Candlelight Conversations - I can’t jump over fences anymore...

********************** Candlelight Conversations ********************** 

                  VLADISLAV PETROVICH KRAPIVIN:
             "I CAN'T JUMP OVER FENCES ANYMORE..."

                  Fragments of conversations with readers

      Questions were asked by Yuri Nikitin, Igor Glotov and others

   - Vladislav Petrovich, there are books that, perhaps,
in literary terms, impeccably made, which are brilliant
carefully written, by the hand of a master, which are interesting to read. But here
people read these books and nothing changed in their lives. Or
almost nothing. But there are other books that are largely
determine the lives of those who read them. The question in this regard is: how
it turns out that your books form a kind of “second reality”,
are for so many of your readers something more than
just literature. Something more than just art. Maybe
Perhaps the question is not formulated precisely, the idea is complex...
   - The idea, in essence, is quite clear. But I'm getting into
somewhat awkward position. Because what you said just now 
this is essentially some kind of assessment of my books, and an assessment of how 
I understand, quite positive. And somehow I feel 
perceive it now, you see, I don’t even know... That is, when 
accept it one hundred percent and admit that my books are really something 
then they change people’s lives, create some kind of “second reality” -it means agreeing with this very high assessment. Honestly 
speaking, in my opinion, it would not be very modest. No, I'm serious 
I say. But if you think that they really have some impact... 
some influence and create some kind of reality, which to some 
readers are not indifferent, then the second question is how to 
it happens, right? Well, this is the most difficult part of the question because, 
To be honest, how do I know how this works? I am working. That is, what happens in my books, I probably 
I perceive it as some kind of reality. Naturally for me 
not just a piece of paper, a pencil... I’m writing, something made up - 
vayu. Of course, I somehow get used to the world that I describe, then 
there is somehow often, or something, I step into the shoes of these same heroes, or 
at least I become, perhaps, a close interlocutor or colleague 
gray-haired, that is, I observe them from a very close distance, I try 
understand them - and to some extent this is real life for me. 
Maybe sometimes more real, at least more for 
me is often more significant than the very life that surrounds anyone 
person and who, unfortunately, is not always pleasant 
nom. Sometimes even disgusting. That is, books - they, perhaps, 
even to some extent care. Not escapism, not 
salvation, but to some extent departure to some more significant 
linen, moresignificant, and perhaps more interesting to people than 
one in which we rotate constantly and daily. Maybe 
If there's one thing that comes out of my books, it's the result. 
some kind of dedication, or something. If it really works out. Well, well 
it’s how the thought is formed, how the hand moves, how the intonation of the birth 
given. Well, I don't know, I guess. Everyone has what, who is given what, 
who managed to cultivate something in themselves, or something. 
   - Vladislav Petrovich, is it possible to say that your books are...
Is creativity an expansion of reality? Not avoiding action
reality, and in a sense its expansion.
   - You can say so, if only the expansion of reality,
expansion of living space can be a transformation into 
more multidimensional and multifaceted. 
   - But this space, for many people it becomes
no less real than the everyday space in which they
are located. How is it that for you your heroes are not just
artistic means to express some idea, but in reality
living personalities that you treat as something painful -
more than just your imagination.
   - Well, at least you have to worry about them.
   - But you have to worry not about some creative objects -
stavva, not for some symbols, artistic techniques, but for the one who
is real to you, who is alive to you, for whom does your heart ache?
   - Apparently so.Although, you know, there is one danger here -
not in experiencing, but in an attempt at analysis and introspection. If you start 
you try to gut yourself too much, that is, there is a danger of breaking 
some kind of internal structure. Like, say, an incompetent paramedic 
will try to perform an overly delicate operation with his scalpel 
rusty will crawl into the body and disrupt something there... This is me to myself 
I myself say that if I get inside myself... Therefore, in general, I 
I try not to do this unless absolutely necessary. The same stencil 
again, the image about the centipede, which was 
strength - how you don’t get tangled in your legs, and she forgot how to walk. 
I often have to repeat this comparison, but there is simply no other 
comes to mind. 
   - Vladislav Petrovich, how did the idea of the Great come to you?
Crystal? Was this some kind of real physical hypothesis, with
which you met somewhere, and, of course, processed in your
creativity, or is this an idea that came to you?
   - No, a hypothesis, if it concerns the purely technical side,
somewhat loudly speaking, scientific or pseudoscientific, then here 
I just came up with it myself. It began, naturally, from a ring 
Tsa Möbius, from its properties. Then I realized that it was elongated 
polyhedron, if connected in a special way, it also connects 
merges its planes into one, like a Möbius ring. Then I came to 
thoughts that everyplane, it can be multidimensional. And 
these multidimensional worlds through some effort - sometimes physical - 
someone, sometimes purely moral, can be united, and then everything 
countless worlds in the Universe suddenly, with a single movement, co- 
unites into one world, and then it’s a question of transferring from one point 
in another it is purely technical. But, of course, all this 
then it became overgrown with images and some specific finds, love- 
dmi and plots, and so on. 
   - Will the cycle “In the Depths of the Great Crystal” be continued?
   - No. The cycle is over. Cycle "In the depths of the Great Crystal" and
so it turned out to be more than I expected. I wanted to finish it first 
the story "The White Ball of Sailor Wilson". Then suddenly how- 
then, latently, from somewhere inside came the story “The Pilot”, based on 
ve, perhaps, some dreams, and even a little subconscious. 
I remembered Chersonesos... The dilapidated temple... these dreams about the under- 
earthly city... And thoughts about this boy, about motherhood, about eternal 
mothers' anxiety... It was logical to end the cycle this way. And then already, 
in the ninety-first year, unexpectedly butted in, the penultimate, 
message "Tales of fishermen and fish." Already somehow complement- 
Really, I didn’t even think about it, but she asked for it herself. 
