The genre of the holiday story in the literature of the XXI century for children and teenagers

Oktyabr'skaya Ol'ga Svyatoslavovna Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Contemporary Russian Literature and Modern Literary Process, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University 119192, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1, office 967 svyatolga@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The question of the genre nature of a literary work is very complex and ambiguous, despite the appearance of a significant number of works on this topic. This issue is always important and causes a lot of discussion. This article is devoted to understanding the genre features of the vacation story about a children's pioneer camp in Russian literature of the late XX – early XXI centuries, which is actualized by the research material itself, which remains little studied by literary science, as well as those extremely important problems that are raised in the works under consideration. These are issues related to the peculiarities of growing up a teenager, the principles of his communication and socialization in a new team.

         The actualization of this issue in this work is predetermined by the need to identify those problems in the life of a modern child and / or teenager that help him not only fit into a specific team of a new community for himself, but also contribute to the identification of certain character qualities necessary for successful communication and self-realization.

         The study of the problems of the relationship between adolescents and children on modern material has great theoretical and practical significance. The theoretical significance of this work is due to the contribution to the general methodological and applied basis of the study of the genre nature of the vacation story about a children's health camp, as well as the problems of studying the typology of child and adolescent characters. The practical significance of this study lies in the possibility of using the results obtained in the educational process in schools, vocational education organizations and universities. The theoretical basis of this article is the fundamental works of literary critics, as well as the work of modern scientists who address this issue. Thus, the problems of genre specificity of a work of art are comprehended in the works of S. S. Averintsev ^[1], M. M. Bakhtin ^[2], N. L. Leiderman ^[3], O. Y. Osmukhina ^[4] and others. The problems of the holiday story are explored in the works of N. Y. Arbuzova ^[5], S. V. Burmistrova ^[6], S. Maslinskaya ^[7] and others. E. V. Boroda ^[8], A. P. Mingalina ^[9], I. S. Yukhnova ^[10] reflect on the problems of adolescent self-realization, which reveal problematic aspects of the child-adolescent character embodied in the works of Russian and foreign writers.

The genre of the holiday story about the pioneer camp is relatively new for Russian children's literature. Of course, the topic of children's recreation, manor topos, and country discourse were among the circle of writer's interests earlier, but it was the topic of the pioneer /wellness children's camp that became relevant after the appearance of the corresponding phenomenon. This phenomenon was actualized in the twentieth century, starting precisely from the 1920s, when stories about Artek and other pioneer camps began to appear, as well as the theme of the pioneer camp began to be included in the stories of education ("The Fourth Height", "The Republic of SHKID", "Be ready, Your Highness!", etc.). This topic has become an integral part of the children's and adolescent literature of the twentieth century. It is noteworthy that in the 1990s, when the pioneer camps began to gradually fade into the past, the topic itself changed significantly, and it was revived in the XXI century with the advent of children's health camps. And here literature is faced with a new phenomenon – the genre of a vacation story about a children's camp reduces some of its features due to the manifestation of elements of other genres, with which the children's camp story is combined. In this regard, it is possible to identify several genre trends in the development of a vacation story about a children's camp in the late twentieth and early twenty–first centuries.

The Soviet past, including the pioneer one, is decisively rethought in the 1990s and is perceived not just as a vestige, but as something terrible, phantasmagoric and in many ways tragic. V. Krapivin was one of the first to comprehend the Soviet heritage as difficult in many ways and the current modernity as very dramatic in the story "Tales of Fishermen and Fish" (1991). Fancifully combining the features of psychologism, magical realism and mystical realism, the writer builds a fairly extensive mystical-realistic plot of the story. Despite the fact that the plot of the Aistenok camp, that is, the camp discourse, is at the center of the work, the various genre components of the work are no less important. So, the genre features of the psychological story bring out the simple life vicissitudes of the artist Valentin Valeryevich Volynov, who once agreed in his youth to become a freelance employee of the KGB (FSB) and reflected on this for many years, on his work at the Burdock club, more reminiscent of a counselor's activity than actually pedagogical, etc. Within the framework of the psychological story, the author focuses on the relationship between Volynov and his beloved Valentina, and also builds a difficult path of mutual trust between the orphan Eugene, nicknamed Snotlout, and the main character himself – Volynov. If Eugene immediately feels the warmth, reliability and kindness of an adult, but constantly reflecting person, then Volynov needs to look at the boy, move away from social cliches that distort ordinary, natural and the simplest human relationships and listen to the hero-assistant with an unusual fate and an equally unusual name (Yur-Tank). And only in the end does the realization occur that not only an adult can try to protect teenagers from the filth of society, but also a child can save his defender and his family at the cost of his own life. The extensive system of retrospections helps to build not only Volynov's life path, the peculiarities of his work with children, but also to show the originality of his views on life and the formation of his character.

