“Irretrievably gone in past those times when I did not exist”.
Venedikt Yerofeev was born in Kandalaksha on 24th of October 1938. As his parents lived in Chupa that time, it is considered that his place of birth is a small Karelian station.
The family settle down on Khibiny station in July 1941, but the Yerofeevs is already evacuated in August. At the end of 1943 they go back to Khibiny, live for a short time in Zasheek village. In 1947 move to Kirovsk that becomes hometown for the writer. At this place his best years have passed. Venedikt finished a secondary school №1 with a gold medal in 1955.
Despite he left Kirovsk, he never forget it. He often visited his favorite town, wrote letters to his sister Tamara and asked her to write about the Kola Peninsula and Kirovsk more often.
There are many sketches of places connected with Kirovsk in youthful work of Yerofeev called “Notes by psychopath” written in a diary form. He recalls his friends and acquaintances. One can find in a book the realities of life that familiar every citizen of Kirovsk such as the movie house «Bolshevik», the mining and chemical technical college, the library of M. Gorky, Kirovskiy rabochiy newspaper …
On 11th of May 2005 there was the 15th death day of Venedikt Yerofeev and the 35th anniversary of writing of “Moscow – Petushki” celebrated in Kirovsk. There was celebration that start from the laying of flowers to the commemorative plaque near the building of secondary school №1, that the writer finished with a gold medal. There were sister of the writer Tamara Gushchina, teachers and students of the school, cultural workers and admirers of Yerofeev’s works on the ceremony. Head of the Culture Department Galina Rostova told about Venedikt Yerofeev’s role in life of our town. Members of literary association “Alash” (from the Sami language – “Hearth”) Alexander Bondarev, Galina Gladkih, Valentina Petrova recited their recent poems devoted to Venedikt Yerofeev. Afterwards there was a lottery hold. There were 52 tickets (51 with V. Yerofeev’s aphorisms, expressions, sayings in the container and one with a prize). The number 51 was chosen not coincidentally, but according to the number of years the writer lived. Aphorisms were read instantly out loud.There were so many people gathered that tickets weren’t enough for everybody. One of students of the school won the prize: a book of Venedikt Yerofeev “Moscow – Petushki”.
Most of the admirers of Yerofeev cannot lay flowers on his grave in a the Kuntsevo Cemetery in Moscow. But a solution was found. It was decided to attach two carnations to balloons and send it to him in the sky. Soaring balloons were caught by a gust of wind and soon they were hidden behind the roof. The balloons were provided by a toy shop “Karapuz” free of charge for the literary occasion. Afterwards all participants visited the literary museum of Venedikt Yerofeev in the library of M. Gorky.
There's always a great demand for Venedikt Yerofeev’s works among citizens of Kirovsk. People take his works in libraries. All participants eagerly took part in the jubilee. It is a great pleasure for us. We realized once again that Venedikt Vasilevich was right when he wrote: “Irretrievably gone in past those times when I did not exist”.
