In Bad Company. A Tale

Vladimir Galactionovich Korolenko (1853–1921) - a Russian writer, publicist, editor of the leading Petersburg magazine "Russian Wealth", social activist, author of timely works such as "Makar's Dream", "The Killer", "The Blind Musician", and others. In 1900, along with L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, and V. Solovyov, he was elected an honorary academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature. Korolenko was born in Zhitomir to the family of a district judge, whose character - severe but just - became the basis for the image of the father of the main character in the tale "In Bad Company". A sharp rejection of injustice led Korolenko, already a student, to join the revolutionary Narodniks - for this, he was expelled from the Petersburg Agricultural Academy and exiled to Kronstadt. Then there were other exiles, the status of "political", prison, but it was precisely under such harsh conditions that his literary gift was revealed. The famous tale "In Bad Company" was written by Korolenko during his 6-year exile in Yakutia (he refused to swear allegiance to the king). Not only the father, but, as the author himself wrote, "many features are taken from life"; there is also a prototype for the old castle - it is the palace of the Lubomirski princes in Rovno. The tale was published in 1886 in the book "Essays and Stories", but the same year a shortened version appeared in the children's magazine "Rodnik" under the title "Children of the Dungeon": in this abbreviated form it was republished many times. Korolenko did not approve of adaptations: "I have a certain prejudice against special editions for youth: after all, it is necessary to obtain specific approvals 'for school libraries'. 'In Bad Company', for example, is distributed in tens of thousands of copies in cheap editions in a shortened and mutilated form. And I absolutely do not understand why youth should first get acquainted with the writer in this mutilated form and only then receive his complete works." In this edition, the tale is published in its full version, without reductions.