   - It is very different from the previous ones...
   - It’s probably different, but it connects the plot,
closes on itself individual things of the cycle... Shediffers as much 
ku, since the time when I was writing was very alarming, everything 
these conflicts flourished to the fullest, and this is absolutely 
unscrupulous attitude towards children began to appear when they died 
chickpeas, absolutely innocently guilty, in all these civil strife. 
Now it’s somehow very noticeable. Maybe because we are 
began to be seen clearly on television; before we were not frightened by reports - 
get out of the scene, and now, when you see these murdered children, 
it's just creepy... 
   - Do you consider “Ships” to be part of this cycle?
   - No, “Ships” is a separate thing. She might be lying down
on the topic, but it relates to the idea of the Crystal, to the purely cosmogonic one - 
then the idea has nothing to do with it, the Crystal itself is not affected. 
Probably all my stories can be connected, with the exception of "Flying 
fairy tales"... And if further, then "Flying Tales" can be 
link because there are mentions there. 
   - We just need to write a couple of connecting stories.
   - Now I have written the story “The Hole Moon”. And one more -
"A plane named Seryozhka." And there a new kind of physical 
philosophical category - Deserted Space.  Emergence 
Deserted Spaces, their influence on a person, where they come from 
lis, and what it is. This is somewhere inspired by reality - for me 
I've had this habit for probably three years now - my youngest and I 
son, summerespecially, we love to wander around the outskirts of the city, and 
Our city is huge. This is a metropolis, essentially. Although he doesn't 
as populated as Moscow, but its surroundings, its squares are colossal 
flax... And among these squares there are some abandoned ones, 
semi-abandoned industrial spaces, where unfinished 
some workshops, mechanisms overgrown with gullies, leading nowhere 
rail tracks, abandoned cars... And all this adds up to op- 
a defined world, and a certain feeling of this world arises. And 
this also gives a certain impetus, and it even begins to seem that 
in these Spaces there is some kind of soul of its own, or something, such a mis- 
tic. Especially when there are a lot of them, when you happened to get lost there 
to wander somewhere and go out somewhere wrong... 
   - Vladislav Petrovich, the new cycle will be a development of the same
"crystalline" theme, but on a new professional level?
   - I’ve written three stories, and I don’t think about continuing it yet. If
if they were somehow printed in one book, perhaps it would be 
a kind of trilogy of quite diverse, but related 
after all, one circumstance of the stories. I don’t know what’s next yet. 
   -Have you ever had an idea to make the main character
a girl?
   - There was an idea. I even tried, but it doesn't work. Apparently, everything
Still, I don’t have enough experience and... Well, it’s just that I 
hard to imagine. There are men authors whoor they say 
to themselves, or feel that they have a certain psychological 
ical feminine principle. They can put themselves in the place of a woman, 
girls. But somehow... it never worked out for me. There were such 
thoughts, but I still caught myself that it turned out to be a little 
chick in a skirt... 
   - Yes, but there are such girls...
   - Well, there are some, but what’s the point of writing about them, it’s uninteresting-
resno. 
   - How the story “Three from Carronade Square” was created, where
its heroes arose and so on...
   - This question is not difficult to answer. I was in love with Sevasto-
Paul since childhood...And in the seventy-eighth year I came to Sevasto- 
Paul, I went to school number three, English, there it is in the center, which 
I described it with all accuracy and got acquainted with the prototypes. I 
I met them when they were still in fourth grade, 
then in both the fifth and sixth years I was friends with them, almost until I graduated 
ska from school. It's not like they gave me a plot... Because the plot 
after all, it is built by the author as a kind of scheme... or else 
so that it is speculative, but to a sufficient extent... artificial 
such a construction is artificial, not in the bad sense of the word, namely 
already the result of the alignment of events... It’s just that these guys somehow 
pushed me... They gave me, or something, images of the main characters... And 
the very atmosphere of the city... And just then they told me several 
cases with these explosions... verytragic... 
   - Which of your adult characters is more expressive than others?
your character traits? Which of the heroes is more similar to the others?
your son?
   - I can't answer the question. Definitely - no one, probably.
At least, all attempts to tie me, as an author, to the figure 
some adult character, say, to Yar in "Dovecote...", 
or, to this, to the writer in "The Pilot" ... 
   - What if we go to Oleg from “The Boy...”?
   - Not at all, nothing like that. It's easier for me to name prototypes
adult heroes...The same Igor Reshilov, writer in "Pilot"... 
I can say this... Probably, involuntarily, I am part of some kind of 
endured life experiences... But when I wrote, I never 
put himself in their place, did not associate himself with them - with anyone 
from adult men, never. With the guys it's a different matter when I 
wrote “I”, especially about the forties. And with adults - not with 
by whom. Not in terms of events, not in psychological terms, not in any way. 
   - In some of your works there appears a storyline about
how an “ordinary” adult, due to circumstances, radically changes
his life, devoting it to saving children. Have you seen in life
such examples? Where do the things necessary for this come from in a person?
qualities, if before he had no connection with children? Is there a lot
such adults in whom commanding qualities are hidden? How
do they show themselves?
   - A dissertation consistingfrom questions. Well, first of all, in my
There are not many such adults in works. This is where I went 
the idea of command... I met with people who, due to ob- 
activities ended up with children, they had never dealt with them before, 
and then they gave themselves. These were also teachers, not school teachers, of course. 
and the leaders of different clubs and sections. Not everyone did this 
since childhood. Chance brought them to the guys, and they suddenly became imbued with 
feeling of this world, and suddenly began to feel their responsibility 
value for them. Perhaps this arose in a less dramatic 
situations, like Cornelius, but it happened. But in the book, in the story 
In a film you always want to somehow sharpen, emphasize, a few 
exaggerate an idea, its embodiment. That's why the image arose 
Cornelia. I read about such people in concentration camps, in non- 
German, when among the prisoners there were people who suddenly saw 
these children, exhausted, began to give all their strength to 
somehow save them. In general, it seems to me that in the majority 
normal people have, perhaps, not only ethical, but also biological 
logical, the desire to protect the younger generation, for the sake of 
for humanity to survive - it is laid somewhere, on some 
gene level. And when certain situations arise, this feeling 
action works, lifts a person, sets him on the path 
true. 
