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Sasha Cherny, Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg (1880-1932) - Russian poet and prose writer, his work dates back to the Silver Age, especially famous for his lyrical and satirical feuilletons in poetic form.

Early childhood

Sasha was born in the city of Odessa on October 1, 1880. His parents were of Jewish origin; his father worked as a pharmacist and agent in a chemical laboratory. Later the family moved to the city of Belaya Tserkov, where the future poet spent his childhood.

There were five children in the family, two of them were given the same name by their parents - Sasha. And it so happened among the Glickbergs that the light-haired child (blonde) was called Sasha Bely, and the dark-haired one (brunette) was Sasha Black. Thus, the poet’s future pseudonym emerged from his childhood family nickname.

Sasha Cherny was noticeably different from his sisters and brothers. He had a wild imagination, he was constantly making something, inventing something, and conducting experiments. He either mixed sulfur, tooth powder and petroleum jelly to make waterproof gunpowder, or tried to make ink from the sap of the mulberry tree. In general, the Glickbergs' apartment sometimes resembled a chemical plant. For such experiments, Sasha often had to receive punishment from his father, who was distinguished by his severity and tough disposition.

The Glickbergs were wealthy people, but uncultured. It cannot be said that Sasha had a happy childhood; the boy grew up withdrawn and unsociable.

Education

In those days, it was almost impossible for a child from a Jewish family to receive a decent education. Therefore, at first Sasha was home-schooled.

At first, the boy was sheltered by his paternal aunt. She brought Sasha to St. Petersburg, where he entered the gymnasium to continue his studies. But soon the young man was expelled from there, failing to pass the algebra exam.

Sasha’s situation was catastrophic: there was no money to live at all, he wrote to his father and mother, asking for help, but his parents did not answer the letters of his fugitive son. The guy became a beggar and started begging.

In 1898, a young journalist, Alexander Yablonsky, began working for one of the largest St. Petersburg newspapers, Son of the Fatherland. He learned about the unfortunate young man who had been abandoned by his family, and wrote a report about the sad fate of the teenager.

Zhitomir and godfather C. Roche

The article was read by a very wealthy gentleman from Zhitomir, Konstantin Roche, who devoted a lot of time and money to charity. He took the young man to his place, providing him with shelter and education. Zhitomir truly became a second home for Sasha, and he always considered Konstantin Konstantinovich Roche his godfather.

Roche adored poetry, he instilled his love of poetry in Sasha, and soon discovered that the guy himself had a good poetic gift.

Konstantin Konstantinovich helped Sasha get a job as a minor official in the Collection Service. Simultaneously with his work, the young man began to write poetry.

In 1900 he was called up for military service. An infantry regiment was based in Zhitomir, in which Sasha served for 2 years as a volunteer.

After the service, he went to the small town of Novoselitsy, where he got a job as a customs officer on the border with Austria-Hungary.

But he soon returned to Zhitomir, where he began collaborating with the Volynsky Vestnik newspaper. In 1904, his first poetic work, “The Diary of a Reasoner,” was published; the aspiring poet signed “On his own.” The local Zhitomir intelligentsia became interested in the work, and soon Sasha received the nickname “poet.”

Petersburg

Unfortunately, the Volynsky Vestnik newspaper, in which Sasha began to regularly publish his poems, closed. But the young man was already very interested in literary activity, and he decided to move to St. Petersburg. Here he first lived with Roche’s relatives, and they helped him get a job in the railway tax service.

He served as a minor official, and his immediate boss was a woman, Maria Ivanovna Vasilyeva. Sasha and Masha were very different from each other - both in position and in education, and besides, the woman was much older than him. Despite these differences, they became close and married in 1905. This gave the young poet a chance to leave his job in the railway office and devote himself entirely to literature.

He began collaborating with the satirical magazine “Spectator”. In issue number 23, the poem “Nonsense” was published, and for the first time the work was signed by Sasha Cherny. It was November 1905. The poem was a success, and Sasha immediately began to be invited to many satirical publications.

