It's been 80 years since the first edition of A. A. Milne's story "Winnie the Pooh" was published. 2012 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the English writer and playwright A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne went down in the history of preschool children's literature as the author of the fairy tale about the teddy bear Winnie the Pooh and a number of poems. Milne also wrote other works for children, but the greatest success fell on the named fairy tale and poems. The adventures of Winnie the Bear are loved by both adults and children.
Conducted in 1996 A poll conducted by English radio showed that this book took 17th place in the list of the most striking and significant works published in the twentieth century.
However, as a survey conducted among students of our gymnasium shows (83 people aged from 8 to 16 years were interviewed), to the question “Name the author of the work “Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All,” only 1% of students give the correct answer , and not one of the respondents answers correctly the question “Why was the main character named Winnie the Pooh?” This explains the relevance of our research.
English writer and playwright Alan Alexander Milne was born in London on January 18, 1882. He spent his childhood in a family where children from an early age were taught creativity and personal development. His father, John Milne, was the owner of a private school, where he was educated, and one of his teachers was the science fiction writer Herbert Wells. From early childhood, Alan wrote poetry and showed interest in the exact sciences, which later helped him enter Trinity College, Cambridge. During his student years, he, without expecting it, became the editor of the magazine Granta, for which he himself began to compose stories and poems. In the end, Milne stopped studying altogether and decided to move back to London, where he began working for the humor magazine Punch. Milne was called to serve in the Royal Army in France. He served in the First World War as an officer in the British Army. Milne later wrote a book, Peace with Honor, in which he condemned the war.
In 1913 he married Dorothy Daphne de Selincote, and in 1920 their only son, Christopher Robin, was born.
The first chapter of Pooh, "in which we first meet Winnie the Pooh and the Bees," was first published in a London evening newspaper on December 24, 1925, and broadcast on BBC Radio on Christmas Day by Donald Calfrop. In 1926, the first version of Little Bear with Sawdust in his Head (in English – Bear-with-very-small-brains) “Winnie the Pooh” appeared. The second part of the stories “Now there are six of us” appeared in 1927 and, finally, the final part of the book “The House on the Pooh Edge” was published in 1928. It seemed to Milne that he had written something like a well-selling detective story, because his book immediately earned two and a half thousand pounds. Milne has always acknowledged and repeatedly gratefully emphasized the decisive role of his wife, Dorothy, and his son, Christopher, in the writing and production of Winnie the Pooh. The history of the creation of this book is indeed full of mysteries and contradictions, but the fact remains that books about Pooh Bear have been translated into 25 languages and have taken their place in the hearts and on the shelves of millions of readers. Milne was convinced that he wrote neither children's prose nor children's poetry. He spoke to the child inside each of us.
Since 1968, the Muffin publishing house has sold 500,000 copies annually, with 30 percent sold in “new countries” - Australia, South Africa, New Zealand. By 1996, about 20 million copies had been sold, published only by Muffin. This does not include publishers in the United States, Canada, or non-English-speaking countries.
In 1985, Winnie the Pooh was brilliantly translated into Russian by Boris Zakhoder. Anyone who speaks two languages can attest that the translation was done with exquisite precision and ingenious ingenuity. In general, Vinnie has been translated into all European and almost all world languages.
In 1952, Milne became seriously ill. He had to undergo severe brain surgery. The operation was successful, and after the operation Milne returned to his home in Sexes, where he spent the rest of his life reading. After a long illness, he died in 1956, on January 31.
Chapter II. The history of the origin of the name "Winnie the Pooh".
Winnie-the-Pooh (eng. Winnie-the-Pooh) is a teddy bear, a character in stories and poems by Alan Alexander Milne, one of the most famous heroes children's literature of the 20th century. In the 1960s-1970s, thanks to the retelling of Boris Zakhoder “Winnie the Pooh and All-all-all”, and then the films of the Soyuzmultfilm studio, where the bear was voiced by Evgeniy Leonov, Winnie the Pooh became very popular in Soviet Russia. Union.
Few people know that Winnie the bear got his name from one of the real toys of Christopher Robin (1920-1996), the son of the writer. In turn, the Winnie the Pooh teddy bear was named after a female bear named Winnipeg (Winnie), who was kept in the London Zoo in the 1920s.
The Winnipeg Bear (American black bear) came to the UK as the live mascot of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps from Canada, specifically from the outskirts of the city of Winnipeg. She ended up in the Fort Harry Horse cavalry regiment on August 24, 1914, while she was still a bear cub (she was bought from a Canadian hunter for twenty dollars by the 27-year-old regimental veterinarian, Lieutenant Harry Colborne, who took care of her in the future). Already in October of the same year, the bear cub was brought along with the troops to Britain, and since the regiment was supposed to be transported to France during the First World War, in December it was decided to leave the animal until the end of the war in the London Zoo. The bear fell in love with Londoners, and the military did not object to not taking her from the zoo even after the war. Until the end of her days (she died on May 12, 1934), the bear was on the payroll of the veterinary corps.
