Bianchi Vitaly Valentinovich
Vitaly Valentinovich Bianchi said that there are no singular Bianchi, so we will talk here not only about the writer, but about the whole Bianchi dynasty, and there is someone to talk about.
This noble family originates from a German opera singer (the writer’s great-grandfather), who, before touring Italy, changed the surname Weiss to Bianchi (according to the corresponding meanings: Weiss - white; Bianchi - close to bianco, which also means white ).
Vitaly Valentinovich was born in 1894 in St. Petersburg in the family of an ornithologist. His childhood was spent on Vasilyevsky Island, in the residential outbuilding of the Academy of Sciences, where the family spent winters and always went to the village in the summer. As a child, Vitaly was a regular at the Zoological Museum, where his father headed the ornithology department. Both in the city and in the village, there were always all sorts of living creatures with the family - from fish to foxes, from songbirds to bats, and one summer with the family was spent with a calf moose that had come to their house. From a young age, Vitaly, like other members of his family (and by the way, many other writers who write about nature - Turgenev, Sysoev, Prishvin), was a passionate hunter. Today it seems strange how a deep love for all living things can coexist with such a hobby, but for Bianchi, hunting was an opportunity to observe, listen to nature, become part of the forest he loved, and in difficult times, an opportunity to feed his family.
Vitaly had two older brothers, who also took over their father’s interest in the world around them, one of them became an entomologist, the other a meteorologist. And Vitaly wanted to become a biologist, he entered the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Petrograd University, but was drafted into the army, and never continued his studies. At first the plans were to return to university, but it so happened that just at that time Marshak was creating new children's literature, and it was he who persuaded Bianchi to write stories about animals. At that time there was a widespread propaganda of knowledge; a person was needed who could captivate the younger generation with living nature. And so it happened that Bianchi immediately found his path in literature - scientific and artistic works about nature and man. Bianchi gained followers and students - Sakharnov, Shim, Sladkov. A new direction in children's literature was born, but Bianchi felt more like a writer than a scientist, and never received an academic education.
In adulthood, Bianchi was not interested in politics, but all his life he paid for the fleeting mistake of his youth: for about a year, young Vitaly was in the ranks of the Socialist Revolutionaries. He soon became bored with politics and left the party, but the whole family felt the echoes of this passion for several decades. The authorities did not forgive him for his Socialist Revolutionary movements; he was arrested several times, sent to prison, and into exile. Almost his entire life was spent with a suitcase at the ready, waiting for the next arrest. Bianchi was famous and loved by readers, his books were published in huge editions and translated, however, life was not simple, money was bad, there were periods of real poverty. In the 50s, things became easier; Bianchi was invited to host a children’s educational program “News from the Forest” on the radio, and thanks to this, the financial situation stabilized. In the last years of his life, the writer was very ill: he had diabetes, he suffered a heart attack and two strokes, although health problems began long before that. Already in the Great Patriotic War, Bianchi did not make it due to heart problems. The writer died in 1959.
Bianchi was married twice, a son was born in his first marriage, but the family soon broke up. The writer met his second wife when they both taught at school, he taught biology, she taught foreign languages, this marriage was very happy, the wife always supported her husband and helped him in his work. The couple had three children. The eldest daughter Elena became an artist; she illustrated books about nature, including the works of her father. Unfortunately, these books have not been republished for a very long time, but there are some of them on the Internet.
Son Vitaly chose the scientific path, he became a biologist and has been working in the north of Russia in the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve for more than 60 years! Vitaly Vitalievich Bianki – Doctor of Science, a major specialist in the field of ornithology. On the Internet you can find interviews and programs with his participation, where he talks about his work and his famous father. Returning to the topic of hunting: in one of his interviews, Vitaly Vitalievich says that a ban on hunting is not always good for nature, because too many predators are bred, which upsets the ecological balance.
Now the writer’s grandson, historian and archaeologist Alexander Mikhailovich Bianki, is preserving the family’s creative and scientific heritage.
The Bianchi are a dynasty of intelligent, educated people who are passionate about their work. Well, the work of the most famous representative of the family lives on to this day, his books are republished, teach both adults and little readers to love and feel nature, inspire and warm the soul.
