Volkov Alexander Melentievich- writer, playwright, translator. Born on July 14, 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk in the family of a retired non-commissioned officer. In 1907 he came to Tomsk, entered Tomsk, and three years later received the right to teach in city and higher elementary schools. He worked as a teacher in the city of Kolyvan, and then in hometown Ust-Kamenogorsk. From 1929 he lived in Moscow. Forty years old married man, the father of two children, prepared in seven months and passed the exams for a five-year course at the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow State University. He worked as a teacher of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

Writer Alexander Volkov with his son Vivian

His first literary experiments there were poems. His sad poem was published in the Tomsk daily social, literary and political newspaper “Siberian Light” (1917, No. 13):

Nothing makes me happy
My sad gaze does not amuse;
On the slope of life lived
I'm tired of the long journey.
Sadly I look ahead:
I won’t meet a gentle gaze
I am at the end of my days;
Not a word of friendship, not a reproach
My former friend will not tell me;
It's hidden cold and dumb
A gloomy and high wall.
And I'm the only one with the sadness of the evil
I live sad and sick
And my end is not far away.

In Ust-Kamenogorsk he participated in the publication of the newspaper “Friend of the People”, wrote several plays for children's theater. Once, as material for exercises in the English language, he was brought the book by F. Baum “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” He read it, told it to his children and decided to translate it. The result was not a translation, but an arrangement of a book by an American author. The fairy tale was published in 1939. In the sixties he wrote six more fairy tales about the Emerald City - “Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers” (1963), “Seven Underground Kings” (1964), “Fiery God of the Marranos” (1968), “Yellow Fog” (1970), “The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle” (1975, published 1982).

He has written 20 books - several popular science and historical novels and stories, children's fantasy stories “Travelers in the Third Millennium” (1960) and “The Adventures of Two Friends in the Country of the Past” (1963), popular science books on geography, fishing, astronomy, and history. His books have been translated into 30 languages.

Emerald city Tomsk: green facts

1. The real Emerald Castle rises in Tomsk on Belinsky Street, 19. Architect S. Khomich built it in 1904 for his family. In 1924, the operational technical school of the Tomsk Railway was located in the mansion. Then TSU students lived there for some time. In the second half of the 30s they lived in the mansion medical workers, then the regional children's home No. 3 and the regional children's hospital were located in turn. Now the Emerald Castle is occupied by officials: the Licensing Committee of the Tomsk Region and Roszdravnadzor. Architectural monument of federal significance.
2. “Emerald City” is the first shopping and entertainment complex in our city. With huge stores of food, household appliances, sporting goods, a cinema, etc. It is located at the intersection of Komsomolsky Ave. and st. Siberian. In front of the shopping center there is a sculptural composition with fairy tale characters, and a yellow brick path will lead to the entrance to the building. Plus colors and design elements reminiscent of the Emerald City. The area of ​​the complex will be 42 thousand m2. The Emerald City opened in April 2014.
3. Bronze monument to Ellie, Totoshka and everyone else. Being a convinced supporter of the idea that the image of the Emerald City came to Volkov in Tomsk, the writer Andrei Olear proposed erecting a monument to the heroes of the fairy tale in our city. According to him, “the sculptural composition will represent a Lion, on which the girl Ellie sits, the Scarecrow, next to the Tin Woodman with an ax and Ellie’s faithful friend Totoshka next to the Lion. And they all come out of an open bronze book.” The monument will be located right next to the Emerald City shopping and entertainment complex.

Works of the writer-storyteller Volkov

Ust-Kamenogorsk is a small provincial town. There, in the ancient fortress, where the peasant Melenty Volkov served as a soldier, his first-born, Alexander, was born.
The boy was not even four years old when his father taught him to read. Since then, Sanya has become an avid bookworm. At the age of six, he was immediately accepted into the second grade of the city school. And at twelve he graduated as the best student. A few years later, Sasha - no, now Alexander Melentyevich - taught at the same Ust-Kamenogorsk school where he had previously sat at his desk.
At less than twenty years old, he is a respected city dweller. What else does a peasant son need? Much…
At the end of the First World War, already drafted military service, he passed the final exams at the Semipalatinsk gymnasium as an external student. Later, the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute remained behind him. And in his fifties, this restless man entered and brilliantly graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow University. And in just seven months! And soon he was already teaching higher mathematics at one of the Moscow universities.
This is where the most unexpected turn in the life of Alexander Melentyevich Volkov took place.
It all started with the fact that he, a great expert foreign languages, I decided to learn English as well. And for practice I tried to translate a fairy tale American writer Frank Baum's The Wise Man of Oz. He liked the book. Very. So he started telling it to his sons. At the same time, redoing something, adding something. The girl began to be called Ellie. Totoshka, having found himself in the Magic Land, spoke. And the Sage from the Land of Oz acquired a name and title - the Great and Terrible Wizard Goodwin... Many other cute, funny, sometimes almost imperceptible changes appeared. And the book seemed to become more spacious and brighter. And when the translation, or, more precisely, the retelling, was completed, it suddenly became clear that this was no longer quite Baum’s “The Sage.” The American fairy tale has become just a fairy tale. And her characters spoke Russian as casually and cheerfully (maybe even a little more cheerfully) as they had spoken English half a century before.
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak soon became acquainted with the manuscript of the new fairy tale, and then with the author-translator. And he strongly advised him to take up literature professionally. Volkov heeded the advice.
In 1939, “The Wizard of the Emerald City” was published in Detizdat. And the story of Baum’s “The Sage” repeated itself: in the same year the book was published in its second, and at the beginning of 1941 in its third edition.
During the war, the fairy tale was, of course, somewhat forgotten. And only at the end of the 1950s, when the artist Leonid Vladimirsky made new drawings for “The Wizard”, it was published again. And young readers again set off on a journey along the road paved with yellow brick. And letters began to flock to the author - tens, hundreds, thousands. With one single request: continue the fairy tale! And Volkov himself could not resist the magic of Baumov and, to some extent, his imagination and wrote a whole series of books about Fairyland, already completely original.
But Volkov the writer is not only a storyteller, although his historical and popular science books are not so widely known. It's a pity. Believe me, it’s worth getting to know them better.

