Creative people can't make good money: an interview with a poet

Interview with poet Sergei Vasiliev - Eclipse for the Persona magazine

- Sergei, what does poetry mean in your life?

Personally, in my life, this is the brightest Galaxy in which harmony reigns.
In general, poetry is one of the most important tools given to those in power to shape the spirituality of society. According to Pushkin, it sounds like this: "Burn the hearts of people with a verb." Unfortunately, the authorities have not yet heard the poets. It is no coincidence that people who consider themselves serious and busy call any manifestation of sensuality by lyrics. "All this is lyrics" - they say, sometimes protruding their lower lip.

- And, nevertheless, the lyrics play a dominant role in your work. This immediately catches the eye, although you have both parodies and comic poems.

Lyrics, as SI Ozhegov writes, is "a kind of poetry that expresses the feelings and experiences of the poet." Therefore, all my work is nothing but lyrics. None of my works were born without personal feelings and experiences.

- You have your own self favorite poem?

This is not an easy question, since many of my poems warm my soul, but in order to answer I will name the works that I really like to read in front of an audience. These are poems: "Beloved", "Sleep", "Dream", "Rowan", "Intoxicating", "Moth", etc.

- I know that you often speak to listeners with your poems. Tell us about these performances.

First, I will tell you about an incident that turned my attitude towards poetry upside down. Up to grade 10 for fiction I looked askance. Noticing this, the literature teacher instructed me to read Sergei Yesenin's poem "The feather grass is asleep" at a school poetry evening. I was very worried, but I read the poem with feeling and without hesitation. When the applause thundered, I suddenly felt that the very "warmth" about which my great namesake so eloquently wrote was spreading in my heart. And I looked at poetry differently. And when I studied at the military school, I relieved the psychological stress of the exam sessions by memorizing poetry. During the sessions, I learned by heart about fifty verses and one poem by Sergei Yesenin. In addition, I memorized poems by Goethe, Tyutchev, Pushkin and many, many other authors. And almost all of these works belong to love lyrics... When I transferred to the fourth year of my favorite university, all the days off school year began to spend in the recreation center them. Gorky, where in between dances he read poetry from the stage. They knew me in this famous recreation center and let me through for free.
Well, now I read my own poems and there are a lot of such performances. I also perform in the middle educational institutions Petersburg and the Vsevolozhsky region, and at creative evenings of their friends and colleagues from the pen, and in our well-known music and poetry club "Rodnik", as well as at holidays and festivals. The performances in Staraya Ladoga at the gala concert dedicated to the 1250th anniversary of this city, at the Robinsonada festival (Vyborgsky district), from the terrace of the museum-estate of Nicholas Roerich in Izvara (Volosovsky district) and at the festival " Apple saved"(Vsevolozhsky district).
In addition, in many prestigious halls of St. Petersburg, songs written to my poems sounded. They were performed by Natalya Alyaeva herself, and Ksenia Zuden, a professional vocalist and talented young writer.

- What composers do you work with, and how are songs born?

I don't compose songs especially, but if a poem is written correctly, then it can always become a song, because its rhythm gives rise to music in the soul.
Once in the editorial office of the newspaper "Nevskaya Zarya" (Vsevolozhsk) a man with a military bearing approached me and offered to write songs for all my poems. He introduced himself as Anatoly Chagin. Smiling in my heart, I gave him the printed texts, which were just with me. When my first creative meeting took place on March 20, 2002 within the framework of the Rodnik music and poetry club in the Vsevolozhsk Palace of Culture, I heard five songs at once to my verses. They were sung then by our little-known Vsevolozhsk bard Nikolai Eremin. During the performance of these songs, tears began to flow. From that day on, I began to cooperate with Nikolai Eremin and Anatoly Chagin. By the way, Nikolai Eremin is now the owner of many prestigious awards, including two grand prix of All-Russian festivals. Later I met a young St. Petersburg composer Natalya Alyaeva, who wrote seven songs to my poems, one of which sounded both on television and on the radio, as well as in various halls. Among them: the concert halls of the A.S. Pushkin Museum at Moika 12, Anichkovy, Sheremetyevsky and Yusupov palaces, as well as the gallery of the Priyutino museum-estate (Vsevolozhsk). This song is called "Earthly Love". She is a laureate of the regional competition. Another song by Natalia Alyaeva to my poems became a laureate of the well-known Alexander Nevsky festival. It is called the "Blockade Temple". I also collaborate with the composer-performer Valerian Stratutsa, who is well known to the poets of St. Petersburg.

- Sergei, you have a very wide social circle, and what do friends mean to you in life?

Friends mean a lot to me, and therefore I value them and in every possible way strive to help them disinterestedly. Basically, they are all creative people. Moreover, people of all ages: from 20 years old and older.

- Is poetry for you a hobby, a hobby? What are your other hobbies in life?

