Adventures of Dunno and his friends. The story of Dunno Technological progress in the world of fairy-tale men
It is impossible not to know Dunno. Even if fate passed you by, not giving you a meeting with the fairy-tale trilogy of Nikolai Nikolayevich Nosov, a hero with that name is probably known at least by hearsay. However, why trust rumors when we are ready to provide very specific and reliable information?
So, Dunno is the most famous shorty of the Flower City. And although many worthy children live there, including the scientist Znayka, the famous mechanic Shpuntik, and the talented musician Guslya, it is the dunce and restless Dunno who is known to everyone in the city.
Firstly, because, having seen it at least once, it is impossible to forget it. His defiantly colorful and bright outfit and non-standard, one might even say aggressive, behavior make him stand out in any crowd.
In addition, he is a known liar, braggart and lazy person.
And although Dunno is far from being an ideal shorty, for some reason it was precisely this incompetent and liar that Nikolai Nikolayevich Nosov chose as the main characters of his three fairy-tale novels.
So ask - why? And we will answer - because of charm! Yes! The same charm that makes the short guy irresistibly attractive and gives him the opportunity to win the reader’s heart from the very first minute.
In addition, Dunno is active, curious, open, sociable and not at all devoid of talents.
Judge for yourself, for the first time he picked up brushes and paints, and in one night he painted portraits of all his friends. Well, the fact that he worked more in the genre of cartoons than realistic portraits speaks, in our opinion, only about the uniqueness of his artistic gift.
Or his poetic experiments. After all, literally the day before he did not yet know what “rhyme” was, but decided to devote himself to literary creativity, and, one might say, he immediately created poetic masterpieces:
Just think, what power of imagination, what expression!
Compare these poetic lines with at least the verses of the poet Tsvetik:
Brilliant, of course, especially the last two lines. But Tsvetik is a professional, while Dunno took only his first steps in the poetic field.
And what a breadth of interests our hero has! As soon as he put aside his brushes and paints, the echoes of his poetic experiments were still in the air, and he was already sitting behind the wheel of the carbonated car that Vintik and Shpuntik had built. And even without really knowing how this car works, Dunno was able to not only start it the first time, but also drive it like a breeze throughout the city. Yes, of course, some city buildings were slightly damaged, some were demolished, and the car itself, having flown off a cliff, drowned in the river, but... And we repeat once again - but! - all the babies and toddlers we met along the way remained alive, and the driver survived! And this is an undoubted achievement.
This is how he is, Dunno, versatile, inquisitive, cheerful and, most importantly, incredibly, even somehow strikingly similar to literally any (not even a fairy-tale, but a real) boy.
Actually, this is, as they say now, the main “trick” of Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov. After all, his Dunno, in essence, is the quintessence of a boy’s character and behavior. And therefore, the hero’s mistakes and blunders, his pranks and misdeeds, his inventions and fantasies are not only easily perceived by little readers, but are perfectly “tried on” to themselves. Moreover, the hero’s “costume” turns out to be just right for any reader, thereby confirming the amazing skill of the cutter.
The main character of Nosov is a dunno
Little Dunno is, without a doubt, N.N. Nosov’s great success. Although, by and large, all the writer’s previous heroes are “dunnos.” Vitya Maleev and Kolya Sinitsyn from the stories, Mishka and Kolya from the stories are boys who still know and can do little, but strive to try, learn and do everything. Most often with very dubious results.
At all, ““ignorance” associated with childish naivety”(S. Sivokon), N.N. Nosov uses and plays masterfully,
forcing him to serve in his works (realistic and fairy-tale) as both the main engine of the plot and the main source of the comic. Although now, of course, that’s not entirely what we’re talking about. Let's get back to our hero.
So, N.N. Nosov’s Dunno is a completely natural hero. And yet his appearance seems strange. After all, until the early 1950s, Nosov wrote realistic stories and novellas. For one of them - “Vitya Maleev at school and at home” - he even received the Stalin Prize in 1952. And suddenly for some reason - a fairy tale. Strange!
There is nothing strange here.
Something from the history of the creation of “Dunno”
The middle of the 20th century is far from the brightest time for literature in general, and for children’s literature in particular.
Even the story about Vita Maleev, favored by the authorities, was quite often attacked for the fact that the world of schoolchildren in it is depicted as completely divorced from the life of the entire country and, therefore, he deliberately"narrowed and impoverished". Where, the critical articles asked, is the pioneer organization, where is the guiding role of counselors and teachers? And in fact, there was nothing of this in Nosov’s book. Well, what do you tell a writer to do here? Break yourself? Or change direction? Except that in a fairy tale the pioneer organization can be neglected. And a hero, a restless person and a dreamer, he will take root there too.
It’s hard to say when N.N. Nosov first had the idea of writing a fairy tale about the state of short people. It is only known for certain that in the same 1952, while heading with a delegation of Soviet writers to Minsk for the anniversary of Yakub Kolas, Nosov talked all night long with the young Ukrainian writer Bogdan Chaly (at that time the editor of the magazine “Barvinok”). It was to him that Nosov told about the idea of “Dunno”. They say that Chaly literally fell in love with the image of the charming short man and offered to publish them in his magazine as soon as the first chapters of the work appeared, without even waiting for its completion. The proposal was accepted, and the word was kept. So the fairy tale was first published in the magazine “Periwinkle” in 1953-54. in two languages - Russian and Ukrainian (translated by F. Makivchuk) - under the title “The Adventures of Dunno and His Comrades” with the subtitle “fairy tale-story”.
It immediately appeared as a separate publication, already as “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends: A Fairy-Tale Romance” (M.: Detgiz, 1954).
The second part - “Dunno in the Sunny City” - was published in 1958, first in the magazine “Yunost”, and then was published as a book (M.: Detgiz, 1958).
And finally, the third fairy tale novel, “Dunno on the Moon,” was first published in the magazine “Family and School” in 1964-66. A separate publication appeared a year later (M.: Det. lit., 1967).
This is how Dunno received three books by N.N. Nosov for his permanent place of residence, and the writer himself, for providing the hero with such a cozy abode, received the State Prize of the RSFSR named after. N.K. Krupskaya. This joyful event happened in 1969.
Did Dunno have a prototype?
In fact, did Dunno have a prototype?
Was! Or rather, they were. From quite real to quite fabulous.
They say, for example, that Dunno is literally copied from N.N. Nosov’s son, Peter. And his hair was curly and unruly. And by nature he is a restless person. Despite his small stature, Peter played volleyball and basketball well as a child, because he was as bouncy as a ball. So Dunno could have borrowed something from Pyotr Nikolaevich.
