LEONOV, LEONID MAKSIMOVICH

born May 19 [May 31, New Style], 1899, Moscow, Russia died Aug. 8, 1994, Moscow Russian novelist and playwright who was admired for the intricate structure of his best narratives and for his ability to convey the complex moral and spiritual dilemmas faced by his characters. His multilayered, psychological approach was strongly influenced byand often compared tothat of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Leonov went to school in Moscow and published his first stories in a newspaper in Arkhangelsk, where his father, the poet Maksim L. Leonov, had been exiled. He served as a soldier and journalist in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War (191820). In 1924, after publishing several more short stories and novellas, Leonov established his literary reputation with his epic first novel, Barsuki (The Badgers), which he followed with Vor (1927; The Thief), a pessimistic tale set in the Moscow criminal underworld. His other major novels include Sot (1930; Soviet River), Skutarevsky (1932), and Doroga na okean (1935; Road to the Ocean). In the 1930s and '40s Leonov's fiction conformed somewhat more closely to the prevalent style of Socialist Realism, as did his 12 plays, 11 of which were staged in Moscow. His last major novel, Russky les (1953; The Russian Forest), won the Lenin Prize in 1957. Leonov devoted the remainder of his life to revising his earlier works. He was elected to the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in 1972.