How Pinocchio became Pinocchio, or Soviet counterparts of the heroes of famous foreign fairy tales

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

It is no secret that many Soviet works had originals in foreign literature. But the writers so masterfully adapted the content, and sometimes changed the plot lines, that the new versions were much more interesting and more successful than the original. This article contains characters from Soviet fairy tales that have become much more popular than the original heroes.

Doctor Aibolit VS Doctor Dolittle

It all started with Korney Chukovsky and a cycle of his works about Doctor Aibolit. Many drew parallels between this fairytale hero and Dr. Dolittle, a character in the books of the English writer Hugh Lofting. As you know, both of these heroes understood the language of animals and treated them.

Many accused Chukovsky of plagiarism, because Lofting's work came out earlier than the story about Dr. Aibolit. However, in his memoirs, Korney Ivanovich claimed that he was inspired to create a children's fairy tale by Dr. Tsemakh Shabad, whom he met in Vilnius in 1912. That doctor was very kind, he treated both children and animals. In Vilnius, there is even a monument depicting an episode when a girl with a sick cat asks for help from Dr. Shabad.

Pinocchio VS Pinocchio

"The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Pinocchio" has become one of the most popular fairy tales in the Soviet Union. The work was first published in 1936 in the newspaper Pionerskaya Pravda. The Golden Key was so successful that it was reprinted 182 times with a total circulation of 14.5 million copies.

It all started with an honest attempt by Alexei Tolstoy to adapt the work of the Italian writer Carlo Collodi “The Adventures of Pinocchio. The history of the wooden doll”. In 1935, Tolstoy wrote to Maxim Gorky:.

In his fairy tale, Alexei Tolstoy does not mention the nose of the wooden boy, which grows larger every time he tells a lie. And in the Italian version, Pinocchio gets to the owner of the puppet theater Manjafoko, who is not at all bloodthirsty. And in the Soviet version, Buratino will have to face the terrible Karabas-Barabas.

Readers were delighted with the Golden Key. Soviet children on New Year's holidays gladly put on the costumes of Malvina, Buratino, Artemon. The name of Buratino himself became a brand. This was the name of the popular sweet soda water. Also, a wonderful musical film based on the fairy tale was shot.

"The Wizard of the Emerald City" VS "The Wizard of Oz"

When a book by the American writer Lyman Frank Baum fell into the hands of the teacher and translator Alexander Volkov, he was delighted with it. First, Volkov began to retell the tale to his students, then he decided to translate it into Russian. The translation turned into a retelling. In the end, Volkov sent his version of the work to Samuil Marshak, the chief editor of Detgiz. When in 1939 the Hollywood film "The Wizard of Oz" was awarded an Oscar, the first edition of "The Wizard of the Emerald City" was published in the USSR with a modest inscription on the title page "based on the work of L. F. Baum."

This book was a huge success in the USSR. Alexander Volkov began to receive letters from readers with requests to continue the series. In the next 25 years, he wrote five more books, which became independent works that practically did not overlap with the original.

Old Man Hottabych - a genie turned into a Soviet citizen

Turn an ancient genie into a Soviet citizen? Why not. It was this task that Lazar Lagin, the former deputy editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine Krokodil, took upon himself. According to the writer's daughter Natalya Lagina, her father's idea for a tale-tale about the adventures of a genie appeared after reading the tale of the English writer F. Ansti "The Copper Jug".

The work turned out to be quite entertaining and had three versions. In each subsequent edition, Soviet ideology took place, because the pioneer Volka is re-educating Hottabych into an exemplary Soviet citizen. Political propaganda aside, the well-written work was a great success among young readers. The 1955 adaptation of the tale-tale contributed to the greater popularity of Hotabbych.

The film-fairy tale "Old Man Hottabych" became an example of incredible ingenuity and skill of its creators, after all, they were faced with the task: to surpass Hollywood.