Childlit

[Valentina Zaitseva]

Dear Charles,

thank you for your enthusiastic description of The Russian Context, of which I am
one of the 13 contributors. I am also an ardent admirer of the whole idea behind
this work and  am sure that the book will be useful for many purposes, from
academic (heritage speakers,  culture in language curriculum and so on) to
non-academic ones. There are chapters on history, art, geography, science,
government-- all describing links between culture, language  and society...

As for "Childlit" inquiry, I just would like to point out that apart from my
chapters on Russian poetry and prose in quotation,  there is a separate chapter on
children's literature by Robert Rothstein & Halina Weiss (ideal for the US
families with adopted Russian children), with references to foreign literature
that became a part of Russian children's reading list. Also:  Liudmila Pruner's
chapter "Popular entertainment" contains  sections on shows and cartoons for
children; Thomas Garza's chapter on music and dance has sections on songs for
children (from lullaby on); a chapter on Russian drama and theater by Eloise Boyle
includes quotations from Russian plays studied in schools as well as famous lines
from Shakespeare known to every Russian (mostly in Pasternak's translation)...
And, of course, there are Russian proverbs (see Olga Yokoyama's chapter on
proverbs, sayings and their use). Russian children get familiar with them not only
from the speech of adults, but also from  numerous editions of proverbs designed
for preschoolers.

Best regards,
Valentina


Charles Mills wrote:

> Dear Lauren (and list),
>
> With regard to children's literature:
>
> Eloise Boyle and Genevra Gerhart (eds.)'s brand new The Russian Context
> (Slavica Press, 2001) a chapter by Valentina Zaitseva on just this sort of
> thing: the kind of literature every Russian can be assumed to know from
> childhood on up, including foreign authors.  I imagine this is only the first
> of many e-mails to make reference to this book as the answer to all our ills in
> the future, and highly recommend it to everyone.  It does for "high" culture
> what The Russian's World did for "low", and comes with a CD (readings, music,
> songs, paintings, photographs, sound bites, etc.) to boot.  Get yours while
> they're still piping hot!  (This is not a paid endorsement, although I wish it
> were--hint hint.)
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Charles Mills
> Knox College
>
> Lauren Leighton wrote:
>
> > I would appreciate any and all recommendations of appropriate readings in
> > English translation of Russian children's literature (skazki, byliny, Krylov
> > Chukovsky, Marshak. . . .) The recommendations are for American families who
> > do not know Russian, have adopted Russian children, and wish to do what they
> > can to encourage and, as far as possible, develop their children's knowledge
> > of and connection with their native culture. I would also appreciate any
> > advice you might give me that I may pass on to these parents. Surely there
> > must be something for them comparable to Lynn Visson's Wedded Strangers for
> > Russian-American marrieds. Thank you.
> >
> > Lauren G. Leighton
>
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