Antipyretics for children are prescribed by a pediatrician. But there are emergency situations with fever when the child needs to be given medicine immediately. Then the parents take responsibility and use antipyretic drugs. What is allowed to be given to infants? How can you lower the temperature in older children? What medications are the safest?
A person from the past is better off staying in the past. Only in science fiction works, when moving into the future, can he seem like a brave hero capable of changing the world for the better. And if you try to take a serious look, what kind of trouble can an alien from bygone days do? Science fiction writers somehow don’t think about this, allowing the heroes of their works to achieve certain goals, most often boiling down to personal well-being or achieving world peace. Lazar Lagin looked at this situation differently - the old man Hottabych he presented turned out to be a powerful creature capable of changing reality, but at the same time he was overloaded with outdated ideas about reality, the return of which no one living today would wish.
From the first pages it becomes clear to the reader that no good can be expected from Hottabych. It does more harm than good. Of course, if the vessel were opened by someone else who had firm convictions in life, not saturated with Soviet everyday life, the genie’s skills would definitely be useful to such a person. For the pioneer Volka, the genie was unnecessary, just a burden that he would have to educate, showing him by personal example what to do in this or that case. If a person has no temptations, then there is no need for a genie: everything is available to everyone equally, no one cares about personal well-being, people have work, they know no need. This is exactly how Lazar Lagin portrays the Soviet Union to the reader. You can’t even give to the beggars, since there are no beggars in the country.
According to his ideas, man has moved far forward in the three and a half thousand years that Hottabych spent in captivity. More knowledge has become available in many areas of knowledge, the level of progress has stepped beyond the horizon accessible to understanding. Hottabych will try to cope with the lag, be surprised by new information about geography, be amazed by information about space and be imbued with much more, showing how devoid of perfection he is, what amount of information he has to learn. Lagin in a unique way indulges the owner of magical power by turning on a jumper that is invisible to the reader, limiting the genie’s ability to adjust reality to himself.
Gradually Hottabych will change, while remaining unchanged. By its nature, it turns out to be static in Lagin’s work. All his efforts are temporary and cease to play a role in the future, giving way to other desires and interests. All this was done by Lazarus to amuse the reader in a certain scene, without any specific progress. One must think about whether it was necessary to bring the plot to foreign travels, which loaded the narrative with additional scenes that were empty in content.
The course taken by Lagin to humanize the genie successfully went to the bottom, as soon as the original plan was forgotten. It is clear that Hottabych wants to find his brother, who, like him, is imprisoned in a vessel and now resides in an unknown place. Countries and continents opened up before the reader, covering the image of the old man himself, who became an unnecessary element in the story. Along the path of the characters, people met, their misfortunes from the horrors being committed in their states were outlined, and the struggle for the onset of bright days was shown. It was as if all this did not exist in the Soviet Union - everyone was in happy contemplation of the best possible society.
So is it possible to change the world for the better, given the appropriate opportunities? Using the example of old man Hottabych, it becomes clear that we only imagine the idyll of today, which must be deeply disgusting to those who lived in the past and who will live in the future. It is this truth that is proposed to be taken as the main idea of the work of Lazar Lagin. There is no need to try to adjust the morals of others to your ideas about what should be, otherwise those whose lives we try to change will have an equally destructive impact on our own way of life.
Several generations of Soviet schoolchildren grew up reading Lazar Lagin’s wonderful book “Old Man Hottabych.” The Eastern genie, who incredibly ended up in Soviet Moscow, fulfills the most cherished desires that arise in any boy in the USSR. Tell me what could be more exciting! It’s great not to study for exams, but to have ready-made answers appear in your head. Or become an adult for a short time in order to attend a movie that is not at all for children. Naturally, children fell in love with such a book, and Lagin became one of the most popular children's writers.
But what’s interesting is that Lagin didn’t come up with his Hottabych himself. He was inspired by the image of a genie from the fairy tale “The Copper Jug” by F. Anstey. The book came to him back in 1916, but two decades passed from the idea to the implementation of the idea of creating a Soviet fairy tale about an oriental genie.
In Anstey's tale, a genie who once served King Solomon is released from a bottle by a British architect.
In Lagin’s version, the role of savior was taken on by Moscow schoolboy Volka Kostylkov, who managed to catch an ancient jug from the river.
And if with Volka everything is extremely clear, then the image of the genie himself requires some clarification.
Let's start with who exactly these genies are.
The genie is an analogue of our devils and demons, only in the mythology of eastern peoples. There were four types of genies: ifrits - evil genies who could control fire, werewolf ghouls, very practical and omnipotent marids and weak otherworldly forces.
Old man Hottabych, whose full name is Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab, was a Marid genie.
Arab mythology described the Marids as pale, thin, tall creatures with long white beards. In the East they were not kind. The Marids could grant people's wishes, but in return they usually took the human soul. So good genies are a tradition of the European interpretation of Eastern mythology.
Hottabych, together with his brother Omar Yusuf, served faithfully to the Jewish king Solomon.
Solomon was considered a very powerful ruler who knew how to conquer the wind and understand the language of animals. The jinn were subject to him.
