EntranceWhich literary character is based on the work of Sergei Mikhalkov. Five of the most famous works by Sergei Mikhalkov
Why do you think people erect monuments to literary heroes? Perhaps the whole point is that many characters in literary works have done no less good and bright deeds for humanity than real celebrities. Heroes of fairy tales give little readers happiness, kindness, and nobility every day. They teach us to be honest and courageous, faithful, devoted and so on.
Monuments erected to literary heroes are a tradition that has been observed for decades. IN different cities In parks and squares there are sculptures dedicated to famous characters of world literature.
Each statue has its own story, its own life. And in our article we will look at monuments to literary heroes, and where these wonderful objects are located.
IN modern world There are many statues of heroes of fairy tales, short stories, stories and even novels. All characters became famous for the qualities that the authors endowed them with. Some are brave, others are stupid, others are overly optimistic, and so on.
In our country there are many cities where you can find a monument to the character of the book. Do you know any unusual monuments to any heroes? Literary characters, as it happens, began to install statues quite recently. Therefore, first of all, we are going to the United States of America.
Tom and Huck
In the States, namely on a river called the Mississippi, there is a small town called Hannibal. Spent my childhood here talented writer Mark Twain. In the center of the town there is a hill called the Great Cardiff Hill. The townspeople on the hill erected a monument to literary heroes - Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The opening of the monument took place at the beginning of the twentieth century, namely in 1926.
Sculptor Frederick Hibbard depicted two boys in torn pants. They are heading off on another adventure. The sculptor managed to depict the guys the way each generation of readers imagines them. Looking at this “monument of childhood”, one can pick up the epithets “carelessness”, “mischief”, “boyishness”, “spontaneity”.
The monument is not deprived of humor. Passers-by watch as Huck holds a cat by the tail on his shoulder.
Thus, we see how Mark Twain’s compatriots preserve the memory of the writer beloved by the whole world.
A dog named Mumu
And you and I are moving to the other side of the globe, namely the central part of Russia - to the city of St. Petersburg. The monument was unveiled in 2004 literary hero Mumu. The administration of the northern capital did not choose this year by chance. After all, it was at this time that the city celebrated the 150th anniversary of the work of the same name. The sculpture was installed on Turgenev Square near the house where the writer lived. There is a commemorative plaque on the wall of the building. Next to her is Gerasim's apron, and under it are boots. Next to the Russian peasant’s shoes, Mumu curled up in a ball.
Passers-by see a lop-eared mongrel cast from cast iron. The composition can be found near the Mumu club, whose motto calls for treating dogs humanely.
It should be noted that the French were imbued with this work of Turgenev. In their open spaces, they also installed a touching installation of a small and unfortunate dog.
This statue symbolizes a person’s act of repentance before his lesser brothers.
Boy with a golden key
Let's move on. And this time we found ourselves in the city of Samara. In 2013, the townspeople celebrated the 130th anniversary of the birth of Alexei Tolstoy, so it was decided to erect a monument to the literary hero Pinocchio near the museum gates. It was in Samara that the writer spent his childhood years. This monument was created by sculptor from Tolyatti Stepan Korslyan at the expense of donations from private enterprises.
Naturally, the most popular part of the statue was Pinocchio's nose. Those who wanted to take a photo with the hero of the fairy tale held on to his sharp nose. On the day of the opening of the monument to the literary hero, an urban legend was born. You need to make a wish at the moment when you are holding Pinocchio's nose. Then it will come true. It should be noted that a similar legend is inherent in almost every monument in Russia.
Many have noticed that the composition is similar to Pinocchio from the Soviet film. In fact, this is so, and Dmitry Iosifov, the performer of the role of the wooden boy, was at the opening ceremony of the statue.
Residents of the city believe that the presence of this monument reminds them of childhood and fairy tales. After all, it is this genre that helps you believe that the world can be a better place if you put in the effort.
The Little Mermaid is the hallmark of Denmark
There are a lot of amazing monuments to literary heroes in the world, namely in Denmark. We easily found ourselves in the port of Copenhagen to get acquainted with the elegant bronze sculpture of the Little Mermaid, which turned exactly 100 years old in 2013. Its height is large, only 125 cm. Weight is about 175 kg.
The history of this sculpture is not simple, like the fate of the Little Mermaid herself in the fairy tale by Andersen, who was originally from Denmark. The world learned about this small monument thanks to an American journalist. All sightseeing tours in Copenhagen begin from this place.
The Little Mermaid was first installed on the embankment, but later it was moved to the harbor so that tourists would not climb the city landmark. In addition, this meant stopping the ongoing acts of vandalism against the monument. In 2010, the Little Mermaid traveled to Shanghai for the World's Fair. After 3 years, namely on her centenary in 2013, the Little Mermaid returned to her homeland in Copenhagen.
Unfortunately, the sculpture attracts the attention of not only tourists, but also vandals. They doused her with paint and painted her arms and legs. In 2003, the monument was blown up, after which it was removed from the water. They put a burqa on her. On March 8, 2006, a dildo was attached to the arm. A year later they dressed me up in Muslim dress. In 1984, a truly terrifying incident occurred. Vandals sawed off the Little Mermaid's hand and cut off her head several times! And each time the city authorities restored this beautiful monument to the delight of tourists and guests of the city.
Frog theme
Amphibians are considered fertile ground for sculptures. In Moscow, a sculpture of the Frog Princess was installed in the canal of the Neglinnaya River. Ivan Tsarevich looks at her sternly. Passers-by throw coins to the stone on which the Princess is sitting.
It should be noted that there are several such sculptures in Russia. One of them is in Kaliningrad, the other relatively recently appeared in Svetlogorsk.
A few words about Joseph
We return to the northern capital to get acquainted with the monument to the literary hero in Russia. We present to your attention a sculpture of the good soldier Joseph Schweik. This sculpture is a tribute not only to the Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek, but also to the artist Josef Lada. The sculpture of a soldier was created by D. Pakhomov. Height 160 cm, like the height of a literary character. The sculptor and his leader installed the statue on a barrel so that the soldier would not get lost in the crowd.