Several magazines and newspapers began publishing it:

• "Journal";
• "Leshy";
• "Almanac";
• "Masks".

Sasha Cherny's popularity among readers grew. However, this fact was overshadowed by the fact that after his satirical poems the magazine “Spectator” was closed, and the collection of poetry “Different Motives” was generally banned by censorship due to political satire.

All this led to the fact that in 1906 Sasha Cherny left for Germany, where he attended lectures at the University of Heidelberg.

Creativity flourishes

In 1908, Sasha returned to St. Petersburg, where the new magazine “Satyricon” had just opened and he, along with other famous poets, became its regular author. Moreover, from 1908 to 1911 he occupied the position of the undisputed poetic leader of Satyricon, thanks to the magazine Sasha had all-Russian fame. Korney Chukovsky spoke about him:

His poems were really on everyone’s lips at that time. Readers loved them for their sparkling humor, special bile and bitterness, biting satire, simplicity and at the same time audacity, witty remarks and naive childishness. Newspapers and magazines simply fought for the right to publish Sasha’s poetry; he, as before, collaborated with many publishing houses:

• “Russian Rumor” and “Modern World”;
• “Kiev Thought” and “Sun of Russia”;
• "Contemporary" and "Argus";
• "Odessa news".

One after another, collections of his poetry were published: “Involuntary Tribute”, “To All the Poor in Spirit”, “Satires”.

But in 1911, without reason or explanation, Sasha Cherny left Satyricon. Perhaps the inner state of his soul affected him; the young poet felt that he had exhausted himself in this direction. In the same year he made his debut in children's literature:

• poem "Bonfire";
• followed by his first prose work, the story for children “The Red Pebble,” in 1912;
• in 1914, the famous “Living ABC” in verse;
• in 1915, a collection of children's poems “Knock Knock”.

Over time, works for children took the main place in the work of Sasha Cherny.

Revolution and war

In 1914, when war with Germany was declared, Sasha was called to the front. The horrors of war turned out to be a difficult test for the poet; he fell into a terrible depression and was admitted to a hospital. And then he continued his service in medical units: he was a caretaker of a hospital in Gatchina, then went to the front with the Warsaw consolidated field hospital No. 2, and helped the caretaker at the Pskov field reserve hospital.

At the end of August 1918, when the Red Army entered the city of Pskov, Sasha left it along with other refugees. He did not accept the revolution. The poet made attempts to reconcile with the new government, but nothing worked, despite the fact that the Bolsheviks offered him to head a newspaper in Vilna. Cherny left Russia in 1920.

Emigration

First, he and his wife moved to the Baltic states, to the city of Kovno. Then they moved to Berlin. Here he continued to engage in literary activities. The poet collaborated with the publishing houses “Spolokhi”, “Rul”, “Volya Rossii”, “Segodnya”. Sasha had the opportunity to work as an editor at the magazine “Grani”.

In 1923, a book with his poems, “Thirst,” was published, published at his own expense. All the works were imbued with longing for the homeland; their lines revealed the poet’s sad position “under a foreign sun.”

In 1924, Cherny moved to France. Here he made every effort to make Russian literature popular abroad. He collaborated with several Parisian magazines and newspapers:

• "Last news";
• "Chimes";
• "Satyricon";
• "Illustrated Russia";
• "Revival".

He organized literary evenings, traveled throughout France and Belgium reading his poems for Russian-speaking listeners, and took part in “days of Russian culture” every year. Sasha Cherny released a children's almanac “Russian Land”, which told about the Russian people, their history and creativity.

During the years of emigration, Cherny worked especially hard on prose. He created many wonderful works for children:

Death

In 1929, in the southern part of France, in the small town of La Favière, Sasha bought a plot of land and built a house. This place has become a truly cultural Russian center abroad. Many musicians, artists, Russian writers gathered here, who often came and stayed with Cherny for a long time.

