Sasha Cherny’s Collected Works for Children, the 1929–1930s

Abstract

The article is devoted to Sasha Cherny’s latest author’s collections for children, published in exile: “The Silver Christmas Tree” (1929), “The Ruddy Book” (1930) and “The Seafaring Squirrel” (1933). The purpose of this work is to determine the author’s approach of Sasha Cherny to the formation of books for children. The following conclusions were reached during the study: the first works that open the collection can be called programmatic, since they set the main theme, images, and motifs. Each collection is based on different author’s approaches, the leading principle of unity is different: genre, thematic and artistic images. Each collection has its own themes, but there are common ones as well, such as motifs of joy and play. These define the tone of Sasha Cherny’s works for children, where all conflicts and dangerous situations are resolved happily. There is a special author’s narrative style: in some works, events are shown from the perspective of other beings, when the narrator provides a voice to his characters and animals or toys become the subjects of the focus. In some, on the contrary, the narrator’s voice and a special warm intonation are heard, which betrays the author’s attitude towards his characters: sympathy and empathy, irony or humor that relieves tension and sets the mood for a successful resolution of a difficult or dangerous situation. The collections Serebryanaya Yelka (The Silver Christmas Tree), Rumyanaya Knizhka (The Ruddy Book), Belka-moreplavatel’nitsa (The Seafaring Squirrel), and became the last Sasha Cherny’s books for children, in which the writer recalled his early work, told young readers about Russia, and delighted with the funny stories of his contemporaries.