What did Chukovsky die from? Chukovsky Korney Ivanovich - biography, life story: Kind grandfather Korney. Talented critic and translator

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky

Biography

Chukovsky Korney Ivanovich

Russian writer, literary critic, photo philological sciences. Real name and surname Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov. Works for children in verse and prose (“Moidodyr”, “Cockroach”, “Aibolit”, etc.) are built in the form of a comic action-packed “game” with an edifying purpose. Books: "The Mastery of Nekrasov" (1952, Lenin Prize, 1962), about A.P. Chekhov, W. Whitman, the Art of Translation, Russian, about child psychology and speech ("From two to five", 1928). Criticism, translations, artistic memoirs. Diaries.

Biography

Born on March 19 (31 n.s.) in St. Petersburg. When he was three years old, his parents divorced, he stayed with his mother. They lived in the south, in poverty. He studied at the Odessa gymnasium, from the fifth grade of which he was expelled when, by special decree educational establishments"liberated" from children of "low" origin.

WITH youthful years led a working life, read a lot, studied English on his own and French. In 1901 he began to publish in the newspaper Odessa News, as a correspondent of which he was sent to London in 1903. whole year lived in England, studied English literature, wrote about it in the Russian press. After returning, he settled in St. Petersburg, took up literary criticism, collaborated in the magazine "Scales".

In 1905, Chukovsky organized the weekly satirical magazine Signal (financed by the singer Bolshoi Theater L. Sobinov), where caricatures and poems of anti-government content were placed. The magazine was subjected to repression for "defamation of the existing order", the publisher was sentenced to six months in prison.

After the revolution of 1905 - 1907, Chukovsky's critical essays appeared in various publications, later they were collected in the books From Chekhov to Our Days (1908), Critical Stories (1911), Faces and Masks (1914), etc.

In 1912, Chukovsky settled in the Finnish town of Kuokkola, where he became friends with I. Repin, Korolenko, Andreev, A. Tolstoy, V. Mayakovsky, and others.

Later he would write memoirs and fiction books about these people. The versatility of Chukovsky's interests was expressed in his literary activity: published translations from W. Whitman, studied literature for children, children's verbal creativity, worked on the legacy of N. Nekrasov, his favorite poet. He published the book "Nekrasov as an Artist" (1922), the collection of articles "Nekrasov" (1926), the book "Nekrasov's Mastery" (1952).

In 1916, at the invitation of Gorky, Chukovsky began to lead the children's department of the Parus publishing house and began to write for children: verse tales Crocodile (1916), Moydodyr (1923), Fly-sokotuha (1924), Barmaley (1925). ), "Aibolit" (1929) and others.

Chukovsky owns a whole series of books on the skill of translation: "Principles of Literary Translation" (1919), "The Art of Translation" (1930, 1936), " high art» (1941, 1968). In 1967 the book "About Chekhov" was published.

IN last years In his lifetime, he published essay articles on Zoshchenko, Zhitkov, Akhmatova, Pasternak and many others.

At the age of 87, K. Chukovsky died on October 28, 1968. He was buried in Peredelkino near Moscow, where he lived long years.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky was born on March 31, 1882 in St. Petersburg. Real name Nikolai Vasilyevich Korneichukov. Parents soon divorced, 3-year-old Kolya stayed with his mother. They moved to Odessa, lived in poverty. He studied at the gymnasium until the 5th grade, but was expelled - children of "low" origin became undesirable.

An inquisitive young man read a lot, studied languages, leading a working life. In 1901, Chukovsky became a correspondent for Odessa News. After 2 years, he was sent to London, where he wrote about local literature for the Russian press. Returning from England, he settled in St. Petersburg and took up literary criticism.

Since 1905, the satirical magazine "Signal" founded by Chukovsky has been published. Poems and caricatures of those in power lead to repression, the publisher is sentenced to six months in prison. But after the first revolution, many publications published Chukovsky's essays. Later they were collected in the books From Chekhov to the Present Day, Critical Stories, Faces and Masks.

In 1912, the writer moved to Finland, to the town of Kuokkola. There he meets Repin, Mayakovsky, Korolenko, Andreev, A. Tolstoy. Memoirs and fiction books tell about friendship with outstanding contemporaries. The favorite poet of the writer was Nekrasov, to whom he devoted many works.

