Christmas stories are a special genre that each writer understands in his own way. Some believe that good magic must happen at the end, others - that the story should remind of those who do not have so much fun at Christmas. "Mel" has collected six different stories - joyful, sad, instructive - that can be read and discussed with children on pre-Christmas evenings.
For those preparing for the main school exam
1. Gianni Rodari« Journey of the Blue Arrow"
“If you behave badly, your toys will go to another boy,” perhaps this threat in childhood forced someone to go to bed on time and clean their room. But if toys could actually choose their owners, it’s unlikely that obedience would be the main criterion.
Yellow Bear, the great leader Silver Feather, the rag dog Button and the three Stooges have been wondering for a whole year who they will end up under the Christmas tree, watching the children passing by the toy store window. In the original Italian tale children's writer Gianni Rodari they are waiting for Christmas, and in Russian translation - New Year.
The shop is run by a Fairy - however, not an airy creature with wings, as one might think, but a “well-bred old lady.” Good-natured, but stingy. This means that little Francesco Monti is definitely not entitled to any gift for his birthday. New Year, because his name is written in the debt book. Over the past two years, Francesco's mother has already owed the Fairy for a toy top and a horse.
But the toys did not see the debt book, they only saw sad eyes a boy who came every day to the window to look at the wonderful electric train with two barriers and a station, called the Blue Arrow Fairy. Having learned that the Fairy is going to leave him without a gift, the toys themselves decide to create a real miracle for him and give him themselves.
" - But this is a riot! - exclaimed the General. - There is no way I can afford such a thing. I suggest you obey my orders!
And go where the Fairy takes us? Then Francesco will not receive anything this year either, because his name is written in the debt book...
A thousand whales!..”
2. Fyodor Dostoevsky “The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree”
The story about the “Christ’s Christmas tree” may be fictional, but the boy in it is very real - a little beggar of about seven years old, whom the writer met several times on the same corner. This is a story about him and about other boys and girls who really want to spin around the Christmas tree, laugh and unwrap packages with gifts. But they only look at other boys and girls in elegant dresses, with their noses pressed against the glass, and stand at the shop windows until their hands without mittens ache from the cold. And at home, only beatings and abuse await them. And one day they also end up on the Christmas tree, where everything is fine, and everything sparkles and shines, and their mothers look at them and laugh joyfully.
“Let’s go to my Christmas tree, boy,” a quiet voice suddenly whispered above him.
...Christ always has a Christmas tree on this day for little children who don’t have their own Christmas tree... - And he found out that these boys and girls were all just like him, children, but some were still frozen in their baskets, in which they were thrown onto the stairs to the doors of St. Petersburg officials, others suffocated at the chukhonkas, from the orphanage while being fed, others died at the withered breasts of their mothers, during the Samara famine, others suffocated in third-class carriages from the stench, and yet they are all here now.” .
3. Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"
The famous miser Scrooge, whose name has become a household name for greedy businessmen, first appeared in Dickens's Christmas story. And he appeared for a reason. In the 40s of the twentieth century, there were very difficult working conditions in English factories, including for children, and the writer was asked to advocate for a law limiting the working day. This is how a series of Christmas stories appeared, the first of which was the story about the old miser Scrooge.
For Scrooge, Christmas is an empty vanity, because this day does not bring any benefits, only expenses. On Christmas Eve, he reluctantly lets his employee leave the office to go to his family, and he goes home alone. At home he is visited by the spirit of his late companion, who during his lifetime was as callous as Scrooge. The spirit warns Scrooge that terrible torment awaits him after death if he does not stop being indifferent to the misfortunes of others. Over the next three nights, Scrooge travels with the spirits through the past, present and future and discovers a world that he did not see behind bonds and securities.
What would you like? - the Spirit asked him.
“Nothing,” answered Scrooge. - Nothing. Last night a little boy sang a Christmas song at my door. I would like to give him something, that’s all.”
4. Pavel Zasodimsky “Blizzard and Blizzard”
The girl Masha lives with a stepfamily in Sobachy Lane, and at Christmas the same story happens to her that changed the life of Cosette from Hugo’s novel. The hostess sends her out into the cold to buy candles, and, stumbling, the girl loses a coin. Now you can’t even buy a candle, and you’re scared to return home—they’ll beat you up. The frozen Cosette is found by the escaped convict Jean Valjean, and Masha, who is groping in the snow with her hands, is found by a simple worker Ivan. A worker misses his younger brother, who died three years ago. He takes the girl to him, calls her sister, and decorates her first Christmas tree in her life.
“On this tree there were a dozen multi-colored wax candles Yes, there were walnuts, gingerbread cookies and candies hanging; There were, however, between them two or three candies with painted pictures. This modest Christmas tree seemed delightful to Masha. She had never experienced such joy at Christmas before in her life, at least she doesn’t remember. Masha forgot the landlady, and the landlady’s cruel brother, and the snowstorm and blizzard raging outside the window, forgot her grief and tears and ran around the tree, clapping her hands and tilting first one or the other green twig towards herself.”
5. Hans Christian Andersen “The Christmas Tree”
What will Christmas be like if you look at it through the eyes of a Christmas tree? After all, before she was chosen, brought home and decorated with tinsel, she had her own forest life. She grew up, reaching for the sun and wondering where trees go after people cut them down with an axe.
The Christmas tree in Andersen's story is a vain person. She does not rejoice in her youth and freshness, but only waits until she finally grows so big and beautiful that people will notice her. From the stories of the sparrows, she knows that she will stand in a warm room and shine with the light of a thousand candles. Finally, the tree is cut down, but its happiness is short-lived. From the warm and bright living room it is soon put into a closet, and then completely thrown out. But the tree always thinks that something special is waiting for it.
