Tretiakova K. S. The Image of the Ural Nature in Children’s Literature of the 1930s-1950s

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Tretiakova K. S. The Image of the Ural Nature in Children’s Literature of the 1930s-1950s

Kristina S. Tretiakova
Ural Federal University (Russia, Ekaterinburg)
ORCID 0009-0007-9661-1381
E-mail: k.s.tretiakova@urfu.ru

Download | Back to the Content № 2. 2025

UDC 82-3:913(470.5)”1930/1950″
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-2-20-35

ABSTRACT. The article is devoted to the formation of the image of the Ural nature in children and teenagers’ literature of the 1930s–1950s. The need for youth literature that tells the growing readers about the specifics of the country’s regions led to the development of the theme of nature in the texts of the Ural authors in cognitive, pragmatic, and aesthetic aspects. Each of these aspects contributes to the formation of children’s understanding of their native region, allowing the reader to become fully acquainted with its unique characteristics. As material for the analysis the author draws upon the texts of various genres published in the Urals in the specified period, including those published in the literary and journalistic magazine «Uralsky Sledopyt» [«Ural Pathfinder»] (1935), in the collections of the «Ural Library of Entertaining Regional Studies» series (1936–1939), in the literary and artistic almanac for teenagers «Boevye Rebiata» [«Fighting Children»] (1942–1958). The stories of I. I. Likstanov «Malyshok» [«The Little Boy»] (1947) and «Zelen kamen» [«Green Stone»] (1949), poems by E. E. Khorinskaya and others are also considered. An attempt is made to identify the characteristic features of the natural «portrait» of the Urals, constructed by the Ural writers «from within» the region. Conclusions are drawn regarding the connection between the theme of nature during this period and the cultivation of regional identity and patriotism. From an early age, kids were sistematically immersed in the local history agenda — from books for little children to serious texts with social issues.

KEYWORDS: image of the Ural nature, Soviet children’s literature, literature of the Urals, I. I. Likstanov, E. E. Khorinskaya, periodicals of the Urals

For citation: Tretiakova K. S. [The Image of the Ural Nature in Children’s Literature of the 1930s — 1950s]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2025, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 20–35. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2024-4-1-20-35 (In Russian).

Received 10 February 2025
Accepted 1 July 2025

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