The opening of the monument took place in April 2003. Among the guests was the grandson of the Czech writer. Finding the sculpture is not difficult. It is enough to get to the Kupchino metro station and walk to Balkanskaya Square from the northern entrance to the metro.
Many Gullivers
A very unusual sculpture of Gulliver is installed on the University Embankment in the Northern capital. This amazing object appeared in 2007. The monument to the literary hero Gulliver symbolizes the embodiment of relativity and infinity.
Made in the form of an endless series of Gullivers made of bronze, which decrease in size, each of them is several times smaller than the previous one. The unusual monument was created by sculptor Timur Yusufov.
Monument to Ostap
And you and I are still in cultural capital of our state. We head to Italianskaya Street to explore one of the main attractions of this area. We present to your attention the sculpture of Ostap Bender. Locals say that this famous person will help a person in all endeavors. To make your plans come true, all you have to do is rub the nose of the bronze hero.
Monument to White Bim
We are moving from St. Petersburg to Voronezh. Here, on Teatralnaya Square, a sculpture of a devoted dog named Bim awaits us. Distinctive feature The sculptures are an ear and a paw cast in bronze. On the dog's neck is a tag with the dog's name engraved on it. Townspeople often take pictures with the dog, stroking the ear, so it shines in the light of the sun's rays!
The sculptors decided to install the statue without a pedestal, so it seems that White Bim will now jump towards its owner. The authors of this work, Ivan Dikunov and Elsa Pak, began creating the monument in 1985, investing their own funds. The opening took place 13 years later - in 1998. But, unfortunately, Gabriel Troepolsky, the author of the work about the dog, did not live to see the solemn moment.
King fish
Our next stop is Krasnoyarsk. In 2004, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Siberian writer, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev, a forged monument called “Tsar Fish” was built. This sculpture is the hero of the story of the same name, and also, in a way, a symbol of man’s struggle with nature. In this case, the sturgeon is an allegory.
Baron on horseback
Our marathon through the monuments of literary heroes is coming to an end. Our journey ends with a sculpture of Baron Munchausen in Moscow. In 2004, a monument to the hero of the adventures written by Erich Raspe was erected near the Molodezhnaya metro station.
Few people know that the baron actually existed during the Imperial Russia. He spent ten years of his life in the service of our fatherland. The baron took part in the Turkish war, and he became famous thanks to his talent for storytelling amazing stories combined with humor and fiction.
The opening ceremony was festive. The guests came in 18th-century costumes.
The statue is life-size. It depicts the moment when the baron pulls himself and his horse by the pigtail so as not to drown in the swamp.
Just a few decades ago, monuments to literary heroes were considered a rarity. However, in recent years this trend has changed for the better. Every year the wonderful list of monuments to literary heroes is replenished. I would like to note that we have presented in our article only the most famous and popular sculptures in our opinion. And we can only wait for the opening of new monuments to fairy-tale heroes and more! Send your ideas to the administration of your city, perhaps thanks to you the list will expand to another wonderful monument.
Today, on the eve of Children's Day, the President Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and family members - Andrei Konchalovsky,Nikita Mikhalkov and Yulia Subbotina unveiled a monument to the classic of Russian literature, the famous children's poet Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov. In a solemn atmosphere,friends and colleagues of S.V. Mikhalkov, officials and admirers of the talent of the famous poet, laid flowers at the monument.
Despite the gloomy morning, a festive mood reigned in the park on Povarskaya Street. Guests of the solemn opening ceremony of the monument to S.V. Mikhalkov were greeted by a musical collage of songs based on the poet’s poems, poems and fables were performed by famous contemporary actors of Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov.
The cadets stood solemnly on guard at the monument, the Russian Anthem sounds, the blanket slides off the monument and a familiar figure appears before those gathered, sitting thoughtfully on a bench...
The sculptural composition is complemented by a touching detail - a figurine of a schoolgirl carrying flowers to the poet, as a symbol of the grateful audience for whom Sergei Mikhalkov lived and worked.
In his speech, V.V. Putin noted that “Today, opening the monument, we feel proud that in our culture, in Russian literature there is such a great name - Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov” (full text of V.V. Putin’s speech).
Then the sons of the poet, Andrei Konchalovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov, spoke.
The ceremony was attended by First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of Russia A.D. Zhukov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation V.I. Tolstoy, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation V.R. Medinsky, Moscow Mayor S.S. Sobyanin, Representatives of the Moscow City Duma - V.M. Platonov and E.V. Gerasimov, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) and other officials.
The creative intelligentsia of Moscow was represented by Genrikh Borovik, Ilya Glazunov, Andrey Dementyev, Viktor Chizhikov, Svetlana Vragova, Ivan Pereverzin, Alexander Adabashyan, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Toroptsev, Olga Muravyova, Irina Kotunova and other writers, artists, publishers.
The ceremony was conducted by the Honored Artist of Russia, Sergei Kolesnikov. Musical accompaniment - Orchestra of the Moscow Musical Cadet Corps. The DOMISOLKA children's musical theater performed the famous song based on the verses of S.V. Mikhalkov “We are going, we are going, we are going...” completing the official part of the opening ceremony of the monument to the famous children's poet.
The monument is located in the park on Povarskaya Street, next to the house where the poet lived for many years and opposite the house where the International Society of Writers' Unions is located, in which he worked until the last days of his life.
The initiative to create a monument to the outstanding to the domestic poet, writer, public figure Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov, came from the Russian Cultural Foundation and was included in the plan of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the writer in 2013.
Architect - Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts Sergei Aleksandrovich Sharov
Architect for the reconstruction of the square - Alexandra Igorevna Voskresenskaya
The reconstruction and improvement of the square, design and construction of the monument were undertaken by the Moscow Government.
Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov was born in 1913 in Moscow.
