Vasily Aksyonov
Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov (Russian: Василий Павлович Аксёнов, Василий Аксёнов) was a Soviet and Russian novelist. He is known in the West as the author of The Burn (Ожог, Ozhog, from 1975) and Generations of Winter (Московская сага, Moskovskaya Saga, from 1992), a family saga depicting three generations of the Gradov family between 1925 and 1953.
He was the son of Evgenia Ginzburg, jewish russian writer, teacher and survivor of a stalinist gulag.
“Outside a sparrow was swaying back and forth on the branch of a birch tree. A tiny drop fell away from beneath his tail. Ruffling its feather triumphantly, it soared off toward a destination unknown.”
Vasily Aksyonov