Rybak, Natan Samoilovich

Born Dec. 21, 1912 (Jan. 3, 1913), in the village of Ivanovka, in what is now Katerinopol’ Raion, Cherkassy Oblast. Soviet Ukrainian writer. Member of the CPSU since 1940.

Rybak studied at the Kiev Chemical-Technological Institute from 1929 to 1931. He fought in the Great Patriotic War (1941–5). He published his first works in 1930.

Rybakov’s novels Cannons to the East (1934) and Kiev (1936) are concerned with the industrialization of the Soviet Union. His talent for historical prose was revealed in the collection Tales of Frunze (1937), the two-part novel Dnieper (1937–38), and the historical-biographical novel Honoré de Balzac’s Mistake (1940; expanded edition, 1956; Russian translation, 1959), which was made into a film in 1969. Rybak was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1950 for his two-part historical novel The Pereiaslav Rada (1948–53; Russian translation, 1954). Rybak wrote of the heroism of the Soviet people in the novel Our Weapons Are With Us (1943; Russian translation, 1943). His trilogy Time of Hopes and Accomplishments (1960–65; Russian translation, 1963–66) deals with the work of Soviet physicists.

Rybak’s best novels are characterized by intense conflicts, a publicistic approach, and a romantically elevated tone. His books have been translated into several languages of the peoples of the USSR and into foreign languages. Rybak has been awarded the Order of the October Revolution, four other orders, and various medals.