Chukovsky's literary activity is multifaceted, but he paid special attention to children's creativity. In 1916, he was appointed head of the children's department of "Sails". He starts writing for a special category of readers. "Crocodile", "Moydodyr", "Fly-sokotuha", "Barmaley", "Aibolit" - this is not a complete list of famous works.

Fluent in languages, Chukovsky makes literary translations. A whole series of books is devoted to this skill: "Principles of Literary Translation", "High Art", "The Art of Translation", and in 1967 a book dedicated to A. Chekhov was published. Korney Chukovsky lived a long bright life died October 28, 1968. He was buried in Peredelkino, where he lived and worked for many years.

The mother of the future writer is a simple peasant woman from the Poltava province, Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova, who gave birth to the then student Emmanuil Solomonovich Levenson. Korney Ivanovich's childhood passed in the city of Odessa, where his mother was forced to move. Cause this decision was that the writer's father left her as a woman "out of her circle."

The first publications of Korney Ivanovich were published in the Odessa News newspaper, which was facilitated by his friend Zhabotinsky. Then the works - articles, essays, stories and others - simply “flowed like a river”, and already in 1917 the writer set about great work about the work of Nekrasov.

Then Korney Ivanovich took as a subject of study many other literary figures, and already in 1960 the writer set about one of the main works of his life - a retold exposition of the Bible specially.

main museum The writer is currently working in Peredelkino near Moscow, where Korney Ivanovich ended his life on October 28, 1969 as a result of a viral hepatitis. In Peredelkino, Chukovsky's dacha is located near the place where Pasternak lived.

Creativity Chukovsky

For younger generation Korney Ivanovich wrote a large number of interesting and entertaining fairy tales, the most famous of which are such works - "Crocodile", "Cockroach", "Moidodyr", "Fly-sokotuha", "Barmaley", "Fedorino grief", "The Stolen Sun", "Aibolit", " Toptygin and the moon", "Confusion", "telephone" and "The Adventures of Bibigon".

Chukovsky's most famous children's poems are the following "Glutton", "Elephant Reads", "Zakalyaka", "Piglet", "Hedgehogs Laugh", "Sandwich", "Fedotka", "Turtle", "Pigs", "Garden", " Camel" and many others. It is remarkable that almost all of them have not lost their relevance and liveliness at the present time, therefore they are often included in almost all collections of books intended for the younger generation.

Wrote Korney Ivanovich and several stories. For example, "Solnechnaya" and "Silver Emblem".

The writer was keenly interested in issues and problems child education. It is to him that readers owe the emergence interesting work O preschool education"From two to five."

The following articles by Korney Ivanovich are also interesting for literary critics - “The History of Aibolit”, “How The Fly-Tsokotukha Was Written”, “About Sherlock Holmes”, “Confessions of an Old Storyteller”, “Chukokkala Page” and others.

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 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; followed by 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 started with early years: wrote poems and even poems. And in 1901 his first article appeared in the newspaper Odessa News. He wrote articles on the most different 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) long life only the two elders lived - Nikolai and Lydia, who later became writers themselves. 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. Lidia Chukovskaya (born 1907) lived a long and hard 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 future writer spent a year and a half sending articles and notes to Russia, as well as visiting the free reading room of the library almost daily british museum where I read voraciously English writers, historians, philosophers, publicists, those who helped him develop own style, which was 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 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 magazine political satire"Signal". For bold caricatures and anti-government poetry, he was even arrested. And in 1906 he became permanent employee 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 contemporary writers"From Chekhov to the present day", in 1914 - "Faces and masks".

Gradually name Chukovsky becomes widely known. Its sharp critical articles and essays were published in periodicals, and subsequently 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 up to last days own 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 books "From Chekhov to the Present Day" (1908), "Critical Stories" (1911), "Faces and Masks" (1914), "Futurists" (1922) and others. Chukovsky is the first researcher of "mass culture" in Russia. 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 leads children's department Publishing house "Sail". 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 was born famous book"From Two to Five", which first came out of print 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 as a result of many years research work was the book "Skill Nekrasov" (1952), for which in 1962 the author receives 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- opened for the Russian reader Whitman (who also dedicated the study "My Whitman"), Kipling, Wilde. Translated Shakespeare, Chesterton, Mark Twain, O Henry, Arthur Conan Doyle, retold Robinson Crusoe, Baron Munchausen for children, many biblical stories and Greek myths.

