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 the works of R. Kipling and M. Twain into Russian for children, 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
Chukovsky's fairy tales can be read from early childhood. Chukovsky's poems with fairy-tale motifs are excellent children's works, famous for a huge number of bright and memorable characters, kind and charismatic, instructive and at the same time loved by children.
Without exception, all children love to read Chukovsky's poems, and what can I say, adults also remember with pleasure the beloved heroes of Korney Chukovsky's fairy tales. And even if you do not read them to your baby, a meeting with the author in kindergarten at matinees or at school in the classroom will definitely take place. In this section, Chukovsky's fairy tales can be read immediately on the site, or you can download any of the works in .doc or .pdf formats.
About Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky was born in 1882 in St. Petersburg. At birth, he was given a different name: Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov. The boy was illegitimate, for which life put him in difficult situations more than once. His father left the family when Nikolai was still very young, and he and his mother moved to Odessa. However, failures awaited him there too: the future writer was expelled from the gymnasium, since he came “from the bottom”. Life in Odessa was not sweet for the whole family, the children were often malnourished. Nikolai nevertheless showed strength of character and passed the exams, preparing for them on his own.
Chukovsky published his very first article in Odessa News, and already in 1903, two years after the first publication, the young writer went to London. There he lived for several years, working as a correspondent and studying English literature. After returning to his homeland, Chukovsky publishes his own journal, writes a book of memoirs, and by 1907 becomes famous in literary circles, though not yet as a writer, but as a critic. Korney Chukovsky spent a lot of effort on writing works about other authors, some of them are quite famous, namely, about Nekrasov, Blok, Akhmatova and Mayakovsky, about Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Sleptsov. These publications contributed to the literary fund, but did not bring fame to the author.
Poems of Chukovsky. The beginning of the career of a children's poet
Nevertheless, Korney Ivanovich remained in the memory as a children's writer, it was Chukovsky's children's poems that made his name in history for many years. The author began to write fairy tales quite late. The first fairy tale by Korney Chukovsky is a Crocodile, was written in 1916. Moidodyr and the Cockroach came out only in 1923.
Not many people know that Chukovsky was an excellent child psychologist, he knew how to feel and understand children, he described all his observations and knowledge in detail and cheerfully in a special book “From Two to Five”, which was first published in 1933. In 1930, having experienced several personal tragedies, the writer began to devote most of his time to writing memoirs and translating works by foreign authors.
In the 1960s, Chukovsky got excited about the idea of presenting the Bible in a childish way. Other writers were involved in the work, but the first edition of the book was completely destroyed by the authorities. Already in the 21st century, this book was published, and you can find it under the title "The Tower of Babel and other biblical traditions." The writer spent the last days of his life at his dacha in Peredelkino. There he met with children, read them his own poems and fairy tales, invited famous people.
Chukovsky Korney Ivanovich (1882-1969) - Russian poet and children's writer, journalist and literary critic, translator and literary critic.
Childhood and youth
Korney Chukovsky is the pseudonym of the poet, his real name is Korneychukov Nikolai Vasilyevich. He was born in St. Petersburg on March 19, 1882. His mother, Poltava peasant Ekaterina Osipovna Korneychukova, worked as a servant in the family of a wealthy doctor Levenson, who came to St. Petersburg from Odessa.
The maid Katerina lived in an illegal marriage for three years with the master's son, student Emmanuil Solomonovich, gave birth to two children from him - the eldest daughter Marusya and the boy Nikolai.
However, the relationship of his son with a peasant woman was opposed by the father of Emmanuel. The Levensons owned several printing houses in different cities, and such an unequal marriage could never become legal. Shortly after the future poet was born, Emmanuil Solomonovich left Catherine and married a woman of his circle.
The mother of Korney Chukovsky with two small children was forced to leave for Odessa. Here on Novorybnaya Street they settled in a small outbuilding. All the childhood of little Nikolai was spent in Nikolaev and Odessa. As the poet recalls his early years: "Mother brought us up democratically - need". For many years, Ekaterina Osipovna kept and often looked at a photograph of a bearded man with glasses and sentenced the children: "Don't be angry with your folder, he is a good person". Emmanuil Solomonovich sometimes helped Katerina with money.