“Now I’ll live,” the tree rejoiced, straightening its branches. But the branches were all dried out and yellowed, and she lay in the corner of the yard among the nettles and weeds. But on top of it there was still a star made of gilded paper and sparkling in the sun.”
6. Alexander Kuprin “Poor Prince”
In fact, Danya is not a prince, but a very ordinary boy. And he is not poor at all - in any case, he grows up in a prosperous family, and at Christmas a decorated tree and a cheerful holiday with other dressed-up children await him. But this holiday is organized by adults who understand nothing at all about fun - they will probably force you to dance in circles and clap your hands in an organized manner.
“And, to be honest, what’s fun about this Christmas tree? Well, familiar boys and girls will come and pretend for the sake of big, smart and well-mannered children... Behind each of them there is a governess or some old aunt... They will force them to speak English all the time... They will start some boring game in which you definitely need to name names of animals, plants or cities, and adults will intervene and correct the little ones.”
Dana is bored walking around the Christmas tree, because he is already very big and dreams of becoming an aviator or polar explorer. Most of all, Dana wants to join the street boys from the neighboring house - the children of shoemakers, janitors and laundresses. He heard from his nanny that at Christmas time they all go caroling together with a homemade multi-colored star and a nativity scene with a candle inside. Dana is forbidden to communicate with “bad children,” and looking at them from the window he seems to be himself enchanted prince, who is forced to live in a boring, albeit rich kingdom.
“An insanely bold thought flashes through Dani’s head - so bold that he even bites his lower lip for a minute, makes big, frightened eyes and shrinks. But isn’t he really an aviator and a polar explorer? After all, sooner or later you will have to frankly tell your father: “Dad, please don’t worry, but today I’m going across the ocean in my airplane.” Compared to such terrible words, dressing quietly and running out into the street is a mere trifle.”
Christmas stories of Russian writers / comp. T. V. Strygina. - M.: Nikeya, 2017. - 432 p. - (Christmas gift).
Yuletide stories in Russian literature are an almost forgotten phenomenon. The years of Soviet power tried to erase the feeling of miracle and Christmas from the consciousness of Russian people. But the memory remains, and modern writers they still returned to it in their works. And this collection is a clear confirmation of this.
What are the Christmas stories about? Christmas stories traditionally contain a miracle, and the heroes overcome trials with the strength of spirit and love, and do good, despite the obstacles of the outside world. This book contains stories of classic writers such as A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, N. Gogol, N. Leskov, A. Kuprin, I. Shmelev and stories of modern prose writers such as N. Klyuchareva, O. Nikolaeva, V. Kaplan , B. Ekimov, N. Agafonov, K. Parkhomenko and others.
About genre features of a Yuletide story (and they were created strictly according to certain literary canons), the Russian writer Nikolai Leskov accurately said: “A Yule story is absolutely required that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Yuletide evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, so that it is somewhat fantastic, has some kind of -some moral..., and finally, -so that it certainly ends cheerfully.”
And this is confirmed by the intriguing story of Nikolai Leskov about the family treasure “Pearl Necklace” or the fatal love affair of the protagonist in the story by Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky “Terrible Fortune-telling”, or the dangerous journey of the blacksmith Vakula to get slippers for his beloved Oksana from Nikolai Gogol’s story “The Night Before Christmas” ", Alexander Kuprin’s phantasmagorical story “Millionaire” about the thirst for wealth of a “little man” and the illusory nature of achieving this golden dream. Memoirs of Ivan Shmelev, written in distant emigration, in the stories “Christmas and Christmastide” about the anticipation of Christmas in distant childhood, about home preparations for the holiday and about those poor and unfortunate people who were welcomed by the hospitable family of the writer these days. Nikolai Pozdnyakov’s Christmas stories “On the Balance” and “Revolver” show the facets human personality, fatal actions, for which one is later ashamed.
The story of Archpriest Nikolai Agafonov “The Werewolf” tells about the celebration of Christmas by monks in a poor revived monastery, about prejudices and about the real Christmas miracle of mercy and love. The story "Readers" illuminates the complex life story former singer and cathedral reader Sergei Avdeev, whose once stunning voice led one of the seminarians to deep faith. In Boris Ekimov’s Christmas story “For warm bread“shows the lonely old age of two elderly people and hopeless poverty, lack of necessities. And, despite the fact that grandfather Arkhip’s trip to the city to buy coal turns into disappointment and resentment, the taste of fresh bread revives him and returns his desire to live. Vasily Kaplan’s poignant story “Learning with a Star” plunges us into the era of the criminal 90s, the difficult path to faith of one of the heroes and the acquisition of simple human happiness through suffering. Did physics teacher Mikhail Nikolaevich think, returning from the night Christmas service, that life would soon present him with a terrible surprise, but God’s providence would be stronger than the fierce laws of life.
In the Yuletide excerpt from the story “Nothing Wrong” by Olesya Nikolaeva, the story of rejection, hatred and love of two pure and beautiful at heart young people - Anastasia and Alexey. Disagreements on the subtleties of faith, prejudices and doubts prevented two lovers from finding their happiness for a very long time. And they would never have been reunited if not for one criminal circumstance. And in Maxim Yakovlev’s Christmas story “Kalyamka” the main character, little boy from orphanage, taken into a foster family, really wants to find out whether Santa Claus is real sitting under the thuja in the garden and what he has in his bag. The discovery shocked little Kalyamka so much that the already elderly Nikolai Petrovich cannot forget this episode from his distant childhood. In the story “A Random Gift,” the main character is at a crossroads: to help a boy begging for alms or to pass by indifferently. And if he helps, then what will happen...?
