Where Chukovsky died. Brief biography of Chukovsky

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky(name at birth - Nikolai Vasilyevich Korneichukov, March 19 (31), St. Petersburg - October 28, Moscow) - a famous Russian poet, publicist, critic, also a translator and literary critic, known primarily for children's fairy tales in verse and prose. Father of writers Nikolai Korneevich Chukovsky and Lydia Korneevna Chukovskaya.

Origin

Nikolai Korneichukov was born on March 31, 1882 in St. Petersburg. The frequently occurring date of his birth, April 1, appeared due to an error in the transition to a new style (13 days were added, and not 12, as it should be for the 19th century). The writer suffered for many years from the fact that he was "illegitimate". His father was Emmanuil Solomonovich Levenson, in whose family the mother of Korney Chukovsky, a Poltava peasant woman, Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova, lived as a servant. The father left them and the mother moved to Odessa. There the boy was sent to the gymnasium, but in the fifth grade he was expelled due to low birth. He described these events in his autobiographical story "Silver Coat of Arms".

The patronymic "Vasilyevich" was given to Nikolai by the godfather. From the beginning of his literary activity, Korneichukov, who for a long time was burdened by his illegitimacy (as can be seen from his diary of the 1920s), used the pseudonym "Korney Chukovsky", which was later joined by a fictitious patronymic - "Ivanovich". After the revolution, the combination "Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky" became his real name, patronymic and surname. His children - Nikolai, Lydia, Boris and Maria (Murochka), who died in childhood, to whom many of her father's children's poems are dedicated - bore (at least after the revolution) the surname Chukovsky and the patronymic Korneevich / Korneevna.

Journalistic activity before the revolution

“On one of these days, knowing that mobilized people would be walking along Nevsky Prospekt, Korney Chukovsky and I decided to go to this main street. In the same place, quite by chance, Osip Mandelstam met and joined us ... When the mobilized, not yet in military uniform, with bales on their shoulders, suddenly came out of their ranks, also with a bale, and the poet Benedict Livshits ran up to us . We began to hug him, shake his hands, when an unfamiliar photographer approached us and asked permission to take a picture of us. We took each other by the arms and so we were photographed ... "

- St. Petersburg. Capital of the Russian Empire. Faces of Russia. St. Petersburg 1993.

Annenkov's story coincides with the photograph down to the smallest details... However, something remains outside of his story. And above all, the unknown photographer turned out to be "himself" Karl Bulla, from whose studio this photograph subsequently became widespread.

Of the four bright creative people shown in the picture, only two died a natural death in the late 60s, early 70s, living to a ripe old age: these are Korney Chukovsky, the only one left in the USSR and Annenkov himself, who survived in exile. Osip Mandelstam and Benedikt Livshits were brutally murdered by their fellow citizens during the Stalinist repressions. Osip Mandelstam, according to the later words of Academician Shklovsky, "to this strange... difficult... touching... and genius man", in the photo 23 years old. Just a year ago, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Akme" published his poetry collection "Stone". Since the first publication in 1907 in the journal of the Tenishevsky Commercial School, a long way has been traveled: classes in French literature at St. literature with a group of futurists, the poet and translator Benedikt Livshits, who in the picture is already shaved and with a purposely made brave face, a man leaving for the front. He still does not know if he will survive after the First World War, where he will be wounded and receive the St. George Cross ... Just like Mandelstam, Benedict Livshits was illegally repressed in the 30s and died in camps in 1939.

literary criticism

Children's poems

Passion for children's literature, glorified Chukovsky, began relatively late, when he was already a famous critic. In Chukovsky, he compiled the collection "Yolka" and wrote his first fairy tale "Crocodile".

“All my other writings are so obscured by my children's fairy tales that in the minds of many readers, I wrote nothing at all, except for “Moydodirs” and “Flies-Tsokotuh.”

Persecution of Chukovsky in the 1930s

Chukovsky's children's poems were subjected to severe persecution during the Stalin era, although it is known that Stalin himself repeatedly quoted The Cockroach. The persecution was initiated by N. K. Krupskaya, inadequate criticism came from Agniya Barto. Among the party critics of the editors, even the term "Chukovshchina" arose. Chukovsky undertook to write an orthodox-Soviet work for children, The Merry Collective Farm, but did not do so. The 1930s were marked by two personal tragedies of Chukovsky: in 1931, his daughter Murochka died after a serious illness, and in 1938, the husband of his daughter Lydia, physicist Matvey Bronstein, was shot (the writer learned about the death of his son-in-law only after two years of trouble in the authorities).

Other works

In the 1930s Chukovsky is much engaged in the theory of literary translation (“The Art of Translation” of 1936 was republished before the start of the war, in 1941, under the title “High Art”) and translations into Russian (M. Twain, O. Wilde, R. Kipling, etc.). , including in the form of "retelling" for children).

He begins to write memoirs, on which he worked until the end of his life (“Contemporaries” in the ZhZL series).