The future writer received his primary education at home. Under the guidance of a German governess and a village priest, he studied mathematics, history, geography, languages and much more. When Sergei was 14 years old, the family moved to Pyatigorsk. Sergei's talent for writing poetry manifested itself in early childhood. He wrote his first poem at the age of 9. The boy came up with the idea of publishing a home literary magazine, in which he acted as an editor, artist and author. The father, having read several of his son’s poems, decided to send them to the poet Alexander Bezymensky, who noted the abilities of the young author. In 1928, his first poem, “The Road,” was published in the magazine “On the Rise.”
Mikhalkov began publishing very early- He was not yet twenty years old. Around the same time, the writer returned to Moscow. The father supported his son's desire to become a poet.
Recognition of poetic talent was not long in coming. In the early thirties, Mikhalkov's poems appeared on the pages of central publications. In 1935 in the magazine "Pioneer", the newspapers "Izvestia" and "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Mikhalkov’s first poems for children appeared: “Three Citizens”, “The Cheerful Tourist”, “What Do You Have?”, “About Mimosa”, “Stubborn Thomas”. The writer gets a job at the Izvestia newspaper. Sergei Vladimirovich was received by literary Moscow. The wonderful Soviet writer Lev Kassil becomes his friend.
Mikhalkov tried very hard to convey his poems to a children's audience. At that time poetic works often heard on the radio. One of the leading masters of reading children's poetry was actress Rina Zelenaya. The young writer found an opportunity to meet with her and hand over a notebook with his experiences. The actress was delighted with his work. This is how Soviet children heard the poems of Sergei Vladimirovich. The poem “Uncle Styopa” brought enormous popularity to the young man. Marshak himself, the main children's writer of that time, liked this funny and witty essay.
Sergei Vladimirovich is considered the “father” of Soviet film periodicals. He was the editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine "Wick", which was shown on television screens. Mikhalkov never rested on his laurels. He was always looking for new paths in art. Having tried his hand as a film magazine editor, Sergei Vladimirovich becomes a playwright. His children's plays were staged with great success on many stages throughout the country.
He wrote prose fairy tales. The most famous - "The Three Little Pigs" (1936) adaptation of an English folk tale.
During the Great Patriotic War Mikhalkov works as a war correspondent. He writes essays, humorous stories, composes leaflets, and poetic messages. Sergei Vladimirovich wrote “True for Children” about the events of the war years. He is the author of the epitaph carved on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall ( “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal”), as well as a poetic appeal to the soldiers who died for the liberation of Europe, carved on the base of the monument Soviet soldiers in Vienna.
In 1971, the most mischievous, cheerful story-fairy tale, “The Feast of Disobedience,” was published, on which a musical was staged.
Sergei Mikhalkov wrote scripts and texts for a number of cartoons- “Uncle Styopa is a policeman”, “I want to butt!”, “Tram number ten was on the way”, “Arrogant bunny”, “Festival of disobedience”,
The writer also worked in the genre of children's film fiction, writing scripts for films. “Moscow-Cassiopeia”, “Youths in the Universe”. Based on the script by Sergei Mikhalkov, the film “The New Adventures of Puss in Boots” was directed by A. Rowe.
In honor of Sergei Mikhalkov asteroid (9540) Mikhalkov is named. The Republican Children's Library is named after Sergei Mikhalkov Chechen Republic in Grozny. For the 100th anniversary of the poet and writer in Moscow, a bronze memorial plaque (sculptor Georgy Frangulyan) was unveiled on the facade of house No. 35 on Povarskaya Street in which Mikhalkov lived; on May 28, 2014, a monument to S. V. Mikhalkov was unveiled (sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov ). In 2010, the Russian Cultural Foundation established a memorial Gold medal Sergei Mikhalkov. The medal is awarded to artists “for their humanistic contribution to the education of the younger generation.” Among the laureates of the Sergei Mikhalkov Gold Medal: Georgy Danelia, Lyudmila Maksakova, Viktor Chizhikov, Yuri Bashmet, Svetlana Vragova, Andrey Dementyev, Zurab Tsereteli.
To the children's favorite literary character "Uncle Stepa" Monuments were erected in Moscow (in Slesarny Lane, 1 sculptor A. Rozhnikov) and Samara (on Leningradskaya Street sculptor Z. Tsereteli).
Books by Sergei Mikhalkov, which you can read in our library:
1. Mikhalkov S.V. Uncle Styopa: poems, poem. – M.: Planet of Childhood, 2011. – 128 p.
- Mikhalkov S.V. What a company! – M.: Samovar, 2007. – 48 p. – (Favorite childhood books)
3. Mikhalkov S.V. We are going, going, going. – M.: Samovar, 2004. – 112 p.
4. Mikhalkov S.V. Why mice don’t hurt cats: fables, fairy tales. – M.: Strekoza-Press, 2003. – 64 p.
5. Mikhalkov S.V. Holiday of disobedience: a fairy tale. – M.: ONIX, 2008. – 160 p. with ill. – (Library of a junior school student)
6. Mikhalkov S.V. Tales of animals. – M.: Eksmo, 2006. – 64 p.
7. Mikhalkov S.V. Poems. Fairy tales. Fables. Plays. – M.: ASTR, 2011. – 608 p.
(b. 03/12/1913, Moscow)
Poet, fabulist, storyteller, playwright, prose writer, publicist, screenwriter, translator. From the ancient noble family Mikhalkov. Father, Vladimir Alexandrovich, is a poultry farmer. Mother, Olga Mikhailovna, came from the noble family of the Glebovs.
M. spent his childhood on the Olgino estate near Moscow, where he received his primary education at home.
In the twenties, the Mikhalkov family moved from Moscow to Pyatigorsk, where the future writer spent his childhood. Fairy tales by Pushkin, fables by Krylov, poems by Lermontov, Nekrasov were my first favorite books. Later, his father introduced him to the poems of Mayakovsky, Yesenin, and Demyan Bedny, which had a great influence on Sergei Mikhalkov’s first children’s poetic experiments.