The stunning short story by our countrywoman Natalya Klyuchareva, “Yurka’s Christmas,” shows the tragedy of a drinking family and the forgotten schoolboy Yurka. The lesson life taught him made his heart cold and cruel. And only a Christmas tree can melt this deep ice... And the Christmas story of Archpriest Konstantin Parkhomenko “The Christmas Miracle at the Arctic Circle” tells about amazing journey to Yakutia, St. Petersburg student Susie and her desire to help a boy dying of leukemia. What trials awaited the inexperienced traveler Susie, and what miracle shocked her - the author of this mystical short story talks about this very vividly and fascinatingly. Larisa Podistova's story “Christmas, Mom” is dedicated to the relationship between mother and son, and his main meaning is that good must be done on time, and parents must be loved while they are alive. In the story of priest Alexander Shantaev “On a Holiday” and “Katin’s Dream”, Christmas appears as a miracle of life transformation, giving a warm light of hope. In the stories of Sergei Durylin “In the Native Corner” and “The Fourth Magus” - children's touching memories of the Christmas holiday and the wonderful discoveries associated with it, about the world human soul, about unearthly joy and hope that it will always be like this.
The collection of Christmas stories by Russian writers is very bright, emotional and kind. The topics raised in it are eternal and will never lose relevance. And the bright holiday of Christmas will become closer and more desirable after reading this book.
“There are holidays that have their own smell. At Easter, Trinity and Christmas there is something special in the air. Even non-believers love these holidays. My brother, for example, interprets that there is no God, but on Easter he is the first to run to matins” (A.P. Chekhov, story “On the Way”).
Orthodox Christmas is just around the corner! The celebration of this bright day (and even several - Christmastide) is associated with many interesting traditions. In Rus', it was customary to devote this period to serving one’s neighbor and deeds of mercy. Everyone knows the tradition of caroling - singing songs in honor of the born Christ. Winter holidays inspired many writers to create magical Christmas works.
There is even a special genre of Christmas story. The plots in it are very close to each other: often the heroes of Christmas works find themselves in a state of spiritual or material crisis, the resolution of which requires a miracle. Christmas stories are imbued with light and hope, and only a few of them have a sad ending. Especially often christmas stories dedicated to the triumph of mercy, compassion and love.
Especially for you, dear readers, we have prepared a selection of the best Christmas stories, both Russian and foreign writers. Read and enjoy, let festive mood will last longer!
"The Gift of the Magi", O. Henry
A well-known story about sacrificial love, which will give everything for the happiness of its neighbor. A story about tremulous feelings that cannot but surprise and delight. In the finale, the author ironically remarks: “And here I told you an unremarkable story about two stupid children from an eight-dollar apartment who, in the most unwise way, sacrificed their greatest treasures for each other.” But the author does not make excuses, he only confirms that the gifts of his heroes were more important than the gifts of the Magi: “But let it be said for the edification of the sages of our days that of all the givers these two were the wisest. Of all those who offer and receive gifts, only those like them are truly wise. Everywhere and everywhere. They are the Magi." As Joseph Brodsky said, “at Christmas everyone is a little wise man.”
“Nikolka”, Evgeniy Poselyanin
The plot of this Christmas story is very simple. At Christmas, the stepmother acted very meanly to her stepson; he should have died. At the Christmas service, a woman experiences belated repentance. But on a bright holiday night a miracle happens...
By the way, Evgeny Poselyanin has wonderful memories of his childhood experience of Christmas - “Yule Days”. You read and are immersed in the pre-revolutionary atmosphere of noble estates, childhood and joy.
"A Christmas Carol", Charles Dickens
Dickens's work is the story of a person's true spiritual rebirth. Main character, Scrooge, was a miser, became a merciful benefactor, and turned from a lone wolf into a sociable and friendly person. And this change was helped by the spirits who flew to him and showed him his possible future. Observing different situations from his past and future, the hero felt remorse for his wrong life.
“The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree”, F. M. Dostoevsky
A touching story with a sad (and joyful at the same time) ending. I doubt whether it is worth reading to children, especially sensitive ones. But for adults, perhaps it’s worth it. For what? I would answer with the words of Chekhov: “It is necessary that behind the door of everyone there is a happy happy person someone would stand with a hammer and constantly remind him by knocking that there are unfortunate people, that, no matter how happy he is, life will sooner or later show him its claws, trouble will happen - illness, poverty, losses, and no one will see him or will hear how now he does not see or hear others.”
Dostoevsky included it in the “Diary of a Writer” and he himself was surprised how this story came out of his pen. And the author’s writer’s intuition tells him that this could very well happen in reality. Like tragic story The main sad storyteller of all times, H. H. Andersen, also has it - “The Little Match Girl”.
"Gifts of the Christ Child" by George MacDonald
The story of a young family going through difficult times in their relationships, difficulties with a nanny, and alienation from their daughter. The last one is the sensitive, lonely girl Sophie (or Fosi). It was through her that joy and light returned to the house. The story emphasizes: the main gifts of Christ are not gifts under the tree, but love, peace and mutual understanding.
“Christmas Letter”, Ivan Ilyin
I would call this short work, composed of two letters from a mother and son, a real hymn of love. It is she, unconditional love, that runs like a red thread through the entire work and is its main theme. It is this state that resists loneliness and defeats it.
