Friday. I propose to talk about one of the best, in my opinion, Soviet science fiction writers.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov is a special figure in Russian literature. It, unlike many, becomes the farther, the more. He is one of the few writers whose books were actually read (voluntarily read!), and the entire population of the country remembers with warmth. Moreover, although almost all of the Soviet classics have remained in the past, and have not been reprinted for a long time, the demand for Nosov's books has not only not fallen one iota, but is constantly growing.
De facto, his books have become a symbol of successful literature.
Suffice it to recall the high-profile departure of Parkhomenko and Gornostaeva from the Azbuka-Atticus publishing group, which was explained by ideological differences with the management of the publishing house, which "not ready to release anything other than the 58th edition of Dunno on the Moon".
But at the same time, almost nothing is known about the author himself.
N. Nosov with his grandson Igor
His biography is really unlike an adventurous romance - he was born in Kiev in the family of a pop artist, in his youth he changed many jobs, then he graduated from the cinematography institute, left the cinema for literature and wrote all his life.
But some circumstances of this trivial fate really amaze the imagination. All of you probably remember the famous stories of Nosov from the conditional cycle "once we are with Mishka." Yes, the same ones - how they cooked porridge, twisted stumps at night, carried a puppy in a suitcase, etc. Now, please answer the question - when does the action of these stories take place? What year does this all take place?
Usually the range of opinions is quite large - from the thirties to the "thaw" sixties. There are a lot of answers, any - except the correct ones.
But the truth is that Nosov began writing short stories shortly before the war (the first publication was 1938), but the most famous, brightest and most memorable were written in the most terrible years. Forty-one to forty-five. Then the professional filmmaker Nosov shot documentaries for the front (and for the training film "Planetary Transmissions in Tanks", he received his first award - the Order of the Red Star), and in his free time, for the soul, he wrote those same stories - "Mishkina porridge", " Druzhok", "Gardeners" ... The last story of this cycle, "Tut-tuk-tuk", was written at the end of 1944, and in 1945 the novice writer published his first book - a collection of short stories "Tut-tuk-tuk".
The most important thing is that when you know the answer, annoyance immediately wakes up - well, how, it’s still clear! All the juvenile heroes have only mothers, where the fathers have gone is not clear. And in general, male characters for the whole cycle - quite elderly, apparently, "Uncle Fedya" in the train, who was always indignant at the recitation of poems, and the counselor Vitya, apparently, is a high school student. Extremely ascetic life, jam with bread as a treat ...
But still there is no war. Not a word, not a hint, not a spirit. I don't think I need to explain why. Because it was written for children. For children, to whom life has already measured so much that God forbid we find out. Such is the movie "Life is Beautiful", only in reality.
All clear. And yet - how? How could he do it? There can be only one answer - this is what distinguishes a real children's writer from a fake one.
With the order, by the way, everything was also quite interesting.
In his youth, Nosov was seriously interested in photography, and then in cinema, so at the age of 19 he entered the Kiev Art Institute, from which he transferred to the Moscow Institute of Cinematography, from which he graduated in 1932 in two faculties at once - directing and cameraman.
No, he did not become a great film director, he did not make feature films at all. In fact, Nosov was a real geek. All his life he was very fond of technology, which, in fact, is very noticeable in his books. Remember how selflessly he describes the device of any mechanism - be it a homemade incubator for hatching chickens, or a car powered by sparkling water with syrup?
Therefore, the director Nosov shot exclusively what he loved - popular science and educational films, and did this for 20 years, from 1932 to 1952. In 1952, already a well-known writer, he received the Stalin Prize for the story "Vitya Maleev at school and at home" and only after that he finally decided to leave for "literary bread"
Love for technology helped him more than once during the war, when he worked at the Voentekhfilm studio, where he made training films for tankers. After his death, the widow, Tatyana Fedorovna Nosova-Seredina, in the book "The Life and Work of Nikolai Nosov" told a funny episode.
The future writer was making a film about the structure and operation of the English tank "Churchill", supplied to the USSR from England. A big problem arose - the sample sent to the film studio did not want to turn around on the spot, but did it exclusively in a large arc. Filming was disrupted, the technicians could not do anything, and then Nosov asked to get into the tank - to observe the actions of the driver. The military, of course, looked at the civilian director as an idiot, but they let him in - he seems to be in charge on the set.
