I have not been able to find out definitively why the magazine was named 'Krokodil' in the first place. The theory most commonly propounded is that it derives from the crocodile in the story by Kornei Chukovsky (1916). I have no reason to disbelieve this, but another story named after, and about, a crocodile was written by Dostoevsky in 1865. The logical place to look for an authoritative explanation would be the first issues of the magazine, but they are extremely rare and I haven't seen an original - only excerpts quoted elsewhere. In one of these quotes, in a poem by Demian Bednyi, the magazine is named as 'the red crocodile' which identifies the magazine with the animalistic logo/character, but I wonder if any of the readers of this blog can answer this question?
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Krokodil and Russian folklore
Krokodil cartoons very often employed folkloric characters and themes. Soviet graphic satire owed much to pre-revolutionary popular prints...
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Krokodil cartoons very often employed folkloric characters and themes. Soviet graphic satire owed much to pre-revolutionary popular prints... -
Kino Krokodil Мук Мультипликационный крокодил 1 Мук Мультипликационный крокодил 2 Мук Мультипликационный крокодил 3 was not ...
Further to the above post, there is a reference to the name of the magazine in this article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsinfo.ru/articles/2010-08-27/item/736265/
hope it's not too late, but I just saw this page and posts about Krokodil magazine. I am from RUssia, born in Vladimir Region (about 300km easterly off Moscow) in 1972. My Grandpa was subscribed for Krokodil from late 50's until very last issues (Mid 90's I think?).. And since my childhood, from about 4 y.o., I spent hours and hours looking through the Krokodil pages. They had not only caricatures (both political and general life), but very interesting articles, anecdote pages, including the funny stories from foreign magazines. Maybe that was one of the reasons I decided to study foreign languages ;). Nevertheless, answering the "main question" above: the Krokodil was indeed named by Demian Bedny, and this animal was selected as a symbol of sharp-teeth humour or even sarcastic satire, aimed to shed light on daily problems, bad things, etc.,etc. - i.e. the magazine was designed to fight the problems, using humour and satire. That is it. Should you have any more question: kboozin@gmail.com ;)
ReplyDeleteALl the best,
Kyrill Boozin
Moscow, Russia