“Whoever loves, his heart blooms and smells fragrant; and he gives his love just like a flower gives its scent. But then he is not alone, because his heart is with the one he loves: he thinks about him, cares about him, rejoices in his joy and suffers from his suffering. He doesn't have time to feel lonely or think about whether he is lonely or not. In love a person forgets himself; he lives with others, he lives in others. And this is happiness.”
Christmas is a holiday of overcoming loneliness and alienation, it is the day of the manifestation of Love...
"God in the Cave", Gilbert Chesterton
We are accustomed to perceive Chesterton primarily as the author of detective stories about Father Brown. But he wrote in different genres: he penned several hundred poems, 200 short stories, 4000 essays, a number of plays, the novels “The Man Who Was Thursday”, “The Ball and the Cross”, “The Migratory Tavern” and much more. Chesterton was also an excellent publicist and deep thinker. In particular, his essay “God in the Cave” is an attempt to comprehend the events of two thousand years ago. I recommend it to people with a philosophical mindset.
“Silver Blizzard”, Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin
Nikiforov-Volgin in his work surprisingly subtly shows the world of children's faith. His stories are permeated with a festive atmosphere. So, in the story “Silver Blizzard”, with trepidation and love, he shows the boy with his zeal for piety, on the one hand, and with mischief and pranks, on the other. Consider one apt phrase from the story: “These days I don’t want anything earthly, especially school!”
"Holy Night", Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Lagerlöf's story continues the theme of childhood.
Grandmother tells her granddaughter interesting legend about Christmas. It is not canonical in the strict sense, but it reflects the spontaneity of the people's faith. This amazing story about mercy and how “a pure heart opens the eyes with which a person can enjoy seeing the beauty of heaven.”
“Christ visiting a man”, “Unchangeable ruble”, “At Christmas they offended”, Nikolai Leskov
These three stories struck me to the core, so it was difficult to choose the best one. I discovered Leskov from some unexpected side. These works by the author have common features. This is both a fascinating story and general ideas mercy, forgiveness and doing good deeds. Examples of heroes from these works surprise, evoke admiration and a desire to imitate.
"Reader! be kind: intervene in our history too, remember what today’s Newborn taught you: to punish or to have mercy? To the one who gave you the "verbs" eternal life"...Think! This is very much worth your thought, and the choice is not difficult for you... Do not be afraid to seem ridiculous and stupid if you act according to the rule of the One who told you: “Forgive the offender and gain yourself a brother in him” (N. S. Leskov, “Under Christmas was offended."
Many novels have chapters dedicated to Christmas, for example, “The Unquenchable Lamp” by B. Shiryaev, “Conduit and Schwambrania” by L. Kassil, “In the First Circle” by A. Solzhenitsyn, “The Summer of the Lord” by I. S. Shmelev.
The Christmas story, for all its apparent naivety, fabulousness and unusualness, has always been loved by adults. Maybe because Christmas stories are primarily about goodness, about faith in miracles and the possibility of human spiritual rebirth?
Christmas is truly a holiday of children's faith in miracles... Many Christmas stories dedicated to describing this pure joy of childhood. I will quote wonderful words from one of them: “The great holiday of Christmas, surrounded by spiritual poetry, is especially understandable and close to a child... The Divine Child was born, and to Him be praise, glory and honor of the world. Everyone rejoiced and rejoiced. And in memory of the Holy Child, on these days of bright memories, all children should have fun and rejoice. This is their day, a holiday of innocent, pure childhood...” (Klavdiya Lukashevich, “Christmas Holiday”).
P.S. When preparing this collection, I read a lot of Christmas stories, but, of course, not all of them in the world. I chose according to my taste those that seemed the most fascinating and artistically expressive. Preference was given to little-known works, which is why, for example, the list does not include N. Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” or Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker.”
What are your favorite Christmas works, dear matrons?
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“There are holidays that have their own smell. At Easter, Trinity and Christmas there is something special in the air. Even non-believers love these holidays. My brother, for example, interprets that there is no God, but on Easter he is the first to run to matins” (A.P. Chekhov, story “On the Way”).
Orthodox Christmas is just around the corner! Many interesting traditions are associated with the celebration of this bright day (and even several Christmastides). In Rus', it was customary to devote this period to serving one’s neighbor and deeds of mercy. Everyone knows the tradition of caroling - singing songs in honor of the born Christ. The winter holidays have inspired many writers to create magical Christmas stories.
There is even a special genre of Christmas story. The plots in it are very close to each other: often the heroes of Christmas works find themselves in a state of spiritual or material crisis, the resolution of which requires a miracle. Christmas stories are imbued with light and hope, and only a few of them have a sad ending. Especially often, Christmas stories are dedicated to the triumph of mercy, compassion and love.
Especially for you, dear readers, we have prepared a selection of the best Christmas stories from both Russian and foreign writers. Read and enjoy, may the festive mood last longer!
"The Gift of the Magi", O. Henry
A well-known story about sacrificial love, which will give everything for the happiness of its neighbor. A story about tremulous feelings that cannot but surprise and delight. In the finale, the author ironically remarks: “And here I told you an unremarkable story about two stupid children from an eight-dollar apartment who, in the most unwise way, sacrificed their greatest treasures for each other.” But the author does not make excuses, he only confirms that the gifts of his heroes were more important than the gifts of the Magi: “But let it be said for the edification of the sages of our days that of all the givers these two were the wisest. Of all those who offer and receive gifts, only those like them are truly wise. Everywhere and everywhere. They are the Magi." As Joseph Brodsky said, “at Christmas everyone is a little wise man.”
“Nikolka”, Evgeniy Poselyanin
The plot of this Christmas story is very simple. At Christmas, the stepmother acted very meanly to her stepson; he should have died. At the Christmas service, a woman experiences belated repentance. But on a bright holiday night a miracle happens...