Irina Kazyulkina

WORKS OF A.M.VOLKOV

COMPLETE WORKS / Artist. Yu. Solovyov. - St. Petersburg: Neva; M.: OLMA-Press, 2003. - 639 pp.: ill.
The publishers bent their hearts somewhat by calling this huge volume « full meeting essays" A.M.Volkova. In fact, the book only included the fairy-tale epic about the Magic Land. Probably, someone will be happy to find all six fairy tales about the adventures of Ellie and Annie under one cover, but such joy will only be available to people endowed with remarkable strength. For an ordinary child It will be very difficult to handle a weighty volume.

THE WIZARD OF THE EMERALD CITY / Artist. L.Vladimirsky. - M.: AST: Pushkinskaya b-ka, 2004. - 287 p.: ill. - (Extracurricular reading).
URFIN DJUS AND HIS WOODEN SOLDIERS / Artist. L.Vladimirsky. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2002. - 207 p.: ill.
SEVEN UNDERGROUND KINGS: Fairytale. story / Artist. L.Vladimirsky. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2002. - 190 pp.: ill.
FIRE GOD OF THE MARRANS: Storyteller. story / Artist. L.Vladimirsky. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2003. - 196 p.: ill.
YELLOW MIST: Fairytale. story / Artist. L.Vladimirsky. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2001. - 222 p.: ill.
THE SECRET OF AN ABANDONED CASTLE / Artist. L.Vladimirsky. - M.: Dom, 1992. - 183 p.: ill.
Anyone who is already familiar with Ellie, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Woodcutter and the Cowardly Lion will certainly want to know what happened to them next. And who doesn’t know them yet - get to know them quickly! Otherwise, you will never get to the Magic Land and will not see the Emerald City.

Leonid Viktorovich Vladimirsky’s illustrations for A.M. Volkov’s fairy-tale epic have long become classics, but there are editions of “The Wizard of the Emerald City” designed by other artists. Here are a few of them:

THE WIZARD OF THE EMERALD CITY / Artist. V. Chizhikov. - M.: Astrel: ONIX, 2000. - 191 p.: ill. - (Favorite book).
THE WIZARD OF THE EMERALD CITY / Artist. E. Vasiliev. - M.: ROSMEN, 2000. - 143 p.: ill.
THE WIZARD OF THE EMERALD CITY / Artist. O. Gorbushin. - M.: Samovar, 1998. - 175 p.: ill.
THE WIZARD OF THE EMERALD CITY / Fig. N. Shchelkanova. - St. Petersburg: Lyceum, 1992. - 158 p.: ill.

* * *

IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH. - M.: Det. lit., 1987. - 154 p.: ill. - (Bible series).
The heroes of this book are Aristotle, Nicolaus Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Johannes Kepler, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. And many more, whose names will forever go down in the history of astronomy.

TWO BROTHERS: A novel. - M.: Century: International. book, 1995. - 382 pp.: ill. - (Historical adventure novels for young people).
This story happened in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great. There lived then two brothers - Ilya and Yegor Markov, the children of a poor Streltsy widow. They had different characters, and therefore their destinies turned out differently...

EARTH AND SKY: Entertaining stories on geography and astronomy / Fig. B. Kyshtymova. - M.: Det. lit., 1974. - 208 p.: ill.

WANDERING; MIRACLE BALL: East. novels. - M.: Century: International. book, 1995. - 525 pp.: ill. - (Historical adventure series for youth).
"Wandering"
A book about the childhood and youth of the great Italian philosopher and astronomer Giordano Bruno.