Although from his creator, N.N. Nosov himself, the hero also inherited some traits. For example, the short guys have said more than once that Dunno is a master of making things up.
He undoubtedly got this gift from Nikolai Nikolaevich. Or, say, a penchant for wide-brimmed hats. Well, it’s clear that Dunno can’t go anywhere without his hat. But Nosov...
In one of his most successful photographs, he is wearing a chic hat. And it’s immediately clear that he and her are a single and inextricable whole. But take another photo, and the resemblance will be simply striking. On it, little Koki (at the beginning of the last century the name Nikolai was reduced to either “Koka” or “Niki”)
the eyes are huge, completely round and clear, just the same eyes with which Dunno looks at us from any page of the Nosov trilogy.
However, according to the writer, the life prototype of Dunno is simply“a child, but not one that can be called by name and surname, but a child in general, with the restless thirst for knowledge inherent in his age and at the same time with restlessness, the inability to keep his attention on one subject for any long time - in general , with all the good inclinations... and shortcomings..."(N.N. Nosov. About himself and his work).
This concerns “life prototypes”. But it turns out that Dunno also had prototypes that were not even life-like.
Dunno - formerly Murzilka and also an elf
Stanislav Rassadin, in a book dedicated to the work of N.N. Nosov, writes that Nikolai Nikolaevich told him about the fairy tale by A. Khvolson, “The Kingdom of Little Ones: The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men,” read in childhood, memories of which prompted him to think about Dunno.
This book was very popular at the turn of the century. Its heroes were little elves with funny names (Murzilka, Chumilka the Sage, Hare Lip, Dedko the Bearded Man), and the basis of the plot was their travels around the world and all kinds of road adventures.
Murzilka and his friends first appeared on the pages of the magazine “Sincere Word” in 1887 in the fairy tale “A boy as big as a finger, a girl as big as a nail.” The author of this tale was the famous writer Anna Borisovna Khvolson (18..-1934), and the illustrations were drawings by the artist Palmer Cox.
The first edition of the book “The Kingdom of Little Ones,” including 27 stories and 182 drawings, was published in 1889, followed by reprints in 1898, 1902 and 1915.
After the revolution of 1917, A.B. Khvolson’s book was never republished, and it was soon forgotten. Therefore, almost no one knew about the relationship between the heroes A.B. Khvolson and N.N. Nosov.
But recently, in the early 1990s, the fairy tale about Murzilka was published again:
Khvolson A.B. The Kingdom of Little Ones: The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men in 27 Stories. - M.: PolyKom, 1991. - 222 p.: ill.
Khvolson A.B. The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men: In 27 Stories / Artist. V. Kostyleva, M. Goncharov. - Izhevsk: Quest, . - 147 p.: ill.
And it turned out that Murzilka is incredibly similar to Dunno. He is the same braggart, lazy and troublemaker, who, because of his character, constantly gets into various troubles. However, these two heroes also have differences. Murzilka, for example, is a real dandy. A tailcoat or long coat, top hat, boots with narrow toes, a cane and a monocle are indispensable components of his everyday costume. So Dunno’s predilection for defiantly bright colors in clothes would have unpleasantly struck Murzilka’s refined taste.
But this difference is purely external, and as for the essence... It’s much more difficult with this very essence. Although the character of Murzilka or, as his friends call him, “The Empty Head” is quite similar to the character of his literary descendant, Dunno is written out in much more detail and volume. And if Khvolson’s hero is deliberately caricatured and conventional, then Nosov’s is a lively, charming and recognizable boy. Therefore, probably, readers only laugh at the careless and boastful Murzilka, but they often sympathize with Dunno, sincerely pity and love him.
Murzilka Khvolson is static. He doesn't change at all throughout the book. But the character and inner world of Dunno undergo significant changes, which Nosov depicts “thoroughly and very psychologically reliably”(St. Razumnevich). If in the first part Dunno is frivolous and carefree, in the second he is inquisitive and conscientious, in the third he almost approaches the image of a typical positive hero of any adventure novel, he becomes “brave, resourceful, lucky, and sometimes, alas, too sentimental”(I. Vasyuchenko).
True, when conceiving his Dunno, N.N. Nosov did not want to delve into the “psychological jungle” at all. “I was free to give these characters those character traits that were required by the plan. These little ones, whom I called shorties, were convenient in that I could not develop or deepen their characters, loading the narrative with unnecessary details, but provide them with separate features, reflecting one side of their character, which was quite consistent with their microscopicity and at the same time sharpened, generalized the image, typified it"(from a letter from N.N. Nosov to Yu.S. Pukhov). In principle, this idea was brilliantly implemented in relation to all the characters of the fairy-tale trilogy. With the exception of Dunno. He could not help but change, otherwise he would have lost both the internal authenticity of the image and the sympathy of his readers.
But let's return to Murzilka. Why, having “borrowed” the image of the hero from Khvolson, although somewhat transforming it, did Nosov neglect his name? Yes, because in the middle of the 20th century this name was already very “promoted” by a popular children's magazine. And Murzilka himself 
Through the efforts of the artist A.M. Kanevsky, he turned from a forest elf into a funny shaggy creature in a beret.
By the way, a little more about name transformation. When the magazine was published in 1924, Murzilka was the name given to a dog, a village mongrel. And in the 1950s, cartoons were shown on the movie screens of our country in which a tiny boy reporter (also named Murzilka) from the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda” exposed vices, defeated giants and flew into space.
So Nosov had to look for another name for his hero. And in this he was helped by the same little elves Khvolson, one of whom, Dunno, was Znayka’s brother and his complete antipode. This character took little part in the development of the plot of the pre-revolutionary fairy tale, so in the company of his elf brothers he was completely lost.
By the way, the elves of A.B. Khvolson have very little resemblance to the folklore elves who live in fairy tales and legends of many peoples of the world. To understand to what extent they are dissimilar, we refer the most inquisitive citizens to books that will tell in detail about elves and other representatives of the extremely vast “little people” - gnomes, dwarfs, trolls, miniatures, leprechauns, etc. and so on. By the way, among the fabulous miniature population there are also our homegrown ones. For example, have you heard of scaffolding or pain-bobs? Even a goblin, it turns out, can shrink to the size of a small blade of grass. But we will not bore you with folklore research and will limit ourselves to only a list of popular literature.
A small list of books about small creatures
Appenzeller T. Gnomes / Trans. V. Shartova. - M.: TERRA, 1996. - 144 p.: ill. - (Enchanted World).
