The fate of a talented person is tragic and dramatic, about which very little information has been preserved. This is Jan Larry - a writer and biologist, to whom life has put more than one trap and pit in his path. The writer was a bright and joyful dreamer, full of extraordinary knowledge, which he shared with children in the most fascinating way.
Ian Larry. Biography
Jan Leopoldovich Larry was born in 1900, presumably in Riga. There is no exact data on the place of his birth. It is possible that this was near Moscow, where at that time his father worked, of which we also know nothing. The boy became an orphan early. From the orphanage where they wanted to put him, Ian Larry fled. From the age of ten, the child did not know where to stick himself, and wandered. He tried to work in a tavern, then studied with a watchmaker. He miraculously fell into the family of the teacher Dobrokhotov. Apparently, these were more or less calm years, and a clever teenager independently studied the gymnasium course and passed all the exams.
And then the First World War broke out. He was drafted into the army. But after the revolution, Jan Larry enters the Red Army. He twice suffered from typhus and left the service.
In peacetime
After that, he again wanders around the country. The young man works in the newspapers of Kharkov and Novgorod. In 1923, in Kharkov, he writes for the newspaper “Young Leninist”. In 1926, his first children's books were published in Kharkov. Finally he ends up in Leningrad. His articles appear in the journal “Rabselkor” and in the newspaper “Leningradskaya Pravda”. Since 1928 he has not had regular earnings. Ian Larry writes books for children. Their stories are fabulous. They are printed, edited beyond recognition (“Window to the Future,” “As It Was,” “Notes of the Red Army”). In 1931, the utopian novel The Country of the Happy came out. In it, the writer gave vent to his imagination, in some ways even prophetic. In a fairy-tale world, there is no place for wars and lies, but people are exploring space and are even facing an energy crisis. The book was so sharply criticized that the writer left literature.
Ian Larry enters the Faculty of Biology of the University of Leningrad, and then graduates from postgraduate school and works as a director of a fish factory.
Return to literature
During these years, he does not forget that he is still a journalist, and is periodically published in newspapers. And then he was finally lucky. Fate was pleased to introduce him to Samuel Yakovlevich Marshak. At that time, he was looking for a person who could write an interesting book on biology in an entertaining way. Here Larry’s supervisor, Academician L. Berg, invited his subordinate to write a fascinating children's book.
Ian Larry: “The Extraordinary Adventures of Karik and Vali”
With great enthusiasm and enthusiasm, Yan Leonidovich set to work. He wrote quickly, maintaining contact with Samuel Yakovlevich. Brother and sister enter the laboratory of Professor Ivan Germogenovich Enotov. There they drink a solution unknown to them, similar in taste to lemonade, and become tiny. The clothes fall from them, they, completely naked, are carried away to unknown distances by a dragonfly.
The professor realizes that a dragonfly can carry children to a pond, its habitat. He goes to him. Stuck a flag in the ground, to which we must return. Then he finishes off the rest of the solution and becomes as small as the children himself. Ordinary grass becomes a jungle in which various monsters are found: ants, wasps, beetles, bumblebees.
With the professor, the guys go through many adventures on the water, in the dungeons, and in the air. They always strive to find a flag under which lies a box of magnifying powder. After long and often dangerous adventures, they succeed, and they safely return home. The book was published in 1937, but only with the help of Marshak, as the editors refused to accept it. But then the laudatory reviews went. In 1940, she came out again with the classic illustrations of today by George Fitting.
A fascinating plot and skillful distribution of scientific knowledge among adventures was created by Jan Larry. “The Adventures of Karik and Vali”
is just a wonderful book for children, although today it, of course, is “younger”. She will be happy to read it by a child of about seven years old, he will identify with his brother and sister, who are experiencing meetings with monsters, and will be completely satisfied, and for a teenager who is not keen on biology, she will seem boring.
Correspondence with Stalin
In December 1940, Joseph Vissarionovich received a letter stating that the work of an anonymous author was intended only for the leader. And he does not need any awards, and he will send the first story only in short chapters, so as not to tire his high reader. Indeed, seven chapters of the story “Heavenly Guest” were sent. It said that a Martian arrived on Earth. He meets, gets acquainted and talks with intellectuals, a worker, a collective farmer. He reads newspapers and concludes that there are quite a lot of holidays and idle talk on Earth, and the present day has been released from attention, that laws are meaningless, and terrible poverty reigns in the country. Culture, in his opinion, is falling apart. Nothing new is created in theaters and literature, as well as in science. And the press is under the yoke of stupid censorship. Pretty soon the author was found. Ian Larry was convicted of anti-Soviet statements for fifteen years in prison.
Here is a photograph of the writer before being sent to the Gulag. And he naively assumed that Stalin did not know what was happening in the country, and wanted to open his eyes to the true state of affairs.
Return
Stalin died in 1953, but only three years later, having completely served his term in the camps, Jan Larry returned to literature. He again began to write for children, publishing in magazines. If in 1926 Ian Larry’s short stories “Yurka”, “Radio Engineer”, “First Arrest”, “Delegation”, “Political Controller-Misha” appeared, now stories are printed.
In 1961, the story “Notes of a schoolgirl” was published, and a little later - “The Amazing Journey of Cook and Cook”. They were no longer reprinted; it was impossible to find them in libraries.
"Notes schoolgirl"
They are written on behalf of Gali Sologubova, who is studying in the fifth grade. She wanted to write an entertaining story about her classmates. This turned out to be not as easy as Gale seemed at first. Her book did not work, and deuces in arithmetic did not matter. But she did get diary notes. In them, Galya talked about all the incidents in the classroom. Both herself and her friends participated in them: the dreamer Pyzhik, who trusts all Vera Pavlikova, who is easy to play, Vovka Volnukhin, full of mystery. For the three years during which Galya wrote her notes, no matter what stories happened! In the longest story, Galya described how the whole class struggled with the faith of their classmate Margot in god and terrible devils. Another Galin story was about lovers of practical jokes, secrets and secrets. Their joke made the whole class fight for a trip to Moscow on a TU-104 airplane.
“The Amazing Journey of Cook and Cook”
In order for the book to sparkle with bright colors, an artist was invited. So this story begins. He promised to draw the dazzling beauty of Cookies and place her on the first page. “But what's so bad about Cook?” - the author was indignant. True, he is no bigger than a palm in height, and he has a nose with potatoes, but he has excellent boots, a red forelock, and brave eyes sparkle under his wide black eyebrows. He is brave and fears cowards. The artist thought and drew them together, Cook and Cook. But in reality it was dolls that lived in the window of a doll shop. At night, the books told Cook their stories about incredible travels. And Cookie just dreamed of dresses and shoes of the princess, because she was beautiful, and she wanted to become even more charming. And all their dreams came true by the end of the story.
Last book
In 1970, the magazine Murzilka published the story of Ian Larry “Brave Tilly” - notes by a puppy written with humor that did not destroy the writer's conclusion.
This was his last work.
Jan Larry died in 1977 in Leningrad. Unfortunately, even his century passed unnoticed. There was not a single publication in 2000, and this is very sad, because the writer was very good.