Mikhalkov became interested in writing poetry while still at school. Wanting to somehow help his son and determine his future, the father sent the boy’s poems to the then young but already famous poet A. Bezymensky, who noted the abilities of the young author.
The first visit to the publishing house by the future writer was very early. At the age of 7, having written in block letters "The Tale of the Bear" he himself took it to the children's publishing house.
Mikhalkov began publishing at the age of 14. In 1928, a poem appeared in the magazine “On the Rise” (Rostov-on-Don) "Road". During these same years, he was published in the regional newspaper "Terek". The young poet is included in the active membership of the Terek Association of Proletarian Writers.
In 1930, seventeen-year-old Mikhalkov, having graduated from school, came to Moscow. His father approved of his desire to become a writer, but above all he wanted his son to receive a good education. When he gave him a farewell before the journey, he advised him to study well, work on himself and try to recover from his stuttering. Mikhalkov suffered from stuttering since childhood, but, as he himself said, he was never ashamed of his shortcoming. Moreover, he himself sometimes made fun of his stuttering and played it up so much that it never occurred to the boys to laugh at him.
In Moscow, Mikhalkov immediately realized that literary creativity alone could not support him, and he took on any job: he was a laborer at the Moskvorechnaya weaving and finishing factory, an assistant topographer on a geological exploration expedition to Kazakhstan, and continued to write. At that time he did not yet intend to become a children's writer, but he liked to write poetry and fairy tales for children, and he was good at it.
By that time, he knew many famous writers and poets, and they all supported his work: after all, writing children's poems is not at all easy and not everyone, even the most famous writers, can do it. However, as Mikhalkov himself recalls, the decisive factor for his choice was that Marshak himself praised his poems. After his poems were noticed and friendly supported by Korney Chukovsky and Alexey Tolstoy, the editors of the Pioneer magazine immediately unconditionally included him in their asset, and the editor of the magazine, Boris Ivanter, sent Sergei Mikhalkov to Leningrad.
At that time, Marshak lived in Leningrad. He brought “Uncle Styopa” to Marshak’s trial. Marshak liked the poem.
Since 1933, Mikhalkov's poems began to be published in Pravda, Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Evening Moscow. The assessment of S. Ya. Marshak decided the fate of the young poet, after which he firmly decided to continue writing for children.
In 1935, Mikhalkov entered the Literary Institute. At the age of twenty-three, Mikhalkov published his first book "Poetry", and he was admitted to the Writers' Union. By this time, many of his works were included in textbooks and anthologies. The children knew his poems by heart “What do you have?”, “Foma”, “Song of Friends”, “About Thomas” and others, and Uncle Styopa became a favorite literary character.
The fables are addressed to adults, not children, but this did not mean that Mikhalkov betrayed his regular readers and stopped writing for children. On the contrary, he now writes not only poetry for them - he has fairy tales and plays.
During the Second World War, Mikhalkov wrote poetry, articles, essays, and sheet texts. During these years he matured as a poet. His poems became more poignant and civic-minded (“Ten-Year-Old Man”, “Children’s Shoe”, poem “True for Children”). The poet’s unity with the fate of the people inspired Mikhalkov to write the words carved on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall: “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal.”
In 1946, Mikhalkov wrote the first play for children "Laughter and Tears" which was almost immediately staged by the Central Children's Theater. It was followed by many other works, the most popular of which, “Sombrero,” was even filmed. It is curious that Mikhalkov tried his hand at the genre of children's film fiction, writing the script for the films "Moscow-Cassiopeia" and "Youths in the Universe."
The first children's film based on Mikhalkov's script - "Red tie"based on the play of the same name - was released in 1948. But the film directed by A. Rowe "The New Adventures of Puss in Boots" based on the script by Mikhalkov, where the classic plot was connected with modernity, became truly popular. Many of Mikhalkov's plays, including "Bunny Arrogant" They were distinguished by simple plots and vivid images, so they were staged on the stage not only of professional but also amateur theaters and acted out in school dramas. mugs. A fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs" became not only a favorite book for children, but also a cartoon based on it.
Sergei Mikhalkov wrote plays for children: "Skates" (1938), "Special Assignment" (1945), "Laughter and Tears" (1945), "Red Tie" (1946), "I Want to Go Home!" (1949), “Bunny-arrogant” (1951), “Alien Role” (1953), “Sombrero” (1957), “Forgotten Dugout” (1962), “The First Three, or the Year 2001” (1970), “Dear boy" (1973).
In the seventies, he tried his hand at the adventure genre and wrote a successful script for the film “The Committee of Twelve,” which was filmed at the Mosfilm film studio.
For special services in the development of children's literature, Mikhalkov was awarded an Honorary Diploma of the International Jury for the Hans Christian Andersen Prize (1972) and the Alex Wedding Medal (1973, GDR).
For many years, Mikhalkov was also the editor-in-chief of the satirical film magazine "Fitil", for which he wrote many satirical stories. Mikhalkov was married to Natalya Konchalovskaya, the granddaughter of the famous artist V. Surikov and the daughter of another equally famous artist P. Konchalovsky. They lived a long time happy life, both of their sons, Andrei and Nikita, became famous film directors.
The first great work of Sergei Mikhalkov - "Uncle Styopa"- was joyfully received by children, adult readers, and critics. Immediately, easily and cheerfully, the image of Uncle Styopa and the lines of poetry that were memorized by heart from the first reading, where the real and everyday were so uniquely combined with the fantastic, came into the children’s lives. Uncle Styopa -
From the regional giants
The most important giant -
Nothing, except for his height, makes him stand out from the people around him.
First, the reader learns that Uncle Styopa had to look for the largest shoes and he could, while sitting, take books from the closet. In the following stanzas - from episode to episode - Uncle Styopa's growth goes beyond the real. The deepest places in the river are up to his knees; from the sidewalk he can reach into the attic with his hand. But - strangely - as Uncle Styopa's growth becomes more and more fantastic, his actions become increasingly greater reality and persuasiveness. Before the readers is a young man whose actions reveal the traits of a noble and brave Soviet man. He saves a drowning boy, prevents a train accident - each time he uses his height to help his friend.
