The children's poetic story about the travels of foreigners in the USSR in the 1920s and 1940s.

Syui Changchang Postgraduate student; Department of the History of Modern Russian Literature and the Modern Literary Process; Shenzhen MSU-BIT University; MSU 119991, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1 marina12060621@yandex.ru

In the 1920s and 1940s, the genre of poetic short story was consolidated in Russian children's literature, the main structural element of which was the motive of travel. Works of this type accumulated elements of different genres, which allowed the authors to create a number of unique works, consolidating in them the originality of the era, the socio-ideological aspect, the practical experience of travelers, the original concept of travel, etc. First of all, works of this kind contain genre elements of travelogue. According to the research of V. A. Shachkova ^[1], A. A. Maiga ^[2], E. Efimovsky ^[3] and others, travelogue combines documentary and fiction. Regardless of whether the work is based on the author's personal experience or is the fruit of his imagination, his main task is to truthfully convey the atmosphere of an alien world and unfamiliar places through the prism of travelers' perception. In addition, the travelogue is characterized by a special chronotope, a detailed description of the environment, a high level of informativeness and synthetics, which implies a harmonious combination of elements of various genres. However, a poetic story for children about the journey of foreigners has its own individual characteristics that do not fit into the rigid framework of a travelogue: the work is based not on the personal story of the author and his immediate impressions, but on the story of the hero, in some cases – the hero–child; the plot, as a rule, does not affect the background of the hero, but becomes the starting point direct travel; the educational aspect has been strengthened, since for a children's work it is necessary to strengthen the didactic component. The place of personal impressions and documentary evidence is taken by fiction and the strengthening of the artistic component. Another important genre element turns out to be walking, which has such common features as a description of pilgrimage trips to holy places for the worship of Christian shrines; first-person narration, organization of content according to spatial, topographic and chronological principles, reliability of what is described, as well as the originality of ideological, semantic and substantive elements: merging the legendary biblical basis with realistic aesthetics, saturation of the narrative with iconic signs of the era, creation of an original image of the Holy Land, actualization of the significance of the motif of the path, etc. However, walking is seriously rethought in a children's poetic story, losing its religious connotation, and in a new interpretation it appears as a combination of spiritual and moral, documentary and vivid authorial principles in one narrative.

The genre elements of travelogue and walking are organically combined with the originality of the poetic story, thanks to this, poetic stories appear, the central motive of which is the journey of foreigners to the Soviet Union. It is important for the authors not only to show the way to the Soviet Union of the characters of the works and their journey through the Union, but also the reasons and goals of their arrival: curiosity, salvation from injustice, ideological support, filial whim, chance, etc., but invariably the Soviet Union is shown as the main catalyst for changing their consciousness and worldview.

In L. Lesnoy's poetic fairy tale "Jimmy Joy on a visit to the Pioneers" (1925), the main character is a young well–read American who became interested in the Soviet Union and its important innovation – pioneer life. The children's interest is reinforced by the motive of overcoming obstacles and a detective plot move – the hero, in order to get to Leningrad, hides in his father's suitcase and goes in it on a steamer to the Soviet Union.

The fantastic basis of the plot – a journey through a stormy sea in a suitcase – is full of realistic details: the hero himself climbed into the suitcase, and during the journey he was thrown by a wave into the open sea. The fabulous motif of the miraculous rescue is woven into the plot of the hero's arrival in Leningrad on a "red star seaplane" ^{[4, p. 12]}, and his navigator plays the role of a magical assistant who saved the hero from the island of monkeys. This work largely contains the genre features of a travelogue and fits perfectly into the framework of the chronotope designated by this genre – the beginning of the action coincides with the birth of Jimmy's idea of travel and its actual beginning, and the final scene unfolds in Leningrad, the endpoint of Jimmy's journey, that is, the artistic time of the work is clearly limited to the time of Jimmy's voyage. The spatial boundaries of the work are also connected with the hero's journey itself.

