SOURCE: "Leonid Leonov's Path," in Soviet Literature, No. 484, November, 1986, pp. 143-49.

In the essay below, Kovalyov provides a brief overview of Leonov's career and remarks on the themes of his major novels.

Leonid Leonov is a remarkable writer, a craftsman who has left an important mark in the history of Soviet literature.

The characters he has created (Skutarevsky, Kurilov, Vikhrov, Fyodor Talanov, Vekshin, Evgenia Ivanovna, Gratsiansky, Chikelev) are comparable in stature to the major characters in Russian and world classical literature. They give an idea of this nation and its complex internal development.

Leonid Leonov was born on May 31, 1899. He matured socially in the early years of the revolution when he worked as a war correspondent.

After being demobbed from the Red Army in 1922 Leonov took up writing. He wrote stories and novellas such as Buryga, The End of a Little Man, Kovyakin's Notes, etc. From the beginning...