   - And the tendency tocommand is an innate quality, or for-
depends on upbringing, on external conditions? Or both?
   - Both, but it can manifest itself precisely in certain
circumstances when fate puts you in exactly this situation. 

   - What doesn’t Vladislav Krapivin like about his books? Is there
something like that?
   - Well, of course, there are, and a lot... You know, I’m probably this-
hour specifically and I won’t say anything, because I wrote all my things 
quite sincerely, I did not strive for some kind of conjuncture... And 
to adjust somewhere, to fake something... What I don’t like is 
it may not be pleasant on a purely artistic level. Maybe 
in some places the dialogues are too drawn out, the compositional structure is loose 
tion, lack of elaboration of some images. That is, what is purely 
Artistically I am not satisfied with it as a master. I feel 
that as a writer I fell short in some way: it’s not interesting, 
dry, unconvincing, maybe. But where exactly is it too much 
long conversation... And in general, to be honest, I’m ready to admit 
that I don’t like a lot of things, but, so to speak, to turn out my 
I don’t want to lay them out in front of my readers. 
   -Have there ever been times when you quit and then picked up again?
several times per story?
   - Almost constantly.
   - How long are the breaks like this?
   - For a long time. Sometimes for a year, two. You know, maybe here
it makes sense becausewhen you start tearing your hair out over what you started 
thing and think that nothing is working out, it must settle. 
Then, when you re-read, you really cross out something, 
you correct something, but somewhere you find some rational grain 
and pull it out. This is how it happened to me with one of the last things - 
"Ships". I left her for about a year, and then she somehow didn’t 
let go of myself. 
   - Have you ever had a desire to return to some of your
old works? This means writing sequels.
   - It appeared several times, but it did not give anything. Because
It’s already difficult to write in the way those works were written. I 
I was thinking about making the third part of “Shadow of the Caravel”... It won’t work anymore. 
There is no point in writing in any other way. So I just moved on to 
autobiographical things, where much is the same, but more honest and 
more directly. 
   - Reading many of your books, more than once the conviction arises that
some moments came to you in a dream. And if so, then in what
How is this related to the things in the series about the Crystal?
   - This is indeed true, but there is nothing strange here. I
In general, I consider dreams as part of the creative process and how 
transition to some kind of parallel, perhaps close enough 
peace. For example, I saw the entire first part of the trilogy “Into the Night” 
big tide" in a dream. Almost, one might say. Literally impossible 
talk about the dream, but almost todetails. Also, that’s when “Dove- 
"Tnya on the Yellow Glade" begins, it started for me too 
dream. In this spaceship, hanging in absolutely empty space, 
suddenly a boy appears there, very similar to my friends 
childhood. He literally rode there on a bicycle. This was also in 
dream, and then it began to unwind and attract to itself, like, again 
I apologize for the banal comparison, like a magnet attracts 
steel filings, laying them out in a certain pattern. For some reason 
This is probably based on internal logic. So I don't know how 
for others, but for me sleep is an extremely important part of the job, for me 
this helps a lot. And as for the nature of dreams themselves, then 
There is a lot that is unclear to me here. Is this reality or just 
brain function? Or a mixture of both? Who knows? 
   - How can you explain the fact that your books are read, known and
Not only kids, but also adults love it? How do you feel about these
adults and what can you say about them?
   - In short, then, probably, a lot of people, maybe
maybe not the majority, but very many, growing up, keep them somewhere 
contains a memory of childhood, and often a bright one, perhaps - nose- 
Talgic. Without this, in general, a person cannot be complete. 
Noah. In some ways, this is sometimes even a salvation - an opportunity, 
at least in memory, to go back to childhood. And just such adults, maybe 
be,my books resonate with their mood. I'm 
I try to write seriously, without squatting just in front of 
a little reader, but I write with a psychological load, with such 
so that it would be interesting for adults too - I’m not trying to simplify 
anything. And if an adult is interested in his childhood, or 
childhood in general, then, probably, the book somehow gets into his head a little 
soul. 
   - Still, first of all, do you write for children?
   - First of all, I never think about it.
   - Do you consider yourself a science fiction writer or a realist? Yours
the world, the world you create is real to you, or are you still
treat it like a fairy tale, like fiction?
   - You see, this question is quite complicated and, in my opinion, not
very specific, somewhat vague, because I never 
divided literature into genres. What does "fantasy" and "real" mean? 
ness"? That is, for me, when I write, this is certainly real - 
ness. But to some extent I still try to be healthy 
thinking person and I understand perfectly well that not everyone can read 
body this is perceived as reality, which many perceive 
like fiction, a fairy tale, fantasy there, science fiction... whatever. 
But, on the other hand... By the way, I have this very good 
an acquaintance, a writer in Sverdlovsk, also, if you like, a science fiction writer, a doc- 
TOR of Sciences Sergei Aleksandrovich Drugal. For example, he is in suchdis- 
in discussions he always says that all literature, excuse me, is fantasy 
teak. Each author writes, as a rule, about something that is not really 
it was, if he was not a documentarian. Is Pushkin a science fiction writer or not? Take 
his “Queen of Spades”, some of Belkin’s stories, something else there, 
The poem "The Bronze Horseman" is also a fantasy. Take 
Gogol - is he a science fiction writer or a realist? Let's even take Dostoevsky. Yes 
that there is no special line, and I never asked myself that 
what a question. That is, if I am present at a holiday, say, like 
This happens with us in Sverdlovsk, the celebration of the Aeli Prize. 
ta" where science fiction lovers gather, then please, you can 
call me a science fiction writer. If I meet with a school- 
nicknames, say, fifth graders in some school, you can call them 
Call me a children's writer, whatever you want. If I'm dating 
war veterans who are interested in my things from the forties and fifties 
1980s about war and post-war childhood, they probably 
They perceive me precisely as a writer of everyday life of those times. And all this... 