However, when Hottabych was 732 years and 5 months old, he decided that he no longer wanted to be in the service of the Jewish king, for which he and his brother were imprisoned in bottles, having sat there for exactly three thousand years. (By the way, it is precisely such a long imprisonment that explains Hottabych’s complete ignorance of the basics of geography - all 3732 years of his life he sacredly believed in the version of six whales and a flat disk, which is not surprising. After all, when Aristotle proved the theory of the sphericity of our planet, Hottabych had already been in prison for more than a century in his bottle and knew nothing about the achievements of science).
According to legend, the genies were brought to Solomon for punishment by a real character, the vizier Asaf ibn Barakhiya. How he managed this, history is silent.
By the way, in Kyrgyzstan today there is a mausoleum of Asaf, a very popular place among tourists.
So the story about Old Man Hottabych is a mix of creative fiction, Arab mythology and historical facts.
For example, it was exclusively in the Eastern tradition to depict a genie with a beard. In the East, a beard is a sign of masculinity, strength, wisdom, and experience. All famous wizards had beards. However, the idea of using a beard for witchcraft was completely outside the tradition. Remember how Lagin did? Hottabych pulled out 13 hairs from his beard, tore them finely and said a long and incomprehensible word-spell.
True, during the book’s narrative, Hottabych more than once managed to “produce magic” without a beard, just snapping his fingers, however, this does not negate Lagin’s creative innovation.
But the flying carpet was introduced into children's fairy tales long before him. Remember the Russian folk tales about Koshchei the Immortal and Helen the Beautiful. This “vehicle” first appeared in literature after the Arabian Nights, and later spread throughout Europe.
Lagin’s flying carpet received its new classification – VK-1, “Volka Kostylkov - 1”. Hottabych turned out to be an extremely grateful genie, honoring friendship and family ties.
By the way, you shouldn’t be surprised that genies, in principle, have relatives. In Arab mythology, the jinn had a way of life similar to that of humans. They were born, got married. Therefore, it is natural that in addition to male jinn, there were also so-called jinniyas - female jinn. They could even create families with people. And according to legend, rulers and the highest nobility entered into such alliances with jinn. Or people became rulers and significantly increased their status after contacting the genies.
In the story invented by Lazar Lagin, there was only a fairy tale, and there was no politics. Lazar Lagin (real name Ginzburg) came up with an instructive, funny and adventure story for children. Politics interfered with the book later.
The first version of the story “Old Man Hottabych” was published in parts in the children’s magazine “Pioneer” and the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda”. The collected book appeared in 1938. However, the situation in the country and the world was changing, and Soviet censorship decided to use a very popular fairy story to promote its own ideology.
This is how “remakes” of a children’s book appeared. In 1953, the USSR launched a campaign to combat cosmopolitanism. Within the framework of this concept, monologues of the characters about the horrors of American imperialism and Indian colonialism appeared in the story. Today there are hardly any people who have read these strange inserts in fairy tales. The fact is that in 1955 the situation in the world changed again, and strange pieces were removed from the text.
But it’s too early to rejoice. Instead of cosmopolitanism, a new enemy of the country of the Soviets appeared - capitalism. In the 1955 version, seven new chapters were added, in which the heroes find themselves in Italy, which was terribly suffering, first from Mussolini, and then from rabid capitalism.
Lazar's daughter Lagina claims that her father did not take part in all these revisions. He wrote one story - the one that was published in 1938. Everything else is Soviet propaganda. That is why the books published at that time do not have a photograph or the name of the author, but are simply indicated - L. Lagin.
The first, original version of the book is currently being reprinted.
Title of the work: Old Man Hottabych
Year of writing: 1938
Genre: story
Main characters: Volka- Soviet pioneer, Hottabych- wizard.
You can quickly understand the essence of Larin’s work if you read the summary of the fairy tale “Old Man Hottabych” for the reader’s diary.
Plot
Volka takes out an ancient jug from the water and opens it. The genie ibn Hottab is released. As a token of gratitude for the rescue, he promises to help Volka. Different eras and different understandings of the world create comical and sometimes dangerous situations. Hottabych, who spent 3.5 thousand years in a jug, finds it difficult to adapt to the modern world. His miracles look ridiculous and inappropriate - either he gives Volka palaces with slaves, then Volka grows a beard, then he tries to help him in a geography exam and gives him knowledge of his era. One day Hottabych drops Zheka off in India, and he has to follow him on a magic carpet. Having freed Hottabych's brother on the Arctic Ocean, Volka and Zheka flee from his wrath; Hottabych manages to save Zheka and sends Omar into space. Gradually Volka re-educates the old man and teaches him the Soviet way of life.
Conclusion (my opinion)
Larin's story briefly introduces us to Eastern culture. It is important to understand the differences between the customs and values of different peoples and take them into account when communicating with other people. And also - our life does not need magic, anyone who knows how to love, helps their neighbor, shows kindness, generosity and courage in any situation can be happy and self-sufficient.
Year: 1938 Genre: story
Main characters: schoolboy Volka and wizard Hottabych.