Not a hobby or hobby. Poetry for me is a way of life. I get up with poems in my head and fall asleep with them. This is my unexplored galaxy. Poems rush out of me, but there is a sorely lack of time to form them. In addition, I am engaged in journalism, I publish my own deputy newspaper, where I post social and environmental materials. I also love philosophy, psychology, astronomy and painting. I love skiing and rollerblading, walking in the woods.

- Do you remember your first poem?

Of course. It was written on December 30, 1999 and is called "The Pain of Separation." And the first was the poem "Duty to Memory". It was published in January 2000 by the regional newspaper Vsevolozhskie Vesti.

- Have there been other publications?

After this publication, much of my work was published in various newspapers, as well as in almanacs. Among them are poetic almanacs: "Koltushskie heights" (Koltushi - 2000), "Poems of all ages are submissive" (St. Petersburg - 2002, 2003, 2005), "Vsevolozhsk lyre" (Vsevolozhsk - 2003); collection of songs by Natalia Alyaeva "I sing a song about Russia" (St. Petersburg - 2004); newspapers: "Vsevolozhskie Vesti", "Vsevolozhsky Prospect", "Koltushi", "Nevskaya Zarya", "Sertolovo and Surroundings", "Honor and Homeland". Well, in 2004 I published a book of my poems called "Galaxy of Dreams". One more book is ready for release.
In addition, songs based on my poems have been recorded on discs by Nikolai Eremin and Natalya Alyaeva.

- What would you like to achieve in your work?

Many people (usually women) say that my poems warm their souls. So I would like these people to be as many as possible.
And I would express my credo in poetry as follows:

I'm walking on a dangerous razor's edge,
Despising the gusts of chilly winds
And for everyone I will draw a star in the sky
The hot edge of lyrical words ...

- Your surname has a prefix - Eclipse. Where did it come from and what does it mean?

Translated from of English language the word "eclipse" means an eclipse. This is very suitable for my romantic nature, since the lyrics in my humorous understanding are an eclipse of the mind with feelings. And I took this pseudonym (under it I sometimes print articles on topical topics in print and on the Internet) because in 1980-1081 I served in a separate Eclipse radar company on the Khariton Laptev Coast (Taimyr Peninsula, 400 km northeast Dikson Islands and 400 km south-west of Cape Chelyuskin). The unclassified name of the company corresponds to the name of the cape, where it was located until 1995, and then it was disbanded. By the way, there is a wooden sign put by Lieutenant Kolchak, who later became an admiral and leader of the white movement. You can read about this on the Internet. There is even a map of this section of Taimyr. On Eclipse I learned a lot for my spiritual development.

- How did you get on "LITSOVET" and how do you think it differs from other literary sites?

LITSOVET differs from other literary sites in a wide range of additional opportunities, including the opportunity to illustrate your works with photographs. And I got to this site thanks to Natalia Solyanova (Leventhal).
At the end of 2005, my starship ended up in the Galaxy under the name Mail Agent. Here I met you, which is immensely glad, as well as with many other people. Among them was Elena Oliv, who introduced me to the server of modern poetry "STIKHI.RU". On January 25, 2006, I published my first work here and began to work actively. While searching in the Agent, I accidentally found Natasha, whom LITSOVET knows as the poet Leventhal. Having learned from the conversation that she writes poetry, as well as having familiarized myself with some of them, I strongly recommended that she register on the "STIKHI.RU" server. Well, Natalia brought me to LITSOVET.

- What would you like to wish the readers and authors of "LITSOVET"?

First of all, further creative success, and secondly, tolerance and understanding of each other.

Hello my beloved and dear ones! This year I got out of parental leave, sent my daughter to Kindergarten, and she went to study - to finish her university. I was delighted to study with a girl who writes beautiful poetry. And I really want to introduce you to her and her work.

Yes, this is an interview with a poet who is still little known, but I am sure that this girl has a great future ahead on the creative path. And after reading some of her poems today, you will understand this too!

So, let me introduce you - Svetlana Tankovich - a native and resident of Minsk (Belarus). I will not tell you about it for a long time. I just ask you to support her "going out through the Internet" in the comments at the bottom of the page. I think it will be pleasant for Sveta to read your undoubtedly positive reviews about her work. In general, support the young poet!

I said my first word. Let's go directly to the interview with the poet. And I will immediately give the floor to Svetlana.

Svetlana Tankovich: Hello everyone. I am very pleased that I had such a chance to present my work to you. I hope you will like it.

I AM: Sveta, I am always interested in how it all began. Therefore, I will begin our interview with this question. How long ago did you start writing poetry?

Svetlana Tankovich: In fact, a long time ago. She wrote her first poem at the age of 11.

I AM: Do you remember the story of the creation of your first poem? Tell us.

Svetlana Tankovich: Yes I remember. It was summer. My two sisters and I were vacationing in the village with my grandmother. It is a wonderful place to write and write a lot. And it so happened that we had a fight and argued a lot, I don’t remember exactly what it was, but my aggression and anger poured onto the paper with my first poem “The Wanderer”.

