Korney Chukovsky
Encyclopedia
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky ' onMouseout='HidePop("74437")' href="/topics/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">NS
1882 - 28 October 1969) was one of the most popular children's poet
s in the Russian language
. His poems, Doctor Aybolit
(Айболит), The Giant Roach (Тараканище), The Crocodile (Крокодил), and Wash'em'clean
(Мойдодыр) have been favourites with many generations of Russophone
children. He was also an influential literary critic
and essayist.
News in 1901. He was born in St. Petersburg, the illegitimate son of Ekaterina Osipovna Korneychukova (a peasant girl from the Poltava
region of Ukraine
) and Emmanuil Solomonovich Levinson, a man from a wealthy Jewish family (his legitimate grandson was mathematician Vladimir Rokhlin). Levinson's family did not permit his marriage to Korneychukova and they eventually separated. Korneychukova moved to Odessa with Nikolay and his sibling. Levinson supported them financially for some time, until his marriage to another woman. Nikolay studied at the Odessa
gymnasium
, where one of his classmates was Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky. Later, Nikolay was expelled from the gymnasium for his "low origin" (a euphemism for illegitimacy). He had to get his secondary school
and university
diplomas by correspondence.
He taught himself English and, in 1903-05, he served as the London
correspondent
at an Odessa newspaper, although he spent most of his time at the British Library instead of the press gallery in the Parliament. Back in Russia
, Chukovsky started translating English works, notably Walt Whitman
, and published several analyses of contemporary European authors, which brought him in touch with leading personalities of Russian literature
and secured the friendship of Alexander Blok
. His influence on Russian literary society of the 1890s is immortalized by satirical verses of Sasha Cherny
, including Korney Belinsky (an allusion to the famous critic Vissarion Belinsky
). Later he published several notable literary titles including From Chekhov to Our Days (1908), Critique stories (1911) and Faces and masks (1914). He also published a satirical magazine called Signal (1905–1906) and was arrested for "insulting the ruling house," but was acquitted after six months of investigative incarceration.
It was at that period that Chukovsky produced his first fantasies for children. As the 2004 Encyclopædia Britannica
put it, "their clockwork rhythms and air of mischief and lightness in effect dispelled the plodding stodginess that had characterized pre-revolutionary children's poetry." Subsequently, they were adapted for theatre and animated films
, with Chukovsky as one of the collaborators. Sergei Prokofiev
and other composers even adapted some of his poems for opera
and ballet
. His works were popular with emigre children as well, as Vladimir Nabokov
's complimentary letter to Chukovsky attests.
During the Soviet period, Chukovsky edited the complete works of Nikolay Nekrasov and published From Two to Five (1933), a popular guidebook to the language of children. As his invaluable diaries attest, Chukovsky used his popularity to help the authors persecuted by the regime including Anna Akhmatova
, Mikhail Zoshchenko
, Alexander Galich
and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
. He was the only Soviet writer who officially congratulated Boris Pasternak
on winning the Nobel Prize
. His daughter, Lydia Chukovskaya
, is remembered as a noted writer, memoirist, philologist and lifelong assistant and secretary of the poet Anna Akhmatova
.
At one point his writings for children were under severe criticism. Nadezhda Krupskaya
was an initiator of this campaign, but criticism also came also from children's writer
Agniya Barto
.
Starting in the 1930s, Chukovsky lived in the writers' village of Peredelkino
near Moscow
, where he is now buried.
For his works on the life of Nekrasov he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree
in philology. He also received the Lenin Prize
in 1962 for his book, Mastery of Nekrasov and an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1962.
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
1882 - 28 October 1969) was one of the most popular children's poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s in the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. His poems, Doctor Aybolit
Doctor Aybolit
Doctor Aybolit is a fictional character from the children's poems Aybolit and Barmaley by Korney Chukovsky. The name may be translated as "Ouch, [it] hurts!"The origins of Aybolit can be traced to Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting...
(Айболит), The Giant Roach (Тараканище), The Crocodile (Крокодил), and Wash'em'clean
Moidodyr
Moydodyr is a 1923 poem for children by Korney Chukovsky about a magical creature by the same name. The name may be literally be translated as "Wash'em'clean", or "Clean 'til Holes"....
(Мойдодыр) have been favourites with many generations of Russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
children. He was also an influential literary critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
and essayist.
Early life
Nikolay Vasilyevich Korneychukov was his original name (Russian: Николай Васильевич Корнейчуков), which he reworked into his now familiar pen-name while working as a journalist at OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
News in 1901. He was born in St. Petersburg, the illegitimate son of Ekaterina Osipovna Korneychukova (a peasant girl from the Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
region of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) and Emmanuil Solomonovich Levinson, a man from a wealthy Jewish family (his legitimate grandson was mathematician Vladimir Rokhlin). Levinson's family did not permit his marriage to Korneychukova and they eventually separated. Korneychukova moved to Odessa with Nikolay and his sibling. Levinson supported them financially for some time, until his marriage to another woman. Nikolay studied at the Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
, where one of his classmates was Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky. Later, Nikolay was expelled from the gymnasium for his "low origin" (a euphemism for illegitimacy). He had to get his secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
and university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
diplomas by correspondence.
