The surname of the writer to whom this article is devoted is familiar to everyone. Poems and stories of this author were read by Soviet children. His books have been reprinted many times. They have become classics of children's literature and are popular with young readers today. The topic of our article is the biography of Boris Zakhoder. Also, we will talk about little-known facts regarding the work of this wonderful writer.
Biography
Boris Zakhoder is known in Russia primarily as a children's poet. However, the personality he was very multifaceted.
The love of literature Boris Vladimirovich took possession of in early childhood. The future writer was born in an intelligent family in which books were treated with great honor. The biography of Boris Zakhoder began in one of the small towns of Moldova. He later left his hometown and spent most of his life in the capital.
According to the poet’s memoirs, in his childhood he changed schools many times. Then he studied at one or another university. And at the age of twenty he entered the Literary Institute. And three years later the war began ...
Poems for children
Zakhoder published his first poetic works a year after demobilization. True, they came out in one of the children's magazines under a pseudonym. Although before this important event, he had already written poems on military subjects.
The biography of Boris Zakhoder is interesting primarily because reading his most famous works gives the impression that their author is an extremely careless person. It is hard to imagine that the creator of the cycle of children's funny counters is a participant in two wars: the Soviet-Finnish and the Patriotic. Nevertheless, already in the second half of the forties, the children's poem "Sea Battle" was published. Little is known about the military poetry of this author.
Poet, prose writer and playwright
The works of Boris Zakhoder are very different from each other. And it may even seem that they were written by different people. Everyone knows the funny poem "Harmful Cat". But there is a more complex poem, “Why Trees Don't Walk.”
For children, in addition to poems, Zakhoder also wrote fairy tales: “Gray Star”, “Hermit and Rose” and others came out from under his pen. He was also a playwright and translator. In children's puppet theaters, performances were staged according to his plays. And the works of foreign children's writers - Alan Milne, Lewis Carroll and Pamela Travers - Soviet children could read in Russian for the first time precisely thanks to the translations of Boris Vladimirovich.
"Imaginations"
Nature and animals are the topic that Boris Zakhoder addressed most often. His poems are filled with dialogues in which the author talks with his animal characters. And the characters answer him. They express requests, complaints and strive for justice.
The collection "In My Imagination" most clearly shows the uniqueness of the author. In it, he created an unusual fairy-tale world. In these poems, the author’s ability to play with the word is simple and unobtrusive.
About school and schoolchildren
Like the French writer and pilot, Zakhoder is "born from childhood." Poems about the school contain such a confidential tone and simple-minded manner of narration that it seems as though their author has not yet matured in his heart and soul. In the series "On the back desk", he did not expose his heroes. They are brawlers and lazy people, but as if the poet Zakhoder agrees with them. His poems are about children and for children. They depict a beautiful and magical world that only a child can see.
Tales for people
The writer combined prosaic children's works into a cycle, the reading of which becomes not only entertainment. Zakhoder could combine scientific accuracy and fabulous fiction. Tales "Once upon a time Fip" and "Ma-Tari-Kari" are interesting and informative. Their main idea is a harmonious arrangement of the world, the unity of environmental and moral laws.
Interpreter
Boris Zakhoder entered the Russian literature nevertheless thanks to his work on the tales of foreign authors. But the works in German, English, Czech and Polish, rather, he did not translate, but retold. In these books, the creative beginning of Zakhoder is evident. And their popularity among Russian readers, such characters as Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins and the Bremen Town Musicians owe above all to a talented translation. The author-translator was able to transfer his unusual humor, kindness and unique verbal game to the books loved by every Russian schoolchild.
Based on foreign fairy tales, Zakhoder wrote plays for plays and scripts for cartoons.
For the children's theater, the writer wrote such works as “Rostik in the Deep Forest”, “Wings of Thumbelina”, “Burdock at the Seaside”.
Lyrics
Not only children's prose and poetry was created by Boris Zakhoder. He also wrote books for adults. The collection of lyrical touching works “Leaf”, published four years before his death, may be an unexpected, but pleasant discovery for fans of poetry. After all, the name of Zakhoder is still associated with literature for the youngest readers.
In her memoirs, the poet’s wife once said that Boris Vladimirovich also wrote serious works. He translated Goethe and could introduce Russian-speaking readers to many great creations of foreign word masters. But in the country where he lived, it was not easy for a person with an “incorrect” nationality and an atypical outlook on things. Faced with a misunderstanding of the "higher", he decided to write exclusively for children. But even in this field, he waited a long time for recognition.
Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder is well known not only in our country, but also abroad. He is the owner of the prestigious literary Prize. Andersen.
The writer passed away in 2000.