Lazar Lagin

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Lazar Lagin (Russian: Лазарь Иосифович Лагин, Lazar Yosifovych Lagin) (pen-name of Lazar Ginzburg, December 4, 1903 in Vitebsk – June 4, 1979) was a Soviet satirical and children's writer.

He is best known for his book "Starik Hottabych" (Старик Хоттабыч, Old man Hottabych, 1937), a fairy tale (heavily coloured with communist and pro-Soviet ideology) telling the story of a genie who is freed from captivity by a Soviet schoolboy (the general plotline is perhaps borrowed from F. Anstey's Brass Bottle). The genie, as is to be expected, has some trouble in adapting to modern life and the communist lifestyle. The book was very popular among children in its day; it was made into a film in 1956.

Lagin's science fiction novels are set in imaginary Western "Capitalist" countries and satirize misuse of scientific inventions in bourgeois society. Novella "Maior Vell Endyu" (Майор Велл Эндъю, Major Well Andyou) is a satiric sequel to Herbert George Wells' The War of the Worlds.

[edit] See also

[edit] In English

  • The Old Genie Hottabych. Moscow, Foreign Language Editions

[edit] External links


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