
  • Dead Head ( Mjortwaj Golowa , 1928)
  • Neither life, nor death ( NI SChisn, ni Smert , 1928)
    • German: Neither life nor death. In: Erik Simon, Olaf R. Spittel (hg.): Duel in the 25th century: stories of happy worlds and coming times. The new Berlin, 1987, ISBN 3-360-00083-8.
  • Lighting ( Swatoprestawlenia , 1929)
  • Golden Mountain ( Solotaja up , 1929)
    • German: The gold mountains (Translator: Gerd-Michael Rose) in: Wilko Müller jr. (Ed.): The moon metal. Edition SOLAR-X, 2015
  • Mr. Laughter ( Losing Smech , 1937)

Professor-Wagner stories:

  • Guest from the bookcase ( Gost is Knischnowo Schkafa , 1926)
  • A person who does not sleep ( Tschelowek, Kotory Ne Spit , 1926)
  • Above the abyss ( Nad besdnoi , 1927)
  • Create legends and apocrypha ( Tworimyje legends and apocrify , 1929)
  • Damn mill ( Tschertowa melniza , 1929)
  • Packa ( Broad , 1929)
  • Hoyi-Taiti ( Choiti-toiti , 1930)
    • German: Hoity-Toity. In: The messenger from space: stories of Soviet writers . Verlag for foreign language literature, Moscow 1960. Further edition: Edwin Orthmann (ed.): The diamond maker . New life, Berlin 1972.
  • Carpet plane ( Kower-Samolet , 1936)
  • Invisible light ( Changeimy swet , 1938)
    • German: The invisible light. In: Olaf R. Spittel, Erik Simon (hg.): The dream manufacturer: stories of amazing inventions and fantastic adventures. The new Berlin, 1985.
  • Inventions of Professor Wagner ( Isobretanija Professora Wagnera , 1988; Collection of eight Professor-Wagner stories, missing Invisible light )
factories
  • Selected science fiction works ( Isbrannyje nautschno-fantastitscheskije proiswedenija , 3 vol. Moscow, 1956–1957)
  • The amphibian person (USSR, 1962)
  • Air seller (USSR, 1967)
  • Professor Dowells Testament (“Testament of Professor Dowel”, 1984, UDSSR)
  1. ↑ The date of the introduction of the bourgeois code of the RSFSR (Russian Socialist Federation Soviet Republic), in accordance with Article 496 The validity period of copyright was set to 25 years from January 1 of the following year after the author’s time of death.
  2. ↑ See decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and People’s Commission of the USSR of May 16, 1928, point 15, “Principles of copyright”.
  3. ↑ See Article 137 of the “Principles of Civil Legislation in the USSR”, later Article 27 of the Law on Copyright and related property rights (GSUVS) of September 9, 1993, No. 5351-1, GSUVS. “The principles …” in the entire area of ​​the Russian Federation from August 3, 1992, No. 3301-1 and March 3, 1993 No. 4604-1 to 3 August 1993 (the date of the GSUVs come into force).
  4. ↑ See Föderales Law, Art. 1, Paragraph 5 of July 20, 2004 No. 72-F3, “about the change in the GSUVs”.
  5. ↑ See GSUVS, Art. 27, paragraph 5.
  6. ↑ Decision of the Moscow Commercial Court of July 27, 2010 on court case No. а40-99593/09-110-659, Page no longer available , Search in web archives: @first @2 Template: dead link/kad.arbitr.ru
  7. ↑ Decision of the 9th revision instance of the Moscow Commercial Court No. 09ap-22940/2010 of October 25, 2010 on court case No. A40-99593/09-110-659, Page no longer available , Search in web archives: @first @2 Template: dead link/kad.arbitr.ru
  8. ↑ Decision of the Federal Commercial Court of Moscow District No. KG-A40/675-11 of March 5, 2011 on court case No. а40-99593/09-110-659, Page no longer available , Search in web archives: @first @2 Template: dead link/kad.arbitr.ru
  9. ↑ Decision of the revision instance of the Krasnodar Regional Court, source: http://www.lenta.ru/news/2010/07/22/belyaev/