Chukovsky and the Bible for children

In the 1960s, K. Chukovsky started a retelling of the Bible for children. He attracted writers and writers to this project and carefully edited their work. The project itself was very difficult due to the anti-religious position of the Soviet government. The book entitled "The Tower of Babel and Other Ancient Legends" was published by the publishing house "Children's Literature" in 1968. However, the entire circulation was destroyed by the authorities. The first book edition available to the reader took place in 1990. In 2001, the Rosman and Dragonfly publishing houses began to publish the book under the title The Tower of Babel and Other Biblical Traditions.

Last years

In recent years, Chukovsky has been a popular favorite, winner of a number of state awards and orders, at the same time he maintained contacts with dissidents (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Brodsky, the Litvinovs, his daughter Lydia was also a prominent human rights activist). At the dacha in Peredelkino, where he constantly lived in recent years, he arranged meetings with the surrounding children, talked with them, read poetry, invited famous people, famous pilots, artists, writers, poets to meetings. Peredelkino children, who have long since become adults, still remember those children's gatherings at Chukovsky's dacha. Korney Ivanovich died on October 28 from viral hepatitis. At the dacha in Peredelkino, where the writer lived most of his life, his museum now operates.

Addresses in St. Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad

• August 1905-1906 - Academic Lane, 5;
• 1906 - autumn 1917 - tenement house - Kolomenskaya street, 11;
• autumn 1917-1919 - I. E. Kuznetsov's apartment building - Zagorodny Prospekt, 27;
• 1919-1938 - tenement house - Manezhny lane, 6.

Awards

List of works

Fairy tales

• English folk songs
• stolen sun
• The Adventures of Bibigon
• Confusion
• Telephone ()
• Toptygin and Lisa
• Toptygin and Luna
• Fedorino grief
• Chick
• What did Mura do when she was read the fairy tale "Wonder Tree"
• wonder tree

Poems for children

• Glutton
• Elephant reads
• Zakaliaka
• Piglet
• hedgehogs laugh
• Sandwich
• Fedotka
• Turtle
• pigs
• Garden
• Song of poor boots
• Camel
• tadpoles
• Bebek
• Joy
• Great-great-great-grandchildren
• Fly in the bath

Tale

• Sunny
• Silver coat of arms

Translation works

preschool education

Memories

• Memories of Repin
• Yuri Tynyanov
• Boris Zhitkov
• Irakli Andronikov

Articles

• To the eternally youthful question
• The story of my "Aibolit"
• How "Fly-Tsokotuha" was written
• Confessions of an old storyteller
• Chukokkala page
• About Sherlock Holmes
• Hospital No. 11

Selected Quotes

My phone rang.
- Who's talking?
- Elephant.
- Where?
- From a camel...

TELEPHONE

Gotta, gotta wash
Mornings and evenings
And unclean chimney sweeps -
Shame and disgrace! Shame and disgrace!..

MOIDODYR

Small children! No way
Do not go to Africa, walk to Africa!
Sharks in Africa, gorillas in Africa
Big angry crocodiles in Africa
They will bite, beat and offend you, -
Do not go, children, to walk in Africa ...

The biography of Chukovsky Korney Ivanovich is replete with interesting events. Nikolai Korneichukov on March 19 (31 according to the new style) March 1882 in St. Petersburg. His mother, a peasant woman, Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova, met the future father of her children (Nikolai also had a sister, Marusya), when she got a job as a servant in the house of her future roommate. Emmanuil Solomonovich Levenson - the father of Nikolai and Marusya - bore the title of hereditary honorary citizen and the peasant woman could not make him a worthy party.

Together they lived for at least three years, gave birth to two children who, as illegitimate children, did not have a patronymic, therefore, in the documents before the 1917 revolution, the patronymics of children were written differently. Nikolai has Vasilyevich, his sister Maria has Emmanuilovna. Subsequently, their father married a woman of his circle and moved to live in Baku, and Ekaterina Osipovna - in Odessa.

Nikolai spent all his childhood in Ukraine - in the Odessa and Nikolaev regions.

When Nikolai was five years old, he was sent to the kindergarten of Madame Bekhteeva, about which he later wrote that the children there marched to the music and drew pictures. In kindergarten, he met Vladimir Zhabotinsky, the future hero of Israel. In elementary school, Nikolai became friends with Boris Zhitkov, a future children's writer and traveler. At school, however, Chukovsky studied only up to grade 5. Then he was expelled from the educational institution due to "low origin".

The beginning of creative activity

At first, Chukovsky worked as a journalist, from 1901 he wrote articles for Odessa News. Having learned English on his own, Nikolai got a job as a correspondent in London - he wrote for Odessa News.

For two years he lived in London with his wife, Maria Borisovna Goldfeld, then returned to Odessa.

And yet, Chukovsky's biography as a writer began much later, when he moved from Odessa to the Finnish town of Kuokkala, where he met the artist Ilya Repin, who convinced Chukovsky to seriously engage in literature.

While still in London, Chukovsky became seriously interested in English literature - he read Thackeray, Dickens, Bronte in the original. Subsequently, the literary translations of W. Whitman helped Chukovsky to win a name for himself and achieve recognition in the literary environment.

After the revolution, the pseudonym Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky becomes the real name of the writer. Korney Ivanovich writes a book of memoirs "Far Close" and begins to publish his own almanac "Chukokkala" - a kind of mixture of the name of the place Kuokkala and the surname Chukovsky. Chukovsky published this almanac until the end of his life.