Members of the Soviet military mission during the testing of the Churchill IV tank. England, spring 1942
And then ... Next was this:
“Before that, Nikolai Nikolayevich worked on a training film about tractors and was generally well versed in machines, but the tanker, of course, did not know this. Scolding foreign vehicles for nothing, he turned on the engine and again made ridiculous curves with the tank, and as for Nikolai Nikolayevich, he concentratedly followed the levers, again and again asked the tankman to turn the tank in one direction, then in the other, until, finally, found no error. When the tank turned around its axis very gracefully for the first time, the studio workers who watched him work applauded. The driver was very pleased, but also embarrassed, he apologized to Nosov and did not want to believe that he knew the technique just like an amateur.
Soon the film "Planetary Transmissions in Tanks" was released, where "Churchill" wrote out pirouettes to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". And then…
Then a curious document appeared - the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding orders and medals. There, under the hat "For the exemplary performance of combat missions of the Command for tank and mechanized troops active army and the successes achieved in the training of tankers and the staffing of armored and mechanized troops " the names of lieutenant generals, captains and other "foremen and majors" were listed.
And only one surname - without a military rank. Just Nosov Nikolai Nikolaevich.
It's just that Nosov Nikolai Nikolaevich was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
For what? This was written in the submission:
"T. Nosov N.N. has been working as a director at the Voentekhfilm studio since 1932.
During his work, comrade Nosov, showing high skill in his work, moved into the ranks of the best directors of the studio.
comrade Nosov, director of the training film "Planetary Transmissions in Tanks". This film is the best released by the studio in 1943. The film was accepted outside the existing quality ratings by the Committee for Cinematography under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
comrade Nosov, in his work on this film, showed examples of genuine labor heroism, did not leave production for several days, trying to complete his work as soon as possible. Even being completely ill and barely able to stand, Comrade Nosov did not stop working on the film. He could not be forced to go home from production.
According to the stories, the writer was most proud of this award. More than the Order of the Red Banner of Labor received for literary activity, more than the Stalin or State Prizes.
But I, by the way, always suspected something similar. There is something inflexible in Dunno, armored, frontal and fearless. And the friction clutches immediately burns.
But there are more complicated riddles in Nosov's work, about which literary critics still argue fiercely. For example, everyone is usually baffled by Nosov's peculiar "reverse evolution".
In the most ideologically loaded Stalin years, Nikolai Nikolayevich wrote downright defiantly apolitical books, in which, in my opinion, even the pioneer organization was mentioned, if at all, then in passing. These events could take place anywhere - hatch chickens in a makeshift incubator or train a puppy, and indeed "children of different nations" could. Isn’t that why, by the way, in the list of the most translated Russian writers published in 1957 by the UNESCO Courier magazine, Nosov was in third place - after Gorky and Pushkin?
But when the thaw came, and the ideological pressure significantly decreased, Nosov, instead of following his fellow writers to rejoice at the newfound freedom, writes two large programmatic fundamentally ideological books - the "communist" story "Dunno in the Sunny City" and "capitalist" novel-fairy tale "Dunno on the Moon".
This unexpected turn still baffles all researchers. Well, yes, this happens, but usually when the author's creative powers are on the wane. Therefore, they are trying to compensate for the drop in quality with relevance. But with all the desire, this cannot be attributed to Nosov - there is no need to talk about any drop in quality, and almost everyone considers Dunno on the Moon to be the peak of his work. The well-known literary critic Lev Danilkin even declared it "one of the main novels of Russian literature of the XNUMXth century". Not children's books, and not science fiction novels, but Russian literature as such - on a par with The Quiet Don and The Master and Margarita.
The trilogy about Dunno, this "fourth N" of the author, is really amazingly talented and surprisingly multi-layered, it's not for nothing that adults read it with no less pleasure than children.
