What Milne wrote for children. Biography

Alan Alexander Milne (Alan alexander milne) - prose writer, poet, playwright, classic of English literature of the twentieth century, author of the famous "Winnie the Pooh".

Milne was born in the London borough of Kilburn on January 18, 1882. A Scottish by birth, Alan Alexander Milne spent his childhood in London, where his father, John Vine Milne, owned a small private school. His early education was largely influenced by the youth teacher H.G. Wells - much later Milne wrote of Wells as "a great writer and a great friend." He continued his education at Westminster School and Trinity College Cambridge. Subsequently, he presented the handwritten original of his book Winnie the Pooh and The House on the Pooh Edge to the College Library. As a student at Cambridge, where he studied mathematics from 1900 to 1903, he wrote notes for the student newspaper Grant, and his first literary experiments were published in the comic magazine Punch. At the age of 24, Milne joined Punch as an assistant editor until the outbreak of World War I, in which he took part.

In 1913, Alan Milne married Dorothy Daphne de Selincot, from this marriage one son was born, Christopher Robin Milne. A born pacifist, Milne was drafted into the Royal Army and served in France. The war made a strong impression on the young writer. She became the reason why Milne, who was not particularly interested in politics, thought about what was happening in the world. His famous antiwar work, Peace of Honor, was published in 1934. This book found a huge response in the interwar times, and in 1924 Meffin published Milne's famous short stories "When We Were Very Young", some of which were previously published in Punch and were well known to regular readers of the magazine.

In 1926, the first version of the Bear with sawdust in his head (in English - "a bear with very small brains") "Winnie the Pooh" appeared. Milne's wife and little Christopher suggested the idea of ​​writing this book. The history of the creation of a fairy tale is full of mysteries and contradictions, but the most important thing is that it has become one of the most popular children's books. The second part of the stories “Now there are six of us” appeared in 1927 and, finally, the final part of the book “House on the Pooh Edge” was published in 1928. It seemed to Milne that he wrote something like a well-selling detective story, because his book immediately earned two and a half thousand pounds. Even after the dizzying success of Winnie the Pooh, Milne remained in doubt about his literary talent. He wrote: "All I wanted was to escape this glory, as I used to want to escape from Punch, as I always wanted to escape ... However ..."

In 1922, he did write a detective novel, The Mystery of the Red House, which was not published until 1939, along with 25 other plays, stories and Milne's autobiography Too Late. Milne has always recognized and repeatedly gratefully emphasized the defining role of his wife Dorothy and his son Christopher in the writing and the very fact of the appearance of Winnie the Pooh. The books about Pooh the bear have been translated into 25 languages ​​and have taken their place in the hearts and on the shelves of millions of readers.

The first chapter of Pooh, "In which we meet Winnie the Pooh and the Bees for the first time," was first published in a London evening paper on December 24, 1925, and broadcast on BBC radio on Christmas Day by Donald Kalfrop. The irony of fate is that Milne was convinced that he did not write children's prose or children's poetry. He spoke to the child within each of us. He never read his stories about Pooh to his son, preferring to educate Christopher on the works of his favorite writer Wodehouse. Woodhouse subsequently returned the compliment to Milne, saying that "Milne is his favorite children's writer".

Woodhouse's books continued their life at Milne's home after his death. Christopher Robin read these books to his daughter Claire, whose bookshelves were literally full of books from this writer. Christopher wrote to his friend Peter (actor): “My father did not understand anything about the specifics of the book market, knew nothing about the specifics of sales, he never wrote books for children. He knew about me, he knew about himself and the Garrick Club - and he simply did not pay attention to everything else ... Except, perhaps, life itself. " Christopher Robin first read poems and stories about Winnie the Pooh 60 years after their first appearance, when he heard Peter's recordings on the disc.

The adventures of Winnie the bear are loved by both adults and children. A 1996 opinion poll conducted by English radio found the book to be ranked 17th on the list of the most significant and significant works published in the twentieth century. Winnie the Pooh's worldwide sales from 1924 to 1956 exceeded 7 million. As you know, when a sale exceeds a million, publishers stop counting them.