Children's literature

But the most important thing in the creative destiny of the writer is not translations and not literary criticism, but children's literature. Chukovsky started writing for children quite late, already when he was a famous literary critic and critic. In 1916 - he published the first collection for young readers called "Yolka".

Later, in 1923, “Moydodyr” and “Cockroach” were born from his pen, with a summary of which, probably, all children in the post-Soviet space are familiar. Chukovsky's work is also studied in the modern school - in the 2nd grade, and now it is even hard to imagine that at one time Aibolit, Mukha-Tsokotuha and Moidodyr were severely criticized and mercilessly ridiculed. Critics considered the works tasteless and lacking the correct Soviet ideology. But now they will not write about this either in the preface to the writer's books, or in a short biography of Chukovsky for children, these accusations made by critics against the children's author now seem so absurd.

Chukovsky translated into Russian for children the works of R. Kipling and M. Twain, retold the “Bible for Children”.

Other biography options

• Interestingly, Chukovsky founded an entire literary dynasty. His son Nikolai Korneevich Chukovsky and daughter Lidia Korneevna Chukovskaya also became famous writers. Nikolay wrote briefly literary memoirs about the poets and writers of the Silver Age, who were admitted to his father's house, and Lydia became a dissident writer.
• The second son of the writer - Boris Korneevich - died at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War at the front.
• It is known that Chukovsky was friendly with

(real name - Nikolai Vasilyevich Korneichukov)

(1882-1969) Soviet critic, literary critic, children's poet, translator

Everyone knows Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky as a kind, cheerful storyteller. His wonderful fairy tales "Fly-Tsokotuha", "Aibolit", "Moydodyr" and others are read with pleasure by both adults and children. But Chukovsky was also a well-known literary critic and critic, wrote articles and reviews, worked on the work of N. Nekrasov, translated the fairy tales of Rudyard Kipling, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and other authors, wrote memoirs about what he witnessed.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Korneichukov was born in St. Petersburg, but spent his childhood in Odessa and Nikolaev. In the Odessa gymnasium, he studied in the same class with the future sailor and writer Boris Zhitkov. The boys became friends, and Korney Chukovsky often came home to his friend, whose parents had collected an excellent library. Chukovsky later spoke about his childhood impressions in the story "Silver Emblem".

However, he did not manage to finish the gymnasium, because he was expelled due to his “low” origin: his mother, who came from peasants, was a laundress and barely made ends meet, and his father did not live with his family. I had to take a gymnasium course and learn English on my own. Then the young man passed the exam and received a matriculation certificate.

He early began to write poetry and poems, and in 1901 the first article appeared in the Odessa News newspaper, signed by the pseudonym Korney Chukovsky. In this newspaper, he published many articles on a variety of topics - about exhibitions of paintings, about philosophy, art, wrote reviews of new books, feuilletons. Then Chukovsky began to write a diary, which he then kept all his life.

The dream of becoming a writer brought him to St. Petersburg. He offered his works to several metropolitan magazines, but was refused. Despite this, the year 1903 was full of events for the novice writer: he met many famous writers, got used to life in St. Petersburg and sent his materials to Odessa News, from which he went to London that same year.

He did not waste time here either: he studied a lot, improved his English, met the famous English writers Herbert Wells and A. Conan Doyle, the author of Notes on Sherlock Holmes.

The circle of literary interests of Korney Chukovsky continues to expand. Now, in addition to reviews and translations, he begins to write poetry and even a novel in verse. In September 1904, he returned to his homeland and began to act as a literary critic in St. Petersburg magazines and newspapers. Since 1906, Chukovsky became a regular contributor to Valery Bryusov's magazine "Scales". By this time, he was already familiar with many prominent figures of Russian culture, made friends with the famous artist Ilya Repin, writers Alexander Kuprin, Leonid Andreev, poet Alexander Blok and others. Essays on contemporary writers were compiled in the books From Chekhov to the Present Day (1908) and Faces and Masks (1914).

At the same time, Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky began to record his observations of children, what and how they say. He kept notes until the end of his life and compiled from them the book "From Two to Five" with his comments, in which he proved himself not only as a talented writer, but also as a wonderful teacher and scientist.

The first edition of this book was published in 1928 under the title Little Children. Children's language. Ekikiki. Stupid nonsense." The title "From Two to Five" did not appear until an additional 3rd edition in 1933. In total, this book was reprinted 21 times, and each time the writer supplemented it with new examples, which by this time he managed to write down.

Korney Chukovsky began writing for children, seemingly by accident. Once, as an editor, he had to compile the almanac "The Firebird", and he wrote for him his first children's fairy tales "Chicken", "Doctor" and "Dog's Kingdom".

So unexpectedly, a professional critic, researcher of Nekrasov's work, a translator became a children's writer. His first famous children's work was the verse fairy tale "Crocodile". Later, Korney Ivanovich recalled how she appeared. Together with Maxim Gorky, they decided to publish collections of children's works, and Gorky invited him to write a poem for children for the first collection. Chukovsky had never written poetry for children before, and he thought that he could not cope with such a difficult task. “But it so happened,” he writes, “that I went to Helsingfors for my little son, who fell ill there ... I drove him back in the car and so that he would not cry and whimper, I began to tell him to the sound of wheels some kind of fairy tale that I have long wanted to write, but I have never come out with anything.