"Wonderful Ball"
They put the merchant's son Dmitry Rakitin in a fortress, and he will have to spend his whole life in captivity. Yes, he is not the kind of person to come to terms with this. You cannot escape from the fortress. So, right, you can fly away?..

FOLLOW THE STERN. - M.: Det. lit., 1972. - 208 p.: ill.
The history of navigation from primitive times to the legendary campaigns of the brave Viking Leif Erikson.

TSARGRAD BRIDE; ARCHITECTS. - M.: Century: International. book, 1995. - 528 pp.: ill. - (Historical adventure series for youth).
"The Tsargrad Bride"
The Pechenegs kidnapped Olga, the wife of the blacksmith Stoyun, took her away and sold her into slavery in the distant city of Constantinople. How to find and save the captive?..

"Architects"
The famous St. Basil's Cathedral stands in Moscow on Red Square. This novel is dedicated to the Russian craftsmen who built it back in the 16th century.

Irina Kazyulkina

LITERATURE ABOUT THE LIFE AND WORK OF A.M. VOLKOV

Volkov A.M. The story of life // Out loud to myself. - M.: Det. lit., 1978. - pp. 61-78.

Begak B.A. Once upon a time there was a boy // Begak B.A. True fairy tales. - M.: Det. lit., 1989. - pp. 63-72.
Begak B.A. About the author of this book // Volkov A.M. Architects. - M.: Det. lit., 1986. - pp. 3-6.
Volkov Alexander Melentievich (1891-1977) // Kuznetsova N.I., Meshcheryakova M.I., Arzamastseva I.N. Children's writers. - M.: Ballas: S-Info, 1995. - P. 31-33.
Volkov Alexander Melentievich (1891-1977) // Stories about the authors of your books. - M.: Megatron, 1997. - P. 61-65.
Kuleshov E.V. Volkov Alexander Melentievich (1891-1977) // Essays on children's writers. - M.: Ballas, 1999. - P. 37-38.
Nevinskaya I.N. Volkov Alexander Melentievich (1891-1977) // Russian children's writers of the 20th century. - M.: Flinta: Science, 1997. - P. 99-101.
Rozanov A. Boy from a long village // Volkov A.M. The Wizard of Oz; Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers. - Kemerovo: Book. publishing house, 1989. - P. 360-364.
Rozanov A.S. Teacher from our city // Rozanov A.S. First Russian boys. - Alma-Ata: Zhalyn, 1988. - pp. 96-107.
Petrovsky M. Truth and illusions of Oz // Petrovsky M. Books of our childhood. - M.: Book, 1986. - P. 221-273.
Rakhtanov I. Wizard-scientist // Rakhtanov I. Stories from memory. - M.: Det. lit., 1971 - pp. 32-55.
Tokmakova I.P. About the author and his books // Volkov A.M. Two brothers. - M.: Det. lit., 1981. - pp. 5-8.
Tubelskaya G.N. Volkov Alexander Melentievich (1891-1977) // Tubelskaya G.N. Children's writers of Russia. - M.: Shk. b-ka, 2002. - pp. 52-54.

I.K.

SCREEN ADAPTATIONS OF A.M. VOLKOV’S WORKS

- FEATURE FILM -

The Wizard of Oz. Scene V. Korostyleva. Dir. P. Arsenov. Comp. E. Krylatov. Russia, 1994. Starring: Katya Mikhailovskaya, V. Nevinny, V. Pavlov, N. Varley, E. Gerasimov, B. Shcherbakov, O. Kabo and others.

- CARTOON -

The Wizard of the Emerald City. At 10 am Dir. K. Malyantovich, Y. Kalisher, Y. Trofimov, L. Aristov and others. USSR, 1973-1974.

The books of the Soviet children's writer and teacher Alexander Melentyevich Volkov about the wonderful Magic Land, the Emerald City and the girl Ellie are familiar and loved by many. Only fairy tales that we read in childhood can be so loved - warmly and selflessly. What could be closer to the world of children's imagination than stories about exciting journeys to unknown countries, meetings with their formidable rulers, wonderful inhabitants, good wizards and evil sorcerers?

More than one generation of Soviet children grew up reading Volkov’s books. It was not for nothing that they sold out, they were snapped up instantly - the owner of a copy of “The Wizard” was the lucky one. In libraries, books were signed up in a queue, they were copied and redrawn by hand. Volkov’s series of books can be compared with other masterpieces of children’s literature in the fantasy genre - “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C. S. Lewis, “The Hobbit” by J. R. Tolkien, “Alice in Wonderland” by L. Carroll, the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, the fantastic stories of J. Darella. How were these books created, written and published?

The beginning of the story

It all started in the 30s, when the shortage of children's literature was an acute issue in the USSR. "Kamchatka, Far East, The northern region requires books for preschoolers. But what should we answer to the distant outskirts, when in Moscow and Leningrad children do not have a set of books essential for their development?- wrote A. M. Gorky. (Gorky M. Literature for children // Gorky M. About children's literature. Articles, statements, letters. M., 1968. P. 112-113)

To solve the problem, the world's first specialized publishing house, Detizdat, was created. The calls of A. M. Gorky and S. Ya. Marshak to write for children were heard from the pages of newspapers. And they found their recipient - a teacher at the Department of Higher Mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, A. M. Volkov, a man of broad outlook and the father of two sons.