While swimming in the lake, the young pioneer Volka finds a jug in which the real wizard Hottabych is imprisoned. The boy's curiosity leads to the fact that a wide variety of miracles begin to happen in Moscow. Volka and his friend Zheka find themselves in amazing, fabulous situations, from which they emerge with honor, because it’s not for nothing that these boys are pioneers. The friends fly on a magic carpet, travel on an icebreaker across the Arctic, save Hottabych’s brother and figure out how to pacify him, that is, they lead an active, adventurous life.
Conclusion. This fairy tale tells the story that true friendship and faith in yourself and your friends conquers everything.
Read a summary of the fairy tale Old Man Hottabych
An adventure lover and great dreamer, Volka Kostylkov, while swimming in a pond, found an amazing vessel. Diving for the third time, he pulled out from the bottom a slippery object, greenish with mud. It was all covered with amazing writing.
Without thinking twice, the boy opened it and with noise, dirt and sparks, the genie Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab emerged from it. He spent many thousands of years in a jug. Evil spirits conspired to imprison him there, since he often showed good feelings. The old wizard, as a token of gratitude, swore eternal friendship and devotion to Volka. From this moment, in Moscow, and in the life of the boy, various miracles begin to happen. Dishes begin to fly and furniture begins to move without permission.
The boy does not hide anything from his new “old” friend. She tells him about her life, school, friends. And the genie, having largely made his conclusions, begins to act. Trying to help his young friend, the wizard interferes in the life of Volka ibn Alyosha, as the genie calls the boy, and creates so many absurd situations that life is interesting and fun not only for Volka, but also for many of his friends. So, during the exam in geography, Hottabych instilled in the boy such knowledge that horrified not only the teachers, but also Vladimir Kostylkov himself. A boy, during an exam, declares that in India there live ants the size of a dog, and the Earth is a disk, and so on. The student fails this test and is very upset. But he, fearing that Hottabych would take revenge on the teachers taking the exam, did not tell the old man anything about the problem that had arisen.
What happened next was even worse. Helping Volka get to an evening movie show, the wizard “rewards” him with a big beard, which greatly surprised and amazed the boy’s friend, and so that his friend does not spill the beans, the genie sends him further away - to India, where the locals receive him very warmly: they feed him deliciously and treat him amazing fruits, ride on an elephant. Volka rushes to save his friend: he flies with Hottabych on a magic carpet and returns with his friend.
It is difficult for an old wizard to live in the modern world. He does not understand the actions of people or their deeds. The genie does not know what many household items are for. Explaining their functional purpose to him is often very difficult. It is sometimes impossible for Volka and his friend Zhenya to introduce the old magician to the realities of our time. He doesn't know what a metro and trolleybus are. I have never seen such tall buildings and noisy streets, so many smartly dressed people before.
But Hottabych really likes the events he unexpectedly became a participant in. He “has fun” in the circus, and shows such miracles that magicians from different countries cannot do. At the stadium, “helping” Volka’s beloved team, at the wizard’s request, goal after goal flies into the opponents’ goal. The players themselves, of both teams, do not understand what is happening, because the balls fly by themselves, the players don’t even touch them.
Volka is not only frightened by what is happening, but also simply does not agree with this turn of events. Near the bookstall, Hottabych creates a noisy commotion, that is, he is doing weird things with all his might. It is impossible to stop and persuade the genie not to help and change anything. It takes a lot of work for both Volka and his friends to be able to save some of the unwanted or “offending” people, in the genie’s opinion, from the wizard’s spells here and there.
Then the friends go on a journey across the Arctic Ocean. Everything around surprises and amazes the guys. White silence surrounds them. From the deck of the ship "Ladoga" they see polar bears slowly wandering in the distance. The boys are in a great mood and eager for adventure. Unexpectedly, they manage to save Hottabych’s brother, Omar Yusuf, who, according to ancient tradition, must kill his savior. Genie and Volka barely have time to save Zheka from big trouble. After all, it was he who opened the next jug where this evil wizard, completely unlike Hottabych, lived. He was not only heartless, but also loved only himself, moreover, he does not believe in progress and scientific discoveries. To save the world and everyone around him from the disaster in the person of Omar, the wizard brother turns Omar into a satellite of the Moon and “sends him to surf the expanses of the starry ocean.”
Day after day passes, and the boys, friends, study well, gain deep knowledge to pass it on to Hottabych, who, with their help, masters and assimilates everything new and interesting that the boys tell him. The boys and the genie have an interesting, multifaceted life, full of adventures, exploits and fantasies. They live an interesting and fun life. They have big life plans. Each of them has chosen for themselves a further path and a dream to which they will strive and achieve their goal.
This fairy tale book tells the story that dreams definitely come true, you just have to want it and, of course, make an effort.
Picture or drawing Lagin - Old Man Hottabych
Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary
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As a child, when I was sick, I loved to re-read, and right there on the blanket lay “2 Captains”, books about Caroline - in general, girlish literature.))))
Each of you has read this book by the famous Soviet writer Lazar Ginzburg. We are talking about “Old Man Hottabych”... If you haven’t read it, you’ve certainly watched the movie of the same name. Even if you didn’t watch it, you heard the name.