By the way, Evgeny Poselyanin has wonderful memories of his childhood experience of Christmas - “Yule Days”. You read and are immersed in the pre-revolutionary atmosphere of noble estates, childhood and joy.
"A Christmas Carol", Charles Dickens
Dickens's work is the story of a person's true spiritual rebirth. The main character, Scrooge, was a miser, became a merciful benefactor, and turned from a lone wolf into a sociable and friendly person. And this change was helped by the spirits who flew to him and showed him his possible future. Observing different situations from his past and future, the hero felt remorse for his wrong life.
“The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree”, F. M. Dostoevsky
A touching story with a sad (and joyful at the same time) ending. I doubt whether it is worth reading to children, especially sensitive ones. But for adults, it’s probably worth it. For what? I would answer with the words of Chekhov: “It is necessary that behind the door of every contented, happy person there should be someone with a hammer and constantly remind him by knocking that there are unfortunate people, that, no matter how happy he is, life will sooner or later show him its claws , trouble will strike - illness, poverty, loss, and no one will see or hear him, just as now he does not see or hear others.”
Dostoevsky included it in the “Diary of a Writer” and he himself was surprised how this story came out of his pen. And the author’s writer’s intuition tells him that this could very well happen in reality. The main sad storyteller of all times, H. H. Andersen, has a similar tragic story - “The Little Match Girl”.
"Gifts of the Christ Child" by George MacDonald
The story of a young family going through difficult times in their relationships, difficulties with a nanny, and alienation from their daughter. The last one is the sensitive, lonely girl Sophie (or Fosi). It was through her that joy and light returned to the house. The story emphasizes: the main gifts of Christ are not gifts under the tree, but love, peace and mutual understanding.
“Christmas Letter”, Ivan Ilyin
I would call this short work, composed of two letters from a mother and son, a real hymn of love. It is she, unconditional love, that runs like a red thread through the entire work and is its main theme. It is this state that resists loneliness and defeats it.
“Whoever loves, his heart blooms and smells fragrant; and he gives his love just like a flower gives its scent. But then he is not alone, because his heart is with the one he loves: he thinks about him, cares about him, rejoices in his joy and suffers from his suffering. He doesn't have time to feel lonely or think about whether he is lonely or not. In love a person forgets himself; he lives with others, he lives in others. And this is happiness.”
Christmas is a holiday of overcoming loneliness and alienation, it is the day of the manifestation of Love...
"God in the Cave", Gilbert Chesterton
We are accustomed to perceive Chesterton primarily as the author of detective stories about Father Brown. But he wrote in different genres: he penned several hundred poems, 200 short stories, 4000 essays, a number of plays, the novels “The Man Who Was Thursday”, “The Ball and the Cross”, “The Migratory Tavern” and much more. Chesterton was also an excellent publicist and deep thinker. In particular, his essay “God in the Cave” is an attempt to comprehend the events of two thousand years ago. I recommend it to people with a philosophical mindset.
“Silver Blizzard”, Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin
Nikiforov-Volgin in his work surprisingly subtly shows the world of children's faith. His stories are permeated with a festive atmosphere. So, in the story “Silver Blizzard”, with trepidation and love, he shows the boy with his zeal for piety, on the one hand, and with mischief and pranks, on the other. Consider one apt phrase from the story: “These days I don’t want anything earthly, especially school!”
Holy Night, Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Lagerlöf's story continues the theme of childhood.
Grandmother tells her granddaughter an interesting legend about Christmas. It is not canonical in the strict sense, but it reflects the spontaneity of the people's faith. This is an amazing story about mercy and how “a pure heart opens the eyes with which a person can enjoy seeing the beauty of heaven.”
“Christ visiting a man”, “Unchangeable ruble”, “At Christmas they offended”, Nikolai Leskov
These three stories struck me to the core, so it was difficult to choose the best one. I discovered Leskov from some unexpected side. These works by the author have common features. This is both a fascinating plot and general ideas of mercy, forgiveness and doing good deeds. Examples of heroes from these works surprise, evoke admiration and a desire to imitate.
"Reader! be kind: intervene in our history too, remember what today’s Newborn taught you: to punish or to have mercy? To the One who gave you the “verbs of eternal life”... Think! This is very worth your thought, and the choice is not difficult for you... Do not be afraid to seem funny and stupid if you act according to the rule of the One who said to you: “Forgive the offender and gain yourself a brother in him” (N. S. Leskov, “Under Christmas was offended."
Many novels have chapters dedicated to Christmas, for example, “The Unquenchable Lamp” by B. Shiryaev, “Conduit and Schwambrania” by L. Kassil, “In the First Circle” by A. Solzhenitsyn, “The Summer of the Lord” by I. S. Shmelev.
The Christmas story, for all its apparent naivety, fabulousness and unusualness, has always been loved by adults. Maybe because Christmas stories are primarily about goodness, about faith in miracles and the possibility of human spiritual rebirth?
Christmas is truly a holiday of children's faith in miracles... Many Christmas stories are devoted to describing this pure joy of childhood. I will quote wonderful words from one of them: “The great holiday of Christmas, surrounded by spiritual poetry, is especially understandable and close to a child... The Divine Child was born, and to Him be praise, glory and honor of the world. Everyone rejoiced and rejoiced. And in memory of the Holy Child, on these days of bright memories, all children should have fun and rejoice. This is their day, a holiday of innocent, pure childhood...” (Klavdiya Lukashevich, “Christmas Holiday”).