Alexander Volkov had already tried his hand at writing, and successfully - he was the author of plays for school productions, wrote poetry and translated, and also began his first historical story.

In the mid-30s, Volkov made an important decision, without which there would have been no “Wizard of the Emerald City” - namely, he decided to continue studying English. In this he was helped by a circle for teachers in his native Ministry of Tsvetmet, where participants were given copies of the fairy tale by the American writer Frank Lyman Baum “The Wise Man from Oz” as material for exercises.

Volkov liked the book so much that he read it to his sons Viva and Adik, who accepted it with delight. The fairy tale charmed the teacher “with its plot and some surprisingly cute characters.” He decided to translate “The Wise Man of Oz” into Russian, thoroughly reworking it. Volkov was so captivated by the translation that it was ready in just two weeks - according to various sources, the work lasted from December 6 to December 21 (or 26), 1936.

The young writer took the risk of sending his manuscript to the editor-in-chief of Detizdat N. Maksimova and the writer S. Ya. Marshak - and received their full approval. The Soviet teacher A. S. Makarenko also liked “The Wizard of the Emerald City.”

However, despite the success, Detizdat did not include books in its publishing plans. Various reasons were given: lack of paper, desire to print only classical works, not fairy tales.

Ultimately, after more than a year of ordeal, “The Wizard of the Emerald City” was lucky - the contract for its publication was signed on June 7, 1938 and “The machine started working! Artist, proofreaders, photographers, typists, typesetters, printers, bookbinders... And behind them - wallet workers, textile workers, etc. and so on. The great chain of human labor!- Alexander Melentievich wrote down in October 1939. (Archive of A.M. Volkov. Diary. Book 1. L. 108)

The illustrations for the book were drawn by the artist N. E. Radlov - they were black and white and suited the author quite well. It’s interesting that the editors themselves really loved the book: “It turns out that the editors are already becoming familiar with my heroes. They friendly call the Lion “Lyova”, the Scarecrow - “Stuffed Animal”.”. (Archive of A.M. Volkov. Diary. Book 1. L. 34). The manuscript was even kept in a green folder.

“The Wizard of the Emerald City” was published in September 1939 in a circulation of 25 thousand copies, and in December it was republished again – again in a quantity of 25 thousand.

The book had incredible success from readers. Her heroes - the courageous, smart, kind girl Ellie, the smart and inventive Scarecrow, the kind Tin Woodman, the brave Lion, the little protector Totoshka - became close and understandable to children. The extraordinary success of the fairy tale predetermined its publication in 1941 in the “School Library” series with a circulation of 177 thousand copies. Thus, children throughout the country received as many as 227 thousand “Wizards”!

"The Wizard of the Emerald City" during the war and post-war years

The book arrived just in time - the Great Patriotic War, And good fairy tales children have become more necessary than ever.

“The whole class read The Wizard to the core. It was a surprisingly bright fairy tale. Going into it, we forgot about hunger, and about torn felt boots, and about the fact that notebooks had to be sewn together from old newspapers. Faith in goodness and justice was born in the soul.”, - recalled writer Yuri Kachaev.

The book was kept as the most precious thing, taken with them during evacuation among the most necessary things, read in the subway during the bombings.

After the war, Volkov offered to republish the book again, but was refused. The declared struggle against cosmopolitanism and foreign influence in the state had a negative impact on the fate of the book. Still, the American flavor of history has not gone away, and the Motherland to which Ellie so dreamed of returning was the USA.

Only in the mid-50s did they start talking again about re-releasing The Wizard in the USSR. And at that moment a very important event for the book happened - namely, A. M. Volkov met the artist Leonid Viktorovich Vladimirsky, who became his friend and colleague for all subsequent years. He came to the writer in 1957, offering to illustrate “The Wizard of the Emerald City”, and at the same time publish the book in the new publishing house “Soviet Russia”.

By that time, Volkov had significantly reworked the text of the story - he was influenced by the work on the play based on “The Wizard” for children puppet theaters. The writer wanted: “Introduce a whole series of dialogues, using the play, to more clearly highlight the restless and assertive character of the Scarecrow, the sentimentality of the Woodcutter. An example of dialogue can be “Alice in Wonderland”. Fill the book with poems and songs, add a number of adventures". (Archive of A.M. Volkov. Diary. Book 3. L. 25)

Volkov gave Vladimirsky the revised manuscript, and Vladimirsky showed the writer his work. Both were very pleased with each other. Vladimirsky launched active negotiations with the publishing house.