Bulychev Kir. Fantastic bestiary. - St. Petersburg: KN, 1995. - 264 p.: ill.
Hare V. Ghosts and spirits. - M.: Egmont Russia, 2002. - 160 p.: ill. - (Secrets of Planet Earth).
Kanevsky A. Monsters and monsters. - M.: Egmont Russia, 2002. - 160 p.: ill. - (Secrets of Planet Earth).
Mythological bestiary: From Alkost to Yagil. - Kaliningrad: Amber Tale, 1999. - 240 pp.: ill.
Fairies and elves. - M.: TERRA, 1996. - 144 p.: ill. - (Enchanted World).
If someone wants to go back to the very roots, then the folklore of different peoples of the world will provide anyone with a lot of impressions and finds.
And the Cossack is sent!
As for the elves of Anna Borisovna Khvolson, they are more reminiscent of comic book heroes than their folklore counterparts. And this is quite natural. Have you heard, dear compatriots, that the genealogical roots of our “Russian” Dunno lead not just anywhere, but to the distant United States of America.
A certain S. Chervonny from Kharkov was not too lazy to conduct bibliographic research, the result of which was the following data.
Firstly, the tales about the adventures of Murzilka are not the fruit of A.B. Khvolson’s exquisite imagination, but some kind of essay on a given topic. The theme was originally suggested by the drawings of the American Palmer Cox.
Secondly, this same Palmer Cox (1840-1924), as it turned out, was at the origins of the creation of the first comics, which began to be published on the back pages of American magazines in the second half of the 19th century. An early example of this genre is a series of drawings by P. Cox “The Brownies”, depicting little people.
Thirdly, from 1887 to 1918, Palmer Cox published more than a dozen comic books about the adventures of tiny heroes. He was also the author of the texts for his drawings.
Finally, fourthly, the Russian Publishing Partnership M.O. Wolf (by the way, a supplier of His Imperial Majesty)“taking advantage of Cox’s foreign drawings, he instructed A. Khvolson(I wonder why at the beginning of the last century, and the review, the lines from which we quote, appeared in the sixth issue of the “Pedagogical Collection” for 1900, the lady’s surname was declined? Disorder!)compose a text for them, published both in the journal “Dushevnoe Slovo”, and then published them as a separate publication.”
That's it!
Perhaps for some, these facts will be a great shock and disappointment - our supposed Dunno, like Pinocchio and the Wizard of the Emerald City, is in fact not even ours at all. We believe that this is just another confirmation of our cherished idea that everything is “more than all”, and ideas and images travel freely around the world, connecting humanity into a single whole.
And more about prototypes
As for literary prototypes, Dunno has another one, already ours, indigenous, Russian. For clarity, let’s immediately quote. No, two quotes. To compare.
First: 
“- Tell me, please, who came up with the idea of flying in a hot air balloon?
“It’s me,” answered Dunno...
...Our kids have been asking me for a long time to come up with something: “Think of something, brother, come up with something.” I say: “Brothers, I’m already tired of inventing things. Come up with it yourself." They say: “Where are we going?” We are stupid, and you are smart. What does it cost you? Come up with it!” “Okay,” I say. - What should I do with you? I'll figure it out." And I began to think...
I thought for three days and three nights, and what would you think? I figured it out! “Here, I say, brothers: you will have a ball!” And he made a ball. About me, the poet Tsvetik... we have such a poet... he wrote poems: “Our Dunno came up with the ball...” Or not: “Our Dunno came up with the ball...” Or not: “Our Dunno came up with the ball...” No, I forgot! You know, they write a lot of poems about me, you can’t remember them all.”(N.N. Nosov. The Adventures of Dunno and his friends. Chapter XIII. Conversation at the table).
Second:
« Anna Andreevna. Is that how you write? How pleasant this must be for a writer! Is it true that you also publish them in magazines?
Khlestakov. 
Yes, I publish them in magazines too. However, there are many of my works. The Marriage of Figaro, Robert the Devil, Norma. I don’t even remember the names. And it all happened by chance: I didn’t want to write, but the theater management said: “Please, brother, write something.” I think to myself: “If you please, brother!” And then in one evening, it seems, he wrote everything, astonishing everyone. I have an extraordinary lightness in my thoughts...”(N.V. Gogol. The Inspector General. Act III. Scene VI).
It’s a pity to interrupt such an intoxicating dialogue, but it has to be done. After all, even these lines are quite enough to reveal the undoubted similarities between the two heroes. It’s probably not worth dwelling on the boyish boastfulness and carelessness of Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov and Dunno’s “Khlestakovism” - everything is more than obvious. By the way, N.V. Gogol was N.N. Nosov’s favorite writer, and in Nosov’s works there are often reminiscences and associations that make one remember the great Russian classic of the 19th century.
And more about literary relatives
But Dunno and his short friends have another very numerous relatives - “little people”: Thumb Thumb by C. Perrault, Thumbelina by H. C. Andersen, Pinocchio by C. Collodi and his twin brother Pinocchio by A. N. Tolstoy ... In principle, this series can go on and on. But it’s better to look at the “Parade of Heroes” section on our website and find a whole list of books about these little people. However, we are also not going to talk about their family relationships. Then our discussions would drag on for a long time, and the result would be reduced to a minimum. And it is so clear that all these literary kids arose for one single reason - the little reader needs a little hero with whom he could identify himself.
Actually, that's all we wanted to say about prototypes. But, since we are talking about the tiny sizes of our heroes, it’s probably worth clarifying them.
How tall was Dunno?
In the very first lines of the first book of the trilogy we read:“In one fairy-tale city there lived short people. They were called shorties because they were very small. Each short one was the size of a small cucumber.”
But “cucumber” is still too vague a definition. For specifics, we will turn to the third fairy tale novel by N.N. Nosov, “Dunno on the Moon.” And in the ninth chapter of the above-mentioned novel we will find comprehensive information.
Your height, expressed in standard measurement units, is seventy-two. So you are short and of average height...(let us note in parentheses that Dunno’s measurement takes place at the police station, where he ended up almost immediately upon his arrival in the state of the lunar shorties)We measure the circumference of your head... Like this...
Thirty units. We see, therefore, that you have a large head... We measure your nose and see that it is only two and a half units long, that is, short.”
Based on the “standard” of lunar units, readers can therefore find out that Dunno’s height is 72 mm (like a small, but not small cucumber), his nose is only 2.5 mm, but his head circumference is as much as 30 mm! This is how many thoughts can fit in such a cranium!
