Conduit and Swamp

Two children from a doctor's family from Pokrovsk - Lyol ​​and Oska (Lev Kassil himself and his brother Joseph , respectively, became their prototypes) - they invent an imaginary country of Swabrania. This country is located in the Pacific Ocean and is comparable in size to Australia. Swabrania is a true paradise for adventure lovers, brave sailors and explorers, it embodies all childhood fantasies inspired by the books of Jules Verne and Fenimore Cooper , as well as the reality of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Children give their heroes names from the names of medicines and other brands (for example, Brenabor , Bef Stroganov , Urodonal ), which gives rise to many funny situations. For example, they named one of the famous beauties of Swabrania “ Cascara Sagrada ” in honor of the pill for constipation.

With the entry of Lelia to the gymnasium , the “swabbers” are confronted with the harsh reality. In the gymnasium, strict morals are punished for the slightest violation of the students, and the name of the offender is entered in the director’s terrible book - Conduit . But here, Lyolya also makes good friends, among whom is Styopka, nicknamed Atlantis , a dreamer like himself.

The revolution turns over the little world of Pokrovsk. From now on, children study in a single labor school (ETS), where girls and students from the Higher Primary School - VNU, nicknamed "granddaughters", go to. Old high school students led by the hooligan Bindyug prey on granddaughters and all who sympathize with them. A new conflict flares up when the anarchist Kirikov becomes a history teacher. He teaches almost nothing to children, and loafers like this; when a “good” teacher is fired, the same Bindyug with a gang becomes his defense. Styopka Atlantis becomes the leader of more progressive students, and Lelya leans to his side.

In Swabrania itself, the events of reality are mirrored: Captain Ardeljar Case, the character of Löly and Oska, makes a revolution and overthrows the tyranny of Tsar Brenabor. Swabrania after Russia becomes a free republic .

War, famine and devastation make children grow up faster. Lyolya helps Commissioner Chubarkov establish life in Pokrovsk. For games in Swabrania there is less and less time and space left. Lyolya and Oska choose for this the ruins of the old house, where they inadvertently discover Kirikov, who brew moonshine . Having overheard their games, the former teacher calls his bourda "the elixir of Swabrania", vulgarizing the holy word for children. Lyolya and Oska decide to solemnly bury Swabrania before the outside world spoils it, and offer Chubarkov and his comrades to disassemble the Swagrania - an abandoned house - for firewood.

The story Conduit and Schwambrania, which combined two previously separate autobiographical works, was published in 1935. Highly praised by readers, it was reprinted in 1936 and 1937, after which a twenty-year hiatus occurred due to the fact that one of its main characters, the author’s brother, Joseph Kassil (Oska), was shot on false charges in January 1938 as “a participant Trotskyist terrorist organization ”(rehabilitated in 1956). In the late 1940s, when the campaign “ against cosmopolitanism ” was waged, Kassil’s story was ideologically attacked (one of the critical articles was entitled “This is not necessary for children”) ^[2] .

In 1957, a revised version of the story was published in Moscow and Petrozavodsk, since then the book has been reprinted many times in this new version. A comparison of the versions shows that many fragments and even entire chapters were deleted from the original text. In particular, all references to the Volga German Republic and its German inhabitants were removed (the city of Pokrovsk, later called Engels , was the capital of this republic). The new version also has noticeably fewer references to Jews. Finally, ideologically dubious places were deleted or smoothed out, for example, Styopka's words:

. According to the literary critic S. B. Borisov , most of the edits were caused by the requirements of Soviet censorship , and not by the creative desires of the author ^[2] .

The book was filmed in 1935 (the feature film “Conduit”, directed by Boris Shelontsev) and in 1981 ^[3] (the television play “Conduit Pages”, directed by Gleb Selyanin , starring Yuri Ovsyanko, Vladimir Osobik.)

In 1977, the record (staging based on the novel) "Swambringer" was released. The company "Melody" LP 33 M50-39475-76. Sounding: V. Abdulov, V. Yakut, M. Korabelnikova, T. Kuryanova, E. Kirilova.

The Lev Kassil Museum in the city of Engels has an exposition dedicated to Swambronia. Every year, on the birthday of Lev Kassil, on July 10, the museum holds a carnival holiday “Vivat, Swabrania!” ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

In honor of Swabrania, the asteroid (2149) Swabrania , discovered in 1977 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Observatory , is named.

• Borisov, S. B. Book of L.A. Kassilya “Conduit and Shvambraniya”: problems of textology // Uchenye zapiski Shadrinskogo gos. ped Institute. - Shadrinsk, 2005. - Issue. 9 . - S. 43-52 .

• Conduit and Swab on Lib.ru