Neznaika
Encyclopedia
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
created by the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
children's writer Nikolay Nosov
Nikolay Nosov
Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov was a Soviet children's literature writer, the author of a number of humorous short stories, a school novel, and the popular trilogy of fairy tale novels about the adventures of Neznaika and his friends.-Early life:...
.
Dunno, recognized by his bright blue hat, canary-yellow trousers, orange shirt, and green tie, is the title character of Nosov's world-famous trilogy, The Adventures of Dunno and his Friends (1954), Dunno in Sun City (1958), and Dunno on the Moon (1966). There have been several movie adaptations of the books.
Names
His names were translated differently in various languages: in , in , in Arabic "الجاهل", in Bengali as "Anari", in , in , in , in , in , in , in , in , in and in .Plot summaries
The three fairy taleFairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
novels follow the adventures of the little fictional child-like people living in "Flower City". They are described to be sized like "medium cucumbers", a quality that has earned them the name "shorties" or "mites". All fruits and vegetables growing in Flower City are, however, their regular size, so the Shorties invent sophisticated methods of growing and harvesting them. In Nosov's universe, each shorty occupies his/her own niche in the community and is named accordingly.
The Adventures of Dunno and his Friends
In Flower Town, Dunno gets into heaps of trouble. First, he becomes convinced that the sun is falling and manages to scare half the town before Doono, Dunno's brainy antithesis (his name is derived from the Russian "", I know) clears everything up. Then he proceeds to try music, art, and poetry, but his unorthodox endeavors only irritate his friends, and he is forced to quit. Next, ignoring the warnings of Swifty, Dunno crashes Bendum and Twistum's car into the Cucumber River and ends up in the hospital. He then gets into a fight with his best friend Gunky for not ending his friendships with the girl-shorties Pee-Wee and Tinkle.Doono proposes to build a hot air balloon and go on an adventure. He and his friends begin extracting rubber, weaving the basket, and making emergency parachutes out of dandelions. A large rubber balloon is then inflated, fastened to the basket, and filled with hot air. The parachutes and other supplies are loaded, and sixteen seats are accommodated for. Everyone helps with preparations except for Dunno, who is too busy bossing everyone around and providing useless advice. The day of the departure comes, and Doono, Dunno, and fourteen other Mites come on board. Shot takes with him his dog, Dot. By this time, half the town still does not believe the balloon will be able to fly, but the balloon successfully rises off the ground, and all the shorties of Flower Town cheer. Gunky waves to Dunno from the ground but Dunno shuns him.
The balloon eventually crashes near the Greenville, inhabited only by girl-Mites (boy-Mites had left for the Kite Town where they can carry out freely their boyish activities), who took balloonists to the hospital to care for them. As Doono (who escaped from the balloon by parachute before the crash) is absent, Dunno describes himself to girl-Mites as balloon inventor and boy-Mites' leader. When he visits the hospital, he talks boy-Mites into supporting his version of facts, in exchange promising to help them out of hospital as soon as possible. With the time, Dunno's lies are discovered and he's mocked by boy-Mites, but consoled by girl-Mites.
Dunno in Sun City
After receiving a magic wand from a wizard, Dunno, Knopochka, and Pachkulya Pyostrenkiy wish for a car and go on a road trip to Sun City. During their journey, they see many technological marvels like futuristic cars, bizarre architecture, televisions that can communicate with you, computerized chess players, etc. They also run into some trouble in the city, particularly when Dunno uses his magic wand to turn a Shorty into a donkey, and then turns two donkeys and a hinnyHinny
A hinny is a domestic equine hybrid that is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey . It is similar to the more common mule, which is the product of a female horse and a male donkey....
into Shorties.
Dunno on the Moon
Znayka discovers that his moon rock (that he obtained from his previous travel to the Moon) creates a no gravity zone when interacting with a magnetic field. He uses this knowledge to build a rocket ship that will go to the moon much more easily because of being virtually weightless. However, Dunno and Ponchik are not allowed to go; Dunno , because of his undisciplined behavior, and Ponchik, because of his inability to cope with non-gravity effects. The night before the rocket launch, Dunno and Ponchik sneak into the ship and accidentally launch the rocket.When they arrive on the moon, Dunno and Ponchik become separated and Dunno falls through a cave and discovers a whole separate society of mites living inside the moon. However, unlike on Earth, these mites do not have "giant food" (that is, their fruit and vegetables are sized in proportion to the mites, rather than to normal humans like on Earth). The moon society is a corrupt capitalistic state: the millionaires control all the factories and squander their money away on unnecessary luxuries, the police is violent, corrupt, and stupid, everyday citizens struggle to survive and live in rat infested barracks.
