Information about the author Alexander Volkov. Volkov Alexander Melentyevich - so that they remember. Wooden soldiers of Oorfene Deuce and the Seven Underground Kings

Biography, life story of Volkov Alexander Melentyevich

Volkov Alexander Melentievich - Russian writer, translator.

Childhood

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was born on June 14, 1891. His place of birth is the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Alexander's father's name was Melenty Mikhailovich, he was a retired sergeant major.

Volkov's passion for literature manifested itself in early childhood. At the age of 4, thanks to the efforts of his father, Alexander already knew how to read. Since then, books have become his faithful companions.

At the age of 6, Alexander began studying at the city school, and he was immediately accepted into the second grade. And at the age of 12, Volkov had already graduated from this educational institution.

Education, teaching

The year 1907 was marked for Alexander Volkov by entering the Tomsk Teachers' Institute. In 1910, having received a degree in mathematics, he worked for some time as a teacher in the village of Kolyvan (Altai Territory). A little later, he worked as a teacher in his native school in Ust-Kamenogorsk. At this time, Volkov independently mastered the German and French languages ​​to perfection.

In the 20s of the 20th century, Volkov moved to the city of Yaroslavl, where he took up the post of school director, while simultaneously studying at the correspondence department of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.

Alexander Melentyevich arrived in Moscow in 1929. There they began to work as the head of the academic department of the working faculty. For seven months (instead of the required five years) he studied at Moscow University. By this time, Volkov was already married and had two sons.

In 1931, Alexander Volkov became a teacher and then an associate professor at the Department of Higher Mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

CONTINUED BELOW

Volkov’s first poems (“Dreams”, “Nothing Makes Me Happy”) were published in the newspaper “Siberian Light” in 1917. Right after October revolution Alexander Melentyevich wrote many plays for children's theater– “Village School”, “In a Deaf Corner”, “Fern Flower” and others. Productions based on his works were very warmly received by the audience.

As a teacher at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, Volkov decided to master the English language. To do this, Alexander Melentievich read a book by Lyman Frank Baum entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Remaining impressed by what he read, Volkov tried to translate fairy tale story into Russian. In the process of work, the Russian writer changed many aspects of Baum’s story, added some points, so the result was not a translation, but a reworking of the book. As a result, the fairy tale “The Wizard of the Emerald City” came out of Volkov’s pen. Alexander Melentievich showed his manuscript to a famous children's writer. He noted that the manuscript was very good, sent it to the publishing house, and advised Volkov not to give up his literary studies.

“The Wizard of the Emerald City” immediately became popular among readers. The success of this book encouraged Volkov to continue writing. His talent allowed him to become a member of the USSR Writers' Union in 1941.

Throughout his life, Alexander Melentyevich wrote more than 50 works, including poems, popular science books, and historical essays, and novels, and plays, and stories...

Death

Volkov Alexander Melentyevich died in Moscow in 1977 on July 3 at the age of 86 years. A street in his city is named after him. hometown Ust-Kamenogorsk.

§ Biography

Born on June 14, 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk in a military fortress, in the family of retired sergeant major Melenty Mikhailovich Volkov. At the age of 12, he graduated as the first student from the Ust-Kamenogorsk City School, where he later began his teaching career.

In 1907 he entered the Tomsk Teachers' Institute, after which (in 1909) he received a diploma with the right to teach all subjects school curriculum except the Law of God.

He began working as a teacher in his hometown, and in 1910 (by specialty - mathematician) he worked as a teacher in the Altai city of Kolyvan. In the 1920s he moved to Yaroslavl, where he worked as a school director. Graduated in absentia from the Faculty of Mathematics of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.

In 1929 he moved to Moscow, where he worked as the head of the educational department of the workers' faculty. In seven months, I completed the course and passed the exams as an external student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. Since 1931, for twenty years since its founding, he has been a teacher, then an associate professor of the department of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

Volkov was encyclopedic educated person, knew literature and history well, and spoke foreign languages.

