Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov is a famous writer on whose stories and stories many citizens of our country grew up. Indeed, who did not laugh at Mishka, trying to catch the escaping porridge, or at Barbos, who writes fables in order to show off to comrade Bobik. And the Flower City with its inhabitants has become a real children's world, which almost every child dreams of getting into. Films were shot based on Nosov’s works , cartoons are released, books continue to be published. This is because the writer is interesting to children, he presents young readers with simple truths in a clear language, gives examples close to them.
Nikolay Nosov - an outstanding children's writer
Like many writers, Nosov discovers a talent for writing gradually. He writes short stories to amuse his little boy and his friends. Later, Nikolai Nikolaevich came to the conclusion that this is what he wants to do in life. Along with this comes the understanding of how difficult it is to write for a children's audience, because it is necessary to be erudite in many areas, including the psychology of young readers.
And so began the professional activities of Nosov. The first stories appear before the Great War, in 1938. However, active creativity develops already after the Victory, since 1945. It was then that young readers became acquainted with Mishka, Kolya Sinitsin, Vitya Maleev (Nosov was awarded the Stalin Prize for the story about him).
His stories and tales unobtrusively educate young readers, encourage friendship, kindness, hard work, honesty, and condemn laziness, falsehood, pretense, and disrespect for parents and teachers.
Along with stories about schoolchildren, fairy tales about wonderful characters come out - shorties, inhabitants of the Flower City.
Children especially like these tales because they are simple, sincere and full of pure children's humor. The author of Dunno was able to subtly grasp what language to communicate with a young audience, which images to present in order to achieve not only a steady interest, but also pedagogical goals.
Biographical Information
Nikolai Nosov, the one who wrote Dunno and many other famous books, was born near Kiev in 1908. His father is an actor by profession, but due to circumstances he was forced to work in addition to his specialty on the railway.
Since childhood, the future writer has a love of creative activity: he is fascinated by playing the violin, he enjoys visiting the theater, likes to take pictures. Unfortunately, like all children of that time, Nosov quickly matured. The famine years that began after the First World War and the Civil War forced Nikolai to go to work, so that the family would not starve to death.
After graduating from the seven-year school, Nosov for some time looking for himself, finally at the age of 19 he enters the Kiev Art Institute. After studying there for two years, he is transferred to the Moscow Institute of Cinematography. Nosov remains true to his beloved business: from 1938 to 1951 he was engaged in the production of films for children and youth.
Shorties - heroes of books about Dunno
The first work describing the adventures of Dunno, was a short story "A Screw, A Shpuntik and a Vacuum Cleaner." After that, when he saw how short characters liked the readers, Nosov wrote the famous fairy-tale trilogy. He becomes the one who wrote Dunno and introduced young readers to it.
It is noteworthy that the first book from the Nos trilogy is dedicated to his second wife, Tatyana. They had no children (son Peter was from his first marriage). At the beginning of his writing career, Nosov is not yet known as the one who wrote Dunno. His stories are about ordinary schoolchildren, just like the audience reading works. However, even then the writer has a plan to write a work with a fairy tale plot.
In 1952, while in Minsk, Nosov shared his idea with the editor of the magazine “Periwinkle” Bogdan Chaly. The latter was so inspired by the thought of the city of shorties that he invited Nosov to release chapters from the book gradually, publishing them in a journal. And so the writer does: in 1953-1954, the first book of the trilogy, describing the adventures of Dunno, was published in Vinca.
What are they, shorties? These are small men, no bigger than a cucumber. Among them there are individuals of male and female. They live in their cities: Floral, Solar. All the little ones are busy: inventing, preparing, treating the rest, drawing, composing poetry or music. In their midst, a peculiar leader (Znayka), erudite in everything, stands out. Shorties listen to him. Heroes of “Dunno” have very interesting names: by profession (Vintik, Shpuntik, Pilyulkin), by character or special physical qualities: Donut (full, eats a lot), Torozhzhka, Avoska.
From small phrases and episodes, the reader learns that short men can die (they were afraid for Dunno that he was lying “like a dead man”), there are family relations between them: Avoska and Neboska are siblings.
In the calm, measured life of the shorties, the Dunno brings a dissonance, it is as if opposed to everyone, because it is not busy with any specific business, it either interferes with others or gets into ridiculous situations. Around this, the plots of all three fairy tales are built.
The first part of the trilogy about the adventures of Dunno
The first part tells about the unsuccessful flight of shorties in a balloon, which was designed by Znayka. It turns out that they have an accident. Everything happened as follows: during a flight, a malfunction occurs on the ball. Znayka decides that the shorties need to leave the ball and jump down. He shows an example, but after his jump the ball starts to rise again. Dunno misleads everyone, saying that it should be so. Everyone calms down, but the situation gets out of control again and the ball crashes.
Slightly injured shorties fall into the hospital of the Green City, where they are under the strict control of Dr. Medunitsa. We can say that the heroes are kept in captivity. All but Dunno. They find him at a distance from the rest. The negligent little man begins to shamelessly deceive the inhabitants of the Solar City, saying that it was he who came up with the balloon project, convinces everyone of his enlightenment in many sciences, including artistic talent and singing.
And so life goes on in the Green City, until Znayka appears. It turns out that all this time he was looking for his friends. The deception of Dunno is revealed, everyone announces a boycott to him, but soon they forgive and allow him to attend a general ball. Soon, the short men of the Flower City realize that it is time to return home. Upon his return, Dunno decides to change, he reconciles with his friend Gunka and begins to self-educate.
The book about the adventures of Dunno in the Solar city
“Dunno in the Solar City” is another part about the adventures of the unlucky little man. Here Nosov presents a completely different meaning. Through the magical adventures of already known characters, Dunno and Buttons, the Nose introduces young readers to an absolutely perfect city and social order. It becomes clear that the one who wrote “Dunno” wanted to show the guys what the concept of “communism” means with a concrete example. The element of magic emphasizes the unattainability of such a system in reality.
Indeed, a progressive atmosphere reigns in the Sunny City: residents do not know what money is, but everyone has their own car, there is no division into classes - they are all equal, everyone is doing what they love.
Nosov pays special attention to such a concept as conscience, he even materializes it: Dunno conducts dialogues with her every night.
Fairy tale "Dunno on the Moon"
The last part of the Dunno on the Moon trilogy is a peculiar story about the capitalist system. It was a kind of satirical depiction of this social order.
Dunno along with the Donut, having stolen the rocket designed by Znayka, fall on the Moon and plunge into the cruelty of the Lunar society, where inequality reigns, corruption, everything is sold and bought, oligarchs rule the society. As a result, the heroes end up on Wacky Island, from where they, half-dead, are saved by an expedition from the Flower City.