Dunno gets thrown into jail for not having money to pay for his meal at a restaurant and is mistaken for a wanted criminal by the stupid police officers. In jail he meets Miga - a fast-talking schemer, and Kozlik - a poor, gentle worker. Upon getting released from jail, Miga introduces Kozlik and Dunno to Zhulio - another con man, and the four decide to start a company selling stocks to raise money to get "giant seeds" from Dunno's rocket ship and plant them on the moon. The stocks sell well and soon the four friends have lots of money. However, some of the local millionaire businessmen are worried that giant food will mean that poor workers can get richer and the millionaires may lose money. Their leader, Spruts, convinces Miga and Zhulio to steal the money and run leaving Dunno and Kozlik jobless and penniless.
Meanwhile, Ponchik finds the same cave and also goes inside the moon. However, he quickly discovers salt and opens his own business making and selling it. He becomes a millionaire but then becomes bankrupt when the price of salt becomes too low. Then Ponchik becomes an average worker.
Dunno and Kozlik work odd jobs but are still starving and living in poverty in a rat infested basement. Kozlik gets bit by a rat and becomes sick. Just then, Dunno gets a job as a dog nanny for a rich woman and makes enough money for a doctor for Kozlik who slowly recovers, but the rich woman finds out that Dunno took her dogs to the rat infested basement and fires him. Dunno and Kozlik then end up living on the street. Since Kozlik has lost his hat and Dunno lost his shoes they are breaking the law and get sent to Fool's Island which has a toxic gas that turns all the people there into sheep which are then sheared for their wool.
Later Dunno's friends come to Moon with giant seeds, which results in elimination of poverty and establishment of a communism-like economical system.
Flower City Dwellers
Named for its abundance of flowers, all streets are named after flowers as well. The Flower City is located by the Cucumber River, on the shore of which many cucumbers grow. Here boy-shorties and girl-shorties live together, but often have trouble getting along.- Dunno (Незнайка, from Russian "не знаю", "I don't know") - the title character of the trilogy and the most infamous personality in Flower City. As an anti-hero, this boy-shorty is both ignorant, lazy, rude, and conceited and at the same time curious, kind, enterprising, and unbelievably lucky. He is highly reminiscent of the popular Russian folkFolkThe English word Folk is derived from a Germanic noun, *fulka meaning "people" or "army"...
hero Ivan the FoolIvan the FoolIvan the Fool or Ivan the Ninny is a character used in Russian folklore, a very simple-minded, but nevertheless lucky young man. Ivan is described as a likeable fair-haired and blue-eyed youth....
, a flawed young man who always manages to come out on top. - Gunky (Гунька) - a boy-shorty, Dunno's best friend
- Doono (Знайка, from "знаю", "I know") - a boy-shorty scientist, the smartest of the boy-shorties, often adopts the leadership role
- Bendum (Винтик, or "little bolt") and Twistum (Шпунтик, from "little peg") - boy-shorty mechanics
- Trills (Гусля, from "гусли", or "gusli") - a boy-shorty musician
- Blobs (Тюбик, or "tube") - a boy-shorty painter
- Knopochka (Кнопочка, or "little button") - a girl-shorty who becomes best friends with Dunno
- Romashka (Ромашка, or "camomile") - a girl-shorty
- Swifty (Торопыжка, from "торопиться", or "to hurry") - a boy-shorty who is always in a hurry
- Scatterbrain (Растеряйка, from "растерять", or "to lose") - a boy-shorty who always loses and forgets things
- Doctor Pilyulkin (Доктор Пилюлькин, from "пилюля", or "pill") - a boy-shorty physician
- Roly-Poly (Пончик, or "doughnut") - a very chubby boy-shorty who likes to eat sweets
- Treacly-Sweeter (Сиропчик, or "little syrup") - a very chubby boy-shorty who likes to drink carbonated water with syrup
- Pulka (Пулька, from "пуля", "bullet") - a boy-shorty hunter
- Bulka (Булька, from "бульдог", "бультерьер", or "bulldog", "bull terrier") - Pulka's dog
- Tsvetik (Цветик, or "bloomer") - a boy-shorty poet
- Pachkulya Pyostrenky (Пачкуля Пёстренький, or "dirty and garishly spotted") - a boy-shorty who is always dirty and never surprised at anything
- Vorchun (Ворчун, from "ворчать", "to grumble") - a boy-shorty who always grumbles and complains
- Molchun (Молчун, from "молчать", "to be silent") - a boy-shorty who is always quiet
- Mushka (Мушка, from "муха", or "fly" [insect]) - a girl-shorty
- Steklyashkin (Стекляшкин, from "стекляшка", or "piece of glass") - a boy-shorty astronomer
- Kapelka (Капелька, or "little drop") - a girl-shorty who cries when it rains
Greenville Dwellers
Named for its abundance of trees, only girl-shorties live here.- Medunitsa (Медуница, "lungwortLungwortThe lungworts are the genus Pulmonaria of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae, native to Europe and western Asia, with one species east to central Asia...