In October 1957, he brought Volkov more drawings and he left an admiring response: “Here is an active artist! He interferes in the construction of the book, asks for rearrangements, and points out bad places. For the first time I meet an artist who treats his work with such love and diligence and for whom a book is as dear as his own creation.”. (Archive of A.M. Volkov. Diary. Book 10. L. 34-35)

The writer really liked the created Vladimirsky images the heroes of the fairy tale, especially the Scarecrow, who in the artist’s interpretation is close to Ellie’s age.

“In the 14 years that have passed since the first release of “The Wizard,” the image of the Scarecrow in L. Vladimirsky’s interpretation has become classic. His funny face with mischievous eyes and disheveled yellow hair looks out from millions of book pages flipped through by young readers in our country and far beyond its borders. And the Tin Woodman with a funny funnel on his head instead of a hat, with slightly awkward movements, a tireless desire to come to the aid of all those suffering and offended? And the good-natured Leo with a lush mane, a long tail and a tassel at the end, with which he, moved, wipes away his tears? All of these characters are also loved by young readers. What can we say about the guys, when even I, who have seen these “portraits” created by a good dozen Soviet and foreign artists, can only imagine them in the form in which L. Vladimirsky presented them”, - A.M. Volkov later recalled. (Volkov A. Union of word and brush // Children's literature. 1973. No. 8. P. 77-78)

As a result of the work done by the writer and artist, a completely new edition of the book was created. It is this edition that we know.

Updated version of "The Wizard of Oz"

How was it different? new text"The Wizard" from the old, original one?

Firstly, the orphan Ellie finds parents - Kansas farmers John and Anna Smith, since Volkov did not want the girl to evoke a feeling of pity in the readers.

Secondly, Volkov made the fairy tale more logical, with more obvious cause-and-effect relationships. He was a mathematics teacher, after all, and besides, he believed that children are sensitive to logical errors.

Volkov introduced the plot core in the form of the “three wishes” motif. According to the prophecy of the good sorceress Villina, in order to return home Ellie must help three creatures achieve the fulfillment of their wishes. cherished desires. So the Scarecrow should receive intelligence, the enchanted Tin Woodman - heart, and the Cowardly Lion - courage. Thus, Ellie’s actions acquire purposefulness, and the plot of the fairy tale and each episode become more thoughtful.

Thirdly, some new scenes were included in the fairy tale - for example, Gingema brewing a magic potion, summoning a hurricane, Villina opening a magic book, etc. The motives of the struggle for social justice, characteristic of Soviet society, are also reflected - this is how Ellie calls on the subjects of the evil fairy Bastinda to rebel against her power.

The new, revised “The Wizard of Oz” was published at the end of 1959 with a circulation of 300 thousand copies and became a real event in literary life. Finally, newspapers and magazines started talking about the book, and publications followed one after another.

Since the 60s, the “triumphant march” of fairy tales began in the USSR and abroad. It was published in fairly large editions in Uzbekistan, Latvia, Armenia, Czechoslovakia, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. Reprinted several times in Russia, including on German translated by Steinmetz. His translation was first published in the GDR in 1969, and in 1970 the book appeared in Holland.

The appearance of the book caused a new, unprecedented phenomenon - children copied the book with their own hands and drew illustrations themselves. The writer received letters of appreciation from readers - from the smallest to the largest.

Wooden soldiers of Oorfene Deuce and the Seven Underground Kings

Alexander Melentyevich, meanwhile, managed to get acquainted with other books by F. Baum from the series about the magical land of Oz. He wanted to write a sequel about his favorite characters, based on the original. But unexpectedly I found Baum’s books not very good.

In them - “sucking stupid fables out of thin air and inventing a motley crowd of people and monsters - wooden, copper, rag, gingerbread, pumpkin-headed, etc. and so on. What nonsense! If I don’t restrain myself, like Baum, by certain literary boundaries, I can write six such “fairy tales” a year! This oziana is very, very weak, shoddy.”(Archive of A.M. Volkov. Diary. Book 10. L. 74-75).

Volkov decided to write a sequel, relying entirely on his own imagination. The idea for the plot came to him back in January 1958 - the “highlight” of the story should be living water, just like in ancient Russian fairy tales. There, however, the water revived those who had already lived before. Volkov came up with a “living powder” that could revive absolutely everything, including objects.

The writer sat down to a new fairy tale July 25, 1958 and worked until August 14. In June-July, Volkov finalized the fairy tale in Perm, when he was visiting his brother Anatoly - this is how the book “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers” was born. The main villain in it is Oorfene Deuce (which means Oorfene the Envious) - a henchman of the deceased sorceress Gingema and an ordinary carpenter. Volkov did not choose this craft by chance - it was interesting to show the transformation of a hero with a purely peaceful profession into a militant aggressor, and besides, the writer himself loved to carpenter. A life-giving powder falls into the hands of Oorfene Deuce, with the help of which he creates an entire army of wooden soldiers and attacks the Emerald City. Ellie and her friend, one-legged sailor Charlie Black, save the city.