The mythological component builds a system of cosmogonic, heroic, cosmological and literary myths in Krapivin's story. The narrative about the origin, structure and functioning of the Great Crystal, about its facets, convergences and intersections is organically intertwined with both the literary myth of a goldfish that fulfills a wish at the cost of its own life, and with solar and lunar myths interpreting the special origin and peculiar role of this character. The heroic myth of the Commanders not only typifies the main character and fits him into a number of heroes-defenders, but also characterizes Volynov in an original way, revealing those qualities that are not always obvious at first glance.

The fantastic beginning connects the real narrative about the vicissitudes of life of the characters with a fantastic way of solving the issue. So, the problem of adopting an orphan and his fervent desire to find a home, parents, and a normal family is reinforced by the realization of the myth of the modern Icarus – Ilyusha Mitnikov, who, unlike his ancient ancestor, flew to his dreams, got into a new house, where he expected to see parental love and family idyll, but also burned himself, just not about the sun, and about the cruelty and cynicism of foster parents. And Ilyusha himself is given the right to re-choose a new foster family: a sincere and affectionate, but not rich aunt Masha or well-off and well-groomed, but cold and indifferent spouses to the child.

And only a realistic basis shows the terrible and cruel world of society, which is not only indifferent to the world of childhood, but is also ready to physically eliminate a child or even an entire children's team that does not fit into a new life or interfere with it. In this regard, the figures of Fly Swatter, Abov, etc. are indicative. Two epochs are opposed – the Soviet and post–Soviet, but a single moral knot unites both historical periods, the appearance of those to whom the life, emotional state and well–being of a child - any, native or alien - turns out to be most important. And it is the situation unfolding during the summer holidays at the children's camp that provokes and exacerbates the main conflicts of time.

The novel by Ekaterina Nevolina "The Day of Eternal Nightmare" (2009), which is close in its genre nature to Krapivin's work, can be called a plot driven by the motive of the investigation, while the author also only starts from the synchronous plan and translates his narrative into a diachronic one. Researchers (for example, Svetlana Maslinskaya) call the story of Nevolina a horror story with a Gothic narrative. Indeed, the fantastic motive and the poetics of the terrible in the story are very strong and become plot-forming. Three friends – Dinka, Yura and Gray – explore an abandoned pioneer camp, where a tragedy occurred in the 1980s - one of the pupils died. However, it is no longer so much investigation and recognition, but rather the knowledge and understanding of the ancient past and the comparison of one's own childhood with the period of growing up of children of a bygone era that occupies the heroes. The romance of the past, purity and a bright beginning are practically absent. The author not only shows children's fears and negativity of a particular episode of the past, but also actually separates the past from the present on the principle of the terrible Soviet and neutral present. However, all attention is focused on the depiction of that past, which is perceived as tragic and unnatural. The repetition of what is happening, the pattern of the characters' actions, the temporal and spatial isolation of the locus and the inability to get out of it without a certain ritual creates the impression of doom and hopelessness.

Modernity is not perceived as saving and brighter. There are also features in the story that are quite typical for a vacation story about a children's camp, but they are given too cursorily, abruptly and dotted. Even the relationship between the characters is built not so much on the basis of friendship, but on the need to solve an important task and return to their time unharmed. The time where the heroes got to is practically stopped, frozen at the most dramatic moment, when the criminal negligence of the counselor occurs.  Only her son, who happened to be in the place of that very child, can break this circle and atone for the mother's guilt in some way. The events practically do not go beyond the scope of this intense narrative. Thus, the vacation discourse, the camp theme is noticeably narrowed to the level of camp folklore, not allowing the narrative to come out into reality.