On July 5, 1932, a fire broke out near Sasha’s house and a neighboring farm caught fire. Without thinking for a second about the consequences for his health, he ran to help his neighbors and participated in putting out the fire. Arriving home, he lay down to rest, but never got out of bed; he died of a heart attack.

He was buried in the French Lavender Cemetery. The closest and dearest person to Sasha Cherny, his wife Maria Ivanovna, died in 1961. From that time on, there was no one to look after or pay for their graves; the couple had no children. Therefore, the actual exact burial place of the poet was lost. In 1978, a memorial plaque was installed at the Lavender cemetery, which says that the poet Sasha Cherny rests in this cemetery.

All that remains is the memory and his immortal poetry. Songs were written based on Sasha Cherny’s poems and performed by such popular Russian singers as the group “Splin”, Zhanna Aguzarova, Arkady Severny, Maxim Pokrovsky, Alexander Novikov.

Sasha Cherny (real name Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg) was born on October 1, 1880 in the city of Odessa. The pharmacist's family had 5 children, two of whom were Sasha. Blonde and brunette, “White” and “Black”. This is how the pseudonym appeared.
The boy became a high school student at the age of ten. So that Sasha could enroll outside the “percentage norm” for Jews, his father baptized him. But Sasha found it difficult to study; he was repeatedly expelled for poor performance. At the age of 15, the boy ran away from home, began to wander and soon found himself without a livelihood. His father and mother stopped responding to his requests for help. A journalist accidentally found out about Sasha’s fate and wrote an article about it, which fell into the hands of a major Zhytomyr official, K. Roche. Roche was touched by this sad story and took the young man to his house. This is how Sasha ended up in Zhitomir.
But here, too, the future poet did not finish high school, this time due to a conflict with the director. Sasha was called up for military service, where he served for two years.
Then Alexander ended up in the town of Novoselitsy (on the border with Austria-Hungary), where he went to work at the local customs office.
Returning to Zhitomir, he began working for the Volynsky Vestnik newspaper. His “Diary of a Reasoner” is printed here, signed “On his own.” However, the newspaper quickly closed. A young man, already interested in literature, decides to move to St. Petersburg. Here Sasha was sheltered by the relatives of Constantin Roche. Alexander served as an official on the Warsaw Railway. His boss was Maria Ivanovna Vasilyeva. Despite the fact that she was several years older than Sasha, they became close and got married in 1905. Alexander Glikberg left his office job and devoted himself entirely to literary creativity. So he became Sasha Cherny.
His very first poem, “Nonsense,” published under an unknown pseudonym, led to the closure of the magazine “Spectator,” in which it was published, and was distributed in lists throughout the country. Sasha Cherny’s poems, both sarcastic and tender, gained nationwide popularity. Korney Chukovsky wrote: “...having received the latest issue of the magazine, the reader, first of all, looked for the poems of Sasha Cherny in it.”
In 1906, a collection of poems, “Different Motives,” was published, which was soon banned by censorship due to political satire.
In 1910-1913, the poet wrote children's books.
In 1914, Alexander went to the front, served in the 5th Army as a private at a field hospital and worked as a prose writer. However, unable to withstand the horrors of the war, he fell into depression and was placed in a hospital.
After the October Revolution in the fall of 1918, Alexander went to the Baltic states, and in 1920 to Germany. For some time the poet lived in Italy, then in Paris. He spent the last years of his life in the south of France.
In exile, Sasha worked in newspapers and magazines, organized literary evenings, traveled around France and Belgium, performed poetry to Russian audiences, and published books. A special place in his work was now occupied by prose addressed to both adults and children.
The death of Sasha Cherny was sudden and unexpected: risking his life, he helped neighbors put out the fire, and then, already at home, he had a heart attack. Sasha Cherny died in France in the town of Lavender on July 5, 1932. He was only 52 years old.