The fairy tale began to be published in 1962 in the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda” in an abridged version, and in 1963 it was published as a separate book in the publishing house “Soviet Russia” with a circulation of 300 thousand copies.

A year later, readers were waiting for the next book in the series - “Seven Underground Kings”. By original plan Volkov’s tale was supposed to have 12 kings, but the artist Vladimirsky advised reducing their number to seven - according to the number of colors of the rainbow. In this tale, soporific water appears, plunging a person into a months-long sleep, after which he wakes up completely renewed and devoid of everyday experience. Volkov replaced the sailor Charlie Black with the boy Fred Canning - cousin Ellie.

“Seven Underground Kings” continued the tradition of a social fairy tale started by “Three Fat Men” by Y. Olesha. A. M. Volkov wrote: “I posed in it big problems of a social and, so to speak, political-economic order, of course, in a form accessible to children. I don’t use the terms “exploitation”, “primitive accumulation”, etc., but, in essence, this is exactly what I’m talking about we're talking about» . (Archive of A.M. Volkov. Literary documents. T. 18). The social motive found its place in the following books in the series.

The book "Seven Underground Kings" was the last one in which Ellie appeared. According to the author, the girl grew up too much and could no longer be the main character. Through the lips of the queen of the field mice, Volkov closed the road to the Magic Land for her.

The tale was published in an abbreviated form by the magazine “Science and Life” in 1964. The book “Seven Underground Kings” was first published in 1967 with a circulation of 100 thousand copies.

New dangers and a new main character

Numerous letters from readers asking to continue the series could not leave the author indifferent. In addition, he himself managed to become attached to his favorite characters over the course of 30 years. Then Volkov introduced a new main character– Ellie's sister, Annie Smith.

In the book “The Fire God of the Marrans,” the main villain is Oorfene Deuce, who returned from exile. For his evil plans, he uses the backward people of the Marrans (Jumpers). Annie and her friend Tim come to the aid of the inhabitants of the conquered Magical Land.

The tale in an abbreviated form began to be published in 1968 in the magazine “Science and Life”, receiving a huge circulation of 3,300,000 copies.

“If only three people read each issue, then there will be ten million readers of the fairy tale. I can hardly comprehend the enormity of this figure. What are book circulations compared to this...", - wrote the delighted A.M. Volkov. (Archive of A.M. Volkov. Diary. Book 17. L. 216)

The fifth fairy tale, “Yellow Fog,” was conceived by Volkov in July 1968 and written in 24 days. In it, the enemy of the Magic Land becomes the sorceress Arachne, who awakens from an enchanted sleep five thousand years long. She sends a yellow fog to the Magic Land, which covers sunlight. People from beyond the mountains come to the rescue again - Annie, Tim and sailor Charlie. They build the huge iron giant Tilly-Willy and defeat the sorceress.

The fairy tale appeared in an abbreviated form in the same magazine “Science and Life” in 1970, and was published as a book only in 1974.

The last book in the series, written by A. M. Volkov, “The Secret of the Abandoned Castle,” is science fiction in nature. Her idea came to the writer back in 1968 - mysterious creatures appear in Gurricap Castle, kidnap children and play dirty tricks on the residents of the Magic Land. The mysterious creatures subsequently turned into aliens from the planet Rameria, who are divided into Menvits and Arzaks. The former, with the help of hypnosis, turned the latter into slavery. The Menvits want to capture not so much the Magic Land as the entire Planet. The fairy tale was written in July-August 1969, then finalized.

It was first published in 1971 under the title “Invasion of the Beak-nosed” in the newspaper “Friendly Guys”. Newspaper clippings were pasted into books and read not only by children, but also by adults. The space theme in the fairy tale cycle turned out to be more relevant than ever in the age of space, which began with the flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

A separate book, “The Secret of the Abandoned Castle,” was published after the writer’s death in 1982.

Afterword

Six fairy tales by A.M. Volkov about the Emerald City were translated into many languages ​​and published in a total circulation of several tens of millions of copies. They found their fans in former countries USSR and abroad, including Germany and the USA.

Hundreds of theatrical and puppet shows, filmstrip and film, puppet and cartoons were staged based on the books from the “Wizard of the Emerald City” series. And in 2013, the popular fairy tale epic was translated into audiobook format for the first time: six famous fairy tales by Alexander Volkov were voiced by Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Alexey Borzunov. This work became a wonderful monument to the talent of a wonderful actor who passed away in the same year. And the new audio editions were decorated with such familiar and beloved illustrations by Leonid Vladimirsky.

§ Biography

Born on June 14, 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk in a military fortress, in the family of retired sergeant major Melenty Mikhailovich Volkov. At the age of 12, he graduated as the first student from the Ust-Kamenogorsk City School, where he later began his teaching career.

In 1907 he entered the Tomsk Teachers' Institute, after which (in 1909) he received a diploma with the right to teach all subjects school curriculum except the Law of God.

