BiLA Kaufmans biography

And then suddenly Bel Kaufman wrote a bestseller about the school - "up the stairs leading down." Did I think that I was making a coup in school education?! It just seemed to me that I was writing about love, ”said Bel Kaufman. Her novel “Up the stairs leading down” became one of the main art works dedicated to the school: about misunderstanding between teachers and students, about the power of the system - and about those who find the strength to go against her.

Actually, the novel grew out of a small story into three pages. The publishers asked to expand him-scraps of notes allegedly found in the garbage basket of one New York secondary school were painfully ridiculously glued. The name of the work was prompted by a memorandum addressed to the director from one of the school staff: “I was detained by me for violation of the rules: I went up the stairs leading down, and answered the remark.” Having shown what chaos, confusion and bureaucratic indifference reign in a regular school, Bel did not count on universal recognition.

She thought that the book would only be interesting to only a ten or two teachers-maybe they would even laugh by learning their school. But the book immediately became a bestseller and was translated into many languages. In M, Roman came out even in the USSR - and there they did not really complain the translations of modern American writers. But, it seems that Soviet apparatchiks simply wanted to show that Soviet schools are much better than American, and that they are unfamiliar problems described in the novel.

However, the effect was the exact opposite. This was just that gap between the ideas of functionaries about the school and the true state of affairs. Here is how Kaufman wrote about her: “How hopeless it is far from the textbook of pedagogy and from the lectures of Professor Winer about the psychology of youth. I met with youth face to face. Professor Wklazu has probably never seen students in the eye.

” Bel was the granddaughter of a beloved writer Sholom Aleichem in the country. And in the novel, his intonations were clearly felt. As one of the critics noted immediately after the publication of the novel: “This book has gone on a humor of Sholom Aleicham.” But in the case of Bel, not only the genius grandfather genes affected. The early years of Bel passed in Odessa.

The revolution found her there. Then my brother was just born. This was my first lesson in communism, ”Kaufman said. Realizing that they will not return back, Lunacharsky, nevertheless, cleared up their permission. Bel absolutely did not know the English language and, upon arrival in New York, at the age of 13, she began training in a class with six-year-old first-graders. A year later, she had already joined her peers, but a strong Russian accent interfered with her for a long time: even having received the degree of a master in English at Columbia University in the year, Bel could not find a permanent job at school.

Just because of a pronounced accent. In the end, she was allowed to teach, but for the first years she only replaced the sick colleagues. Just in one of the next forced free days, Bel took up literary work. She wrote short stories for local magazines. She loved to write since childhood. Bel was seven years old when one of the Odessa children's magazines published her first poem.

At the age of 9, she set about drama, in which there were 24 heroes, in adolescence, already in America, she wrote love poems, was in the editorial board of the school newspaper, then college and university. Her stories came out under various pseudonyms: Bel was frankly shy to call herself a writer against the backdrop of a brilliant grandfather. The final pseudonym was elected when she began to cooperate with Esquire: the men's magazine did not publish female authors, but since the fees in it were very solid, the literary agent advised Kaufman to discard the last two letters on her behalf.

Since then, Kaufman signed her works exclusively as Bel. Kaufman, in her own words, did not claim the literary glory - the stories were a way to earn extra money, bringing a small but stable income. Everything that she received went to the treatment of a mother, painted with cancer. During the break between teaching, the three -page story from the Teachers Wasket Basket, “From the Teacher’s Garbage Basket”, was also written.

The story was immediately published - and Bel was immediately offered to write a novel on its basis. She said that the teacher was not writing novels. But the publishing house promised an advance, and I really needed money: my mother was dying of cancer. I could not refuse - I took an advance and quickly spent it. What was left to do? I had to sit down for the novel, ”Bel recalled.

Nine months later, Roman was ready, and after his publication in the year, Bel Kaufman woke up the famous. The novel was translated into 16 languages ​​and came out with a common circulation of more than six million copies, and its name turned into an idiomatic expression in a number of countries. Three years later, the book was filmed by director Robert Malligan.

The film was also shown at the 5th Moscow International Film Festival.Based on the novel in the year, Kaufman also released the play of the same name. After that, she wrote not so much: she released several collections of stories and stories, published a series of autobiographical essays, a book of memoirs about children's years in Odessa and a number of other works. The psychological novel “Love and everything else” herself considered her best work.

He also came out in a large circulation, but did not reach the circulation of the "stairs", with which the name Bel Kaufman is primarily associated. However, Bel had almost no time for her own literary work. The success of the "stairs" turned it into a popularizer of the work of his grandfather. Prior to this, only a limited circle of people knew about their relationship, and Bel herself, of course, adored the stories of his grandfather, did not attach importance to their construction.

She delved into their thorough study only in x. Talking about her grandfather’s work, Bel traveled to many countries - everywhere she gave lectures and put the theatrical productions both according to her grandfather’s works and her stories. As critics noted, the more Bel talked about her grandfather, the more the style of her speech changed. He became Jewish colorful, saturated with humor.

Bel holyly honored the testament of his grandfather, in which the writer asked to remember him on the anniversary of his death with a laugh or not to remember at all. She never violated this tradition - every year she arranged a tea party and reading of the works of the writer, collecting everyone who remembered the writer. Now this tradition continues her daughter. Bel Kaufman died in the year at the age of years.

Up to almost a hundred years, Professor Bel Kaufman gave a course of lectures on Jewish humor at her native Hunter College and almost until her last days attended classes in a dance studio.

When asked how she managed to preserve such a youthful spirit, Bel answered her grandfather: “You need to live, even if it kills it.” And she already advised from myself: “You always need to go up the stairs. Wherever she led. ”