Sasha Cherny appears, whose biography, although short, is very interesting. This is the person who managed to achieve everything on his own. The one who proved to the whole world that he is a Man with a capital M. Despite all the obstacles, the difficult path of life and many other problems that blocked the path of the poet, he nevertheless became a person worthy of his title. And this cannot go unnoticed and respected.

Poet Sasha Cherny. short biography

Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg was born (it was he who later took the pseudonym Sasha Cherny) on October 1, 1880 in the city of Odessa. His parents were Jews, which later had an influence on his development and perception of the world due to his specific upbringing. The family had five children, two of whom were named Sasha. Our poet was dark-haired, which is why he received the nickname “black,” which later became his pseudonym. In order to receive an education at the gymnasium, the boy was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, but he and Sasha ran away from home and began begging. This story was written in the newspaper, and local philanthropist K.K. Roche, touched by the boy’s story, took him into his care. Roche adored poetry and taught young Glickberg to love it, gave him a good education and encouraged Sasha to start writing poetry. It is Roche who can be considered Sasha’s godfather in the field of literature and poetry.

Young summers

From 1901 to 1902, Alexander served as an ordinary soldier, after which he worked at the Novoselensk customs. At this time, the Volynsky Vestnik newspaper published the young writer’s first work, “The Diary of a Reasoner,” which aroused special interest in him among the local intelligentsia. This is what gave the guy the nickname “poet”. Sasha Cherny did not stop writing even in St. Petersburg, where he moved in 1905. He was published in such newspapers and magazines as “Magazine”, “Almanac”, “Masks”, “Spectator” and others. Although the poet’s popularity increased, not everything was as smooth as it might seem at first glance. The satire “Nonsense,” published in the magazine “Spectator,” led to the closure of the publication, and the collection “Different Motives” was banned due to non-compliance with censorship. Because of this, the young poet had problems with the authorities and the owners of the magazine; for some time he was not accepted in society, and was made into a kind of outcast.

Study and work

While living in Germany, Alexander not only created and wrote his brilliant works, but also studied at the University of Heidelberg during 1906-1908. Sasha Cherny, whose biography is already full of challenging events, continues to write what censorship prohibits, but this does not stop him. In 1908, he returned to St. Petersburg again, where he became an employee of the Satyricon magazine, and also published in such publications as Argus, Modern World, Sovremennik, Sun of Russia, Odessa News, “Russian Rumor” and “Kiev News”, publishes the first books.

First World War

During the First World War, Alexander served as an ordinary officer in the Fifth Army at a field hospital. At the same time, he worked as a prose writer, publishing collections and children's books.

Works by Sasha Cherny

The poet's bibliography includes more than 40 books and collections, about 100 quotes and sayings, as well as countless poems. All his works were published under the pseudonyms “Sasha Cherny”, “On My Own” and “Dreamer”. The most popular were: the story “Wonderful Summer”, the collection “Frivolous Stories”, as well as children’s books “Professor Patrashkin’s Dream”, “Seafaring Squirrel”, “Fox Mickey’s Diary”, “Ruddy Book” and “Cat Sanatorium”, published in the time between the First and Second World Wars.

The poet Sasha Cherny, whose biography is already crowned with many interesting and mysterious facts, died on August 5, 1932 during a fire that he helped to extinguish. He didn’t die in the fire, he died at home after all the events - he just lay down on the bed and never got up again. Despite all the genius and majesty of the poet, Alexander’s grave has not been found to this day. She got lost because there was no one to pay for her, and nothing with anything.

All that's left

Alexander's wife died in 1961 - the only person who was dear to the poet, since there were no children in the family. After her death in 1978, Lavender was symbolically installed in the cemetery in order to somehow perpetuate the name of the legendary poet. Thanks to the care of Korney Chukovsky in the 1960s, all of Sasha’s works were published in the Big and Small series of the “Poet’s Library” in several volumes.

To date

Sasha Cherny, whose biography is one of the most interesting, left behind a large legacy of books and poems. His works are studied both at school and in higher education institutions. His quotes are used by all people, regardless of age and position in society, which indicates the popularity and ability of the author to touch a person to the quick.