Let's take at least not very hidden allusions, what today is called postmodernism. Almost all of Russian classical literature is indeed hidden in Dunno. Boasting Dunno before the little ones: "It was I who built the ball, I am generally their most important, and I wrote these poems"- Khlestakov in its purest form, the wanderings of policeman Svistulkin, who witnessed the miracle performed by Dunno with the help of a magic wand, clearly refer us to the similar ordeals of Ivan Bezdomny in The Master and Margarita. The gallery of characters goes on: The Magician with his "The sun shines on everyone equally"- the spitting image of Platon Karataev, the bare-bellied comforter of those going to the Fool's Island (“Listen to me, brothers! No need to cry! .. We will be full - we will live somehow!) is clearly a Gorky wanderer Luka.
And a comparison of the appearance of Zhading and Spruts - Zhading in his appearance was very reminiscent of Mr. Spruts. The difference was that his face was somewhat wider than that of Mr. Spruts, and his nose was a little narrower. While Mr. Spruts had very neat ears, Zhading's ears were large and absurdly sticking out to the sides, which further increased the width of the face. - again Gogol, his famous Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich: Ivan Ivanovich is thin and tall; Ivan Nikiforovich is a little lower, but it spreads in thickness. Ivan Ivanovich's head is like a radish with its tail down; head of Ivan Nikiforovich on a radish with his tail up.
Moreover, as one of my friends noted, Nosov prophetically parodied the classics, which then simply did not exist. Does this passage remind you of anything?
Shutilo began shaking Svistulkin's shoulder. Finally Svistulkin woke up.
— How did you get here? he asked, looking in bewilderment at Shutila and Korzhik, who were standing in front of him in their underwear.
- We? Shutilo was taken aback. - Do you hear, Korzhik, it's like this ... that is, if I weren't Jester. He asks how we got here! No, we wanted to ask you, how did you get here?
- I? As always,” Svistulkin shrugged.
- "As always"! Shutilo exclaimed. - Where do you think you are?
- At home. Where else?
- That's the number, if I weren't joking! Listen, Korzhik, he says that he is at home. And where are we?
“Yes, it’s true,” Korzhik interrupted the conversation. - And here we are with him then, in your opinion, where?
Well, you are at my house.
- Look you! Are you sure about this?
Svistulkin looked around and, in amazement, even half-rose on the bed.
“Listen,” he said at last, “how did I get here?
Here, in fact, the word that explains everything - "visionary" sounded.
Today's readers vying with each other admire how accurately Nosov described capitalist society. Everything, down to the smallest detail. Here's a "black PR" for you:
- And what. The giant plant society may burst? - Grizzle (newspaper editor - VN) was alert and moved his nose, as if sniffing at something.
“It must burst,” Krabs replied, emphasizing the word “must.”
“Must?… Oh, must! Grizzle grinned, and his upper teeth again dug into his chin. “Well, it will burst if it has to, I can assure you!” Ha-ha!…”
Here are the "werewolves in uniform":
- And who are these policemen? - asked herring.
- Bandits! - said Spikelet with irritation.
“Honestly, bandits! In fact, the duty of the police is to protect the population from robbers, in reality, they only protect the rich. And the rich are the real robbers. They only rob us, hiding behind the laws that they themselves come up with. And what, tell me, is the difference, according to the law I will be robbed or not according to the law? I do not care!".
Here's "current art":
“You better not look at this picture, brother,” Kozlik told him. - Do not rack your brains in vain. There is still nothing to understand here. All our artists draw like this, because the rich only buy such paintings. One will paint such squiggles, another will depict some incomprehensible squiggles, the third will pour liquid paint into a tub and suffice it in the middle of the canvas, so that some kind of awkward, meaningless spot will turn out. You look at this stain and cannot understand anything - just some kind of abomination! And the rich look and even praise. “We, they say, do not need the picture to be clear. We do not want any artist to teach us something there. A rich man understands everything even without an artist, but a poor man does not need to understand anything. That's why he is a poor man, so as not to understand anything and live in the dark.