And now let’s move on from general measuring parameters to the appearance of our hero.
Who gave Dunno a visual image?
If you ask the question “who?” so directly, you can get an equally direct answer - Alexey Mikhailovich Laptev (1905-1965). It was Dunno who first allowed him to draw himself. And the portrait turned out to be so similar to the original that all subsequent “portrait painters” only repeated and played up the image created by A.M. Laptev.
The pen and watercolor drawings of A.M. Laptev not only decorated the first two parts of the Nosov trilogy, they, as Yuri Olesha accurately noted in his review of “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends,” emphasized“its lightness, its joyful, summer, we would say, field flavor”. In the same review, the line from which we just quoted, Yu. Olesha noted that the whole book resembles a round dance:“a whole round dance of adventures, jokes, inventions”. This association arose among the reviewer, no doubt, thanks to the illustrations of A.M. Laptev. They are multi-figured and incredibly mobile. Images are permanent“change places, configuration, cut into the text, cross it diagonally”(L. Kudryavtseva), not allowing our eyes to take their eyes off the magnificent, bright, varied round dance of funny and cute shorties.Illustrations by Alexey Mikhailovich“tender, lyrical, fragile... with touching warmth and at the same time captivating “seriousness”, genuineness”(A. Lavrov) in detail, step by step, they draw the world of little people. And although these creatures in Laptev resemble children (they are dressed like children, they have childish habits),“but not children, not a parody, not a caricature of a child, and not dolls, but fairy-tale people”(L. Kudryavtseva).
This is how professionals spoke about A.M. Laptev’s illustrations and the images he created. We, as amateurs, allow ourselves to note the following. In our opinion, the planet of short people by N.N. Nosov is a model of children’s ideas about the adult world, where any activity and work is just a game, where there are no questions of birth and death, where there is no division into adults and children, where there are just people, seen from the perspective and eyes of a child. It seems to us that A.M. Laptev incredibly accurately managed to convey this view in his illustrations. His drawings are even somewhat reminiscent of children's drawings. Perhaps due to its ingenuity.
The third and last part of the Nosov trilogy was illustrated by Genrikh Oskarovich Valk (1918-1998). Valk is one of the earliest illustrators of N.N. Nosov. The writer's first book - the collection "Knock-Knock-Knock" - was published in 1945 with drawings by Heinrich Valk, light, relaxed, bearing a barely noticeable shade of magazine humor. For the then young cartoonist, this collection became the first children's book in his professional career."So it began,- wrote G.O. Valk himself, -our long-term partnership with Nikolai Nikolaevich". And he continued: “I was lucky enough to illustrate almost all of his stories, the story “Vitya Maleev at school and at home” and his famous “Dunno on the Moon.”
Heinrich Valk preserved the Laptev image of Dunno and finally canonized him.
The rest of the characters, according to Nosov’s (quite satirical) narrative,“the artist gave the features grotesque, and sometimes even caricature”(L. Kudryavtseva).
None of the subsequent illustrators of the fairy-tale trilogy can yet compete with these recognized masters. Although fans of Dunno favorably view modern publications with drawings by Evg. Kozlov (stylized as Laptev) and A. Borisenko (stylized as Valk).
The publication of the trilogy at the end of the 1970s with drawings by A. Borisov, alas, did not find ardent adherents.
How Dunno became a popular brand
Having acquired his visual image through the efforts of artists, Dunno boldly stepped beyond the pages of his native book. All those half a century that have passed since the appearance of N.N. Nosov’s fairy tale, Dunno could be found anywhere. In cartoons (go here, if you want to specify which ones) and on the stages of theaters, on the stage and in children's periodicals, on radio and television, at carnivals (by the way, the Dunno costume is a win-win and very inexpensive option) and quizzes. There are Dunno toys, Dunno candies and all sorts of other stuff. Even in exotic Japan, the famous confectioner Matsuo Kokado borrowed the name and image of the Nosovsky hero for his delicious products. And at home...
Rumor has it that a well-known art company led by Sergei Kuryokhin (Africa, Timur Novikov, etc.) chose in those memorable years the image of Dunno as the only hero not borrowed from foreigners as its graphic symbol (that’s how they missed it!). True, we were never able to verify this information, but we also could not refuse it - it was too good. All that remains is to direct the most corrosive ones to B. Karlov’s article, where we got it from (see bibliography).
So, over the past fifty years, Dunno has become a real brand that is used by everyone who is not too lazy. This is probably why N.N. Nosov’s grandson Igor Petrovich decided to take the family business into his own hands.
And now he is closely monitoring the “freeloaders” and, most importantly, working on creating all kinds of continuations of his grandfather’s fairy tale. Books by I.P. Nosov are printed and sold out, but so as not to be reproached for their advertising or anti-advertising, we will limit ourselves to just stating this fact.
About cartoons
Cartoons about Dunno have been shown on the screens of our country since the early 1960s. Recently a “new generation” cartoon appeared - a very high-quality international product “Dunno on the Moon”. Director A. Lyutkevich not only saw an ideal animated story in N.N. Nosov’s novel and G.O. Valk’s illustrations, but also brought it to screen life.
And now at the Tsentrnauchfilm studio they are filming a full-length animated film “Dunno and Barrabas”, which will involve both the Nosovsky hero and the heroes of the books by Anna Khvolson and Palmer Cox.
Children and philosophers suffer from Dunno syndrome
Really, it would be funny, like everything connected with the cheerful Nosov hero, if “Dunno syndrome” was not a professional term used in pediatric practice. The scientific name for the disease is impaired attention syndrome. It is he who is often the cause of “bad” behavior in children. The life of such children and their parents in most cases becomes very difficult, since the increased impulsiveness, inattention and hyperactivity of the sick do not fit into traditional patterns of behavior in society. True, although Dunno syndrome is a serious disease, experts say that, fortunately, it can be treated.
However, not only children, but also the greatest philosophers suffer from a kind of Dunno syndrome.
To explain this idea, you will have to look into such depths of history that it will take your breath away. V century BC, Athens.
Someone, wanting to know the answer to the question that tormented him: “Which of the Hellenes is the wisest?”, turned to the Delphic Oracle for clarification. And he received the answer: “Sophocles is wise, Euripides is wiser, and Socrates is wiser than all.” The philosopher, who was given the answer, then uttered the phrase that later became famous: “I know that I know nothing.” That's it, no comments.
They also say that Socrates was a short, stocky man with a huge head and a small snub nose. What a strange coincidence!