Modern times, our reality is the basis of T.S. Kryukova's novel "The Witch" (2006). The chronotope of the work is limited by the conditions of a vacation story about a children's and adolescent camp and does not even fit into an entire camp shift, but ends a little earlier, with the death of one of the main characters, although it is somewhat expanded due to a retrospective plan - a mention of Tony's long–term life. It is noteworthy that the retrospection concerns only Tony – the writer needs to show the origins of the heroine's strangeness, rooted in the attitude of her mother, who interprets her daughter's unusual abilities as payback for maternal sins. At the same time, current events are inscribed in the characteristic camp discourse – the sea, the Crimean nature, the special architecture of buildings corresponding to the mountain and sea landscape, etc. All this becomes the background on which a kind of psychological duel of the main characters unfolds, the reward for which may be Egor's sympathy. Thus, a typical vacation story about a children's camp in this case loses a number of its genre features due to the strengthening of the psychological component.

The contrast technique helps Kryukova from the very beginning not only to characterize Lyudka, one of the main characters, but also to contrast her with the rest, especially Tone. The catchy appearance and bright charisma that inspire confidence in many in the camp are opposed to the very essence of the heroine, who not only does not hide, but even flaunts her sinfulness, difference from others, superiority over all. So, her initial acquaintance with the guy she liked is a challenge to childhood and a deliberate demonstration of adulthood and superiority over others. The negative character traits of the heroine only intensify as the plot develops. Kryukova not only uses the gradation technique, but also clearly contrasts an obvious hyperthymic personality (Lyudka) with an autistic one (Tonya). At the same time, the "witch" Tonya, who knows how to spell blood, is considered mentally defective, is focused on goodness, harmony, and light. She is ready to help everyone, but clearly underestimates herself and judges herself very strictly. Lyudka does not take into account not only the norms of ethics, but even morality and morality. So, she is ready to encourage a group of guys to escape from the camp, provokes Egor to openly show feelings for her, does not hesitate to publicly bare her breasts on the beach, attracting increased attention to herself, but most importantly, she cruelly takes revenge on Tonya for her fading and inability to stand up for herself, for the attention that Egor gives her, etc. And if at first these are offensive, but innocent jokes, then later it is outright harassment, amounting to hooliganism: she organizes a brutal beating of Tony, directs the girls who desecrate the bed of a neighbor suffering from sleepwalking, and finally becomes Tony's de facto killer, calling out to her at the moment when she climbs the rock of desires in a state of sleepwalking. The direct accusation thrown at Lyudka, sounding at the end from the mouth of a loved one, is a natural result of the heroine's actions. However, Kryukova sharpens the problem and brings out another aspect. It is important to her that all the actions of Lyudka are performed with the tacit support of Egor, who follows the girl he likes and does not leave his comfort zone, does not condemn her, does not protect the one who needs simple human participation. Thus, Kryukova's work addresses important psychological issues and places accents accordingly.

The Crimean theme is also stated in Marina Panteleeva's novella "The Treasures of Kara-Dag" (2023), which combines the features of a story about a health camp, a detective story and a psychological narrative. The genre elements of the story about the children's camp become the iconic plot-forming beginning of this work. So, the long-term discourse is quite actively involved, and the author describes in detail quite typical forms of children's summer holidays that the main characters have encountered in the past – a foreign language camp, holidays on the Greek islands (Kostya Yezhov), work and recreation on the coast of Crimea (Eva and Dima Filatov), which parents provided during the holiday season to ourselves. The summer could have been more passive: reading books, helping around the house (Rita Ryabintseva). All these types of recreation in many ways opposed the current upcoming entertainment in the children's camp, which caused the reluctance of the heroes to go to the Golden Anchor camp and the wariness of them and their parents about camp life. So, Rita's mother, an epidemiologist, considered the camp to be an accumulation of viruses and bacteria. 

The road to the camp, even if it was near the house, is very difficult for future guests. This can literally be a difficult path to camp life. Rita, who is traveling to Crimea from Novosibirsk, does not tolerate the shaking of the train, and for the Filatov twins, a trip to the camp, which their mother got for free, closes the road to freedom and does not agree with their plans and ideas about rest. Kostya Yezhov is most afraid that he will not have enough food in the camp, so he has a substantial snack at the airport. 

