Nikolai Nosov (1980 - 1976) is one of the most prominent Soviet children's writers. Lacking, like his other colleagues, powerful literary roots or systemic education, Nosov managed to create a whole galaxy of striking works that won great popularity among young readers and their parents. Funny stories, the heroes of which were not only children and adults, but also short creatures invented by the writer, have firmly entered the history of Russian children's literature. And the state appreciated the work of Nikolai Nosov with a number of awards and prizes.
Facts from the biography of N. Nosov
1. Nikolai Nosov's father was an actor, but his main income came from work on the railway - acting in pre-revolutionary Russia was paid extremely modestly and irregularly.
2. The future writer was born in Kiev, but his early years were spent in the town of Irpen - life in the provinces was cheaper. After the children entered the gymnasium, the family returned to Kiev.
3. Nosov was the third child in a family of four - he had an older and younger brothers and a younger sister.
4. According to the writer himself, made in his autobiographical book "The Mystery at the Bottom of the Well," he invented the shorty when he was very young. Then the future Dunno and his friends were the size of a finger and lived in a flower bed.
Little Dunno
5. Nosov learned to read at the age of five, watching how his father taught his older (one and a half years old) brother to read.
6. The boy, who was called Koka in the family, entered the gymnasium, having flawlessly passed exams in the Russian language (dictation), arithmetic and the Law of God.
7. Nosov's career began in a shop owned by his aunt. The brothers alternately traded in it in simple goods, the most important of which was charcoal.
8. In 1918, all the Nosovs fell ill with typhus. It was a miracle that no one died in a family of six. Kolya was the last to be ill, and his typhus was worse than everyone else's.
9. Nosov himself learned to play the mandolin. He really wanted to learn how to play the violin, but after several lessons he hid the purchased instrument and never returned to it.
10. In high school, Nikolai was fond of chemistry and did the first literary tests, writing stories.
11. After the end of the Civil War, Nosov studied at a workers' school in Kiev. Due to family problems and material difficulties in wandering around Kiev, he met the street children and even learned Pushkin's poem with them. Street children read it with success throughout Kiev.
12. Nosov had a chance to work as a cab driver. The family bought a horse, and Nikolai contracted to haul the logs from the railway station.
13. In 1926, Nosov deceived him with a certificate of his 18th birthday (he was born in 1908, but in late autumn) and got a job at a brick factory. At the same time, he himself assembled the camera, which turned out to be very successful.
14. In 1927, Nosov became a student of the photography department of the Kiev Art Institute. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Cinematography in 1932.
15. For 20 years Nosov worked as a director of animation and documentaries. For filming training films for the army, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
16. Having received the Stalin Prize in 1952, Nosov, who by that time had published many stories and several books, concentrated on literary work.
17. The only son of the writer Peter is considered a classic of photojournalism. For over 30 years he was the head of the creative section of the TASS photo chronicle.
18. Nosov has a grandson, two great-grandsons and two great-granddaughters.
19. Nosov at the end of his life suffered from heart disease, which was mistakenly diagnosed as a stomach disease.
20. The writer died in 1976. His grave is in Moscow at the Kuntsevo cemetery.
Facts from N.'s creative life. After his childhood experiences, Nikolai did not take up the pen for almost twenty years, until the birth of his son.
2. The first children's stories composed by Nosov appeared orally - he told them to Peter, who was born in 1931. The son, and then his friends, were the first listeners of the works. Their approval prompted Nosov to start writing down his stories.
3. The first published work of the writer is the story "Zateyniki", which was published in one of the issues of the magazine "Murzilka" in 1938.
4. In subsequent years, Nosov published about two dozen stories in the same magazine.
5. For the first time, the writer's works were published as a separate book in 1945 - the collection "Knock-knock-knock" was published in Detgiz.
6. In 1952, the story “Vitya Maleev at school and at home”, published a year earlier, received the Stalin Prize of the third degree.
7. Nosov worked not only in the genre of children's stories and stories. He also wrote plays, feuilletons, film and cartoon scripts, and was the author of autobiographical books.
8. In total, about 80 works were published by the writer.
9. In 1957, when counting the circulation of books by Soviet writers, translations of which were published abroad, Nosov's works took the third place. This was before Dunno.
10. Nosov worked on the cycle of books about Dunno and his friends that became his calling card for 12 years (1953 - 1965).
11. The last part of the trilogy about Dunno received in 1969 the State Prize of the RSFSR.
12. The plots of many stories written by Nosov are based on real stories that happened with his son's friends and their parents.
13. Dunno's dandy hat is also almost real - Nosov liked to surprise those around him with wide-brimmed hats.
14. In his autobiographical book "The Mystery at the Bottom of the Well" the writer harshly reproaches the young himself for being scattered and unable to concentrate on one lesson. Most likely, the roots of Dunno's mischief lie in Nosov's childhood and youth.
15. Dunno was supposed to be like an elf - Nosov was impressed by the adventures of the heroes Anna Khvolson. But then, apparently, he remembered the little people who lived in a flower bed in Irpen.
16. The girls-characters of the Dunno trilogy have practically no negative traits - Nosov was very respectful of women and tried to bring up the same respect in kids.
17. Experts believe that the book "Dunno on the Moon" may well serve as a guide to the political economy of capitalism.
18. The prototype of the creepy movie titles in "Dunno on the Moon" were advertising slogans that little Kolya Nosov came up with when he sold newspapers as a child. Then he would shout something like "A four-year-old child killed his entire family!"
19. Dozens of feature films and cartoons have been shot based on the works of N. Nosov. The latest in time is the animated series "Dunno on the Moon" filmed in 1997 - 1999.
20. During the life of the writer, the total circulation of his published works exceeded 100 million copies.
And in conclusion, a fact that can be blamed on numerous admirers of Nikolai Nosov, the number of which can be measured by generations. Until now, not a single monument to the great writer exists, except for the tombstone on his grave. The memory of Nosov is not immortalized either in Kiev, or in Irpen, or in Moscow. Although the best monument to Dunno's father will forever remain his wonderful books.