Have you noticed any inaccuracies? No? Didn't the author's last name confuse you? Well, let's continue.
Ask any Russian person: “Do you know who Hottabych is?”
The answer will be yes, no doubt about it.
Some will even remember the old man's full name. Say, Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab. Someone will tell you the details of the fairy tale. Someone will be aware of the borrowing of the tale's plot from the English writer Thomas Anstey Guthrie, who wrote under the pseudonym F. Anstey.
But this story interests us in a slightly different aspect. In the esoteric, so to speak. It’s worth delving into the text of “Hottabych” more carefully, many “nuances” pop up that you want to know
tell me more.
L.I.Lagin (1903-1979)
According to one version, composing the first letters of the name and real surname.
Lazarus Ginzburg. The most common option.
But there are several options and how reliable each of them is is unknown, we present the most common...
Next, moving directly to the work. Meticulously reading the text of “Hottabych”, we will discover amazing things. The old man from the bottle, or rather the genie from the clay jug, although originally dressed in Arabic clothes, mutters his spells in Hebrew!
Reading the first version of the book.
“Instead of answering, Hottabych, groaning, tore out thirteen hairs from his beard, tore them finely, shouted some strange word “lehododilikraskalo”...
I'm surprised why the censors missed this! And why wasn’t Lagin imprisoned in 1938, when this tale was published? You don't know the meaning of this spell? Not surprising.
This is the most famous Jewish hymn that Orthodox Jews sing before every Sabbath!
“Leho dodi likras kalo, stump shabes nekabelo.”
Which means “go, my friend, to meet the bride, let’s meet the face of Saturday.” This is not some kind of “fuck-tibidoh-tah-tah”, which, by the way, is not in the text.
However, people “in civilian clothes” came with an arrest warrant to Lagin’s house almost every day (the warrant was valid only for 24 hours). But Lazarus was not at home. He was on long business trips. Then in the Far North, sailed on an icebreaker near Spitsbergen. And it was there that the writer came up with the idea of a fairy tale... about old man Hottabych. That's in Central Asia...
This saved him. Or rather, Fadeev, the then head of Soviet writers, personally saved him. Thus repaying good for good, because once upon a time it was Lagin who recognized Fadeev’s writing talent.
But let's return to Hottabych.
What kind of “bride” is mentioned in this “strange word”?
The first edition clearly states that Volka Kostylkov is 13 years old. This means that he has already reached adulthood, from a Jewish point of view.
In Jewish tradition, the bride is called the Sabbath.
In the cinema, an angry Hottabych remembers that he was so
powerful genie, that “Suleiman ibn Daoud himself could not do anything with him.”
Who is this Suleiman? It's simple - King Solomon. Shlomo ben David. Solomon famously wore a ring that said “all shall pass.” And this ring commanded the genies. Remember how Hottabych chased the foreigner Vandenthalles, thinking that he owned the coveted ring?
May I be allowed to know that you, O diamond of my soul,
Do you mean by this word, unknown to me, “bastard”? -
old Hottabych inquired curiously. Volka turned as red as a tomato from embarrassment.
- You see...... how can I tell you... uh... well, in general, the word “bulda” means “sage.”
It should be noted that I also laughed at this phrase. In childhood. But it turns out that the author had the last laugh. And that's why.
In Hebrew, "baal dat" means... that's right, "wise man"!
Volka Kostylkov didn’t lie! Only Soviet party ideologists did not know this.
All this quotation is explained simply.
The writer Ginzbug spent his childhood in Vitebsk, the town where he was born on November 21, 1903 and where before the revolution there were 51 synagogues among 17 Christian churches. Here, in Vitebsk, he graduated from cheder.
From here we need to look for the roots of Hottabych and his Jewish sayings.
Lazar was the first of five children of Joseph Fayvelevich Ginzburg and Hanna Lazarevna.
My father worked as a raftsman. Having saved money, the family moved to Minsk, where the father opened a hardware store.
In Minsk, Lazar finishes high school and immediately goes to volunteer for the Civil War. Let's calculate how old he was then - 15!
At the age of 17 he joined the party, and only then the Komsomol. Becomes one of the leaders of the Komsomol of Belarus.
Lazar Lagin began his literary activity as a newspaper reporter and poet in 1922.
He showed his poems to Mayakovsky, who spoke approvingly of them. The phrase remained in the annals of the family: “Dear Lazarus, why don’t you bring me your new poems?” To which Lagin allegedly replied: “Like you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I can’t. And I don’t want it to get worse.”
Many years will pass, and in the preface to one of his books he will remember his first attempts at poetry: “To speak frankly, I have considerable merit to Russian literature: I stopped writing poetry in time and forever.”
Lazar Lagin had a wonderful sense of humor and was never afraid to laugh at himself. Only very strong people allow themselves to do this.
Lazar studied at the vocal department of the Minsk Conservatory. A year later he ran away and failed the theoretical disciplines. And his love for music remained throughout his life, he loved to sing old romances, he had a beautiful voice.
Years of study will fly by at the Moscow Institute of National Economy in the department of political economy, then military service, postgraduate studies at the Institute of the Red Professorship. From there he was recalled to permanent work at the Pravda newspaper.