Bibliography - a source of information for thought
Begak B. City of the Sun and City of the Moon // Begak B. Children laugh. - M.: Det. lit., 1979. - pp. 140-153.
Begak B. The wanderings continue // Begak B. The truth of fairy tales. - M.: Det. lit., 1989. - pp. 77-88.
Life and work of Nikolai Nosov: Sat. - M.: Det. lit., 1985. - 256 pp.: ill.
A very good collection, well compiled and very diverse. Here are articles by Yu. Olesha, V. Kataev, L. Kassil (what names!) dedicated to N.N. Nosov. Memories of the writer from relatives and friends. Notes from Nikolai Nikolaevich himself about his work. Solid bibliography. We were especially pleased with two materials: the article by L. Kudryavtseva “This child is myself” (about the illustrators of N.N. Nosov’s books) and the memoirs of Heinrich Valk.
Karlov B. “I only know that I don’t know anything,” said Socrates, but he didn’t know Dunno: All about Dunno // Five Corners. - 1996. - No. 19. - P. 8-9.
This article by Boris Karlov presented many facts, ideas and associations, based on which we built our material about the Nosovsky hero.
Lavrov A. Artist A. Laptev // Children's literature. - 1969. - No. 1. - P. 39-45.
Medvedeva N. Who first introduced our children to Murzilka? // Children's literature. - 1993. - No. 7. - P. 42-43.
Pervik A. The world of fantastic creatures in Soviet children's literature // Children's literature 1984: Sat. - M.: Det. lit., 1984. - pp. 181-190.
Prikhodko V. The sparkling flute of Nikolai Nosov // Children's literature. - 1999. - No. 2-3. - P. 4-7.
Rassadin St. Nikolay Nosov: Critical biography. essay.- M.: Det. lit., 1961. - 79 p.: ill. - (House of children's books)
Repyeva I. Nosov, father of Dunno // Teacher’s newspaper. - 2002. - No. 1. - P. 24.
Samodelova S. Semi-eternal Dunno // Moskovsky Komsomolets. - 2003. - November 24. - P. 10.
Chervonny S. Murzilka, Dunno’s older brother // Book Review. - 1995. - No. 20. - P. 24-25.
On behalf of all the shorties -
Do you know who invented Dunno? I am sure that you will answer like this: well, of course, the wonderful Russian writer Nikolai Nosov!
After all, Dunno is one of the shorties living in the Flower City!
Well, that's what you answered? If yes, then you made a mistake.
Do you know why? Because in fact, it was invented by the Canadian writer and artist Palmer Cox back in the mid-19th century, in whose comics this hero first appeared.
This story began when the Russian writer Anna Khvolson made a free translation of the comics by the Canadian writer Palmer Cox about the life of the so-called little elves, “The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men.” And in 1951, the Soviet writer Nikolai Nosov created the first book about the adventures of short people who looked like forest men. Nosov awarded the main character the name of one of Khvolson’s characters, Dunno, and some of Murzilka’s character traits.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these tales were very popular. Their heroes were little elves (they were also called “brownies”), forest men with funny names Murzilka, Chumilka-Vedun, Hare Lip, Dedko-Borodach and others who traveled around the world. Murzilka himself, according to the plot of the fairy tale, constantly found himself in some funny stories.
But after the 1917 revolution, the book was no longer published, and everyone forgot about this hero. Almost forgotten, because Murzilka appeared again in 1924. He looked then, however, completely different - the boy turned into a red mongrel dog. His friends also changed - now they were pioneers, Octobrists, as well as their parents.
The children's magazine of the same name told about the adventures of the new Murzilka, drawings for which were made by artist Konstantin Rotov.
Soon other characters began to appear in this magazine - the mischievous aunt Yabeda-Koryabeda, the talking cat Shunka, Soroka-Balabolka, Sportlendik and Ladybug...
All these characters became the “leaders” of the main sections of the magazine - funny and entertaining stories, curiosity questions, a sports page, stories about nature.
The fabulous Murzilka that we now know appeared only in July 1937 - it was invented and painted by the artist Aminadav Kanevsky.
But let's return to the story of Dunno.
They say that Nikolai Nosov first encountered the books of Anna Khvolson in the early 50s.
The writer wanted to retell these tales in his own way. This is how the Flower Country was born, as well as its inhabitants - Dunno and his friends.
From Nosov’s memoirs we can learn that the idea of creating “Dunno” was prompted by Anna Khvolson’s book “The Kingdom of Little Ones. The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men" 1883 based on American comic books by Palmer Cox. (We won’t dig deeper, because we’ll get bogged down in Scandinavian mythology.) Let’s note right away that in Khvolson’s “Little Ones” there are many colorful characters, but few literary ideas. This book was subsequently republished several times (most recently in 1996). Nosov came up with his shorties because he had a lot of ideas, but not enough heroes.
“I was free to give these characters those character traits that were required by the plan. These little ones, whom I called shorties, were convenient in that I could not develop or deepen their characters, loading the narrative with unnecessary details, but provide them with separate features, reflecting one side of their character, which was quite consistent with their microscopicity and at the same time it sharpened, generalized the image, typified it.” — From a letter from N. N. Nosov to Yu. S. Pukhov.
In essence, Nosov has created a country, no, a whole planet of Lilliputians, in which the appearance of some Gulliver is categorically not envisaged, since large, normal people do not exist there in principle. The inhabitants of the country are called shorties; they are the size of a small cucumber. By gender, shorties are divided into babies and toddlers. Among the short ones there are wise bearded wizards, teaching professors and uncouth youths like Dunno. That is, these are, in fact, tiny adults with the character traits of a child.
The history of the creation of the trilogy about Dunno is extremely poor in facts. Its origins lie in the pre-revolutionary fairy tales of A. Khvolson about little forest men, well known to Nosov’s generation. It is in these simple educational stories about elves traveling around the world that we first meet a character named Dunno. However, from him the Nosovsky hero received only a name, but in character the Soviet Dunno strongly resembles another hero Khvolson - the braggart, liar and dandy Murzilka. Only if Nosov’s Dunno “wore a bright blue hat, yellow, canary-colored trousers and an orange shirt with a green tie,” then Murzilka was a dandy of his era - “wore a long coat or tailcoat, a tall black hat, boots with narrow toes, a cane and a glass in the eye." As a result, everything became completely confused - Dunno began to look like Murzilka, and Murzilka over time turned into a positive hero of a children's magazine, retaining only his name from the original source.