") - a girl-shorty doctor, head of the Greenville hospital - Sineglazka (Синеглазка, from "синие глаза", "blue eyes") - a pretty blue-eyed girl-shorty
- Snezhinka (Снежинка, "snowflake") - a pretty fair-skinned girl-shorty
- Samotsvetik (Самоцветик, "self-bloomer") - a girl-shorty poet
- Zainka (Заинька, "little hare") and Belochka (Белочка, from "little squirrel") - girl-shorties with animals embroidered on their dresses
- Minny (Галочка, "little jackdaw") - a girl-shorty with long black hair
- Fluff (Кубышка, a kind of jar or water lilyNymphaeaceaeNymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus...
Nymphaea lutea) - a chubby girl-shorty - Kisonka (Кисонька, "kitty") - a girl-shorty
- Solomka (Соломка, "little straw") - a smart girl-shorty who bred watermelons as well as other fruit
Kite Town Dwellers
Named for its abundance of decorative kites, only boy-shorties live here.- Nails (Гвоздик, "little nail" [the metal kind]) - a boy-shorty who makes a lot of trouble
- Pretzel (Бублик, "bagel") - a boy-shorty who drives a car
- Taps (Шурупчик, "little screw") - a boy-shorty inventor
- Slick (Смекайло, from "смекать", "to grasp quickly") - a pretentious boy-shorty writer
Sun City Dwellers
Named for its perpetually sunny weather, it is a shorty utopia noted for its incredible technological advances.- Kalachik (Калачик, sort of a larger bagel) - a boy-shorty farming equipment operator
- Listik (Листик, "small sheet of paper") - a boy-shorty who loves to read and whom Dunno magically turned into a donkey
- Bukovka (Буковка, "little letter" [of the alphabet]) - a girl-shorty who loves to read, Listik's best friend
- Liliya (Лилия, "lily") - a girl-shorty, director of hotel Malvaziya
- Pegasik (Пегасик, "small Pegasus"), Brykun (Брыкун, from "брыкаться", "to kick"), and Kaligula (Калигула, "Caligula") - two donkeys and a hinnyHinnyA hinny is a domestic equine hybrid that is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey . It is similar to the more common mule, which is the product of a female horse and a male donkey....
whom Dunno magically turned into boy-shorties - Chubchik (Чубчик, "forelock") - a boy-shorty gardener
- Yorshik (Ёршик, "little ruff") - a boy-shorty, leader of the mass of passerby that Pegasik and Dunno sprayed with water
- Svistulkin (Свистулькин, from "свистулька", "clay whistle") and Karaulkin (Караулькин, from "to be on watch") - boy-shorty policemen
- Kubik (Кубик, "block, brick, little cube") - a boy-shorty architect
- Klyopka (Клёпка) - a boy-shorty engineer
- Fuksiya (Фуксия, "fuchsia") and Selyodochka (Селёдочка, "small herring") - girl-shorty scientists
- Nitochka (Ниточка, "little thread") - a girl-shorty modeller and chess player
- Karasik (Карасик, "little crucian") - a boy-shorty clothing factory worker and actor
- Igolochka (Иголочка, "little needle") - a girl-shorty clothing factory worker
- Figura (Фигура, "[chess] piece") - a boy-shorty Sun City chess champion
Moon Dwellers
Names of Moon dwellers and Moon cities resemble English, German, Italian and Spanish words amalgamated with Russian roots, e.g. Davilon (from давить - to suppress and Вавилон - Babylon), Grabenberg (from грабить - to rob and ...emberg - a typical German-like toponym), Brekhenville (from брехать - to lie or to bark (slang) and ...ville - typical French-like toponym), Los Svinos (from свинья - a pig and Los.. - a typical Spanish-like toponym prefix, e.g. Los Angeles) etc.Millionaires:
- Gryazing (Грязинг, from "грязь" - dirt)
- Spruts (Спрутс, from спрут - a giant octopus)
- Dubs (Дубс, from "дуб" - "oak", also "dumb man" in Russian)
- Zhading (Жадинг, from "жадина" - "greedy person")
- Skuperfield (Скуперфильд, an amalgamated word from скупердяй - niggard and the English surname Copperfield)
Police and justice (whose names share the same suffix):