The boy calmed down and carefully listened to the story. When the son recovered a few days later, Korney Chukovsky had already forgotten what he was telling him about, but it turned out that the boy remembered the tale well and retold it to his father. So the fairy tale in verse "Crocodile" was born. This happened in 1915. Since then, Chukovsky's works have become a favorite reading for children.

His poems are filled with bright unusual images and phrases. Suffice it to recall "Moidodyr", where all the sluts are brought up by the "washbasins the Chief and the washcloths the Commander", or "Mukhu-Tsokotukha - a gilded belly", etc. Thanks to precise, clear rhymes, the poems are easy to read and remember.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky created many of his fairy tales in verse in the 1920s. In 1923 he wrote "Moydodyr" and "Cockroach", the next year - "Fly-Tsokotukha" and "Wonder Tree", in 1926 - "Fedorino's grief" and "Telephone", in 1929 - "Aibolita".

Chukovsky dedicated the wonderful fairy tale "The Miracle Tree" to his little daughter Mure, who died early from tuberculosis.

He wrote his own fairy tales for children and retold for them the best works of world literature - novels by Daniel Defoe, R. Raspe, R. Kipling, W. Whitman, biblical stories and Greek myths. Books by Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky were illustrated by the best artists of that time, Yu. Annenkov and M. Dobuzhinsky, and this added to the popularity of the publications.

The writer communicated with children not only through fairy tales. Not far from Moscow, in the village of Peredelkino, he built a country house, where he settled with his family. Every summer, the writer spent for his children and grandchildren, as well as for all the surrounding children, who numbered up to one and a half thousand, cheerful holidays “Hello, summer!” and "Goodbye summer!"

He did not leave literary work either: in 1952 he published the capital work Nekrasov's Mastery, which was later awarded the Lenin Prize; he wrote books of memoirs about great contemporaries and serious scientific research on the problems of literary translation. And in 1962, Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky became an honorary doctor of literature from Oxford University in the UK.

In 1969, which was the last year of the writer's life, he continued to compose new funny riddle poems for kids. In the same year, in the series of articles "Confessions of an Old Storyteller", the writer recalled and analyzed the history of the creation of his children's fairy tales. Soon after that, Korney Chukovsky died.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky(1882-1969) - Russian and Soviet poet, critic, literary critic, translator, publicist, known primarily for children's fairy tales in verse and prose. One of the first Russian researchers of the phenomenon of mass culture. Readers are best known as a children's poet. Father of the writers Nikolai Korneevich Chukovsky and Lydia Korneevna Chukovskaya.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky(1882-1969). Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky (Nikolai Ivanovich Korneichukov) was born on March 31 (old style 19), 1882 in St. Petersburg.

In his metric was the name of the mother - Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova; then came the entry - "illegitimate".

Father, St. Petersburg student Emmanuil Levenson, in whose family Chukovsky's mother was a servant, three years after the birth of Kolya left her, son and daughter Marusya. They moved south to Odessa, lived very poorly.

Nikolai studied at the Odessa gymnasium. In the Odessa gymnasium, he met and became friends with Boris Zhitkov, in the future also a famous children's writer. Chukovsky often went to Zhitkov's house, where he used the rich library collected by Boris's parents. From the fifth grade of the gymnasium Chukovsky was expelled when, under a special decree (known as the “cook's children decree”), educational institutions were exempted from children of “low” origin.

The mother's earnings were so meager that they were barely enough to somehow make ends meet. But the young man did not give up, he studied on his own and passed the exams, receiving a matriculation certificate.

be interested in poetry Chukovsky He started from an early age: he wrote poems and even poems. And in 1901 his first article appeared in the newspaper Odessa News. He wrote articles on a variety of topics - from philosophy to feuilletons. In addition, the future children's poet kept a diary, which was his friend throughout his life.

From adolescence Chukovsky led a working life, read a lot, independently studied English and French. In 1903, Korney Ivanovich went to St. Petersburg with the firm intention of becoming a writer. He traveled to the editorial offices of magazines and offered his works, but was refused everywhere. This did not stop Chukovsky. He met many writers, got used to life in St. Petersburg and finally found a job for himself - he became a correspondent for the Odessa News newspaper, where he sent his materials from St. Petersburg. Finally, life rewarded him for his inexhaustible optimism and faith in his abilities. He was sent by Odessa News to London, where he improved his English.

In 1903 he married a twenty-three-year-old woman from Odessa, the daughter of an accountant in a private firm, Maria Borisovna Goldfeld. The marriage was unique and happy. Of the four children born in their family (Nikolai, Lydia, Boris and Maria), only two older children lived a long life - Nikolai and Lydia, who later became writers themselves. The youngest daughter Masha died in childhood from tuberculosis. Son Boris died in the war in 1941; another son, Nikolai, also fought, participated in the defense of Leningrad. Lydia Chukovskaya (born in 1907) lived a long and difficult life, was subjected to repressions, survived the execution of her husband, the outstanding physicist Matvey Bronstein.