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 honorary title Doctor of Letters 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 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 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 Soviet power. The book titled 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 Vacation home, published essay articles about Zoshchenko, Zhitkov, 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 life, now there is his museum.

"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 Two to Five was born (first published in 1928), which is a linguistic study children's language and 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 ancient greek myth about 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, cutting off big piece land from his summer cottage in Peredelkino, built a library for children there. “I built a library, I want to build it for the rest of my life kindergarten", - 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 - Timofei 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 injured 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 ... A thin girl would come to him, he tells her - you want me to 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. While 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 large 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 are spreading rollicking vile songs among the population so that the population does not know either Akhmatova, or Blok, or Mandelstam.

How older woman, the more bag in her hands.

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

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!

Chukovsky. Biography

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky(name at birth - Nikolai Emmanuilovich Korneichukov). Children's poet, writer, memoirist, critic, linguist, translator and literary critic.

Russian writer, literary critic, factor in philological sciences. Real name and surname Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov. Works for children in verse and prose ("Moidodyr", "Cockroach", "Aibolit", etc.) are built in the form of a comic action-packed "game" with an edifying purpose. Books: "The Mastery of Nekrasov" (1952, Lenin Prize, 1962), about A.P. Chekhov, W. Whitman, the Art of Translation, Russian, about child psychology and speech ("From two to five", 1928). Criticism, translations, artistic memoirs. Diaries.

Chukovsky was born on March 19 (31 n.s.) in St. Petersburg. When he was three years old, his parents divorced, he stayed with his mother. They lived in the south, in poverty. He studied at the Odessa gymnasium, from the fifth grade of which he was expelled when, by special decree, educational institutions were "liberated" from children of "low" origin.

From his youth he led a working life, read a lot, studied English and French on his own. In 1901 he began to publish in the newspaper Odessa News, as a correspondent for which he was sent to London in 1903. He lived in England for a whole year, studied English literature, wrote about it in the Russian press. After his return, he settled in St. Petersburg, took up literary criticism, and collaborated in the journal Libra.

In 1905, Chukovsky organized the weekly satirical magazine Signal (financed by the Bolshoi Theater singer L. Sobinov), which published anti-government cartoons and poems. The magazine was repressed for "defamation of the existing order", the publisher was sentenced to six months in prison.

After the revolution of 1905 - 1907, critical essays by Chukovsky appeared in various publications, later they were collected in the books From Chekhov to Our Days (1908), Critical Stories (1911), Faces and Masks (1914), etc.

In 1912, Chukovsky settled in the Finnish town of Kuokkola, where he became friends with I. Repin, Korolenko, Andreev, A. Tolstoy, V. Mayakovsky, and others.

Later he would write memoirs and fiction books about these people. The versatility of Chukovsky's interests was expressed in his literary activity: he published translations from W. Whitman, studied literature for children, children's verbal creativity, worked on the legacy of N. Nekrasov, his favorite poet. He published the book Nekrasov as an Artist (1922), the collection of articles Nekrasov (1926), the book Nekrasov's Mastery (1952).

Chukovsky owns a whole series of books on the skill of translation: Principles of Literary Translation (1919), The Art of Translation (1930, 1936), High Art (1941, 1968). In 1967 the book "About Chekhov" was published.

In the last years of his life, he published essay articles about Zoshchenko, Zhitkov, Akhmatova, Pasternak and many others.

At the age of 87, K. Chukovsky died on October 28, 1968. He was buried in Peredelkino near Moscow, where he lived for many years.

Nikolai Korneichukov was born on March 19 (31), 1882 in St. Petersburg. The frequently occurring date of his birth, April 1, appeared due to an error when switching to a new style(added 13 days, not 12, as it should be for the 19th century).

