Marian Tkachov was a writer, translator, scholar of Vietnamese culture, and one of the most prominent figures in introducing Vietnamese literature to international audiences.
Early Life
Marian Tkachov was born on 28 May 1933 in Odessa. His childhood was closely connected with the old city, which remained a defining symbol of his youth and an enduring presence in his creative memory. After the war, his family returned to Odessa.
He grew up surrounded by books and developed an early passion for literature. Together with his childhood friends Boris Birbrair, who would later become a theoretical physicist, and Alexander Kalina, a future engineer and entrepreneur in the United States, he created a handwritten school magazine. The magazine featured Tkachov's humorous stories, poems, and satirical sketches.
What began as an innocent literary experiment soon led to trouble under the Soviet system. The magazine was declared "unauthorised", and the schoolboys were accused of political unreliability. Marian was transferred to Chișinău, where he completed his secondary education. Despite the separation, he maintained lifelong friendships with his companions from Odessa.
Education and the Choice of Vietnam
After graduating from school with a gold medal for academic excellence, Marian Tkachov entered the Faculty of History at Lomonosov Moscow State University, specialising in Oriental Studies.
In the 1950s, when Chinese was attracting the greatest interest among Soviet students of Asian languages, he made an unusual choice: he decided to study Vietnamese.
At the time, comprehensive textbooks and dictionaries were virtually nonexistent, and the first generation of Soviet students specialising in Vietnamese had to develop their knowledge almost from scratch. This demanding field of study shaped the course of his life. Tkachov went on to become one of the Soviet Union's leading specialists in the Vietnamese language, history, and culture.
Teacher and Mentor
After graduating from university in 1955, Tkachov worked for the Soviet Writers' Union. Soon afterwards, however, he requested a position teaching Russian at the International School for Vietnamese Children in Moscow. For him, this was an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the living Vietnamese language and its culture. It was there that he met the young Pham Vinh Ky, one of the first Vietnamese children sent to study in the Soviet Union.
Tkachov became his mentor and friend, introducing him to Russian literature, classical music, and cultural traditions. Their friendship lasted for decades. Pham Vinh Ky later became a distinguished translator and scholar of Russian literature in Vietnam.
Translation and Vietnamese Literature
The central achievement of Marian Tkachov's life was his work translating Vietnamese literature. He translated both contemporary writers and classics of medieval Vietnamese literature, helping bring a rich and often unfamiliar literary tradition to Russian-speaking readers. Among the authors whose works he translated were Tô Hoài, including The Adventures of Cricket Mèn, Nguyễn Tuân, Nguyên Hồng, Nguyễn Đình Thi, Thanh Tịnh, and Văn Linh.
A particularly important place in his career was occupied by Nguyễn Tuân, one of the most distinguished Vietnamese writers of the twentieth century. The two developed a close friendship that lasted many years.
Tkachov also translated complex works of classical Vietnamese literature, including Việt Điện U Linh, Lĩnh Nam Chích Quái, Truyền Kỳ Mạn Lục, and Vũ Trung Tùy Bút, among others. He was one of the contributors to the monumental fifteen-volume Anthology of Vietnamese Literature published in Russian. Through this work, Tkachov helped preserve and communicate the literary heritage of Vietnam, making its stories, poetry, and historical traditions accessible to generations of readers.
Literary Career
Although he devoted most of his professional life to translation, Tkachov always considered himself a writer at heart. His personal ambition was to become a recognised satirist. He wrote humorous short stories, essays, radio plays, and scripts for children's films and animated productions.
In 1992, his short-story collection A Collective Burst of Laughter was published in the United States, with a foreword by Arkady Strugatsky. His writing was distinguished by subtle humour, warmth towards people, and a distinctly Odessa way of looking at the world.
Vietnam
Throughout his life, Tkachov visited Vietnam more than thirty times. He became deeply familiar with Vietnamese customs and traditions, celebrated Tết, and maintained close friendships with writers, translators, and cultural figures. During the New Year celebrations in 1993, he was the first to greet the children by observing the traditional custom of giving lucky money. His home gradually became a small museum of Vietnamese culture, filled with books, gifts, and mementoes from Vietnamese writers.
Nguyễn Tuân occupied a particularly important place in Tkachov's life. Their relationship extended far beyond professional collaboration and developed into a close personal friendship. Tkachov translated many of Nguyễn Tuân's works, including Between Two Springs and a two-volume collection of his writings. 
He also maintained a longstanding friendship with Tô Hoài. Their relationship lasted many years, and Tkachov's personal archive preserved letters, photographs, and gifts from the celebrated Vietnamese author.

Marian Tkachov and his close friend Pham Vinh Ky in Moscow, 1988. Photo: Chau Hong Thuy.

Later Years and Legacy

Marian Tkachov died in Moscow on 22 December 2006, following a serious illness. In recognition of his contribution to cultural relations, he became one of the first Soviet writers to receive the Friendship Order of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

His legacy extends far beyond his dozens of translations. He helped introduce generations of readers to the richness of Vietnamese literature and culture.

In Vietnam, he is remembered as a symbol of genuine friendship between two nations. For Odessa, he remains one of the city's talented native sons, whose life's work revealed the beauty of another culture to the wider world.