Wanderer

In the gloom of the night

Hiding from fate

Goes to the touch

Afraid of foreboding trouble.

He is a black wanderer

Owner of the dark.

He's only looking for freedom

He is looking for warmth.

But where is the warmth in the darkness of the night

And where can a wanderer warm himself in silence?

There is only one answer:

There is no freedom in the dark

And we have nowhere to hide from fate.

I AM: How interesting! Most often, I hear from many that the beginning of their creative stream is their first love. But you were pushed to this by completely different emotions. And this once again confirms me in the thought that any emotion that he experiences can serve as inspiration .

Sveta, a couple of years ago I had the pleasure of hearing you read your poems. It was very inspiring! If I had just read them and not heard them, I would have perceived them in a completely different way. Tell me, how do you manage to achieve such an inspired sound, drawing full attention from the listener?

Svetlana Tankovich: In fact, I believe that few people can read and actually understand poetry more beautifully than the author himself. Creative people have a very delicate and sensitive nature. Each of my poems is painstaking work, which often takes a lot of time. I have been writing some poems for a year or even two. And it's not that it doesn't work out. Each creation has its own mood, and I, as an author, do not want to break it. Poems are soul sounds, and if it is not tuned like a Stradivarius violin, it will not play cleanly. And as the classics say, "The desire to write is a disease of the soul, the ability to write is almost a medicine".

I AM: In fact, there are many poets who are embarrassed to read their creations themselves. Can you give them some tips?

Svetlana Tankovich: I also get very nervous when I read in public. My loved ones were always the first listeners. But here interesting fact: the more nervous I am, the more feelings I put into reading, the more emotional it sounds. Do not be afraid. Find those who want to listen to you and you will understand that reading your poems is a real pleasure! Start with your loved ones.

I AM: Tell me, where have you already performed with your poems?

Svetlana Tankovich: I started at school. Now I am publishing in the student newspaper "Pachatkovets" in our BSPU. I also have a small achievement: I took 2nd place in the competition of reciters in Baranovichi with my poem "The Ballad of Lies".

Ballad of Lies

I hate lie,
This sweet demon
What poisons the soul
Like autumn rain.

So inadvertently it will sneak up
And secretly it will crawl into the heart.
So sweetly whispers, beckons to sleep.
So sweetly whispering lies all around ...

- Everything will be as you want,
As soon as you wish.
Everything will be as you ask
But you just have to lie a little.

“Oh, damn you, old woman!
I can't live without you.
You make me lie
To those people who are very dear to me.

What price to pay
To pay me off from you?
What price to pay
To become free
A free bird.
What price shall I pay you, old woman !?

“But… honey. Look around!
I'm not an old woman.
Did you listen to the sweets
my speeches
And I did not see my beauty.
Blinded by his stupidity.

And the boy looked back
And he sees: in front of him
a bright light flickers.
He is like a hope in front of him.
Either dream, or reality - you can't tell.

- Surely you beckon me,
A beautiful creature?
I don't really see before me
The very charm.
Oh, how sweet your voice is
And the shine of the eyes
Such large emeralds.
Oh, how I need your appearance,
I really need your call.

I deceived again ...
An insidious genius is a lie.

She caught the dust of deception.
The flame is extinguished with hope for salvation.
A lot of time will pass
And now - already an old man
Weaves into everyday chatter
so fiercely
Your lying unnecessary cry to anyone.

He is lonely
Among the cobwebs, flaws,
Portraits, dear people, deceptions.
Only one. And next to him only that
Was on whose shoulders lies the wine.
Dope nectar will add to the old man ...
Through life, his light leads into darkness.

The whole world cannot be fooled
But it's easy to deceive yourself ...

I AM: Bravo! Sveta, do you have any plans for next?

Svetlana Tankovich: Of course, there are plans. Since childhood, she dreamed of a small book with her poetry. I started writing stories. There are also several miniatures in prose.

I AM: Well, I wish you success, full self-realization and a lot of readers and admirers! Thank you for the interview. Now let's leave our readers alone with your poems.

Svetlana Tankovich: Thanks. Enjoy reading!

Creativity of Svetlana Tankovich

I will fall into the maelstrom of your eyes ...

I will fall into the pool of your eyes,
And in my thoughts I touch you
I am drowning in the mystery of your speeches,
The whole world is forgetting from happiness.

It's hard for me to breathe when you're around
And every day it's harder to look into your eyes
Only your kiss will be my reward
The reward will be the light of your eyes!

To be with you is torture.
I'm afraid I won't hold back my passions
The soul breaks out ardently
When you are near, I am not stronger.

I'll get the moon from heaven for you
And I will unlock any door.
I won't look at others,
Just believe me
believe me.

Friends, Svetlana allowed me to independently select several poems for publication. And now I want to present to you those poems of her that personally seem to me like emeralds of the soul. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Big city lights ...

Big city lights
They burn seven days a week
They want to remind us
That our city does not sleep.