And even "credit slavery":
- I then entered the factory and began to earn decently. Even for a rainy day, I began to save money, just in case, that means, if I suddenly become unemployed again. Only it was difficult, of course, to resist, so as not to spend money. And then they still began to say that I need to buy a car. I say: why do I need a car? I can also walk. And they tell me: it's a shame to walk on foot. Only the poor go on foot. In addition, the car can be bought in installments. You make a small donation, you get a car, and then you pay a little each month until you pay it all off. Well, I did. Let, I think, everyone imagines that I am also a rich man. I paid the first installment, got the car. He sat down, drove off, and immediately fell into a ka-a-ah-ha-nava (from excitement, Kozlik even began to stutter). The auto-aha-mobile broke, you know, he broke his leg and four more ribs.
“Well, did you fix the car later?” Asked Dunno.
- What are you! While I was sick, they drove me out of work. And then it's time to pay a fee for the car. But I don’t have money! Well, they say to me: then give the car-aha-ha-mobile back. I say: go, take it in kaa ha khanava. They wanted to judge me for ruining the car, but they saw that there was still nothing to take from me, and they got rid of it. So I didn’t have a car, nor money. ”
The descriptions are so accurate and detailed that doubt inevitably creeps in - how could a person who lived his whole life behind the then impenetrable "Iron Curtain" draw such a large-scale and impeccably executed canvas? Where does he get such detailed knowledge of the stock market game, brokers, “inflated” stocks and financial pyramids? Where, finally, did rubber batons with built-in stun guns come from, because in those years they simply were not in service with the police - neither in Western countries, nor even more so in our country.
To somehow explain this, even a witty theory appeared, turning everything upside down. Say, the whole point is that a new society was built by people who received all their knowledge about capitalism from Nosov's novel. Here they are, on an unconscious level, and reproduced the realities that have settled in my head since childhood. Because, they say, it was not Nosov who described today's Russia, but Russia was built "according to Nosov."
But the hypothesis that Nosov was simply a prophet who saw the future and tried to warn precisely those who were to live in this future - children, is much more logical. First, about what will happen to their world. And then about how the new world will be.
To substantiate it, let us turn to the most important thing - the key idea of both books. What do you think, what is told in Dunno in the Sunny City? About communism? About technical innovations like radio-controlled cars? Utopia, you say?
Yes, you remember the book, remember the plot, the plot! The book, by and large, is about how fragile, unprotected this built “society of justice” turned out to be. Do you remember the donkeys turned into people by Dunno and the movement of “windmills” that arose after this fatal for the city?
After all, what do we have? There is a completely happy and, apparently, rather closed society (remember, with what enthusiasm they meet aliens, who are literally torn by the sleeve by hospitable hosts). But the slightest push from the outside turns out to be fatal, the virus introduced from the outside infects the entire body, everything collapses, and not in detail, but to the ground.
Newfangled trends that appeared not without the help of aliens plunge this society into complete anarchy, and only dumbfounded policemen (remember our "cops", who never took pistols on duty) helplessly watch the riot of social elements. Hello nineties!
Nosov, of course, is a kind storyteller, so he could not end on such a pessimistic note. But it is significant that even he, in order to save the Sunny City, had to pull the piano out of the bushes, call on the "god from the machine" - the Wizard, who came and performed a miracle.
And "Dunno on the Moon" - is it really about a capitalist society? The book is about two happy "domestic puppies" who suddenly found themselves on the street, in an animal pack. Someone, like Donut, adapted, someone, like Dunno, collapsed to the very bottom. In a word, as it is rightly said in the collection of articles “Merry little men. Cultural heroes of Soviet childhood”: “Reading the book “Dunno on the Moon” in the 2000s is fraught with “subtraction” in the text of meanings that Nosov, who died in 1976, could not put there in any way. This tale is reminiscent of an inadvertent description of the self-awareness of those inhabitants of the USSR who in 1991 woke up as if on the moon: they had to survive in a situation where what seemed to be the eventless Kolokolchikov Street remained in the distant past - along with its allegedly eternal time ... ".
However, the former residents of the Flower City understand everything. And on the day of the centenary of their favorite writer they write in their blogs: “Thank you, Nikolai Nikolaevich, for the prophecy. And although we ended up not in the Sunny City, as we should have, but on the Moon, we send you our love, gratitude and admiration from it. Everything here is exactly as you described. Most have already passed through Fool's Island and are bleating peacefully. A minority in anguish hopes for a saving ship with Znayka at the head. He, of course, will not arrive, but they are waiting..
Source: habr.com