However, little Kolya was very shy of his illegitimacy and suffered from it. It seemed to him that he was the most incomplete little man on earth, that he was the only one on the planet born outside the law. When other children talked about their fathers, grandparents, Kolya blushed, began to invent something, lie and get confused, and then it seemed to him that everyone was whispering about his illegal origin behind his back. He was never able to forgive his father for his joyless childhood, poverty and the stigma of "fatherlessness".
Korney Ivanovich loved his mother very much and always remembered her with warmth and tenderness. From early morning until late at night, she washed and ironed other people in order to earn money and feed her children, while managing to manage the house and cook delicious food. In their little room in the wing it was always cozy and clean, even smart, because there were many flowers and curtains and towels embroidered with patterns hung everywhere. Everything always sparkled, my mother was an unusually clean person and put her wide Ukrainian soul into their small home. She was an illiterate peasant woman, but she made every effort to ensure that her children received an education.
At the age of five, his mother sent Kolya to Madame Bekhteeva's kindergarten. He remembered well how they drew pictures and marched to the music. Then the boy went to study at the second Odessa gymnasium, but after the fifth grade he was expelled due to his low birth. Then he took up self-education, studied English and read a lot of books. Literature invaded his life and completely took possession of the boyish heart. Every free minute he ran to the library and read voraciously indiscriminately.
Nikolai had a lot of friends with whom he went fishing or flying a kite, climbed through attics or, hiding in large dustbins, dreamed of traveling to distant lands. He retold the books he had read by Jules Verne and the novels of Aimard to the boys.
To help his mother, Nikolai went to work: he repaired fishing nets, put up theater posters, and painted fences. However, the older he got, the less he liked the bourgeois Odessa, he dreamed of leaving here for Australia, for which he learned a foreign language.
Journalistic activity
Having become a young man and having grown a mustache, Nikolai tried to take up tutoring, but he could not manage to put on proper solidity. With the children he taught, he entered into disputes and conversations about tarantulas and how to make arrows from reeds, taught them to play robbers and pirates. He didn’t turn out to be a teacher, but then a friend came to the rescue ─ journalist Volodya Zhabotinsky, with whom they were “inseparable” from the very kindergarten. He helped Nikolai get a job at the popular Odessa News newspaper as a reporter.
When Nikolay came to the editorial office for the first time, a huge hole gaped in his leaky trousers, which he covered with a large and thick book, taken with him for this very purpose. But very soon his publications became so popular and beloved among the readers of the newspaper that he began to earn 25-30 rubles per month. At that time it was quite decent money. Immediately under his first articles, the young author began to sign with a pseudonym - Korney Chukovsky, later added a fictitious patronymic - Ivanovich.
Business trip to England
When it turned out that only one Korney knew English in the entire editorial office, the management offered him to go on a business trip to London as a correspondent. The young man had recently married, the family needed to get on its feet, and he was seduced by the proposed salary - 100 rubles a month. Together with his wife, Chukovsky went to England.
His English articles were published by the Odessa News, Southern Review and several Kyiv newspapers. Over time, fees from Russia began to come to London in the name of Chukovsky irregularly, and then completely stopped. The wife was pregnant, but due to lack of funds, Korney sent her to her parents in Odessa, while he himself remained in London, looking for a part-time job.
Chukovsky liked England very much. True, at first no one understood his language, studied independently. But for Korney this was not a problem, he improved it, studying from morning to evening in the library of the British Museum. Here he found a part-time job copying catalogs, and at the same time reading Thackeray and Dickens in the original.
creative literary path
By the revolution of 1905, Chukovsky returned to Russia and completely plunged into the ongoing events. Twice he visited the rebellious battleship Potemkin. Then he left for St. Petersburg and started publishing the satirical magazine "Signal" there. He was arrested for "lèse majesty", spent 9 days under arrest, but soon his lawyer secured an acquittal.
After being released, Korney published the magazine underground for some time, but soon realized that publishing was not suitable for him. He dedicated his life to writing.
At first he was more involved in criticism. From his pen came essays on Blok and Balmont, Kuprin and Chekhov, Gorky and Bryusov, Merezhkovsky and Sergeev-Tsensky. From 1917 to 1926, Chukovsky worked on a work about his favorite poet Nekrasov, in 1962 he received the Lenin Prize for it.
And when he was already a fairly well-known critic, a passion for children's creativity came to Korney:
- In 1916, his first collection of children's poems "Yolka" and the fairy tale "Crocodile" were published.
- In 1923, "Cockroach" and "Moydodyr" were written.