In 1924, Alan Milne first came to the zoo with his four-year-old son Christopher Robin, who became truly friends with Winnie. Three years earlier, Milne bought an Alpha Farnell teddy bear from Harrods and gave his son an Alpha Farnell teddy bear for his first birthday. After the owner met Winnie, this bear received a name in her honor. Christopher Robin's real-life toys also included Piglet, Eeyore without a Tail, Kanga, Roo and Tigger. Milne invented the Owl and the Rabbit himself.
The name Pooh was the name of a swan who lived with friends of the Milns (he appears in the collection “When We Were Very Little”).
“Winnie the Pooh” is a duology, but each of Milne’s two books is divided into 10 stories with its own plot, which can be read, filmed, etc. independently of each other.
First book - Winnie-the-Pooh:
1. We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees and the Stories Begin (in which we are introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and some bees).
2. Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place (in which Winnie the Pooh went to visit and found himself in a hopeless situation).
3. Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle (in which Pooh and Piglet went hunting and almost caught Buka).
4. Eeyore Loses A Tail and Pooh Finds One (in which Eeyore loses his tail and Pooh finds it).
5. Piglet Meets a Heffalump (in which Piglet meets a Heffalump).
6. Eeyore Has A Birthday And Gets Two Presents (in which Eeyore had a birthday and Piglet almost flew to the moon).
7. Kanga And Baby Roo Come To The Forest And Piglet Has A Bath (in which Kanga and Baby Roo appear in the forest, and Piglet takes a bath).
8. Christopher Robin Leads An Expedition To The North Pole (in which Christopher Robin organizes an “expedition” to the North Pole).
9. Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded By Water (in which Piglet is completely surrounded by water).
10. Christopher Robin Gives Pooh A Party and We Say Goodbye
Second book - The House at Pooh Corner:
1. A House Is Built At Pooh Corner For Eeyore
2. Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast (in which Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast).
3. A Search is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump Again (in which the search is organized, and Piglet again almost got caught by the Heffalump).
4. It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees (in which it turns out that Tigers don't climb trees).
5. Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings
6. Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In (in which Pooh invents a new game and Eeyore joins in).
7. Tigger Is Unbounced (in which the Tiger is tamed).
8. Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing (in which Piglet accomplishes a great feat).
9. Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It (in which Eeyore finds an owl and Owl moves in).
10. Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There (in which we leave Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh in an enchanted place).
The habitat of the heroes of future books was Cochford Farm, acquired by the family in 1925, and the surrounding forest, in the work it is the fabulous Hundred Acre Forest.
Chapter III. The collective image of Winnie the Pooh in the work “Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All.” Comparative characteristics Main character.
The image of Pooh is at the center of all 10 stories that we read and analyzed. As a survey conducted among students at our gymnasium shows, the image of a teddy bear evokes positive emotions in almost all children. To the question “How would you characterize the main character. Name at least three characteristics” we received the following results:
During the analysis, we were able to find out that the majority of the children we interviewed consider Winnie the Pooh to be kind, cheerful and a lover of eating sweets. However, there are those who characterize him negatively. Thus, 31% of respondents believe that Vinny is naive, a little stupid, sometimes clumsy and at times lazy and disorganized. Is Vinnie really portrayed in the book as the students imagine him to be? For this purpose, we analyzed ten stories from A. A. Milne’s first book, “Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All.” What did we get from the analysis?
Really main character The story loves to eat. We find confirmation of this in the text:
“Winnie looked round to see that nobody was listening, put his paw to his mouth and said in a deep whisper: “Honey.”
“Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o’clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, “Honey or condensed milk with your bread? "he was excited that he said, "Both," and then, so as not seem greedy, he added, "But don’t bother about the bread, please. »
In some scenes, Winnie the Pooh regrets that he was deceived, and therefore the author portrays Pooh as stupid and naive:
“I have been Foolish and Deluded,” he said, “and I am a Bear of no Brain at All.” "(I was Stupid and Deceived, - he said; and I am Mishka Completely without a Cleverness)
“For I m a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me. "(after all, I am a Bear with a Very Small Mind, and long words bother me.)
Pooh is indeed “scared by long words”; he is forgetful, but often brilliant ideas come into his head. One of Pooh's favorite pastimes is writing poems and songs. He composed WHINES, NOISERS, and THE SONG OF THE CLOUDS. One of my favorite Pooh poems goes like this:
It’s very, very funny, I found myself in a strange bind.
‘Cos I know I had some honey: Where did Mishkin’s honey go?
‘Cos it had a label on, After all, I had it with a sign
Saying HUNNY that said "MET"
A goloptious full-up pot too
And I don’t know where it’s got to
No, I don’t know where it’s gone – Nature jokes unkindly at Mishka,
Well, it's funny. After all, I can’t live without honey at all.
