Alive as Life. About the Russian Language

Korney Chukovsky (1882–1969) — writer, translator, and literary scholar, author of popular children's tales “Aybolit”, “Moydodyr”, and “Barmaley”. In the book “Alive as Life”, Chukovsky captivatingly tells the story of the Russian language, its laws, and paths of development. Did you know that in the past, the word “voobrazhaet” meant “fantasizes”, and in the 20th century it became a way to describe a person who is overly concerned? Why did composite words (sberkassa, univermag, likbez) become fashionable in the language after the October Revolution? Do borrowings and jargon spoil speech? And how did bureaucratese become a terrible disease threatening the Russian language? The edition will be interesting for philologists, writers, journalists, as well as a wide circle of readers.