- In 1924 "Barmaley" was published.
For the first time in children's works, a new intonation sounded - no one taught the kids. The author jokingly, but at the same time always sincerely rejoiced, together with young readers, at the beauty of the world around him.
In the late 1920s, Korney Ivanovich had a new hobby - studying the psyche of children and observing how they master speech. In 1933, this resulted in the verbal creative work "From two to five."
Soviet children grew up on his poems and fairy tales, then read them to their children and grandchildren. Until now, many of us remember by heart:
- "Fedorino grief" and "Fly-sokotuhu";
- "The Stolen Sun" and "Confusion";
- "Phone" and "Aibolit".
Almost all the fairy tales of Korney Chukovsky have been made into animated films.
Korney Ivanovich, together with his eldest son, did a lot of translation work. Thanks to their work, the Soviet Union was able to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "Robinson Crusoe" and "Baron Munchausen", "The Prince and the Pauper", the fairy tales of Wilde and Kipling.
For his creative achievements, Chukovsky received awards: three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour, the Order of Lenin, numerous medals and a doctorate from Oxford University.
Personal life
The first and only love came to Korney Ivanovich at a very young age. In Odessa, the Goldfeld Jewish family lived on a nearby street. The head of the family of the accountant Aron-Ber Ruvimovich and his wife, the housewife Tuba Oizerovna, had a daughter, Maria. The black-eyed and plump girl really liked Chukovsky.
When it turned out that Masha was not indifferent to him either, Korney proposed to her. However, the girl's parents were against this marriage. Desperate Maria ran away from home, and in 1903 the lovers got married. It was the first, only and happy marriage for both.
Four children were born in the family, father Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky survived three of them.
In 1904, their first-born son, Kolya, was born. Like his father, he was engaged in literary activity all his life, becoming the famous Soviet writer Nikolai Korneevich Chukovsky. During the Patriotic War, he participated in the defense of Leningrad, remained in the besieged city. In 1965, he died suddenly in his sleep. The death of his son was a severe blow for 83-year-old Korney Ivanovich.
In 1907, a daughter, Lydia, was born in the Chukovsky family, who also became a writer. Her most famous works are the stories "Sofya Petrovna" and "Descent under the Water", as well as the significant work "Notes on Anna Akhmatova".
In 1910, the son Boris was born. At the age of 31, he died near the Borodino field, returning from reconnaissance. This happened almost immediately after the outbreak of World War II, in the autumn of 1941.
The youngest daughter Maria in the Chukovsky family was born in 1920. The late child was madly loved by everyone, she was affectionately called Murochka, it was she who became the heroine of most of her father's children's stories and poems. But closer to the age of 10, the girl fell ill, she had incurable bone tuberculosis. The baby became blind, stopped walking and cried a lot from the pain. In 1930, the parents took Murochka to the Alupka sanatorium for children with tuberculosis.
For two years, Korney Ivanovich lived as if in a dream, went to his sick daughter, and together with her composed children's poems and fairy tales. But in November 1930, the girl died in her father's arms, he personally made a coffin for her from an old chest. Murochka was buried there, in the Crimea.
It was after her death that he transferred his love for his daughter to all the children of the Soviet Union and became a universal favorite - grandfather Korney.
His wife Maria died in 1955, 14 years earlier than her husband. Every day, Korney Ivanovich went to her grave and recalled the happy moments of their lives. He clearly remembered her velvet blouse, even the smell, their dates until dawn, all the joys and troubles that they had to endure together.
Two granddaughters and three grandchildren continued the family of the famous children's poet, Korney Ivanovich has a lot of great-grandchildren. Some of them connected their lives with creativity, like a grandfather, but there are other professions in the Chukovsky family tree - a doctor of medical sciences, a producer of the directorate of NTV-Plus sports channels, a communications engineer, a chemist, a cameraman, a historian-archivist, resuscitator.
In the last years of his life, Korney Ivanovich lived in Peredelkino in the country. Often he gathered kids at his place, invited famous people to such meetings - artists, pilots, poets and writers. The kids loved these gatherings with tea at the dacha of Grandfather Korney.
On October 28, 1969, Korney Ivanovich died of viral hepatitis. He was buried at the cemetery in Peredelkino.
This dacha is now a functioning museum of the writer and poet grandfather Korney.