Probably, few people know that stories about the short people of the Flower City first began to be published in the Ukrainian children's magazine “Barvinok” in 1953, after Nosov met the editor Bogdan Chaly.
“We managed to publish several issues when Stalin died. I remember that a mourning portrait of the leader was printed on the cover of the magazine. Surprisingly, chapters of a funny fairy tale about Dunno appeared in the next issue. In 1954, the novel was published as a separate book with illustrations by the wonderful artist Alexei Laptev.”
(Igor Nosov, grandson of the writer)
As a result, Nosov’s cycle about shorties consisted of two stories (“The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends” 1954, “Dunno in the Sunny City” 1958), one novel (“Dunno on the Moon”, 1964) and an adjacent short a fairy tale about Vintik, Shpuntik and the vacuum cleaner (in it Dunno is a minor character, famous only for the famous phrase that “why undress before going to bed if you put on your clothes again in the morning”).
One gets the feeling that when he started writing stories about Dunno, the author himself had no idea what short, witty stories about a narrow-minded and curious kid trying to master a wide variety of professions “on the fly” would develop into. The author noted that he copied many of the features of his hero while observing his little son, Petya. But it seems to me that Nikolai Nosov himself, who loved to wear wide-brimmed hats, was always eager for any endeavors and prone to fantasizing, also slyly peeked out from under the guise of Dunno.
- “So, because of a rhyme, you will invent all sorts of lies about me? - Znayka boiled.
“Of course,” answered Dunno. - Why should I make up the truth? There is no need to create the truth, it already exists.”
The peak of film adaptations of Nosov’s fairy tales, which quickly gained popularity among readers, occurred in the 60s and 70s. But, if the very first of these cartoons “Dunno Learns” and “Vintik and Shpuntik - Merry Masters” (“Soyuzmultfilm”; 1961 and 1960) were didactic in nature. Then a couple of puppet series “Dunno in the Sunny City” and “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends” (“Screen”; 1971-1977) sometimes presented Dunno as an unrecognized artist, a misunderstood poet and a romantic dreamer, waiting for wizards and miracles. The children, in addition to philosophy, also wanted adventure. And the adventures, in the end, were not long in coming: to amuse the current child, new animated films appeared - “Dunno on the Moon” (“Russian Gold”; 1997) and “Dunno and Barrabass” (“National Film Center”; 2004 G.).
And Nikolai Nosov himself was born in 1908 into the family of an actor. He spent his childhood in the village of Irpen, not far from Kyiv, where the boy began his studies at the gymnasium.
After 1917, the gymnasium was reorganized into a seven-year school. After finishing it, he worked as a laborer at a concrete plant in Irpen, then at a brick plant in the city of Bucha. During these years I was constantly engaged in self-education. Art attracted him into its beautiful embrace from adolescence. At the age of nineteen he passed the exam at the Kiev Art Institute. In 1929 he transferred to the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography and until 1951 he worked in the field of cinema: director, producer of animated, scientific, and educational films. During the Great Patriotic War he directed military-technical films.
According to Nosov himself, he came to literature by accident: his son was born, and he had to tell him more and more fairy tales, funny stories for him and his preschool friends... “Gradually I realized that writing for children is the best job. It requires a lot of knowledge, and not only literary knowledge, even more about the psychology of children. The main thing is love for them. And respect. I realized when my son was growing up that children need to be treated with the greatest and very warm respect,” said the author of the story “Vitya Maleev at school and at home,” when it was discussed in the creative association of children’s and youth writers of Moscow, and it came out it was published in the already mentioned 1957.
N.N. Nosov’s first story was “Entertainers” (1938). The first thin book was published in 1945. It was called “Knock-knock-knock”. This friendly and friendly knock was heard by both children and publishers: “Detgiz” published the next book a year later - a collection of short stories “Steps”.
Knowledge of child psychology and command of accessible and, at the same time, figurative language allowed us to gain lasting recognition among children and adults. Nosov introduced a new hero into children's literature - a naive and sensible, mischievous and inquisitive fidget, obsessed with a thirst for activity and constantly finding himself in unusual, often comical situations.
In 1949-50, the stories “The Cheerful Family” and “The Diary of Kolya Sinitsin” were published and became popular.
The story “Vitya Maleev at School and at Home,” published in 1951 and awarded the USSR State Prize in 1952, brought widespread fame to the children’s writer. In 1955, the film “Two Friends” was made based on the story.
And to this day, the trilogy about Dunno is a huge success among young readers - “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends” (1953-1954), “Dunno in the Sunny City” (1958), “Dunno on the Moon” (1964-1965).
In 1957, one authoritative international magazine made a calculation - which of the Russian writers are most often translated into other languages. The result was a list in which children's writer Nikolai Nosov was third - after M. Gorky and A. Pushkin.
In 1961, the humorous short stories “The Adventures of Tolya Klyukvin” were published, where the author ridicules not only children’s shortcomings, but also the vices of adults. Respect for the child’s personality is a distinctive feature of Nosov’s prose. A movie was created based on the short stories.
In 1971, “The Tale of My Friend Igor” was published, written in the form of diary entries from the life of his grandfather and grandson.
Memories of family and childhood are reflected in the fictional memoir story “The Secret at the Bottom of the Well” (1977).
A song about a grasshopper-cucumber who sat in the grass and did not complain about life until the frog came, brought tears to almost every Soviet child. The creator of this “suffering ballad” was who included the chorus in “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends.” According to researchers, this story teaches people of all ages about political economy, because from it you can learn who the police really protect, as well as what a market economy is.
The little man, who never appears without a hat with a huge brim, is loved by both children and adults. And even if this hero does not shine with intelligence, like Znayka, he values friendship and is ready for heroic deeds for the sake of loved ones. Lovers of fairy tales still enthusiastically read about the magical Flower City and its tiny inhabitants. It is noteworthy that in 1969, for a trilogy of works about Dunno, Nosov was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after.
History of creation
The first to come up with Dunno was not Nikolai Nosov, but the Canadian illustrator Palmer Cox, who delighted bookstore regulars with satirical comics about good-natured but mischievous heroes, who were dubbed in mythology the word “brownies.” These little people got up to various tricks together, had fun and plunged into wild adventures.
Cox managed to invent about a hundred “brownies” and, moreover, endowed them with an individual appearance and eccentric character traits. Thus, on the pages of magazines, readers saw a sophisticated gentleman in a top hat and monocle, a Chinese man dressed in traditional clothes, and a leader with feathers on his head and war paint.
