Alive as Life. On the Russian Language

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky is a great domestic writer, poet, publicist, literary critic, translator, literary scholar, and journalist. Honorary Doctor of Literature of Oxford University (1962). The most published author of children's literature in the Soviet Union and Russia, whose poems, fairy tales, and translations have become classics. Korney Chukovsky is also widely known for his critical and literary studies and translations. The book "Alive as Life" is one of the significant works of Russian literature of the 20th century, representing a collection of articles dedicated to the problems of the modern Russian language. In it, the author examines various aspects of our language: orthography, grammar, lexis, stylistics, and other literary norms; analyzes mistakes that often occur in speech; and offers his options for correcting these mistakes. One of the main ideas of the book is the necessity of preserving the purity of the Russian language and its traditions. Korney Chukovsky criticizes the use of foreign words and expressions in the Russian language, believing that they distort it. However, he also acknowledges that the Russian language must develop and adapt to new conditions. A preface by Pavel Kryuchkov, the leading researcher of Korney Chukovsky's work in Russia, senior researcher at the V.I. Dal GMRLI "K.I. Chukovsky House Museum", and a famous glossary "you shouldn't say" / "you should say".