He began working as a teacher in his hometown, and in 1910 (by specialty - mathematician) he worked as a teacher in the Altai city of Kolyvan. In the 1920s he moved to Yaroslavl, where he worked as a school director. Graduated in absentia from the Faculty of Mathematics of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.

In 1929 he moved to Moscow, where he worked as the head of the educational department of the workers' faculty. In seven months, I completed the course and passed the exams as an external student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. Since 1931, for twenty years since its founding, he has been a teacher, then an associate professor of the department of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

Volkov was an encyclopedically educated person, he knew literature and history well, and spoke foreign languages.

At 24, Volkov met on New Year's ball in Ust-Kamenogorsk with gymnastics and dance teacher Kaleria Gubina. Two months later they got married and a year later they had a son, Vivian (died at five years old from dysentery), and three years later another, Romuald (died at two years old from croup). However, a few years later, Alexander and Kaleria again had two sons in turn, and they gave them the same names.

§ Creation

Volkov began writing his first novel at the age of twelve. Began publishing in 1916. In the 1920s, his plays were performed on the stages of several provincial theaters. At the end of the 1930s he entered great literature. Member of the Writers' Union since 1941. The total circulation of his works, published in many languages ​​of the world, exceeded twenty-five million copies.

Many of Volkov's works are dedicated to outstanding personalities of the past - scientists, builders, discoverers, philosophers. In his novels and stories, the writer most often turned to history.

Before working on such a book, he carefully and comprehensively studied the era, got acquainted with documents and special scientific works, so he combines a fascinating plot and emotional presentation with scientific and authenticity.

One of the first children's books on historical topic“The Wonderful Ball” reveals a picture of life in Russia in the 18th century. Main character This story - the son of a merchant Dmitry Rakitin was imprisoned forever in the fortress, where he invented the first in Russia balloon. The book "The Wake of the Stern" tells the history of navigation from primitive times to the legendary voyages of the Viking Leif Eriksson.

Volkov liked to develop topics related to national history, not only ancient, but also modern. In the story “The Captive of Constantinople” the author spoke about the times of the great reign of Yaroslav the Wise, in “Two Brothers” - about the reign of Peter I, and in “Journey to the Third Millennium” - about the construction of the Volga-Don Canal in the author’s native Soviet era.

Volkov was also involved in popularizing science for schoolchildren. He published a number of entertaining stories on geography and astronomy, combining them into the collection “Earth and Sky.” The popular science book “In Search of Truth” was dedicated to the history of science, and another book was dedicated to fishing.

      ¶  Cycle “The Wizard of the Emerald City”

As a rule, the name Volkov is known today only from this cycle. The first book in the series was based on the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by American children's writer Lyman Frank Baum. Volkov undertook to translate this book in order to practice learning English. However, during the translation process, he changed some events and added new adventures of the heroes. The manuscript of the revised tale was approved by S. Ya. Marshak. In 1939, the story “The Wizard of the Emerald City” acquired the status of an independent work; it was translated into 13 languages ​​and went through 46 reprints.

In 1963, almost 25 years later, Volkov again began writing stories about the girl Ellie and her friends Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Woodman and other inhabitants of the Magic Land. The author created a whole series of stories in which he combined reality and fantasy. Volkov used techniques characteristic of literary fairy tale. For example, in the cycle you can see the “two worlds” traditional for this genre, the confrontation between good and evil, and he also filled the narrative with classical fairy-tale characters(wizards, talking animals), and used traditional motifs (flying shoes, royal family immersed in a magical sleep, animated wooden figures, etc.).

The plots of the cycle develop themes of moral self-improvement, the power of friendship, which can create real miracles, love for the homeland, and the collective struggle for freedom and justice. Although the main actions of the cycle take place in the Magic Land, the heroes find a way out of difficult situations not so much through some kind of magical help, but rather through their own knowledge, intelligence, ingenuity, and mutual assistance.

The writer had faith in the omnipotence of man-made technology, so his heroes usually defeated witchcraft with the help of various technical inventions (a gun designed by Charlie Black, a mechanical drill, the super robot Tilly-Willy).

In the 1950s, the book appeared with drawings by L. Vladimirsky, who also made illustrations for other stories in the series.

• "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)
• "Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers" (1963)
• "Seven Underground Kings" (1964)
• "The Fire God of the Marrans" (1968)
• "Yellow Fog" (1970)
• "The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle" (1976, book version - 1982)

      ¶  Stories

• "Two Brothers" (1938-1961)
• "The Wonderful Ball (The First Balloonist)" (1940)
• "The Invisible Fighters" (1942)
• "Planes at War" (1946)
• "Way as Stern" (1960)
• "Travelers into the Third Millennium" (1960)
• "The Adventures of Two Friends in the Land of the Past" (1963)
• "Prisoner of Constantinople" (1969)
• “And Lena was stained with blood” (1975)

      ¶  Stories and essays

• "Petya Ivanov's journey to an extraterrestrial station"
• "In the Altai Mountains"
• "Lapatin Bay"
• "On the Buzhe River"
• "Birthmark"
• "Lucky day"
• "Campfire"

      ¶  Novels

• "Architects" (1954)
• Volkov A. M. Architects: A Novel / Afterword: Doctor of Historical Sciences A. A. Zimin; Drawings by I. Godin. - Reprint. - M.: Children's literature, 1986. - 384 p. - (Library series). - 100,000 copies. (Abstract: A novel from Russian history of the 16th century about the construction of a miracle of Russian architecture, a magnificent historical monument - St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow).
• In the novel “Wanderings” (1963), the author spoke about the childhood and youth of the Italian astronomer and philosopher Giordano Bruno.

