Yulian Semyonov - 95!

"A literary man must be constantly ready for a fight. The measure of readiness is ideological commitment and knowledge" (Yu. Semyonov)

The writer Yulian Semyonovich Semyonov (Lyandres), 1931-1993 – the founder of extreme geopolitical journalism and the genre of the "journalistic investigation".

The RUDN University Library preserves the author's first book, by a graduate of the Institute of Oriental Studies – "The Diplomatic Agent" (1959), about the intelligence officer Ivan Viktorovich Vitkevich (1808-1839).

His first stories about geologists and taiga prospectors, written at Siberian construction sites and at the North Pole, where Yu. Semyonov worked on assignment from the editorial board of the magazine "Ogonyok", can be found in the collection "Petrovka, 38. Novellas and Stories" (1964) at the RUDN University Library. Also here is his novella about polar pilots "On Official Duty" (1964), published in an Arabic translation, with a print run of 1,800 copies.

Before writing "Petrovka, 38" and "Ogaryova, 6" (1973), Yu. Semyonov served as a trainee detective in the militia. The professional accuracy of these works ensured them colossal success in cinema as well.

From 1963, Yu. Semyonov worked on a series of novels about the Soviet intelligence officer Isayev-Stirlitz. The RUDN University Library holds all the books of this cycle, including the first edition of the novel "Major Whirlwind" (1967), as well as rare copies of translations of his famous novel "Seventeen Moments of Spring" into Persian and unique ones into Urdu (print run of 630 copies).

As a special correspondent for the newspaper "Pravda", Yu. Semyonov traveled to fighting Vietnam and reached the partisans of Laos ("Vietnam. Laos. 1968", 1969). "Work for the newspaper as if you were gathering material for a novel" – the "Pravda men" instructed him.

During his travels around the world, the writer always found time to visit a local library: it was his "obligatory sociological 'test'" ("The Clash", 1977).