An autobiographical epic where the author’s personal fate intertwines with the history of the country.
For eighteen long years, Konstantin Paustovsky worked on his autobiographical “Tale of Life.” This large-scale work describes in detail the author’s life—from early childhood up to the beginning of the thirties, when Paustovsky first felt himself to be a successful writer and left his service to pursue a literary career.
His first earnings and first writing attempts, the war—where Konstantin Georgievich served as a medic and on the same day lost both of his brothers— the revolution, working as a journalist, and finally the well-deserved recognition. On the pages of “Tale of Life,” the author’s personal achievements and experiences intertwine with social upheavals and the transformation of the country in which he had to live.