Ivanov, one of the most interesting Soviet fiction writers of the 1920s, began writing before the October Revolution. His first efforts were encouraged by Gorky. Ivanov's well-known short novel, Armoured Train 14-69 (1922), about the civil war, uses a number of innovative fiction techniques. The result is a very rich text, though filled with images of violence and cruelty. A prolific writer, Ivanov was a member of the experimentally adventurous Serapion Brotherhood, but after 1930, his highly ornamental style gave way to the more sober practices of socialist realism. Many of Ivanov's works are set in distant regions of the Soviet Union, reflecting his abiding interest in exotic, oriental cultures. A later work by Ivanov, The Adventures of a Fakir (1934--35), is autobiographical, very colorful, and quite readable.

(Bowker Author Biography)