He's a sleepy shroud
Shrouded only in places
But in the heart, as during the day,
The flames are raging now.

The lights are burning welcoming
all travelers, guests.
Warily, but willingly
All people are welcomed.

The lights are just careful
They will show you home.
They don't care who you are:
Banker or barefoot.

Sleep baby

Sleep-baby enters the house.
He's like a nice sweet dwarf
The voice is a magic ringing.

The ringing of your eyes tells you to close.
Who is awake? Who is awake?
Not covered with a blanket?
Who is not friends with a pillow,
Doesn't it lie on the featherbed?

The dream of possession bypasses
He does not take his eyes off the sleeping children.
Keeps a close eye on everything:
Who is awake, who is not asleep?

So, my dears, the interview with the poet is over, the poems have been read, there is little left to do: leave a comment below and support Svetlana with your word.

By the way, I don’t say goodbye to this for long. Soon I will introduce you to another girl and her work. So see you soon!

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Our conversation with Sasha took place exactly on the eve of the New Year. Perhaps it is no coincidence? After all, her poetry sounds like the music of a fairy tale, bewitches, enchants, beckons ... If you have ever touched this magic, you will fall in love with the fairy tale in yourself! And you will carefully keep it in your soul. And once you get lost on the paths of fate - one of Sasha's poems will help. As if by a thread from a magic ball, you will emerge from the darkness. Necessarily!

Gift for grandmother

Sasha, do you remember how in childhood you first came into contact with poetry? Did your parents often read poetry to you?
As a child, my mother read me a lot of poems. They were easy to remember, so the task was complicated for me by verses of patriotic content of incredible volumes (smiles). Now, unfortunately, I don’t remember which ones. But judging by the fact that my five-year-old nephew is reciting The Story of an Unknown Hero, Uncle Stepa, etc., I can assume that I had a similar repertoire.

Please tell us the story of your first poem. How did you get the desire to write down your feelings and thoughts in poetic form?
The very first poem was written at the age of six in a beautiful red diary. It was a gift to my grandmother on March 8th. It's hard to say where this desire came from, but it happened.

Do you think parents can instill in a child a love of poetry?
I think that parents not only can, but should educate their children to love poetry. Poems develop memory, a sense of rhythm and, thanks to their melodic sound, are easily perceived by children.

“Mom, tell me - is it an angel? But gray wings ...
Don't angels have white wings, mom?
- Maybe, my dear, they are covered with dust?
- Mom, he looks longingly at the window frame ...

- Sleep, my dear, he is an angel of a long way.
There is some sand in the wings from the midnight track.
Sleep my dear, let's wrap our legs
A beige blanket with horses of various colors ... "

"Lullaby about Wings", August 11, 2008

You can't be born a poet

What do you think poetry is? Anyone can write a few lines into a rhyme. And only a few are given to breathe life into these lines in such a way as to touch the soul of a person. Where is the line between rhymed lines and poetry?
Poetry is when goosebumps run. This is when, after reading a few lines, I want to know how it will end. This is when you merge with the rhythm. This is when you want to read something else by the same author. This is when the gaze does not cling to the curve construction. Moreover, it is absolutely not necessary when all of the above coincides at the same time.

“Poetry is when goosebumps run. This is when, after reading a few lines, I want to know how it will end. This is when you merge with the rhythm ... "

Do you think you can become a poet or are they born? Does a poet really carry a "spark of God" or can anyone be taught to write poetry?
You cannot be born a poet. You can be born with a certain predisposition to something. And if environment will create the conditions in which talent develops, everything will work out. Or it is possible as a generator, without having a special talent, but having desire, by hard work, hollow out that very spark from yourself. If this spark is reborn into fire (which is given to others as a bonus at birth), then it will be an amazing genius of labor.

Poet and muse

Sasha, please tell us the history of your nickname Best.
Initially, it was a nickname - Bes. I was nineteen years old and wanted to show off somehow. Then, through a long rethinking and advice from others, the nickname Best appeared. Russian letters with Latin letter t. It was decided this way, because the nickname is not greatly changed visually and, at the same time, does not irritate the eyes of especially religious comrades. It also has nothing to do with "the best" or anything like that. On sites where it is not allowed to combine letters in one word different languages, you have to subscribe as Sasha Best.

“No, I'm not a bird, I'm just trying to fly
But, for a start, at least, do not fall into the abyss
Falling there may be painful, but useful
The main thing is to get up later.

We are not friends, but I will not leave you in trouble.
I would understand - what is my freedom:
Being without you is like drinking ice water
Or with you, but without the right to own you ... "

“No, I'm not a bird, I'm just trying to fly”, May 31, 2009

You often write from a male perspective. Is it such a literary game, or is it sometimes easier to express feelings?
I am writing not only from a man's face. It's just that I'm interested in “trying on” different images, social statuses, a different sensory perception of the world ... I think that in creativity you shouldn't limit yourself to any specific framework.

