Writer of Bazhov stories. Ural Tales - I

26.04.2019

Tales of Bazhov. BAZHOV, PAVEL PETROVICH (1879–1950), Russian writer, was the first to perform literary adaptations of Ural tales. The collection includes the most popular and beloved by children
Was born Bazhov P. P. January 15 (27), 1879 at the Sysertsky plant near Yekaterinburg in a family of hereditary mining masters. The family often moved from factory to factory, which allowed the future writer to get to know the life of the vast mountain district well and was reflected in his work - in particular, in the essays The Ural Were (1924). Bazhov studied at Ekaterinburg religious school(1889–1893), then at the Perm Theological Seminary (1893–1899), where tuition was much cheaper than in secular educational institutions.
Worked until 1917 school teacher in Yekaterinburg and Kamyshlov. Every year during summer holidays traveled around the Urals, collecting folklore. Bazhov wrote in his autobiography about how his life developed after the February and October revolutions: “From the beginning February Revolution went to work public organizations. From the beginning of open hostilities, he volunteered for the Red Army and took part in combat operations on the Ural Front. In September 1918 he was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU (b). He worked as a journalist in the divisional newspaper “Okopnaya Pravda”, in the Kamyshlov newspaper “Krasny Put”, and from 1923 in the Sverdlovsk “Peasant Newspaper”. Work with letters from peasant readers finally determined Bazhov’s passion for folklore. According to his later admission, many of the expressions he found in letters from readers of the Peasant Newspaper were used in his famous Ural tales. His first book, The Ural Were, was published in Sverdlovsk, where Bazhov depicted in detail both factory owners and “lordly armrests” clerks, as well as simple artisans. Bazhov sought to develop his own literary style, was looking for original forms of embodiment of his writing talent. He succeeded in this in the mid-1930s, when he began publishing his first tales. In 1939, Bazhov combined them into the book Malachite Box (USSR State Prize, 1943), which he subsequently supplemented with new works. Malachite gave the name to the book because, according to Bazhov, “the joy of the earth is collected” in this stone. Creating fairy tales became the main work of Bazhov’s life. In addition, he edited books and almanacs, including those on Ural local history, headed the Sverdlovsk Writers' Organization, and was the editor-in-chief and director of the Ural Book Publishing House. In Russian literature, the tradition of the tale literary form goes back to Gogol and Leskov. However, calling his works tales, Bazhov took into account not only literary tradition genre, implying the presence of a narrator, but also the existence of ancient oral traditions of the Ural miners, which in folklore were called “secret tales”. From these folklore works, Bazhov adopted one of the main signs of his tales: mixing fairy tale images(Snake and his daughters Zmeevka, Ognevushka-Jumping, Mistress Copper Mountain etc.) and heroes written in a realistic vein (Danila the Master, Stepan, Tanyushka, etc.). Main topic Bazhov's tales - a simple man and his work, talent and skill. Communication with nature, with the secret foundations of life, is carried out through powerful representatives of the magical mountain world. One of the most bright images this kind is the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, whom Master Stepan meets from the tale The Malachite Box. The Mistress of the Copper Mountain helps the hero of the tale Stone flower Danila discovers his talent - and becomes disappointed in the master after he gives up trying to make a Stone Flower on his own. The prophecy expressed about the Mistress in the tale of Prikazchikov Soles is coming true: “It is sorrow for the bad to meet her, and little joy for the good.” Bazhov owns the expression “zhivinka in action”, which became the title of the tale of the same name, written in 1943. One of his heroes, grandfather Nefed, explains why his student Timofey mastered the skill of a charcoal burner: “And because,” he says, “because you looked down, - on that means what is done; and when you looked at it from above - what should be done better, then the little creature caught you. You see, it’s there in every business, it runs ahead of skill and pulls a person along with it.” Bazhov paid tribute to the rules of “socialist realism”, under which his talent developed. Lenin became the hero of several of his works. The image of the leader of the revolution acquired folklore features in the tales written during the Patriotic War: The Sun Stone, Bogatyrev's Mitten and the Eagle Feather. Shortly before his death, speaking to fellow countrymen writers, Bazhov said: “We, the Urals, living in such a region, which is some kind of Russian concentrate, is a treasury of accumulated experience, great traditions, we need to take this into account, this will strengthen our positions in the show modern man" Bazhov died in Moscow on December 3, 1950.