He taught himself English and, in 1903-05, he served as the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
at an Odessa newspaper, although he spent most of his time at the British Library instead of the press gallery in the Parliament. Back in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Chukovsky started translating English works, notably Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
, and published several analyses of contemporary European authors, which brought him in touch with leading personalities of Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
and secured the friendship of Alexander Blok
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was a Russian lyrical poet.-Life and career:Blok was born in Saint Petersburg, into a sophisticated and intellectual family. Some of his relatives were literary men, his father being a law professor in Warsaw, and his maternal grandfather the rector of Saint Petersburg...
. His influence on Russian literary society of the 1890s is immortalized by satirical verses of Sasha Cherny
Sasha Cherny
Sasha Chorny , real name Alexander Mikhailovich Glickberg, was a Russian poet, satirist and children's writer.-Early years:...
, including Korney Belinsky (an allusion to the famous critic Vissarion Belinsky
Vissarion Belinsky
Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky was a Russian literary critic of Westernizing tendency. He was an associate of Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin , and other critical intellectuals...
). Later he published several notable literary titles including From Chekhov to Our Days (1908), Critique stories (1911) and Faces and masks (1914). He also published a satirical magazine called Signal (1905–1906) and was arrested for "insulting the ruling house," but was acquitted after six months of investigative incarceration.
Later life and works
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
put it, "their clockwork rhythms and air of mischief and lightness in effect dispelled the plodding stodginess that had characterized pre-revolutionary children's poetry." Subsequently, they were adapted for theatre and animated films
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, with Chukovsky as one of the collaborators. Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
and other composers even adapted some of his poems for opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
. His works were popular with emigre children as well, as Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
's complimentary letter to Chukovsky attests.
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
, Mikhail Zoshchenko
Mikhail Zoshchenko
-Biography:Zoshchenko was born in 1895, in Poltava, but spent most of his life in St. Petersburg / Leningrad. His Ukrainian father was a mosaicist responsible for the exterior decoration of the Suvorov Museum in Saint Petersburg. The future writer attended the Faculty of Law at the Saint Petersburg...
, Alexander Galich
Alexander Galich
Alexander Galich , was a Russian poet, screenwriter, playwright, and singer-songwriter. Galich is a pen name, a sort of acronym of his last name, first name, and patronymic: Ginzburg Alexander Arkadievich. He adopted this name to conceal his Jewish ancestry in the face of antisemitism in the Soviet...
and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
. He was the only Soviet writer who officially congratulated Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian language poet, novelist, and literary translator. In his native Russia, Pasternak's anthology My Sister Life, is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language...
on winning the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
. His daughter, Lydia Chukovskaya
Lydia Chukovskaya
Lydia Korneievna Chukovskaya was a Soviet writer and poet. Her deeply personal writings reflect the human cost of Soviet totalitarianism, and she devoted much of her career to defending dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov...
, is remembered as a noted writer, memoirist, philologist and lifelong assistant and secretary of the poet Anna Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
.
At one point his writings for children were under severe criticism. Nadezhda Krupskaya
Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya
Nadezhda Konstantinovna "Nadya" Krupskaya was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and politician. She married the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin in 1898. She was deputy minister of Education in 1929–1939, Doctor of Education....
was an initiator of this campaign, but criticism also came also from children's writer
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
Agniya Barto
Agniya Barto
Agniya Lvovna Barto, , was a Soviet Jewish poet and children's writer.-Biography:Agniya was born Getel Leybovna Volova to the jewish family of a Moscow veterinarian named Lev Nikolaevich Volov. She studied at a ballet school. She liked poetry very much and soon started to write her own, trying to...
.
Starting in the 1930s, Chukovsky lived in the writers' village of Peredelkino
Peredelkino
Peredelkino is a dacha complex situated just to the southwest of Moscow, Russia.-History:The settlement originated as the estate of Peredeltsy, owned by the Leontievs , then by Princes Dolgorukov and by the Samarins. After a railway passed through the village in the 19th century, it was renamed...
near Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where he is now buried.
For his works on the life of Nekrasov he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree
Doktor nauk
Doktor nauk is a higher doctoral degree, the second and the highest post-graduate academic degree in the Soviet Union, Russia and in many post-Soviet states. Sometimes referred to as Dr. Hab. The prerequisite is the first degree, Kandidat nauk which is informally regarded equivalent to Ph.D....
in philology. He also received the Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
in 1962 for his book, Mastery of Nekrasov and an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1962.
Works by Chukovsky
- Живой как жизнь ('Alive as life itself'), a humorous and anti-prescriptivist discussion of the Russian language
- Selected works of Chukovsky, at the Stikhiia poetry archive
Works about Chukovsky
- Chukfamily.ru Materials about three generations of the Chukovsky family: Korney, Lidiya and Elena
- Biography of Chukovsksy
- "On the 120th Anniversary of Chukovsky's Birth", by essayist Dmitrii BykovDmitrii L'vovich BykovDmitrii Lvovich Bykov is a Russian writer, journalist, and poet.Being one of the most prolific modern Russian writers, in recent years he has gained some recognition for his biography of Boris Pasternak, published in 2005. The biography broke with prior works in its account of Doctor Zhivago, and...