What do you think about the division of poetry into masculine and feminine? Is “women's poetry” really a separate category?
I take this very ambiguously. With a historical change female role in society, women's poetry began to acquire more interesting shade and richer content. Previously, I liked male classical poetry more, now, if we take modern authors, I tend to lean more towards female poetry.

“I love Shakespeare, Rozhdestvensky, Blok, Gumilyov, Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva very much. Each of them made his own special contribution to the process of the emergence of some knowledge about poetry "

According to famous saying, "Pushkin is our everything." And which of the poets is “everything” for you?
To be honest, I don't really like reading poetry. There are times when you want to, but this does not happen so often ... But I am more than equal to Pushkin.

How does the process of creative growth in poetry take place? For example, artists say that in order to develop taste, a sense of composition, one needs to learn from the old masters.
Everyone chooses their own path. We are all different. And we all go our own way creative way... The poet needs to learn language literacy, listen to more high-quality music to develop a sense of rhythm, read good books and watch talented films to "renew the senses" and be enriched with new stories. The rest is imagination and life experience.

Often the path to poetry begins with imitating great authors. Tell us how to overcome this moment and develop your own style?
V adolescence I copied in my notebook the verses of Maria Semyonova from books about the Wolfhound. I still remember in fragments some of them. At the age of seventeen, the first attempts to write poetry began. Imitation is good. This is a learning process. The main thing is not to forget to put the results of your imitative activity on the table at the moment when you get the feeling that you can leave a lifebuoy on the shore and go on your own voyage.

“Imitation is good. This is a learning process. The main thing is not to forget to put the results of your imitative activity on the table at the moment when you get the feeling that you can leave a lifebuoy on the shore and go on your own voyage. "

How does the sacrament of the birth of a poem take place? Does it immediately come to you "finished" or does it happen to work on individual lines for a long time?
How nice it would be if a ready-made text came to mind (laughs). Still, God gave memory to this in order to quickly write everything down. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Some lines come, and then you sit and think - "where did it all start?" or "Well, comrades, you've made some porridge ... and how are you going to get out now?" In this regard, some poems are generally waiting for their moment without a single line.

“... God overturned a jug of milk,
And the morning got wet.
The sky full of life in the palms
It beat softly.
Something in my chest stung doomedly,
After - it fell silent.
This is not the heart ... this is the universe
Has stopped. "

"Do-it-yourself sky", December 27, 2009

Sasha, have you had to go through a creative crisis? And how, if not a secret, do you cope with the “ups and downs of the muse”?
Yes, anything can happen ... At such moments I just try to focus on the flow of life. If on this moment it is not written, which means that my inner muse is hatching some new grandiose idea in my plans. And there is nothing to distract him with all sorts of trifles (laughs).

Sasha, are there times when you turn to your work - re-read poetry? Do you have any favorites among your own works?
No, I try not to reread my own poetry. To be honest, I have never even read a single collection from beginning to end. Poems are re-read either at the stage of writing for the purpose of correcting, or before creative evenings in order to memorize the poem and update its sensual side. In general, there are probably no favorites either.

"The poet needs to learn language literacy, listen to more high-quality music to develop a sense of rhythm, read good books and watch talented films in order to" renew feelings "and be enriched with new stories"

In 2009, your collection "Soul in the Palms" was released by samizdat. In 2012, the book of poems "I invented myself" was published. Why did you decide to publish yourself by samizdat? Have you tried contacting publishers to print you?
I had a moment when I contacted various publishers. Everywhere I was told that poetry is not relevant now. The second collection of poems was released by the sponsor on the condition that the earnings from the sale of online stores will go to him until he pays for his expenses, and then the income from the sales will go to me. A story comes to mind: “He somehow went out for cigarettes, and we never saw him again. Apparently, it was some very rare brand of cigarettes " (laughs).

Are you planning to release a new book in the near future?
I don’t plan anytime soon. We need to work out more material... I see no reason to release thin books.

On the roads of fairy tales

In your lyrics, plot pieces prevail. Each is like a little story, fairy tale or novel ... You are perfectly able to create these magical worlds filled with deep meaning, to draw smallest details... Sasha, please tell us how the plots of your poems are born? And what comes first? Does the plot "lead" the creative flow or, on the contrary, do the plots appear in the flow?
It's simple - I really love fairy tales, I just LOVE fairy tales. And I'm interested in writing them. I love how they smell, how they taste, how they end, and what magic happens. The primary record may be the record of the "oak door" or the "smell of aspen in the house." It doesn't matter at all. I want to touch it all, smell it, walk around, pry the magic (smiles). And then the heroes choose their own path.

“I just love fairy tales! I am interested in writing them. I love how they smell, how they taste, how they end and what magic happens ... "

What role do you think a fairy tale plays in a person's life?
A fairy tale is generally something unique! This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a world where everything happens differently from ours, where ordinary people acquire unusual abilities, where the power of love can do absolutely everything. We just forget about it in Everyday life... A fairy tale is a reminder to us of our real possibilities.