If Jimmy Joy's trip to Leningrad is the whim of a capricious rich man's child, then the trip to the USSR of the orphans of Ting Fu Fung, his sister Liao Fia Song (P. Yakovlev's "Tink-Fu-Fung: for the Octobrists about the Chinese", 1926), as well as the small inhabitants of India Natu and Tumai (L. Zilov's "Millionth Lenin", 1926) is justified by socio-ideological certainty. Poster aesthetics, caricature of the depicted clearly contrast two worlds – foreign and Soviet. Poor orphaned children confront the local nobility or rich foreigners, Indian sailors – Soviet people, the captain of an English schooner – the Soviet sailor Yasha, and the suffering and poverty of the Chinese and Indians – the Soviet pioneer paradise, etc. It was the arrival in the USSR that was perceived as a catalyst for the harmonization of the lives of the heroes.

All the characters get from their homeland to the Soviet country by steamer, but Zilov describes the children's path in sufficient detail, focusing on the complexity of the road and the drama of the path to the ideal, which incorporates the features of the walking genre.

The beginning of the voyage of the little heroes is not so much an excursion to various seas and lands, as an adventure story about a trip with rats in the hold of a steamer. However, the poet reproduces almost the entire route of the journey: Calcutta – Port Said - Constantinople – Bosphorus – Odessa, and then Moscow, which connects the homeland of the heroes and their ideal, is distinguished by its great length.

The eternal theme of the struggle between good and evil, which underlies the genre of walking, is comprehended through vivid imagery, implemented in this work by the example of the characters' interactions with the outside world. At first, the world around Natu and Tumai appears hostile and dangerous. The heat of Calcutta is associated with stuffy living conditions and the inability to change anything. Lenin is the ideological antagonist of gendarmes, manufacturers, and "all parasites" ^{[5, p. 6]}. The real person in this part becomes a legend and turns into a symbol of justice and freedom. The natural antagonist of India is the distant country of Belaita, where cold reigns instead of heat. The harsh nature in the legendary Belaite is depicted in posters and at the same time within the framework of realistic aesthetics – "the cold is cruel", "seas and rivers are compressed by ice", "a country showered with white snow" ^{[5, p. 7]}. However, in comparison with the suffocating sultry climate of India, this cold acquires a symbolic shade and is colored with a special meaning: "unquenchable fire", "warm winters" [Ibid.] become symbols of struggle and an unshakeable thirst for freedom for the inhabitants of this place. Realizing the principle of metonymy, Zilov contrasts Lenin with the whole world, where "hunger and chains" ^{[5, p. 8]}.

Actually, the poetic story about the journey of foreigners reproduces the difficult path of the heroes to the "land of Belait", while Zilov uses gradation to show the hero's path to the ideal. The complexity of the beginning of the path associated with the terrible world of injustice is conveyed by symbolic images: the hold in which the guys are hiding, the rats with whom they are fighting hard for food, the storm that rocks the steamer and threatens with dangers, "a sultry, menacing and misty ocean" ^{[5, p. 11]}, etc. Iconic details create an atmosphere of gloomy gloom. The motive of overcoming obstacles gradually weakens due to the appearance of new details and images-symbols. So, on the Canossa, the heroes no longer sail in the "hold" and not in the "jailhouse", "barracks made of clay" ^{[5, pp. 10, 14]}, but in the cabin, appear on deck, but carry heavy seaman's service. At the same time, not only the subject, but also the color palette changes. The heroes are surrounded by "a turquoise sea, elegant islands, lace forests" ^{[5, p. 19]}. Added tangible signs of freedom – wind, boundless waters, etc. But there is no full realization of the ideal yet, so the heroes are faced with "a brutal captain and all the bosses", "disgusting food", "empty salary" [Ibid.].

