Phenomenon of German-Speaking Children’s Literature in the Soviet Emigration (1930-40S)

Abstract

The object of research in this article is the phenomenon of German-language children's literature in the Soviet emigration (30-40-ies of the twentieth century), not studied as a holistic phenomenon either in foreign or in domestic literature. For the first time, the study examines the complex structure of the corpus of German-language children's literature published in our country during this period. A Central problem was also the comparative analysis of children's emigrant literature in European and Soviet exile.

The creativity of the key figures who created children's works in the Soviet Union - writers Bertha Lask (1878–1967), Bela Balazs (1884–1949) and Maria Osten (1908–1942) is considered both in the aspect of its evolution relative to the European period of their life, and in the light of the adaptation of ideological and aesthetic attitudes of writers to the literary process in Soviet Russia. While maintaining the basic social concepts of childhood developed at home, as well as the themes and motives of German proletarian literature, writers change the concept of childhood and the view of the child, as well as make the transition from the genre of fairy tales and travel books to realistic works of small and medium form (story, report, story).

It is proved that the main reason for changing the creative paradigm of these writers was the ultimate politicization of the literary process in the USSR in the second half of the 30s.

Keywords: German-speaking children's literature, Soviet emigration, proletarian children's literature, travelogue, realistic story, report.