“A fairy tale is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a world where everything happens differently from ours, where ordinary people acquire unusual abilities, where the power of love can do absolutely everything. We just forget about it in everyday life. A fairy tale is a reminder to us of our real capabilities "

You have a whole series of poems about cats. Many readers copy the poem "The Cat and Her Man" in their notebooks and memorize them. Why are cats often the inspiration for your poems?
I'll start with the sad one - I'm allergic to cats. But as a child, all the yard cats were mine. All the sausage from the refrigerator secretly left them. And they also have a unique superpower, along with seals and raccoons - the rounder the cat, the more beautiful it is. I guess I just envy them (laughs).

“In dusty Moscow, an old house with two stained-glass windows
It was built in some sort of the fifteenth century.
A dazzling black cat lived nearby
A cat that Man loved very much.

No, not friends. The cat just noticed him -.
Squinting a little, as if looking at the light
Her heart was beating ... Oh, how her heart was purring!
If at the meeting he quietly whispered to her: "Hello" ... "

"Story about a Cat and her Human", April 28, 2008

"Tales of the Bear" is a ballad about bitter, inconsolable love. The heroine turns to the witch for advice and gives her heart to the bear so as not to suffer anymore. Sasha, have you ever experienced a feeling of unrequited love? Should the poet himself go through suffering in order to convey the whole gamut of feelings so piercingly?
I think there was a story of unrequited love in every person's life. It's such necessary stage knowledge of the depths of his heart not only for the poet, but also for each person.

“… But I made up my mind. And, having conceived, she did.
Feelings turned to stone, and tears dripped.
The formidable bear roared and
She gently hugged my heart with her paws.

And without a heart in an instant - a head, as if drunk.
Today I don't want to endure his pain.
Let yourself pound, accursed,
In the terrible mouth of the beast, humbly huddled up.

It’s so easy, enthusiastic in my head.
In the Grove of the Fallen, the sky glows tenderly.
I just heard people - on the untouched path
A bear roars in inconsolable grief. "

"The Tale of the Bear", October 16, 2015

In the poem "Wolf Tales" you create a mystical, mesmerizing atmosphere. I think that many readers, like me, get goosebumps as they read it. How did you get the idea to write this work? Why did you decide to turn to the topic of girlish fortune-telling?
I can't say for sure why the idea of ​​fortune-telling came to my mind at that moment, but when we were teenagers, sometimes we indulged in fortune-telling. At all times, it was interesting for girls to look into the future and find out who their betrothed is. But sometimes it’s better to leave it as it is. Everything has its time.

“… What is frozen, Marusya? Rather sit on my back.
You will see how the leaves will sparkle with colors in the night.
But in our area in front of me is any girl
The steppe spreads "

The moon turned pale. Silence reigned in the upper room.
Marusya jumped up and flew up like a bird-dove.
Into the reflection in the mirror, crying out, threw the candlestick
The night has passed ... "

"Wolf Tales", February 15, 2015

Voices from outside

How much are the people around you influencing your creativity?
More often the influence is not too positive. I am a little annoyed by the questions: “Well, how? Is there something new? Not written? And why? Write something!!!" If you want to know if there are new poems, go to the page and take a look. Why so many unnecessary questions? The strangest question is why it is not written.

How important is reader recognition to you?
Let's just say I am pleased when people read me. Obviously, we all share our creativity in order to be read. But I don't really care if someone doesn't like what I write. Everyone has their own tastes.

Sasha, do you write poetry to order?
Yes, I'm writing. I am not one of those people who say: "Money ruins creativity!" Getting paid for your hobby is okay.

“If a competent person writes a negative review, then he does you a favor - points out your mistakes. We must sincerely thank such people and rule. "

Can a bad review of your poetry ruin your mood?
No, he can not. If negative review a literate person writes, then he does you a favor - points out your mistakes. We must sincerely thank such people and rule. But more often such reviews are written by trolls in order to offend or offend. Each person just needs to remember that trolls do this out of a lack of love. Therefore, we either thank them for their efforts, or ignore them.

You often have literary evenings where you read your poetry. How do you feel about when other people read your works?
I think this is great! As a teenager, I remember asking a girl musician to write the chords and lyrics for a song that I really liked. The answer was: "Only I can sing this song." So, I believe that not only I can read my poetry. And it's just unrealistically cool when I'm not the only one who reads them.

Ordinary life

How comfortable do you feel in Moscow? Do you have any thoughts of moving to a place that is more conducive to creativity?
So I'm here since birth (smiles). I love Moscow! As they say - it is good everywhere, but at home it is better. I miss home even on vacation, no matter how good I feel.

Sasha, please describe a typical day in your life.
I have the most ordinary days of the most ordinary life (smiles). Work home. Sometimes various events and meetings with friends in a cafe or for board games... I am not very active on diversity.

"You have changed. I, maybe, too.
We draw art with chalk on the skin
The herd feeling is not to be different.
It’s a commonplace feeling to be different.