In creativity, all this is often intertwined. I have one like this 
a short story, "The Poplar Shirt", there is also an autobiography in it - 
fiction, and documentary, and everyday life, and fantasy, and sci- 
zka - anything. How should we perceive it? As you wish. Therefore 
I probably won’t answer your question specifically. 
   - Vladislav Petrovich,but you often meet heroes -
purely fairytale... rusty witches that you invented. Why
don't you use Russian folklore?
   - It seems to me that this would be plagiarism.
   -Who would you steal from? The people?
   - So what, what do the people have? Doesn't matter. I know that many people love
write modern fairy tales about the Gorynych Serpents, about Baba Yaga, about 
goblin and so on. But I can't give these folk heroes 
some peculiar features (other writers succeed in this) 
so that they become exclusively my heroes, my personalities. 
Zhami. And just repeat numerous stories, emphasize those 
images that Baba Yaga is harmful and limps on her bone leg, that 
she is grumpy and, perhaps, a little good-natured at heart, that the devil 
they are also good-natured, so they like to cheat - well, you know, that’s what I like 
just not interesting. As for my characters, I’m already there 
master, I know what’s wrong with them... If I came up with the ship’s pus- 
mov, then I know their habits, their characters. 
   - If you were planning to write a book whose heroes turned out to be
If in the past, what period of history would you choose? What era in
is the history of Russia most interesting to you?
   - You know, apparently, the era of Peter the Great. The era of the formation of Russian
fleet. I am far from a Slavophile, and therefore Rus' is both Kiev and 
Rus' during the times of Ivan the Terrible, and Kozma Minin, and in general all these 
long-skirted boyars, she somehow didn’tvery attractive to me, although I, 
Of course, I understand the greatness of Rus' and the richness of its history. And the era 
Peter - although many curse him for his vile character, and, apparently, 
fair! - his era is still interesting to me for its contradiction - 
courage and the fact that, finally, we stepped towards the sea, and I 
for myself, as if finding myself on the shore, I breathed freely, felt 
the smell of sails, that we had finally broken through. 
   - Here is a very non-trivial question: the purpose of your life,
in your opinion, and how much have you already accomplished?
   - Well, what is the purpose of life? Like, probably, every writer -
write books and say something of your own in Russian literature 
re. Realizing the limitations of my capabilities, realizing that I 
I won’t do everything on the scale I would like, but still something 
say and do something. You know, to be honest, I don’t have one 
sensations, as some writers say, that it seems that I 
only on the approaches that I have not written my main book, that 
everything is ahead. I don't have that. It seems to me that I, after all, 
that I managed, because if you put everything together, it will be volumes 
fifteen full-bodied. And to say that I haven’t managed to do anything yet and 
on the approaches, it would be unnecessary coquetry. Well, what about the desire? 
always the same thing: write something new and interesting, maybe 
be better than it was, although, alas, it does not always work out. And 
the strength is no longer the same. ANDIt’s not that it’s very difficult to write about the situation; 
new in the country, and not that the printing is bad, etc., but about 
this is a feeling of some kind of uncertainty, complete disregard 
to man, wild lawlessness, fragility of existence. I completely understand 
I may, for example, Viktor Konetsky, who in some interview, 
I think about six months ago, he said that he absolutely couldn’t 
write because of this state of our society. It's just somehow 
presses and oppresses. I understand that if you follow a clear pattern, like 
It used to be said that the writer must now raise his 
a voice for the struggle for justice, for the protection of the oppressed and, at the same time, 
struggle, somehow gather strength, that’s all true, of course, but 
this requires time, this requires strength, this requires 
certain energy and stimulus. Now it feels like 
Don’t raise your voice, they don’t really hear you, that’s the thing. 
It turns out that you go out onto a high tower, like a muezzin, 
you sit there over the empty spaces, you sit down, and everyone cares 
light bulbs. I understand that perhaps the feeling is somewhat misleading, 
This is my subjective feeling, but that’s how it is for now. Well, I, in general, 
I don’t stop working, I try to do something, write. Other 
the point is that it is unlikely that a book will come out that will shock 
reading masses. But we have to work! 
   - What prompted you to write on the topic of childhood: nostalgiafor children
stu or concern for children? Or both, and to what extent?
   - Well, first, of course, nostalgia for childhood. Tre-
Voga came somewhere later, with age, when I had to go deeper 
dig up these topics, delve deeper into modern life, write 
no longer about one’s own, but about modern childhood, and to face 
what happens in children's lives when the need arises 
somehow protect them. 
   - Most of your heroes cannot step over certain
mature age is the age when a person grows up, when special
more clearly begins to realize himself as a person, his position
understanding in the outside world, when a teenager especially urgently needs
understanding. You don’t have many such heroes: Egor Petrov, firstly
turn, now Danka Rafalov has appeared, and partly also - Sergey
Kakhovsky, Kirill...
   - You see, not so little.
   - But this is not the majority of heroes... That is, what is this connected with?
that you write less about teenagers and their problems than about children
younger?
   - I don’t know how to explain this. Probably because everyone
the author has his own circle of heroes who are more interesting to him and 
close ones whom he knows and understands better. Someone has to 
write about such heroes. By the way, most writers 
for youth and adolescence is just trying to write about 
high school students, apparently believing that this gives morewide field 
for writing: experiences, problems, and so on. And I was told 
It has been said that children of younger and middle age are also a whole world, 
and they also have a lot of worries, problems and questions, and there is a breakdown there 
also happens often. And the first withdrawal, they say, occurs somewhere 
at the age of seven. But you listed older heroes 
of a young age - after all, you will agree, there are also a lot of them. 