The chronotope of camp life is stated and is largely determined by the peculiarities of what is happening and is limited by the time the children stay in the camp – one shift, as well as the spatial framework of the camp itself. At the same time, the camp/house dichotomy, familiar to the vacation story of the twentieth century, resolved in favor of camp life as a ratio of freedom, rest, paradise, adventure, on the one hand, and routine, routine, on the other, is largely preserved in this story. At the same time, Panteleeva largely expands the spatial and temporal boundaries of the narrative by comparing the current life in the camp and the alternative rest of the characters in the past, as well as the change of this camp in previous years, when there was another cook in the camp, etc. The spatial boundaries are increased due to the adventure component, which takes the heroes outside the camp and transfers the action to the archaeological sites in the Kara-Dagh Nature Reserve, to the Crimean caves, quarries, to the highway along which a regular or tour bus with the heroes travels, etc.

However, the main action takes place on the territory of a children's health camp, which is due to the declared chronotope. All the main events of the story are limited to one shift. The spatial locus, unlike the stories about the pioneer camp of previous eras, is given very briefly and turns out to be quite expected: a number of separate two-storey buildings, playgrounds and sports grounds, local Crimean nature, including sea views, cypress alley, interiors of rooms, dining room and hospital isolation ward. The main camp entertainments are also presented very briefly, since the main subject of the image is precisely the detective line – the investigation of the theft of the treasures of ancient brands found by archaeologists.

Actually, the detective story begins from the first pages – the theft of treasures excavated by archaeologists becomes the starting point of the plot movement: Kostya's father is forced to abandon a family vacation on the Mediterranean Sea and go to the Crimea to help investigate the crime on the spot, and his wife's urgent business trip makes it necessary to send Kostya to the Crimean health camp. The main line of investigation was immediately set – the driver and cook of the archaeological expedition, a certain Sanych, falls under suspicion, whose search can help in establishing the location of the stolen treasures. The elements of the detective genre are actualized in the story in a classical sequence. A crime has been reported from the very beginning, and a detective investigating the case appears. In the case of the treasures of Kara-Dagh, officials are trying to solve the crime – the police, investigators and even journalists, who regularly publish not only information about the progress of the investigation, but also present independent versions of the crime. At the same time, all this becomes significant, but still the background of the narrative, and the activities of four teenage detectives trying to find treasures and expose the criminal come to the fore. The genre features of the detective are present in this work, but do not always play a decisive role. So, the subject of the image is not limited only to the analysis of the crime and an attempt to solve it. Two time lines in the narrative can be identified, but not so much the consistent presentation of current events and the restoration of events before, during and after the crime characteristic of a detective, but the emphasis is on modern conditional reality, complicated not by retrospective fragments, but by the memories of those who could be next to the criminal. Due to this, it is impossible to restore the course of thoughts and actions of the criminal, but it is possible to piece together the information that will help solve the case in the future. In addition, the flashback does not concern the criminal himself, but his environment, which, without noticing it, brings to light the one who stole the treasure. At the same time, the chronology of the story is limited not only by the framework of the camp shift, but also by the solution of the detective issue: the beginning of the story is marked by the creation of the CEDAR detective group, and the end is the disclosure of the crime. Indeed, the detective component of the story is very productive: This is an atmosphere of mystery, an adventurous component, and suspicions both false and true: false ones concerned the medical worker, the director, metamorphoses in the behavior of the camp director, etc., and the true ones concerned the ill-will, cunning, treachery of the camp caretaker nicknamed Borsch. If the detective brings out the most innocent, at first glance, character as a criminal, then Panteleeva's story also calls into question the honesty and innocence of Korablev, the director of the camp. In this case, the author cannot deceive the characters who are imbued with sympathy for the brave, charismatic and sincere director, so his double appears on the scene – an angry and sullen twin brother, who, in fact, committed the theft.

It is important for the author to show exactly the changes that occur in the life and character of the main characters during this camp shift. In fact, we can talk about a kind of initiatory path of the heroes. In one place – the ward of the camp isolation ward – four heroes of very different characters, worldview, and temperament gather. They all have different baggage behind them, different cultural and social levels. Thus, the son of a "famous official" belongs to the public elite. At the same time, he is not well suited for life in a team. Rather, he is a hysterical egocentric, accustomed to increased attention to his own person, who finds it difficult to perceive the successes of another. But he will be the spring of the investigation. He finds out the details of the investigation, which are hidden from others. But once in a team alien to him, Kostya learns to be softer, more tolerant of others, to see positive qualities in people outside his circle, etc. He became more loyal to those whom he contemptuously called "orphans." And in the end, he even transfers the right to solve the crime to Rita. At the same time, he does not forget the most important thing – to eat well and tasty food. This is precisely where his remaining "childish" features manifest themselves.

