National Archives of Karelia : Archival Mosaic of Karelian Culture

Gusarov Dmitry Yakovlevich (1924-1955)

was a Russian writer, State prize winner of Karelia, an Honoured Art Worker of Karelia and Russia.

After graduating from Leningrad University in 1951 D.Ya.Gusarov moved to Petrozavodsk. Here he began an active literary work in the Writers’ Union of Karelia. In 1954 D.Ya.Gusarov became an editor-in-chief of the magazine “On the Border” (since 1965 called “North”) and was at its head till 1990.

During his student years a story “Shoulder to Shoulder” was published.

D.Ya.Gusarov’s first major work was a novel “Call to Action”. The first book of the novel appeared in 1953, the second – in 1957. The novel describes Karelian partisans. During the Second World War D.Ya.Gusarov himself was in partisan detachment which was operating on the occupied Karelian territory. He was awarded four medals for participation in war actions.

In 1963 the Karelian publishing house published D.Ya.Gusarov’s new novel “Human Value”. The novel tells about people employed in the timber industry of the North. The novel won the recognition of the readers, was published in Czechoslovakia in 1967, was the grounding for writing a play “To Love and to Believe” staged by Petrozavodsk Russian Drama Theatre.

D.Ya.Gusarov’s book “Three stories from Peter Anochin’s life” published in 1968 combined both the biographical narration and the historical research unusual in its choice of events and author’s hand. It was republished twice: in 1970 – by a publishing house “Fiction”, and in 1974 – by a publishing house “Karelia”.

A novel-chronicle “Beyond Mercy Line” published by “Karelia” in 1978 was an outstanding event in the literary life of Karelia. The novel was published on a mass scale in the “Novel- newspaper”, published in Finland twice and translated into Hungarian. A play of the same name was staged in the Finnish Drama Theatre in Petrozavodsk.

178 files dd.1943-1995 are kept in D.Ya.Gusarov’s personal fund:
- biographical documents including those related to his public activities;
- D.Ya.Gusarov’s literary works: manuscripts of novels, stories, plays, dramatizations, essays, memoirs, articles; texts of his performances and lectures;
- D.Ya.Gusarov’s documents about his work in the editorial office of the “North” magazine;
- D.Ya.Gusarov’s correspondence: D.Ya.Gusarov’s letters; letters of his relatives, friends, such Russian writers as F.Abramov, A.Adamovich, V.Asanov, V.Astafyev, V.Belov, V.Bykov, K.Vanshenkin, D.Granin, M.Dudin, K.Simonov, V.Rasputin, Mustaj Karim, etc. to D.Ya.Gusarov;
- documents collected by D.Ya.Gusarov’s: documents about literary men, documents related to the novels “Human Value”, SBeyond Mercy Line”, documents about the partisan detachment “War Friends”, other documents about the Great Patriotic War.

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• Article (by National Archives)
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3. Event persons
• Gusarov D.Ya.
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National Archives of Karelia : Archival Mosaic of Karelian Culture