Soviet literary critic Pavel Petrovich Bazhov was very versatile personality. He was writing scientific works in the field of literary criticism, enriched the Russian language huge collection folklore creativity peoples from different corners USSR, collected by him personally. He was also involved in journalistic and political activities. Pavel Bazhov - interesting personality in the history of Russian folklore, so it will be useful for everyone to familiarize themselves with his biography and literary heritage.

Early life

Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, whose biography is logically divided into several sections for ease of reading, was born on January 15 (27), 1879 in the small mining town of Sysert (Ural). His father was a simple worker at a metallurgical plant, and his mother was engaged in needlework. Pavel Petrovich's family moved often; his father worked first at one factory, then at another. Frequent trips to the metallurgical towns of the Urals made a huge impression on the future writer. Perhaps it was precisely because of childhood memories and impressions that the writer later began collecting folklore, loving it and trying to convey Ural tales to other corners of vast Russia. Later, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov recalled these moments of childhood with love. At the age of seven, the boy’s parents sent him to a three-year zemstvo school. The future writer loved to study and learn something new, so he easily graduated from elementary school. What did Pavel Bazhov do next? His biography does not end there.

Education

After graduating from the zemstvo school, Pavel Bazhov expressed a desire to continue studying, but due to the impossibility of entering the gymnasium, the future writer had to enter a theological school. At first, Pavel Bazhov studied at the Yekaterinburg Theological School, but later decided to continue his studies at the Perm Theological Seminary. In 1899, P. P. Bazhov graduated from theological seminary, and he was offered to continue his studies in order to become a priest. But Bazhov’s dream was not to become a priest; he wanted to go to university. Due to a lack of money, Bazhov decided to work part-time as a school teacher of the Russian language. Few people know how to pursue their dreams as passionately as Bazhov. The biography of this writer proves that he was a strong and purposeful person. Later, Bazhov was invited to work at the Yekaterinburg Theological School. The writer's dream is to enter Tomsk state university was never implemented due to low social status.

Social activities

Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, whose biography reveals all aspects of the writer’s life, was not only an excellent literary critic and publicist, he also actively participated in public life countries. The writer was a participant October Revolution, which occurred in 1917. Taking the side of the revolutionaries, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov pursued the goal of ridding the population of social inequality. Bazhov P.P. valued freedom, his biography confirms this.

During the Civil War in Russia, the writer expresses a desire to join the Red Army. In the army, he not only served as a secretary, but was also one of the editors of the military newspaper "Okopnaya Pravda". Unfortunately, during the battle for Perm, the writer was captured, but was able to successfully escape from enemy captivity. A few months after the development of the disease, it was decided to demobilize Bazhov. “For Calculation”, “Formation on the Move” - all these are books written by Bazhov about history Russian revolution and the Civil War.

Personal life

Was Pavel Petrovich Bazhov in love? The biography also reveals this moment in the writer’s life. After Pavel Petrovich Bazhov got a job as a Russian language teacher at a theological school, he also worked at the same time at the Yekaterinburg diocesan school for girls. It was there that he met his first and only love for life. The writer became interested in a final-grade student, V. Ivanitskaya. After completing her studies, the decision was made to get married.

Children

Soon after his marriage, the writer gave birth to two lovely girls. A little later at married couple another child was born, and during the difficult times of the First World War, the writer and his wife moved to her parents, to a small town called Kamyshlov. There his wife gave Bazhov the fourth and last child- son Alexey.

