In the 1920s The leadership of the USSR paid close attention to the education of the younger generation, future Soviet citizens. To convey the new communist ideals to children, a modern ideological mechanism was needed. Since neither the main pedagogical tools of education nor book publishing houses were ready to take on this task, the party began to look for a “worthy partner” in the field of journalistic propaganda.
During the years of the revolution and the Civil War, the pre-revolutionary press lost its ideological basis and the majority of its readers. Some publications also ceased to exist for economic reasons. Children's journalism fell into crisis; publishing houses of children's magazines were closed due to changes in the material and technical base and budget deficit 1. After the closure of private publishing houses, the first state, centralized publishing houses (Young Guard; Pravda; Detgiz) began printing new Soviet magazines for children.
Old regime experience
At the beginning of the 20th century. In the Russian Empire, there were two children's magazines that were published twice a month: "Firefly" (1902-1918) and "Guiding Light" (1904-1918).
"Firefly" has become the most popular magazine for children aged 4-8 years. According to the pedagogical views of the 19th century. it was believed that children were not interested in any special topics, they could be entertained by all the things around them. The authors sought to entertain the child, teach him life lessons, and introduce him to natural phenomena, without touching on politics. Much attention was paid to religious education - editor A.A. Fedorov-Davydov did not miss the opportunity to congratulate his “fireflies” on religious holidays.
For older children, an artistic scientific and literary magazine “Guiding Light” was created. Its content included three sections: “From Current Life”, “From the Past” and “In Foreign Lands” and was of a cultural and educational nature. Children and teenagers loved this magazine very much for its cheerful and friendly attitude. The editor was the same A.A. Fedorov-Davydov, who introduced teenagers to the history of Russia. Since 1914, materials about the First World War began to appear in the magazine. The magazine not only enlightened, but also fostered love for the homeland.
For middle-aged and older children, a children's illustrated magazine "Mayak" was published (1909-1918). There was also a special section for the youngest readers. Its content differed sharply from "Firefly" and "Guiding Light". Editor I.I. Gorbunov-Posadov "Mayaka" sought to entertain children with useful and interesting reading and "to promote the development in children of amateur performance, creativity, equal love for mental and physical labor and active sympathy for all living things" 2. The magazine sought to educate and entertain its readers by featuring a significant number of riddles, charades, puzzles and magic tricks.
"When I'm big, I'll also be a Bolshevik"
The Soviet government faced difficulties in raising children. A lot had to start from scratch. Use of pre-revolutionary literature N.K. Krupskaya generally considered it dangerous: “Every historical book, every literary history reflects the worldview of the one who wrote this book. A historical book written by a bourgeois writer contains the thoughts of this bourgeois writer, and they influence the one who reads this book” 3 . According to the 1922 decree “On the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press,” the State Publishing House of the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR was created, which included the publishing houses of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the People's Commissariat for Education, the Moscow and Petrograd Soviets. In 1922, the cooperative publishing house "Young Guard" was founded under the Komsomol Central Committee. Magazines such as “Murzilka”, “Rural Youth”, “Technology for Youth”, “Young Naturalist”, “Young Guard”, “Around the World”, and the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda” arose here.
The monthly children's magazine "Murzilka" (1924) was one of the first Soviet children's magazines. It was published as a supplement to Rabochaya Gazeta, the organ of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, for children of primary school age - from 4 to 7 years. A.A. was involved in collaboration in the magazine. Fedorov-Davydov, A.L. Barto, S.Ya. Marshak. Soviet children's journalism absorbed the accumulated experience of pre-revolutionary journalism. The journalistic genres of pre-revolutionary children's journalism were nourished by folklore and literary tradition, just like Soviet children's journalism. Literary groups that existed around periodicals provided great assistance in this direction. However, they faced a significant problem when the party gave them specific tasks - to teach young readers about communist ideals and not to lead them away from the real world.
To the editor of the magazine "Murzilka" N.I. Smirnov managed to find the correct form of organizing the material, simultaneously reflecting the communist concept and satisfying the requirements of children. The ideological orientation is reflected in the design of the magazine cover. On the cover of No. 2, 1924, a boy with glasses is depicted, next to him is a board on which is written: “When I am big, I will also be a Bolshevik.” The cover of the fifth issue features a new symbol for the first time - a child with a drum. In the same issue, notes about the life of pioneers are published under the slogans: “A pioneer, even a small one in a working family, takes a step like a gallant young warrior”; “Pioneers, fan your fires and burn the gods on them, you are free and strong!” 4 These slogans reflected the ideology of the anti-religious struggle of that time. To arouse the interest of children, children's drawings were printed on the last page of each issue under the heading “Murzilkina's exhibition of paintings.”
Despite the ever-growing popularity of the magazine (circulation in the first years increased to 20,000 copies), the magazine was not free from shortcomings. Most publications seemed dry and boring to young readers. This problem was reflected in letters from children to the editor. It was necessary to find an effective combination of the tasks of ideological education and the interests of children. In the 1920s “a fairly large number of sociological studies have been conducted to clarify the ideology, life and professional orientation, needs and interests of children, adolescents and young people, the influence on them of living conditions, class affiliation, labor activity, literature, art, and the pioneer organization” 5. Well-known scientists in the field of pedagogy tried to combine party ideology and education with the child’s interest in understanding the world.