In 1960, Winnie the Pooh was brilliantly translated into Russian by Boris Zakhoder. Anyone who speaks Russian and English can attest that the translation was done with exquisite precision and ingenious ingenuity. In general, Vinnie has been translated into all European and almost all world languages.

In addition to the world famous Winnie the Pooh, Alan Milne is known as a playwright and novelist. His plays were successfully performed on the professional stage in London, but now they are staged mainly in amateur theaters, although they still collect full houses and arouse the interest of the public and the press.

In 1952, Milne fell seriously ill. He had to undergo a severe brain surgery. The operation was successful, and after it Milne returned to his home in Sussex, where he spent the rest of his life reading. After a long illness, he died on January 31, 1956.

Soon after the release of Winnie the Pooh, Milne wrote to The Nation: “I think that each of us secretly dreams of immortality .. In the sense that his name will outlive the body and will live in this world, despite the fact that the person himself has passed into another world”. When Milne died, no one doubted that he had discovered the secret of immortality. And this is not 15 minutes of fame, this is real immortality, which, contrary to his own expectations, was brought to him not by plays and short stories, but by a little bear with sawdust in his head. In 1996, Milne's favorite teddy bear was sold in London at an auction organized by the Bonham House to an unknown buyer for £ 4,600.

Winnie the Pooh creator Alan A. Milne is an English writer, journalist and playwright. Among his works are fairy tales, short stories, novels, poems and plays. But the greatest popularity was brought to him by the children's book about the adventures of fabulous animals - "Winnie the Pooh". The tale of the teddy bear completely overshadowed Milne's other works.

Childhood

A. A. Milne was born in London in 1882. The children in the family were helped in every possible way to engage in creativity and encouraged these activities. Alan himself wrote poetry from a young age, when he became a student he began to write articles together with his brother.

The writer was very lucky with a good education: his father had a private school, which Milne, the younger, attended. The level of education at the school can be judged by the fact that one of its teachers was Herbert Wells, the world famous writer and journalist.

Milne then entered the prestigious Cambridge to study mathematics. The young man had great abilities in the exact sciences, but it should be noted that the mathematical formulas of the future writer were not attracted enough to be engaged in them all his life. But most of all, she was attracted by literary activity. He began writing notes for the university newspaper.

He was noticed and highly appreciated for his talent: the young journalist was invited to the famous British humorous magazine "Punch". It was a great success for a novice writer.

By the way, the future wife of the writer read his feuilletons in a magazine and became interested in him in absentia.

Mature years

In 1913, Alan married Dorothy de Selincourt. And the next year, the 1st World War began. Milne volunteered for the war. Mostly during the war, he worked in the propaganda department.

Even during the war, Alan Milne wrote plays that were very successful. He became known as one of the most famous and successful playwrights in England.

In 1920, the Milnov couple had a son.

Pooh Bear and all-all-all

As the writer himself later said, he did not compose the fairy tale on purpose, but simply transferred the adventures of the toy friends of his son Christopher Robin to paper.

The child was given different toys, and before going to bed, dad usually told his son stories that happened to his toys. The family members also performed performances with Christopher's toys as participants. This is how the fairy tale about a teddy bear and his friends was born.

The characters of the fairy tale appear on its pages in exactly the order in which they appeared in the life of the child himself. The forest in which Winnie the Pooh and his friends lived is very similar to the forest in which the Milnov family loved to walk.

And the real bear became the prototype of Winnie the Pooh himself. Her full name is Winnipeg, she was bought by a small bear cub from a Canadian hunter and ended up in the London Zoo.

In 1924, Milna visited the zoo, saw a bear and little Christopher renamed her Vinnie. He named his favorite teddy bear the same way.

At the end of 1924, the beginning of the story about the teddy bear was published by a London newspaper. It is this date that can be considered the "birth" of Winnie the Pooh.

The readers liked the original tale so much that they began to ask for a sequel. And Alan Milne began to write down his stories about fairytale heroes. In 1926, a whole book about them had already been published.

Why didn't the Milnes love Winnie the Pooh?