Last years of life

How did you spend your last days Bazhov? The biography says that in 1949 the writer celebrated his seventieth birthday. On this solemn day gathered huge amount to the people. There were not only close friends and relatives of the writer, but also completely strangers who highly valued literary creativity Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. The writer's anniversary took place in Sverdlovsk State Philharmonic. Bazhov was extremely surprised and touched by the respect people had for his work. He was sincerely happy and accepted congratulations and gifts from everyone who came to congratulate him on this solemn day. But unfortunately, the next year the writer passed away. Bazhov died on December 3, 1950 in Moscow. He was buried in Sverdlovsk. His grave is located on the top of a mountain, which offers a beautiful view of the Ural nature: forests, rivers, mountains - everything that the writer loved and appreciated during his lifetime.

Bazhov as a folklorist

The writer began his activity as a collector of folklore while still a teacher at the Yekaterinburg Theological School. Pavel Bazhov, whose biography is interesting to all fans of oral folk art, every summer he went to his homeland, the Urals, in order to record folk tales and songs, describe the rituals of ordinary Ural workers. He also loved to take photographs local residents in national ritual costumes. The biography of Pavel Bazhov is also very useful for children, because they should be imbued with the traditions and legends of their people, as the great folklorist once did.

No one was interested before folk art ordinary Russian people, so Bazhov made a breakthrough in Soviet folklore. He recorded and systematized a huge number of tales, small fairy tales about the life of workers who lived among miners in the middle XVIII century. The folklorist was interested in life ordinary people: stonemasons, gunsmiths, ore miners.

Later, Bazhov began to be interested not only in the folklore of the Ural residents, but also in folk tales from other parts of Russia. It is impossible to overestimate the role of this great man in the formation of Russian folklore, because he tried to understand the soul of a simple worker, convey the imagery that is vividly represented in folklore, and convey folk tales to the present day.

List of the most significant works

Pavel Petrovich Bazhov was remembered by his compatriots not only as a folklorist and collector folk tales, he was also a wonderful writer who could create miracles with the power of words. Wonderful stories wrote Bazhov. A biography for children who love fairy tales will also be interesting. Below is a list of the most significant works, from the pen of this wonderful writer:

"The Green Filly" (1939) - the book is autobiographical in nature. The writer tells the reader about his youth, childhood impressions that were carried by the author throughout his life.
“The Peeling of Days” - the book is a kind of diary of the writer’s life. It contains Bazhov’s thoughts about the events taking place in his life and letters sent to him by close friends. It’s good that Bazhov kept a diary, whose biography can be gleaned from this book.
“The Ural Were” (1924) is a book in which the writer tried to characterize the folklore of ordinary workers of the Urals. These are Bazhov's first essays on folklore.
“Formation on the Move” (1937) - in this book the writer tried to reveal the nature of the October Revolution and the Civil War in Russia. This work has a scandalous past, because it was because of it that it was decided to expel Pavel Petrovich from the party.
"The Malachite Box" (1939) - the most famous book Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, which brought him national recognition. The beauty and diversity of Ural legends and folk beliefs are fully shown here.

Some folk tales

Bazhov, whose biography is described in the article, collected a huge number of tales:

"Vasin's Mountain";
"Living Light";
"Golden Dykes"
"Key of the Earth";
"Cat ears";
"Malachite Box";

"Fragile twig";
"Broad shoulder";
"Mining Master";
"Stone Flower";
"Golden Hair";
"Wrong Heron";
"Silver Hoof".

A great man was Pavel Bazhov, short biography which will be very useful for those interested in folklore.

The matter began with nothing - with a gunpowder match. It's not so long ago that it was invented. Will a hundred years be gained with a small child? At first, when the powder flask began to be used, there was a lot of trickery about it. Which is completely in vain. Who, say, came up with the idea of making turned straws, who again began to lubricate matches with such a composition so that they would burn with different lights: crimson, green, and whatnot. There was also a lot of weirdness with the capping. To put it bluntly, big fashion there was a powder match.

I’m not going to say it about people, I’m going to say it about myself. In those years when people began to join collective farms in droves, I was no longer young. Instead of light brown curls, he grew a bald spot all over his head. And my old woman did not look young. Previously, I used to call it a singing machine, but now it looks like a sharpening machine. It wears me down and wears me down: this is missing, this is missing.

Among people, men take care of everything, but with us, as soon as it drags along and evaporates in the bathhouse, it’s on the side. And he has no thoughts about anything!

