That Spark of Life

"That Spark of Life"
Short story by Pavel Bazhov
Original titleЖивинка в деле
TranslatorEve Manning
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian
Genre(s)skaz
Publication
Published inKrasny Borets
Publication typePeriodical
Media typePrint (newspaper, hardback and paperback)
Publication date17 October 1943
SeriesThe Malachite Casket collection (list of stories)

"That Spark of Life" (Russian: Живинка в деле, romanized: Zhivinka v dele) is a short story (skaz) written by Pavel Bazhov. It was first published in Krasny Borets in October, 1943. It was later included in The Malachite Casket collection. In the 1950s it was translated from Russian into English by Eve Manning[1][2][3]

This is one of the most popular stories of the collection.[4][5] It generated a Russian catchphrase "spark of life" meaning "creativity", "initiative", or "great interest in something".[6][7]

A docufiction feature film Tales of the Ural Mountains (Russian: Сказы уральских гор, romanized: Skazy uralskikh gor), released by Sverdlovsk Film Studio in 1968, included a live-action adaptation of "That Spark of Life".[8][9]

  1. ^ "Malachite casket : tales from the Urals / P. Bazhov; [translated from the Russian by Eve Manning; illustrated by O. Korovin; designed by A. Vlasova]". The National Library of Australia. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  2. ^ Malachite casket; tales from the Urals. (Book, 1950s). WorldCat. OCLC 10874080. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  3. ^ Bazhov 1950s, p. 9.
  4. ^ Bazhov 1952 (2), p. 262.
  5. ^ Slobozhaninova, Lidiya (2004). "Malahitovaja shkatulka Bazhova vchera i segodnja" “Малахитовая шкатулка” Бажова вчера и сегодня [Bazhov's Malachite Box yesterday and today]. Ural (in Russian). 1. Yekaterinburg.
  6. ^ Petrova, Marina (2011). Словарь крылатых выражений [Dictionary of popular expressions]. Ripol Classic. ISBN 9785386028688.
  7. ^ Terentyeva, Olga (5 March 2015). Первая книга отличника [The first book of an excellent student] (in Russian). Litres. ISBN 9785457523890.
  8. ^ Vorontsov, Olgerd (director) (1968). Сказы уральских гор [Tales of the Ural Mountains] (mp4) (Motion picture) (in Russian). Sverdlovsk Film Studio: Russian Archive of Documentary Films and Newsreels. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Сказы уральских гор" [Tales of the Ural Mountains] (in Russian). Kino-Teatr.ru. Retrieved 8 December 2015.