The fairy tale about Pooh the bear brought unprecedented fame to Alan Milne. This story has been translated into different languages ​​many times, republished and filmed. There is a full-length cartoon filmed at Walt Disney Studios. In it, animators tried to reproduce the first illustrations for the book.

Soyuzmultfilm also released its own version of this tale. The cartoon fell in love with all viewers and became a classic of the children's genre in the Soviet Union.

But for Milnam, father and son, this fairy tale caused a lot of real trouble. The fact is that the fairy tale literally closed Alan Milne's further path to literature. His stories and plays written earlier were already forgotten, and critics did not perceive new books. All works from now on began to pass the "test by Winnie the Pooh".

The writer understood this perfectly and said with bitterness that if a writer once wrote a work on a certain topic, then only the same topic would be demanded of him in the future.

At one time, Conan Doyle faced a similar attitude. The reading public insistently demanded only the continuation of the stories about Sherlock Holmes, and practically ignored other works of the writer. The writer even hated his popular hero.

Readers can understand: if the work is good, then you want all the new and new continuation.

But the point of view of the writer can also be understood: he never smiles at anyone for his whole life to remain a writer of one work, he wants to achieve creative realization in other genres.

Conan Doyle succeeded, along with stories about Sherlock Holmes, he continued to write on other topics. And his other books were also in demand. In the case of Alan Milne, everything turned out to be much more tragic.

The plays, stories and poems of the talented writer were almost completely forgotten. Only Winnie the Pooh was and remains in demand and popular. And this despite the fact that Milne himself did not consider himself a children's writer!

In 1938, his theatrical play failed. And Milne stopped writing for the theater. His humorous stories also lost their former popularity. Books for adults were no longer reprinted, only Winnie the Pooh's circulation grew. The wife also poisoned the writer, venomously calling her a writer with sawdust in her head.

Alan Alexander Milne died in 1956 from a long illness.

The son of the writer suffered a lot from Winnie the Pooh. In the book, he is displayed under his own name and it was not difficult for his peers to guess that he is the very Christopher Robin. The boy was teased and bullied for many years, and he did not receive support from his parents. The mother was never interested in her son, the father, when Christopher grew up, too.

Even in adulthood, Christopher was never able to get rid of the negative influence of Winnie the Pooh.

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Alan Alexander Milne was born in London in 1882. His father was the head of a small private school, in which H.G. Wells taught at one time. After graduating from Cambridge University, where (like Carroll) studied mathematics, Milne began working as a journalist. At twenty-four, he became deputy editor-in-chief of the famous comic magazine "Punch", and published his essays there weekly.
But the real world fame (unexpectedly for himself) was brought to Milne by books for children.
Milne began with poetry, because according to Winnie the Pooh, you do not find poetry, but she you. Written as a joke and published at the insistence of his wife, the children's poem soon became very popular. The first book of poems also had a great resonance. And the famous Winnie the Pooh saga made Milne a classic.
And for the first time a Russian reader was introduced to the famous Milnov hero and his friends by the wonderful poet and translator Boris Zakhoder - in 1960.
http://www.litru.ru

Poetry

About son:

My Robin doesn't walk

As people -

Top-top, -

And rushing skipping,

Gallop -

Gop-gop! ..

A playful poem " Tails"- about the intention of a little boy to acquire an" excellent tail ":

I said to the lion, the cat, the camel:

- I will not envy you.

See, from now on

I also got a tail.

Swing song

It's easy on the swing
I fly higher and higher:
Far away from me
Attic or rooftop!

I see an oak top
And the field in the distance:
I probably became
Lord of the earth!

And the lord of heaven
I would really,
If only a little higher
The swing took off!

Oh, just a minute -
And soared to the sun!
But somehow they
Going down ...

Fur bear

And if, like a bear,
I'm all overgrown with fur -
I would not watch
Into the snow and frost!

Frosty or blizzard
Blizzard or snowy -
There is no need to worry
When dressed bearishly!

I would wear a big fur hood
In fur mittens (on each hand),
And in a big fur jacket (on the sides),
And in big fur boots (on the legs).
Covered with a fur blanket,
All winter I would sleep in a fur bed!