In these places, before, there would have been no way for a common man to survive: the beast would have eaten him or the vile would have overcome him. At first these places were inhabited by heroes. They, of course, looked like people, only very large and made of stone. It’s easier for this one, of course: the beast won’t bite him to death, the gadfly is completely at ease, he can’t be bothered by the heat and cold, and there’s no need for houses.

One of these stone heroes stood in for the eldest, named Denezhkin. You see, he answered with a glass with small money from all sorts of local stones and ore. That hero’s nickname was based on these ore and stone money.

The glass, of course, is heroic - taller than a man, much larger than a forty-bucket barrel. That glass is made from the finest golden topaz and is so finely and cleanly carved that it couldn’t be further from it. Ore and stone money are visible right through, and the power of this money is such that it shows the place.

By the way, we are not very rich here. All we have are mountains and spoons, spoons and mountains. You can't go around them, you can't go around them. Mountain, of course, grief is different. Nobody even takes the other one into account, but not only in their own district, but also distant people know the other: she is well-known, famous.

There was one such mountain right next to our plant. At first, for a mile, or even more, there is such a pull that even a strong horse walks lightly, and it is covered in soap, and then you still have to overcome the vultures, like the most difficult scallop to climb. What can I say, a remarkable hill. Once you pass or pass, you will remember it for a long time and will tell others.

We have one logo across the pond that has been famous for a long time. Such a fun place. The spoon is wide. In the spring it gets a little wet here, but the grass grows curlier and there are more flowers. All around, of course, there are forests of all kinds. It's nice to have a look. And it’s handy to pester from the pond to that logo: the shore is not steep and not flat, but, so to speak, as if it had been settled on purpose, and the bottom is sand with hazel grouse. The bottom is completely strong, and it doesn’t hurt your leg. In a word, everything is as imagined. One might say that this place itself is inviting: it’s nice to sit here on the bank, smoke a pipe or two, light a fire, and let us take a look at our factory—wouldn’t our little little creature seem better?

The local people have been accustomed to this spoon since time immemorial. Even under the Mosolovs, fashion started.

They - these Mosolov brothers, under whom our plant began its construction, came from the carpenter's rank. In modern terms, apparently there were contractors. Yes, you got very rich and let’s set up your own factory. This means they swam out into deep water. They became heavy with wealth, of course. All three brothers forgot to walk along the rafters with a spirit level and a plumb line. They say in one word:

Two boys grew up in our factory, in close proximity: Lanko Puzhanko and Leiko Shapochka.

I can’t say who came up with such nicknames for them and why. These guys lived amicably among themselves. They matched it. The same intelligence, the same strength, the same height and years. And there was no big difference in life. Lank's father was a miner, Lake's was grieving on the golden sands, and mothers, as you know, toiled around the house. The guys had nothing to be proud of in front of each other.

Katya - Danilova's fiancée - remained unmarried. Two or three years have passed since Danilo got lost, and she has completely left the bride’s time. In twenty years, in our opinion, in the factory way, it is considered too old. Guys rarely marry such people; widowers do it more often. Well, this Katya, apparently, was pretty, all the suitors are approaching her, but all she has to say is:

Danilo made a promise.

There have been many famous miners in our area. There were also such things that really learned people, the academicians called them professors and were seriously amazed at how subtly they knew the mountains, even though they were illiterate.

The matter, of course, is not simple - not picking a berry from a bush. It’s not for nothing that one of these was nicknamed the Heavy Knapsack. He carried a lot of stones on his back. And how much was similar, how much rock was reshaped and turned over - it’s impossible to count.

Our Field, they say, the treasury (at public funds. – Ed.) put it. There were no factories in these places at that time. They fought. Well, the treasury is known. The soldiers were sent. The village of Mountain Shield was built on purpose so that the road would be safe. On Gumeshki, you see, at that time visible wealth lay on top - and they approached it. We got there, of course. They brought in people, they installed a plant, they brought in some Germans, but things didn’t work out. It didn't work and it didn't work. Either the Germans didn’t want to show it, or they didn’t know themselves - I can’t explain, but the Gumeshki turned out to be unattended to them. They took it from another mine, but it wasn’t worth the work at all. A completely useless little mine, skinny. You can’t build a good factory like this. That’s when our Polevaya ended up in Turchaninov’s hands.

