Ivanov, Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich

Ivanov, Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich (fəsyĕ`vələt vyĕ'chĭslä`vəvĭch ēvä`nôf), 1895–1963, Russian short-story writer, novelist, and dramatist, b. Siberia. Ivanov had an adventurous early life as a sailor, circus performer, fakir, and partisan fighter. His talent for vivid description and ironic point of view was discovered and encouraged by Gorky. The novel Armoured Train 14–69 (1922, tr. 1933), based on an episode of Soviet expansion in Siberia, is considered the most important of his many works. A long, semiautobiographical novel, The Adventures of a Fakir, was translated in abridged form in 1935. His later work includes Saga of the Sergeant (tr. 1952).