Among the shorties were even the former nihilist Russian professor Kotchakoff and a character named Dunno. Cox's pictures were quite intriguing, but the raw text itself required serious literary processing, and the creator did not individualize the speech of individual characters who communicated with each other in a stereotypical dialect.
Not only Canadian, but also Russian fans of graphic novels became acquainted with the little fidgets, and Cox’s original text was freely translated by children’s writer Anna Khvolson. The first edition of her book about forest people, entitled “The Kingdom of Little Ones,” was published in 1889.
Later, everyone forgot about the cheerful “brownies”, since on May 16, 1924, the magazine “Murzilka” appeared in stalls and bookstores, where girls, boys and their parents were delighted with a yellow hero in a red scarf. Therefore, Anna Khvolson’s story, which “sank into oblivion,” was not republished until 1991.
Unfortunately, the story of the creation of the character by Nikolai Nosov is not replete with facts and is shrouded in mystery. But it is known that in 1952 the author met with the Ukrainian writer Bogdan Chaly, who worked as the editor of the magazine “Barvinok”.
The writer shared the idea of “Dunno” with his friend, and the latter suggested placing the manuscript on the pages of the magazine. No sooner said than done: in 1953-1954, the character in the blue hat made his debut in “Periwinkle” in Russian and Ukrainian (translated by F. Makivchuk). The “fairy tale” (this genre was invented by the author himself) was called “The Adventures of Dunno and his comrades.”
Ultimately, the story of Nikolai Nosov grew into a trilogy. In 1958, the second part of the work “Dunno in the Sunny City” was published, which was originally published in the pages of the magazine “Youth”, and then published as a separate book by the publishing house “Detgiz”. The next book about the adventures of the little man - “Dunno on the Moon” - appeared in the magazine “Family and School”, this happened in 1964-65 (later the book received a separate publication).
It is worth noting that Nosov’s works fell in love with young readers not only because of their non-trivial plot. The fact is that the illustrators provided the books with colorful pictures that delighted even the parents.
The artists were Alexei Laptev and Heinrich Valk, and the editions of the “fairy tale” were equipped with dust jackets and color stickers. Therefore, those who bought the early books were very lucky, because subsequent volumes were designed more modestly.
It is noteworthy that the protagonist's hat was mentioned only fleetingly in the text: the author made it known that the headdress was blue. Therefore, initially artists painted it in different ways. Initially, it appeared in the form of a pointed cap, then the hat became a skullcap with a tassel, and only illustrator Alexey Laptev gave the main attribute of Dunno a familiar look.
Biography and plot
A science fiction book with dystopian elements tells about the magical Flower City, which stands on the Cucumber River. Little people lived there - slightly larger than a human finger. The short ones looked after the city, which had a “technological miracle” - a car that ran on sparkling water. It is noteworthy that only boys lived in some houses, while girls lived in others.
Each of the little men performed a specific function, which corresponded to the kids’ nicknames. For example, Vintik and Shpuntik are jacks of all trades who can fix any breakdown, Dr. Pilyulkin treats children from illnesses, Tube draws colorful pictures, and Donut loves sweets.
So Dunno received such a pseudonym because of his naivety. Since this little guy often gets into trouble, he causes problems for those around him. The hero strives with all his might to acquire new knowledge, but restlessness and inattention play a cruel joke on him. This is how Nikolai Nosov described Dunno in his memoirs:
“...In general, with all the good inclinations that the child will have to strengthen and develop, and with shortcomings that need to be gotten rid of.”
In the first part of the book, Dunno tries to find his place in the sun: he tries to paint, writes poetry, learns to play musical instruments, and so on. But the short man fails to realize himself on his creative path; all his attempts fail.
Next, Dunno becomes a tester of the design that Znayka invented. All the little people travel in a hot air balloon. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the inventor leaves the flying device, and the wind carried the shorties to the Green City, where Dunno meets Snowflake and Blue-Eyed.
While the strict doctor Sorreltail is treating the kids (the little men fell from a balloon, but escaped with minor bruises), Dunno, who had previously managed to separate from his friends, uses his charm and usurps the city, telling his new friends fables from his invented biography: either he is a great musician, or an artist who paints incredible portraits. The happiness of the “master of invention” collapses when Znayka flies to Green City because the scientist exposes the deceiver.
In the second book, Dunno, who has read fairy tales, tries to give good deeds to others, hoping that he will receive gifts from the wizard. However, the main character is unable to do good deeds selflessly, and any attempt ends in failure.
But the short man manages to bring his plans to life, and he receives a magic wand from the sorcerer. Thanks to this attribute, Dunno, together with Button and Patchkulya Motley, go to the Sunny City, where local residents disperse the gray clouds and rejoice at the fireball in the sky.
In the final part, Znayka, who managed to visit the Moon, discovered a way to achieve artificial weightlessness. After the experiment, the scientist decided to build a rocket and go to this planet again, taking the short ones with him.
Since Dunno took Znayka’s invention without permission, the hero lost the opportunity to go on the expedition. Despite the ban, the boy in the blue hat did not miss his chance and, together with his friend Donut, sneaked onto the rocket secretly. At the last moment, the hero changed his mind about committing such an eccentric act, but accidentally pressed the launch button, and the rocket flew up.
Having fallen inside the Moon, Dunno and his friend find themselves in the capitalist world. So Nikolai Nosov depicted and analyzed a satire on Western society: the poor lived in hotels with rats, and the rich swam in stolen money. The main character managed to be both an entrepreneur and an unemployed tramp who was sent by the police to the Island of Fools.
Znayka built a new rocket and flew to the moon. So the rest of the shorties also learned about problems with local order and law and were able to rescue Dunno, who missed his native Earth, Pencil and other characters.
Quotes and phrases
“Everyone who bought the “Newspaper for Fools” said that he bought it not because he considered himself a fool, but because he was interested in finding out what they write about there for fools. By the way, this newspaper was run very wisely. Everything in it was clear even to fools. As a result, “Newspaper for Fools” sold in large quantities.”
“If the time comes when everyone feels good, then the rich will definitely feel bad.”
“For some reason you have it written here: “Today for money, tomorrow in debt.” What will happen if you do the opposite: tomorrow for money, today in debt?
The waiter said:
“Go to the hostess, let her explain it to you, but I’m not a philosopher to solve such questions.”
“With nothing to do, Dunno often looked at the picture hanging on the wall with incomprehensible curves and squiggles and kept trying to understand what was drawn on it.”