The writer suffered for many years from being “illegitimate”: his father was Emmanuil Solomonovich Levenson, in whose family the mother of Korney Chukovsky, Poltava peasant woman Ekaterina Osipovna Korneichukova, from a family of enslaved Ukrainian Cossacks, lived as a servant.

Chukovsky's parents lived together in St. Petersburg for three years, they had eldest daughter Maria (Marusya). Shortly after the birth of their second child, Nicholas, the father left his illegitimate family and married "a woman of his circle", 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 the autobiographical story "The Silver Emblem", where he sincerely showed the injustice and social inequality of the society of the sunset era. Russian Empire which he had to deal with as a child.

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 differently - "Vasilyevich" (in the marriage certificate and baptismal certificate of the son of Nikolai, later 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.

His children - Nikolai, Lydia, Boris and Maria (Murochka), who died in childhood, to whom many of her father's children's poems are dedicated - wore (according to at least, after the revolution) Chukovsky's surname and patronymic Korneevich / Korneevna.

Journalistic activity before the revolution

Since 1901, Chukovsky began to write articles in the Odessa News. Chukovsky was introduced to literature by his close friend at the gymnasium, the journalist V. E. Zhabotinsky. Zhabotinsky was also the guarantor of the groom at the wedding of Chukovsky and Maria Borisovna Goldfeld.

Then, in 1903, Chukovsky was sent as a correspondent to London, where he thoroughly familiarized himself with English literature.

Returning to Russia during the 1905 revolution, Chukovsky was captured by revolutionary events, visited the battleship Potemkin, and began publishing the satirical magazine Signal in St. Petersburg. Among the authors of the journal were such famous writers like 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.

In 1906, Korney Ivanovich arrived in the Finnish town of Kuokkala (now Repino, the Kurortny district of St. Petersburg), where he made a close acquaintance with the artist Ilya Repin and the 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, “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 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 are far from always grateful to him for this; developed his own recognizable manner (reconstruction psychological make-up 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 - The Book of 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.

literary criticism

Since 1917, Chukovsky sat down for many years of work on Nekrasov, his favorite poet. 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. The monograph Nekrasov's Mastery, published in 1952, was reprinted many times, and in 1962 Chukovsky was awarded the Lenin Prize for it. After 1917, it was possible to publish a significant part of Nekrasov's poems, which had previously either been banned by the tsarist censorship, or which had been "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 writings ("The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trosnikov", " thin man"and others). On this occasion in literary circles there was even a legend: a literary critic and another researcher and biographer of Nekrasov, V.E. Evgeniev-Maksimov, who was zealous about the activities of the “competitor”, each time meeting Chukovsky, asked him: “Well, Korney Ivanovich, how many more lines of Nekrasov do you have today wrote?"

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 his book “People and Books of the Sixties” is dedicated, in particular, participated in the preparation of the text and editing of many publications. Chukovsky considered Chekhov the writer closest to himself in spirit.

Children's poems

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 he came out famous fairy tales"Moydodyr" and "Cockroach".

In the life of Chukovsky there was another hobby - the study of the psyche of children and how they master speech. He recorded his observations of children, for their verbal creativity in Two to Five (1933).

Chukovsky in the 1930s

Among party critics and editors, the term "Chukovshchina" arose. 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 Kolkhoz". Chukovsky was very upset by the renunciation and in the end did not do what he promised. The 1930s were marked by two personal tragedies of Chukovsky: in 1931 she died after serious illness his daughter Murochka, 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 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 on translations into Russian (M. Twain, O. Wilde, R Kipling and others, including in the form of "retellings" 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".

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. In particular, they demanded from Chukovsky that the words "God" and "Jews" should not be mentioned in the book; By the efforts of writers for God, the pseudonym "The Wizard of Yahweh" was invented. 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 at the publishing house "Karelia" with illustrations by Gustave Dore. 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 a holder of 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 them to meetings famous people, famous pilots, artists, writers, poets. Peredelkino children, who have long since become adults, still remember those children's gatherings at Chukovsky's dacha.

In 1966, he signed a letter from 25 cultural and scientific figures to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, L. I. Brezhnev, 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.

From the memoirs of Yu. G. Oksman:

He was buried at the cemetery in Peredelkino.

