''Distant Lands'' (Dalniye Strany, Дальние страны) is a

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

novel by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

children's author Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

Arkady Gaidar Arkady Petrovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Арка́дий Петро́вич Гайда́р, born Golikov, russian: link=no, Го́ликов; – 26 October 1941) was a Russian Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet chil ...

.Ebin, F. Commentaries to Дальние страны. Works by Arkady Gaidar in 4 volumes. Detskaya Literatura Publishers. Moscow, 1964. Vol. 2. Pp 431-432.

Background

According to Gaidar's diary, he started working upon the novel in the summer of 1931, while staying in the All-Union

Young Pioneer camp Young Pioneer camp (russian: Пионерский лагерь) was the name for the vacation or summer camp of Young Pioneers. In the 20th century these camps existed in many socialist countries, particularly in the Soviet Union. The You ...

Artek with his son Timur. On August 3 the novel was finished. According to the writer's friend

Ruvim Frayerman Ruvim Isayevich Frayerman (Руви́м Иса́евич Фраерма́н, 22 September 1891, in Mogilyov, Russian Empire, – 28 March 1972, Moscow, USSR) was a Soviet writer, poet, essayist and journalist. A major component of the Socialist ro ...

, "''Distant Lands'' with its quiet railway station, the mysterious forest and trains passing by, has been undoubtedly prompted by memories of his own childhood when he, a small boy, was standing with sister Natasha on the barn’s roof watching trains running away."

History

The novel was first published in

by Molodaya Gvardiya, illustrated by A.Yermolayev. Also in 1932 it featured in a small Gaidar compilation ''Moi Tovarishchi'' (My Comrades, later repeatedly re-issued). The novel had success with the young readership and was met with favourably in the press, notably in Alexander Fadeev's large article "The Books of Gaidar", published on January 29, 1933, in ''

Literaturnaya Gazeta ''Literaturnaya Gazeta'' (russian: «Литературная Газета», ''Literary Gazette'') is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and the Soviet Union. It was published for two periods in the 19th century, and ...

''.

Plot summary

Life at a small railway station - as seen through the eyes of two 8-year-olds, Vasya and Petya, - is in turmoil. An expedition arrives from a regional center to examine the possibility of building an

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

factory nearby. In a parallel development the majority of locals choose to form a kolkhoz, kulak Danila and two of his friends being fierce opponents. Yegor, a local

Selsoviet Selsoviet ( be, сельсавет, r=sieĺsaviet, tr. ''sieĺsaviet''; rus, сельсовет, p=ˈsʲelʲsɐˈvʲɛt, r=selsovet; uk, сільрада, silrada) is a shortened name for a rural council and for the area governed by such a cou ...

chairman disappears with a large sum of money, collected by people for purchasing some machinery for their future enterprise. The project is on the verge of collapse: people are horrified by the idea that Yegor, a trustworthy man and a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

hero, should turn out a thief. Then the reason for one of the boys, Petya's strange behaviour becomes clear. It turns out that he's found Yegor's blood-stained cap in the forest and seems to know who the murderer is. The three kulak guys get arrested for the crime one of them committed, Yegor's dead body is found in the woods to be buried by the river, the kolkhoz project gets revived as does Vasya and Petya's long-cherished dream of distant lands and happiness for all.Gaidar, Arkady. Дальние страны. Works by Arkady Gaidar in 4 volumes. Detskaya Literatura. Moscow, 1964. Vol. 2. Pp. 5-103.

References

{{Reflist 1932 novels 1932 children's books Russian children's books Children's novels Short stories by Arkady Gaidar Molodaya Gvardiya (publisher) books Children's books set in the Soviet Union