In 1925, “Murzilka” was released with new themes born of Soviet reality: stories about the life of Soviet children, about a new village, about detachments of young Leninists, about nature. The design of the magazine has improved - it has become more in line with the interests of children. In 1926, its circulation increased to 150,000 copies, and the magazine became the most popular among Soviet children's periodicals.
1928 brought great changes to the life of the editorial office. Poets and writers who had collaborated with the magazine since its inception quit, and editors-in-chief quickly replaced each other. When private publishing houses were closed, the party tried to centralize the publication of children's periodicals. Thus, the publication of Soviet children's magazines came under the supervision of the Central Bureau of Young Pioneers.
One of the main features of the Murzilka magazine was the revival of the journalistic format. "Murzilka" survived the collapse of the Soviet regime and is still published to this day.
Marshak and his team
In 1922, the magazine "Sparrow" began publishing (in the last year of publication, 1924, it was called "New Robinson"). It was addressed to children from 8 to 12 years old. His editorial board included members of Marshak’s literary circle: O.I. Kapitsa, B.S. Zhitkov, V.V. Bianchi, E.P. Privalova. The magazine was aimed at close cooperation with teachers. The publisher of the magazine "Petrogradskaya Pravda" assumed the financial costs associated with publishing. The objectives of the journal are outlined in more detail in the address of the editor-in-chief Z.I. Lilina, published in the first issue. Addressing teachers and parents, she wrote: “After all, our 8-12 year olds are children of war and revolution. Even in their cradle, they experienced the consequences of great world upheavals. The traumas inflicted on them during these difficult years lie deep within them and make themselves felt know in the unique psychology of the modern child, in his extreme impressionability and nervousness, in his premature maturity, in the specificity of the questions and requests put forward by the current 8-12 year old child" 6 . In the same issue, questions were published for parents about topics of interest to children. Thus, from the beginning of the 1920s. children's magazines have become a platform for pedagogical discussion.
In 1924, the editorial board of "Sparrow" and then "New Robinson" became the basis for the newly created children's editorial office of Gosizdat (later Detizdat). S.Ya. Marshak was the first employee of M. Gorky, who created the publishing house of children's literature (Detgiz). Due to the lack of professionally trained children's journalists, Marshak invited poets and writers to collaborate with the editors. A censorship apparatus also emerged. Every department of Gosizdat, including Detizdat, exercised total ideological control.
Let's take as an example the magazine "Sparrow" for 1924. Z. Lilina's letter said that children "will not be interested in a fairy tale, fairies, elves and kings..." 7 She believed that a child needs a different kind of literature - realistic, concerning the world around children. In practice, most of the journal's publications did not meet this policy. In the same issue a humorous story by V.V. was published. Bianchi about a sparrow and his friends, the story of V. Ermolaev about animals that became people. At the end of the magazine there were charades, riddles, and jokes.
In appearance, the magazine resembled the pre-revolutionary "Firefly". Its first issues were published as an almanac and included three sections: “Literary Department”, “Scientific Sparrow” and “Diary of a Sparrow”. From the fourth issue new sections appeared: “Forest Newspaper”, “Smart Photographer”. They discussed topics of school subjects.
In 1924, many new magazines for children were published. Perhaps because of this, the circulation of "Sparrow" decreased sharply - from 150,000 to 3,000. The Leningrad regional committee and city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, which published the magazine, and the editor-in-chief were at a crossroads: either complete the printing of the magazine, or look for ways to attract readers.
In April 1924, Marshak introduced new ideas for the design and content of the magazine. From the fourth issue it began to be called "New Robinson". The content reflected the editors' desire to connect communist ideology with the interests of young people. The interests of the child were met by new sections of the magazine, for example, “Wandering Photographer,” where the child became acquainted with the events of the surrounding world not only in his native country, but also abroad. By reading the section "New Robinson's Laboratory", the child learned useful everyday skills. The magazine has acquired not only an entertaining, but also an educational character.
In the May issue of "New Robinson" for the first time, articles about the life of the Octobrists were published. From the eleventh issue, "New Robinson" received a new cover, which depicted a boy with a drum and the slogan "Be ready!"
From mid-1924, the process of downsizing private publishing houses began. The Leningrad regional committee and city committee handed over the magazine "New Robinson" to the North-Western Bureau of the Children's Communist Organization of Young Pioneers named after V.I. Lenin and the Leningrad Provincial Committee of the Komsomol. At the same time, the number of editorial staff has been reduced. Most of the poets and writers were fired, including Marshak, with their special humor, thanks to which the magazine attracted young readers. However, the December issue achieved a record circulation of 100,000 copies. However, from mid-1925, “New Robinson” ceased to be published. The magazine was closed as a result of sharp criticism from pedologists and Komsomol leaders for being too entertaining and lacking directive materials 8 .