Works are divided into pages

Ural tales Bazhova

Tales of Bazhov absorbed plot motives, unusual images, colors, language of national legends and folk wisdom. Bazhov managed to give Pavel Petrovich unusual characters(Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Great Snake, Ognevushka-Jumping) bewitching poetry. The magical world into which the old ones introduce us Ural tales of Bazhov They immersed ordinary Russian people, and with their real, earthly strength they defeated the conventions of fairy-tale magic. On our website you can see online list of Bazhov's fairy tales, and absolutely enjoy reading them for free.

Bazhov Pavel Petrovich was born in 1879, on January 27. This Russian writer died famous storyteller, prose writer, processor of legends, tales, and Ural tales in 1950, December 3.

Origin

Bazhov Pavel Petrovich, whose biography is presented in our article, was born in the Urals, near Yekaterinburg, in the family of Augusta Stefanovna and Pyotr Vasilyevich Bazhev (this surname was spelled that way back then). His father was a hereditary foreman at the Sysert plant.

The writer's surname comes from the word "bazhit", which means "to foretell", "to bewitch". Even Bazhov’s street boy nickname was Koldunkov. Later, when he began to publish, he also signed with this pseudonym.

Formation of the future writer's talent

Bazhev Petr Vasilyevich worked as a foreman at the Sysert plant, in the puddling and welding shop. The future writer's mother was a good lacemaker. This was a help for the family, especially when the husband was temporarily unemployed.

Lived future writer among the miners of the Urals. His childhood experiences turned out to be the most vivid and important for him.

Bazhov loved to listen to the stories of experienced people. Sysert old men - Korob Ivan Petrovich and Klyukva Alexey Efimovich were good storytellers. But the future writer, Khmelinin Vasily Alekseevich, a Polevsky miner, was superior to everyone whom the future writer knew.

Childhood and adolescence

The future writer spent this period of his life at the Polevsky plant and in the town of Sysert. His family moved often, as Pavel’s father worked first at one factory, then at another. This allowed young Bazhov to get to know well the life of the mountain district, which he subsequently reflected in his work.

The future writer had the opportunity to learn thanks to his abilities and chance. At first he attended a three-year men's zemstvo school, where a talented literature teacher worked who knew how to captivate children with literature. Pavel Petrovich Bazhov also loved to listen to him. The writer’s biography developed largely under the influence of this talented person.

Everyone assured the Bazhev family that it was necessary to continue the education of their gifted son, but poverty did not allow them to dream of a real school or gymnasium. As a result, the choice fell on the Yekaterinburg Theological School, since its tuition fees were the lowest and there was no need to buy a uniform. This institution was intended mainly for the children of nobles, and only the assistance of a family friend made it possible to place Pavel Petrovich in it.

At the age of 14, after graduating from college, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov entered the Perm Theological Seminary, where he studied various fields of knowledge for 6 years. Here he became acquainted with modern and classical literature.

Working as a teacher

In 1899 the training was completed. After that, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov worked as a teacher in elementary school in an area populated by Old Believers. He began his career in a remote village near Nevyansk, after which he continued his activities in Kamyshlov and Yekaterinburg. The future writer taught Russian. He traveled a lot around the Urals, was interested in local history, folklore, ethnography, and journalism.

Pavel Bazhov for 15 years during school holidays traveled on foot every year native land, talked with workers, looked closely at the life around him, recorded stories, conversations, collected folklore, learned about the work of stone cutters, lapidaries, foundries, steelworkers, gunsmiths and other craftsmen of the Urals. This later helped him in his career as a journalist, and then in his writing, which Pavel Bazhov began later (his photo is presented below).

When, after some time, a vacancy opened up at the Yekaterinburg Theological School, Bazhov returned to his native walls of this institution as a teacher.

