Fairy Tales and True Stories: The History of Russian Literature for Children and Young People (1574 - 2010) by Ben Hellman (review)

Following his survey of Soviet children’s literature in Swedish (Barn- och ungdomsboken i Sovjetryssland. Från oktoberrevolutionen 1917 till perestrojkan 1986 von 1991) and his article on Russian children’s literature in Peter Hunt’s International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature (2004), Ben Hellman now offers the most extensive English-language history of Russian children’s literature to date. Spanning 588 pages and covering almost five centuries, it is a huge accomplishment in several respects. Previous overviews of Russian children’s literature focused on specific time periods (such as Russian Children’s Literature and Culture, 2008, edited by Marina Balina, which looks at the twentieth century) or were simply not available in English (such as the seminal work by Irina Arzamasceva Detskaja literatura, 2009/2012).

In the twelve chapters of the present study, Hellman chronologically works his way through the centuries of children’s literature. Not surprisingly, the twentieth century takes up the lion’s share since it witnessed the strongest development and unfolding of children’s literature. Like general Russian literary histories, Hellman structures his narrative according to literary periods up to the October Revolution (Romanticism, Realism etc.). For the Soviet decades, he shifts to a political framework, considering literary developments against the backdrop of political situations of the Soviet Union (Stalinism, Khrushchev Thaw). Doing so, he continues the tradition of conceptualizing the history of twentieth-century Russian literature(s) as an interaction between literature, ideology, and political doctrine.

Within the chapters, Hellman presents key figures and works of the respective period (e.g. Samuil Marshak, Lev Kassil, Antony Pogorelsky’s The Black Hen), introduces the most important genres (especially poetry for children, but also fairytales, nonfiction and others), features popular protagonists like Cheburashka or Buratino, and highlights recurring motifs specific to literary periods, such as the war or the praise of labor. Beyond that, he guides readers through the thickets of journals and magazines for children, which—unlike in most countries of Western Europe—build on a long tradition and play an important role in Russian and Soviet children’s literature. Hellman succeeds in demonstrating the significance of this publishing format by naming prominent editors and tracing back the careers of many famous children’s book authors to publications in children’s journals and magazines.

Hellman also considers the many forgotten female authors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and underlines their considerable contribution to the development of children’s literature. He also acknowledges foreign influences and stresses the importance of translations and adaptations of international titles and subject matters, including Alexey Tolstoy’s Pinocchio-adaption Buratino, the early twentieth-century Nat-Pinkerton dime novels, the work of Astrid Lindgren, especially her most popular work in Russia, Karlsson-on-the-Roof. Finally, he keeps drawing attention to important developments of the children’s book publishing industry.

Adopting the usual pattern of histories of children’s literature, Hellman begins his narrative with the publication of primers and the first “literary” titles that were read by children, even if not specifically addressed to them. This allows him to quote the great masters of Russian literature, such as Alexander Pushkin, the Russian Symbolists, or Anton Chekhov. At times it almost seems as though Hellman wanted to demonstrate which adult fiction writers also wrote for children. This crosswriting may be due to the fact that individual artists or entire periods paid tribute to an aesthetic of childlike language and perspective, such as the literary primitivism of the Russian avant-garde (futurism, OBERIU). Hellman also draws on the generally better-known events of Soviet adult literature, such as the scandal surrounding the tamizdat of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago or Joseph Brodsky’s parasitism trial, to contextualize similar struggles and debates in the realm of children’s literature.

The twentieth century naturally...