P.S. When preparing this collection, I read a lot of Christmas stories, but, of course, not all of them in the world. I chose according to my taste those that seemed the most fascinating and artistically expressive. Preference was given to little-known works, which is why, for example, the list does not include N. Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” or Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker.”
What are your favorite Christmas works, dear matrons?
IN recent years Christmas and Yuletide stories became widespread. Not only are collections of Christmas stories written before 1917 published, but their creative tradition has begun to be revived. More recently, in the New Year's Eve issue of the magazine "Afisha" (2006), 12 Christmastide stories by modern Russian writers were published.
However, the very history of the emergence and development genre form Christmas story is no less fascinating than his masterpieces. An article by Elena Vladimirovna DUSHECHKINA, Doctor of Philology, Professor at St. Petersburg State University, is dedicated to her.
From a Yuletide story it is absolutely required that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Yuletide evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, that it be somewhat fantastic, that it have some kind of moral, at least like a refutation of a harmful prejudice, and finally - that it certainly ends cheerfully... Yuletide a story, being within all its frameworks, can still change and present an interesting variety, reflecting its time and customs.
N.S. Leskov
The history of the Christmas story can be traced in Russian literature over three centuries - from the 18th century to the present day, but its final formation and flowering is observed in the last century. quarter of the XIX century - during the period of active growth and democratization of periodicals and the formation of the so-called “small” press.
Exactly periodicals due to its timing to a certain date, it becomes the main supplier of calendar “literary products”, including Christmas stories.
Of particular interest are those texts in which there is a connection with oral folk Yuletide stories, because they clearly demonstrate the methods of assimilation by literature of the oral tradition and the “literariness” of folklore stories that are meaningfully related to the semantics of folk Christmastide and the Christian holiday of Christmas.
But the significant difference between a literary Yuletide story and a folklore one lies in the nature of the image and the interpretation of the climactic Yuletide episode.
Setting the truth of the incident and reality characters- an indispensable feature of such stories. Supernatural collisions are not typical of Russian literary Yuletide stories. A plot like Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” is quite rare. Meanwhile, it is the supernatural - main topic such stories. However, what may seem supernatural and fantastic to the heroes most often receives a very real explanation.
The conflict is not based on a person’s collision with the otherworldly evil world, but on the shift in consciousness that occurs in a person who, due to certain circumstances, doubts his lack of faith in the otherworld.
In the humorous Christmas stories, so characteristic of the “thin” magazines of the second half of the 19th century c., the motive for meeting with evil spirits, the image of which appears in a person’s mind under the influence of alcohol (cf. the expression “get drunk as hell”). In such stories, fantastic elements are used unrestrainedly and, one might even say, uncontrollably, since their realistic motivation justifies any phantasmagoria.
But here it should be taken into account that literature is enriched by a genre, the nature and existence of which gives it a deliberately anomalous character.
Being a phenomenon of calendar literature, the Yuletide story is tightly connected with its holidays, their cultural everyday life and ideological issues, which prevents changes in it, its development, as required by the literary norms of modern times.
An author who wants or, more often, has received an order from the editor to write a Christmas story for the holiday, has a certain “warehouse” of characters and a given set of plot devices, which he uses more or less masterfully, depending on his combinatorial abilities.
Literary genre The Christmas story lives according to the laws of folklore and ritual “aesthetics of identity”, focusing on the canon and cliche - a stable complex of stylistic, plot and thematic elements, the transition of which from text to text not only does not cause irritation to the reader, but, on the contrary, gives him pleasure.
It must be admitted that most literary Christmas stories do not have high artistic merit. In developing the plot, they use long-established techniques; their problems are limited to a narrow range of life problems, which, as a rule, boil down to clarifying the role of chance in a person’s life. Their language, although it often pretends to reproduce living colloquial speech, often wretched and monotonous. However, the study of such stories is necessary.
Firstly, they directly and visibly, due to the nakedness of the techniques, demonstrate the ways in which literature assimilates folklore subjects. Already being literature, but at the same time continuing to perform the function of folklore, which consists in influencing the reader with the entire atmosphere of its art world Based on mythological ideas, such stories occupy an intermediate position between the oral and written traditions.
Secondly, such stories and thousands of others like them constitute the literary body called mass fiction. They served as the main and constant “reading material” for the Russian ordinary reader, who was brought up on them and formed his artistic taste. By ignoring such literary products, it is impossible to understand the psychology of perception and the artistic needs of a literate, but still uneducated Russian reader. We know “great” literature quite well - the works of major writers, classics of the 19th century - but our knowledge about it will remain incomplete until we can imagine the background against which great literature existed and on the basis of which it often grew .
And finally, thirdly, Christmas stories are examples of almost completely unstudied calendar literature - a special kind of texts, the consumption of which is timed to a certain calendar time, when only their, so to speak, therapeutic effect on the reader is possible.
For qualified readers, the clichéd and stereotypical nature of the Yuletide story was a disadvantage, which was reflected in the criticism of Yuletide production, in declarations about the crisis of the genre and even its end. This attitude towards the Christmas story accompanies him almost throughout his entire life. literary history, testifying to the specificity of the genre, whose right to literary existence was proven only by the creative efforts of major Russian writers of the 19th century.
Those writers who could give an original and unexpected interpretation of the “supernatural” event, “evil spirits,” “Christmas miracle” and other components fundamental to Yuletide literature were able to go beyond the usual cycle of Yuletide plots. These are Leskov’s “Yuletide” masterpieces - “Selected Grain”, “Little Mistake”, “The Darner” - about the specifics of the “Russian miracle”. Such are Chekhov’s stories - “Vanka”, “On the Way”, “Woman’s Kingdom” - about a possible, but never-fulfilled meeting at Christmas.