A wave of watercolors is mediocre in gestures
Accuracy in words does not lead to the ideal
In scarlet we paint delight and bliss
Only we do not paint perfection with scarlet ... "

"Coma", July 11, 2009

Is poetry your main occupation? Or do you have to combine creativity with other work?
Poetry is a hobby. Sometimes, of course, you have to take various projects, but this is not my main activity. I work at Rosatom.

How do you like to spend your free time? Do you have any hobbies?
I don’t have much free time, so I usually spend it watching some interesting film with a cup of coffee or working on another fairy tale that will never end. (smiles).

Sasha, tell us a little about your family. Is your husband also a creative person?
My husband is a saxophonist, so music is often played in our house.

Do you have a saying or quote that helps you in difficult times?
The quote with which I walk through life: “There is no way out. Happiness is inevitable! " Suitable for any occasion.

Instead of a postscript ...

Anna Akhmatova described inspiration as a guest “with a pipe in hand”, before whom all the honors of the world are nothing. What kind of inspiration would you come up with?

Grigoriev, IN "My poems, run, run ...": [interview with poet IN Grigoriev / recorded by S. Ponomareva] // Pskovskaya Pravda.- 1992. - May 14.

"MY POEMS RUN, RUN ..."

This collection is kept in our editorial library. A guy with the appearance of a film actor looks from the title page: wide eyebrows sprawling, piercing eyes, dark curl of hair and a dimple on the chin. Signed under the portrait: "Pskovskoy Pravda" from the godson heartily. Igor Grigoriev ". The collection of poems "Listoboy" was published by the "Young Guard" publishing house exactly 30 years ago.

Later there were many different books in the literary life of Igor Grigoriev. It was published by various publishing houses - "Soviet Russia", "Soviet Writer", "Lenizdat", others, but this, one of the first books, is the most memorable for the editors.

Later he participated in the translation of many books by foreign poets, wrote prose. He also managed to try himself in drama - back in 1943, in the German rear, in a partisan detachment, his play "Black Day" was staged. At first, the military theme became the main one in his work. Therefore, on the eve of our most holy holiday - Victory Day, I went to former intelligence officer, four times wounded in battles, the patriarch of Pskov poetry Igor Grigoriev, to congratulate him and interview him.

- Igor Nikolaevich, how do you feel about the fact that the word patriot, which has always been highly revered in Russia, has become almost a dirty word? It seems that with our nihilism we are capable of destroying even the only sacred thing that remains with us, Russians, from the post-revolutionary period - the memory of the Great Patriotic War. Very few young mothers today bring their babies to the Eternal Flame on May 9 ...

It is bitter and sickening for me, as well as for my other peers, to hear in the shop “battles” the indignant: “When will you all be dead?”. I never go with a certificate, without a queue, although I have a second group of disabilities, but that doesn't make it any easier. Yes, we now feel that we are uncomfortable and, probably, not only old people experience this feeling. Is Russia humiliated? Yes. Tatarstan, you know, about Declares that all this time he was "under the Russian yoke." And what then should we, the Russians, say? Bitter and insulting. I am convinced: there is no higher and unhappy people than the Russian. And what is great about our people is that they have always treated others on equal terms. Well, what does it matter to me, a Russian, that he - a Jew, one is a Moldovan, someone else is a Kalmyk. We are all people. But the fact thatwhat is happening today, I do not like it, although I understand: there is no turning back either, the USSR was an empire of evil.

I firmly believe in the Motherland. It is naive to believe that Russia can be trampled, which some are now trying to do. If Russia dies, the world dies too. So I think. She went through difficult times many times, but she is still alive. As for patriotism ... I remember when, on instructions from the underground, I began to work as a translator in the German commandant's office in Plyuss (I was 19 then), my assistant Lyuba Smurova once said: “I would not regret my life for the Motherland ...”. I chuckled then: they say, beautiful words... And a few days later the Germans took her - she did not have time to put the cards of the agents of the German school of saboteurs in the card index, she stayed with the partisans. Her house was immediately searched and arrested. Every day I waited for arrest. As soon as she said my name, that's all. The Germans, after all, are not fools, understood that she, a young lame girl, could not be a figure in such a case. They kept her for a month. She said nothing, although she knew a lot. Then she was shot along with her aunt and cousin. Such people, I believe, will always exist as long as Russia exists.

- You then did not remember her in poetry?

He dedicated three poems to her.

- Igor Nikolaevich, what I like about your military poems is that they are ambiguous, like life. You do not shout "hurray, hurray", but show the war as you saw it ...

Life is hard. My father received four crosses of St. George in the tsarist army, rose to the rank of captain, was Brusilov's favorite, and in the 18th became the head of the Porkhov Cheka. It's complicated. That's how it is in the war. I learned to read and write in German earlier than in Russian. I was taught by a German woman who lived on our farm. Then ours casually shot her for helping people. And in our underground, by the way, one guy was also German, so I am against sticking labels because of nationality.

