The autobiographical work of Lydia Chukovskaya 'To the Memory of My Childhood' plays an important role in her literary output as, contrary to her works of fiction ('Sofia Petrovna' and 'Descent Into Water'), it presents the real Home. The Home being the safe shelter that ceased to exist in Russia after the October Revolution. The negation of all traditional values and of the way of living symbolised by the Chukovskis' Home in Kuokkale leads to the emergence of communistic quasi-reality being, by assumption, of anti-home nature. A man unable to 'take roots' is condemned to homelessness and the only Home he can raise is a mental home. Chukovskaya's 'To the Memory...' is her tribute to her father who ensured the happy childhood of his children and who, by doing so, let them realise in their lives the myth of the Beginning which is inextricably bound with the Family Home. Growing up in a home: the nest where tradition flourished, and the arts, creative work and science were adored has given birth to the long-lasting sense of belonging to a certain community keeping the values that should also be passed on to future generations. The whole life of Chukovskaya is a proof of her 'taking roots' and being faithful to the principles ingrained at Home. 'To the Memory of My Childhood' is one of few works in 20th-century Russian literature describing Arche-Home. It shows an archetypical model of inhabitancy and as such can be thought of as an epitaph of the Russian homo domesticus.
In the works of Lydia Chukovskaya and Yurii Trifonov, child as a symbol loses its traditional meaning and acquires a new one. In stories entitled 'Sofia Petrovna' and 'Submersion', Chukovskaya paints the image of harmed children, orphans in the mental and literal meaning of the word, growing up on the 'arid soil', in the realm of slavery. Their fate is becoming an accusation of the totalitarian system which, to quote Anatolii Pristavkin, 'is worth nothing, if it hunts a child'. Adult characters are compared to childish infants with features natural for children perceived in this case as negative. Chukovskaya seems to underline the perfidy of purposeful activities of the authorities, in result of which adults become transformed into mindless and unconscious children. In Trifonov's stories, a child ceases to symbolise the new beginning or the peak of opportunities, but becomes a symbol of wasted life and opportunities for self development. The writer seems to be particularly emphasizing the spiritual emptiness and slavery of the characters who, by running away from parenthood, express their irresponsibility and denial of liberty as a task to carry out. Falsely understood parenthood leads to moral degradation of parents, while negation of the parental instinct indicates the moral degradation of the world.
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