In the future, the comic features in the image of Pooh recede into the background before the “heroic” ones. He carefully considers all the situations in which Pooh and his friends find themselves in order to make the right decision:
“Winnie sat down at the front of the tree, put his head between his paws and began to think. »
“He put his head between his paws and thought very carefully. »
Very often Vinny manages to be brave and courageous, to help his friends in difficult times, for which they thank him at the end of the story and give him a gift with the inscription:
“It was a Special Pencil Case. There were pencils in it marked “B” for Bear, and pencils marked “HB” for Helping Bear, and pencils marked “BB” for Brave Bear.
So, in the course of the study, we were able to find out that regarding certain characteristics of the main character, the author’s opinion and the opinion of the guys coincide. Winnie is a bear with a very small mind who loves to eat and is always ready to help in difficult times. However, we did not find a single scene where Vini had fun from the heart. He is very often serious and thoughtful. Pooh's kindness is most often revealed by the author through his actions, and not through a description of his external and internal world.
Conclusion.
Having carried out a comparative analysis of the image of Winnie the Pooh in the author’s perception and in the perception of the students of gymnasium No. 13 we surveyed, we came to the following conclusion:
➢ Both the author and the reader create a single image of the main character Pooh. Characteristics that are identical to each other come to the fore: kindness, naivety, the desire to “refuel” at any convenient moment. The writer's skill is the ability to emphasize Pooh's kindness not through a direct description of his inner world, but through the actions that he performs under the influence of various circumstances. The reader feels what is hidden behind the writer’s line and therefore gives preference to the hero’s quality of kindness.
➢ B work of art Pooh is more likely to be depicted as serious and thoughtful than as cheerful and carefree. He often has to solve important issues, make responsible decisions, and help his friends. Characterizing Pooh as “cheerful”, students are most likely dominated by the image of the animated Disney bear, where the main character smiles more often and has more fun with his friends, which is not typical for the book version of the fairy tale.
➢ Winnie the Pooh is a creative person. In his spare time, he composes poems and songs (noisemakers, whimpers, chants), thereby creating an original and unique image in the work.
The image of Pooh was so beloved by the reader that in September 1981, 61-year-old Christopher Robin Milne opened a life-size monument to Winnie the Bear at London Zoo (sculptor Lorne McKean).
In 1995, a Winnie the Pooh statue appeared in Manitoba (Canada). In 1999, Canadian cavalrymen from Fort Harry Horse unveiled a second monument there (sculptor Billy Epp), depicting Lieutenant Harry Colborne with a bear cub. A copy of the last monument was also erected at the zoo in the Canadian city of Winnipeg.
In 1997, a festival dedicated to Winnie the Pooh and his friends was held for the first time in Winnipeg under the auspices of the Disney studio. Assiniboine Park, where the bronze monument to Coleburn and Winnie the Pooh stands, has hosted the Teddy Bear Picnic for many years. And now in the “Dense Forest”, into which the park is temporarily transformed, there is also a Pooh holiday: a treasure hunt, a Heffalump hunt, the distribution of balloons of Eeyore’s favorite color and size and all kinds of competitions.
Forbes magazine published a list of the richest fictional characters. All together, according to the publication's calculations, they earned more than $25 billion in 2003 alone. Mickey Mouse was in first place on the Forbes list - his income amounted to $5.8 billion. Second place went to the heroes of the fairy tale by English writer Alan Alexander Milne "Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All." Winnie the bear, Piglet and Eeyore have $5.6 billion in assets.
On May 15, 2005, a star named Winnie the Pooh was registered in the constellation Taurus, its identification number is BS055-303.
Winnie the Pooh is so popular in Poland that in Warsaw and Poznan streets are named after him (Polish: Ulica Kubusia Puchatka).
Winnie the Pooh's official date of birth is August 21, 1921, which is the day Christopher Robin Milne turned one. On this day, Milne gave his son a teddy bear (which, however, received the name Pooh only four years later).
Many people watched a cartoon or read a fairy tale in a teddy bear. But not everyone knows who was the first to write a story known to children and adults.
The man who created the story wanted to go down in history as a serious writer. He created a series of poems and stories, but every person associates his name with a cute plush bear whose head is stuffed with sawdust.
The history of the fairy tale
He gave the world the story of the adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The English writer composed the fairy tale for his own son, who also became one of the main characters - Christopher Robin.
Almost all the characters in the story had prototypes in the real world. The boy's plush toys had names similar to those of the bear and his friends.
The main character of the story is named after a female bear who lived on the grounds of a zoo in London in 1924. Three years before the father and son visited the zoo, the baby received a stuffed animal as a birthday present. Before the epoch-making meeting, Christopher Robin could not find him suitable name.
The plush bear was called, as is customary in England, simply Teddy. Having met the London bear, Christopher Robin decided to name his toy friend Winnie.