Having lived just over half a century, this writer, poet, and journalist managed to leave a bright mark on Russian literature. Children know Sasha Cherny as the “parent” of the world’s most popular fox terrier named Mickey, the author of many poems and stories. And adults value him not only for his works that bring him back to childhood, but also for the caustic satire that permeates most of the writer’s works.

Childhood and youth

At the end of the 19th century, an ordinary Jewish family lived on Rishelievskaya Street in Odessa: pharmacist Mendel Glikberg, his wife Maryam, sickly and suffering from hysteria, and five children. The boy born into this family on October 1 (13), 1880, received the name Alexander. Sasha's childhood was joyless. His father, an agent for a pharmaceutical company, was constantly on the move. Due to the state of health of the children, the mother practically did not take care of the children, but she complained about them to her husband. And he was quick to punish, so the children did not like and were afraid of his visits home.

In 1887, Russia adopted a rule according to which Jews could not make up more than 10 percent of gymnasium students. Pharmacist Glikberg found a way out - he baptized the family. So at the age of nine, Alexander entered the gymnasium. Studying, which came quite easily to the boy, was hampered by the difficult atmosphere in the family, and at the age of 15 Sasha ran away from home.

My aunt, my father’s sister, moved my nephew to St. Petersburg, to the gymnasium, on full board. At the St. Petersburg gymnasium, Alexander had a more difficult time - he could not cope with the algebra program and flew out of the educational institution.

The parents were not eager to provide financial support to the prodigal son. The guy had to beg, but his impoverished existence did not last long. Fate, in the person of the aspiring journalist Alexander Yablonovsky, smiled on the future poet. He published an article about the poor young man in the newspaper “Son of the Fatherland,” and the tragic story was read by Konstantin Roche, a Zhytomyr official, poet, and philanthropist.

Roche took Alexander Glikberg to Zhitomir and enrolled him in a gymnasium, where, however, the guy also did not finish his studies due to a quarrel with the director. Moreover, after expulsion, the future poet received a “wolf ticket” - he was forever deprived of the right to admission.

At that time, Alexander was already 20 years old. The guy replaced the gymnasium with the army, where he served as a volunteer for two years. For another year he worked at customs in Novoselitsy, on the border with Austria-Hungary. In 1904, the Volynsky Vestnik newspaper published “The Diary of a Reasoner,” the writer’s first work. And soon Alexander Glikberg joined the newspaper’s editorial staff as a feuilletonist. Alas, after a couple of months the newspaper ceased to exist, and the future Sasha Cherny moved to St. Petersburg

find

Russian literature is rich in “talking” pseudonyms like Demyan Bedny, Emil Krotky. The pseudonym Sasha Cherny has a different origin. Alexander Glikberg had different pseudonyms - On his own, Heine from Zhitomir, etc. And the name by which readers now know the poet and writer comes from childhood: this is how the little brunette Sasha was called by his relatives in order to distinguish him from the other Sasha Glikberg, the blond.

The first poem, signed by Sasha Cherny, was published in 1905 and “exploded” the reading public. Under the title “Nonsense” was hidden a biting satire on the very top of the then government: State Duma deputies, ministers and even the Tsar. The magazine “Spectator” was immediately closed after this. And Sasha Cherny took off on a wave of popularity, his poems were published in the satirical magazines “Hammer”, “Almanac”, “Masks”.

In 1906, the first collection of poems by Sasha Cherny was published, but due to works of a political nature, the circulation was seized. The author escaped arrest by leaving for Germany, where he attended lectures at the University of Heidelberg as a volunteer.

Sasha Cherny returned to St. Petersburg in 1908. For three years he systematically published the works of the young author in the magazine Satyricon, under whose auspices the best humorists of that time worked. Over the years, the talent of the bright poet of the Silver Age blossomed, Sasha Cherny’s books were actively published, poems were published in Sovremennik, Solntse Rossii, Odessa News and others, and only praise was heard from critics. But, having achieved success, Sasha remained the same closed Jewish boy.