A bright hyperactive personality type is realized in the characters of Dima and Eva, who infect others with their optimism and energy, but at the same time they are somewhat frivolous and carefree, which is also adjusted under the influence of circumstances. Dima learns not only concentration and attentiveness, but also to be responsible for others. He goes through a kind of growing up school. Eva also eventually learns to be more attentive and careful in her everyday life and relationships with others. Active extroverts are opposed by Rita, the introverted heroine, an obvious sensitive, who does not immediately join a new team, but then she finds the strength to overcome her natural modesty and even thanks to the ability to analyze and explore the world around her, she solves the crime.

Tamara Mikheeva's novella "Asino Summer" (2008) stands somewhat apart, since in addition to the camp discourse and genre features of the vacation story, fantasy features are actualized in the work.  The quite realistic basis of the plot about the shift at the children's camp comes to the fore. Despite the fact that the work is built mainly around the relationship of Praskovya Shustova, who calls herself Asya (an iconic name with obvious literary overtones!), and Kolya Ogurtsov, nicknamed Kukumber, this story shows the activities, interests and life of the squad itself to a greater extent than in others. As Maslinskaya, Burmistrova and others note, writers of the XXI century are increasingly turning to Soviet pioneer camp symbols and showing the life of the past in a destructive and demonic halo, citing as examples destroyed camp sculptures, abandoned territories, and the destroyed manor topos of the Soviet pioneer camp. Indeed, this can be seen in some of the works of Ekaterina Nevolina, Svetlana Olshevskaya, and others. Researchers mistakenly believe that this motif is also hyperbolized in Krapivin, but behind the destruction of plaster sculptures is not a renunciation of the Soviet past, but the attitude of the heroes to the past, unwillingness to learn lessons from the past and the cultivation of its worst features.

In Mikheeva's work, a wild orchard overgrown with wormwood and nettles (symbolic plants!) becomes a symbolic sign of the past. and even a nest of snakes. This is not an assessment of the past, but rather a sign of a period of timelessness after the bright one that was before. It is no coincidence that a parallel is drawn between the Soviet camp past and the realities of today. The author shows the difficult work of the entire squad, which learns to understand the main thing and gradually revives the lost – a beautiful garden. Mikheeva shows the difficult mental and physical work of teenagers who are imbued with the idea of reviving the garden, revitalize it and breathe new life into it, showing a real miracle. Mikheeva seems to continue to develop Krapivin's idea of the need to revive the best traditions of the past. In addition, a cultivated flowering and fruit-bearing garden becomes a significant mythologeme, relevant in any historical epoch. However, realistic aesthetics turned out to be insufficient to implement both this and other problems. Mikheeva introduces a fantasy framework to actualize the main idea. It is in the camp "Firefly" that the heroine goes through a kind of initiatory path. So, at first, Asya-Praskovya is fixated on herself, her problems, and issues of self-realization. It is no coincidence that the girls in the camp consider Asya to be a pushy and imaginative. Egocentrism distinguishes the heroine not only in the children's collective, but also in a parallel fairy–tale world - only Asya and Kolya's father Vasily Nikolaevich become involved in the life of dwarfs and fairies. However, isolation requires sacrifice from Asi: first she wants to save a dried flower and rescue the fairies Manyunya and Marusya, so she makes a difficult path full of magical rituals to the River King and extracts living water, and later, becoming the unwitting culprit of Kolya's injury, she is forced to overcome a terrible path to save him. This path is not only a way of growing up, but also a way to know yourself, your capabilities and others. So, only Asya can find out that behind the terrible appearance of the Stormy Man hides an ordinary man exhausted by loneliness, who once loved, but sacrificed his sociability and joy of life to his beloved. Behind the horror that the White Monk inspires, Asya recognized a shy soul, and behind the strictness of the camp director she saw boyishness and prowess. The Asi path is the path of correcting mistakes, gaining first feelings and learning the joy of the ability to sacrifice oneself.

Thus, the vacation story about a children's camp continues to exist and even develop in the XXI century, but significantly corrects its genre features. By itself, the genre of a vacation story requires some kind of genre basis, the characters already, after spending time in the camp, perceive this as a significant turn in life, and the depicted path of the hero is perceived as an initiatory one.

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.