At the age of 24, Volkov met a gymnastics and dance teacher at the gymnasium, Kaleria Gubina, at a New Year's ball in Ust-Kamenogorsk. Two months later they got married and a year later they had a son, Vivian (died at five years old from dysentery), and three years later another, Romuald (died at two years old from croup). However, a few years later, Alexander and Kaleria again had two sons in turn, and they gave them the same names.

§ Creation

Volkov began writing his first novel at the age of twelve. Began publishing in 1916. In the 1920s, his plays were performed on the stages of several provincial theaters. At the end of the 1930s he entered great literature. Member of the Writers' Union since 1941. The total circulation of his works, published in many languages ​​of the world, exceeded twenty-five million copies.

Many of Volkov's works are dedicated to outstanding personalities of the past - scientists, builders, discoverers, philosophers. In his novels and stories, the writer most often turned to history.

Before working on such a book, he carefully and comprehensively studied the era, got acquainted with documents and special scientific works, so he combines a fascinating plot and emotional presentation with scientific and authenticity.

One of the first children's books on historical topic“The Wonderful Ball” reveals a picture of life in Russia in the 18th century. Main character This story - the son of a merchant Dmitry Rakitin was imprisoned forever in the fortress, where he invented the first in Russia balloon. The book "The Wake of the Stern" tells the history of navigation from primitive times to the legendary voyages of the Viking Leif Eriksson.

Volkov liked to develop topics related to national history, not only ancient, but also modern. In the story “The Captive of Constantinople” the author spoke about the times of the great reign of Yaroslav the Wise, in “Two Brothers” - about the reign of Peter I, and in “Journey to the Third Millennium” - about the construction of the Volga-Don Canal in the author’s native Soviet era.

Volkov was also involved in popularizing science for schoolchildren. He published a number of entertaining stories on geography and astronomy, combining them into the collection “Earth and Sky.” The popular science book “In Search of Truth” was dedicated to the history of science, and another book was dedicated to fishing.

      ¶  Cycle “The Wizard of the Emerald City”

As a rule, the name Volkov is known today only from this cycle. The first book in the series was based on the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by American children's writer Lyman Frank Baum. Volkov undertook to translate this book in order to practice learning English. However, during the translation process, he changed some events and added new adventures of the heroes. The manuscript of the revised tale was approved by S. Ya. Marshak. In 1939, the story “The Wizard of the Emerald City” acquired the status of an independent work; it was translated into 13 languages ​​and went through 46 reprints.

In 1963, almost 25 years later, Volkov again began writing stories about the girl Ellie and her friends Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Woodman and other inhabitants of the Magic Land. The author created a whole series of stories in which he combined reality and fantasy. Volkov used techniques characteristic of literary fairy tale. For example, in the cycle you can see the “two worlds” traditional for this genre, the confrontation between good and evil, and he also filled the narrative with classical fairy-tale characters(wizards, talking animals), and used traditional motifs (flying shoes, immersed in a magical dream The Royal Family, animated wooden figures, and so on).

The plots of the cycle develop themes of moral self-improvement, the power of friendship, which can create real miracles, love for the homeland, and the collective struggle for freedom and justice. Although the main actions of the cycle take place in Fairyland, the heroes find a way out difficult situations not so much due to some kind of magical help, but rather due to one’s own knowledge, intelligence, ingenuity, and mutual assistance.

The writer had faith in the omnipotence of man-made technology, so his heroes usually defeated witchcraft with the help of various technical inventions (a gun designed by Charlie Black, a mechanical drill, the super robot Tilly-Willy).

In the 1950s, the book appeared with drawings by L. Vladimirsky, who also made illustrations for other stories in the series.