In 1912, having left for Capri, Sasha Cherny became friends with Maxim Gorky and tried to write prose. The First World War began, and Alexander was sent as an orderly to a hospital in St. Petersburg, but then transferred to a field hospital. During the war, Sasha the poet could not create; he even had to be treated for severe depression. But Sasha the prose writer was actively working, writing and publishing books for children.

Sasha Cherny easily opens up a whole world for children. This is the peculiarity of his work - a touching love for children and at the same time the ability to stand on the same level with a child and conduct a surprisingly adult conversation with him. For him, children are both readers and heroes of works, for example, the stories “Prisoner of the Caucasus” or “The House in the Garden.”

Another feature is the combination in adult poems of merciless satire, stunning sincerity, heartache and eternal notes of pessimism. And yet the poems have very different directions. For example, “Galchata” is light and airy, “Orange” breathes lyricism, albeit with a touch of irony. And “Hyena” seems like a miniature for children, but the conclusion that the author draws clearly appeals to the adult mind.

In 1918, Sasha Cherny, who did not accept Bolshevik power, chose life in exile. The emigrant's biography includes Lithuania, Germany, Italy, France. The writer published in newspapers and magazines, hosted literary evenings, and performed poetry. Then “Frivolous Stories”, “Professor Patrashkin’s Dream”, “Fox Mickey’s Diary”, “Ruddy Book” appeared. After the author’s death, “The Sailor Squirrel” and “Soldier’s Tales” appeared before the reader.

Sasha Cherny has written more than 40 books and collections, about 100 quotes that have become aphorisms, many poems, as well as translations by Knut Hamsun, Richard Demel and others. The composer created a number of musical works based on the poems of Sasha Cherny.

Personal life

Sasha Cherny got married once and for all. His chosen one was Maria Vasilyeva, his boss at the time when the poet worked in the Collection Service of the Warsaw Railway. The woman was several years older, but neither this nor the difference in education and position prevented Sasha and Marina from starting a friendship, which later grew into marriage.

In 1905, Alexander, having married, found a reliable rear. Maria Ivanovna surrounded her husband with care and relieved him of everyday problems. They lived their entire lives in peace and harmony; the couple had no children.

In the late 1920s, Sasha Cherny built a house in the south of France, in the Russian colony of La Favière. There, in Provence, he lived until his death.

Death

The poet and writer died on August 5, 1932. Alexander was helping to put out a fire at his neighbors’ house, but he was worried and tired. Returning home, he lay down on his bed and never got up again - his life was interrupted by a heart attack.

Sasha Cherny was buried in the Le Lavandou cemetery, but where exactly, no one will say now - in 1961 Maria Ivanovna died, and there was no one to pay for the grave. Even a photo of Alexander Glikberg’s final resting place has not survived. In 1978, a plaque was installed at the cemetery in memory of the poet.

In the early 1960s, through the efforts of Sasha Cherny, the works were included in the Big and Small series of the Poet's Library.

Bibliography

• 1906 – “Different Motives”
• 1910 – “Satires”
• 1914 – “Living ABC”
• 1914 – “Noah”
• 1915 – “Knock Knock”
• 1918 – cycle “War”
• 1921 – “Children’s Island”
• 1922 – “The Return of Robinson”
• 1923 – “Thirst”
• 1924 – “The Dream of Professor Patrashkin”
• 1927 – “The Diary of Fox Mickey”
• 1928 – “Cat Sanatorium”
• 1928 – “Frivolous Stories”
• 1929 – “Silver Tree: Tales for Children”
• 1929 – “Wonderful Summer”
• 1930 – “Ruddy Book”
• 1933 – “The Seafaring Squirrel” (posthumously)
• 1933 – “Soldiers’ Tales” (posthumously)

Quotes

“Like a moth, I am eaten away by spleen...