   - How much have your views changed...
   - Views - on what?
   - Well, in general, for everything you wrote about, for life...
   - No, if we discuss the question of how views have changed, then
it is necessary to put it more specifically: what views, on what - on 
life, politics, literature, family... space... 
philosophy... And so the views especially, in my opinion, on nothing 
have changed. 
   - Well, regarding “The Boy with a Sword”...
   - They haven't changed at all. That is, I believe that the pioneer
organization - it was useful, and the fact that it was completely slammed 
zeros and dispersed - this is one of the many stupidities of our perestroika - 
ki... This, you know, banal phrase - “throwing out the baby together 
with water." Pioneering in many ways, of course, was a lever of ideological 
whom and pedagogical pressure, totalitarian. But there were 
there are light spots and some light sprouts. 
   - Yes, but as an organization it was quite formal.
The light spots seemed to be on their own, andcompletely she's just
couldn't exist...
   - Well, together with the organization, the bright spots were destroyed. A
Is it better now that there is no organization at all? 
   - Question about "Caravelle". Even though you are now directly
don't care about her, but still, you probably care about her
life... As you can see, what may happen to it in the future, we
How optimistic can you be?
   - You know, even when I was closely involved in it, I didn’t
looked ahead more than a year, to be honest, that’s how 
life was uncertain, anxious and unpredictable. And now - 
what can I say... It all depends on how much praise 
gives strength and energy to young leaders... 
   - And if it’s not enough, what then?..
   - Well, it’s not enough, that means it’s not enough, that means that’s it... You know, in
One futuristic story has the following dramatic phrase: 
"The planet has completed its cycle" ... Empires - and they are not eternal under 
the moon, and even some pioneer detachment... 
   - In this case, you won’t try somehow... her... I don’t know...
   - To some extent, I’ll probably try, and I’ve already got the idea-
tried to intervene when immediate danger loomed... 
But, if the guys-instructors do not have enough strength and energy to constantly 
new work, then replace them and pull this whole machine again, I'm all 
I can’t do it anyway. And the age is not the same, and my mood has somehow changed - 
I can't jump anymorethrough the fences with the kids... 
I get tired... And then, to be honest, somewhere in my sixties I came 
There is a feeling that there is not much time left, but I would like to 
write what you want... 
   - How, in your opinion, has the current “younger generation” changed?
Do they understand what you want to say in your books?
   - I would be ready to agree that it has not changed in
the better side, that many ideals disappeared, that everyone began to think 
about life, which is expressed only by the desire for some external 
his well-being, where are the apartments, the mansion, foreign cars, currency, trips 
abroad and so on... This is true, and for many it is 
became an ideal, and the mass of young people became “cool boys”, and 
There was still a whole, well, not a class, but an estate, or something, of young people 
with machine guns...After all, what else fuels all these conflicts - not only 
there are intrigues of politicians and so on, they still find certain 
new soil. After all, after Afghanistan, after other conflicts, 
there is a whole class of young people who consider it normal 
way of life when you have a machine gun at your side, and feel 
they are constantly on edge. They do not really value their own 
life, they are accustomed to danger... By the way, personal courage is 
Not the best quality by far. Even the ancient Greeks said that 
It is practically possible to train yourself not to tremble particularly for your life. 
ki each; fear forothers, suffering is more difficult... And these re- 
guys now consider the most normal way of life when they 
they live in some kind of paramilitary atmosphere and are ready to rush into any 
conflict in order to... live, as in the film "Midshipmen, forward!" ... 
only without that good romance... But, strangely enough, despite 
for all this, I constantly receive letters from twenty-twenty- 
five-year-old young people... Moreover, even young businessmen write, 
saying that after all the dirty tricks of everyday life for them this is 
some kind of outlet - books like these, something else... So, apparently, 
a certain percentage of readers have survived, and it seems to me that this is not the most 
bad percentage in the current young generation... Maybe at 
you hope for him in the depths of your soul, more than for everyone else... 
Because the big story, in such a strategic plan, 
after all, it’s not businessmen who do it, but people of high intellectual 
level, who can dream, philosophize, and watch 
forward, and with great imagination...
   - Could you name about ten books that you
Do you recommend future teachers to read it?
   - Oh, advise... Ten?! Well... Ten books without me
they know (laughs). And to impose my opinion - I might end up 
very subjective. Then, why teachers? Teachers need 
Read not ten books, not one hundred. Both according to the program and beyond 
programs. ActuallyI'm not sure what a normal teacher can do 
really communicate with the guys, if he hasn’t read Three Flies 
Terov" (laughs). Although this thought may seem 
somewhat... frivolous. 
   - Do you often re-read books that you loved as a child?
did you like good books in general?
   - Yes, I re-read it often. I love rereading Mark Twain...
Stevenson, for example, I can re-read... To the point that 
even "The Adventures of Pinocchio". Although this book is now in 
It’s common to scold and shout that Alexei Tolstoy ripped off Pinocchio, 
this is an independent work... I’m re-reading “Scarlet Sails” - 
Recently, I was given a new edition of Green, so I opened it again, 
read... 
   - What are your favorite books, films, music? Were there any among them?
which at a certain period dramatically changed your life, your worldview
speech, views, position, and also contributed to the fact that you
started writing?
   - It’s difficult to answer right away, because it may happen that...
calling something wrong. From music - Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony 
and Beethoven's Eighth Sonata. From films - an old, pre-war version 
ant "The Children of Captain Grant" and the film adaptation of Aldridge's story 
"The Last Inch" From books: among the many favorite books - all - 
after all, these are Paustovsky’s books, because they made a turn in my soul, which 
which contributed to my starting to write. It was mighty 
incentive,catalyst - you can call it whatever you like. Decisive factor. 
