Interesting facts about Marshak - this is a great opportunity to learn about the work of the Russian writer. The greatest popularity was brought to him by works designed for a children's audience. Dozens of cartoons have been filmed based on his stories, including Teremok, Twelve Months, Cat's House and many others.
So, here are the most interesting facts about Samuel Marshak.
- Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) - Russian poet, playwright, translator, literary critic and screenwriter.
- When Samuel studied at the gymnasium, the teacher of literature developed in him an interest in literature, considering the student as a child prodigy.
- Marshak published many of his works under various pseudonyms such as Dr. Friken, Weller and S. Kuchumov. Thanks to this, he could publish satirical poems and epigrams.
- Samuel Marshak grew up and was brought up in a Jewish family. An interesting fact is that the first collection of the writer consisted of poems on Jewish themes.
- At the age of 17, Marshak met Maxim Gorky, who spoke positively about his early work. Gorky liked the communication with the young man so much that he even invited him to his dacha in Yalta. It is curious that Samuel lived at this dacha for 3 years.
- Already a married man, the writer and his wife left for London, where he successfully graduated from the local polytechnic and university. At that time he was engaged in translations of English ballads, which brought him great fame.
- Did you know that Samuel Marshak is an honorary citizen of Scotland (see interesting facts about Scotland)?
- At the height of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), Marshak actively provided various assistance to refugee children.
- In the 1920s, the writer lived in Krasnodar, opening there one of the first children's theaters in Russia. On the stage of the theater, performances based on the plays of Marshak were repeatedly staged.
- The first children's collections of Samuil Marshak were published in 1922, and a year later the publication of the magazine for children "Sparrow" began.
- At the end of the 30s, the children's publishing house founded by Marshak was closed. Many workers were laid off, after which they were subjected to various repressions.
- An interesting fact is that during the war Marshak worked on the creation of posters together with the Kukryniksy.
- Marshak was an excellent translator. He has translated many works of Western poets and writers. But most of all he is known as a translator from English, who opened many works of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Kipling and others for Russian-speaking readers.
- Did you know that the last literary secretary of Marshak was Vladimir Pozner, who later became a popular journalist and TV presenter?
- At one time, Samuel Yakovlevich spoke in defense of the disgraced Solzhenitsyn and Brodsky.
- For eight years, Samuil Marshak served as a deputy in Moscow (see interesting facts about Moscow).
- One-year-old daughter of the writer Nathanael died of burns after knocking over a samovar with boiling water.
- One of Marshak's sons, Immanuel, became a famous physicist in the future. He was awarded the 3rd degree Stalin Prize for developing a method of aerial photography.