4 ms·

Soviet children's books were normal books pretty much like American: fairy tales, adventures etc. Not only that, the most popular children's books were the one

Soviet children's books were normal books pretty much like American: fairy tales, adventures etc. Not only that, the most popular children's books were the ones written by Western authors: A.A. Milne, Astrid Lindgren, Rodari, Lewis Carrol, Frank Baum, H.C. Andersen.

Fins 8y ago
To be fair, for pretty much the entire existence of the USSR, Frank Baum was present only as a retelling that had very little to do with Oz, and never even mentioned Baum's name anywhere.
- IWeldMelons 8y ago
  Or really? Very little? How is that? There were some deivation from Oz but overall it is quite close to the original. Like 90% close. Anyway, a friend of mine when he was a child, had a bool actually wiritten by Baum, about the wooden soldiers.
  - Fins 8y ago
    Volkov's first book, "Wizard of the Emerald City" follows Baum somewhat closely. "Urfin Dzhus and his wooden soldiers" has nothing to do with anything Baum wrote other than a basic setting, and further sequels even less so.
    - IWeldMelons 8y ago
      Hmm. Yes you right about the sequels. However "The magician of Emerald City" is very close to the original. Anyway my original claim holds - the children's literature of the USSR was very international and mostly free of ideology. There might have been a reason for retelling the Wizard of Oz - Baum had bad reputation as a racist AFAIK, and probably the Soviet government did not want to look bad leaving his name on the book's cover.
      - Fins 8y ago
        It was international (it was probably easier to find an American children's book in USSR than a Soviet one in US, but then US is pretty insular in that regard) but I would not call it free of ideology. Translated books were often selected based on how "progressive" or friendly to the USSR author was, not on literary merit, and domestic ones pretty much had to give at least lip service to the ideology. Mind you, some of them were quite good (The Little Golden Key is probably better than Pinocchio, and surprisingly less didactic)but the ideology was omnipresent. Honestly, I doubt that the government cared much about Baum's racial views. They just did not want to make it too obvious that "Emerald City" was stolen, fair and square, and that no matter how much you might want to read the original, and however many dozens of sequels Baum wrote, you ain't gonna get them.

Fins 8y ago

To be fair, for pretty much the entire existence of the USSR, Frank Baum was present only as a retelling that had very little to do with Oz, and never even mentioned Baum's name anywhere.

IWeldMelons 8y ago
Or really? Very little? How is that? There were some deivation from Oz but overall it is quite close to the original. Like 90% close. Anyway, a friend of mine when he was a child, had a bool actually wiritten by Baum, about the wooden soldiers.
- Fins 8y ago
  Volkov's first book, "Wizard of the Emerald City" follows Baum somewhat closely. "Urfin Dzhus and his wooden soldiers" has nothing to do with anything Baum wrote other than a basic setting, and further sequels even less so.
  - IWeldMelons 8y ago
    Hmm. Yes you right about the sequels. However "The magician of Emerald City" is very close to the original. Anyway my original claim holds - the children's literature of the USSR was very international and mostly free of ideology. There might have been a reason for retelling the Wizard of Oz - Baum had bad reputation as a racist AFAIK, and probably the Soviet government did not want to look bad leaving his name on the book's cover.
    - Fins 8y ago
      It was international (it was probably easier to find an American children's book in USSR than a Soviet one in US, but then US is pretty insular in that regard) but I would not call it free of ideology. Translated books were often selected based on how "progressive" or friendly to the USSR author was, not on literary merit, and domestic ones pretty much had to give at least lip service to the ideology. Mind you, some of them were quite good (The Little Golden Key is probably better than Pinocchio, and surprisingly less didactic)but the ideology was omnipresent. Honestly, I doubt that the government cared much about Baum's racial views. They just did not want to make it too obvious that "Emerald City" was stolen, fair and square, and that no matter how much you might want to read the original, and however many dozens of sequels Baum wrote, you ain't gonna get them.