A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE: ORDINARY AND NOT QUITE ORDINARY SPACES IN NIKOLAI NOSOV’S PROSE OF THE 1940S–1950S

Abstract

The article examines the short stories and novels of the Soviet children’s writer Nikolai Nosov (1908–1976), primarily written in the 1940s–1950s. The main focus of the research interest is the everyday spaces depicted in these texts, such as the school, house, yard, dacha, and pioneer camp. In the framework of the method of “cultural geography”, these toposes are understood not only as concrete material objects but also as ideological and symbolic spaces. The analysis of key, iconic locations in Nosov’s prose of the 1940s–1950s leads to the conclusion that his books normalise the representation of the Soviet school and Soviet childhood. The topoi of the world in which Nosov’s characters live are portrayed as the normal, desirable, “correct” space of life here and now, without constant looking back at the revolutionary perestroika in the past or the desire to move to a utopian future. It can be argued that Nosov contributed to creating an illusory and ideologically laden image of the Soviet school (yard, pioneer camp) and the Soviet country as the best place for life — at least for children.

Keywords: Nikolai Nosov, children’s literature, school story, adventure, cultural geography, real-and-imagined places, topos, Soviet school, Soviet childhood