   - Which writers do you personally know, or maybe are friends with?
   - I can’t say that I am very friendly with famous writers -
teles. I know many people because I have visited many times 
writers' conventions, at banquets and at various conferences, 
met and talked and everything else. But to say that I'm with someone 
then friendly... I had a very good relationship with Radium Petro- 
Vich Pogodin, but, unfortunately, he is no longer there. I've had enough 
I know Anatoly Aleksin closely, but they say he went 
now live outside the border. That is, I didn’t know him on a friendly basis, 
but rather in a business-like manner. I met with many writers: 
and with Mikhalkov, and with Barto, and with Kassil - with children, perhaps 
with everyone, but this can hardly be called friendly relations 
and friendship. And my circle of friends is extremely narrow. In Sverdlovsk we are 
there were three: Pinaev, Bugrov and me. And now Bugrov is gone...And now they remain 
Evgeniy Ivanovich Pinaev and I are together. He's a good writer 
so far, in my opinion, it is still little read and little recognized, due to the fact that 
that our publishing policy towards current and Russian writers, 
unless these are loud and scandalous names, from 
are worn disdainfully. Same for him. But I think that with 
With time everything will fall into place. 
   -Which science fiction writers do you appreciate, what are they?works. Attitude
connection to the fantasy genre, to Tolkien, to the Tolkienists, to Efremov?
   - I treat Tolkien and the Tolkienists with respect and understanding -
niya, but Tolkien, after all, is far from my favorite writer. 
In some ways it seems to me, maybe too stretched, maybe 
old-fashioned, perhaps, in terms of the plot of his work, not very 
lined up. Let those who are in love with Tolkien not stone me, 
I completely share their love and understand them - after all, this is a whole 
the world is your own country, where you can go and where you can live in your own way. 
Naturally, I am not original in my love. I love the Strugatskys 
Moreover, I remember I bought their first book in Moscow - “The Country of Bug- 
ditch clouds,” I read and then never changed this love. 
Of course, this was immediately a new level of our fiction, human- 
noah, as a matter of fact. There is, first of all, a person, unlike everyone else 
others. The most favorite of the foreign ones is, of course, Bradbury. K 
I treat fantasy with the greatest respect and love. But in general- 
then, I have quite a lot of favorite authors whom I read from 
pleasure. But I never set myself the task of shutting myself off 
at the expense of fiction from other literature, realizing that 
There is no line between them and there cannot be. What is not fantasy "The Night Before" 
Merry Christmas by Gogol? Or "The Undertaker" by Pushkin? Or "Queen of Spades"? 
I treat Efremov very well, but I like him least of all"Andromeda Nebula". And what I like most is that he 
wrote before "The Andromeda Nebula", his stories, "The Journey of Bau- 
rjeda", "On the edge of the Oikumene". It seems to me that in the Andean Nebula 
Romeda" he turned out to be too much within the framework of social predicament, and 
his society of the future, already when I was still a young man 
I read it and found it unattractive. There was something about him 
from... I don’t know, “from the barracks” is a rude word, I don’t want to offend 
Ivan Antonovich, but something from this kind of socialism, with his 
mandatory statutory regime... It seemed a little to me 
unpleasant. The space scenes and episodes are very good there, but where 
he describes life on our communist planet - something to me 
I didn’t want to go there. 
   - How do you feel about Shtilmark, Solzhenitsyn, Bulgakov?
   - I have an indifferent attitude towards Solzhenitsyn, I’ll say right away. I
I understand the significance of Solzhenitsyn in the history of Russian literature, in 
exposing all the terrible repressions, I understand its powerful, colossal 
greasy work, and his services to Russia and to literature, 
and I don’t want to say a single bad word in the slightest 
his address, but as a writer, as a man of letters, he does not evoke in me 
delight, to be honest. Although it doesn’t cause any sharp rejection either, 
et. That's why I'm indifferent. Shtilmark? Well, I know from Shtilmark 
two things: “The Heir from Calcutta” and “The Tale of the Wanderer of Russia”yskom", I think that’s what it’s called? I like Shtilmark, and he 
"Heir from Calcutta" ... I remember I was a student, and I need 
was preparing for exams, in my opinion, for the fourth year, and I 
Instead, I spent the whole night voraciously reading this book, which I had exchanged in Ma- 
newspaper "Bukinist" to some other... And now sometimes re-read- 
I know, although, of course, I understand that this may not be high 
a classic in the generally accepted sense, but, on the other hand, “Three 
The Musketeer" is also not a high classic, but it is still a classic. 
And Shtilmark did a lot in Russian adventure literature - 
tour. As for Bulgakov, this is Bulgakov, that’s what he says 
There’s nothing to lose, when I read, for starters, “The Master and Margarita”, 
I was dumbfounded, in love, amazed. 

   - Which of the Strugatskys’ things do you like most? What not
do you like it or not really like it?
   - I can’t say that I don’t like anything about the Strugatskys.
I can just guess that there are things that others read 
They will find it difficult and will not like it, especially the latter. 
But in general, for me, as a memory of youth, most of all 
close "It's hard to be a god", "Monday starts on Saturday", 
"Distant Rainbow" - these stories are light, and so on... Although I know 
that the Strugatskys themselves visited, - maybe Boris Natanovich and this 
hour - were unhappy when people talk about their sympathies for 
their earlythings and value little the subsequent - more philosophical, 
deeper, but at the same time more complex and, it seems to me, 
more designed for an elite reader. 
   - What do you think of “Ugly Swans”?
   - I feel good, I like it...
   - What do you think about the "Knights of the Forty Islands" and
other things Lukyanenko?
