9 adventure books that were read in the USSR, and what children don't like about them today

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

There are adventure books that a child who grew up in the USSR read almost without fail. And then he played her heroes in the yard, at the dacha, or - which was not very approved by the parents - on the pond. But they raise a lot of questions in modern children, and such that one inevitably ask yourself - why did the Soviet schoolchild not ask the same questions?

The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas

Memories of the book are full of words such as nobility, courage and the ability to be friends. Suppose the Musketeers and D'Artagnan really were good friends to each other, but it is difficult to find courage in the way the protagonist deceived a woman in order to get into her bed, and nobility in the constant slapping of servants, eternal refusals to honestly pay the bills when it comes to money, and many other small deeds of the protagonists.

I must say that the author's ironic attitude towards his own hero-nobles was obvious to the French bourgeois in a society of victorious bourgeois morality, which France remained even after the revival of the monarchy in the nineteenth century. The Soviet schoolboy uncritically believed the author's definitions like "chivalrous". An extremely politically correct Soviet film also added fuel to the fire, from which the exploitation of a person by a person (that is, servants) was completely removed, and the moments with women were smoothed out, so that the heroes began to look much more attractive, despite a certain tendency to drunkenness and disregard for the laws of the country (which consisted, first of all, in the thirst to kill - that is, the thirst for duels).

The Extraordinary Adventures of Karik and Vali by Ian Larry

The book about the adventures of shrunken children, together with the equally tiny insane, but kind scientist in the world of insects, was intended to tell children more about the living microcosm and describe what technologies we could learn from nature. And indeed, something in new technologies has appeared thanks to the study of plants and insects (as well as mollusks, birds, and so on) - the use of indirect stiffeners, for example. And some of it seems downright outdated.

But what especially raises questions for children is the beginning of the story. Children go without adults to a stranger, drink unfamiliar liquid without asking, and then the police find the panties of the disappeared children in the house of a lonely man and … no alarm about a possible kidnapping by a maniac. It seems that the kids of the past were not taught either safety or politeness, and the police could only protect them from hooligans, the child concludes.

Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Funny hooligan antics of the main characters conquered (and still conquer sometimes) more than one generation of children. The guys in these books are resourceful, by and large, kind to others, no matter how they play, and, in addition, unlike many heroes of children's books of that time, they demonstrate that children have their own subculture, separate from adults - their own ideas about correct communication, about honor, about the terrible and interesting. This juxtaposition of children's concepts to adults, among other things, provided a lively interest for young readers.

At the same time, some of the things of the modern child are shocking. For example, the episode with a dead cat. If the author finds it funny due to the fact that adults will be horrified by such dirt, and children adore dirt, then nowadays cats for children are creatures with whom they establish an emotional connection, and not just part of the street fauna. What can be funny in the fact that some cat has died, and their little body is also being bullied? Or Indians - in modern culture, taking into account the experience of their centuries-old discrimination, they try to show Native Americans from the most humane and positive side, while Mark Twain has a villain Indian stereotypical for American literature of his time. And the defamation of blacks, mockery of their manner of speaking and their looks, rudeness towards them are shocking separately and very much.

"Amphibian Man" and "Ariel", Alexander Belyaev

The plot about boys who were experimentally tested, as a result of which they acquired superpowers - to be in the water for a long time and fly into the air - is, in general, understandable to modern teenagers who grew up on superhero films. In addition, both heroes will appeal to fans of diversion: they belong to non-white peoples. The water conqueror Ichthyander is a representative of one of the indigenous peoples of Argentina, the air conqueror Ariel was brought up in Indian culture (but in fact he is either completely or half English). Ichthyander opposes white capitalism in the person of the soulless entrepreneur Pedro Zurita, Ariel - incitement and exploitation of religious fanaticism, represented in turn by Hindu priests and British missionaries. In addition, Gutiere faces abuse from her husband and ends up getting a divorce. These topics are also frequently covered in contemporary cinema.

And yet there are some issues that raise questions. For example, why is Dr. Salvator considered a good person if he brought grief to the family of Ichthyander by telling them that their son had died - and in fact kidnapped him, leaving him for himself? In the end, it is precisely because of this that the father of Ichthyander goes mad and becomes a beggar - he is also the guardian of Gutiere, the positive heroine, Balthazar. Apart from the fact that the doctor, like an inveterate maniac, kept Ichthyander in complete social isolation from a high idea, they say, so as not to tarnish him with the filth of the world. It is rather difficult to consider this person a positive character just because in the end he frees Ichthyander for a bribe.

Modern children will be embarrassed by the mockery of the Christian faith in "Ariel". Not to mention, the question will arise why the boy was named after the little mermaid (although in fact, of course, he bears the name of the spirit of the air, and this is a male name, like Raphael or Daniel).

Captain Grant's Children, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

Two books from this French trilogy of the nineteenth century were especially popular thanks to film adaptations, but their children loved them even before they appeared on the cinema screens. In the first part, two Scottish teenagers, a boy and a girl, go in search of their father in the company of Lord and Lady Glenarvan, Lord and Lady Glenarvan, Lord's cousin, Major McNabbs, Captain John Mangles, and a very absent-minded French geographer Paganel, who accidentally wandered off. Knowing only the latitude at which Captain Grant once landed, travelers actually go around the whole world, checking all the shores at this latitude - and, of course, get involved in adventures.

In the second and third parts, the central character was already Captain Nemo - the Indian prince Dakkar, an enlightened man who became a victim of British colonial policy. In general, the whole trilogy is stuffed with injections to the British, and therefore the goodies in it are mainly those peoples who were pushed around by the British, such as the Scots, Irish, Native Americans and Indians. The dislike of the English on the part of the French is literally a tradition … However, for the Russian reader, all these three books are, first of all, about unprecedented adventures and about a lonely engineering genius who arranges real technical miracles.

The question is not the fact that many of these wonders are outdated - of course, that too much cannot be expected from such old books, but steampunk, a style that has so much in common with Verne's books, is even in fashion. As always, the questions of the children are of an ethical nature. For example, in our time, it is difficult to accept the interest of a clearly grown-up (perhaps in his early thirties) captain in a teenage girl (Mary Grant). Servants are constantly held for an empty space. And Captain Nemo himself looks like a maniac who considers himself entitled to hold people captive.

It is interesting to read a book with a child for the sake of the questions that he will ask, and the opportunity to tell something in response. Dunno in a hostel, an adult girl Ellie, a beard in Karabas's pocket: What explains the oddities in popular children's books.