• "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)
• "Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers" (1963)
• "Seven Underground Kings" (1964)
• "The Fire God of the Marrans" (1968)
• "Yellow Fog" (1970)
• "The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle" (1976, book version - 1982)

      ¶  Stories

• "Two Brothers" (1938-1961)
• "The Wonderful Ball (The First Balloonist)" (1940)
• "The Invisible Fighters" (1942)
• "Planes at War" (1946)
• "Way as Stern" (1960)
• "Travelers into the Third Millennium" (1960)
• "The Adventures of Two Friends in the Land of the Past" (1963)
• "Prisoner of Constantinople" (1969)
• “And Lena was stained with blood” (1975)

      ¶  Stories and essays

• "Petya Ivanov's journey to an extraterrestrial station"
• "In the Altai Mountains"
• "Lapatin Bay"
• "On the Buzhe River"
• « Birthmark»
• "Lucky day"
• "Campfire"

      ¶  Novels

• "Architects" (1954)
• Volkov A. M. Architects: A Novel / Afterword: Doctor historical sciences A. A. Zimin; Drawings by I. Godin. - Reprint. - M.: Children's literature, 1986. - 384 p. - (Library series). - 100,000 copies. (Abstract: Novel from Russian history XVI century about the construction of a miracle of Russian architecture, a magnificent historical monument- St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow).
• In the novel “Wanderings” (1963), the author spoke about the childhood and youth of the Italian astronomer and philosopher Giordano Bruno.

      ¶  Popular science books

• “How to catch fish with a fishing rod. Notes of a Fisherman" (1953)
• "Earth and Sky" (1957-1974)
• "In Search of Truth" (1980)
• "In Search of Destiny" (1924)

      ¶  Poetry

• "Nothing Makes Me Happy" (1917)
• "Dreams" (1917)
• "Red Army"
• "The Ballad of the Soviet Pilot"
• "Scouts"
• "Young Partisans"
• "Motherland"

      ¶  Songs

• "Marching Komsomolskaya"
• "Song of the Timurites"

      ¶  Plays for children's theater

• "Eagle Beak"
• "In a remote corner"
• "Village School"
• "Tolya the Pioneer"
• "Fern flower"
• "Home Teacher"
• “Comrade from the center (Modern auditor)”
• « Trading house Schneersohn and Co.

      ¶  Radio plays (1941-1943)

• “The counselor goes to the front”
• "Timurovites"
• "Patriots"
• "Dead of Night"
• "Sweatshirt"

      ¶  Historical essays

• "Mathematics in Military Affairs"
• “Glorious pages in the history of Russian artillery”

      ¶  Translations

• Jules Verne, "The Danube Pilot"
• Jules Verne, "The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsak Expedition"

§ Memorialization

In 1986, the newly built street of Ust-Kamenogorsk on the left bank of the Irtysh was named after A. M. Volkov.

Volkov Alexander Melentievich- writer, playwright, translator. Born on July 14, 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk in the family of a retired non-commissioned officer. In 1907 he came to Tomsk, entered Tomsk, and three years later received the right to teach in city and higher elementary schools. He worked as a teacher in the city of Kolyvan, and then in his hometown of Ust-Kamenogorsk. From 1929 he lived in Moscow. Forty years old married man, the father of two children, prepared in seven months and passed the exams for a five-year course at the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow State University. He worked as a teacher of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

Writer Alexander Volkov with his son Vivian

His first literary experiments there were poems. His sad poem was published in the Tomsk daily social, literary and political newspaper “Siberian Light” (1917, No. 13):

Nothing makes me happy
My sad gaze does not amuse;
On the slope of life lived
I'm tired of the long journey.
Sadly I look ahead:
I won’t meet a gentle gaze
I am at the end of my days;
Not a word of friendship, not a reproach
My former friend will not tell me;
It's hidden cold and dumb
A gloomy and high wall.
And I'm the only one with the sadness of the evil
I live sad and sick
And my end is not far away.