Everyone loved Uncle Styopa,
They respected Uncle Styopa.
He was the best friend
All the guys from all the yards.
The hero lives in a real, and not in a conventionally imaginary world. Uncle Styopa himself is the embodiment of a childhood dream. The elders seem like giants to the kids. The elders are strong and powerful. The child has no doubt that the elders can do whatever they please. And then Uncle Styopa appears - a strong, cheerful, sympathetic giant. And he does exactly as the child imagined in his most ardent dreams: he helps people out of trouble, stops entire trains, fights the elements of fire, and at the same time gives himself over to the boy’s undertakings with complete enthusiasm.
In Uncle Styopa, a child is attracted both by his spontaneity and his cheerful quirk. And if so, we can safely say that even such a seemingly casually dropped edifying maxim:
Uncle Styopa brushing teeth
I never forgot.
For a child, the features of the portrait of Uncle Styopa are very tempting - his remarkable strength and enormous height appear in a comical inconsistency with the usual everyday ideas. Everything is too big for Uncle Styopa, too tall, too big for him:
He was looking for in the market
Greatest boots
He was looking for his pants
Unprecedented width.
Will buy with grief in half
Turns to the mirrors -
All tailoring work
It's coming apart at the seams!
The hero of this comic story turns out to be not comical at all. He is so attractive that, as soon as he appeared, he became a friend of the readers. All the adventures of Uncle Styopa are connected with the simple and joyful world of interests of Soviet children, and therefore his image is especially close to them. We meet Uncle Styopa at the stadium, at the shooting range, at the cinema, at the carnival -
And the one who is small in stature,
At the parade he raised
Because everyone should
See the country's army.
He goes to serve in the navy, becomes a defender of his homeland -
And now the guys are proud -
Pioneers, October, -
That you know the Red Navy man,
With a real sailor.
He is walking home from Arbat.
How are you living? - the guys shout.
And now the guys are calling
Uncle Styopa "Mayak".
And his former nickname was “Kalancha”. In this change of nickname from mocking to respectful, it is fun, without pressure, but the movement of the image is very clearly shown, the biography of the hero is given, who gradually wins the love of his acquaintances, and with them the readers of the story. His actions are simple but very attractive.
With inexhaustible ingenuity, Mikhalkov is looking for more and more unexpected and very clear examples that emphasize the growth of Uncle Styopa:
You are not fit to be a tank driver:
You won't fit in the tank!
For people like you
There are no horses, etc.
In the movies they tell him: “Sit on the floor.” What really amuses the children is that if Uncle Styopa raises his hand, he will seem like a semaphore. What would have happened if he had not raised his hand? Crash.
Comic hyperbole, as the basis of the plot and a way of satirically characterizing a negative character, was used by Mayakovsky in “The Tale of Pete, the Fat Child, and Sim, the Thin One.” Mikhalkov followed the same path in some of his poems, for example in “Foma.” The uniqueness of “Uncle Styopa” is that here comic hyperbole, which, like Mayakovsky’s, organizes the plot and connects individual episodes of the work, is used to create the image of a positive hero.
The stanzas dedicated to how Uncle Styopa saved a drowning man and prevented a train crash bring to mind Marshak’s “Tale of an Unknown Hero,” written later. In both works, the salvation of a person (in Mikhalkov - from water, in Marshak - from fire) is shown not as an exceptional act, but as the norm of behavior of a Soviet person. In Marshak's story, only the details of the event and the action are exceptional, inherent in this particular case - the complexity, the difficulty of salvation, requiring both courage and great physical dexterity. Mikhalkov’s details are also exceptional, but just the opposite: the ease of salvation due to the growth of Uncle Styopa. Marshak emphasizes the commonality of a heroic deed for a Soviet youth by the fact that the hero cannot be found - he is like many. Mikhalkov's hero is very individualized and noticeable, and the ordinariness of his heroic actions is conveyed by the fact that they are placed in a row with insignificant, mostly comic incidents.
A very important poetic task for children's literature of that time - in the image of a hero attractive to readers, to show readiness for heroism as a typical, ordinary feature of youth - was solved by two poets not only by different, but directly opposite artistic means. Marshak has a heroic ballad about the brave deed of an inconspicuous young man, and Mikhalkov has a comic story about a very noticeable young man who performs courageous deeds along with and seemingly on an equal footing with ordinary and funny ones.
Uncle Styopa is kind and sympathetic. He not only prevented a train crash - he also saved pigeons from a burning house, and “lifted someone who was small in stature at a parade,” and “removed the kite from the telegraph wires for the guys.”
Children not only need everything that Uncle Styopa does for them, but it is close and interesting what he does for himself. He jumps with a parachute, goes to a parade, shoots at a shooting range, comes to a stadium, rides a camel and finally joins the navy.
Mikhalkov, with remarkable accuracy and perceptiveness, defined the range of childish (mainly boyish) interests and managed to play out the adventures of Uncle Styopa in such a way that with each episode the appearance of the hero emerges more fully and attractively.
Sharp plotting, comic hyperbolization life phenomena, the creation of a kind of realistic fiction - features of the poetic style that were developed in other poems by Mikhalkov.
Imperceptibly, an understanding of the unity of everyday and heroic, simplicity and greatness enters the minds of readers. “He stands and says: “The path here is washed out by the rains.” The possibility of disaster appears in the child's mind only fleetingly. The main thing is: “I purposely raised my hand to show that the way was closed.” In this comic situation, the nobility of character is fully and at the same time unobtrusively revealed. He saves people. During the war, Sergei Mikhalkov was at the front.