- Figl (Фигль) - a street patrol
- Migl (Мигль) - an investigator
- Drigl (Дригль) - a jailer
- Vrigl (Вригль, an amalgamated word from врать - to lie and the English surname Wrigley) - a judge
Thieves:
- Vikhor (Вихор, "forelock") and Striga (Стрига, from "стриженный" - cropped) - Dunno's jailmates
- Miga (Мига, from "миг" - a brief instant, or "мигать" - "to blink") - a cheater who meets Dunno in jail and with Zhulio's help talks him into founding a "Giant Plants Company"
- Zhulio (Жулио, an amalgamated word from жулик - a swindler, cheater, and the Spanish name Julio) - a firearms-store owner, Miga's friend
- Krabs (Крабс, from "краб" - "crab") - Sproots' personal assistant
Other citizens:
- Klops (Клопс, from "клоп" - a blood-sucking bug) - a rich Moon dweller whose property in Davilon Dunno first lands at
- Fiks (Фикс) and Feks (Фекс) - Klops' valets
- Kozlik (Козлик - a little goat) - a smart unemployed Moon dweller who quickly becomes Dunno's friend after they meet in jail
- Khaps (Хапс, from "хапать" - to grab) - a hotel owner in Davilon
- Sedenky (Седенький, from "седой" - "grey-haired") - a poor Moon dweller sent by peasants to buy a "Giant Plants Company" share
- Drakula (Дракула) - a rich Moon dweller, sea coast landlord who ruins Roly-Poly's salt business by increasing prices to access salt crystals on his land
- Minoga (Минога, "lamprey") - a rich Moon dweller who hires Dunno to care after her two dogs
- Piskarik (Пискарик, from "пескарь" - "gudgeon"), Leshchik (Лещик, from "лещ" - "bream"), Somik (Сомик, from "сом" - "catfish"), Sudachok (Судачок, from "судак" - "perch") - poor Moon dwellers, waterpark employees who befriend Roly-Poly after he lost his wealth and forced to work in a waterpark to earn his living
Peasants
- Kolosok (Колосок, "little ear" [f.e. of rye])
Others
- Tsirkul (Циркуль, from "compassCompass (drafting)A compass or pair of compasses is a technical drawing instrument that can be used for inscribing circles or arcs. As dividers, they can also be used as a tool to measure distances, in particular on maps...
") - a lanky and very renowned traveling bicyclist from the city of Katigoroshkin (Катигорошкин) - Wizard (Bолшебник) - gave Dunno a magic wand
Themes & issues
An important characteristic of the Dunno trilogy is its heavily didactic nature. Nosov describes this as an effort to teach "honesty, bravery, camaraderie, willpower, and persistence" and discourage "jealousy, cowardice, mendacity, arrogance, and effrontery." Strong political undertones are also present. In addition to general egalitarianismEgalitarianism
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...
and feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
tendencies dominate the works. The first book takes the reader into a typical Soviet-like town, the second into a communist utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
, and the third into a capitalistic
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
. Nosov's captivating and humorous literary style has made his ideologies accessible to children and adults alike.
Adaptations
- Dunno goes to school, a 1961 movie
- Dunno in Sun City, a 1977 movie
- Dunno from our neighborhood, a 1983 movie
- Dunno on the Moon, a 1997 movie
- Dunno on the Moon 2, a 1999 sequel to the 1997 movie
- Dunno and Barrabass, a 2004 movie that combines two previously unrelated characters into an original story.
External links
- Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
: - Nikolai Nosov - The adventures of Dunno and his friends (FULL ENGLISH TEXT - translated by Margaret Wettlin) - Link broken as of 10/23/2011.
- Nikolai Nosov - Aventurile lui Habarnam şi ale prietenilor săi
- A 1996 article In memoriam: Nikolay Nosov (1908-1976)
- Nikolai Nosov Forever, Russian Journal