The years 1927 and 1928 were turning points for Soviet children's magazines. On Krupskaya’s initiative, when private publishing houses were closed, the publication of Soviet children’s magazines was concentrated in the hands of the central bureau of young pioneers. By the end of the 1920s. Children's magazines "New Robinson", "Drum" and all satirical magazines were closed.
In 1927, the leadership of the children's department of Lengiz decided to publish a new children's magazine "Ezh" (Monthly Magazine), designed for readers 10-14 years old. Officially, the magazine was an organ of the central bureau of young pioneers. A. Lebedenko, a member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, was appointed executive editor, but Marshak formed the creative team.
Talented authors of "Sparrow" and young members of the literary group OBERIU (association of real art) collaborated in the magazine. The content of the magazine was formed on the basis of pre-revolutionary tradition, combined with innovations. The editors received and published letters from children. Articles relating to everyday life appeared frequently. For example, "How old are you?" 9, "Holiday" 10. Articles were published on controversial topics: “Who needs religion?” 11 or “Is our teacher a comrade?” 12 At the end of each issue, Marshak placed his poems for children, and poets, writers and artists came up with stories to develop imagination, activate children’s perception and encourage them to be creative. In 1930, circulation reached 125,000 copies.
After the displacement in 1929 A.V. Lunacharsky from the post of People's Commissar of Education, Marshak could no longer play an important role in the life of the magazine. The editor was the communist Nikolai Oleinikov. The content of the magazine changed noticeably: its pages were filled with articles about the tasks of the first five-year plan (“A Thousand and One Tasks”, “Figures-Pictures” 13). At Oleinikov’s initiative, new sections related to the everyday side of children’s lives appeared: “Learn to write poetry” 14, “First aid” 15. Judging by the circulation (125,000 copies), the magazine has maintained its position.
Pavlikov Morozov School
At the turn of the 1920-1930s. The creation of the Soviet education system was completed. All activities of schools, including the content of education, were unified. There were unified compulsory programs and curricula, unified textbooks. Any experiments and creative exploration related to raising children were strictly prohibited. Ideological and administrative pressure on children's magazines increased. Glavlit censors closely monitored the so-called “undesirable context.”
In 1930, the monthly magazine "Chizh" began to be published for young children aged 5-8 years (organized by the Central Bureau of Young Pioneers, Glavsotsvos and the Leningrad Regional Bureau of Children's Communist Organizations). The content of the magazine was harmoniously combined with the requirements and goals of educating the younger generation. The editor-in-chief, organizer of the first pioneer detachments, Georgy Dietrich (1906-1943), set the goal of instilling in children the spirit of collectivism, instilling discipline, love of work, and healthy living skills. The magazine taught children to solve basic everyday problems that a child faced in life: “How to wipe the floor under a cabinet” 16, “How to pour milk, how to pour from a large bottle into a small one” 17 or “How to learn to tell what time it is by the clock” 18 .
The magazine "Chizh" was rich in interesting articles and artistic illustrations. More clearly than other children's magazines, it was oriented towards Soviet reality in accordance with the line of official propaganda. The editor addressed the children: “Read this issue yourself and read it aloud to other children. Let them also know how we continue the October Revolution, what enemies we are fighting, what we are building, how we spend the holiday, how our little foreign comrades spend it abroad.” 19 . In accordance with Stalin's thesis about strengthening the class struggle in the conditions of building socialism, propaganda incited discord in society. At the same time, the school and family did not stand aside. The magazine “For Communist Education” wrote about the split between school and family in matters of education: “It’s bad when parents are cut off from school, when the upbringing of a student’s family differs sharply from the principles of communist education and morality that the school teaches” 20 . Using children's letters published in the magazine "Chizh", one can study the process of changing children's attitudes towards their parents. Petya Sergeev wrote to the editor: “And my mother didn’t like it about the studies either. You,” he says, “wouldn’t play around, but would rather help with the housework. And my father laughs that she fusses with me like a girl. My father always gives me vodka.” treats: here! Drink. He drinks every day himself" 21. On the pages of the children's magazine, letters were increasingly published in which children complained about their parents, who did not let them go to school and kept icons at home. By the mid-1930s. Children's magazines finally turned into a means of party propaganda. Their pages published calls to fight against enemies, who should also be identified within the family.
In the 1920-30s. A new network of magazines for children was created in the USSR. They were faced with the task of shaping the worldview of the new Soviet type and influencing the personality development of the future builders of the new society. Children's magazines, like the first Soviet textbooks, gave young readers encyclopedic knowledge about the world, cultivated work skills, and developed creative abilities. However, the formation of Soviet children's magazines took place under vigilant party control. The new children's journalism needed support from the state and received it on a full scale. In the 1920s Soviet children's magazines were criticized for being out of touch with the real world. The authorities demanded to publish not fairy tales and poems, but articles about the lives of children. By the mid-1930s. The revolution in children's journalism was completed, the publications were filled with propaganda articles calling for fighting enemies and identifying them wherever possible.