In Ust-Kamenogorsk he participated in the publication of the newspaper “Friend of the People” and wrote several plays for the children’s theater. Somehow as material for exercises on English language, they brought him the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by F. Baum. He read it, told it to his children and decided to translate it. The result was not a translation, but an arrangement of a book by an American author. The fairy tale was published in 1939. In the sixties he wrote six more fairy tales about the Emerald City - “Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers” (1963), “Seven Underground Kings” (1964), “Fiery God of the Marranos” (1968), “Yellow Fog” (1970), “The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle” (1975, published 1982).

He wrote 20 books - several popular science and historical novels and stories, children's fantasy stories “Travelers in the Third Millennium” (1960) and “The Adventures of Two Friends in the Country of the Past” (1963), popular science books on geography, fishing, astronomy, history. His books have been translated into 30 languages.

A museum has been opened at the Tomsk State Pedagogical University, where the writer’s working corner is recreated - his desk, work chair, typewriter, rare editions of books by a wonderful storyteller, donated to our city by his granddaughter Kaleria Vivianovna Volkova.

“...I owe everything that I have achieved in life and, perhaps, even my longevity, to the fact that in the depths of Siberia, on the banks of the fast Tom, stands the city of Tomsk.”

Emerald city Tomsk: green facts

1. The real Emerald Castle rises in Tomsk on Belinsky Street, 19. Architect S. Khomich built it in 1904 for his family. In 1924, the operational technical school of the Tomsk Railway was located in the mansion. Then TSU students lived there for some time. In the second half of the 30s they lived in the mansion medical workers, then took turns regional house child No. 3 and the regional children's hospital. Now the Emerald Castle is occupied by officials: the Licensing Committee of the Tomsk Region and Roszdravnadzor. Architectural monument of federal significance.
2. “Emerald City” is the first shopping and entertainment complex in our city. With huge food stores, household appliances, sporting goods, cinema, etc. It is located at the intersection of Komsomolsky Ave. and st. Siberian. Installed in front of the shopping center sculptural composition with fairy tale characters, and a yellow brick path will lead to the entrance to the building. Plus colors and design elements reminiscent of the Emerald City. The area of ​​the complex will be 42 thousand m2. The Emerald City opened in April 2014.
3. Bronze monument to Ellie, Totoshka and everyone else. Being a convinced supporter of the idea that the image of the Emerald City came to Volkov in Tomsk, the writer Andrei Olear proposed erecting a monument to the heroes of the fairy tale in our city. According to him, “the sculptural composition will represent a Lion, on which the girl Ellie is sitting, the Scarecrow, next to the Tin Woodman with an ax and Ellie’s faithful friend Totoshka next to the Lion. And they all come out of an open bronze book.” The monument will be located right next to the Emerald City shopping and entertainment complex.

Works of the writer-storyteller Volkov

Volkov Alexander Melentievich

Performed:

student of group 2B

Ustyantseva Ksenia

In the small town of Ust-Kamenogorsk,

In the old fortress, where the peasant Melenty Volkov served as a soldier, his first-born Alexander was born on July 14, 1891.

At that time he independently mastered German and French languages. At the end of the First World War, already called up for military service

He passed as an external student final exams to the Semipalatinsk gymnasium. Later, the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute remained behind him.

The fairy tale "Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers" is a continuation of A. Volkov's fairy tale "The Wizard of the Emerald City".

It tells how the evil carpenter Oorfene Deuce made wooden soldiers and conquered the Magic Land. Ellie and her uncle, sailor Charlie Black, rushed to the rescue of its inhabitants.

The fairy tale "Seven Underground Kings" continues the story of the adventures of the girl Ellie and her friends in the Magic Land. This time, friends find themselves in the kingdom of underground miners and become participants in new amazing adventures.

The fairy tale "Yellow Fog" continues the story of amazing events, taking place in the Magic Land, where the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Brave Lion live and where their little friends find themselves again.