About his sailor Uncle Styopa, the poet wrote a continuation about how he sailed on the battleship "Marat" and "was slightly wounded while defending Leningrad." But now the war is over - new poems have appeared. They were called "Uncle Styopa - Policeman" (1954). An old acquaintance of the guys is standing guard near a tall building on Vosstaniya Square. The “main regional giant” from Mikhalkov’s poems is loved because he helps both children and adults. He put one kid on his shoulders so that he could see the “country’s army” at the parade, gave another a ride, removed a kite from the telegraph wires for a third, and saved a drowning schoolboy without much effort, and not only because Uncle Styopa was knee-deep in all the deep places, but because he is a truly heroic guy. For hooligans, he is a thunderstorm. And reporters from overseas newspapers, as soon as they learned that champion Yegor’s father was a police sergeant:
They apologized in English
And, closing the tape recorder,
They quickly ran out.
“Uncle Styopa” - this poem was written quickly, in what is called “one spirit,” but then it grew from edition to edition, enriching itself internally. So if you start listing all the corrections and additions made by the author, and there are quite a few of them, it turns out that Mikhalkov worked on it for quite a long time. One of the most recent adjustments to the poem was made by the war, calling Uncle Styopa to the front.
Naturally and organically, several more new lines were included in it about the fact that for a long time there was no news from Uncle Styopa, and then suddenly a brave front-line sailor came home on leave and invited all the guys he knew to visit him to listen to “a hundred stories about the war and the bombing,” and also about how he “was a little wounded, defending Leningrad." This little poem has its own deep subtext, that distinct background that, in fact, made it so spacious and capacious. Uncle Stepin's height and strength are attractive, but they become doubly attractive because they serve people well.
The final lines of the poem:
And now the guys are proud -
Pioneers, Octobers,
That you know Uncle Styopa,
A real sailor.
He is walking home from Arbat
"How are you doing?" - the guys shout.
And now the guys are calling
Uncle Styopa "Mayak".
And such an honorable nickname “Lighthouse” must be earned. Uncle Styopa really deserved this nickname.
At one time, Mayakovsky wrote a book “About the Seas and About the Lighthouse” for children:
My little book calls out:
Children, be like a lighthouse!
To everyone who cannot swim at night,
Light the way with fire.
Mikhalkov addresses the children with the same cry: be like a lighthouse, like their friend Uncle Styopa, because this kind giant really is like a lighthouse illuminating the way for the kids.
His first works appeared in the years when funny poems were rare in our children's poetry. This is not just a matter of persecution of “fun”, which pedologists were doing at one time. There were also organic reasons: the former cheerful poems, devoid of a clear ideological and educational orientation, could no longer occupy a leading place in poetry, for which the work of Mayakovsky and Marshak opened up new and very broad perspectives. Their experience of having a poetic conversation with children about modernity, moral problems, and work turned out to be successful. The limits of the educational influence of poets on children have expanded. Previous achievements sometimes seemed insufficient, small, ever since it was discovered that poems written for children can carry a large ideological load.
But funny poems can be not only funny. Poets were looking for new forms in which the funny would be organically combined with the educationally important.
Mikhalkov managed to give the appearance of a Soviet man in funny verses, without the slightest vulgarization. But, having thereby placed funny poems at the service of new, broad tasks of children's literature, Mikhalkov did not limit his work to one genre.
In the very first years of his work, he created works that were very different both in themes and in the nature of poetic development.
An important part of Mikhalkov’s creativity for children is humorous and satirical works. The poet ridicules boasting, arrogance, stubbornness, self-confidence, spoiledness and other shortcomings of children and adults. The author's assessment is completely definite, and even declared directly, but this does not deprive the poem of its naturalness.
Ridiculing of common character and behavior flaws is reflected in Mikhalkov’s fables, many of which the poet addresses to children (“Hare and Turtle”, “Polkan and Shavka”, “Cats and Mice” etc.).
M. created a number of satirical characters, whose names became widely known and became household names.
Such, for example, is a stubborn person of little faith Thomas in the work of the same name, cat. has not lost its place in the world over the years children's reading, retaining fun and educational potential. Using the technique of hyperbole, traditional for the satirical genre, the poet ridiculed the arrogant person who, despite the facts, contrary to sound and reasonable judgments, considers his thoughts to be the only correct and immutable ones.
Thomas reaches the point of absurdity in his stubbornness, denying the completely obvious, even the fact of his own existence. Having fallen into the mouth of a crocodile, the hero is completely unwilling to acknowledge anyone’s opinion other than his own:
From the mouth of the beast
The head sticks out.
To the shore
The wind carries the words:
I don’t believe... -
The alligator sighed
And, full, he dived into the green water.
By cutting off the endings of words substituted to rhyme, M. well conveys the tenacity of an incorrigible stubborn man who has already “choked” on the crocodile.
The hyperbolic aggravation of the situation in the climactic scene of the poem is resolved by a comic decrease in intonation in the finale. It would seem that, having experienced a terrible lesson in a dream, the hero should correct himself, but that was not the case:
Foma is surprised
Foma is outraged:
It's not true, comrades.
This is not a dream!
Despite the comical behavior of Thomas, the poet has obvious sympathy for his young, self-confident hero. Understanding of child psychology, love of networks with their advantages and disadvantages are the basis of this attitude.
The grotesque technique was used by M. both in verse and about "Mimosa"V in which the image of a pampered, spoiled boy, crippled by excessive, unreasonable parental care is masterfully drawn:
He grows up afraid of frost,
In front of mom and dad,
Like a mimosa plant
In the botanical garden.
The verse sounds a little harsher, because... addressed equally to adults and children. The object of satire becomes an acquired shortcoming - effeminacy, inability to practical life.
The humor of funny poems is determined not only by comedic situations and characters, but also by the originality of the vocabulary and the structure of the verse.
As a humorous technique, M. often uses the reproduction of a specific child’s way of thinking and speech, for example, in a poem “What do you have?” In the first stanzas of the poem there is no hint that the slightly silly, playful chatter of the children will lead to an important conversation. The game was started simply because “it was evening, there was nothing to do.” The conversation at first flows slowly and aimlessly, a child’s unstable thought jumps from subject to subject.
And today we have a cat
I gave birth to kittens yesterday.