1. Okorokov N. October and the collapse of the Russian bourgeois press. M., 1970. P. 313.
2. Announcement from the Mayak editorial office (Moscow). 1914. N 1. P. 30.
3. Krupskaya N.K. Seventeenth year. M., 1925. P. 23.
4. Murzilka. 1924. N5. S. 2, 4.
5. Sokolova E.S., Fedorova N.I. Children and children's organizations of Russia in the 20th century. History and modernity through the eyes of sociologists. M., 2007. P. 47.
6. Letter from the editor // Sparrow. 1922. N 1. P. 1.
7. Letter from the editor // Sparrow. 1924. N 1. P. 1.
8. Kolesova L.N. Children's magazines of Soviet Russia 1917-1977. Petrozavodsk, 1993. pp. 34-35, 84-87.
9. Hedgehog. 1928. N 2.
10. Hedgehog. 1928. N 3.
11. Hedgehog. 1930. N 7.
12. Hedgehog. 1930. N 9.
13. Hedgehog. 1929. N 10.
14. Hedgehog. 1929. N 4.
15. Hedgehog. 1929. N 6.
16. Siskin. 1930. N 1.
17. Siskin. 1930. N 4.
18. Siskin. 1930. N 2.
19. Siskin. 1931. N 10. P. 1.
20. Aleksandrov S. Experience of working with parents // For Communist Education. 1930. N 5. P. 59-60.
21. Siskin. 1931. N 8.
Of course, I heard about this magazine, saw it in the Detgiza store, but passed by... But yesterday several old issues fell into my hands. At the request of the girls, I tell and show:
First, some information from the Internet:
"The literary and artistic magazine for children "Chizh and Yozh" was revived by the publishing house "Detgiz" in 1998 and is the heir to the famous Leningrad-St. Petersburg magazines of the 20-30s "Chizh" ("extremely interesting magazine") and "Hedgehog" ( "monthly magazine"), created with the participation of N. Oleinikov, D. Kharms, A. Vvedensky and other famous writers with the direct participation of Marshak and Chukovsky."
"The funny and serious, entertaining and educational "Chizhe and the Hedgehog" publishes the best modern novels, short stories and poems for children. In the "Classics of CHE" section - unknown masterpieces of well-known authors. In the "New Library of CHE" - debuts of young poets and artists , students of creative universities in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area, in the “Children for Adults” section - poems, stories and illustrations by beginning authors of preschool and primary school age. There is also “WHAT Abroad”, “Visiting “CHO””, “Adults – to children”, “Bookcase”, “I’ll take you to the museum”..."
A magazine for primary schoolchildren, volume - 64 pages, published 2 times a year.
Those issues that fell into my hands are thematic: Year of the Family, Year of the Russian Language, Year of Youth, 100 Years of D.S. Likhachev, 60 years since the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. But the materials are not 100% only about this; there is a lot of everything in the magazines.
Yesterday I read the issue dedicated to Victory. I read it with tears in my eyes, and the topic is so, and I’m so...
Creativity V.S. Vysotsky is represented not only by the “Song of the Earth”, but also by an excerpt of a comic work about the war in 5 “a”. It seems to me that a long time ago I read this work in its entirety in the Pioneer magazine)
In this issue of the magazine, Mikhail Yasnov is the translator; in other issues his poems appear very often. And Alexey Shevchenko. Having looked through it, I saw an excerpt from A. Shibaev’s book, and stories by E. Rakitina, and many authors and artists discussed in the community.
I didn’t delay writing the post, because I don’t think I’ll just read the magazines one by one))) I’m more interested in “digesting” what I read in portions....
The fable “The Siskin and the Hedgehog” (1814) is about poetry, its essence, its truth, about the glorification of the hero, about true heroism and true heroism, about the greats of this world, about the poet’s duties to life and to the truth.
The fable is tricky. In it, Krylov refused to glorify Alexander the First. He did it subtly and intricately, but in such a way that everyone understood what was going on. The fable, as stated, is called “The Siskin and the Hedgehog.” Say this name out loud several times and you will see that it is unpronounceable. Especially if we keep in mind the high reason for its writing and the high person named in it - the person of the sovereign himself.
And suddenly this muttering - “Hush, Hedgehog”, “Siskin and Hedgehog”, “You are chewing”.
Some kind of tongue-tiedness, muttering, chewing gum. I remember one polemical expression: a man does not speak, but chews a washcloth in his sleep. So Krylov began to “sing” the sovereign. The modest poor Chizh was a success for him.
Loving solitude,
The timid siskin chirped to himself at dawn,
Not because he wanted praise,
And you're welcome; That's how it was sung!
This, of course, is not a self-characteristic. Krylov was called a “square” poet. Vyazemsky essentially called him that. But “that’s how it was sung” well recreates the idea of pure art. Singing. Subsequently, the Russian poet will say:
I don’t know what I will be
Sing - but only the song is ripening.
Here even without this: they sang - that’s all. The poet, naturally, needed this image of a “free singer”, a singer for himself, who sang without coercion or prodding, not as a declaration of pure art, but as an affirmation of his creative freedom.