The fairy tale “The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle” is a continuation of the books “The Wizard of the Emerald City”, “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers”, “Seven Underground Kings”, “The Fire God of the Marrans”, “Yellow Fog” and completes the series of books by A.M. Volkov about the Magic Land .

Volkov has other works:

collection "The Wake of the Stern" (1960), dedicated to history navigation, about primitive times, about the death of Atlantis and the discovery of America by the Vikings; story "The Adventures of Two Friends in the Country of the Past" (1963). Volkov is also known as a translator.

A permanent exhibition of the storyteller's books and letters has been prepared here.

The museum is located in the old university building, where Alexander Melentyevich once studied.

Awards

For selfless work in the military and Peaceful time for the benefit of Soviet children's literature A.M. Volkov was awarded government awards:

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1953),
• medals "For Valiant Labor" in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945",
• “For valiant work in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin",

as well as professional awards.

Alexander Volkov was born on July 14, 1891 in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk in the family of a military sergeant major and a dressmaker.

In his memoirs about the celebration in Ust-Kamenogorsk in honor of the coronation of Nikolai Romanov in October 1894, Volkov wrote: “I remember standing at the gates of the fortress, and the long barracks building was decorated with garlands of colored paper lanterns, rockets were flying high into the sky and scattering multi-colored balls there, fiery wheels spin with a hiss..."

Volkov learned to read in three years old, but there were few books in his father’s house, and from the age of 8 Sasha began to skillfully bind neighbors’ books, while having the opportunity to read them. He read Mine Reed, Jules Verne and Dickens. Among the Russian writers I liked to read were Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov and Nikitin. In elementary school he studied with excellent marks, moving from class to class only with awards. At the age of 6, Volkov was immediately accepted into the second grade of the city school, and at the age of 12 he graduated as the best student. In 1904, after a preparatory course, he entered the Tomsk Teachers' Institute, from which he graduated in 1910 with the right to teach in city and higher primary schools. Alexander Volkov began working as a teacher in the ancient Altai city of Kolyvan, and then in his hometown of Ust-Kamenogorsk, at the school where he began his education. There he independently mastered the German and French languages.

On the eve of the revolution, Volkov tried to start writing. His first poems “Nothing makes me happy” and “Dreams” were published in 1917 in the newspaper “Siberian Light”. In 1917 - early 1918, he was a member of the Ust-Kamenogorsk Council of Deputies and participated in the publication of the newspaper "Friend of the People". He began teaching at the pedagogical courses that were opening in Ust-Kamenogorsk at the technical school, and at the same time he wrote a number of plays for the children's theater. His funny comedies and plays “Eagle Beak”, “In a Deaf Corner”, “Village School”, “Tolya the Pioneer”, “Fern Flower”, “Home Teacher”, “Comrade from the Center” (“Modern Inspector”) and “ Trading House Shneersohn and Co” were successfully performed on the stages of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Yaroslavl.

In Ust-Kamenogorsk.

In the 1920s, Volkov moved to Yaroslavl and worked as a school director. In parallel with this, he passed exams as an external student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Pedagogical Institute. In 1929, Alexander Volkov moved to Moscow, where he worked as the head of the educational department of the workers' faculty. By the time he entered the Moscow State University, he was already a forty-year-old married man, the father of two children. There, in seven months, he completed the entire five-year course of the Faculty of Mathematics, after which for twenty years he was a teacher of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold. There he taught an elective course in literature for students, continued to expand his knowledge of literature, history, geography, astronomy, and was actively involved in translations.