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky (real name - Nikolai Vasilyevich Korneichukov). Born March 19 (31), 1882 in St. Petersburg - died October 28, 1969 in Moscow. Russian Soviet poet, publicist, literary critic, translator and literary critic, children's writer, journalist. Father of the writers Nikolai Korneevich Chukovsky and Lydia Korneevna Chukovskaya.
Nikolai Korneichukov, who later took the literary pseudonym Korney Chukovsky, was born in St. Petersburg on March 31 in a new style; 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). Nevertheless, Korney himself celebrated his birthday on April 1.
Nikolai's mother was a peasant woman from the Poltava province, Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova, who worked as a maid in St. Petersburg in the Levenson family. She lived in a civil marriage with the son of the family, student Emmanuil Solomonovich Levenson. The born boy already had a three-year-old sister, Maria, from the same union. Shortly after the birth of Nikolai, student Levenson left his illegitimate family and married a woman "of his own circle." Ekaterina Osipovna was forced to move to Odessa.
Nikolai Korneychukov spent his childhood in Odessa and Nikolaev.
In Odessa, the family settled in an outbuilding, in the Makri house on Novorybnaya Street, No. 6. In 1887, the Korneichukovs changed their apartment, moving to the address: Barshman’s house, Kanatny Lane, No. 3. Five-year-old Nikolai was sent to Madame Bekhteeva’s kindergarten, about staying in which he left the following memories: “We marched to the music, drew pictures. The oldest among us was a curly-haired boy with Negro lips, whose name was Volodya Zhabotinsky. That's when I met the future national hero of Israel - in 1888 or 1889!!!".
For some time, the future writer studied at the second Odessa gymnasium (later became the fifth). His classmate at that time was Boris Zhitkov (in the future also a writer and traveler), with whom young Korney struck up friendly relations. Chukovsky did not succeed in graduating from the gymnasium: he was expelled, according to his own statements, because of his low birth. He described these events in his autobiographical story. "Silver coat of arms".
According to the metric, Nicholas and his sister Maria, as illegitimate, did not have a patronymic; in other documents of the pre-revolutionary period, his patronymic was indicated in different ways - “Vasilyevich” (in the marriage certificate and baptismal certificate of his son Nikolai, subsequently fixed in most later biographies as part of the “real name” - given by the godfather), “Stepanovich”, “Emmanuilovich ”, “Manuilovich”, “Emelyanovich”, sister Marusya bore the patronymic “Emmanuilovna” or “Manuilovna”.
From the beginning of his literary activity, Korneichukov 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.
According to the memoirs of K. Chukovsky, he “never had such a luxury as his father or even grandfather”, which in his youth and youth served as a constant source of shame and mental suffering for him.
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.
Since 1901, Chukovsky began to write articles in the Odessa News. Chukovsky was introduced to literature by his close school friend, a journalist. Zhabotinsky was also the guarantor of the groom at the wedding of Chukovsky and Maria Borisovna Goldfeld.
Then in 1903, Chukovsky, as the only correspondent of the newspaper who knew English (which he learned on his own from Ohlendorf’s Self-Teacher of the English Language), and tempted by the high salary for those times - the publisher promised 100 rubles a month - went to London as a correspondent for Odessa News, where he went with his young wife. In addition to Odessa News, Chukovsky's English articles were published in the Southern Review and in some Kyiv newspapers. But fees from Russia came irregularly, and then completely stopped. The pregnant wife had to be sent back to Odessa.
Chukovsky moonlighted as a correspondent of catalogs in the British Museum. But in London, Chukovsky thoroughly familiarized himself with English literature - he read in the original, Thackeray.
Returning to Odessa at the end of 1904, Chukovsky settled with his family on Bazarnaya Street No. 2 and plunged into the events of the 1905 revolution.
Chukovsky was captured by the revolution. He twice visited the insurgent battleship Potemkin, among other things, accepting letters to relatives from the insurgent sailors.
In St. Petersburg, he began publishing the satirical magazine "Signal". Among the authors of the magazine were such famous writers as Kuprin, Fedor Sologub and Teffi. After the fourth issue, he was arrested for lèse majesté. He was defended by the famous lawyer Gruzenberg, who achieved an acquittal. Chukovsky was under arrest for 9 days.
In 1906, Korney Ivanovich arrived in the Finnish town of Kuokkala (now Repino, Kurortny District (St. Petersburg)), where he made a close acquaintance with the artist and writer Korolenko. It was Chukovsky who persuaded Repin to take his writing seriously and prepare a book of memoirs, Far Close.
