Who wrote Pinocchio? This question will be answered by most readers of all ages living in the post-Soviet space. "The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Pinocchio" - such is the full name of the tale, composed by the Soviet classic Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy, based on the fairy tale Carlo Collodi "The Adventures of Pinocchio."
Since the advent of Tolstoy's tale, disputes have begun - what is it, arrangement, retelling, translation, literary processing? Even in exile in 1923-24, Alexei Nikolayevich decided to translate the Collody tale, but other ideas and plans captured him, and the vicissitudes of his personal fate took him far from the children's book. Tolstoy returns to Pinocchio ten years later. The time was different, life circumstances changed - he returned to Russia.
Tolstoy had just had a heart attack and took a short timeout in his hard work on the novel The Walking in Pain. And it’s an amazing thing, he begins by strictly following the storyline of the original source, but gradually moves further and further away from him, so whether he was the one who wrote Pinocchio, or whether it was a modified Pinocchio, one can argue what literary scholars do. The writer did not want to make his story thoroughly moralizing, as it was with Collodi. Alexei Nikolayevich himself recalled that at first he tried to translate the Italian, but it turned out to be boring. He pushed him to a radical alteration of this plot by S. Ya. Marshak. The book was completed in 1936.
And makes Tolstoy Pinocchio and his friends completely different than the heroes of the fairy tale of Pinocchio were. The author wanted the readers to feel the spirit of fun, games, adventurism. I must say, he succeeds. So there are storylines of the hearth, painted on an old canvas, the mysterious door hidden under it, the golden key that the heroes are looking for, and which should open this mysterious door.
This is not to say that there are no moralizing maxims in the tale. The one who wrote Pinocchio was no stranger to them. Therefore, the wooden boy is taught by the cricket, who lives in Papa Carlo’s room (useless!), And the girl Malvina, who, in addition, locks the guilty hero in the closet. And like any boy, a wooden man strives to do everything his own way. And learns exclusively from their mistakes. That is how he falls into the clutches of crooks - the fox Alice and the cat Basilio - wanting a quick enrichment. The famous Miracle Field in the country of Fools is probably the most famous metaphor of the tale, although not the only one, the Golden Key itself is also worth it!
The storyline of Karabas-Barabas, the puppet exploiter who wants to find the secret door, leads our heroes to this secret door, behind which is the brand new Lightning puppet theater. During the day, puppet men will study, and in the evenings play performances in it.
The popularity fell on Tolstoy incredible. The children did not even think about who wrote Pinocchio, they read the book with pleasure, and it was only reprinted 148 times in the USSR, was translated into many languages of the world, and was filmed many times. The first film adaptation was released in 1939, A. Ptushko became the director of the film.
Tolstoy's tale is interesting for adults as well. A master stylist and a mocker, the author refers us to the Fonvizinsky “Little Boy” (Pinocchio’s lesson, a task with apples), the dictation written by the hero is Fet’s palindrome: “And the rose fell on Azora’s paw”, in the image of Karabas-Barabas they see a parody of it Nemirovich-Danchenko, then to Meyerhold, and to the fact that Pierrot was deducted from A. Blok, many literary scholars cite.
A happy Soviet childhood passed with Toffee “Golden Key” and soda “Pinocchio”, now it would be called a hyped brand.
And still, children and parents read and re-read a fairy tale that teaches good without tedious edification.