Family of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov

In 1907, the future writer began working at the diocesan school, where he taught Russian language lessons until 1914. Here he met his future wife, Valentina Ivanitskaya. She was a student at that time educational institution. In 1911, Valentina Ivanitskaya and Pavel Bazhov got married. They often went to the theater and read a lot. Seven children were born into the writer’s family.

During the outbreak of the First World War, two daughters were already growing up - the children of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. Due to financial difficulties, the family was forced to move to Kamyshlov, where Valentina’s relatives lived. Pavel Bazhov began working at the Kamyshlovsky Theological School.

Creating tales

In 1918-1921, Bazhov took part in the Civil War in Siberia, the Urals, and Altai. In 1923-1929 he lived in Sverdlovsk, where he worked at the Peasant Newspaper. At this time, the writer created more than forty tales dedicated to factory Ural folklore. In 1930, work began at the book publishing house in Sverdlovsk. The writer was expelled from the party in 1937 (reinstated a year later). Having lost his job at the publishing house because of this incident, he decided to devote free time tales that, like Ural gems, “flickered” in his “Malachite Box”. In 1939 this most famous work author, which is a collection of fairy tales. For the "Malachite Box" the writer was awarded State Prize USSR. Bazhov subsequently added new tales to this book.

Bazhov's writing path

This author's writing career began relatively late. His first book, “The Ural Were,” appeared in 1924. The most significant stories of Pavel Bazhov were published only in 1939. This is the above-mentioned collection of tales, as well as “The Green Filly” - an autobiographical story about his childhood years.

The “Malachite Box” later included new works: “Tales of the Germans” (year of writing - 1943), “Key-Stone”, created in 1942, “Tales of Gunsmiths”, as well as other creations of Bazhov. The author's later works can be called "tales" not only because of the formal features of the genre (the presence in the narrative of a fictional narrator who has individual characteristics speech), but also because they go back to the secret tales of the Urals - oral traditions of prospectors and miners, which are distinguished by a combination of fabulous and real-life elements.

Features of Bazhov's tales

The writer considered the creation of fairy tales to be the main work of his life. In addition, he edited almanacs and books, including those devoted to Ural local history.

Initially, the tales processed by Bazhov are folklore. He heard “Secret Tales” as a boy from Khmelinin. This man became the prototype of Slyshko’s grandfather, the narrator of the work “The Malachite Box.” Bazhov later had to officially declare that this was just a technique, and he did not simply record other people’s stories, but created his own based on them.

The term "skaz" later entered the folklore of the Soviet era to define the prose of workers. However, after some time it was established that this concept does not denote a new phenomenon in folklore: tales in fact turned out to be memories, legends, traditions, fairy tales, that is, genres that had existed for a long time.

Naming his works with this term, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, whose fairy tales were associated with folklore tradition, took into account not only the tradition of this genre, which implies the obligatory presence of a storyteller, but also the existence of ancient oral traditions of the Ural miners. From data folklore works he adopted the main feature of his creations - the mixing of fairy-tale images in the narrative.

Fantastic heroes of fairy tales

The main theme of Bazhov's tales is the simple man, his skill, talent and work. Communication with the secret foundations of our life, with nature, is carried out with the help of powerful representatives of the mountain magical world. Perhaps the most striking among characters of this kind is the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, whom Stepan, the hero, met. Malachite casket". She helps Danila - a character in a tale called "The Stone Flower" - to discover his talent. And after he refuses to make the Stone Flower on his own, she becomes disappointed in him.

In addition to this character, the Great Snake, who is responsible for the gold, is interesting. His image was created by the writer based on the ancient superstitions of the Khanty and Mansi, as well as Ural legends, will welcome ore miners and miners.

Grandma Sinyushka, another heroine of Bazhov’s tales, is a character related to the famous Baba Yaga.

The connection between gold and fire is represented by the Jumping Fire Girl, who dances over a gold deposit.

So, we met such an original writer as Pavel Bazhov. The article presented only the main milestones of his biography and the most famous works. If you are interested in the personality and work of this author, you can continue to get acquainted with him by reading the memoirs of Pavel Petrovich’s daughter, Ariadna Pavlovna.

