Emil Manov

I have always treated criticism with respect. But if I say that I am in love with it, I would obviously be lying, since it is too much to ask someone to love the stick that is waved under their nose with enviable constancy... Well, joking aside. Let's be objective and say that the arguments around the "problem" of whether literary criticism is equal to other literary genres seem pointless to me. In my opinion, this depends on criticism itself, just as it depends on fiction or poetry whether it will be equal to criticism. A critical article can be read with joy and pleasure, just like any other literary work. Unfortunately, this does not happen very often, and the great fuss that has been made recently about the rights of criticism has a certain basis: it lies both in the incorrect attitude of some writers towards criticism and in the lack of inner confidence of some critics. When you don't feel confident in yourself or your poetry, you sometimes start screaming and beating your chest without knowing why...

We cannot imagine or understand the modern world, as well as any major event in the life of nations for half a century, without the ideas, consequences and influence of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Even less can we imagine the future of humanity without the beginning of that development which it laid and which proved its undeniable vitality in the most severe trials. The great historical change, which has become the everyday life of hundreds of millions of people and a vital goal for hundreds of millions more, refuted with equal force both the gloomy forecasts and the hasty gloating of the apologists of capitalism and inspired great hope in the hearts of all the oppressed and exploited in the world.