Abstract: At the death of Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky in 1969 Russia lost an irreplaceable link with her past. Although eighty-seven years is ample time for any man to accomplish his work, it seems rather too short a stretch for all this man achieved in so many spheres. Chukovsky was a Renaissance man in an age of sometimes medieval obscurantism, and it seems almost as if there is no intellectual area in which he did not participate actively. He began his career in 1901 as a journalist and editor of satirical journals, and in the following decades he made his reputation as an editor and critic, scholar and linguist, translator and popularizer of the art of translation, writer of verse for and international authority on the language of the wonderful world of children. He was a literary and political polemicist) biographer, memoirist and literary historian, an author of satirical sketches, short stories and scholarly studies, and, above all, a courageous human being with outspoken opinions about life and literature. A personal friend-and sometimes defender-of the most prominent Russian literary figures of this century, he was at the time of his death the idol of generations of Russians who grew up on his children's verse and matured to an appreciation of his adult works. He always preferred positive criticism to praise; even so, his memory invites admiration rather than an objective evaluation. He was, first and foremost, Russia's singer to children, the Dyadya Chukosha to Russians both young and old. His home in the writers' village of Peredelkino near Moscow became a mecca to children and parents who journeyed there to hear the old man recite his verses and be entertained by his repertoire of nonsensical feats of magic. His library, said to be one of the finest existing collections of children's literature, his school for children and teachers, his stageall these became a one-man institution. He was the Pied Piper of
Publication Year: 1972
Publication Date: 1972-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot