Alexander Melentjewitsch Volkov

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Alexander Volkov Melentjewitsch ( Russian Александр Мелентьевич Волков ., Scientific transliteration Aleksandr Volkov Melent'evič ; born June 2, jul. / 14. June  1891 greg. In Ust-Kamenogorsk , Russian Empire ; † 3. July 1977 in Moscow , Soviet Union ) was a Russian writer . He achieved great popularity with his children's book " The Magician of the Emerald City " and the following volumes of the Zauberland series (also known as the Wunderland series ).

biography

Born in the east of what is now Kazakhstan , Volkov was already intensely involved in literature as a teenager. His father, a retired sergeant , had already taught four-year-old Alexander to read. Due to his good reading skills, he started school two years later in the 2nd grade. He finished elementary school at the age of twelve as the best student of his year and then passed his exams at high school. From 1907 to 1910 he studied mathematics at the State Pedagogical Institute in Tomsk . He then worked as a teacher, first in Kolywan in the Altai and then in Ust-Kamenogorsk at his former school. In the 1920s he first moved to Yaroslavl , where he was the school director and in 1929 he became deputy head of the workers' faculty in Moscow . After a seven-month course in mathematics at the University of Moscow , he worked from 1933 to 1953 as a lecturer and later as a lecturer at the Department of Higher Mathematics at the State Institute for Non-ferrous Metals and Gold .

From 1917 he published his first literary works. In the 1930s he began to learn the English language and also translated his first works into Russian. He also wanted to translate the story " The Wizard of Oz " by the writer Lyman Frank Baum . The translation should have a lasting impact on his writing. While translating, Volkov gradually added various elements. Finally, he made complete changes to personal names and incidents, creating a book of its own: The Magician of the Emerald City . The work was first published in the Soviet Union in 1939 . In 1959 the book was reissued in a revised version and provided with drawings by Leonid Wladimirski . In the years that followed, the children's book was successfully reissued again and again in the countries of the Eastern Bloc and, above all, in German for the GDR . After the great success of the first volume, Volkov wrote five more books from 1963 onwards, which tell the story of the magical land.

Works

Magic Land series

"The Wizard of the Emerald City", the first book of the Emerald City books , is still very much based on Baum's book "The Wizard of Oz". The following books always deal with conflicts between or with the peoples of the magical land and propagate egalitarian - humanistic moral concepts.

The last part even takes up science fiction elements in a playful way with the arrival of aliens . The loving illustrations by graphic artist Leonid Wladimirski also contributed to the popularity of the books .

Since 1993 the series has been continued by other authors, including Klaus Möckel and Aljonna Möckel (under the pseudonym Nikolai Bachnow ).

The six original books by Wolkow were recorded by Katharina Thalbach between 2006 and 2011 and published as audio books.

Other works

  • Two Brothers (1950)
  • The Builders (1954)
  • Journey into the Third Millennium (1963)
  • numerous translations (e.g. works by Jules Verne )

Radio

  • Thomas Gaevert : "Paths to Oz", radio feature about Lyman Frank Baum, Alexander Wolkow and Leonid Wladimirsky, production: Südwestrundfunk (55 min.), First broadcast: June 21, 2009 on SWR 2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Volkov, Alexander Melentjewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Волков, Александр Мелентьевич; Volkov, Aleksandr Melent'evič
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian writer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Ust-Kamenogorsk
DATE OF DEATH 3rd July 1977
Place of death Moscow