Bambine, bambini e animali parlanti nei racconti di Eduard Uspenskij per l’ultima generazione sovietica

Girls, boys, and talking animals: Eduard Uspeenskij and the last soviet generation
The article discusses the transformation of the models offered to Soviet children between the late 1960s and the late 1980s, through an analysis of the work of Eduard Uspenskij (b.1937). Uspenskij is one of the main representative of Russian folk tales tradition and his tales provided a strong critique of adult society, described as distracted and indifferent to the most important aspects of life. The article is divided in four parts: the first discusses the historical and ideological context of Uspenskij’s literary production and the literary canons characteristic of Soviet childhood literature. The article moves then to analyse three of Uspenskij’s most representative works: Gena the crocodile and his friends (1966), Uncle Fëdor, his dog and his cat (1974), The School of fur animals (1989). The three stories have as main protagonists children and talking animals and are particularly useful to illustrate, showing in particular the important symbolic role that was recognised to girls in the stories. In his efforts to renew childhood literature, Uspenkij attributed a particular important role to girls, as mediators between the world of humans and the world of animals. The three stories also illustrate the ability of Uspenskij’s children to redefine the boundaries between public and private, through real and imaginary travels in search of new subjectivities.