The paradox is highly characteristic: the image of a freely singing, free poet, a poet for himself, was brought out with obvious sympathy by a social, nakedly political poet, who wrote on his banner: “The world is satisfied with his malice.”
We will also encounter this paradox in Pushkin. He also came out (not quite like Krylov, though) in defense of pure art. In practice, this did not mean a rejection of sociality and topicality, but a proclamation of freedom to choose a topic, including (and especially!) a social topic. Under the banner of pure art, sociality defended itself as creative freedom. As the right to refuse demands and impositions alien to the spirit of the poet.
Let us note that in a certain situation, Krylov was forced to sympathetically portray the poet Chizh, who simply “sang.” This is a significant fact. Further “in the course of the play” follows a certain fable cliche - the ascent of Phoebus. I say cliche, because there is not a single living, warm word in it. “More sickening than an idyll and colder than an ode,” Pushkin would say.
Here, in splendor and in all glory,
Phoebus radiant from the seas
Got up.
But there is a justification for this cliche. It was not Krylov who stamped this picture - he conveyed the coldness and singing of “loud nightingales”. To then say:
My Chizh fell silent.
Hedgehog says:
...“Well, are you, -
The Hedgehog asked him mockingly,
Buddy, won't you eat?
The verse hissed with poisonous mockery. Here is the end of the fable: the Hedgehog’s question contains the answer. The hedgehog laughs, mocks, and is sarcastic, because he knows the truth, he knows why Chizh fell silent in the rays of Phoebus, who “brought life to everything.” To remain silent at the same time means to behave clearly unnaturally. Let us remember how in Krylov’s fable Cornflower came to life under the rays of the sun, and Chizh’s answer to Hedgehog’s question will seem somewhat strange to us.
May I honor Phoebus with dignity.”
So Ivan Andreevich made an excuse:
I didn’t “sing” Alexander. The fable is tricky. The verse also fulfills a certain “super-task” in it - “Not so that he wanted praise...” That is, he, Chizhu, did not want praise. What about the “loud nightingales”? So how? Apparently I wanted to. But this is an assumption. True, strictly within the text. Otherwise, this “insidious” verse cannot be read:
Krylov knew very well the Pindars of his time, the “loud nightingales” of our poetry who sang Alexander. Just as he knew the value of gold snuff boxes studded with diamonds and filled with ducats.
Chant to receive. Praise to be praised. Krylov contrasts this “golden rule of mechanics” for obtaining gold snuff boxes and rings with the “sing” of his Chizh. This is the logic of the fable's images. As for Chizh’s answer “through tears,” this is a clear pretense, “a white lie,” as the Gospel taught. The lie is all the more obvious because Chizh did not have to perform his praise solo, and he could join the “chorus of loud nightingales” by chirping.
"Hedgehog" and "Chizh"
"Hedgehog" is a "Monthly Magazine"; "Chizh" - "Extremely interesting magazine." The first was intended for teenagers, the second - for the youngest children.
In 1954, in the Leningrad branch of the Writers' Union, at the reporting and re-election meeting and on the eve of the Second Congress of Writers of the USSR, Schwartz made a report “On Children's Literature.” And he began with a story about how children's literature began in Petrograd:
Thirty years ago, everyone who started working in children's literature was well aware of the room on the first floor of the Leningradskaya Pravda publishing house. Here, almost every evening, the editors of the children's magazine “Sparrow” and all its employees gathered around a small table. A person who appeared in this circle for the first time, with surprise, or rather with respectful horror, watched as a close group of people titanically, giving all their spiritual strength, built - there is no other word for it, built the next issue of a thin children's magazine. This concerns primarily two people: Marshak, the first collector of the Leningrad detachment of children's writers, and in those days his closest friend Boris Zhitkov. Not everyone survived until the end of the next work, but neither Marshak nor Zhitkov relaxed their tension until late at night and did not lose altitude. We were looking for the right word. Exactly word. The magazine was built word by word, from beginning to end. And this method of editing had a deep meaning back then. An author who came to children's literature was faced with the requirement from the first steps: work as hard as you can! There was no discount for reading age. Then Marshak liked to say that a children's writer is like a children's doctor. It is absurd to say that a pediatrician can study less because his patient is small. It was explained to an aspiring writer: you must write excellently precisely because children’s readers devour books greedily, not always understanding the quality. You don't dare use this property of his!
S. Ya. Marshak worked not only in the editorial office of Sparrow, later renamed New Robinson, but also at home. He then lived on Potemkinskaya Street opposite the Tauride Garden. “Often, after working, we left the smoky room to get some fresh air,” Schwartz wrote earlier, on January 16, 1951. - Samuil Yakovlevich argued that if you wish it properly, you can fly. But with me he never succeeded, although he sometimes ran quickly, in small steps, about five fathoms. Probably the heavy briefcase, without which I cannot remember him on the street, prevented Samuil Yakovlevich from separating himself from the ground.”