A loving dad regularly delighted his son with new toys. This is how Winnie the Pooh made friends. The piglet, who was named Piglet, was brought to the boy by neighbors. Only the Rabbit and the Owl have no real prototypes. Milne invented them to develop the course of events in history.
The beginning of the book - the writing of the first chapter - occurred in 1925 around Christmas. This is where it started happy life teddy bear Winnie and his loyal friends. It continues to this day.
The English writer created two collections of poems and 2 prose books about the bear. Milne dedicated the latter to his own wife.
When discussing who wrote Winnie the Pooh, one cannot ignore one more person who plays an important role. This is an artist who worked in the editorial office of Punch magazine. Ernest Shepard acted as co-writer. The cartoonist created the images of the toy characters of the story as modern children and adults see them.
The book about the adventures of a bear cub and his friends is very popular because the story is reminiscent of the stories that a child hears from his mother and father when he goes to bed.
In the Milne family, their son was surrounded with care and love; he grew up in a special atmosphere. Every page of the book is imbued with it.
Illustration for the first edition of "Winnie the Pooh" One of the main reasons for the popularity of the story about the bear is the style of presentation. The book is replete with puns, funny phraseological units and parodies. The story appeals to adults and children all over the world.
The book about Winnie the Pooh is unique. The best writers from different parts of the world translated it so that their fellow citizens could get acquainted with the teddy bear and plunge into the wonderful world.
For the first time, a story about a bear cub and his friends translated into Russian appeared in Lithuania. An event occurred in 1958. Two years later I translated the story. It was his translation that gained enormous popularity.
One day in the library the writer was looking through an English encyclopedia. In the book I saw an image of a plush hero from Milne's fairy tale. The story about the adventures of Winnie the bear and his friends interested the Soviet writer, so much so that he decided to retell the fairy tale created by an Englishman.
Zakhoder constantly said that he did not strive to make the translation literal. Rather, the story is a free retelling, a reimagining of the original version. It was Zakhoder who added various nozzles, noisemakers, puffs, howls and chants, thanks to which Soviet audiences fell in love with the famous Pooh.
How is the original Winnie the Pooh different from the Soviet one? Boris Zakhoder approached the translation of history differently. The main differences between the two stories are as follows:
- According to Milne, the plush bear had “little brains,” and the Soviet Winnie the Pooh cheerfully sang a song about how his head contained sawdust;
- The name of the main character is slightly changed by Zakhoder. In the original version, the character was called Winnie-the-Pooh. When literally translated from English, it means Winnie-Foo. The hero's silent name did not catch on in the translated version; Boris Zakhoder called the bear Winnie the Pooh. The name is similar to the transliteration. Christopher Robin called the swans to him by saying "pooh." Therefore, this name fits perfectly into history;
- The names of other cartoon characters also sounded different in the original version. Piglet in the English version is Piglet, Milne's donkey Eeyore was called Eeyore. Other characters in the story retained the names given by the author.
- Fundamental differences are observed between the Soviet cartoon and the English book. According to the creator, Winnie the Pooh is Christopher Robin's toy. And in the television version, the bear cub is an independent character.
- In the Soviet cartoon, Pooh does not wear clothes, but in the original version he wears a blouse.
- The number of heroes also varies. Milne's story features Tigger, Kanga and her baby Roo. These characters are absent from Soviet cartoons.
There are many differences between Zakhoder's and Milne's versions. But despite this, children and adults equally love cartoons created by Disney and Khitruk.
The number 18 is symbolic for the teddy bear. His birthday is celebrated annually on January 18th. The date is not accidental - it coincides with the name day of the English writer who came up with this story for his son. The original version of the story has exactly 18 chapters.
More Interesting Facts about Winnie the Pooh:
- The work created by Milne went down in the history of English literature. In 2017, the book telling about the adventures of Winnie the Pooh and his friends became the best-selling book in the world. It has been translated into dozens of languages and printed in each of them.
- In the Disney cartoon, you can see a sign above the door of Winnie the Pooh's house that says "Mr. Sanders." In fact, this is not the surname of the main character of Milne's story. According to the story, the bear cub is too lazy to change the sign left by the previous owner of the house.
- The author did not immediately add the gopher to the story. This is the first time this hero has been mentioned since 1977. The character does not exist in the original version of the book. The creators of the Disney cartoon added a gopher. He became one of the heroes of the animated series called “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.”
The gopher is absent from the book, but is present in the cartoon "Winnie the Pooh" - The places mentioned in the book can be visited in real life. The famous Dense Forest has a real prototype - a forest located not far from country house English writer.
- By going to the public library located in New York, you can see with your own eyes the real toys of Alan Alexander Milne's son. The collection contains all the characters from the story, except for little Ru. In 1930, Christopher Robin lost his toy.