Family

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, 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 in the Great Patriotic war.
- Daughter - Maria Korneevna Chukovskaya (1920-1931), the heroine of children's poems and stories of her father.
  - Granddaughter - Natalya Nikolaevna Kostyukova (Chukovskaya), Tata, (born 1925), microbiologist, professor, doctor of medical sciences, Honored Scientist of Russia.
  - Granddaughter - literary critic, chemist Elena Tsezarevna Chukovskaya (born 1931).
  - 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).

Addresses in St. Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad

August 1905 - 1906: Akademichesky 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.
1912: in the name of K.I., a dacha was purchased (not preserved) in the village of Kuokkala (village of Repino) obliquely from the “Penates” of I.E. Repin, where the Chukovskys lived in the winter. Here is how contemporaries describe the location of this dacha:

Awards

Chukovsky was awarded the Order of Lenin (1957), three orders of the Red Banner of Labor, as well as medals. In 1962, he was awarded the Lenin Prize in the USSR, and in the UK he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature Honoris causa from Oxford University.

List of works

Fairy tales

Dog Kingdom (1912)
Crocodile (1916)
Cockroach (1921)
Moidodyr (1923)
Wonder Tree (1924)
Fly-Tsokotuha (1924)
Barmaley (1925)
Confusion (1926)
Fedorino grief (1926)
Telephone (1926)
Stolen Sun (1927)
Aibolit (1929)
English folk songs
Toptygin and Fox (1934)
Let's defeat Barmaley! (1942)
The Adventures of Bibigon (1945-1946)
Toptygin and Luna
Chick
What did Mura do when she was read the fairy tale "Wonder Tree"
The adventures of the white mouse

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
Chicken

Tale

Solar
Silver coat of arms

Translation works

Principles of Literary Translation (1919, 1920)
The Art of Translation (1930, 1936)
High Art (1941, 1964, 1966)

preschool education

two to five

Memories

Chukokkala
Contemporaries
Memories of Repin
Yuri Tynyanov
Boris Zhitkov
Irakli Andronikov

Articles

The story of my "Aibolit"
How "Fly-Tsokotuha" was written
Confessions of an old storyteller
Chukokkala page
About Sherlock Holmes
Verbitskaya (she later - Nate Pinkerton)
Lydia Charskaya

Editions of essays

Chukovsky K. I. Collected works in six volumes. - M.: Fiction, 1965-1969.
Chukovsky K. I. Works in two volumes. - M .: Pravda - Ogonyok, 1990. / compilation and general edition of E. Ts. Chukovskaya
Chukovsky K.I. Collected works in 5 volumes. - M.: Terra - Book Club, 2008.
Chukovsky K. I. Chukokkala. Handwritten almanac Korney Chukovsky / Foreword. I. Andronikov; Comment. K. Chukovsky; Comp., prepared. text, note. E. Chukovskaya. - 2nd ed. correct - M.: Russian way, 2006. - 584 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-85887-280-1.

Screen versions of works

1927 "Cockroach"
1938 "Doctor Aibolit" (dir. Vladimir Nemolyaev)
1939 Moidodyr (dir. Ivan Ivanov-Vano)
1939 Limpopo (dir. Leonid Amalrik, Vladimir Polkovnikov)
1941 "Barmaley" (dir. Leonid Amalrik, Vladimir Polkovnikov)
1944 "Phone_(cartoon)" (dir. Mikhail Tsekhanovsky)
1954 Moidodyr (dir. Ivan Ivanov-Vano)
1960 "Fly-clatter"
1963 "Cockroach"
1966 "Aibolit-66" (dir. Rolan Bykov)
1973 "Aibolit and Barmaley" (dir. Natalia Chervinskaya)
1974 "Fedorino grief"
1982 "Confusion"
1984 "Vanya and the crocodile"
1985 "Doctor Aibolit" (dir. David Cherkassky)

Selected Quotes

About K.I. Chukovsky

Chukovskaya L.K. Childhood memories: My father is Korney Chukovsky. - M.: Time, 2012. - 256 p., ill. - 3000 copies, ISBN 978-5-9691-0723-6