литературы

The past 4th anniversary of the magazine "Questions of Literature", an organ of the Writers' Union and the A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, marked new serious successes in efforts to examine and clarify a number of major problems of Marxist-Leninist aesthetics, theory and history of literature. For our reader, the magazine "Questions of Literature" is like a large and bright window into the world of literary theory, as the most authoritative organ of Soviet literary thought. The political and spiritual upsurge of the Soviet peoples after the 20th and 21st Congresses of the CPSU is reflected in the pathos of the magazine. The first booklet of "Questions of Literature" from 1961 opens with I. Vinogradov's article "Za beguštim dnem" - notes on the novel by V. Tendryakov. The author dwells on the contradictory statements about the novel made by a number of Soviet critics, rejects some of them and, after a detailed analysis, clarifies some of the author's peculiarities with his tendency to portray an "intellectual hero", in which the main thing is "the struggle of ideas, the persistent search for a living, complex and significant thought". And insofar as this material is "new to the writer, he is not able to relate to it freely enough, to clearly separate it from himself. . . " This partly explains the contradictory perception of Andrei Biryukov, the main character in "For the Running Day". In the article "Poets of the Antilles" E. Galperina traces the stages of emergence, development and the current state of poetry in the Republic of Haiti, in the West Indies (the islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, etc.) and in British Guiana. The desire for national and political freedom, interest in the past and folklore, anger and contempt for the colonizers - 110 these features characterize the poetry of the Antilles. The questions of purity, euphony and creative use of modern literary language attract the attention of writers, critics and readers. E. Khanpira focuses on them in his short remark "Let's talk about our speech". In our attitude to language, breadth, a sober understanding of the peculiarities of artistic speech are obviously necessary, since any extreme purism can lead to the impoverishment of speech. In support of these thoughts, E. Khanpira cites convincing examples from the literary work of M. Gorky, S. Sergeev-Tsensky, Vl. Mayakovsky, V. I. Lenin and others.

I will be very pleased to fulfill the request of the editorial board of the magazine "Literary Thought" and tell you about the plans of our magazine. Recently, "Questions of Literature" published a similar statement by the editor-in-chief of our related literary organ in Bulgaria, Dr. P. Zarev, and the exchange of this kind of information is, in my opinion, a practical implementation of our literary contact. We can hope - things are going so well that Soviet and Bulgarian critics and literary scholars will not only be better informed about what has been done by each other, but will also more often participate in the common solution of certain research problems. That is why it is all the more important to know what problems interest each of the two countries. Our work this year will be marked by preparations for the upcoming XXII Congress of the CPSU. Since the congress will review an important historical period and adopt a new program of the party - the program of building communism - this obliges literary figures to understand the path of its development, to think more deeply about the laws of the construction of the great art of communism, about the distinctive features of this art. That is why the section "On a Contemporary Theme", with which each issue of our magazine opens, should be not only sufficient in volume, but also acutely problematic, including articles of a generalizing nature, analyzing the process of literary development in the conditions of victorious socialism. Introductory articles are planned in each issue on the work of critics and literary scholars in contemporary conditions; the titles: "Criticism and the Ideological Struggle", "Criticism and Life", Socialist Aesthetics - at a New Level", "Criticism and the Aesthetic Education of the People". The articles in the section "On a Contemporary Theme" should examine what literature has already achieved and outline further paths for a deeper artistic understanding of life, for higher mastery. Our plan includes works on the following topics: the in-depth reflection of the contemporary theme in literature (V. Survilo), labor and man (by M. Kuznetsov), combative Soviet humanism and abstract, contemplative humanism (V. Ozerov), the problem of building a new person in literary works (V. Baskakov), the moral and ethical theme in art (S. Koritnaya), Literature and village life (F. Svetov), ​​the search for new forms in art (S. Gaysaryan), the civic nature of young poetry (R. Kopilova), etc. In addition, reviews of the state of individual literary genres will be published: prose (T. Trifonova), journalism (V. Litvinov), etc. In a number of articles and publications we intend to develop the important topic of the party nature of literature and to show with concrete facts how fruitful the party's Leadership of Literature is, the new forms and methods that the party is applying with enormous benefit in today's conditions. In general, the magazine sees its task in analyzing those new features and peculiarities of the literary process and the entire course of literary life, which developed especially strongly precisely in the period of our life, marked by the decisions of the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU.

The extremely interesting work of G. D. Gachev "Accelerated Development of Literature" gives us the opportunity to look at it and evaluate it in a broader perspective, not directly related to the problems of Bulgarian Renaissance literature. The author's main concept of accelerated development poses contemporary questions that have the prospect of becoming increasingly contemporary. Every new generation and every individual who has appeared in this world must undergo accelerated development in order to be able to perceive in a concise, abbreviated form the experience of humanity gained in its centuries-old development. That is why the author's concept is very relevant, fruitful and of great importance for those who work on the work of individual writers. For my personal work, for example, on M. Tchaikovsky's Sadyk Pasha, Gachev's book with the problems posed and solved in it is extremely useful. Because I too am faced with a vivid case of accelerated development. The ideological formation of Polish emigration to France in the 19th century poses this question with all its acuteness. Polish emigrants arrived in Paris - the most elevated cultural center of Europe at that time, from a feudal country, some even, like Tchaikovsky, from distant Ukraine, where in both everyday life and in the worldview of the people there is still too much of the folklore-epic stage of human development. And they must catch up at an accelerated pace with the level of the most advanced human thought in the fields of politics, sociology and literature, each proceeding in the perception of the new from his own unique personal experience and personal knowledge and understanding of the world, brought from his homeland.

It is a glorious Gorky tradition to call on artists of the word to collective work: to frank conversations and discussions, to extensive discussions of the most pressing problems of our time, to various ways of creatively stimulating literature, art and culture. For half a century, these traditions have been actively developed to a new stage by modern creative unions, institutes, editorial offices and cultural organizations of Soviet writers, artists, scientists and cultural figures. A new vivid document of these living traditions and the emphasized desire for joint initiatives is the booklet 12 - 1965 of "Literary Issues", the organ of the Union of Writers of the USSR and the Institute of World Literature "A. M. Gorky" at the Academy of Sciences of the CCCP. The editorial board's initiative to dedicate an entire separate issue of the journal to the literatures of the socialist countries in Europe is not only commendable and timely, but also very symptomatic of the mature contemporary conditions under which European writers from the socialist countries must develop their creative efforts.

Vitaly Ozerov's new book has a clearly defined addressee - the mass reader, and an even more specific task - to show how Soviet writers depicted in their works the main stages of the half-century development of Soviet society. As a rule, the critic's attention is focused on novels, and by Russian Soviet authors; representatives of other nationalities are present more as "decor", from the posts only V. Mayakovsky, S. Yesenin, N. Dementiev, A. Surkov, P. Antokolsky, M. Aliger, A. Kuleshov, A. Akhmatova and others are mentioned with individual works. Through chronologically arranged essays, V. Ozerov achieves his goal: by analyzing individual works, he at the same time strives to reveal their place and significance in both literary and social life. Of course, as the critic emphasizes, in a small book it is hardly possible to cover the huge, multinational process in the history of Soviet literature. Here, it is necessary to bring individual authors and works to the forefront in order to highlight even more clearly what is an undoubted contribution.