Constantinople becomes the turning point of Natu and Tumai's journey, from where the path directly to the ideal begins – to Odessa. The journey from Odessa to Moscow is also represented symbolically-by posters. Using metaphor and rhetorical questions, Zilov paints a terrifying picture of the future after the death of the leader, creates a powerful emotional palette, conveys feelings of helplessness, hesitation and inconsolable confusion in the soul of the heroes. But attending Lenin's funeral strengthens their beliefs, which are shared by a million like-minded people, which was the culmination of the journey for the little heroes. As M. Shadrina summarizes, "the culmination of any walk becomes communion with the Divine, purification and enlightenment of the soul that has seen the "holy light" (usually a solemn church service is described, more often Easter, when a pilgrim prays to God, the culminating moment of walking is symbolic: it means the goal of human life – the ascent of the soul to God)" (See: Shadrina M. G. The evolution of the travel language: the author's abstract. diss. ... doct. Philol. sciences: M., 2003. p. 12)^{[6, p. 12]}. The description of Lenin's funeral scene is permeated with emotions through metaphors, repetitions, anaphora, the use of emotionally colored vocabulary, visualization. Metaphor ("His death is not a tocsin alarm <...> His death is a rallying cry" ^{[5, p. 29]}) transforms traditional associations with death, which is perceived as something that should prompt action. Repetitions of phrases ("close ranks", "workers were coming... children and women were walking ...people were walking" ^{[5, pp. 28-29]}) create rhythmic coherence and emphasize a collective call to action. As they approach the body of the deceased leader, the cold and wind increase. They no longer symbolize freedom, but the cruelty of fate and the sorrow of people. The subject-figurative series characterizes the city of Lenin's death – "an ice city in golden caps and spires", "inflamed sun" ^{[5, p. 31]}, etc. All images work to create a vivid visual picture, create a powerful emotional background, and make the reader a participant in events.

Thus, Zilov introduces an adventure plot and genre elements of walking into the work, such as a pilgrimage journey, documenting the route, inserting legendary content about the place of dreams, emotional speech to reflect not only the physical journey of the characters, but also their spiritual transformation. At the same time, the very features of the travelogue are generally preserved – a special chronotope inscribed within the framework of the heroes' journey, the key loci of the journey, its purpose and objectives, as well as the features of what is happening around are clearly marked. All this allows us to see the genre elements of travelogue in Zilov's work, but also to note the features of the genre of walking inherent in this particular work.

It is important for Yakovlev to show not so much the way to the Soviet country and back, but what the Chinese saw in a distant and unfamiliar country, which became their native country in a year. Sailing by sea is not so much plausible and realistic as romantic and adventurous, filled with emotions. Thus, audio-visual details are involved that reproduce the color-noise background: the howling of the wind, the noise of the sea ("The wind howls, / The wind blows, / The sea is blue / raging" ^{[6, p. 10]}) organically combine with the azure blue of the sea, the victorious red flag, the wake of the ship is pearly blue. Thanks to these artistic means and techniques, the voyage in the USSR evokes a strong association with going to holy places.

Since the 1930s, the situation has changed somewhat, largely due to the treatment of this topic by more talented poets, in particular S. Marshak. Revealing the confrontation between the two worlds, Marshak in the poetic stories "Mr. Twister" (1933), "Who is he?" (1938) depicts eccentric foreigners who are very different from Soviet citizens. The author uses satire and irony to emphasize the character traits and behavior of the eccentric characters that differ from the Soviet people during their journey in the Soviet Country.

The journey of Twister and his family is clearly divided into two components: the journey from America to the Soviet Union and trips to Leningrad. The journey to Russia is presented in line with realistic aesthetics. Subject and landscape details, characteristic epithets, and color play recreate the path of the heroes. At the same time, the Twister's path opposes the road to Russia of the "colored people". The author uses the same techniques, but more succinctly: "Blacks, / / Malays // Are wet and hot. // The wave splashes, // And the stoker smokes" ^{[7, p. 423]}. The conditions of stay on the ship vary, the size of the vessel, but the environment remains the same – this is the expanse of the ocean. However, some details are mentioned in connection with the trip of the Twisters, and not the "colored people", since only the rich are able to have fun during the trip and explore the surroundings: "he plays ball on the ocean", "mister runs around and waves a racket", "drives bone balls around the billiard field with a cue" ^{[7, pp. 422-423]}. At the same time, it is the surrounding landscape that remains very abstract in both cases.

Twister trips around Leningrad are not as carefree as the way to the Soviet Union. The meager details of the surrounding world give an idea not only of life in the Soviet country, but also reveal the interests of the capitalist banker Twister, who, first of all, pays attention to the material signs of the industrial power of the new country. The realities noticed by the father stand in an antagonistic pair with the daughter's ideas about the Soviet Union, built on sketchy and very schematic symbols, which combine the eternal gastronomic preferences of foreigners, the exoticism of Russia and new realities that remain abstract for foreigners: "I will eat / Grainy caviar, / Catch Live sturgeon, / Ride a troika / Above the Volga River / And run to the collective farm / For raspberries!" ^{[7, p. 420]}.

