Today the most significant writer for children of the 20th century celebrates his birthday. After all, with him we understood from the earliest years what is good and what is bad. Each work of the writer is a cautionary tale. Always understandable to children morals and the first ideas about our world.
Korney Ivanovich, happy birthday! Today's article is dedicated to you.
Short biography of Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky
Kornei Ivanovich was born on March 31, 1882 in St. Petersburg. His mother was Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova. Father - Emmanuel Solomonovich Levenson. The marriage was unequal, as Catherine was a peasant. While her father was an honorable citizen of Jewish descent. Such marriages were not encouraged in Russian pre-revolutionary society. Therefore, Kornei Ivanovich spent his entire childhood without his father. In his diaries the writer notes: "I never had such luxury as my father or at least my grandfather".
Journalistic activity
Since 1901, Korney Chukovsky has been working in the Odessa News as a correspondent. Chukovsky is noticed, and from 1903 they promise a fabulous monthly salary of 100 rubles for his articles in the newspaper. Kornei Ivanovich agrees and goes to London as a correspondent. In parallel, his articles are published in the "Southern Review".
Time goes by, and Russian revenues arrive erratically. Eventually the royalties stop coming altogether. Korney Ivanovich returns to Odessa. There he rewrites catalogs in the British Museum. Since his return to the Russian Empire in St. Petersburg, the magazine "Signal" begins to be published. Satire is its main direction. After four issues of "Signal" Chukovsky is accused of "insulting the majesty". On his defense becomes a famous lawyer O.O. Gruzenberg. He wins the case, Chukovsky is acquitted.
The year 1907 is marked by essays about Walt Whitman. The publication of the book brings fame to the writer. He is increasingly visible in literary circles.
Critic Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky
Since 1908 the writer has been publishing critical notes on such authors as A.P. Chekhov, K.D. Balmont, A.I. Kuprin and many others. All of Chukovsky's notes were published in the collection "From Chekhov to Our Days".
In 1917, Korney Ivanovich continues to write such publications. But then the main hero of his criticism becomes the author's favorite writer N. A. Nekrasov. Thanks to the work of Chukovsky, the first Soviet collection of Nekrasov's poems is published. The writer published the collection in 1926. It is full of scholarly comments from the author and explanations of the poems. The book "Mastery of Nekrasov" was published in 1952. And 10 years later, Chukovsky was awarded the Lenin Prize for this work.
The writer's contribution to Russian children's literature
K.I. Chukovsky's fairy tales are an integral part of Russian literature. Kornei Ivanovich's whole life was devoted to children. He studied their psychology in his scientific work "From two to five". He was interested in the thoughts and dreams of children, their experiences. The writer published children's poems and translations of the most popular foreign works for children. But still the most important contribution to children's literature was his verse fairy tales for kids.
According to E.M. Neyolov, Chukovsky's fairy tales are not just a collection with interesting images and bright thoughts. The literary scholar notes: "Kornei Ivanovich's fairy tales are a primary source of knowledge of the world for kids". The first acquaintance with the works of Chukovsky opens children to the world of good and evil, teaches morality. The poetic fairy tales tell the child what a person should be like.
K.I. Chukovsky's first fairy tale "Crocodile" was published in 1916. It is in it that we can already observe the plot lines that are found in other children's works of the writer. The conditional Lyalechka is saved by the valiant and brave hero Vanya Vasilchikov. Good triumphs over evil. A similar development of heroes is clearly seen in "Mukha-Tsokotukha" and "Tarakanishche". While the plot develops, we can observe how the work is replaced by "scary" and "funny". And the works are written in such a way for a reason! It is important to convey to children to overcome their fears.
Kornei Ivanovich assures: "Children ardently love poems, revel in them, can't do without them".
In his work, the writer often resorts to folk motifs. He uses elements of folk-poetic creativity in his works. There are shorthand phrases, and sound imitations, and appeals.
Like a typewriter
Two good-looking pigs:
Tooky, tooky, tooky, tooky, tooky, tooky!
Tooky, tooky, tooky, tooky, tooky, tooky!
And tapping, and grunting:
"Grunts-grunts-grunts-grunts-grunts!
Oink, oink, oink, oink, oink, oink!
("Piggies", K.I. Chukovsky. Cursive phrase, sound imitation)
Yee-haw!
The flies buzzed -
J-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j!
The frogs are croaking--
Qua-qua-qua-qua!
And the ducklings quack--
Quack, quack, quack!
Piglets grunting--
Oink, oink, oink!
They're cradling Murochka,
My darling...
Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye....
("Tangled," K.I. Chukovsky. Sound imitation)
Reading such verse forms noticeably pumps up Russian language learning for kids. That is why in our school we often turn to the works of K.I. Chukovsky. With their help, bilingual children learn sounds faster and make associations.
Due to the not fully formed psyche, the happy outcome of the works is extremely important for children. The dishes at the unhappy Fyodora's place. Brave Komarik on a balloon saves Fly from the insidious Spider. And even Barmaley after all the horrors that are happening safely sells pretzels. The unhappy ending hurts the children. But how much warmth and light in their eyes after the victory of their favorite hero over evil!
Interesting facts from the life of K.I. Chukovsky
- The writer's real name was Nikolai Korneichukov. He never had a patronymic, by the way. In different years he was Vasilievich, Stepanovich and Emmanuilovich.
- Chukovsky was expelled from the gymnasium because of his bad background.
- In 1929, Korney Ivanovich publicly gave up writing children's fairy tales because of criticism against him. He promised to publish the collection "Merry Collective Farm". He did not keep his promise - the collection never saw the light of day.
- The writer's first fairy tale "Crocodile" in 1916 was defeated by Natalia Krupskaya: "Such chatter - disrespect for the child. I think "Crocodile" should not be given to our children".
- It is after this incident that the term "chukovshchina" appears. It means superficial literature with typical plots.
Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky: the best works for children
"Aibolit," 1929
All children's favorite doctor! After all, he treats animals. He knows their language and is always ready to help. The doctor's animal team (Avva the dog, Carudo the parrot, Chichi the monkey, Crocodile and others) go to Africa to treat local animals from diseases. On their way they meet the terrible Barmaley. He builds intrigues and scares the animals. Aibolit and his friends face different dangers. But the kids should not worry. Good will definitely defeat evil!
"Moydodyr," 1921-1923.
All the things in the house are running away from the dirty boy. Even the tasty pies leave the boy's home. Moydodyr, a talking washbasin, comes to the aid of the dirty boy. After all, "and kittens, and mice, and bugs, and spiders" wash their faces in the morning. A cautionary tale in verse for kids, which will tell about the importance of hygiene.
"Telephone," 1926
"Telephone" by Chukovsky is his most famous work. The poetic tale tells us about hard work. From whom exactly the narrative comes is still unclear. Some researchers assume that Korney Ivanovich is the narrator. Others are sure - they call Aibolit. Whose truth it is, we don't know. But we are sure that the narrator "didn't sleep for three nights and was very tired" from the constant calls. He needed chocolate, he needed to get the hippo out of the swamp. Oh, it's not an easy job!
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky has made a huge contribution to the development of children's literature. Thanks to his works already at preschool age, children form their first associations and ideas about our world. Chukovsky's tales teach, make fun, encourage and censure.
We love and honor the writer's work in our classes at our online Russian language school for bilingual children. Engage with the writer's work in our classes. Leave your request in the form below. And we will contact you in a convenient way in the nearest future!