“If the little guy screamed in pain, the cop would let him go; if the short man endured the pain in silence, the policeman suspected that in front of him was a bald man, hiding his bald head under a skillfully made wig, and sent him for questioning to the police.”
“Well, kiss your Moon! I can live without the Moon!”
“Finally he plucked up enough courage to admit his own cowardice.”
Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov is a famous writer, on whose novels and stories many citizens of our country grew up. Indeed, who hasn’t laughed at Mishka, trying to catch a running porridge, or at Barbos, inventing tall tales to show off to his comrade Bobik. And with its inhabitants it became a real children's world, which almost every child dreams of getting into. Films have been shot, cartoons have been produced, and books continue to be published. This is because the writer is interesting to children, he presents simple truths to young readers in an understandable language, and gives examples that are close to them.
- outstanding children's writer
Like many writers, Nosov discovers his talent for writing gradually. He writes short stories to entertain his son and his friends. Later, Nikolai Nikolaevich comes to the idea that this is what he wants to do in life. Along with this comes an understanding of how difficult it is to write for a children's audience, because you need to be erudite in many areas, including the psychology of young readers.
This is how Nosov’s professional activity began. The first stories appear before the Great War, in 1938. However, active creativity has been developing since the Victory, since 1945. It was then that young readers met Mishka, Kolya Sinitsyn, Vitya Maleev (Nosov was awarded the Stalin Prize for the story about him).
His stories and stories unobtrusively educate young readers, encourage friendship, kindness, hard work, honesty and condemn laziness, lies, pretense, disrespect for parents and teachers.
Along with stories about schoolchildren, there are also tales about wonderful characters - short people, inhabitants of the Flower City.
Children especially like these fairy 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, what images to present in order to achieve not only sustainable 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 was an actor by profession, but due to circumstances he was forced to work on the railway in addition to his specialty.
Since childhood, the future writer has had a love for creative activity: he is fascinated by playing the violin, he enjoys visiting the theater, and loves photography. Unfortunately, like all children of that time, Nosov quickly grew up. The hungry years that began after the First World War and the Civil War forced Nikolai to go to work so that the family would not die of hunger.
After graduating from a seven-year school, Nosov searched for himself for some time, and finally, at the age of 19, he entered the Kiev Art Institute. After studying there for two years, he transferred to the Moscow Institute of Cinematography. Nosov remains faithful to his favorite work: from 1938 to 1951 he directed films for children and youth.
Shorties - heroes of books about Dunno
The first work describing the adventures of Dunno was the short story “Vintik, Shpuntik and the Vacuum Cleaner.” After seeing how the readers fell in love with the short characters, Nosov wrote the famous fairy-tale trilogy. He becomes the one who wrote “Dunno” and introduced it to young readers.
It is noteworthy that Nosov dedicates the trilogy to his second wife, Tatyana. They had no children (son Peter was from his first marriage). At the beginning of his writing career, Nosov was not yet known as the one who wrote Dunno. His stories are about ordinary schoolchildren, just like the audience reading the works. However, even then the writer hatched a plan to write a work with a fairy-tale plot.
In 1952, while in Minsk, Nosov shared the idea with the editor of the magazine “Barvinok” Bogdan Chaly. The latter was so inspired by the idea of a city of short people that he suggests that Nosov release chapters from the book gradually, publishing them in a magazine. This is what the writer does: in 1953-1954, the first book of the trilogy, describing the adventures of Dunno, was published in Periwinkle.
What kind of shorties are they? These are small people, no bigger than a cucumber. Among them there are male and female individuals. They live in their cities: Tsvetochny, Solnechny. All the shorties are busy: inventing, cooking, treating others, drawing, composing poetry or music. Among them, a unique leader (Znayka), erudite in everything, stands out. The short ones listen to him. The heroes of “Dunno” have very interesting names: according to their profession (Vintik, Shpuntik, Pilyulkin), according to their character or special physical qualities: Donut (full, eats a lot), Toropyzhka, Avoska.
From small phrases and episodes, the reader learns that the short ones can die (they were afraid for Dunno that he was lying “like dead”), there are family relationships between them: Avoska and Neboska are siblings.
Dunno brings dissonance into the calm, measured life of the short ones; he is, as it were, opposed to everyone, because he is not busy with any specific business, he either interferes with others or gets into ridiculous situations. The plots of all three fairy tales are built around this.
The first part of a trilogy about the adventures of Dunno
The first part tells about the unsuccessful flight of the shorties in a hot air balloon, which Znayka designed. It turns out that they get into an accident. It all happened as follows: during the flight, a problem occurs on the balloon. Znayka decides that the short ones need to leave the ball and jump down. He sets an example, but after his jump the ball begins to rise again. Dunno misleads everyone by saying that this is how it should be. Everyone calms down, but the situation gets out of control again and the ball finally breaks.
The slightly injured shorties end up in the Green City Hospital, where they are under the strict control of Dr. Medunica. You could say that the heroes are being held captive. Everyone except Dunno. They find him away from the others. The careless little man begins to shamelessly deceive the inhabitants of the Sunny City, saying that it was he who came up with the balloon project, and convinces everyone of his enlightenment in many sciences, including artistic talent and singing.
This is how life goes on in the Green City until Znayka appears. It turns out that all this time he was looking for his friends. Dunno's deception is revealed, everyone boycotts him, but they soon forgive him and allow him to attend the general ball. Soon the shorties of the Flower City realize that it is time to return home. Upon his return, Dunno decides to change, he makes peace with his friend Gunka and begins to educate himself.
A book about the adventures of Dunno in Sunny City
“Dunno in the Sunny City” is another part about the adventures of an unlucky little guy. Here Nosov presents a completely different meaning. Through the magical adventures of the already famous Knopochka Nosov, he introduces young readers to an absolutely ideal city and social system. It becomes clear that whoever wrote “Dunno” wanted to show the kids 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 Sunny City: residents do not know what money is, but everyone has a personal car, there is no division into classes - everyone is equal, everyone does what they love.
Nosov pays special attention to such a concept as conscience; he even materializes it: Dunno conducts dialogues with it every night.
Fairy tale "Dunno on the Moon"
The last part of the trilogy, “Dunno on the Moon,” is a kind of story about the capitalist system. It was a kind of satirical depiction of this social system.
Dunno and Donut, having hijacked a rocket designed by Znayka, end up on the Moon and plunge into the cruelty of the Lunar Society, where inequality and corruption reign, everything is bought and sold, society is ruled by oligarchs. As a result, the heroes end up on Stupid Island, from where they are rescued, half-dead, by an expedition from the Flower City.