———————

"Tails".

There is a tail for a lion and a whale,

Crocadile and elephant;

Fluffy, long, in scales,

And with a tassel at the end.

Birds, animals and fish have a tail.

How can I get it?

Give me the address of the super store

Where there is a showcase all in the tails.

I will spend my last penny

I will buy a tail so that it looks like

To a crocodile and a whale,

On a lion, a huge elephant.

Look, animals, fish, birds!

You can't compare with my tail!

(Thank you so much for the excellent translation)

British writer Alan Aleksander Milne (Alan Aleksander Milne) remained in the history of literature and in the grateful memory of readers as the author of stories about a teddy bear with "sawdust in his head."

Himself Alan Milne considered a serious playwright and short story writer. Trapped in such a paradoxthe writer worked and lived, in his biography there are still many interesting facts.

January 18, 1882 in London at the family of the director of a private school John Vine and his wife Sarah Marie Milne had a third son- Alan Alexander.

Education Alan received his education at Westminster School and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics. Interestingly, nthe teacher at the school where Milne studied was the world famous Herbert Wells, whom the writer considered both a teacher and a friend. V student magazine "Grant",along with brother Kenneth, Alan Milne will begin publishing the first articles under the initials AKM.

In 1903, Alan Alexander Milne moves to London, where his biography will be associated with his true vocation - literature.Since 1906, the writer has been published in the Punch magazine, and laterhis humorous poems and essays began to appear in other publications.

In 1915, Alan Milne leaves to serve as an officer in the British army. At the Battle of the Somme, writer was injured ... After recovering, he works in the propaganda service of military intelligence and writes patriotic articles. V 1919 in the rank of lieutenant, he is demobilized from the army.

During the Milne war wrote his first play, but success comes only after 1920, when comedies appear in theaters, are well received by critics and the public. At the same time, 4 films were shot based on his scripts. In 1922 at Milna a detective story called "Secrets of the Red House" is released.

In 1913, on the eve of the war, Alan Milne is married to Dorothy de Selkencourt. Personal life and military service of the writer went indissolubly , Milne's name is becoming more and more famous. In a in August 1920 at the Milnov the long-awaited son is born - Christopher Robin. In 1924, Alan Milne published a collection of children's poems "When We Were Young" and in 1925 - buys a house in Hartfield. His writing bBy this time, the iography was replenished with 18 plays and 3 novels.

Simultaneously with the novels, short stories for children “Children's Gallery” are published. P err Milne will use them when writing his most popular work. Biography Alana Milna began to change in 1926. It was from this time that readers began to perceive him exclusively as a children's writer - thanks to the fairy tale "Winnie the Pooh".

Milne's son Christopher there were toys: a teddy bear, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Tigra. Writernamed the hero of his fairy tale "Winnie" after he saw a Canadian black bear from Winnipeg at the zoo. The word "Pooh" comes from a swan that he met while on vacation. So it turned out Winnie the Pooh. Three more characters - Owl, Rabbit and Roo - were created solely thanks to the imagination of the writer.

In 1926, the first version of Winnie the Pooh was published. The next year the sequel "Now there are six of us" was published, and a year later the finale appeared - "The House on the Pooh Edge".The first book immediately brought Milnu universal fame and money, but, oddly enough, from fame and success the writer's head did not spin.

Doubting about his literary talent, Alan Milne , whose biography and work in the minds of readers are now tightly connected with Winnie the Pooh, tried to break out of the prevailing stereotype of a children's writer. Butcharming heroes did not let go of their creator.

The book about Winnie the Poche was publishedinsane circulations, during the life of the writertheir number exceeded7 million copies. It has been translated into all foreign languages ​​of the world. Cartoons were created based on it. The fairy tale began to live an independent life, overshadowing everything on which Alan Milne worked further.

Life goes on. On the one hand, the writer is grateful to fate and loved ones for the creation of the book, and on the other hand, he does not introduce his son to it in childhood.Christopher Robin first became acquainted with the book sixty years after its creation.