   - You know, there is such a fashionable word in modern politics -
ambiguous. There are some things I like about this book and some things I don't like. 
I like it. Still, the main idea of this book seems too much to me. 
too cruel. Not the very demonstration that children can fight with children 
and can be cruel - this is the case on every corner - but the fact that 
author (I have the impression that maybe this is against him 
will) presents this as a logical and completely natural phenomenon 
no. But it still seems to me... I agree with the opinion of my beloved 
by me, unfortunately, Radiy Pogodin, who died this year: I said 
he, knowing that such things can happen, still won’t be able to write about 
how, say, a fifth grader knocks down a second grader and hits him 
feet. Although I know that it exists, and there’s no escape, but for my 
this is unnatural for a hero. So I can't say anything. 
   - How do you think the situation would have developed if
were such conditions really created?
   - How would the situation develop? You see, it’s very difficult for me to speak
talk about it because ifif such a situation arose, I 
would put my heroes there, not his heroes, and my heroes 
would have behaved differently. 
   - How realistic is the situation that developed in the novel?
Lukyanenko, who is described?.. 
   - You know, to be honest, she gives the impression of being quite...
quite realistic, in general terms - such a situation will arise 
could. But individual scenes - of this unexpectedly emerging gesture - 
the cruelty and this unjustified blood - it seems to me that everything is too much - 
still illogical. That is, guys of that intellectual level 
which the writer shows in his heroes would probably behave 
no, it’s still more humane. 
   - But Lukyanenko does not show the high level of everyone, he says
mainly about the intellectual level of the main character... There
there are different ones...
   - Well, different, but the rest of him are more or less intellectuals.
Yes, I also have a line from this spy boy - remember? - 
it seemed to me insufficiently completed and too banal 
finished. Because... this is how those heroes end up with whom... 
Thor doesn't know what to do. That is, he apparently didn’t have enough, or 
experience, or desire, or skill somehow more or less psychologically 
resolve this drama to the end. He simply removed it, like 
chess piece from the board. 
   - Which children's writers - ours and foreign ones - can you
highlight which of their works?
   - I don't know wellforeign children's literature. What I
read, seems to me quite straightforward and even accepts 
perhaps because their way of life is more favorable 
archery I mean those books I read about schoolchildren, oh 
real life. Everything there is somehow laid out on shelves. More 
All I love, of course, is Astrid Lindgren, and not for her funnyness, 
the fabulousness of the plot, but for trying to somehow break into the children's soul- 
shu. Take "Mio, my Mio!" - There is also spiritual loneliness there. 
And "Brothers - Lionheart". And from ours... still, on the head 
I think Radiy Pogodin stands above the rest, with his 
them "Waiting", with his latest things. Vladimir Zheleznikov 
he fatted a lot and well, but, in my opinion, now he somehow... Or the publishers 
for some reason they attributed it to the writers of “that era”. And don't understand 
They say that much of what he wrote about is very important and interesting even now. 
   - How do you generally assess the state of affairs in the Russian nursery?
literature?
   - It was good literature, Soviet children's literature. Nes-
Despite the excessive propaganda of communist ideas, it is still 
was very psychological, very rich in problems, very rich 
interesting characters. In terms of its literary level, purely pro- 
professionally, it seems to me that she was much higher than children's literature 
rates of other countries. But here, how will they go about destroying and breaking... Then 
temples, then theaters, then notI know that... It’s the same here - they started to bor- 
fight with socialist ideas, but they destroyed everything else. Where 
is it now our Russian children's literature? I can't seriously 
perceive the works... but, however, I will not name the authors, 
God be with them. With all the wit, with all, so to speak, strength 
irony, these “Problems” by Oster, for example, excuse me, but... 
In some cases this is good, but you can’t put it at the forefront 
corner of literature. And with all my love for Crocodile Gena and Chebu- 
Rashka - you can’t reduce Russian children’s literature to this. 
   - They probably publish this mainly because it’s for little ones.
Children's parents are more likely to buy such books.
   - Well, probably. Now there are absolutely no books for intermediate students.
age, some related to modern children. 
   - While the child is small, they seem to take care of him, books
they buy it for him. And I grew up...
   - And then please - read Chase.
   - How do you feel about the work of Anatoly Aleksin, Janusz
Korczak, Lev Kassil, Arkady Gaidar? 
   - As for Aleksin... I like Aleksin’s stories, I
I can’t say anything against such things. But I don’t quite agree, 
that these are children's things - these are books written for adults about children 
quality Janusz Korczak is a separate issue. Janusz Korczak in no way 
Degree not a children's writer. What can we say about him? You can talk about him 
talk like Makarenko; as a teacher,psychologist, sociologist. 
Even his “King Matt,” although it is published in children’s terms, is especially 
especially the first part - this is not a child’s thing, it’s philosophical 
What a thing, this is in terms of those utopias that were written before. Or an- 
tiutopia. A purely philosophical work. As a teacher, he is a great 
ra is certainly great as a writer - he is very talented. When 
what is it about child readers? I only know one childish thing about him - 
"When I'm little again." What children can read exactly 
for myself... Gaidar - for me, as he was Gaidar, he is Gai- 
gift. That's it. I can't say anything here. How would the current 
critics did not yell at Gaidar. And Kassil too. I've always loved 
Kassilya. 
   - How do you feel about the club of lovers of your creativity “Lots-
man"? 
   - I feel very good about the “Lotsman” club with all my heart. to me
it’s just, to be honest, sometimes it’s awkward when I turn away 
from all earthly, vain affairs, I think: “Lord, people are... 
then they work..." That is, am I the figure who is worthy of such 
affairs, interests, this scale of work, and everything else? And somehow 
it even becomes awkward, and, frankly speaking, pleasant - that it’s hidden 
vat. 
   - It’s not even about the “figure”, but about those root causes that
arouse interest.