Their achievements in the genre of Christmas stories were supported and developed by Kuprin, Bunin, Andreev, Remizov, Sologub and many other writers who turned to him once again, but from their own angle, in the manner characteristic of each of them, to remind the general reader about the holidays , highlighting the meaning of human existence.
And yet, the mass Christmas production of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, supplied to the reader at Christmas by periodicals, turns out to be limited by worn-out techniques - cliches and templates. Therefore, it is not surprising that already in late XIX centuries, parodies began to appear both on the genre of the Christmas story and on its literary life - writers writing Christmas stories and readers reading them.
New breath for the Christmas story was unexpectedly given by the upheavals of the early 20th century - the Russo-Japanese War, the Troubles of 1905–1907, and later the First world war.
One of the consequences of the social upheavals of those years was an even more intense growth of the press than was the case in the 1870s and 1880s. This time he had not so much educational as political reasons: parties were being created that needed their publications. “Christmas episodes,” as well as “Easter” ones, play a significant role in them. The main ideas of the holiday - love for one's neighbor, compassion, mercy (depending on the political attitude of the authors and editors) - are combined with a variety of party slogans: either with calls for political freedom and the transformation of society, or with demands for the restoration of "order" and the pacification of "turmoil" "
Christmas numbers of newspapers and magazines from 1905 to 1908 provide a fairly complete picture of the balance of power in the political arena and reflect the nature of changes in public opinion. So, over time, Christmas stories become darker, and by Christmas 1907, the former optimism disappeared from the pages of the “Christmas Issues.”
The renewal and raising of the prestige of the Christmas story during this period was also facilitated by the processes taking place within literature itself. Modernism (in all its ramifications) was accompanied by a growing interest among the intelligentsia in Orthodoxy and in the spiritual sphere in general. Numerous articles devoted to various religions of the world appear in magazines, and literary works, based on a wide variety of religious and mythological traditions.
In this atmosphere of attraction to the spiritual, which gripped the intellectual and artistic elite of St. Petersburg and Moscow, Yuletide and Christmas stories turned out to be an extremely convenient genre for artistic treatment. Under the pen of modernists, the Christmas story is modified, sometimes moving significantly away from its traditional forms.
Sometimes, as, for example, in the story by V.Ya. Bryusov’s “The Child and the Madman”, it provides an opportunity to depict psychologically extreme situations. Here the search for the baby Jesus is carried out by “marginal” heroes - a child and a mentally ill person - who perceive the miracle of Bethlehem not as an abstract idea, but as an unconditional reality.
In other cases, Christmas works are based on medieval (often apocryphal) texts, which reproduce religious sentiments and feelings, which is especially characteristic of A.M. Remizova.
Sometimes, by recreating the historical setting, the Christmas story is given a special flavor, as, for example, in the story by S.A. Ausländer "Christmastide in Old Petersburg".
The First World War gave Yuletide literature a new and very characteristic turn. Patriotic-minded writers at the beginning of the war transfer the action of traditional plots to the front, tying military-patriotic and Christmas themes into one knot.
Thus, over the three years of wartime Christmas issues, many stories appeared about Christmas in the trenches, about the “wonderful intercessors” of Russian soldiers, about the experiences of a soldier trying to go home for Christmas. A mocking play on the “Christmas tree in the trenches” in the story by A.S. Bukhova is quite consistent with the state of affairs in the Christmas literature of this period. Sometimes published for Christmas special editions newspapers and “thin” magazines, such as the humorous “Christmastide on Positions”, published for Christmas 1915.
The Yuletide tradition finds its unique application in the era of the events of 1917 and Civil War. In newspapers and magazines that were not yet closed after October, many works sharply directed against the Bolsheviks appeared, which was reflected, for example, in the first issue of the magazine Satyricon for 1918.
Subsequently, in the territories occupied by the troops of the White movement, works using Christmas motifs in the fight against the Bolsheviks are found quite regularly. In publications published in cities controlled Soviet power, where, with the end of 1918, attempts to at least to some extent preserve an independent press ceased, the Yuletide tradition almost died out, occasionally reminding itself of itself in the New Year's issues of humorous weekly magazines. At the same time, the texts published in them play on individual, most superficial motifs of Christmas literature, leaving aside the Christmas theme.
In the literature of Russian diaspora, the fate of Yuletide literature turned out to be different. An unprecedented flow of people beyond its borders in the history of Russia - to the Baltic states, to Germany, to France and more distant places - carried away both journalists and writers. Thanks to their efforts, since the beginning of the 1920s. In many emigration centers, magazines and newspapers are being created, which in new conditions continue the traditions of old magazine practice.
Opening issues of such publications as “Smoke” and “Rul” (Berlin), “ Latest news"(Paris), "Dawn" (Harbin) and others, you can find numerous works by major writers (Bunin, Kuprin, Remizov, Merezhkovsky), and young writers who appeared mainly abroad, such as, for example, V.V. . Nabokov, who created several Christmas stories in his youth.
The Yuletide stories of the first wave of Russian emigration represent an attempt to pour into the “small” traditional form the experiences of Russian people who were tortured in a foreign-language environment and in difficult economic conditions of the 1920s–1930s. save yours cultural traditions. The situation in which these people found themselves contributed to the writers’ turn to the Yuletide genre. Emigrant writers may well not have invented sentimental stories, since they encountered them in their everyday lives. In addition, the very focus of the first wave of emigration on tradition (preservation of language, faith, ritual, literature) corresponded to the orientation of Christmas and Yuletide texts on an idealized past, on memories, on the cult of the hearth. In emigrant Christmas texts, this tradition was also supported by interest in ethnography, Russian life, and Russian history.
