Article

Name: The Image of the Altai in A. I. Makarova-Mirskaya’s Short Stories for Children (“Alataiskie rasskazy” [“Altai Short Stories”], 1912)

Authors: Natalya A. Nepomnyashchikh

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section The Plot in Literature and Folklore

Abstract:

A. I. Makarova-Mirskaya was one of the first writers to create the image of the Altai in children’s literature. In her short stories, Altai is pictured as a special place where Good triumphs over Evil and paradisiacal nature shows all the beauty of God’s Creation. The Altai in her stories appears as a primordial land, not yet spoiled by man. Here the righteous religious men live in harmony with the world around and with each other. The book is conceptually whole and forms an idea that the Altai’s value is greater than the value of a just geographically remarkable place; it is a sacred and miraculous land. This idea has been further developed in Russian literature and culture. The Altai short stories (1912) were one of the sources of this tradition. Children in the book guide readers to miracles unnoticed by adults. Everything that happens in the stories and all surroundings are shown through children’s eyes and perception. The texts are intelligently complemented with the illustrations: G. I. Gurkin’s (Choros Gurkin’s) drawings and photos taken by Makarova-Mirskaya herself. All components of the book are devised to instill the idea of the Beautiful Altai, which is “a miracle itself”.

Keywords: image of the Altai in literature, children’s literature, A. I. Makarova-Mirskaya’s books

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