In 1925, S. Marshak became the head (consultant) of the Children's Department formed at GIZ. B. Zhitkov and E. Schwartz move here. They are trying to drag Nikolai Oleinikov to Leningrad. And he manages, in addition to a certificate that he is handsome, to get a job assignment at Leningradskaya Pravda, but he becomes the executive secretary of New Robinson. The editors are thinking about new magazines. New employees and new writers appear who begin to write for children.
When I first conceived the idea of a biographical book about Schwartz in the mid-70s of the last century, I thought that I would introduce large pieces of unpublished Schwartz texts into the narrative; I will talk in detail about the “Serapion Brothers” and about OBEERIU, about each of the participants in these associations. But then neither “Young Guard”, nor “Art”, nor “Soviet Russia”, nor “Book Chamber”, nor “Soviet Writer”, and I don’t remember who else, were interested in this book.
Since then, I have introduced many of the playwright's texts into literature, from his first play to his last unfinished script. He wrote essays about Doivber Levin, Yuri Vladimirov, Kharms, Vvedensky, Oleinikov and others. Collections and multi-volume books (and more than once) were published by N. A. Zabolotsky, D. I. Kharms, A. I. Vvedensky, K. K. Vaganov, N. M. Oleynikova. About them already everyone knows everything. At least those who will open this book, if I manage to finish it and if it manages to be published. And repeating what is already well known is uninteresting and boring.
Therefore, I will only cite the 1964 testimony of I. Bakhterev and A. Razumovsky, the only survivors of the Obereuts, about how Schwartz and Oleinikov came to “recruit” them into children’s literature: “In the early spring of 1927, at an evening in the Circle of Friends of Chamber Music (now there The Puppet Theater is located under the direction of Evg. Demmeni) poetry and prose were read by Nikolai Zabolotsky, Daniil Kharms, Alexander Vvedensky, Konstantin Vaganov, Doivber Levin and one of those writing these lines (i.e. I. Bakhterev. - E.B.). During the intermission, two, as it seemed to us then, not very young people came backstage: each was about thirty. “This is Kozma Prutkov, meet me,” said one. - “Evgeny Lvovich loves exaggerations. I am the grandson of Kozma Petrovich, but in a straight line,” another supported the joke. These were two inseparable friends, the editors of the children's department of the State Publishing House - Evgeny Schwartz and Prutkov's named relative Nikolai Oleinikov. It was Oleinikov who then came up with the idea to invite the speakers to write something for children. This proposal was supported by Schwartz, and then by the literary consultant of the children's department of the State Publishing House, Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. The editors were right. Children’s poems by Vvedensky and Kharms have stood the test of time - they were republished quite recently and are popular with the children.”
Schwartz never republished his children's books from the 1920s; he did not include any of them in his only “children's” collection, which was published after he died. Moreover, many years later he would call them “monsters.” In their self-assessment, Schwartz was right. They did not survive the twenties, with the exception, perhaps, of his “fairytale” raeshniks, and in contrast to the children's things of his friends - Zabolotsky, Kharms, Vvedensky or Yuri Vladimirov.
I will quote, perhaps, another short statement by Igor Vladimirovich Bakhterev, which defines the main feature of the Oberiut union. “Participants of the commonwealth will be brought together not by commonality, but by difference, dissimilarity. Everyone has their own vision of the world, their own attitude, their own arsenal of expressive techniques. And yet there must be principles and ideas that are equally close to everyone. Each of us contrasts poetic instability, ephemerality, allegory with concreteness, definiteness, materiality, what Kharms called “art, like a closet.” Everyone must beware of the looming danger of excessive professionalism, which becomes a source of cliches and leveling.”
The appearance of Kharms (and Vvedensky) changed a lot in children's literature of those days. It also influenced Marshak. The poetic language was cleared of literary and traditional technique. Some changes have also emerged in prose. In any case, the deliberate ease of a seemingly oral, personal intonation, the tale has ceased to be considered the only type of prose.
In “Hedgehogs”, “Chizhi” and in separate publications, all the best that was written at that time in Leningrad for children was published. Among the already named authors are S. Ya. Marshak himself, K. I. Chukovsky, B. Zhitkov, A. Tolstoy, O. Mandelstam, L. Panteleev, V. Bianki, N. Chukovsky, E. Charushin, Lesnik and many others . etc.
The picture of how work was carried out in the editorial offices of these magazines was described by Irakli Andronikov, who, after graduating from university, was at one time the secretary of the Children's Department: “It was very nice at Hedgehog and Chizhe. He (Marshak. - E.B.) just went there. Somehow I was not entirely pleased with how his successors and students Evgeniy Schwartz, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Nikolai Oleinikov were conducting this business. He said that the magazine was losing its originality. In fact, the magazine was great. It seemed to me that some kind of mistake was happening, that I was receiving a salary instead of being paid for working in “Hedgehog” and “Chizhe”. It was a pleasure. At 12 o'clock all members of the editorial board appeared, sat around the table, which occupied almost the entire room, and agreed on what topic they would write on. Each one, covering it with his hand, wrote his own, laughed, wrote, then threw it to the right. The one on the left received a sheet, laughed even louder, added his own, threw it to the right, the one on the left received a sheet... When all the sheets went around the table, read all the options, died laughing, chose the best option, and everyone began to process it. Artists will come, leave pictures - and stay. Poets will come, leave poems - and they also remain. The working day is already over, the corridors are dark, but here we have light, laughter and it’s like a holiday. The magazine always came out on time and was interesting.”
