Every year Pushkin Day is celebrated in Russia on June 6th. The literary creativity of the great Russian poet Aleksandr Sergeev Pushkin leads us through our whole lives. His creations unite people of all ages, religions, nationalities, and are translated into tens of languages around the world. Aleksandr Pushkin is often named the founder of modern Russian literary language. No matter how difficult his works are for translations, the poet has his admirers in almost every corner of our world. We begin to get to know his stories before we have even learned to read. We know many of his works practically by heart and even quote them in our daily lives.
On this day – June 6th, 1799 – Sasha Pushkin was born in Moscow. The director of the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Elena Ponomareva, shared her opinion of the author and his genius.
– What traditions are they for celebrating Pushkin Day?
– In Russia, Pushkin’s birthday has always been celebrated, since Pushkin is everything – the sun of Russian poetry, the founder of modern Russian. Everything seriously changed after him – people began to write in a different language. It’s enough to compare Lomonosov and Pushkin – how easily Pushkin reads. This is why his name became the fact of the language, but without him literature would not be. All the issues, scenes, and tropes which made 19th century Russian literature celebrates – all of this was discovered by Putin, and after him, by Gogol. This is a modern trend, associating this project only with language, and it’s very bad. Literature began to be accepted by many as a means of studying language. Language is needed to understand literature, and through it understand culture and mindset and find a path towards the people of this country.
– Do you have a favorite piece by Pushkin?
– I can read everything by him, because he is universal. I will never speak of love better than Pushkin, so I very much like “I loved you…” This is my position in life – it matches Pushkin’s. When 7 lines are bringing you down in life and it seems that everything is spiraling downwards, the last line raises you up. There is even a feeling of harmony there where chaos reigns temporariy – this has always been a sign of Russian culture, but Pushkin discovered it. I very much love his short stories. These are beautiful, easily readable stories with deep meaning – this is the highest mastery in any art. But it is not by accident that by any scale of genius which is discussed in society, the single undeniable figure is Pushkin. This is one of those cases, where no one has ever had any doubts. You can’t just jump to this or stretch for it, because not everyone is able to speak so deeply and tenderly about everything.
– What do you love Pushkin for?
- I love him for the sense of novelty, for the combination of intellect and talent, and a little for his gall – in the good sense of the word. It probably did not bother him when he was writing and when he was living. But I am sure that today, Pushkin would walk around in a super-modern jean suit, would write on a modern computer, and would nonetheless speak about timeless things. He, deliberately I think, did not match the time he lived in. He was a few centuries ahead and also had a surprising sense of feeling his own era. He expressed the historical and cultural background using language and literature. After all, it is impossible to study a language if people don’t understand the Russian culture. That’s why it is so hard to translate him into other languages. His works are the music of language which is lost in translation. Pushkin became the symbol of Russian language around the world.
– Do you agree that a person of any age can find something in Aleksandr Pushkin’s works for himself?
– Yes, and after 20 years, you can reread his works that you read in your childhood and you understand that the meaning grows with you. This is the genius of his literature. It’s impossible to find another writer like him. He himself said that this was some kind of gift from above and, if he has such a gift, man does not have the right to not use it.
– How is this holiday celebrated at the university?
– We just finished celebrating the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. We work closely with the Herzen State Pedagogical Institute of Russia in St. Petersburg and there the constantly hold Pushkin readings at Tsarskoe Selo. We participate each year, and it’s a great honor for us to be invited there and that they are waiting for us. This year, Natalia Shlemova has gone and a few post graduate students have sent their articles as well.