Ivan Fyodorovich Kovalyov (1885–1965) was a self-taught folk storyteller from Voskresensky District, one of the most significant folk tale narrators of the Soviet period. A member of the USSR Writers' Union from 1938, and a recipient of the Badge of Honor Order.[2]

Biography

He was born in Shadrino (now Voskresensky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region). According to the Nizhny Novgorod State Regional Children's Library, Kovalyov was born in the selo of Shadrino in Semenovsky Uyezd, Nizhny Novgorod Province, into a peasant family.[2] He received only a three-grade rural education. In his youth he worked as a peddler, then served in the Tsarist army and took part in the First World War. He was captured and taken to Germany, and was only able to return to his homeland in 1920. In the 1930s he worked as a stableman on a kolkhoz, served as a kolkhoz brigade leader, and ran the Shadrino izba-chitalnya (village reading room). Throughout all of this, he continued without interruption to compose and tell fairy tales.[2]

Storytelling Work

Kovalyov's repertoire was dominated by magical and adventure tales featuring a poor hero who achieves wealth and happiness through wit and resourcefulness. His tales were distinguished by their multi-plot structure, complex composition, and psychological depth. They are also marked by thorough elaboration of detail — alongside their psychological depth, this is one of the characteristic features of his style noted by Nizhny Novgorod researchers.[2] Among his finest works are "About Yemilya the Fool," "Two Merchants," "The Gnat and the Fly Came to Blows," and "Mikola Duplensky." Some of his tales were devoted to Soviet subjects: in 1937, for instance, the tale "The Ice Hill," about the Chelyuskin expedition, was published in the anthology Творчество народов СССР (Creativity of the Peoples of the USSR). In total, folklorists recorded approximately one hundred tales from him.[2]

Kovalyov's first collection of tales Gorky. In 1941, the State Literary Museum published a large volume of his tales, edited by Academician Yu. I. Sokolov, with an introductory article and scholarly commentary by E. Hofmann and S. Mints. A third book was published in Gorky in 1953.[2]

Public Activities and Recognition

In 1938, Kovalyov was admitted to the USSR Writers' Union. During the The Great Patriotic War, he traveled to the front and performed for soldiers at their combat positions. For his contributions to literature, he was awarded the Badge of Honor Order and the Medal for Distinguished Labor.[2]

Sources

  1. ngounb.ru — Literary Map of Nizhny Novgorod Region
  2. нгодб.рф — Kovalev Ivan Fyodorovich (31.03[12.04].1885 — after 1966) — Nizhny Novgorod State Regional Children's Library named after T. A. Mavrina (GBUK NO… — According to the Nizhny Novgorod…
  3. checko.ru — LLC IC "EVEREST" — Chelyabinsk — TIN 7449095748 — General Director Kovalev I. F.