In England Chukovsky travels with his wife, Maria Borisovna. Here, the future writer spent a year and a half, sending his articles and notes to Russia, and also almost daily visiting the free reading room of the British Museum library, where he read avidly English writers, historians, philosophers, publicists, those who helped him develop his own style, which later called "paradoxical and witty." He gets to know

Arthur Conan Doyle, Herbert Wells, other English writers.

In 1904 Chukovsky returned to Russia and became a literary critic, publishing his articles in St. Petersburg magazines and newspapers. At the end of 1905, he organized (with a subsidy from L. V. Sobinov) a weekly journal of political satire, Signal. For bold caricatures and anti-government poetry, he was even arrested. And in 1906 he became a permanent contributor to the magazine "Scales". By this time he was already familiar with A. Blok, L. Andreev A. Kuprin and other figures of literature and art. Later, Chukovsky resurrected the living features of many cultural figures in his memoirs (Repin. Gorky. Mayakovsky. Bryusov. Memoirs, 1940; From Memoirs, 1959; Contemporaries, 1962). And nothing seemed to foretell that Chukovsky would become a children's writer. In 1908, he published essays on modern writers "From Chekhov to the present day", in 1914 - "Faces and Masks".

Gradually name Chukovsky becomes widely known. His sharp critical articles and essays were published in periodicals, and later compiled the books From Chekhov to the Present Day (1908), Critical Stories (1911), Faces and Masks (1914), Futurists (1922).

In 1906, Korney Ivanovich arrived in the Finnish town of Kuokkala, where he made a close acquaintance with the artist Repin and the writer Korolenko. The writer also maintained contacts with N.N. Evreinov, L.N. Andreev, A.I. Kuprin, V.V. Mayakovsky. All of them subsequently became characters in his memoirs and essays, and Chukokkala's home handwritten almanac, in which dozens of celebrities left their creative autographs - from Repin to A.I. Solzhenitsyn, - over time turned into an invaluable cultural monument. Here he lived for about 10 years. From the combination of the words Chukovsky and Kuokkala, Chukokkala was formed (invented by Repin) - the name of a handwritten humorous almanac that Korney Ivanovich kept until the last days of his life.

In 1907 Chukovsky published translations by Walt Whitman. The book became popular, which increased Chukovsky's fame in the literary environment. Chukovsky becomes an influential critic, smashes tabloid literature (articles about A. Verbitskaya, L. Charskaya, the book "Nat Pinkerton and Modern Literature", etc.) Chukovsky's sharp articles were published in periodicals, and then compiled the book "From Chekhov to the Present Day" (1908 ), Critical Stories (1911), Faces and Masks (1914), Futurists (1922) and others. Chukovsky is Russia's first researcher of "mass culture". Chukovsky's creative interests were constantly expanding, his work eventually acquired an increasingly universal, encyclopedic character.

The family lives in Kuokkala until 1917. They already have three children - Nikolai, Lydia (later both became famous writers, and Lydia also became a well-known human rights activist) and Boris (died at the front in the first months of World War II). In 1920, already in St. Petersburg, the daughter Maria was born (Mura - she was the "heroine" of many of Chukovsky's children's poems), who died in 1931 from tuberculosis.

In 1916, at the invitation of Gorky Chukovsky heads the children's department of the Parus publishing house. Then he himself begins to write poetry for children, and then prose. Poetic tales " Crocodile"(1916)," Moidodyr" and " cockroach"(1923)," Fly Tsokotukha"(1924)," Barmaley"(1925)," Telephone"(1926)" Aibolit"(1929) - remain the favorite reading of several generations of children. However, in the 20s and 30s. they were severely criticized for being "unprincipled" and "formalistic"; there was even the term "Chukovshchina".

In 1916 Chukovsky became a war correspondent for the newspaper "Rech" in the UK, France, Belgium. Returning to Petrograd in 1917, Chukovsky received an offer from M. Gorky to become the head of the children's department of the Parus publishing house. Then he began to pay attention to the speech and struggles of young children and write them down. He kept such records for the rest of his life. From them, the famous book “From Two to Five” was born, which was first published in 1928 under the title “Little Children. Children's language. Ekikiki. Stupid absurdities” and only in the 3rd edition the book was called “From two to five”. The book has been reprinted 21 times and replenished with each new edition.

And many years later Chukovsky again acted as a linguist - he wrote a book about the Russian language "Alive as life" (1962), where he evilly and witty fell upon bureaucratic clichés, at the "clerk".

In general, in the 10s - 20s. Chukovsky dealt with a variety of topics that one way or another found continuation in his further literary activity. It was then (on the advice of Korolenko) that he turns to the work of Nekrasov, publishes several books about him. Through his efforts, the first Soviet collection of Nekrasov's poems with scientific comments (1926) was published. And the result of many years of research work was the book Nekrasov's Mastery (1952), for which in 1962 the author received the Lenin Prize.