Chukovsky lived in Kuokkala for about 10 years. From the combination of the words Chukovsky and Kuokkala formed "Chukokkala"(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 Walt Whitman's translations. The book became popular, which increased Chukovsky's fame in the literary environment. Chukovsky became an influential critic, smashed tabloid literature (articles about Lydia Charskaya, Anastasia Verbitskaya, "Nata Pinkerton", etc.), wittily defended the futurists - both in articles and in public lectures - from the attacks of traditional criticism (he met Mayakovsky in Kuokkala and later became friends with him), although the Futurists themselves were by no means always grateful to him for this; developed his own recognizable manner (reconstruction of the psychological appearance of the writer on the basis of numerous quotations from him).
In 1916, Chukovsky again visited England with a delegation from the State Duma. In 1917, Patterson's book With the Jewish Detachment at Gallipoli (about the Jewish Legion in the British Army) was published, edited and with a foreword by Chukovsky.
After the revolution, Chukovsky continued to engage in criticism, publishing two of his most famous books on the work of his contemporaries - "A book about Alexander Blok"(“Alexander Blok as a man and a poet”) and “Akhmatova and Mayakovsky”. The circumstances of the Soviet era turned out to be ungrateful for critical activity, and Chukovsky had to “bury this talent in the ground”, which he later regretted.
Since 1917, Chukovsky set to work on Nekrasov, his favorite poet, for many years. Through his efforts, the first Soviet collection of Nekrasov's poems was published. Chukovsky completed work on it only in 1926, reworking a lot of manuscripts and providing texts with scientific comments. Monograph "Skill of Nekrasov", published in 1952, was reprinted many times, and in 1962 Chukovsky was awarded the Lenin Prize for it.
After 1917, they managed to publish a significant part of the poems, which were either previously banned by the tsarist censorship, or they were "vetoed" by the copyright holders. Approximately a quarter of Nekrasov's currently known poetic lines were put into circulation precisely by Korney Chukovsky. In addition, in the 1920s, he discovered and published manuscripts of Nekrasov's prose works (The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trosnikov, The Thin Man, and others).
In addition to Nekrasov, Chukovsky was engaged in the biography and work of a number of other writers of the 19th century (Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Sleptsov), to which, in particular, his book “People and Books of the Sixties” is devoted, participated in the preparation of the text and editing of many publications. Chukovsky considered Chekhov the writer closest to himself in spirit.
Passion for children's literature, glorified Chukovsky, began relatively late, when he was already a famous critic. In 1916, Chukovsky compiled the Yolka collection and wrote his first fairy tale, Crocodile.
In 1923, his famous fairy tales "Moydodyr" and "Cockroach" were published.
In the life of Chukovsky there was another hobby - the study of the psyche of children and how they master speech. He wrote down his observations of children, their verbal creativity in the book From Two to Five (1933).
All my other writings are so overshadowed by my children's fairy tales that, in the minds of many readers, I did not write anything at all, except for "Moydodirs" and "Fly-Tsokotuha".
In February 1928, Pravda published an article by N. K. Krupskaya, Deputy People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR, “On Chukovsky's Crocodile”: “Such chatter is disrespect for a child. First, he is beckoned with a gingerbread - cheerful, innocent rhymes and comical images, and along the way they are allowed to swallow some kind of dregs that will not pass without a trace for him. I don't think we need to give our kids the Crocodile."
According to the researcher L. Strong, the widow's speech at that time actually meant a "ban on the profession", and the term "Chukivism" soon arose among party critics and editors.
In December 1929, Chukovsky published a letter in Literaturnaya Gazeta with a renunciation of fairy tales and a promise to create a collection of "Merry Kolkhozia". Chukovsky was very upset by the renunciation (besides, his daughter fell ill with tuberculosis): he really would not write a single fairy tale after that (until 1942), as, indeed, the aforementioned collection.
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. In 1938 Chukovsky moved from Leningrad to Moscow.
In the 1930s, Chukovsky did a lot of work on 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 (, and others, including in the form "retelling" for children).
He begins to write memoirs, on which he worked until the end of his life (“Contemporaries” in the ZhZL series). Posthumously published "Diaries 1901-1969".