Help! Guard!
The boy stole the apples!
I ask without talking
Search the thief immediately!
Vanka and Vaska are on guard,
And the old lady is sleeping on a chair.
What is this? What is this?
A thief is not a thief, just a hedgehog!
What have the hedgehogs come to?
Stop! Grab it! Catch! Hold it!
...The hedgehog decided to rob
To buy the latest "Hedgehog"!
Or like this:
Kolka Karas came to the hairdresser.
“Sit down,” said the barber, laughing.
But instead of hair he saw a hedgehog
And he rushed to the door, screaming and screaming.
But Kolka the prankster did not grieve for long
And he planted a hedgehog for Aunt Natasha.
And Aunt Natasha, seeing the hedgehog,
She jumped up like a ball, squealing in fear.
The father heard about these pranks:
Give me the hedgehog! - he finally cried out.
And Kolka, shaking and screaming with laughter,
He brought a printed issue of “The Hedgehog.”
This probably did not always happen. And although in the editorial room there was a sign hanging in the most visible place:
"SCHEDULE - IN FIG",
The magazines, indeed, always came out on schedule. And they were incredibly popular with the kids and their parents. And to this day, “Hedgehog” and “Chizh” are considered unsurpassed children's magazines.
Things got funny. So one day the confectionery factory named after. Samoilova asked permission to name one of her candies “Hedgehog,” and Oleinikov suggested a couplet for them:
In the morning, after eating the “Hedgehog” candy,
Well, after eating the Chizh candy,
You'll fly away to your forefathers in an instant!
In general, a lot has already been written about the cheerful working atmosphere in the Children's Department of the GIZ, located on the sixth (according to some sources - on the fifth) floor of building 28 on Nevsky Prospekt (in the former house of Singer and the House of Books). Every day and hour there was a fierce competition of wits. Jokes, pranks, fables, ironic odes, and impromptu poetic and prosaic poems were composed for internal use. This creativity was called “foltiki”. The foils were a sign with a “schedule” and an advertisement for candy. Or as Nick said. Chukovsky, “it was the era of childhood in children’s literature, and her childhood was fun.”
Everyone wrote stories - authors and editors (and a rare editor was not an author). More often than others, the winners were Evgeniy Schwartz or Nikolai Oleinikov. Daniil Kharms fared worse with impromptu performances. He trusted paper more easily than oral creativity. And he “won” most often in his dreams. This is how his little story (or big story) “How I talked everyone out” was born:
“One day I came to Gosizdat and met Evgeniy Lvovich Schwartz at Gosizdat, who, as always, was dressed poorly, but with a claim to something. Seeing me, Schwartz began making jokes, also unsuccessfully, as always. I made a much more successful joke and soon mentally put Schwartz on both shoulder blades.
Everyone around me was jealous of my wit, but they did not take any action, as they were literally dying of laughter. In particular, Nina Vladimirovna Gernet and David Efimovich Rakhmilovich, who called himself Yuzhin for the sake of euphony, died of laughter.
Seeing that jokes were bad with me, Schwartz began to tone down his tone and finally, simply swearing at me, declared that everyone in Tiflis knew Zabolotsky, but almost no one knew me. Then I got angry and said that I was more historical than Schwartz and Zabolotsky, that I would remain a bright spot in history, and they would quickly be forgotten.
Feeling my greatness and great world significance, Schwartz gradually began to tremble and began to invite me to his place for lunch, saying that there would be soup and pies for lunch. I fell for this bait and followed Schwartz. However, he disappeared somewhere, leaving me alone on the street. Out of frustration, I gave up on these things and returned to Gosizdat...”
There he met Oleinikov, then went to Zabolotsky and Vvedensky. Everyone was surprised at the onslaught of his wit and gradually gave in. He became so angry that, upon returning home, he was talking to himself until two o’clock in the morning, unable to stop. So Kharms talked everyone out of it, including himself.
Parodies of each other were a big thing. “Merry Siskins” by Marshak and Kharms appeared in the first issue of “Chizh”. The next day, Schwartz and Oleinikov were waiting for Kharms at the editorial office. Quite a lot of people had already gathered. Finally Kharms appeared. Oleinikov took him aside and asked in a whisper, audible to everyone:
What happened in apartment forty-four with the siskins?
And what happened?
Well, how? They say that all the siskins are about to throw back their hooves. Listen here...
Lived in an apartment
Forty four
Forty-four puny siskins:
Chizh is an alcoholic,
Chizh is paranoid,
Chizh is a schizophrenic,
Chizh is a malingerer,
Chizh is a paralytic,
Chizh is syphilitic,
Chizh is senile,
Chizh is an idiot.