Most unexpected turn in the life of Alexander Melentyevich began with the fact that he, a great expert foreign languages, I decided to learn English as well. As material for exercises, he was given the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. He read it, told it to his two sons, and decided to translate it. True, the end result was not a translation, but an arrangement of a book by an American author. The writer changed some things and added some things. For example, he came up with a meeting with a cannibal, a flood and other adventures. His dog Toto started talking, the girl began to be called Ellie, and the Sage from the Land of Oz acquired a name and title - the Great and Terrible Wizard Goodwin... Many other cute, funny, sometimes almost imperceptible changes appeared. And when the translation, or, more precisely, the retelling, was completed, it suddenly became clear that this was no longer quite Baum’s “The Sage.” The American fairy tale has become just a fairy tale. And her heroes spoke Russian as naturally and cheerfully as they had spoken English half a century before. Alexander Volkov worked on the manuscript for a year and entitled it “The Wizard of the Emerald City” with the subtitle “Reworkings of a fairy tale American writer Frank Baum." The manuscript was sent to the famous children's writer Marshak, who approved it and handed it over to the publishing house, strongly advising Volkov to take up literature professionally.

Black and white illustrations for the text were made by artist Nikolai Radlov. The book was published in a circulation of twenty-five thousand copies and immediately won the sympathy of readers. Therefore, the following year a re-edition appeared, and by the end of the year it was included in the so-called “school series”, the circulation of which was 170 thousand copies. Since 1941, Volkov became a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.

Drawing by Nikolai Radlov.

During the war, Alexander Volkov wrote the books “Invisible Fighters” (1942, about mathematics in artillery and aviation) and “Planes at War” (1946). The creation of these works is closely connected with Kazakhstan: from November 1941 to October 1943, the writer lived and worked in Alma-Ata. Here he wrote a series of radio plays on a military-patriotic theme: “Counselor Goes to the Front”, “Timurovites”, “Patriots”, “Dead of Night”, “Sweatshirt” and others, historical essays: “Mathematics in Military Affairs”, “Glorious Pages” on the history of Russian artillery”, poems: “The Red Army”, “The Ballad of the Soviet Pilot”, “Scouts”, “Young Partisans”, “Motherland”, songs: “Marching Komsomol”, “Song of the Timurites”. He wrote a lot for newspapers and radio, some of the songs he wrote were set to music by composers D. Gershfeld and O. Sandler.

In 1959, Alexander Volkov met the aspiring artist Leonid Vladimirsky, and “The Wizard of the Emerald City” was published with new illustrations, which were later recognized as classics. The book fell into the hands of the post-war generation in the early 60s, already in a revised form, and since then it has been constantly republished, enjoying constant success. And young readers again set off on a journey along the road paved with yellow brick...

Drawing by Leonid Vladimirsky.

The creative collaboration between Volkov and Vladimirsky turned out to be long-lasting and very fruitful. Working side by side for twenty years, they practically became co-authors of books - sequels to The Wizard. Leonid Vladimirsky became the “court artist” of the Emerald City, created by Volkov. He illustrated all five Wizard sequels.

Drawing by Leonid Vladimirsky.

The incredible success of Volkov's cycle, which made the author modern classic children's literature, largely delayed the “penetration” of domestic market original works of F. Baum, despite the fact that subsequent books were no longer directly connected with F. Baum, only sometimes they included partial borrowings and alterations.

"The Wizard of the Emerald City" caused a large flow of letters to the author from his young readers. The children persistently demanded that the writer continue the tale about the adventures of the kind little girl Ellie and her faithful friends - the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the funny dog ​​Totoshka. Volkov responded to letters with the books “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers” and “Seven Underground Kings.” But reader letters continued to come with requests to continue the story. Alexander Melentyevich was forced to answer his “pushy” readers: “Many guys ask me to write more fairy tales about Ellie and her friends. I will answer this: there will be no more fairy tales about Ellie...” And the flow of letters with persistent requests to continue the fairy tales did not decrease. AND good wizard heeded the requests of his young fans. He wrote three more fairy tales - “The Fire God of the Marrans”, “The Yellow Fog” and “The Secret of the Abandoned Castle”. All six fairy tales about the Emerald City have been translated into many languages ​​of the world with a total circulation of several tens of millions of copies.

