Circus "Gladiator". Porfiryev B.A.

Boris Aleksandrovich Porfiryev was born in 1919 in the city of Sovetsk Kirov Region in a family of employees. He graduated from high school in Vyatka (Kirov), then studied at the Faculty of History of Leningrad State University, from where he went to the front and participated in the defense of Leningrad. He began to write at the front. In 1945-1946, a cycle of front-line stories of B. Porfiryev was published in the magazine "Spark", and his writer's biography begins with them. The book included the first two parts of the trilogy (“Benefis Efim Verzilin”, “Circus“ Gladiator ”), united by a common name. The novel talks about nuggets from the people who gave all their strength to Russian sports, about their difficult fate at the beginning of the 20th century. The main characters of the novel - honest and responsive fighter Efim Verzilin; sincere and gullible Nikita Sarafannikov; the person who is experiencing the internal discord to the reporter Korozhzov; A talented fighter, good -natured, but morally unstable Ivan Tataurov, has to go through many trials before determining his place in life. Along with fictional heroes, the faces were bred in the novel - Emperor Nicholas II, Minister of War Sukhomlinov, Poddubny wrestlers, Zaikin and others. The action of the novel develops against a wide historical and social background, which gives the narrative special tension and drama.