In 1916 Chukovsky became a war correspondent for the newspaper "Rech" in the UK, France, Belgium. Returning to Petrograd in 1917, Chukovsky received an offer from M. Gorky to become the head of the children's department of the Parus publishing house. Then he began to pay attention to the speech and struggles of young children and write them down. He kept such records for the rest of his life. From them, the famous book “From Two to Five” was born, which was first published in 1928 under the title “Little Children. Children's language. Ekikiki. Stupid absurdities” and only in the 3rd edition the book was called “From two to five”. The book has been reprinted 21 times and replenished with each new edition.

Back in 1919, the first work was published Chukovsky about the skill of translation - "Principles of literary translation". This problem has always remained in the focus of his attention - evidence of this is the book "The Art of Translation" (1930, 1936), "High Art" (1941, 1968). He himself was one of the best translators - he opened Whitman for the Russian reader (to whom he also dedicated the study "My Whitman"), Kipling, Wilde. He translated Shakespeare, Chesterton, Mark Twain, O "Henry, Arthur Conan Doyle, retold Robinson Crusoe, Baron Munchausen, many biblical stories and Greek myths for children.

Chukovsky also studied Russian literature of the 1860s, the work of Shevchenko, Chekhov, Blok. In the last years of his life, he published essay articles about Zoshchenko, Zhitkov, Akhmatova, Pasternak and many others.

In 1957 Chukovsky was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philology, at the same time, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, he was awarded the Order of Lenin. And in 1962 he received an honorary Doctorate of Literature from the University of Oxford.

The complexity of Chukovsky's life - on the one hand, a well-known and recognized Soviet writer, on the other - a man who did not forgive the authorities for many things, did not accept much, was forced to hide his views, constantly worrying about his "dissident" daughter - all this was revealed to the reader only after the publication of the diaries the writer, where dozens of pages were torn out, and not a word was said about some years (like 1938).

In 1958 Chukovsky turned out to be the only Soviet writer who congratulated Boris Pasternak on being awarded the Nobel Prize; after this seditious visit to his neighbor in Peredelkino, he was forced to write a humiliating explanation.

In the 1960s K. Chukovsky also started a retelling of the Bible for children. He attracted writers and writers to this project, and carefully edited their work. The project itself was very difficult, due to the anti-religious position of the Soviet government. The book entitled "The Tower of Babel and Other Ancient Legends" was published by the publishing house "Children's Literature" in 1968. However, the entire circulation was destroyed by the authorities. The first book edition available to the reader took place in 1990.

Korney Ivanovich was one of the first to discover Solzhenitsyn, the first in the world to write an admiring review of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, gave the writer shelter when he fell into disgrace, and was proud of his friendship with him.

Long years Chukovsky lived in the writers' village Peredelkino near Moscow. Here he often met with children. Now there is a museum in Chukovsky's house, the opening of which was also associated with great difficulties.

In the postwar years Chukovsky often met with children in Peredelkino, where he built a country house, published essay articles about Zoshchenko, Zhitkovo, Akhmatova, Pasternak and many others. There he gathered up to one and a half thousand children around him and arranged holidays for them “Hello, summer!” and "Goodbye summer!"

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky died on October 28, 1969 from viral hepatitis. At the dacha in Peredelkino (Moscow region), where he lived most of his life, now his museum operates there.

"Children's" poet Chukovsky

In 1916 Chukovsky compiled a collection for children "Yolka". In 1917, M. Gorky invited him to head the children's department of the Parus publishing house. Then he began to pay attention to the speech of young children and write them down. From these observations, the book From Two to Five was born (first published in 1928), which is a linguistic study of children's language and the characteristics of children's thinking.

First children's poem Crocodile» (1916) was born by chance. Korney Ivanovich and his little son were on the train. The boy was sick and, in order to distract him from suffering, Korney Ivanovich began to rhyme lines to the sound of wheels.

This poem was followed by other works for children: cockroach"(1922)," Moidodyr"(1922)," Fly Tsokotukha"(1923)," wonder tree"(1924)," Barmaley"(1925)," Telephone"(1926)," Fedorino grief"(1926)," Aibolit"(1929)," stolen sun"(1945)," Bibigon"(1945)," Thanks to Aibolit"(1955)," Fly in the bath» (1969)

It was fairy tales for children that became the reason for the beginning in the 30s. bullying Chukovsky, the so-called fight against "Chukivism", initiated by N.K. Krupskaya. In 1929 he was forced to publicly renounce his fairy tales. Chukovsky was depressed by the event and could not write for a long time after that. By his own admission, since that time he has turned from an author into an editor.

For children of primary school age Chukovsky retold the ancient Greek myth of Perseus, translated English folk songs (" Barabek», « Jenny», « Kotausi and Mausi" and etc.). In the retelling of Chukovsky, the children got acquainted with "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" by E. Raspe, "Robinson Crusoe" by D. Defoe, with "The Little Rag" by the little-known J. Greenwood; for children, Chukovsky translated Kipling's fairy tales, the works of Mark Twain. Children in Chukovsky's life have become a truly source of strength and inspiration. In his house in the village of Peredelkino near Moscow, where he finally moved in the 1950s, up to one and a half thousand children often gathered. Chukovsky arranged for them the holidays "Hello, summer" and "Farewell, summer." Talking a lot with children, Chukovsky came to the conclusion that they read too little and, having cut off a large piece of land from his summer cottage in Peredelkino, he built a library for children there. “I built a library, I want to build a kindergarten for the rest of my life,” said Chukovsky.