- The Soviet version of the cartoon reveals the meaning of the original version of the story as much as possible. Disney's film adaptation of the English book greatly changed the story of Winnie the Pooh. The teddy bear brand is also popular like Mickey Mouse or Pluto.
- Every year the Trivia Championship takes place in Oxfordshire. This game is taken from original version stories. The hero of the book threw sticks into the water and watched which one would get to a certain point faster. The entertainment caught on.
Winnie the Pooh is an interesting and unique character. When creating stories for his own son, Milne did not imagine that his tales would be retold not only by many writers, but also by ordinary parents.
Winnie the Pooh is the main character of two prose books by the English writer Alan Alexander Milne. The stories about the “bear with sawdust in his head,” written for his only son Christopher, became a worldwide success. Ironically, it was the wonderful little bear cub, beloved by the whole world, that overshadowed almost the entire work of the already famous English playwright at that time...
Alan Alexander Milne was quite a “grown-up” writer and wrote serious books. He dreamed of earning fame as a great detective writer, writing plays and short stories. But...On December 24, 1925, on Christmas Eve, the first chapter of Pooh, “in which we first meet Winnie the Pooh and the bees,” was published in the London evening newspaper and broadcast on BBC radio.
Both prose books about Winnie the Pooh are dedicated to "Her" - Milne's wife and Christopher Robin's mother, Dorothy de Selincourt; these dedications are written in verse.
Winnie the Pooh: Journey to Russia
The wonderful teddy bear Winnie the Pooh very soon after his birth became very popular and began to travel throughout all countries of the world. Books about his adventures were published in many languages of the world, including Russian.
The first translation of works about Winnie the Pooh into Russian was published in 1958 in Lithuania. However, the best and most famous translation is the one performed by the writer Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder.
In the same 1958, the writer was looking through the English children's encyclopedia in the library and quite by chance came across an image of a cute bear cub.
The writer liked this bear cub, named Winnie-the-Pooh, so much that he rushed to look for a book about him and began work on translating it into Russian. The first edition of the book in Russian was signed for publication on July 13, 1960. 215,000 copies were printed.
Illustration for a book about Winnie the Pooh, E.H. Shepard. Russian Winnie the Pooh
At first the book was called “Winnie-the-Pooh and the rest”, but then it was called “Winnie-the-Pooh and Everyone-all-all”. The book immediately became very popular and was published again in 1965. And in 1967, Winnie the Pooh was published in Russian by the American publishing house Dutton, which published most of the books about Pooh.
Boris Zakhoder always emphasized that his book is not a literal translation of Alan Milne’s book, but is a retelling, a “comprehension” of the book in Russian. The text of Russian Winnie the Pooh does not always literally follow the original.
The tenth chapter from Milne's first book and the third chapter from the second are omitted. And only in 1990, when Winnie the Pooh turned 30 years old in Russian, did Zakhoder translate the missing chapters. However, the Russian Winnie the Pooh has already managed to enter children's literature in an “abbreviated” form.
Film adaptation of Winnie the Pooh
Since the 1960s, this book has become extremely popular not only among children, but also among their parents, as a wonderful book for family reading. Therefore, the adventures of friends were filmed.
Director Fyodor Khitruk at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio created three animated films about Winnie the Pooh:
- In 1969 - Winnie the Pooh
- In 1971 - Winnie the Pooh comes to visit
- In 1972 - Winnie the Pooh and Worry Day
The script for these cartoons was written by Khitruk in collaboration with Zakhoder. Unfortunately, their relationship was difficult, and only three episodes were released, although it was originally planned to release an animated series based on the entire book.
Some episodes, songs and phrases are missing from the book (for example, the famous song “Where are we going with Piglet”), as they were composed and written specifically for cartoons.
First-rate actors were involved in voicing the cartoons: Evgeny Leonov (Winnie the Pooh), Iya Savvina (Piglet), Erast Garin (Eeyore). The series of cartoons made the adventures of friends even more popular.
Differences between the original Vinny and the Russian version:
Names
The meaning of the names of the characters in the original and in our translation is interesting. So, Winnie-the-Pooh turned into Winnie the Pooh, and Piglet - into Piglet.
♦ The original name of the main character - Winnie-the-Pooh - should be literally translated as Winnie-Foo, but this option can hardly be considered euphonious. Russian word“fluff” is similar in spelling to the English pooh - that is, the usual transliteration, in addition, it was with this pooh that Christopher Robin called the swans to him, and fluff is associated with them. By the way, everyone remembers that Winnie the Pooh has sawdust in his head, although in the original Winnie is a bear with a very small brain.
♦ The English word piglet, which became its own in Milne's book, means “little pig.” It is this meaning that should be considered the closest in meaning, but for a Soviet child, and now for a Russian one, this character is known in literary translation as Piglet.
♦ The donkey Eeyore in Russian translation became Eeyore. By the way, this is a literal translation - Eeyore sounds like “io”, and this is the sound that donkeys make.
