Murzilka as Literary Character within the Soviet Production Mode: Models of Appropriating and Re-Codifying the Other in Soviet Children’s Literature

Abstract

The article follows the evolution of the Murzilka character in Soviet children's literature of the 1920s - 1970s. The investigation is focused on the processes of identification and description of succeeding models that came to replace each other during various periods in Soviet culture. In the analysis, special attention is given to the relationship between visual (illustrations) and textual representations of the Murzilka character.

Keywords: children's literature, Soviet children's literature, cultural translation, text and illustrations, intermediality, brownie, Murzilka, Neznaika, P.Cox, A.Hvolson, N.Nosov