Alexander Volkov | |
|---|---|
 Russian writer Alexander Melentyevich Volkov, 1914 | |
| Born | Alexander Melentyevich Volkov (1891-06-14)14 June 1891 |
| Died | 3 July 1977(1977-07-03) (aged 86) |
Alexander Melentyevich Volkov (Russian:Александр Мелентьевич Волков[ɐlʲɪkˈsandrmʲɪˈlʲenʲtʲjɪvʲɪtɕˈvolkəf]; 14 June 1891 – 3 July 1977) was aSovietnovelist,playwright, university lecturer. He was an author of novels, short stories, plays and poems for children, mostly remembered for theMagic Land series of books, based onL. Frank Baum'sThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Volkov was born inUst-Kamenogorsk,Semipalatinsk Oblast,Russian Empire (now Oskemen,Kazakhstan). At the age of 12 he graduated from the Ust-Kamenogorsk town school as valedictorian, where he would later teach. In 1907 he entered theTomsk Teachers Institute. In 1909 he graduated with the right to teach all subjects of the school curriculum, except for theLaw of God.
He began to work as a teacher in Ust-Kamenogorsk. Starting in 1910, he worked as a mathematics teacher in the village of Kolyvan. In the 1920s he moved toYaroslavl, where he worked as a school principal. He graduated in absentia from the mathematical faculty of theYaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.
In 1929 he moved to Moscow, where he worked as thehead teacher of therabfak. He completed coursework and passed the external examinations at the Physics and Mathematics Faculty ofMoscow University in seven months.
Starting in 1931 he worked as a teacher, and later asDocent of the Department of Higher Mathematics of the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.
The first of these books,The Wizard of the Emerald City (Russian:Волшебник Изумрудного города),[1] is a loose translation of the first Oz book, with chapters added, altered, or omitted, and some names changed (for example, Dorothy becomes "Ellie", Oz is renamed "Magic Land", and Toto can talk when in Magic Land), and several characters given personal names instead of generic ones.[2] Baum's name is mentioned in the first of Volkov's books, but the publisher paid no royalties to the Baum estate. First published in 1939 in theSoviet Union, the book became quite popular;[3] and in the 1960s Volkov also wrote his own sequels to the story. He liberally borrowed from some of the originals, such as using the "Powder of Life" idea fromThe Marvelous Land of Oz, but mostly created a divergent universe. From 1963 to 1970, four more books in the series were published, with the sixth and final story published posthumously in 1982.[4] Other authors such as Yuri Kuznetsov, Sergei Sukhinov, and Leonid Vladimirsky (Volkov's original illustrator) have recently written additional sequels in Russian, creating in effect an alternative series ofOz books.
The context and situations found in the Volkov version are notably different from the original Baum version in their political tones. The situations, while still maintaining a childlike clarity of good versus evil, often involve the characters encountering very mature political and ethical decisions. The heroes are repeatedly called upon to defend Magic Land against invasions or topple feudalistic or aristocratic governments to free the populace. Both themes are often found in Soviet sci-fi and adventure literature (see theStrugatsky brothers' novelsHard to be a God andInhabited Island).
Volkov had faith in the omnipotence of the man-made technique, so the wizardry of his heroes was usually won with the help of various technical inventions (a cannon designed by Charly Black, a mechanical drill, and Tilly-Willy; a super-robot).
Volkov'sMagic Land series was translated into many languages and was popular with children all over theEastern bloc. Volkov's version of Oz seems to be better known than Baum's in some countries, for example inChina, in Germany (especially formerEast Germany), and also inArab countries such asSyria. In Germany, two authors have written their own set of sequels to Volkov's books.
The books in the series have been translated into English by Peter L. Blystone, and were published by Red Branch Press in three volumes (two books per volume) in 1991, 1993, and 2007. A revised edition of the first two-book volume was published in 2010.[5]