Since 1931, Alan Alexander Milne will write a lot ... But his books will no longer be met with such an enthusiastic reception as the simple-minded, slightly selfish Winnie the Pooh. In 1931 the novel "Two" was published, in 1933 - "A Very Short Sensation", in 1934 - the antiwar work "Honorable Peace", in 1939 - "Too Late" (autobiographical work), in 1940-1948 ... - poetic works "Behind the Front Line" and "Norman Church", in 1952 - a collection of articles "Year after year", in 1956 - the novel "Chloe Marr".

The writer worked hard, and critics and readers greeted this work with indifference and indifference. Alan Alexander Milne was held hostage by his charming hero, who immortalized his name.

Why is Winnie the Pooh so attractive?

The story told by Milne fired like a salute with a burst of cheerfulness and vigor. There is no struggle between good and evil, but there is a slight irony with which the author observes his characters, whom he settled in a fairy forest, very reminiscent of the surroundings of his own home.

Time in a fairy tale is frozen and does not change. Plush Winnie is an optimist who enjoys every day.Problems and suffering are alien to him. He is a glutton and a gourmand. When Rabbit offers to choose what he will eat: bread with honey or bread with condensed milk, then, following the rules of good upbringing, Winnie leaves only honey and condensed milk for the sweet tooth. This, like so much more, gets funny and hilarious.

The bear has sawdust in his head, but he does not lose heart, without fatigue he composes noise and chants. Winnie the Pooh at any moment he is ready for adventure, to help his friends, to think that he is a cloud, to climb for honey to the bees. Kind and funny fantasies are constantly being born in his "smart" head. Other characters are charming: the pessimist Donkey, the learned Owl, the educated Rabbit, the shy Piglet. They all expect praise and admiration, they take very seriously andto yourself and to friends.

The ease and good-natured smile of the author make up the unique flavor of the whole story, which tells about friendship and mutual help, which are manifested when the heroes find themselves in humorously difficult situations.

(1882-1956) english writer

Millions of children and adults around the world are familiar with a cute bear named Winnie the Pooh. Alan Alexander Milne composed a tale about him and his friends - piglet Piglet, donkey Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit and others. There is one more main character in the tale - the little son of the writer Christopher Robin, who became not only a participant in this amazing tale, but, strange as it may seem, one of its authors. And Winnie the Pooh was involved in the story of creating a fairy tale about himself and his friends. After all, this already pretty shabby teddy bear was the favorite toy of the little boy Christopher Robin, who never parted with him all his childhood years.

So Winnie the Pooh became a member of the Milnov family and the protagonist of the tale. In the end, he became so famous that he overshadowed even his creator, who is now known only because he came up with a fairy tale about Winnie the Pooh.

Alan Alexander Milne really did not create anything more significant, despite the fact that he had other works.

He came from a family that was as proud of their ancestry as aristocrats are proud of their noble origins. All members of this family were quite extraordinary people, although they did not differ in gentility. Milne's great-grandfather was a bricklayer and his grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor. He worked as a missionary in Jamaica, then returned to England and founded thirteen schools there,

after which he began to preach again. During his life, he never managed to save even the slightest decent amount to help his son break out into the world. Everything that he earned, he generously distributed to poor people.

The writer's father had a hard time. He worked as an accountant at a confectionery factory, as an assistant mechanic, then as a teacher's assistant. In the end, he still entered the university, and after graduation he founded his own school. It was a very good educational institution. At one time, the future famous writer Herbert Wells worked as a teacher. She and Alan Milne's father remained friends all their lives. Wells later recalled Milne in his Autobiography Experience.

Milne Sr. tried to give his son Alan Alexander a good education. Alan studied at the closed Westminster School, graduated from the mathematics department of the University of Cambridge. During his studies, he edited the university magazine "Grant" and published his own humorous essays there. Milne liked literary work more than mathematics, so after graduating from university he decided to devote himself to literature. However, it turned out to be not easy to publish your works in some serious edition. It happened that the editors did not even read the manuscripts that Milne handed to the editorial offices of the magazines.

Therefore, he could not believe his own eyes when one day he saw his parody of The Return of Sherlock Holmes published in Vanity Fair magazine.