The theme of racial discrimination and its debunking runs through the leitmotif of the entire work. The views of representatives of other peoples and races of the American Western world and the Soviet man are becoming antithetical. So, Cook reverently accepts the installation of Twisters about the purity of the white race, but his influence and possibilities are not unlimited, they work only in the Western world and cease to operate in the USSR, which is perceived by readers naturally, therefore the anger of Twister, who saw an African in the Angleterre hotel, is not terrible to the addressee, but ridiculous. Irony and satire are aimed at prim Americans who think they are above the rest. Subject, portrait and behavioral details characterize the Twister family's attitude to the rest of the world – this is arrogance and disgust. The repetition of the cartoon elements, on the one hand, typifies the images of Twister's wife and daughter ("an old woman with huge glasses", "a girl with a monkey in her hands" ^{[7, p. 422]}. On the other hand, it gives a special comic effect to these characters – they remain incomprehensible and alien to Soviet citizens, as indicated, for example, by an exotic detail (a monkey) and a significant portrait detail (huge glasses on the face of an old woman, albeit very rich). In addition, glasses and a hat, which turned into a panama hat (a more reduced version) in the course of the action, were considered the prerogative of the privileged class. In the Western world, such behavior is a variant of the norm, as evidenced by the trip of Twisters on the "steamer palace", where "white cabins", ball games and billiards, and not "a wave splashes and a stoker smokes." Soviet realities negate the main trump card of Twister – the white color of the skin, therefore, in the Angleterre hotel, which is not inferior in respectability to the steamer Palace, with its carpets, mirrors, and the uniform of the doorman ("Past the mirrors / By the patterns of the carpet <...> Strict doorman / In a frock coat / With braid" ^{[7, p. 426]}), etc., both white-skinned Americans and a dark-skinned African turn out to be. Marshak retains an ironic view of the hero even after Twister meets a black man, but the object of irony changes. This is no longer the arrogance of a millionaire and a former minister, that is, an official who is obliged to take into account the interests of all citizens of the country, but anger, which is gradually replaced by confusion and the horror of hopelessness, since the laws familiar to rich Americans do not work here: "You're not in Chicago, / my dear. // I would be glad to buy a house above the Neva ... // But Leningrad will not want to sell!" ^{[7, p. 431]}. It is noteworthy that ordinary Soviet citizens, for example, doormen, give rebuff to arrogant racists (in early versions, the doorman of the Angleterre hotel, dissatisfied with Twister's behavior, called the familiar gatekeepers of hotels in Leningrad with a request not to accept racists. This is written by I. Lupanova ^{[8, p. 272]}, B. Galanov ^[9] and others. And in later versions of the story, the author changed the episode, and the family of an American rich man did not find empty seats, because "an international congress is being prepared") and a shoe cleaner. It is the common man who turns out to be the bearer of moral truth.

The author successfully uses the motif of sleep, which precedes the hero's re-education. As O. V. Fedunina notes, "Phenomena unacceptable to the real world and inexplicable from the point of view of its laws become possible in the world of sleep" ^{[10, p. 26]}. Introducing the shifter technique into the description of a symbolic dream, Marshak depicts a world acting according to the rules opposite to American reality: the author swaps a rich millionaire who has nowhere to spend the night and an African who feels at ease among the nobility ("He walked / Calmly / And smoked a pipe" ^{[7, p. 426]}). The paradoxical situation in the dream is directly related to discrimination against blacks in the United States, the unexpected meeting of the Twister family with an African in a hotel, as well as the hopeless and endless search for free places in Leningrad hotels, and metaphorically hints that regardless of skin color, anyone does not want to be in a position of outcast. According to V. P. Rudnev's classification, Mr. Twister's unpleasant dream is "a deformed awareness of past actions pushed into the subconscious" ^{[11, p. 124]}. This episode notes that Twister realized the "humanistic morality" ^{[12, p. 107]} and in a dream unconsciously felt that his act was unjustified, especially in the context of a trip to the Soviet Union. Even more paradoxical and ironic is the sympathy for the millionaire and the former minister from the little "Negro girls Jenny and her brother Tom" ^{[7, p. 434]}, who, thanks to a pure childish look, see in him not ranks, wealth and titles, but a suffering person: "Poor old man! / He spends the night on a chair" [Ibid.].

