# Vasily Yan > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vasily_Yan > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vasily_Yan.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Yan > Source revision: 1294536205 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Russian writer (1875–1954) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Vasily Yan" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) **Vasily Yan** ([Russian](/source/Russian_language): Василий Ян; 4 January 1875 [[O.S.](/source/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates) 23 December 1874], [Kiev](/source/Kyiv), [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) – August 5, 1954, [Zvenigorod](/source/Zvenigorod), [Moscow Oblast](/source/Moscow_Oblast)), also spelled "Vassily Yan" (or "Ian") or just "V. Yan", was the pen name of **Vasily Grigoryevich Yanchevetsky** ([Russian](/source/Russian_language): Василий Григорьевич Янчевецкий), a Russian and Soviet writer, author of famous historic novels.[1][2] ## Biography Born in Kiev to a family of teachers, his father was from an Orthodox Christian priests family, who had graduated from seminary and taught Latin and Greek at the University Gymnasium. In 1897, Yan graduated from the historical and philological faculty of [St. Petersburg University](/source/St._Petersburg_University). Impressions of a two-year tour of Russia form the backbone of his book *Notes of a Pedestrian* (1901). In 1901–1904 he served as inspector of wells in [Turkestan](/source/Turkestan), where he studied Oriental languages and the lives of local people. During the [Russian-Japanese war](/source/Russian-Japanese_war), he was a military correspondent for the [St. Petersburg News Agency (SPA)](/source/Information_Telegraph_Agency_of_Russia). In 1906–1913, he taught Latin at the first Petersburg Gymnasium. As an organizer of the scouts he met with Colonel [Robert Baden-Powell](/source/Robert_Baden-Powell), who came to Russia in 1910. In the autumn of 1910 Vasily Yan introduced the magazine *Pupil*. In 1913, he worked as a correspondent in [Turkey](/source/Turkey) for SPA. In 1914, with the beginning of the First World War, he became SPA's military correspondent in [Romania](/source/Romania). In 1918–1919 he worked in the press service of [Aleksandr Kolchak](/source/Aleksandr_Kolchak) in Siberia. After the establishment of Soviet power in [Achinsk](/source/Achinsk) he worked as a teacher, correspondent and director of schools in Uryanhae ([Tuva](/source/Tuva)). He then became the editor of the leading newspaper *The Power of labour* in Minusinsk. That was when he first adopted the pseudonym Yan. In 1923, he moved to Moscow. ## Works - "Notes of a Pedestrian", 1901 - story "Story of Captain", 1907 - story "Soul", 1910 - "Raising of the Übermensch", 1910 - "What You Need to do for the Children of St. Petersburg", 1911 - novel "The Afghan Emerald" - story "[Phoenician Ship](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BB%D1%8C)", 1931 - story "[The Lights at Barrows](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%B3%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%85_(%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C))", 1932 - story "Spartacus", 1933 - story "Hammermen", 1933 - *[The Mongol Invasion](/source/The_Mongol_Invasion_(trilogy))* (trilogy): - story "[Genghis Khan](/source/Genghis_Khan)", 1939 (the USSR State Prize in 1942) - story "[Baty](/source/Batu_Khan)", 1942 - story "To Last Sea", published 1955 - "Kids Commander" - "The Mystery of Lake Kara-Standard" - "[Yermak](/source/Yermak_Timofeyevich)'s Campaign" - "On the Wings of Courage" - "Melters of the Vandzh" - "In the Sands of the Karakum" Falsification of the novel "Ermak's Campaign" was carried out in 2011 by "[Leningrad publishing house](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%82)" (ЛЕНИЗДАТ). In fact this novel is [Lydia Charskaya's](/source/Lidia_Charskaya) "Formidable squad" (Грозная дружина) published in 1909. The circulation of the fake "Lenizdat" was only 7050 copies. Since the falsification was successful, it is referred to as the real work of Vasily Yan. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [*The Mongol Conquests in the Novels of Vasily Yan*](http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-mongol-conquests-in-the-novels-of-vasily-yan/9783838210872). Columbia University Press. October 2017. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9783838210872](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783838210872). Retrieved 2020-09-08. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Vasily Yan"](https://www.russkije.lv/en/lib/read/vasily-yan.html). Russian of Latvia. Retrieved 2020-09-08. ## External links - Media related to [Vasily Yan](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vasily_Yan) at Wikimedia Commons Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF 2 GND FAST National United States 2 France BnF data Japan Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Norway Latvia Greece Korea Sweden Poland Israel Academics CiNii People Trove DDB Other IdRef Open Library Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vasily Yan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Yan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Yan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.