Prototypes

It is not known whether the heroes of fairy tales had prototypes Chukovsky. But there are quite plausible versions of the emergence of bright and charismatic characters in his children's fairy tales.

In prototypes Aibolita two characters are suitable at once, one of which was a living person, a doctor from Vilnius. His name was Tsemakh Shabad (in the Russian manner - Timofey Osipovich Shabad). Dr. Shabad, having graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University in 1889, voluntarily went to the Moscow slums to treat the poor and the homeless. He voluntarily went to the Volga region, where, risking his life, he fought the cholera epidemic. Returning to Vilnius (at the beginning of the twentieth century - Vilna), he treated the poor for free, fed children from poor families, did not refuse help when pets were brought to him, even treated wounded birds that were brought to him from the street. The writer met Shabad in 1912. He visited Dr. Shabad twice and personally called him the prototype of Dr. Aibolit in his article in Pionerskaya Pravda.

In letters, Korney Ivanovich, in particular, said: “... Doctor Shabad was very loved in the city, because he treated the poor, pigeons, cats ... It used to happen that a thin girl would come to him, he would tell her - do you want did I write you a prescription? No, milk will help you, come to me every morning and you will get two glasses of milk. So I thought how wonderful it would be to write a fairy tale about such a kind doctor.

In the memoirs of Korney Chukovsky, another story was preserved about a little girl from a poor family. Dr. Shabad diagnosed her with systemic malnutrition and brought the little patient himself a white bun and hot broth. The next day, as a token of gratitude, the recovered girl brought her beloved cat as a gift to the doctor.

Today, a monument to Dr. Shabad is erected in Vilnius.

There is another contender for the role of Aibolit's prototype - this is Dr. Doolittle from the book of the English engineer Hugh Lofting. Being at the front of the First World War, he came up with a fairy tale for children about Dr. Doolittle, who knew how to treat different animals, communicate with them and fight with his enemies - evil pirates. The story of Dr. Dolittle appeared in 1920.

For a long time it was believed that in cockroach» depicts Stalin (Cockroach) and the Stalinist regime. The temptation to draw parallels was very strong: Stalin was short, red-haired, with a lush mustache (Cockroach - "liquid-legged goat, bug", red with a big mustache). Big strong beasts obey him and are afraid of him. But The Cockroach was written in 1922, Chukovsky might not have been aware of the important role of Stalin, and, moreover, he could not portray the regime that gained strength in the thirties.

Honorary titles and awards

1957 - Awarded the Order of Lenin; awarded the degree of Doctor of Philology

1962 - Lenin Prize (for the book Nekrasov's Mastery, published in 1952); Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Oxford.

Quotes

If you want to shoot a musician, insert a loaded gun into the piano on which he will play.

A children's writer should be happy.

With the help of the radio, the authorities spread rollicking vile songs among the population - so that the population does not know either Akhmatova, or Blok, or Mandelstam.

The older the woman, the larger the bag in her hands.

Everything that the townsfolk want, they pass off as a government program.

When you are released from prison and you are going home, these minutes are worth living for!

The only thing that is permanent in my body is false teeth.

Freedom of speech is needed by a very limited circle of people, and the majority, even among the intelligentsia, do their job without it.

You have to live long in Russia.

Who is told to tweet, do not purr!

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky- Soviet poet, prose writer, publicist, translator, journalist and literary critic. He is the most published author of children's literature in Russia (circulation in 2017 exceeds 2 million copies).

For his creative biography, he wrote many famous works, including "Moydodyr", "Aibolit" and "Fedorino grief".

Biography of Chukovsky

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky (real name Nikolai Korneichukov) was born on March 19, 1882 in. His mother Ekaterina Osipovna worked as a servant in the house of the famous doctor Solomon Levinson.

Soon she entered into an intimate relationship with his son Emmanuel, as a result of which she gave birth to a girl, Maria, and 3 years later, a boy, Nikolai.

Together, this couple lived for 7 years. In the eyes of the public, a relationship between a peasant girl and an upper-class man was considered unacceptable.

Soon, Emmanuel's father put his daughter-in-law with two children in his arms on the street, not wanting to have anything to do with her. As a result, Ekaterina was forced to go to relatives in Odessa, because she could not rent an apartment and provide for the kids.

Childhood and youth

The early period of the biography of Korney Chukovsky took place in an atmosphere of extreme poverty. The mother had to take on any job to feed the children, but the money was still not enough.

At the age of 5, the boy began to go to kindergarten, after which he became a student of the local gymnasium. According to the writer himself, he was expelled from the 5th grade due to low birth.

As a teenager, Chukovsky was engaged in all sorts of part-time jobs in order to somehow improve the financial situation of the family. He delivered newspapers, cleaned roofs and put up posters.