The author not only showed the difference between the worldviews of a Western man and a Soviet one, but also led the heroes along the path of re-education. The first reason was quite realistic (the lack of hotel rooms separate from the "colored people", the inability to buy real estate in Leningrad, etc.), as well as mental, growing out of physical ones: all the thoughts of Twisters are no longer aimed at entertainment and learning a new reality, but at solving the primary pressing problem – finding a place to stay. Anxious sleep stimulates the process of reeducation of the American rich man. Thus, the arrogant self-sufficient hero, accustomed to judging everyone from above, turns into a friendly guest who accepts the new rules of the game.

The situation of delusion and the motive of recognition drive the plot of the poetic story "Who is he?" (1938), which together with the work "Mr. Twister" forms a kind of dilogy telling about the trip of the rich from America to the USSR.

The very trip made by the hero in Moscow is shown from two angles: the view of the new reality familiar to the Soviet reader is corrected by the false ideas of the American about what is happening. He, like Twister, not only examines the surrounding sights, but also financially evaluates them, not realizing that the evaluation system in the USSR has long been different. Different coordinate systems generate not only a conflict between two types of consciousness, but also translate it into a comic channel. The abstract symbol is filled with unexpected content for an American: the mysterious Mr. Komsomol turns out to be a friendly youth collective consisting of democratic strata of society (workers, schoolchildren, pilots). In addition, it should be noted that Marshak's choice of objects and phenomena seen along the tourist's path, such as cottages, a sports ground, a ship, an operetta, a theater, a factory, schools, an airplane is not accidental. If in the Western world, familiar to Small, this is an indicator of the owner's respectability, then in the Soviet Union their presence demonstrates the comprehensive power of the Soviet state: industrial, humanitarian, educational and military. The didactic message is that the little reader, through a detached look, gets a more complete picture of the development of his country.

A kind of didactic function is performed by irony directed at the main character. Ironic, first of all, is the appearance of Mr. Small, created with the help of a bright color palette and original portrait details.

The cognitive function of the works about the journey of foreigners to the Soviet Union comes to the fore, but the poets to a greater or lesser extent provide information about different loci. The images of the Homeland of the heroes from India and China, as well as the image of the Union, are presented in posters and expressed in simple symbols, at the same time, the authors pay considerable attention to correcting stereotypes, superficial and unreliable representations of foreigners about this country, majestically demonstrating its full power.

Unlike the travels of representatives of oppressed countries (and a Western boy), whose path to the ideal resembles a pilgrimage, filled with obstacles, adventures and various emotions, with the moral or spiritual development of heroes, the path of the rich from the Western capitalist world to the USSR turned out to be more prosaic and realistic. Poets depict foreigners-cranks using portrait details, caricature, the motif of sleep, shifter, the motive of delusion and irony, whose appearance, thoughts, and behavior are alien to Soviet people.

But regardless of the class and purpose of the heroes' travels, their trips are built on the juxtaposition of two worlds: the oppressed East / capitalist Western world create a vivid contrast with the post-revolutionary Soviet Union. Thus, foreign heroes travel not only physically, but also spiritually, passing the path to the ideal under the influence of new knowledge and impressions, realizing important rules of behavior and learning the lessons of new history. The uniqueness of these trips lies in the emphasis on problems and phenomena that are significant for solving the ideological and semantic tasks of the work. At the same time, almost all works of this type retain the genre elements of a travelogue – a characteristic chronotope, limited precisely by the journey of the characters themselves, reproduction of a specific situation, familiarization with important details of the surrounding world, etc. Thus, poetic stories about the journey of foreigners to the USSR have an entertaining and adventurous character for young readers. In addition, they are multi-problematic: they affect not only the characters, but also enrich readers with new knowledge, images and emotions, as well as contribute to the formation of a positive perception of Soviet reality and ideology.