Since 1934, Lazar Lagin was the deputy editor-in-chief, and then, until the last days of his life, a correspondent for the Krokodil magazine.
Since 1936, he has been a member of the USSR Writers' Union.
The family will move to Moscow. Father Joseph Fayvelevich, having completed the course, will become the most competent typesetter in the Izvestia newspaper.
The fairy tale "Old Man Hottabych" was first published in 1938 in the magazine "Pioneer".
Re-read “Old Man Hottabych” and ask yourself questions: who is
King of the Jinn Jirjim ibn Rejmus? Why is his aunt called Ikrisha? What does the name of the kingdom of Benham and the city of Sokke mean?
Did you know that in Jerusalem, at the entrance to the old city, there is a huge square of Omar Yusuf ibn Hottab. It turns out that there really was such a king.
Having read other works of Lazar Lagin, we will only confirm the correctness of our judgments - Jewish names are all over the place.
For example, in the novel “Patent AB”: the city of Bakbuk is translated from Hebrew
“bottle”, unsympathetic characters Eduf - “slave”, another - Tzfardeya - “frog”. Etc.
For this work, Lagin received, by the way, the Stalin Prize.
And this is at a time when the fight against cosmopolitans is taking place! And Bronstein, Rosenfeld and Aronov, whom we know under the names of Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, have already been convicted and even shot.
It is not surprising that the fighters for the “correct” ideology did not understand
Ginsburg's Jewish ridicule.
By that time, all Soviet writers had euphonious surnames. Steinkman became Mikhail Svetlov. Fridland - Koltsov. Glikberg was reborn as Sasha Cherny. We remember Zilber as Veniamin Kaverin, the creator of “Two Captains”.
So the native of Vitebsk Ginzburg went down in history as Lazar Lagin,
author of the children's fairy tale "Old Man Hottabych", which, in words
his hero-genie, just “an amazing story, which, if it were written with needles in the corners of the eyes, would serve as an edification for those who learn.”
P.S.
In 1940, the book was published as a separate edition. Since then, it has been republished many times and translated into many languages. There are publications in English, German, Czech, Chinese...
After the release of “Old Man Hottabych,” Lazar Lagin gained all-Union fame. True, in those years fame was fraught with consequences. The “famous” were in full view of everyone, including those who repressed and decided whether a person should continue to live or not.
After the war, at the end of the forties, the ideological department of the Central Committee decided that, in their opinion, the emphasis in the story “Old Man Hottabych” was not quite correct, and recommended that appropriate adjustments be made to the new edition.
There was no point in disobeying.
When Lazar Lagin was chopping up his own brainchild with his own hands, his heart could not stand it - he had a heart attack.
The first edition of “Hottabych” differs in many ways from the second, in which the writer was forced to include “Stalinist”, as he said, “signs.”
And with each new edition, the propaganda book became thicker, and its author became darker.
Only after the death of Lazar Lagin did his faithful friend Arkady Strugatsky publish the original version in his publishing house.
Lagin was not a timid man. And he has proven this more than once.
He passed without particularly bowing to the bullets or his own superiors. He writes leaflets, notes and even songs, and speaks to sailors.
From the very first days of the war, Lazar Lagin, as part of the Black Sea Fleet, participated in the defense of Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch and Novorossiysk. He ended the war in Romania with the Danube flotilla. He was awarded military medals and the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree. He was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner of Labor on his 70th birthday.
From the memoirs of the writer’s daughter, candidate of art history, member of the Union of Journalists Natalya Lagina:
“How, you ask, does a person become a satirist writer? But it’s not clear how. Due to mixing of explosive components. An explosive mixture of natural gift, deeply personal understanding of political economy and love.”
In the post-war years, Lazar Lagin wrote several novels: “Patent AB” (1947), “Island of Disappointment” (1951), “Atavia Proxima” (1956), “The Eaten Archipelago” (1963). there is a strong and poignant story “Major Well Andew” (1962), a kind of addition to H. Wells’s “War of the Worlds”, dedicated to the problem of collaboration.
Written in the pamphlet genre, which is rare in our literature, they attracted attention with their sharply entertaining plot and social orientation.
The press of the late 1960s wrote: “The Lagin pamphlet is, as it were, a continuation of the Welsh “War of the Worlds”...
They say that Lazar Iosifovich attached greater importance to these works than to “Old Man Hottabych.”
And today these books carry a huge charge of energy from a high-level science fiction writer. Although they are symbols of the era of the construction of communism and the confrontation between two ideologies.
Sometimes you catch yourself thinking that in some of the twisted fantastic plots of modern Hollywood films something was invented by Lagin long ago.
In 1979, the All-Union recording studio “Melodiya” released a record with the musical “Hottabych” by composer G. Gladkov. And the heroes of the famous fairy tale sang in the voices of popular actors M. Boyarsky, L. Gurchenko, I. Muravyova...
Lazar Iosifovich Lagin no longer had to see the record. He died on June 16, 1979.
In Moscow, on Chernyakhovsky Street, there is a house, noticeable with a memorial plaque with the inscription “The writer Konstantin Simonov lived here...”. Lazar Iosifovich Lagin also lived in this house in recent years. True, there is still no memorial plaque testifying to this.