Sprinkle mothballs on me."

“Do you like attics? I am very. People put the most interesting things in attics, and put boring tables and stupid chests of drawers in their rooms.”

“I need to write down all my sorrows, otherwise I’ll forget later.”

“Everyone is wearing pants cut the same way,

With a mustache, in a coat, but in bowler hats.

I look like everyone on the street

And I get completely lost on the corners.”

"Living at the top naked,

Write simple sonnets...

And take from people from the valley

Bread, wine and cutlets."

“The spring wind is outside the doors...

Who the hell should I fall in love with!”

(real name - Glikberg Alexander Mikhailovich)

(1880-1932) Russian prose writer and poet

Sasha Cherny spent his childhood in the Ukrainian town of Belaya Tserkov. The boy's father worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, and then became an agent selling chemical reagents. Sasha studied at cheder for some time, but was unable to master the Hebrew language, and then his father decided to give him a classical education.

The Glikberg family moved to Zhitomir, where Alexander was baptized. At the age of ten he began studying at the city gymnasium. Subsequently, he recalled this time as the most difficult period of childhood. He was older than the other students in the class, but fell behind due to poor memory and inability to concentrate. In addition, he was practically deprived of maternal affection. In the sixth grade, Alexander was expelled from the gymnasium with a “wolf ticket,” that is, without the right to enter a similar educational institution.

Desperate, he runs away from home and gets to St. Petersburg, where, having settled with relatives, he nevertheless enters the gymnasium. However, in order to receive a matriculation certificate, Alexander had to return to Zhitomir. His father unexpectedly dies, his mother gets married and practically abandons her son. Alexander's tutor becomes a family acquaintance, K. Roche, who held a major post in the provincial peasant presence. He vouched for the young man, and he was again accepted into the gymnasium.

Roche had a beneficial influence on Alexander and introduced him to poetry, which he himself was passionate about.

Having received his matriculation certificate, Alexander gets a job as an office worker at the local customs office. But in fact he works as secretary to Roche, who became his guardian. At the same time, he began to publish in the newly opened city newspaper “Volynsky Vestnik”: he wrote reviews, a chronicle of local social life, and in 1904 published a series of essays under the general title “Diary of a Reasoner.”

At the beginning of 1905, Alexander's life unexpectedly changes, as his guardian becomes the head of the Warsaw Railway and moves to St. Petersburg. Roche arranges Alexander as a senior clerk in the road department. The head of the office, N. Vasilyeva, falls in love with the young man and soon becomes his wife.

Vasilyeva introduces the aspiring writer to the circle of St. Petersburg scientists and philosophers. She herself was the niece of the famous philosopher, professor of St. Petersburg University A. Vvedensky, and a distant relative of the entrepreneur G. Eliseev.

After moving to St. Petersburg, Glikberg began publishing in one of the leading magazines of the time, “The Spectator.” On November 27, 1905, he published the anti-government pamphlet “Nonsense”, under which he first put the pseudonym Sasha Cherny.

The publication, in which hints of Nicholas II were seen, caused a sharp reaction from the authorities: the magazine was closed for some time. But the scandal made Cherny’s name famous, and various satirical magazines began to publish his works.

Censorship clearly monitored the publications of Sasha Cherny, because his works immediately became famous and were learned by heart. When he prepared for publication a collection of poems and satirical essays, “Different Motives” (1905), the circulation was almost completely confiscated.

To avoid possible arrest, acquaintances and publishers advised Sasha Cherny to leave Russia. In the summer of 1906, the Glickbergs left for Germany and spent more than a year abroad. Alexander worked a lot and hard, listened to lectures at the university, wrote a series of lyrical satires, and many essays. Since 1906 he has been speaking as a prose writer.

