Literature as a weapon and therapeutic agent

Presentation of his new book “Sovdetstvo. Pioneer Night” was held on August 31 at the MIA “Russia Today” by the Chairman of the National Association of Playwrights, laureate of the Prize named after. I. A. Bunina Yuri Polyakov.

The new “Sovdetstvo” became a continuation of the first book about the childhood of a typical Soviet child from a family without a dacha, living in a hostel. The writer also conceived the third part of “Sovdetstvo” about school. With pencil drawings in the Detgiz style.

The author attaches special importance to the verbal accuracy of presentation. Words and turns, prices, labels, household items must correspond to the era being described, otherwise our discerning reader will not believe.

In a certain sense, the writer creates his novels and stories in collaboration with the reader. There will still be errors, but if you do not strive for accuracy, there will be a critically large number of errors with the loss of the image of the era being described.

However, this note is not about a new book by Yuri Polyakov and not about him at all, but about the features of the current era, which breaks down against the image of a popular writer.

There will be a separate discussion about the book when we read it. In addition, our assessments in some places sharply diverge from Polyakov’s public position. His “Literaturnaya Gazeta” was used to discredit agricultural science and contributed to the degradation of the Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, which I eventually had to leave for a new life in journalism. This is still simpler than in genetics, and there can be even more information for research, conclusions and reflections and everything is on the surface. They put experiments on people without me and I don’t even need to look through a microscope, all aberrations can be identified with the naked eye.

Another difference between us is connected with the personal strangeness of Polyakov himself. The presence of a person’s feeling of gratitude puts him in a good light, but in this case it is not clear how he became a popular writer, because these are shackles on his legs along the steps of a career. It is rare for people to be so-called successful at the stages of their careers.

Polyakov’s feeling of gratitude towards Tatiana Doronina made him speak publicly in her defense. He was warned that all four of his plays, which were due to Doronina, would be removed from the stage.

However, I was not aware of the passions that Polyakov tells about.

Since the discussion in the Duma Committee on Culture under Maria Maksakova, a simple thought has come to the fore: what seems unfair to a respected actor may be fair to a simple spectator.

The situation around Doronina had nothing to do with justice or common sense. As a result, everyone suffered, and especially the viewer.

According to Polyakov’s description, he got into something far from original. For example, Mikhail Bulgakov’s health deteriorated and he died after the final removal from the stage of the play Days of the Turbins.

The writer is decoratively surprised: both in cinema and in literature, violent pessimism continues to be planted in society. Do you need it? Mystery.

Polyakov proceeds from the fact that the authorities are interested in a positive view. In Soviet times, optimism was forced. And now forced pessimism. There is satire on reality, and there is satire on imaginary reality.

Anti-Sovietism is a kind of Russophobia, says Polyakov. He agrees with Shakhnazarov, our capitalism is comprador. Type of people with a gloomy look at everything. Such literature attracts.

The reader may not understand why a popular writer is discriminated against. That’s how Polyakov and I ended up on the same side of the barricade.

All disputes later. Now the next thing is more important. The presentation of Polyakov’s book took place in the same room where Roman Vilfand’s press conference on the weather and immediately after it took place. The theme is linked together. It became unclear what kind of weather we are talking about – in nature or in our heads.

Like Vilfand, Polyakov easily agreed with me after the end of the public part of the event. It is about discrimination of truth and culture in support of lies and gun technologies under the guise of culture.

The question, in general, is that there is a norm for a person? It is unlikely that we will find a satisfying answer to this burning question in modern general human genetics or even psychiatry. However, there are no problems, an exhaustive interpretation can be found in modern new Russian literature and cinematography.

Art took over the role of the lost science. In this area, the motivation of a person is easily detected and it serves as a diagnostic sign in identifying normality and deviation.

Everything is really very simple. Modern culture is segregated into two antagonistic spheres. They are called the same, not at all by a misunderstanding, but in order to deliberately confuse the reader and the viewer, stealing each other’s audience, in fact, these are completely different forms of activity.

The phenomenon of “cancellation culture” can be called by analogy with the LGBT “non-traditional aesthetic orientation”. He is currently the pinnacle of the evolution of postmodernism. It aims to abolish traditional culture with natural ideals of beauty. Combines weapons technology in culture, suppressing the will of man and subordinate to the general goal of reducing excess population.

In Russia, a writers’ corps has formed with a negative attitude against everything Soviet, so that no one would have the thought that they broke a great country in vain. This is such a vicious fantasy, a sharp satire on what was not. After February 24, the carriers of this installation received a diagnostic sign – the condemnation of the SVO.

Anti-Sovietism is a form of Russophobia. Writers with a negative mindset are supported through awards, including the Big Book. They get benefits at book shows and presidential programs, which is especially surprising.

Representatives of the mainstream of Russian culture were stepchildren of Rospechat under Mikhail Seslavinsky and remain so after him. Their works with great difficulty get on exhibitions in bookstores. Sold-out plays are evicted from theaters and costumes are burned to prevent restoration.

Such writers are marked with the stigmata “statist” so that publishers, distributors, event organizers are not mistaken. The Russian-speaking reader, with his typical passion to get to the very essence of everything, understands that he is being fooled.

Of course, people are different, but on average, deliberate artificial negativity does not go well with us. It causes a painful sensation and is generally rejected.

Therefore, in bookstores the situation is more complex than simple discrimination. The situation fractally reflects the global antagonism between national power and the deep state.

Isn’t it a familiar picture? Because the scheme is universal on a global scale and the techniques are banal.

The life and work of Yuri Polyakov does not contain anything secret. Naturally, in an era of forced optimism, it was also not easy for him to break through to the reader. However, there was no deep state in the form of a hidden, irresponsible and aggressive government. The publication of the story about hazing “One Hundred Days Before the Order” was taken on by the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Youth” Andrey Dementiev. He simply sent a specific comrade from Glavupr with his threats.

It was 1987. Three years earlier, this did not happen. Polyakov did not engage in forced optimism, he decided to wait for his time.

Already today, the Chinese comrades told Polyakov: you are happy, you can talk about bribes from the stage. Polyakov was surprised, you are shot for taking bribes. But you can’t do it from the stage.

It was about the play “I Conceived an Escape” after a performance in a small such Chinese city for fifteen million people in a hall for three thousand spectators.

The Chinese leading comrades ordered the People’s Publishing House an additional print run of “I Conceived an Escape” for distribution to officials who, by the nature of their activities, are obliged to work with Russia. In China, reading Polyakov is considered the best representation of our country.

The unique writer Polyakov made his way through realism without any additional definitions, except for one – this is the realism of satire and humor.

Perhaps not a unique writer, but a country, because in Russia such phenomena of truth to the people sometimes occur in various spheres of human activity

Polyakov not only writes interestingly, but tells meaningfully. In particular, about the process of creativity, as well as the differences between the work of a writer and a publishing project. But that’s a completely different story.

Lev MOSKOVKIN.