Strange and offensive...
There are many things in his apartment that remind him of the previous owner. Reproductions of Chagall's paintings and an album with views of Vitebsk are kept here.
The main place in the office is occupied by an old typewriter. Sometimes, like many years ago, you can hear the sound of its keys. Natalya Lazarevna, the writer’s daughter, prefers a typewriter over the computer that is in the house.
There are stacks of books, newspapers, and magazines everywhere.
The eyes of Olesha, Svetlov, Ilf, Zoshchenko look at you from the walls. Lazar Iosifovich was friends with these people. They were in this house...
Lazar Lagin's apartment is like a museum. Or maybe there should be a museum here.
The father bequeathed the position of guardian to his daughter...
______________________________
Old man Hottabych noticed us...
In 1938, at the time of the most charming maturity of socialism, the 35-year-old Soviet writer Lagin, with the help of his fictional pioneer Vladimir Alekseevich Kostylkov, released a genie named Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab, a disobedient slave of King Solomon himself (Suleiman ibn Daoud, or Shlomo ben David , as you like).
The genie was released from a mossy clay jug in a timely manner - the whole country sang with one voice that it was born to transform a fairy tale into reality, and by 1938 it was flooded in unlimited quantities with koloboks, and fools-Ivans, and Yuda-miracles, and koshcheis, seemed absolutely immortal. There was a lack of something oriental-exotic, an appropriate seasoning, such as cilantro or tkemali. Or with the taste of Turkish delight. It was here that the playful hand of like-minded person Pavlik Morozov tore off the seal of Solomon from the ancient vessel, which, if used to imprison rebellious spirits, then, as everyone knows, is necessarily made in the form of a pentagram, a banal five-pointed star. Looking ahead, let's ask: now do you understand why old man Hottabych was obsessed with panic while walking around Moscow?
The fruits of the industry? Yes, them too. But the most terrible thing is the luminous ruby pentagrams flying above the Mother Throne, protecting the capital of the Soviet state from various representatives of evil spirits. But, as the great Goethe showed, it is difficult to perfectly draw (or sculpt) a pentagram:
“Take a closer look. This sign is poorly written.
The outer corner is elongated
And leaves the course, bending over the edge."
So over time, the genie gets used to Soviet reality and more or less ceases to be afraid of the esoteric achievements of the national economy. By the way, not only genies - as representatives of the Other World - visit the young Soviet country. Just 10 years ago, Prince Woland and his comrades were not afraid of the crooked stars. Although he left Belokamennaya a few days later. But Ghassan Abdurrahman remained. But there are some similarities in both visits. Firstly, both the “consultant with a hoof” and old Hottabych cannot ignore the housing issue. So the games begin with the expansion of space and the erection of palaces against the backdrop of mockery of the poor Muscovites who are crowded into communal apartments. Let us recall that the story “Old Man Hottabych” begins with a description of the Kostylkova family moving from one communal apartment to another, and the characters, together with the author, are unusually happy about this fact. The housing problem has not only spoiled people, it has formed a new generation... Secondly, in both cases, golden showers falling on the heads of the heroes are an almost ordinary phenomenon. Thirdly, both aliens have a clear sympathy for the theater, they are especially attracted to addressing the public from the stage (one puts on an enchanting show at the Variety Theater, and the other at the circus, where we will return). But, let us emphasize, Woland faded away, remaining to this day a mysterious and formidable servant of Evil, and Hottabych settled in Moscow, became a favorite of Soviet and post-Soviet children, and for some time now he has generally been treated as a friend, like Cheburashka or the Veselys, for example, By humans:
"Ha ha ha, Hottabych, cheerful genie,
Ha-ha-ha, Hottabych, let's be friends!"
This is already in the 70s, after the second edition of the story, redesigned by the author himself, after the book was translated into 50 languages, after millions of copies, after the 1957 film, after the record where some brilliant idiot editor taught a wizard to cast magic using magic words “fuck-tibidoh-tah-tah”, after dozens and dozens of television, radio and just performances. The most magical thing that can happen to a cult hero is that he finds himself in the textual space of an anecdote. This is what happens with a wizard. “I’m fucking and fucking,” reads the text on the notice board signed “Hottabych”... This is the highest point of separation of the image from the author’s roots, followed by the corresponding space - exclusively virtual, and the appearance of Sergei Oblomov’s story “The Copper Jug of Old Man Hottabych” is an example of this. and its film version ")(0TT@ББ)Ч" (2006).
Let's return to Lagin's original text. That’s what’s important: it wasn’t the plot that I fell in love with, not the story about how a real pioneer would give up miracles and convince and re-educate the genie, but simply the genie himself became a favorite (the most charming old man, you know, who was still not fully informed , which means that the hope of promoting it for a couple of useful things is not lost). And this is not the ifrit from “A Thousand and One Nights”, whose head is like a dome, his legs are like pillars, his hands are like pitchforks, his mouth is like a cave, his eyes throw sparks, and a horn grows in the middle of his forehead. Hottabych, on the contrary, is not just anthropomorphic, he is a Human Man (a similar image was achieved in the late 30s using a minimum of visual means; it is enough to mention that the hero has “sly eyes”, and that’s all - the image of a Human Man has been created, although, of course , and not the Most Human, but Simply Human). But besides this notorious “humanity”, there is something incredibly homely, family, personal in Hottabych... What is the secret of the attractiveness of this artistic, excuse me, image?