Bazhov Pavel Petrovich was born in 1879, on January 27. This Russian writer, famous storyteller, prose writer, interpreter of legends, traditions, and Ural tales died in 1950, December 3.

Origin

Formation of the future writer's talent

The future writer lived among the miners of the Urals. His childhood experiences turned out to be the most vivid and important for him.

Childhood and adolescence

Working as a teacher

In 1899 the training was completed. After that, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov worked as a teacher in an elementary school in an area populated by Old Believers. He began his career in a remote village near Nevyansk, after which he continued his activities in Kamyshlov and Yekaterinburg. The future writer taught Russian. He traveled a lot around the Urals, was interested in local history, folklore, ethnography, and journalism.

For 15 years, during school holidays, every year Pavel Bazhov traveled on foot around his native land, talked with workers, looked closely at the life around him, recorded stories, conversations, collected folklore, learned about the work of stone cutters, lapidaries, foundries, steelworkers, gunsmiths and other craftsmen Ural. This later helped him in his career as a journalist, and then in his writing, which Pavel Bazhov began later (his photo is presented below).

When, after some time, a vacancy opened up at the Yekaterinburg Theological School, Bazhov returned to his native walls of this institution as a teacher.

Family of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov

In 1907, the future writer began working at the diocesan school, where he taught Russian language lessons until 1914. Here he met his future wife, Valentina Ivanitskaya. She was a student at this educational institution at that time. In 1911, Valentina Ivanitskaya and Pavel Bazhov got married. They often went to the theater and read a lot. Seven children were born into the writer’s family.

Creating tales

In 1918-1921, Bazhov took part in the Civil War in Siberia, the Urals, and Altai. In 1923-1929 he lived in Sverdlovsk, where he worked at the Peasant Newspaper. At this time, the writer created more than forty tales dedicated to factory Ural folklore. In 1930, work began at the book publishing house in Sverdlovsk. The writer was expelled from the party in 1937 (reinstated a year later). Having lost his job in the publishing house because of this incident, he decided to devote his free time to tales, which, like Ural gems, “flickered” in his “Malachite Box”. In 1939, this most famous work of the author, which is a collection of fairy tales, was published. For "The Malachite Box" the writer was awarded the USSR State Prize. Bazhov subsequently added new tales to this book.

Bazhov's writing path

The “Malachite Box” later included new works: “Tales of the Germans” (year of writing - 1943), “Key-Stone”, created in 1942, “Tales of Gunsmiths”, as well as other creations of Bazhov. The author's later works can be called "tales" not only because of the formal features of the genre (the presence in the narrative of a fictional narrator with an individual characteristic of speech), but also because they go back to the secret tales of the Urals - the oral traditions of prospectors and miners, which differ a combination of fairy-tale and real-life elements.

Features of Bazhov's tales

The writer considered the creation of fairy tales to be the main work of his life. In addition, he edited almanacs and books, including those devoted to Ural local history.

Naming his works with this term, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, whose fairy tales were associated with the folklore tradition, took into account not only the tradition of this genre, which implies the obligatory presence of a storyteller, but also the existence of ancient oral traditions of the Ural miners. From these folklore works he adopted the main feature of his creations - the mixing of fairy-tale images in the narrative.

Fantastic heroes of fairy tales

The main theme of Bazhov's tales is the simple man, his skill, talent and work. Communication with the secret foundations of our life, with nature, is carried out with the help of powerful representatives of the mountain magical world. Perhaps the most striking among characters of this kind is the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, whom Stepan, the hero of “The Malachite Box,” met. She helps Danila - a character in a tale called "The Stone Flower" - to discover his talent. And after he refuses to make the Stone Flower himself, he becomes disappointed in it.

In addition to this character, the Great Snake, who is responsible for the gold, is interesting. His image was created by the writer on the basis of the ancient superstitions of the Khanty and Mansi, as well as Ural legends, signs of ore miners and miners.

Grandma Sinyushka, another heroine of Bazhov’s tales, is a character related to the famous Baba Yaga.

The connection between gold and fire is represented by the Jumping Fire Girl, who dances over a gold deposit.