♦ Owl - Owl - remained an owl, like Rabbit - Rabbit and, in fact, Tigger - Tigger.
Owl
Despite the fact that the name of this character has practically remained the same - Owl is indeed translated into Russian as an owl, the hero himself has undergone significant changes in the Russian version. Milne came up with the character male, that is, in Russia it would be worth calling him either Owl (which, of course, is far from the original), Owl, or even Owl. In our case - primarily thanks to Boris Zakhoder's translation - this is a female character. By the way, Milne's Owl is far from the smartest character in the book - he likes to use clever words, but is not very literate, while Zakhoder's Owl - and the Soviet cartoon directed by Khitruk - is a smart elderly lady who resembles a school teacher.
"To outsiders V."
The famous sign with the inscription “To Outsiders V.”, which hangs next to the entrance to Piglet’s house, is also worthy of our attention.
In the Russian version with the inscription there are no questions - it means “no entry to outsiders,” however, Piglet himself explained it this way: To outsiders V. is the name of his grandfather - Outsiders Willy or William Outsiders, and the sign is valuable for his family.
In the original the situation is much more interesting. The English phrase Trespassers W. is a shortened version of Trespassers Will be prosecuted, which literally translated into Russian means “Those who invaded this territory will be prosecuted” (which is completely replaced by the traditional one - “No unauthorized entry”).
According to some reports, Milne could have deliberately included this phrase in his text so that children, having read up to this episode, would ask their parents to tell them about this expression and, first of all, the words trespasser and trespass.
Heffalump
The terrible and terrible Heffalump is a fictional character in stories about Winnie the Pooh. On English language the word heffalump is used, which is similar in sound and spelling to another English word- actually used in the language - elephant, which means “elephant”. By the way, this is how the heffalump is usually depicted. In the Russian translation, the chapter dedicated to this character - ...in which a search is organdized, and Piglet meets the Heffalump again (the chapter in which the search is organized, and Piglet meets the Heffalump again) did not appear immediately - Zakhoder translated it only in 1990.
Cartoon
The original version and the Soviet cartoon by Khitruk are very different.
♦ Firstly, Christopher Robin is missing from the cartoon.
♦ Secondly, the Soviet Winnie the Pooh looks more like a real bear, while Milne's Winnie is a toy. It also looks like a children's toy in the Disney cartoon. In addition, our Winnie the Pooh does not wear clothes, and the original one sometimes wears a blouse.
♦ Thirdly, characters such as Tigger, Kanga and Little Roo are missing.
♦ Fourthly, the loss of Eeyore's tail and his miraculous discovery associated with his birthday are found only in the cartoon. In the book, these two events are completely unrelated to each other - two separate stories.
Songs of Winnie the Pooh
The famous songs of Winnie the Pooh - “I am Tuchka, Tuchka, Tuchka, and not a bear at all” - are more colorful in the Russian version. First of all, thanks to their name. What is simply called “song” in English is called “song-puff”, “grumpler”, “noisemaker” in Russian.
The appearance of Kanga in the original version of the work is a real shock for the heroes. The reason for this is the fact that all the heroes who act in the book at that time are masculine, and Kanga is feminine. That is why the intrusion into the boy's world of the girl becomes for the rest big problem. In the Russian version, this effect does not work, since our Owl is also feminine.
♦ Christopher Robin's real-life toys also included Piglet, Eeyore without a Tail, Kanga, Roo and Tigger. Milne invented the Owl and the Rabbit himself.
♦ The toys that Christopher Robin played with are kept in the New York Public Library.
♦ In 1996, Milne's beloved teddy bear was sold at Bonham's London auction to an unknown buyer for £4,600.
♦ The very first person in the world who was lucky enough to see Winnie the Pooh was the then young artist, cartoonist for Punch magazine Ernest Sheppard. It was he who first illustrated Winnie the Pooh.
♦ Initially, the teddy bear and his friends were black and white, and then they became colored. And his son’s teddy bear posed for Ernest Sheppard, not Pooh at all, but “Growler” (or Grumpy).
♦ When Milne died, no one doubted that he had discovered the secret of immortality. And this is not 15 minutes of fame, this is real immortality, which, contrary to his own expectations, was brought to him not by plays and short stories, but by a little bear cub with sawdust in his head.
♦ Worldwide sales of Winnie the Pooh since 1924. to 1956 exceeded 7 million.
♦ By 1996, about 20 million copies had been sold, published only by Muffin. This does not include publishers in the United States, Canada, or non-English-speaking countries.
According to Forbes magazine, Winnie the Pooh is the second most profitable character in the world, second only to Mickey Mouse. Every year, Winnie the Pooh generates $5.6 billion in revenue.
♦ At the same time, Milne’s granddaughter, Claire Milne, living in England, is trying to get her teddy bear back. Or rather, the rights to it. So far unsuccessful.
