Cheglok (Usov), A.A.: Animals of Central and Southern Africa

Title

Zveri tsentral’noi i iuzhnoi Afriki, Moskva 1914

Animals of Central and Southern Africa

Keywords

Summary

The book is comprised of ten short stories, each centered around a particular animal which can be encountered in Africa (rhinoceros, chimpanzee, elephant, dik-dik, baboon, African buffalo, hyrax, aardvark, Egyptian mongoose, hippopotamus). Either the stories are structured around an encounter between a human (locals, Europeans, Russians) and a given animal, or they can delve into the general dynamics between them. The volume is lavishly illustrated, with ten coloured pictures and several b/w drawings by Nikolai Nikolaevich Zeddeler (1876-1937), a Russian artist from an aristocratic background involved in revolutionary movements and stationed for many years in Europe (mostly in Italy), later charged with espionage and sentenced to death. The children’s illustrations are, moreover, interspersed with photographs depicting African nature and local people (most likely taken by Cheglok). This adds a documentary component to the otherwise fictional work, anchoring the exotic animals in reality.

Bio

Aleksandr Usov was a children’s writer, who published under the pen name of “Cheglok” honouring his passion for birdlife (cheglok is the Russian name of a falcon species). He published several books for children dedicated to Russian and foreign wildlife, which betray his enthusiasm for the natural world coupled with an occasional scientific amateurism. A friend of the bibliographer, writer and editor Nikolai Rubakin – close to the populist movement and keen disseminator of culture to the people –, as well as of Anatolii Lunacharskii, Usov spent some years in Europe following the 1905 revolution, in which he was involved. He travelled to Africa in 1909 and 1910-1911, prior to an extensive trip around the world in 1913-1914. The artist Vasilii Vatagin (1883-1969) frequently accompanied him in his travels, contributing to Usov’s activities by illustrating his books. In addition to their common passion for travels and animals, they were both interested in theosophy and anthroposophy: as a matter of fact, in 1914-1915 Usov founded an ashram near Sochi, attended, among others, by Maksimilian Voloshin. Accused of mysticism and anarchism, he was arrested in 1936 and sent to Kirovsk (Murmansk region). He escaped to die in solitude in 1942.

Sources

“Cheglok, A.”, in Sovetskie detskie pisateli. Bibliograficheskii slovar’ (1917-1957), Moskva 1961, p. 391-392;

B. Hellman, Fairy Tales and True Stories. The History of Russian Literature for Children and Young People (1574-2010), Leiden-Boston 2013, p. 255-256.

A.F.

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