Alexander Volkov and Leonid Vladimirsky.

Based on The Wizard of Oz, the writer wrote in 1940 play of the same name, which was placed in puppet theaters Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities. In the sixties, Volkov created a version of the play for theaters young viewer. In 1968 and subsequent years, according to a new script, “The Wizard of the Emerald City” was staged by numerous theaters across the country. The play “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers” was performed in puppet theaters under the titles “Oorfene Deuce”, “The Defeated Oorfene Deuce” and “Heart, Mind and Courage”. In 1973, the Ekran association produced a ten-episode puppet film based on A. M. Volkov’s fairy tales “The Wizard of the Emerald City,” “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers” and “Seven Underground Kings,” which was shown several times on All-Union Television. Even earlier, the Moscow Filmstrip Studio created filmstrips based on the fairy tales “The Wizard of the Emerald City” and “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers.”

In the publication of A. M. Volkov’s second book “The Wonderful Ball”, which the author in its original versions called “The First Aeronaut”, Anton Semenovich Makarenko took a large part, who at that moment moved to live in Moscow, where he completely devoted himself to scientific and literary work. "Wonderful ball"— historical novel about the first Russian aeronaut. The impetus for its writing was a short story with a tragic ending, found by the author in an ancient chronicle. Others were no less popular in the country. historical works Volkova - “Two Brothers”, “Architects”, “Wanderings”, “The Tsargrad Captive”, collection “The Wake of the Stern” (1960), dedicated to the history of navigation, primitive times, the destruction of Atlantis and the discovery of America by the Vikings.

In addition, Alexander Volkov published several popular science books about nature, fishing, and the history of science. The most popular of them, “Earth and Sky” (1957), introducing children to the world of geography and astronomy, has gone through multiple reprints.

Volkov translated Jules Verne (“The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsak Expedition” and “The Danube Pilot”), he wrote the fantastic stories “The Adventure of Two Friends in the Land of the Past” (1963, pamphlet), “Travelers in the Third Millennium” (1960), short stories and essays “Petya Ivanov’s Journey to an Extraterrestrial Station”, “In the Altai Mountains”, “Lapatin Bay”, “On the Buzhe River”, “Birthmark”, “Lucky Day”, “By the Fire”, story “And Lena Was Stained with Blood” ( 1975, unpublished?), and many other works.

But his books about the Magic Land are tirelessly republished in large editions, delighting new generations of young readers... In our country, this cycle became so popular that in the 90s its sequels began to be created. This was started by Yuri Kuznetsov, who decided to continue the epic and wrote new story— “Emerald Rain” (1992). Children's writer Sergei Sukhinov, since 1997, has published more than 12 books in the “Emerald City” series. In 1996, Leonid Vladimirsky, an illustrator of books by A. Volkov and A. Tolstoy, connected his two favorite characters in the book “Pinocchio in the Emerald City.”

Author's works

Novels

• 1940 - Wonderful Ball
• 1950 - Two brothers
• 1954 - Architects
• 1954 - Wandering

Stories

• 1960 - Travelers into the third millennium
• 1963 - The Adventures of Two Friends in the Land of the Past
• 1969 - Captive of Constantinople

Fairy tales

• 1939 - The Wizard of the Emerald City
• 1963 - Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers
• 1964 - Seven Underground Kings
• 1968 - Fire God of the Marranos
• 1970 - Yellow Fog
• 1975 - The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle (published 1982)

Popular science books

• 1953 - How to catch fish with a fishing rod. Notes from a fisherman
• 1957 - Earth and Sky: Entertaining stories on geography and astronomy
• 1960 - Wake astern
• 1980 - In Search of Truth

Translations

• Jules Verne. Danube pilot
• Jules Verne. The extraordinary adventures of the Barsak expedition

Filmography and film adaptations

• 197. - The Wizard of the Emerald City