      ¶  Popular science books

• “How to catch fish with a fishing rod. Notes of a Fisherman" (1953)
• "Earth and Sky" (1957-1974)
• "In Search of Truth" (1980)
• "In Search of Destiny" (1924)

      ¶  Poetry

• "Nothing Makes Me Happy" (1917)
• "Dreams" (1917)
• "Red Army"
• "The Ballad of the Soviet Pilot"
• "Scouts"
• "Young Partisans"
• "Motherland"

      ¶  Songs

• "Marching Komsomolskaya"
• "Song of the Timurites"

      ¶  Plays for children's theater

• "Eagle Beak"
• "In a remote corner"
• "Village School"
• "Tolya the Pioneer"
• "Fern flower"
• "Home Teacher"
• “Comrade from the center (Modern auditor)”
• "Trading house Shneersohn and Co"

      ¶  Radio plays (1941-1943)

• “The counselor goes to the front”
• "Timurovites"
• "Patriots"
• "Dead of Night"
• "Sweatshirt"

      ¶  Historical essays

• "Mathematics in Military Affairs"
• “Glorious pages in the history of Russian artillery”

      ¶  Translations

• Jules Verne, "The Danube Pilot"
• Jules Verne, "The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsak Expedition"

§ Perpetuation of memory

In 1986, the newly built street of Ust-Kamenogorsk on the left bank of the Irtysh was named after A. M. Volkov.

Biography, life story of Volkov Alexander Melentyevich

Volkov Alexander Melentievich - Russian writer, translator.

Childhood

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was born on June 14, 1891. His place of birth is the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Alexander's father's name was Melenty Mikhailovich, he was a retired sergeant major.

Volkov's passion for literature manifested itself in early childhood. At the age of 4, thanks to the efforts of his father, Alexander already knew how to read. Since then, books have become his faithful companions.

At the age of 6, Alexander began studying at the city school, and he was immediately accepted into the second grade. And at the age of 12, Volkov had already graduated from this educational institution.

Education, teaching

The year 1907 was marked for Alexander Volkov by entering the Tomsk Teachers' Institute. In 1910, having received a degree in mathematics, he worked for some time as a teacher in the village of Kolyvan ( Altai region). A little later, he worked as a teacher in his native school in Ust-Kamenogorsk. At this time, Volkov independently mastered the German and French languages ​​to perfection.

In the 20s of the 20th century, Volkov moved to the city of Yaroslavl, where he took up the post of school director, while simultaneously studying at the correspondence department of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.

Alexander Melentyevich arrived in Moscow in 1929. There they began to work as the head of the academic department of the working faculty. For seven months (instead of the required five years) he studied at Moscow University. By this time, Volkov was already married and had two sons.

In 1931, Alexander Volkov became a teacher and then an associate professor at the Department of Higher Mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

CONTINUED BELOW

Volkov’s first poems (“Dreams”, “Nothing Makes Me Happy”) were published in the newspaper “Siberian Light” in 1917. Right after October revolution Alexander Melentyevich wrote many plays for children's theater - “Village School”, “In a Deaf Corner”, “Fern Flower” and others. Productions based on his works were very warmly received by the audience.

As a teacher at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, Volkov decided to master English language. To do this, Alexander Melentievich read a book by Lyman Frank Baum entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Remaining impressed by what he read, Volkov tried to translate fairy tale story into Russian. In the process of work, the Russian writer changed many aspects of Baum’s story, added some points, so the result was not a translation, but a reworking of the book. As a result, the fairy tale “The Wizard of the Emerald City” came out of Volkov’s pen. Alexander Melentievich showed his manuscript to the famous children's writer. He noted that the manuscript was very good, sent it to the publishing house, and advised Volkov not to give up his literary studies.

“The Wizard of the Emerald City” immediately became popular among readers. The success of this book encouraged Volkov to continue writing. His talent allowed him to become a member of the USSR Writers' Union in 1941.

Throughout his life, Alexander Melentyevich wrote more than 50 works, among which were poems, popular science books, historical essays, novels, plays, and stories...

Death

Volkov Alexander Melentyevich died in Moscow in 1977 on July 3 at the age of 86 years. A street in his hometown of Ust-Kamenogorsk is named in his honor.