   - Well, when I read this, the last fifteenth issue
club almanac "The Other Side" - amazing, huh? Today to Irina 
- to my wife - I say:look, they publish a magazine about me, and you... And you 
again you run away somewhere, leaving me... No, well, what can I do, 
except, so to speak, the timid, somewhat embarrassed approval of the expressed 
reap? You know, as they used to say, you need to stand at attention and say 
say: “I consider this attitude an advance and my future activities.” 
I will try to justify the trust with diligence,” and so on, and so on - 
lee. No, seriously, what else can I say?! I feel that 
I just can't be grateful enough for all this... 
   - Vladislav Petrovich, they say that reading creates a writer
tel...
   - I don't understand. Does the writer create the reader?
   - Writer.
   - Oh, the reader creates the writer? Well, I don't know, it seems to me that this is
a rather controversial statement. That is, it is profitable 
for some discussions, for some maybe slogans, for 
readers' conferences. That is, it is catchy, like “for 
Children should be written in the same way as for adults, only better." If 
If you think about it, this is an absolutely absurd expression. I'm always like this 
Here are a few declarative phrases I'm afraid of. Well, what does “read- 
"tel creates a writer"? Well, how does he create it? Maybe, on the contrary, 
does the writer create the reader? 
   - Maybe this is quite real.
   - Whenever, I guess. But in general, it’s probably some kind of
there is interaction, and it’s good if it’s interaction 
harmonious. In some ways, readersprompt the writer about something 
the writer educates readers. 
   - Vladislav Petrovich, what do you dislike most, and what
do you like people?
   - Again, I'm afraid of declarative phrases and formulas. Should I express
a few phrases that would be remembered by listeners and serve as 
would be a guide to action, or what? I don't know. Well, in one 
I may like something in a person that I don’t like in another. Nap- 
For example, I like, say, some kind of shyness and modesty 
in one person, but in another it seems unacceptable to me, or 
on the contrary. Well of course, what's not to like? I don't like greed, neo- 
I don't like the obligation. Indifference to other people, to some 
I don't like human troubles - that's for sure. That is, 
The desire to make your career at the expense of other people. This is, for example- 
measure, absolutely disgusting, but, unfortunately, very often dis- 
extended. I don't like it when a person devotes his whole life 
well... acquiring purely material wealth, or something. Then how 
As a rule, he will always crash. Sooner or later. And talk about 
There is a lot that can be done with this. We need to take one person in particular, 
put it on, examine it, and then say what you like about it, and 
what you don't like. I am very afraid of some generalizing judgments, and 
In no case do I ever strive for the role of an oracle. God forbid 
come on! 
   - Previously, friendship was very much promoted...It was an idea
al... Now that many guys have become involved in business relationships
research, all sorts of consumer literature related to this appeared,
even Uspensky got involved in these matters... The same one who writes about
crocodile Gene doing business.
   - You see, this is Uspensky’s business. God will be his judge.
   - This is Uspensky’s business, but nevertheless... Why, you and now
you write about children, in particular, about friendship, specifically about mutual
And the relationship is not business, not one where money appears?
   - Because it disgusts me to write where there are business relations and
money. I at least try to be free in my own creativity. 
nym, write about what I like. The point is that no matter what now 
business relationship has not arisen, it is sufficiently external 
sign of human life, but there are also signs of purely internal 
inherent in every person in all eras. Striving for 
friendship for both the child and the adult, if this is a normal child and 
normal adult, it always exists, regardless of 
whether he lives in the stagnant Brezhnev era, or under Julius Caesar, 
or will live there in the three thousandth century. Because it's at the core 
human nature, at the core of human essence. Man - 
a social being, he cannot be alone. There are, of course, 
lovers of hermit life, but this is rather a deviation from 
rules. And a person always wants to communicate, wantssee nearby 
like-minded people and see those who will help him in difficult times. 
And from here arises a reciprocal desire to help oneself, that is, 
desire to love. To love not in biological terms, to continue 
family, but to love comrades, love nature, love parents, 
love friends, that is, communicate with good people and feel 
yourself in a circle of good people. It seems to me that this is a natural tendency 
everyone has laziness. And in children it has not yet been eradicated by disappearing 
ganda of modern business relations. This manifests itself, perhaps, 
more brightly and disinterestedly than in adults. 
   - Vladislav Petrovich, don’t you think that in society there should be
there should still be some kind of balance between, let’s say, beautiful bun-
tari and respectable inhabitants, because society is not
can live without beautiful rebels, but it cannot consist
only of them.
   - You know, the term “beautiful rebels” seems to me to be sufficient
risky to a certain extent, because among the beautiful rebels 
there are a lot of egoists... And they don’t always carry positive 
tive charge. It's quite easy to be rebels, and beautiful 
including. It’s easy to be revolutionaries, to call for destruction 
eliminating stagnation and everything else. But it’s not for nothing that they say: you can’t break something 
it. Take the same life story of Fidel Castro, like me 
it seems like a deep life tragedy. After all, how wonderful he wasrevolutionary! What a rebel! How he famously raised the whole island to 
fight for the revolution! After all, I managed to do a lot. After all, 
obviously enthusiasts, youth, sixteen-year-old boys and girls 
Chonki went to the remote mountains, to villages, to teach children to read and write, and 
built, and everything else. And when we had to build, when we had to 
establish when some organizational talent is needed: 
then no, that means I know how - that’s all. And if you don't want to 
me to make a revolution, then everything, to the nail of you. That's how it is from the bun- 
Dictators very often grow up. Because rebels often 
are selfish. That is, he is ready to make humanity happy, but 
those who are not going to be happy under this system means 
must be eliminated. So what's better... I prefer, in general, 
quiet, conscientious builders than rebels. 

                                     Compilation by Andrey NIKOLAEV
         based on interviews provided by the "Lotsman" club
                                   and Dmitry Vatolin (Moscow