caption death_date death_place birth_place imagesize nationality debut_works birth_date image article_title name occupation
vladislav titov 1 may 1987 soviet union voronezh oblast , russian sfsr , soviet union 100px russian defying death 7 november 1934 vladtitov.jpg vladislav titov
 vladislav andreevich titov novelist , miner
vladislav titov

vladislav andreevich titov -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- november 7 , 1934 -- may 1 , 1987 -rrb- was a soviet socialist realist writer .
at the age of 26 he lost both arms in a coal mine accident .
he became a novelist , writing with a pen held by his teeth , and produced several novels , the most famous being `` defying death '' -lrb- -rrb- .
titov was born into a wheat farmer 's family in voronezh oblast .
after serving in the soviet army , he completed a course at the college of mines in voroshilovgrad and started working at one of the new coal mines of donets basin .
in 1960 he became involved in a serious accident .
a loaded coal carriage derailed , hit a high-voltage cable , and short-circuited it .
the resulting fire ran along the cable to the power transformer and would have caused an explosion , burying alive the entire shift of miners .
hoping to save his co-workers , titov rushed to the transformer and managed to shut it down , but by doing so he exposed himself to high voltage .
doctors saved his life and an injured leg , but both his arms had to be amputated up to the shoulders .
after a long recovery period , titov became a writer , scribbling on paper with a pen held by his teeth .
his first novel , `` defying death '' , is autobiographical in nature and focuses on the mental problems a healthy young man develops after a serious accident .
physical pain , an inability to find employment , and the sense of being a burden to people put him on the verge of suicide .
he manages not only to recover his mental balance but also begins to help others cope with their psychological problems .
`` defying death '' was published in 1967 in the literary periodical `` youth '' rather than as a separate book .
this was a common practice at the time in the soviet union , especially for new writers .
the novel quickly became popular .
during the years following its publication , titov received about 50,000 letters from disabled people asking for advice .
the novel was included in the list of essential literature for secondary education and translated into 28 languages .
titov wrote the novels `` feather grass growth in steppe '' -lrb- , 1971 -rrb- , `` partition '' -lrb- , 1973 -rrb- , and `` drift miners '' -lrb- , 1982 -rrb- , in addition to a number of short stories .
his last completed novel was `` old park 's dreams '' -lrb- -rrb- , which was published by his wife after his death at the age of 53 .
he left an uncompleted novel entitled `` rye '' -lrb- -rrb- .
