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The XXII International Scientific and Practical Conference "Sholokhov Readings-2020" Ended Successfully

From 2 to 4 September 2020, the XXII International Scientific and Practical Conference “Study of the Art of Mikhail Sholokhov at the present stage: problems, concepts, approaches” (“Sholokhov Readings-2020”) was held at the Excursion and Exhibition Center "People’s House" (stanitsa Vyoshenskaya). Despite the fact that its composition this year was not as numerous as in previous years (some participants could not attend for objective reasons), the conference was full of significant events - interesting reports, presentation of scientific projects, a meeting with the writer Zakhar Prilepin, a round table meeting that set various directions for further research work.

The conference was opened by the grandson of the writer Alexander Sholokhov. He raised the issue of the author’s responsibility to the reader. This is a big and difficult question for the whole society. Alexander Sholokhov emphasized that “authors themselves must carry a grain of responsibility and, with their collective mind, record those cases when creative activity “rolls over” by some indicators”. He wished "the most fruitful work of the conference".

Director of the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve Olga Anistratenko welcoming the participants of the conference spoke about the projects and the results of the work done during the anniversary year 2020 - the completion of the complex restoration of the "heart of the museum" of the Estate of Mikhail Sholokhov, the acquisition of a large collection of items (more than 500 items) related to the events of the Great Patriotic War on the territory of the Sholokhov region, the publication of the first volume of letters from readers to Mikhail Sholokhov - a joint project of the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve with scientists from Institute of World Literature named after  Alexey Gorky of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She also thanked the members of the editorial board of the magazine “The World of Sholokhov” for their painstaking work and constant improvement of the magazine, wished the participants of the conference “cooperation in research activities and new discoveries in the study of the life and work of the great writer Mikhail Sholokhov”.

Writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin in his speech reflected the difficulties of an ambiguous understanding of the 20th century era, associated with both the political system and literature. Speaking about the writers of Russian literature of this period Zakhar highlighted the special position of Mikhail Sholokhov stressing that "the Sholokhov line reflects in itself everything that is fundamental, connected with the Russian as such, with national memory, with everything that worries us and for which we are still fighting".

The reports at the plenary session were devoted mainly to the theme of the Great Patriotic War in the life and work of Mikhail Sholokhov (Natalya Kornienko, Dmitry Pol, Yury Dvoryashin, Serghey Vasilyev, Alexander Dyrdin, Tatiana Osipova, Elena Papkova).

The first day of the conference ended with the presentation of a book of letters from readers to Mikhail Sholokhov of the period 1929 - 1955 "Please respond me substantial", the project manager is the largest Russian textual scholar Natalya Kornienko. As part of this study, more than 10,000 letters to Mikhail Sholokhov, which reflected the entire era of the first half of the twentieth century. This is a unique example of a lively dialogue filled not only with readers' reviews of the works of Mikhail Sholokhov, but also a reflection of the most important events in the life of the country - the Civil War, collectivization, the Great Patriotic War, the first post-war years. The speeches of the conference participants on this topic will be included in the collection of articles "Vyoshensky Vestnik-2020".

The second day of the “Sholokhov Readings" was no less fruitful. The reports of the participants were devoted to the study of the textological aspect of the creative heritage of Mikhail Sholokhov (Khristina Maksyuta, Yulia Gorbunova, Lyudmila Savenkova, Svetlana Korostova, Arina Malakhova), themes of nature in the prose of Mikhail Sholokhov (Tatiana Sukhorukova, Tatiana Ushakova), the problems of the novel "And Quiet Flows the Don" (Fyodor Ovchinnikov), the works of Mikhail Sholokhov in art (Lyudmila Razogreeva), the role of the Cossack song in the life of Mikhail Sholokhov (Alexey Kochetov), international recognition of Mikhail Sholokhov (Lidia Slyusarenko). The day ended with the presentation of the book by Evgheny Kostin “Mikhail Sholokhov: aesthetics and worldview”, published in July 2020. Evgheny Kostin is a Professor, Doctor of Philology, Head of the Department of Vilnius University (1997-2006), Rector of the International Baltic Academy (2000-2008), author of 11 books and more than 200 works on the history of Russian literature and culture, aesthetics and literary theory. Evgheny Kostin took part in the conference remotely; in a video message to the participants, he revealed the concept of his monograph.

The work of the conference ended with a round table on the topic "Scientific publishing projects: experience, problems and prospects", during which the participants talked about the forthcoming work of the team of authors on the second volume of letters from readers to Mikhail Sholokhov, entitled "A Soviet reader to you with a letter ..." (speakers - Natalya Kornienko, Lyudmila Razogreeva, Alexander Sholokhov, Galina Vorontsova, Elena Papkova, Elena Popova, Alexey Kochetov, Ekaterina Karbysheva). Olga Bakhtiyarova, head of the sector of publishing projects of the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve talked about preparation of the catalog of the collection of photographic documents from the collection of the museum “Mikhail Sholokhov in photographs by Vasily Chumakov”,

The past conference showed how wide and significant the layer of problems and directions covered by researchers is and outlined the prospects for the closest study of the writer's creative heritage in the context of the era. The conference participants noted the importance of registering the collection "Vyoshensky Vestnik", issued following the conference, in the Russian Science Citation Index database - as an opportunity to present materials to the wide scientific community.

Lydia Slyusarenko