Returning to Russia at the beginning of 1908, Sasha Cherny became an employee of the weekly satirical magazine Satyricon. Soon the publication gains all-Russian popularity and becomes the leading satirical organ, and the poet becomes an all-Russian celebrity. Contemporaries even called him the Russian Heine, the king of poets of the Satyricon. Let us cite the opinion of the publisher M. Kornfeld: “Sasha Cherny is a satirist by the grace of God.” Sasha Cherny combines his works into two collections - “Satires” (1910) and “Satire and Lyrics” (1913). The first of them went through five editions by 1917.

He managed to create his own type of hero, thin, thin and disgusting, sometimes prone to self-exposure.

The poet creates satires of a political nature, addresses social and everyday themes, and writes lyrical poems. These works are interesting for their figurative characteristics, apt epithets (“a continuous carnival of small fry”, “two-legged moles not worth a day on earth”), bright details (“throws a bent bald spot into the sweat”, “a lonely saffron milk sour on a saucer”).

Throughout his life, Sasha Cherny tried to move away from the role of a satirist, but nevertheless he is perceived precisely as the author of such works.

Realizing the imperfection of relationships in Satyricon, he actively collaborates with various magazines, writes satires, lyric poems, landscape and everyday sketches, acts as a prose writer and author of poems for children, and tries his hand as a translator.

In 1911, Sasha Cherny wrote his first poem for children - “Bonfire”, followed by others: “Chimney Sweep”, “In Summer”, “Bobkin’s Horse”, “Train”. Gorky recruits him to work on the collection “The Blue Book,” in which Cherny’s first fairy tale, “The Red Pebble,” appears. In 1912, his collaboration with Chukovsky began in the magazine “Firebird”.

Sasha Cherny's poems, written in simple, clear language, often resemble nursery rhymes and counting rhymes. They show the character of a child who understands the world figuratively. In 1913, “Children's ABC” was published, which taught more than one generation of children to read and write.

During the First World War, the poet volunteered for the front, worked in a hospital, and was engaged in social activities. Military impressions were reflected in a number of his works. After the revolution, the cycle of poems “War” was published, and in exile Cherny will publish “Soldiers’ Tales” (1933), created on the basis of stories heard in the army. His hero was created in the style of an everyday fairy tale about a skilled and experienced soldier. Cherny acts as a brilliant imitator of the tale; researchers have noted the art of stylization, the impossibility of distinguishing between actual folk proverbs and sayings from the author’s: “Cossacks are supposed to have a bouffant for their strength,” “Your rank is semi-officer, but in your head the cockroaches are sucking a footcloth,” “I’m the only one, like a bug on a blanket, it remains.”

Sasha Cherny did not accept the October Revolution and left for Lithuania. There, on a quiet farm, he tries to comprehend what is happening and comes to the conclusion that he has become a refugee, an emigrant. The poet bitterly states that he has grown significantly and from Sasha has turned into Alexander, which is how he now signs his works - Alexander Cherny.

Gradually, he managed to prepare his previous collections of poetry for publication and release a new collection, the third in a row, “Thirst” (1923). But Sasha Cherny's main interests center around writing works for children's magazines. The world of the child was well known to the writer: his wife gave lessons in private schools and gymnasiums.

Life in exile gradually improved; at first the Glickbergs lived in Berlin, but due to the publishing crisis they had to leave for Rome. In 1925, they settled in Paris, and with the royalties from “Fox Mickey’s Diary” (1927) they were even able to build a small country house in a Russian colony in the south of France on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Sasha Cherny actively collaborates in various emigrant publications, publishing one after another books for children: “Biblical Tales” (1922), “The Dream of Professor Patrashkin” (1924), “Squirrel the Seafarer” (1926), “Ruddy Book” (1931) , “Silver Tree” (1929), “Cat Sanatorium” (1928), “Wonderful Summer” (1930).

Sasha Cherny's adult works were published in 1928 - he combines in the book “Frivolous Stories” works previously published in magazines.

A tragic accident ends the writer's life. After a fire at a neighbor's house, he felt unwell and, returning home, soon died.