We bought blue-blue,
Pre-green red ball.
Game form poems, his hidden didactics, naturalness and ease of conversation - all these are good finds of the children's poet. But humor, built on the external illogicality of childish speech (“And today our cat gave birth to kittens yesterday,” “They bought us a blue, blue, green red ball,” “The truck brought firewood - that’s two. And, fourthly...” ), although very funny, is perhaps more intended for adults. It is no wonder that the poem was read with great success in adult audiences by children's story singer Rina Zelenaya. Kids like this logical errors rarely make people laugh - they take the “pretty green red ball” seriously: after all, they understand that otherwise there is no way to express the complex emotion generated by the “bouquet” of balls from the seller and the difficulty of choosing one of them.
The guys in a circle exchange today's news, not very significant. And the conversation would probably have died down if the girl had not boasted:
And fourthly, our mother
Takes flight
Because our mother
It's called a pilot.
This hurt everyone. And then a leading topic appears in the conversation - a dispute flares up, whose mother is more important, better. The boys vying to defend the working dignity of their mother - an engineer, a cook, a carriage driver, a doctor, a policeman, and a teacher. They are no worse than a pilot.
And Nina asked quietly:
Is it bad to be a dressmaker?
Who sews panties for the boys?
Well, of course, not a pilot.
The usual desire for children to brag about their parents, to show that they are better, or at least no worse than their neighbor’s parents, takes on a modern form, characteristic of Soviet society. Children are very sensitive to the interests and tone of the environment in which they grow up, and, perhaps, they do not realize, but they feel that the most important and convincing proof of the mother’s high merits is her work.
And one more feature is a manifestation of the good camaraderie of children: a remark from Vova, who is not talking about his mother, but speaks in defense of all the children, perhaps a little depressed by the greatness of their mother-pilot:
Mom is a pilot?
What's wrong!
Here at Kolya, for example,
Mom is a policeman.
And Tolya and Vera
Both mothers are engineers.
And Leva’s mother is a cook.
Mom is a pilot?
What's wrong!
And ultimately, it is this remark from Vova that leads to a reconciling conclusion:
We need different mothers
All kinds of mothers are important.
It was in the evening
There was no point in arguing.
So unobtrusive M. gives children an idea of various matters, cat. Mothers are busy.
In the same year that “Uncle Styopa”, “What do you have?” - the first year of Mikhalkov’s work for children - he wrote poems in a completely different key.
Like a fresh wind carries lines "Happy Tourist" a poem written broadly, freely, rich in thoughts and emotions.
The image of a fourteen-year-old tourist, without any pathos, pathos or tenderness, thanks to excellent artistic means, grows into a symbol of brave, inquisitive and cheerful youth.
The words, phrases, images are very simple, the characterization of the hero is very laconic. “He was not afraid to meet snakes, bulls, or dogs on the way,” “He walked without a gun and without a stick,” “He sang, and a cheerful song helped him walk.” This playful courage is an expression not only of boyish carelessness, but also of inner strength:
He walked along paths and roads,
I met wolves and bears,
But the beast did not touch man,
And from a distance he only growled.
A cheerful tourist is unpretentious, and the elements are not afraid of him:
And a cloud over him instead of a roof,
And instead of an alarm clock there is thunder.
Close to him, interesting native nature:
He heard both the beast and the bird,
He climbed into the thorny bushes.
He touched the wheat with his hands,
Wonderful flowers I smelled.
His curiosity is serious:
And everything he saw and heard
He wrote it down in a notebook.
That, in essence, is all that has been said about the young man. But his image is formed in the reader’s imagination not only by these features, but also by the fact that “cuckoos and jackdaws flew over his very head,”
And even bully bulls
They hummed in a friendly way: “M-mu!”
And even chain dogs
They wagged their tails at him.
Inner strength the young man is frightened by the beast, which “only growled from afar.” But it also conquers animals because it is a good force. Only animals? No, this is all just preparation for an event that is as sudden as an explosion: such a simple story, so realistic in every detail, suddenly turns into a symbolic fairy tale, the Pied Piper of Hammel, who with his pipe attracts and leads children into the unknown - but a good Pied Piper, captivating both children and adults forward to a wonderful future.
And the windows in the houses were opened,
Hearing, he walks past,
And people sang along with him
In apartments, gardens, at gates.
And they slammed the door cheerfully
And suddenly they left their home.
And the most predatory animals
They didn't care about the journey.
People were walking, and there were a lot of them,
And there were no number of people.
Behind them on different roads
There was a short song...
It was impossible to resist a long quotation - these lines are so expressive and unexpected. But here’s what’s remarkable: the suddenness of the transition from a story about a simple walk to a lyrical fairy tale is not outwardly emphasized in any way. The narrative flows with the same rhythm, in the same tonality, in the same circle of images. And this is more impressive than the most dramatic change in the structure of a poetic story - a change that, it would seem, could be expected here. Reality and fairy tales merge into a single stream - the walk takes on the features of a fairy tale, the fairy tale is established as reality, as a lyrical image of the future life path our cheerful and brave youth.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Mikhalkov’s first poems is that they were created with such complete, mature skill by a “beginner” poet, and, moreover, in a very wide range of genres.
From the first steps of his poetic path, Mikhalkov was equally good at harmless humor, caustic satire, the ballad-song “The Cheerful Tourist”, and the subtle, original combination of a fairy tale with a realistic story, and - this is perhaps the most important thing - portraits of his contemporaries, positive heroes of our time.
In the same amazingly fruitful year for the poet, 1935, he writes "Svetlana" lullaby, again changing the nature of the poetic conversation with the reader.
An elegiacally soft, seemingly muted landscape - not a landscape at all, but a Russian one, with birch and rye - smoothly transitions into a broad picture of the world:
Somewhere the oceans are splashing,
Jellyfish sleep on the wave.
Pelicans at the zoo
They see Africa in their dreams.
The turtle is dozing nearby,
The elephant stands with his eyes closed.