As the NKGB reported to the Central Committee, during the war years, Chukovsky spoke out: “With all my heart I wish the death of Hitler and the collapse of his crazy ideas. With the fall of the Nazi despotism, the world of democracy will come face to face with the Soviet despotism. Will wait".
On March 1, 1944, the Pravda newspaper published an article by P. Yudin “Vulgar and harmful concoction of K. Chukovsky”, in which an analysis of Chukovsky’s book “We will overcome Barmaley” published in 1943 in Tashkent was arranged (Aibolitia is waging war with the Svirepiya and its king Barmaley), and this book was recognized in the article as harmful.
The tale of K. Chukovsky is a harmful concoction that can distort modern reality in the minds of children. "War tale" K. Chukovsky characterizes the author as a person who either does not understand the duty of a writer in the Patriotic War, or deliberately vulgarizes the great tasks of raising children in the spirit of socialist patriotism.
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. In particular, they demanded from Chukovsky that the words "God" and "Jews" should not be mentioned in the book; by the forces of writers a pseudonym was invented for God "Wizard Yahweh".
The book called "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 circumstances of the publication's ban were later described by Valentin Berestov, one of the authors of the book: “It was the height of the great cultural revolution in China. The Red Guards, noticing the publication, loudly demanded to smash the head of the old revisionist Chukovsky, who clogs the minds of Soviet children with religious nonsense. The West responded with the headline “New discovery of the Red Guards”, and our authorities reacted in the usual way.” The book was published in 1988.
In recent years, Chukovsky has been a popular favorite, winner of a number of state awards and holder of orders, at the same time he maintained contacts with dissidents (, Litvinov, his daughter Lydia was also a prominent human rights activist).
At the dacha in Peredelkino, where he lived constantly 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.
In 1966, he signed a letter of 25 cultural and scientific figures to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU against the rehabilitation of Stalin.
Korney Ivanovich died on October 28, 1969 from viral hepatitis. At the dacha in Peredelkino, where the writer lived most of his life, his museum now operates.
Family of Korney Chukovsky:
Wife (since May 26, 1903) - Maria Borisovna Chukovskaya (nee Maria Aron-Berovna Goldfeld, 1880-1955). Daughter of accountant Aron-Ber Ruvimovich Goldfeld and housewife Tuba (Tauba) Oizerovna Goldfeld.
Son - poet, prose writer and translator Nikolai Korneevich Chukovsky (1904-1965). His wife is the translator Marina Nikolaevna Chukovskaya (1905-1993).
Daughter - writer and dissident Lidia Korneevna Chukovskaya (1907-1996). Her first husband was a literary critic and literary historian Tsezar Samoylovich Volpe (1904-1941), the second - a physicist and popularizer of science Matvey Petrovich Bronstein (1906-1938).
Son - Boris Korneevich Chukovsky (1910-1941), died shortly after the start of World War II, in the fall of 1941, returning from reconnaissance near the Borodino field.
Daughter - Maria Korneevna Chukovskaya (Murochka) (1920-1931), the heroine of children's poems and father's stories. Granddaughter - Natalya Nikolaevna Kostyukova (Chukovskaya), Tata (born 1925), microbiologist, professor, doctor of medical sciences, Honored Worker of Science of Russia.
Granddaughter - literary critic, chemist Elena Tsezarevna Chukovskaya (1931-2015).
Grandson - Nikolai Nikolaevich Chukovsky, Gulya (born 1933), communications engineer.
Grandson - cameraman Evgeny Borisovich Chukovsky (1937-1997).
Grandson - Dmitry Chukovsky (born 1943), husband of the famous tennis player Anna Dmitrieva. Great-granddaughter - Maria Ivanovna Shustitskaya (born 1950), anesthesiologist-resuscitator.
Great-grandson - Boris Ivanovich Kostyukov (1956-2007), historian-archivist.
Great-grandson - Yuri Ivanovich Kostyukov (born 1956), doctor.
Great-granddaughter - Marina Dmitrievna Chukovskaya (born 1966).
Great-grandson - Dmitry Chukovsky (born 1968), chief producer of the directorate of NTV-Plus sports channels.
Great-grandson - Andrei Evgenievich Chukovsky (born 1960), chemist.
Great-grandson - Nikolai Evgenievich Chukovsky (born 1962).
Nephew - mathematician Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin (1919-1984).
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) in 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 after many years 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 Great Britain, 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 accident. 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!