And yet, the works of Alan Alexander Milne, although not often, appeared in magazines, and his name became famous. In 1906, he became editor of Punch magazine and thus got the opportunity to print his works without hindrance. His business was finally getting better. Milne married and soon released his Punch magazine humoresques as a separate book.

During the First World War, he served in a reserve communications battalion, then went to the front, but fell ill, and was returned to England. For some time, Alan Milne was an instructor at a training camp, then worked in the propaganda department of the War Department, from where he was demobilized after the war with the rank of lieutenant.

During the war, he began to engage in drama. First, he wrote a play for the amateur troupe of the communications battalion, and then began to create plays for professional theaters. After the war, Milne became a famous writer and playwright. His comedies were a success in theaters, and the detective novel The Mystery of the Red House was even considered a classic.

In 1920, a son, Christopher, was born into the family of Alan Milne. When the boy was one year old, he was presented with a teddy bear, which was named Winnie the Pooh. Then Christopher got a toy donkey Eeyore and a piglet Piglet. Later, this company was supplemented by Kanga and Tiger, and Milne invented the Owl and Rabbit for a fairy tale.

Christopher grew up, and in the nursery real performances were performed, in which all family members took part - father, mother, little son and his toys, which in the fairy tale behaved like living beings.

For his son, Alan Alexander Milne began to write children's books. At first it was poetry, and then "Winnie the Pooh" appeared. It turned out like this.

At the very beginning of the twenties, a friend of Alana Milnov opened a children's magazine and asked Milne to write several poems for him. The writer refused, but nevertheless began to think that such he could write. As a result, the poem "Sonya and the Doctor" and other poems appeared, which in 1924 were published as a separate book.

And then Milne remembered all the tales that he told his son, and began to write them down. In 1926, the first book "Winnie the Pooh" was published, which included ten stories about a bear cub and his friends.

In 1927, a new book of children's poetry by Alan Milne appeared, and in 1928 - the book "House on the Pooh Edge", which included ten more stories about Winnie the Pooh. Thus, the first book about this wonderful bear cub was published when Christopher was three years old, and the last when he was already eight years old. In 1925, Milne acquired a large farmhouse with services and a large forest of 200 hectares - Cochford Farm, where the story was mainly set.

Alan Alexander Milne wrote other works for his son. He has published a collection of "Stories about Christopher Robin", "A book to read about Christopher Robin", "Birthday stories about Christopher Robin" and even such an entertaining book as "The Alphabet of Christopher Robin." In addition to these, he wrote other small children's works.

However, Alan Milne did not write about Winnie the Pooh. He even got angry when asked about it, and said: "If a person once wrote about a policeman, they will demand that he write only about policemen all his life."

Everything was explained by the fact that Christopher grew up and Milne stopped composing fairy tales for him. And for some reason he did not want to compose them for other children. But this was a mistake of the writer, because his other works were no longer successful.

In 1938, a theatrical production of Milne's Sarah Simple was a complete failure. After that, he stopped writing for the theater. Gradually, readers lost interest in the writer's humorous works, and the Punch magazine, where Milne was again invited to work, even refused his services. In 1939, Alan Alexander Milne wrote his autobiography, but after a brief success, it was forgotten too.

Literary fortune left Alan Milne when he was only forty-eight years old. Soon his name began to be mentioned only as the author of "Winnie the Pooh". In this capacity, he is known to this day.

Winnie the Pooh and All, All, All is a typical family fairy tale that parents usually come up with for their young children. Moreover, it reflects the cases and situations that actually happened in the Milnov family, only they were played out by the animated toys of Christopher Robin and himself.

The son of the writer Christopher Milne, to whom one of the most wonderful children's works is dedicated, became a shopkeeper. At first he was engaged in grocery and haberdashery trade, and then he opened a bookstore and began to prosper. At the age of 54, he published his own book, Enchanted Places, in which he spoke about his childhood.

Then he published another book - "The Road Through the Trees", where he again talked about his life, but already an adult. True, both of these books did not have much success and were interesting only because their author was involved in the creation of a wonderful tale about the bear Winnie the Pooh and his friends.