"The Republic of SKID" is one of the most famous books for children in Soviet literature. This is an autobiographical work written by the tandem of authors - Grigory Belykh and Leonid Panteleev (real name - Alexei Yeremeyev). The book tells about the years spent in a boarding school for difficult children.
But there is a book that is inextricably linked with the "Republic of SKID", although not so well known. A brief summary of the story "Lenka Panteleev" suggests that this is the first part of the dilogy, since one of the main characters in these books is a common one.
"Lenka Panteleev": events, time and characters
The book is not too famous. Those who love the "Republic of SKID" and are interested in the life of its authors know about its existence. Actually, in the "Republic of SKID" itself, it is possible, without even seeing the story, to reconstruct its summary. Lenka Panteleev himself briefly mentions his childhood, and the main milestones coincide with the chapters of the autobiographical story.
“Lenka Panteleev” is a story about the years preceding the events described in the “Republic of SKID”. This is the story of the author’s childhood, his wanderings in the civil war in Russia. The picture of the world given by the eyes of a ten-year-old child - smart, kind, talented, but surprisingly unlucky and restless. Those who are interested in this period of history will probably be interested to read the whole story, and its summary. Lenka Panteleev writes about what he saw, and the world with children's eyes is very different from a thoughtful analysis of adult texts about that time.
Lenkina family
Of course, the story was written at a time when, by definition, the Red Army were to be positive heroes, and the White Guards were negative. This can be seen even by simply reviewing the summary. Lenka Panteleev feels sympathy for this side of the conflict. However, perhaps she was absolutely sincere.
Lenka Panteleev is the son of a retired military and music teacher. There was no mutual understanding between mother and father. The former military man had a difficult conflict character, a soft and timid mother was simply afraid of him. Quarrels broke out in the family, in the end, the father left, then to die away from home.
Hard times have come for the family. There was not enough money, but it was necessary to provide the boy with the opportunity to study normally at a preparatory school. Lenka is an intelligent, talented child, he reads a lot, writes poetry, studies well, although he has problems with behavior.
School and disease
At school, he meets Volkov, a boy from a wealthy family. They have common interests, and Lenka began to visit the Volkovs. There he heard that the Bolsheviks are spies and conspirators. Since before this the boy understood that Stesha's housekeeper was connected with the Bolsheviks, this new knowledge frightened Lenka. At home, he managed to unlock the chest with Stesha’s personal belongings and read letters and brochures, without even being able to clearly understand their summary. Lenka Panteleev decided that the housekeeper is a spy. He told his mother about everything, but she did not pay attention to the political convictions of the housekeeper, but she called her son a thief. The boy suddenly lost consciousness. Either Lenka was really ill with something, or the fever was caused by a nervous strain, but the child lay in delirium for 48 days. During this time, a revolution took place, the country received a new government. Recovering, Lenka, with amazement, realized that life around had changed.
Country life
The ex-nanny, who had left for the village near Yaroslavl, invited the inmate’s family, which remained practically without a livelihood, to stay for the summer. Exhausted by the lack of money, Lenka's mother accepts this invitation. From this journey, the acquaintance of Lenka’s home boy with the inside of the revolution begins.
In the village, Lenka meets with representatives of the Green Army - armed groups of unclear political convictions. The chairman of the committee of the poorest residents of the village of Cheltsov also lived there. Lenka made friends with him and even selflessly tried to save him from the Green Army detachment, warning of the attack. Fortunately, help was not needed, but Lenka caught a cold and got diphtheria. The boy needed serious treatment. His mother tried to take him to a hospital in Yaroslavl, but she did not succeed. The city was just taken by the White Guard units, and the family was forced to hide in the basement of the hotel. During the hostilities, they stole everything, in the city besieged by the red parts, starvation began, there was no water.
Lenka helped his mother as best he could: went for water, tried to look for food. They decided to return to the village, but along the way they were detained by a detachment of the Green Army. Everything worked out, but the family lost a bag of money. The summary of the book "Lenka Panteleev" is, in fact, a list of losses and endless wanderings of the family.
Vagrancy
By the end of summer, a desperate mother still found work in a small town on Kama. She was offered the position of head of the music school. Life began to improve. But one day, my mother needed to leave for official business in St. Petersburg. She left Lenka in the care of relatives. The aunt who was supposed to look after the boy fell ill, and two weeks later Lenka realized with horror that his mother would not return. He went after his aunt, took out groceries, but when she got better, it turned out that the boy was a burden to her.
The boy tried to get a job in an agricultural school and even lived there for some time, belatedly realizing that this was not an educational institution at all, but a den. Then Lenka got to the orphanage, from where he escaped, then - to another orphanage. Finally, the boy decided that he would go look for his mother.
From this moment on, the summary of the story “Lenka Panteleev” is simply a list of places where the boy got in his wanderings and where he always left. Lenka was wound around the country, he was sick, things were stolen from him, he himself learned to steal, ask for alms and hide. There were people who helped the boy, gave food and shelter, there were those who drove him away. For almost a year Lenka wandered until he finally managed to get to Peter. There he found his family, but, alas, the bad habits that he acquired during vagrancy entrenched. Mother tried for a long time to cope with her son herself, but then admitted defeat. She took him to SKID - a school named after Dostoevsky, a boarding school for difficult children. But from this place begins a completely different book.