And the fact is that in 1938 (free me from listing his achievements), 35-year-old native of Vitebsk Lazar Iosifovich Ginzburg, writing in Moscow under the pseudonym Lagin, suddenly manages to convey greetings to us all from a pre-revolutionary Jewish town, releasing from a “slimy, mossy clay bottle “the subconscious of a loved one, most likely one’s own grandfather, and maybe a melamed from the cheder or one of the other Vitebsk hosidim. And if anyone has doubts about the unconditionality of Hottabych’s Jewish roots, then we will first send Thomas to the graphic exercises of K. Rotov, the first illustrator of “Old Man Hottabych.” Change the signature, and you’ll get a very high-quality anti-Semitic caricature... And then let’s turn to the author’s description.
First of all, we know that Hassan is a “skinny old man with a waist-length beard.” And he appears to the reader “in a luxurious silk turban, in the same caftan and trousers and unusually elaborate morocco shoes,” which speaks only of Lagin’s desire to dress the hero in Oriental-Islamic clothes, but not of any knowledge of such life. But for “our days” Lazar Iosifovich dresses up his hero with taste and knowledge of the matter: “Hottabych was magnificent in a new pair of white linen jackets, a Ukrainian embroidered shirt and a hard straw boater hat. The only detail of his toilet that he would never agree to change, there were shoes" (this is how Hottabych’s appearance is described in the 1940 edition; in later editions, minor changes were made: the suit became canvas, and the morocco shoes became pink).
So imagine a bearded grandfather in white clothes and pink slippers. Well, isn’t he from the “pique vests” crowd at the Florida cafe in Chernomorsk?..
Before getting acquainted with other “shtetl” habits of the old genie, let us finally turn to the historical features of the publication of this book. Lagin wrote “Hottabych” in 1938 for “Pionerskaya Pravda” and “Pioneer” magazine, where the story was published from issue to issue. And it was published as a separate book in 1940, almost no different from the newspaper and magazine version. But after the war, the story saw the light of day in a greatly transformed form. The volume has increased. About a dozen new chapters have appeared. Arabesques have been added. Minor cause-and-effect misunderstandings found in the first edition have been eliminated. Everything that could be combed was slicked and pomaded.
However, without being tempted by the charms of comparative analysis as a whole, let us turn to just one single line, perhaps the most important in this whole touching narrative. Hottabych performs his magic most enchantingly and selflessly in the circus arena. The nature of the genie's magical rampages is apocalyptic. The artists melt into the air, the audience whistles up outside the dome, the orchestra is compressed to the size of a pea and rolled into the right ear of an excited genie. And when the pioneer owner orders everything to be restored to its original order, Hottabych agrees, albeit reluctantly, citing extreme fatigue. This is what this act of magic looks like in the post-war edition:
“Instead of answering, Hottabych, groaning, rose to his feet, pulled out thirteen hairs from his beard, tore them finely, shouted some strange and very long word and, exhausted, sank straight onto the sawdust covering the arena.”
By the way, in the entire narrative you will not find examples of Hottabych’s magical conspiracies. No "trachtibidochs". Silence. At best, it's a "very long word." But not in the 1940 edition. There, the scene in the circus looks a little different:
“Instead of answering, Hottabych, groaning, rose to his feet, tore out thirteen hairs from his beard, tore them finely, shouted some strange word “lekhododilikraskalo” and, exhausted, sank straight onto the sawdust covering the arena.”
Lehodilipaint! Let's enjoy, let's savor this "spell"!
Lehodilipaint. That is, "Leho dodi likras kalo." The traditional Ashkenazi pronunciation of the verse “Lecha dodi likrat kala”, known to every Jewish boy born in Vitebsk in 1903 and who managed to go through the cheder universities. "Go, my friend, to meet the bride!" Verses that every God-fearing Jew sings passionately and very loudly every Friday night. Let us recall the continuation - “stump shabes nekabelo” (with the same Ashkenazi pronunciation) - “let us meet the face of the Sabbath.”
So much for "ha-ha-ha, Hottabych"!
I was so enchanted, I was so tired that I remembered Shabbat... But why is it still “lecha dodi”, and not something else, also popular, more pre-Sabbath, for example, “shalom aleichem malachei ha-sharet” (“peace be upon you, angels of service")?
Well, first of all, because the liturgical hymn “Lecha Dodi” was also composed by a “wizard” - the Safed kabbalist Shlomo Alkabetz.
This text is compiled according to all the rules of metaphysical science:
the initial letters of the stanzas form an acrostic of the author's name, and the text contains the refrain of the spell - “go, my friend (or lover), towards the bride.” And Saturday as a bride is a classic Talmudic image (tractate Shabbat, 118b-119a).