Another time, Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky decided to awaken the children’s interest in writing poetry and published three and a half lines in “Hedgehog”:
Flew into our quiet forests
Striped Terrible Wasp...
Bitten a hippopotamus in the stomach
Hippopotamus...,
inviting the guys to continue the poems, because he himself seemed to be unable to come up with anything further. And the best continuation, they say, will be published.
Oleinikov, Schwartz and Kharms also decided to take part in the competition. Schwartz slipped a poem from this collective work between the letters sent. Looking through these letters, Chukovsky was pleased: “Well done, well done guys...” And finally came across this:
Flew into our quiet forests
Striped Terrible Wasp...
Bitten a hippopotamus in the stomach
The hippopotamus is having a heart attack and is about to die.
And the wasp is already circling in the editorial office -
She stuck a sting in Marshak’s buttock,
And Oleinikov screams in horror:
Schwartz is not allowed to escape to Nevsky.
The wasp would bite everyone, not sparing, -
He stamped his feet
He shouted at the wasp:
Fly away from here, you wasp,
Get back to your wild forests!”
………………………………
And the hippopotamus licks her belly,
It's coming soon, it's coming soon, it's coming soon!
Korney Ivanovich understood everything: “I always said that talented children grow into talented uncles...”.
But often similar, albeit mediocre, graphomaniac “folks” were discovered by editors in the mail; they were delivered to the sixth floor of Singer’s house by the authors themselves. Schwartz wrote down several such “masterpieces” in “Notebook No. 1,” which has already been discussed.
“Today a limping, intelligent, uncontrollably polite, red-lipped, middle-aged, unemployed man brought books for children. Poems, for example, are:
But there were times when the meetings of the editorial board of the Children's Department were rather boring. Then everyone “saved” as best they could. So, for example, at the editorial board, where folklore was discussed, the melancholy Zabolotsky amused himself by composing riddles on the topic of the meeting. As they were born, he wrote them down on bibliographic cards and with a “sly look” handed them over to E. S. Papernaya, who had recently joined her Bakhmut friends and now served as the head of the editorial office. The originals of these riddles have not survived, but Esther Solomonovna remembered some of them until the end of her days:
The hole where I dip
A product made from wood.
I don’t understand what to call you,
Although we are neighbors.
He wrote down the answer right there - upside down:
That takes up little space
The best body part, though?
Nourishes everyone, everyone in their youth
And adults have their work cut out for them.
It is the liver's enemy
In order to plunge that liver into anger.
However, anyone who is weak
Fortunately, the maiden swallows it.
What can you use to cut the cereal?
Also, what can you use to drive a nail?
Carefully on the board
Anyone can copulate.
But the game of falling in love with Grunya Levitina had a special place in the life of the editorial staff...
The fable “The Siskin and the Hedgehog” was written by I.A. Krylov in 1814. The fable is based on an original plot, without the use of borrowings. The main character of the fable, the timid Chizh, modestly tweets in the bushes, not trying to impress anyone with his voice. But when the sun begins to rise, which the author compares with the mythical Phoebus, nightingales begin to sing throughout the entire area, praising the rising luminary. The siskin immediately stops singing.
When asked by Hedgehog why he stopped singing, Chizh replies that his voice is not good enough to glorify Phoebus.
The reason for writing the fable was the events associated with the deposition of Napoleon I. After Russian troops, having expelled the invaders from Russia, reached Paris, and Napoleon was defeated, the Russian emperor acted as the “Savior of the peoples of Europe.” Domestic poets and writers began to praise the valor and merits of Alexander I in every possible way. Krylov was almost the only one of all who remained silent. Naturally, this caused him to be attacked by flatterers and writers. The fabulist had to justify himself and in 1814 he wrote the fable “The Siskin and the Hedgehog” on the return of Alexander I after the capture of Paris.
In this fable, Phoebus (the sun), the radiant one, rising from beyond the seas, is Emperor Alexander I, returning from abroad in splendor and in his glory. A choir of loud nightingales singing in honor of Phoebus - this is Derzhavin, Karamzin, Zhukovsky with their poems in honor of the winner. And the timid Chizh is Krylov himself, who does not recognize enough strength in himself to sing about the high-profile deeds of Alexander Pavlovich; he “doesn’t have that kind of voice.” Krylov feels more than he says: so “I am crushed and regret that I have not been given greater talent…”
The fable “The Siskin and the Hedgehog” originally stood out among the pompous poems for its simplicity and survived all the noisy expressions of delight. The fable can be considered a development of the thought thrown in passing by Karamzin in his poem of 1793: “Should I praise with a quiet lyre the One who, in purple, will soon embrace the whole world.” At the end of the fable, Krylov mentions the ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar, emphasizing that in comparison with this famous poet, his, Krylov’s, abilities are insufficient to sing the merits of the emperor.
There is no explicit moral in the fable. But the main message of the work is the author’s desire for modesty and, at the same time, in the fable there is an element of contrasting the modest Chizh with the eloquent nightingales.