But in the end, the Yule tradition, both in emigrant literature and in Soviet Russia, fell victim to political events. With the victory of Nazism, the Russian publishing activity in Germany. The Second World War brought with it similar consequences in other countries. The largest emigration newspaper, Latest News, stopped publishing Christmas stories already in 1939. The editors apparently were prompted to abandon the traditional “Christmas Issue” by the feeling of the inevitability of an impending catastrophe, even more terrible than the trials caused by previous conflicts on a global scale. After some time, the newspaper itself, as well as the more right-wing Revival, which published calendar works even in 1940, were closed.
IN Soviet Russia A complete extinction of the tradition of the calendar story still did not occur, although, of course, there was not the number of Yuletide and Christmas works that arose at the turn of the century. This tradition was, to a certain extent, supported by New Year's works (prose and poetry), published in newspapers and thin magazines, especially for children (the newspaper " Pioneer truth", magazines "Pioneer", "Counselor", "Murzilka" and others). Of course, in these materials the Christmas theme was absent or was presented in a very distorted form. At first glance it may seem strange, but it is precisely with the Christmas tradition that the “Christmas tree in Sokolniki”, so memorable for many generations of Soviet children, is connected, “spun off” from the essay by V.D. Bonch-Bruevich “Three attempts on V.I. Lenin", first published in 1930.
Here Lenin, who came to the village school in 1919 for the Christmas tree, with his kindness and affection clearly resembles the traditional Santa Claus, who always brought so much joy and fun to children.
One of the best Soviet idylls, A. Gaidar’s story “Chuk and Gek,” also seems to be connected with the tradition of the Christmas story. Written in tragic era of the late thirties, with unexpected sentimentality and kindness, so characteristic of a traditional Christmas story, it recalls the highest human values - children, family happiness, the comfort of home, echoing Dickens's Christmas story "The Cricket on the Stove."
Yuletide motifs and, in particular, the motif of Yuletide mummering, inherited from the folk Christmastide of the Soviet Union, merged more organically with the Soviet New Year holiday. popular culture, and above all, children's educational institutions. It is precisely this tradition that, for example, films are guided by “ Carnival night" and "The Irony of Fate, or C light steam» E.A. Ryazanov, a director, of course, endowed with sharp genre thinking and always perfectly aware of the viewer’s needs for festive experiences.
Another soil on which calendar literature grew was the Soviet calendar, which was regularly enriched with new Soviet holidays, starting from the anniversaries of the so-called revolutionary events and ending with those that especially proliferated in the 1970s and 1980s. professional holidays. It is enough to turn to the periodicals of that time, to newspapers and thin magazines - “Ogonyok”, “Rabotnitsa” - to be convinced of how widespread texts related to the Soviet state calendar were.
Texts with subtitles “Yuletide” and “Christmas” story in Soviet era are practically out of use. But they were not forgotten. These terms were encountered from time to time in the press: authors of various articles, memoirs and works of art They were often used to characterize events and texts that were sentimental or far from reality.
This term is especially common in ironic headlines such as “Ecology is not a Christmas story”, “Not a Christmas story”, etc. The memory of the genre was also preserved by the intellectuals of the old generation, who were brought up on it, reading issues of Sincere Word in childhood, sorting through the files of Niva and other pre-revolutionary magazines.
And now the time has come when calendar literature - Christmastide and Christmas stories - again began to return to the pages of modern newspapers and magazines. This process has become especially noticeable since the late 1980s.
How can this phenomenon be explained? Let's note several factors. In all areas modern life there is a desire to restore the broken connection of times: to return to those customs and forms of life that were forcibly interrupted as a result of the October Revolution. Perhaps the key point in this process is the attempt to resurrect modern man sense of "calendar". Humans have a natural need to live in the rhythm of time, within the framework of a conscious annual cycle. The fight against “religious prejudices” in the 20s and the new “industrial calendar” (five-day week), introduced in 1929 at the XVI Party Conference, abolished the Christmas holiday, which was quite consistent with the idea of destroying the old world “to the ground” and building a new one. The consequence of this was the destruction of tradition - a naturally formed mechanism for transmitting the fundamentals way of life from generation to generation. Nowadays, much of what was lost is returning, including the old calendar rituals, and with it the “Yuletide” literature.
LITERATURE
Research
Dushechkina E.V. Russian Christmas story: the formation of the genre. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University Publishing House, 1995.
Dushechkina E.V. Russian Christmas tree: History, mythology, literature. - St. Petersburg: Norint, 2002.
Ram Henrik. Pre-revolutionary holiday literature and Russian modernism / Authorized translation from English by E.R. Squires // Poetics of Russian literature of the early twentieth century. - M., 1993.
Lyrics
Yuletide stories: Stories and poems by Russian writers [about Christmas and Yuletide]. Compilation and notes by S.F. Dmitrenko. - M.: Russian book, 1992.
Petersburg Christmas story. Compilation, introductory article, notes by E.V. Dushechkina. - L.: Petropol, 1991.
The Miracle of Christmas Night: Yuletide Stories. Compilation, introductory article, notes by E.V. Dushechkina and H. Baran. - St. Petersburg: Fiction, 1993.
Star of Bethlehem: Christmas and Easter in verse and prose. Compilation and introduction by M. Pismenny. - M.: Children's literature, 1993.
Yuletide stories. Preface, compilation, notes and dictionary by M. Kucherskaya. - M.: Children's literature, 1996.
Yolka: A book for young children. - M.: Horizon; Minsk: Aurika, 1994. (Reprint of the book 1917).