Do you know who wrote Winnie the Pooh? There is probably no person living in the post-Soviet space who would not be familiar with such a famous character as. More than one generation of children has been watching with bated breath the adventures of a charming, well-fed bear who loves honey and his exotic friends - Piglet the pig, Eeyore and many others. But few people know who wrote Winnie the Pooh.
This famous work, based on which it was filmed, was written by the English author Alan Alexander Milne.
Despite the fact that the work itself was published in 1925, it was first published in print only a year later. The writer was inspired by his son’s toy, which young Christopher named Winnie.
Alan Alexander Milne Who was Mr Milne? The future writer was born in 1882 in the English capital London into a middle-income family. His father ran a small private school, and therefore Alan had absolutely no problems getting an education. Having completed primary educational institution his dad, the guy continued his studies at Westminster High School. After which he was enrolled at Cambridge College. It was there that his writing career began. In college, our hero participated in the publication of a student newspaper and his talent was noticed by a humorous publication, where Milne was offered the position of assistant editor-in-chief. Alan managed to take part in real combat operations. With the outbreak of the First World War, he took up arms and went to the front as a career officer. Despite this, he managed to get married in 1913, and in 1920 the fruit of the marriage was born - the charming baby Christopher. Actually, it was to him that Milne dedicated his immortal work.
However, even before the release of the book about a funny little bear with sawdust in his head, Alan was known as a fairly famous playwright, whose works were in great demand in theater circles. However, the story of Winnie the Pooh exceeded all expectations and immortalized the writer’s name, despite the fact that Milne’s collection included many worthy and noteworthy books from his pen. The work immediately gained popularity among children and their parents, who read it to their children at bedtime. A little later, based on the novel that children loved, with the development of the cinematic industry, a whole cartoon boom began - everyone began to film the adventures of the famous bear and his comrades.
Who wrote the Soviet cartoon Winnie the Pooh? It is also based on Milne's story, although our filmmakers slightly adapted it to the Russian style, adding other characters. Boris Zakhoder retold it and called it “Winnie the Pooh and everyone everything everything,” which served as material for the film adaptation of the Soviet animated series.
1. The story of one of the most famous fairy-tale characters of the 20th century Winnie the Pooh began on August 21, 1921, when the writer Alan Alexander Milne Gave his son Christopher Robin a teddy bear for his birthday. Christopher Robin turned one year old on this day.
In fairness, it must be said that this day is a very conventional birthday of Winnie the Pooh. The teddy bear acquired its name only a few years later, when Christopher Robin grew up. Therefore, Winnie the Pooh also has a second birthday - October 14, 1926, when the first separate book about the teddy bear and his friends was published.
2. The history of the name Winnie the Pooh is described in some detail in Milne's book. However, about the bear Winnipeg, who gave everyone’s favorite bear the first part of his name, special mention should be made. Kept at the London Zoo in the early 1920s, the bear was previously the mascot (living symbol) of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, based in the vicinity of Winnipeg. Winnipeg entered the army as a bear cub when 27-year-old regimental veterinarian Lieutenant Harry Colborne bought her for $20.
First World War Together with her unit, Winnipeg ended up in London, but, of course, no one sent her to the battlefield - the animal was left in the London Zoo. The bear was so loved by English children that Winnipeg was left in London after the war. In 1924, Alan Alexander Milne took his son Christopher Robin to see Winnipeg for the first time. The boy liked the bear so much that on the same day his teddy bear received the name Winnie.
In 1981, 61-year-old Christopher Robin Milne unveiled a monument to his friend Winnipeg Bear at London Zoo.
At the same time, Winnie the Pooh has another name - Edward, which is the full form of the traditional English nickname for all teddy bears - Teddy.
3. Alan Alexander Milne's books grew out of oral stories that the writer told his son. However, most of the characters and locations in the stories about Winnie the Pooh are authentic.
The famous Hundred Acre or Wonderful Wood was actually the 500-acre Ashdown Forest near Cochford Farm, bought in 1925 by the Milne family in East Sussex. In the book about Winnie the Pooh, you can read a completely realistic description of the forest, in which the real Christopher Robin Milne really loved to play.
Piglet was actually a Christopher Robin toy given to him by his neighbors, and Eeyore, like Winnie himself, was a gift from his parents. This toy was deprived of its tail by Christopher Robin himself during the games, which was the reason for Milne Sr. to make the donkey the gloomiest and most dejected hero.
Kanga with Little Roo and Tigger, who appear a little later in the stories about Winnie the Pooh, were bought by Christopher Robin's parents specifically to diversify the stories.
The only ones Christopher Robin didn't have were the Owl and the Rabbit, which is why they appear in the stories as real animals and not toys.
4. In total, Alan Alexander Milne wrote two books about the adventures of Winnie the Pooh - “Winnie the Pooh”, published in 1926, and “The House on Pooh Edge”, published in 1928. The author dedicated both books to his wife and his mother son of Daphne Selincourt.