During this period of his biography, the young man became seriously interested in reading. In particular, he really liked the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

An interesting fact is that Korney Chukovsky had a phenomenal memory. Thanks to this, he was able to learn so well that he was able to translate texts on the go without the slightest hesitation.

Journalism

The first work in the biography of Chukovsky was a philosophical opus written in 1901. Subsequently, it was published in the newspaper Odessa News. For his work, the young man received 7 rubles, which was enough for him to buy decent clothes.

After 2 years of cooperation with Odessa News, a promising journalist was sent on a business trip to. During the year he studied foreign literature and worked with various documents.

In 1905, Korney Chukovsky settled in St. Petersburg, where he got a job as a journalist in the newspaper Teatralnaya Rossiya. Each issue published his reviews of the performances he had watched and the books he had read.

Soon Chukovsky began publishing the satirical magazine "Signal". However, after the 4th issue, he was arrested for "lèse majesty" - a disrespectful statement in relation to the emperor and his actions. It was only through the efforts of Gruzenberg's lawyer that the writer was released from prison.

In 1906, Korney Chukovsky began to live at his dacha in Kuokkala. During this period of his biography, he managed to communicate with, and. Later, in his memoirs, he will describe the impressions received from communicating with these people.

At the same time, Chukovsky began to write a humorous almanac "Chukokkala", which will be published only in 1979. An interesting fact is that it contained autographs of famous poets, writers, musicians and artists. These included, and many others.

Literature

In 1917, Korney Chukovsky became the head of the children's department of the Parus publishing house. A new creative project appeared in his biography - the almanac "Firebird".

He was able to easily write interesting stories for children, which were read even by adults. At that time, he wrote the famous "Chicken" and "Doctor".

At this time, his sick son Nikolai suffered from frequent bouts of illness. To alleviate his suffering, Chukovsky invented various fairy tales for him on the go. The child listened to his father's stories with such interest that he forgot about his illness and did not utter a single groan.

This is how the famous work "Crocodile", published on the eve of the October Revolution of 1917, was born.

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Korney Chukovsky collaborated with various publishing houses and visited many cities, giving lectures.

In the 20s and 30s, the writer wrote many fairy tales that gained immense popularity in society. These include "Cockroach", "Moydodyr", "Fly-sokotuha", "Barmaley", "Fedorino's grief", "Aybolit" and many others.

An interesting fact is that before sending his works to print, Korney carefully checked the quality of the design of a particular book. He paid special attention to illustrations for fairy tales or children's poems.

It seemed that the biography of the writer Chukovsky is developing quite successfully. This continued until the moment when his works were subjected to harsh criticism from the outside.

Serious pressure from the authorities deprived Chukovsky of any strength. Sometimes he himself began to believe that no one was interested in his work. In 1929, he publicly renounced his old works, promising to work in a different genre.

In the midst (1941-1945) from the pen of Korney Chukovsky came out the fairy tales “The Adventures of Bibigon” and “We Will Defeat Barmaley”. Stalin personally criticized the first of them, and the censors called the second "an ideologically harmful work."

In this regard, the writer experienced not the best years in his biography and was forced to return to journalism.

In 1962, Chukovsky published the book "Alive Like Life", consisting of 7 chapters and a small "dictionary". In it, he described the "diseases" he had undergone. He then published the Complete Works, in whose work he took a serious interest.

During this period of Korney's biography, Chukovsky read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, later becoming its first censor.

In 1964, Chukovsky, together with Marshak (see), was not afraid to speak out in defense of the poet, who was persecuted, both by the authorities and by colleagues.

Even during the life of Korney Chukovsky, dozens of cartoons were shot based on his works, which do not lose their popularity today.

Personal life

There was only one woman in Chukovsky's biography. He met Maria Borisovna in his youth. It is worth noting that the girl's parents did not want to see Korney as their son-in-law, since he belonged to the lower class.

Nevertheless, Maria loved the 18-year-old guy so much that she was ready to run away with him to the Caucasus. Despite all the obstacles, young people were able to legalize their relationship in 1903.

The wedding ceremony of Korney and Maria was attended by many journalists who gave flowers to the newlyweds. However, instead of flowers, the couple needed money. During the wedding fun, the resourceful groom took off his headdress and began to “beg for alms” from the guests.

After the wedding, Chukovsky and his wife went to England. When it turned out that the young wife became pregnant, the writer sent her home. In 1904, the first-born Nikolai was born in their family.

Upon arrival in Korney, Chukovsky turned out to be one of the main critics of St. Petersburg. Thanks to the knowledge gained in England, an unknown journalist in an instant became a welcome guest in any literary society.

Later, two more girls were born in the Chukovsky family - Lydia and Maria, and a boy Boris. An interesting fact is that it was Mary who became the prototype of many of the writer's heroes. She died of tuberculosis at the age of eleven.

Death

Chukovsky was always a hospitable and kind person. He arranged meetings with various famous people, and also often invited local children to his house.

3 years before his death, he signed a letter of 25 cultural and scientific figures against the rehabilitation of Stalin.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky died on October 28, 1969 at the age of 87. The cause of his death was hepatitis. At the dacha in Peredelkino, where the writer lived most of his life, his museum now operates.

Photo by Korney Chukovsky

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