They dream of their native lands
And there is a thunderstorm over the lands.
The stanzas are just as soft, unhurried and seemingly calm. But - “there is a thunderstorm over the lands.” Like a distant alarm, like an echo of events that hum in the telegraph wires of the world, enters the poem with this line. Let's not forget: 1935 was the time of the first fascist threats!
Yes, we were not mistaken - it is this thunderstorm that the poet is thinking about. Having looked at the world, his thoughts return to his homeland, to its distant border.
Sleepy on the Amur River
The reeds moved
The thin grass swayed
The forest stands rooted to the spot...
Everything is still calm. But, perhaps, this is the calm before the storm. The grasses are swaying, the forest stands rooted to the spot... There is a vague sense of wariness here. And again we don't
made a mistake:
At a distant
At the outpost
The sentry in the forest does not sleep.
He's standing
There are lightnings above him,
He looks at the clouds:
Over his gun border
The clouds are passing.
They look like animals
You just can't catch them...
The image of a sentry guarding Svetlana’s sleep is a touch that shapes the poem and reveals its inner meaning. The appearance of this image was prepared by a thunderstorm over distant lands, pre-storm silence at our borders.
It turns out that this is characteristic of Mikhalkov - the ability, while maintaining the unity of the poetic narrative, its style, tonality, to outwardly inconspicuously, but internally sharply turn the topic, giving it significance that cannot be guessed from the first lines. And this is in a variety of genres - in a ballad about a cheerful tourist, and in a poem written as if just for fun, “What do you have?”, and in a lyrical lullaby. The “neutral” poetic story turns out to be a preparation for a modern idea, expressed in the same system of images as the initial stanzas, that politically or morally educates the reader. The image of a sentry is included in “Svetlana” as a stern warning about future trials, like the image of a mighty armored train in Gaidar’s lyrical story “Chuk and Gek” about a happy child’s life.
“The guns, wrapped in tarpaulins, stuck out menacingly from the towers. The Red Army soldiers stomped merrily, laughed and, clapping their mittens, warmed their hands. But one man in a leather jacket stood near the armored train, silent and thoughtful. And Chuk and Gek decided that this was, of course, a commander who was standing and waiting to see if an order would come from Voroshilov to open battle against someone.”
The thunderstorm is getting closer - the poet, living in the interests of his country, feels the pressure of the political atmosphere increasing, and he talks with his readers, with children, about what worries him.
This became possible because the time has passed when writers spoke to children condescendingly, condescendingly, as fools or as immature adults.
Today Sergei Mikhalkov heads the International Community of Writers' Unions, the largest writing organization in the country, publishes books and writes poetry. Following Korney Chukovsky and Marshak, he is the creator of Soviet children's literature.
God's gift of a children's writer is organically combined in Mikhalkov's work with the gift of a satirist, the talent of a fabulist, a successor to the traditions of “grandfather Krylov” in modern Russian literature.
Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov, together with Leonid Sobolev, stood at the origins of the Writers' Union of Russia. After Leonid Sobolev, it was Sergei Mikhalkov who became the chairman of the board of the Union of Writers of Russia and formed it as the leading writers' organization in the country.
Mikhalkov heads the International Community of Writers' Unions, which, in addition to the Russian Writers' Union, includes writers' unions and writers' organizations of most CIS countries.
In Samara today, a sculptural composition was unveiled in honor of the literary hero Sergei Mikhalkov, Uncle Styopa, a policeman. The six-meter monument was erected in the center of Samara, in the pedestrian zone on Leningradskaya Street. I will share with you my photos from this event.
2. The start of the ceremony was scheduled at 13:00. When I arrived at the appointed time, the intersection of Leningradskaya and Molodogvardeyskaya streets was no longer crowded. 
3. Let's remember who Uncle Styopa is? Sergei Mikhalkov’s poem “Uncle Styopa” was written 80 years ago. A kind, positive character “by the name of Stepanov and by the name of Stepan”, he helps firefighters, serves in the navy, works as a policeman... The distinctive features of Uncle Styopa are his enormous height and love for children. The poem "Uncle Styopa - Policeman" was first published in 1954 in the magazine "Border Guard", the newspaper "Pionerskaya Pravda", in the magazines " New world" and "Pioneer". 
4. Secretary of State - Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Zubov took part in the opening of the monument. He stated that - “The policeman is a mirror of Russian power. The monument to Uncle Styopa, unveiled today in Samara, personifies a Russian police officer and the entire system of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.” The regional police were represented by the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Samara Region, Sergei Solodovnikov. 
5. In many ways, the installation of this monument became possible thanks to State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein. Since 2012, at the suggestion of Khinshtein, the organizing committee “Cultural Samara” has been operating in Samara, which considers proposals for the installation of new sculptural compositions in the city at the expense of extra-budgetary sources. Thus, over four years, 16 sculptures and art objects appeared on the streets, squares and squares of Samara, including: “Yuri Detochkin”, “Comrade Sukhov”, “Good Soldier Schweik”, “Pinocchio”, “Barge Haulers on the Volga”, etc. . 
6. “Today is a small holiday in Samara,” noted the Chairman of the Government of the Samara Region, Alexander Nefedov, in his speech. - Uncle Styopa - for real folk hero, the embodiment of the best in a person and an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” 
7. There were many children at the holiday. They were never bored. While the wait dragged on, children were entertained by animators, and adults were entertained by museum staff and actors in the uniform of those years. Vintage cars and vintage motorcycles were installed next to the monument. 
8. The guys from the creative studio are great! They gave a real performance. 
9. The author of the work, a famous sculptor, the President, was invited to the ceremony as guests of honor Russian Academy arts, People's Artist of the USSR and the Russian Federation Zurab Tsereteli, President of the Russian Cultural Foundation Nikita Mikhalkov and Yulia Subbotina - the widow of Sergei Mikhalkov. 
10. It is noteworthy that Mikhalkov’s hero had a real local prototype, also a foreman. Oleg Pavlovich Malinin, whom many townspeople knew and respected.