Each of the books consists of 10 chapters, each of which, in turn, represents a separate complete story. In addition, Winnie the Pooh appears in two books of children's poems by Milne, published in 1924 and 1927.
5. The story of Alan Alexander Milne is similar to that of another English writer -Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle did not consider the story of Sherlock Holmes the most successful in his work, and over time he began to perceive the incredible popularity of the detective with outright hostility.
Before the books about Winnie the Pooh appeared, Alan Alexander Milne collaborated with the English humor magazine Punch, and was considered a fairly famous playwright who wrote serious plays for adults. However, after Winnie the Pooh, Milne began to be perceived exclusively as children's writer, which the author himself considered offensive and unfair. However, Milne Sr. could not do anything about this - today only Winnie the Pooh is known from his creative heritage.
6. In 1929, Alan Alexander Milne sold the commercial rights to exploit the image of Winnie the Pooh producer Stephen Slesinger. The producer released several very popular performance records about Winnie the Pooh. The bear cub appeared on the big screen after Slesinger's widow resold the rights to Winnie the Pooh to the studio in 1961. Disney. Having released several cartoons directly based on the book, later Disney masters began to invent their own stories. It is interesting that Milne’s family and, first of all, Christopher Robin Milne, who believed that the style and plots of the film were not related to the spirit of his father’s book, were extremely negatively disposed towards the work of American animators.
7. The history of “Winnie the Pooh” in the USSR began in 1958, when a 20-year-old Lithuanian writer Virgilijus Cepaitis published his version of the translation, based on the Polish translation Irena Tuvim.
In the same 1958 I met Winnie the Pooh Boris Zakhoder, who was to create the canonical Russian version of the adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It is interesting that the book was treated with suspicion: the main children's publishing house of the USSR, Detgiz, rejected it, and the newly created publishing house Detsky Mir risked publishing Zakhoder's translation.
In the canonical Russian version, unlike the original, there are only 18 chapters. Zakhoder himself did not hide the fact that his translation of Milne was very free. For example, in the original, Winnie the Pooh is not as creative a personality as Zakhoder’s - Shouters, Vopilki, Noisemakers, Pyhtelki were invented by a Soviet writer.
8. The first illustrations for books about Winnie the Pooh, which became classic for the British, were created by artist Ernest Shepard, a former Punch colleague of Alan Alexander Milne and an army colleague during the First World War.
It is curious that Shepard drew Christopher Robin from Milne’s real son, but the prototype of Winnie the Pooh was the teddy bear of the artist’s son.
Shepard, like Milne Sr., was soon disappointed - the insane popularity of the bear cub overshadowed all his other works.
Zakhodera created the first illustrations for the Russian translation artist Alisa Poret, student of the greatest Petrova-Vodkina. Illustrations also became widely known. Eduard Nazarov- the artist who created the Soviet cartoon Winnie the Pooh.
Another famous domestic illustrator Vinny artist Viktor Chizhikov, who is the “dad” of another bear - the mascot of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
9. Work on the Soviet animated film adaptation of Winnie the Pooh began in the late 1960s. The scriptwriter of the cartoons was Boris Zakhoder, and the director was the famous Fedor Khitruk. A total of three cartoons were released, although initially it was planned to make films based on all chapters of the book. The reason for abandoning this idea was the conflicts between Zakhoder and Khitruk - each of these extraordinarily talented people had their own vision of what Winnie the Pooh should be, and they were unable to agree with each other.
Nevertheless, the three filmed cartoons gained incredible popularity. Not least of all, this was due to the actors who were invited to voice the characters. Winnie the Pooh was trusted Evgeniy Leonov, who after this cartoon became for Soviet citizens the “honored Winnie the Pooh of the USSR”, Piglet - the inimitable Ie Savvina, and the donkey Eeyore was voiced by the patriarch of Russian cinema Erast Garin. For Erast Garin, who once brilliantly played the King in Cinderella, Eeyore became one of the last and one of the most memorable works in his career.
It is estimated that at least 20 phrases from the Soviet film adaptation of Winnie the Pooh have entered the colloquial speech of Russians, and the cartoon characters themselves have become heroes of jokes along with Stirlitz And Vasily Ivanovich.
10. The popularity of Winnie the Pooh in the world knows no bounds: in Poland, in at least three cities, streets are named after him, and the image of the teddy bear is depicted on stamps in at least 18 countries. In 1958, the book about Winnie the Pooh was translated into Latin, and in 1982 composer Olga Petrova Based on the plot, Milne wrote an opera about Winnie the Pooh. Authentic Christopher Robin toys are today among the most valuable exhibits in the children's department of the New York Public Library. In the UK itself, many consider the presence of these toys in the USA to be a loss of cultural heritage and from time to time they campaign for the return of Winnie the Pooh to their homeland. In 1998, the issue of the return of Winnie the Pooh was even discussed in the English Parliament.