But maybe, besides Queen Saturday, there is another bride, towards whom Ginzburg is running, accompanied by his faithful squire Hottabych?
Here's another interesting fact: the story is poor in female characters. Yes, they simply don’t exist. The through passages of Volka Kostylkova's grandmother and mother do not count. True, in one of the post-war publications a strict but fair geography teacher appears, who is hunted by the angry Hottabych and whom pioneer friends are trying to save from the genie’s rage. No romance. And no brides, no girlfriends for the pioneer heroes. It feels like all the girls from the Moscow courtyards were repressed in 1938. Creepy. And young heroes are not interested in gender issues at all.
And here it is right to ask the question, how old are they, these sexually underdeveloped children?
There is an answer on the very first page, only in different publications it sounds differently. In later editions, Volka is given 11-12 years old, but in the 1940 edition, the hero’s father says: “The guy is thirteen years old.” That is, from the Jewish (Hottabych) point of view, Volka ibn (ben) Alyosha reached adulthood and became a potential groom. But, as already said, no brides! Apart from “lech dodi”...
And just when I was already firmly convinced that, probably, some kind of heartbreaking drama had clearly occurred in the author’s personal life in 1938, I received unexpected confirmation of this.
The Jerusalem poet Gali-Dana Singer, having listened with sympathy to my lamentations about the absence of Hottabych’s bride, advised me to get acquainted with the fairy tale of the English writer F. Anstey (Thomas Anstey Guthrie, 1856-1934) “The Copper Jug”, the plot of which seems to be already familiar to us:
a young London architect releases a genie from a copper jug, imprisoned there by King Solomon.
There is no doubt that Lagin read this wonderful story. There are too many coincidences in the plots. And the green genie Fakrash el-Aamash, like Ghassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab, is completely anthropomorphic and gerontic.
This is what the writer’s daughter Natalya Lagina said in 1980: “Many years later, my father showed me a pre-revolutionary edition of the book by the English writer F. Anstey, “The Copper Jug,” which fell into his hands back in 1916 and, to some extent, pushed him towards his original plan future "Hottabych"
So, if Lagin borrowed the plot and partly the hero from F. Ansty, then he was not seduced by some things. And this something, or rather, someone - the bride. The whole London story with the genie from the copper jug unfolds against the backdrop of the engagement of the hero, who, let us give him his due, attaches much more importance to this event than the appearance of an extravagant sorcerer in the house. So, the bride was left in London; she was not taken to Moscow. In Moscow there is enough to do without women, and therefore - away with them, especially if they serve as a reason for unnecessary emotional distress. But we will not delve into the writer’s biography, especially since there is no biography as such, except for the lines in the literary encyclopedia that in 1934 Lagin graduated from the Institute of the Red Professorship in Moscow. What happened on the personal front is a mystery. Let it remain a mystery, but we will not aim to be Pushkin scholars. But it's nice to fantasize. So, one wonders, why does Ginzburg have a pseudonym of Lagin? The explanation that Lagin is simply Lazarus Ginzburg is not the brightest. It is much more interesting to imagine that the pseudonym was taken a couple of years before the writing of “Hottabych” and reflects the age of the writer - 33 years (the number 33 is written with the letters “lamed” (30) and “gimel” (3) and read “lag”). For a half-educated Talmudist-reader, and now a graduate of the Institute of the Red Professorship, this is very original. Or maybe “lagin” is an anagram of the word “galin”? In this case, we found out the name of the failed bride... And one more sincerely idiotic, and therefore similar to the true, observation: was the Arabic name Hottab (“woodcutter”, “gatherer of twigs”) a subconscious cast of the word “ketubah” (nuptial agreement)? Then everything falls into place: the personal drama over the failed wedding is so strong that only his long-dead grandfather, who appeared ab imo pectore in the form of an all-powerful genie, a wise healer of sadness, can console the unlucky groom.
And no one doubts that Hottabych is wise. Let us recall one dialogue (in different publications it is pronounced by the characters in different places: sometimes in a hairdressing salon, sometimes in a pavilion of soft drinks, but its content is the same everywhere; in order not to break tradition, we quote the 1940 edition):
“And let them rob,” Hottabych answered harshly, “that’s what these laughing loafers need.”
- Fu-you, what nonsense! - Volka was completely indignant. - The hairdressing salon is not private, the hairdressing salon is state-owned, you old fool!
- May I be allowed to find out what you, O diamond of my soul, mean by this unknown word “bastard”? - Old Hottabych inquired with curiosity.
Volka turned as red as a tomato from embarrassment.
“You see... how can I tell you... uh... well, in general, the word “bulda” means “sage.”
And Hottabych is satisfied with this explanation. It is clear to him, because who is he, a sage? That’s right, “man of knowledge, faith,” or “baal dat,” or “baldos” in the Hottabych-Ashkenazi pronunciation. He does not argue with his young friend, but takes the word (somewhat distorted in his understanding) into service in order to use it on occasion. We are also satisfied with this etymology of the word “bulda,” because it once again proves that the story of the origin of old man Hottabych and his place in children’s literature, as well as the universal love for him, can serve as an edification for students, even if it is written with needles in the corners of the eyes.