Did you know that the Germans themselves did not shoot often? Basically, our own, Russian policemen, were hired for such cases. Therefore, my poems are not against the Germans, but against the war. In any guise. Yes, we did not invite the Germans to our house. But many did not go here of their own free will - they were driven. This, too, must not be forgotten.

- Many letters with poetry come to the editorial office. These, in any case, are considered by their authors, who are confident that everything they think about is interesting to the readers and, most importantly, must certainly see the light. It looks like these people are unfamiliar with Parsnip's lines:

Oh, I would know that it happens

When I started my debut

That lines of blood kill

They will flood your throat and kill!

From jokes with this background

I would flatly refuse.

Do you want me to give any advice to these authors?

- No, not advice. Maybe you just sober someone up. Poetry is not rhyming ...

Do you think I understand anything about Poetry? God save me. It's like in the ocean. You can take a drop of water for a sample, a piece of soil, but that's all. What is Poetry, who will answer? What is God? Kindness, Conscience, Purity? Everything, it seems, and everything is just details. That's how poetry is. All the same beloved Pasternak said: "And the more accidentally, the more faithfully the verses are composed sobbingly." I will not hide: I would like to be a poet, but whether I am a poet or not, I do not know.

In "Pskovskaya Pravda" I was first published when I was 33 years old, and my first book of poetry came out at 37 years old. And I could not believe this, I decided for myself that no earlier than 40 years old I would propose something for publication, just chance intervened. However, I went to the meetings of the branch of the Writers' Union and showed poems there, and I was mercilessly scolded.

What else can I say to beginners? Now, in our business, it is more difficult than ever. I found a sponsor - the Put 'publishing house. I decided to publish a book of my new poems. At first, they thought that 8 thousand would be required for registration, and then, after "entering the market", the registration was drawn for another 50. So look: 60 thousand rubles and two years of hard labor - that's what it means to publish a collection of poems today.

- So, in your opinion, poetry is only a gift from God? What about life experience? You, probably, not in vain knocked about in life, tried a bunch of cases - you were a student, and a loader, and a fishing hunter, and a geologist.

Yes, experience is needed, but this is secondary. The main thing is still a spark of God. Well, how can I sing when I'm deaf and dumb? And talent is also needed to sow cabbage, cook cabbage soup. Life experience is the second, and the third is professional skills. Let's say I'm walking, and the sunset will amaze me, or the wolf will howl, or the elk will swim out to meet, the bear here almost broke my son and me, but I won't write poetry about it right there. You are not interested in these descriptions, are you? It is important what is in my soul. And it turns out that poetry is like fishing. You hold it, hold the rod, and wake up when the fish flashes. Do not catch, do not catch the very moment of catching. And we even try to make fashion out of poetry. Nikolay Rubtsov won how many years he was almostnobody is interested, and suddenly - fashion. And everyone screamed: "A wonderful Russian poet!"

- Well, they yelled when Rubtsov was no longer alive, but while he was alive, he worked in the trawl fleet, in the newspaper, they did not notice.

Yes. It is, after all, very complex, although it is hidden behind external simplicity. No, poetry is not a piece of clothing. And how about explain to someone what to write - is it instead of beer, and instead of air, and instead of love? Mayakovsky says it more clearly: "Violin, and a little nervous."

- Igor Nikolaevich, I see on your wall your portrait by the renowned portrait painter Ilya Glazunov. You, right, met him in the "Leningrad period"?

Not at all. He wrote it in Moscow. If you are interested, I can tell you how it happened. Friends brought me together with Glazunov. He was not a big deal then, and we communicated with him easily. When I came to him for work, he just had a lady, unfamiliar to me, beautifully dressed. To tell the truth, I have never seen such outfits as hers. She offered to give me a ride downtown. Let's go. The car is somehow long, "not ours." To Red Square under drove, salute her. She got out of the car, held out her hand to me for a kiss. Later I learned that it was Furtseva, the then Minister of Culture.

- So you talked to the top "cultural authorities"?

No no. I have always been far from the authorities. As the saying goes, pass us more than all sorrows and the lordly anger, and the lordly love.

- So you started talking about Furtseva, and I caught myself thinking that in your fate and work, as, probably, in other poets, a lot has been determined, as Blok put it, the Beautiful Lady.

Yes, by the will of fate, the first Beautiful Lady, Alexandra Anatolyevna Agafonova, rescued me in the hospital, then brought me to her house. Her husband, Admiral of the Baltic Fleet, died in the blockade. She herself was of a Menshikov family, the daughter of the Governor-General of Petrograd. It was an amazing family; Sergei Yesenin and Igor Severyanin visited their house. There I met something that I had never dreamed of. Alexandra Anatolyevna was a strict connoisseur, and when I faked and misled in verse, she said: "The horse came out of the furrow."

The second Beautiful Lady met me at the Leningrad University. This is Professor Antonina Aleksandrovna Wilhelminina. During the blockade, she saved the university library. Later, her husband emigrated, for which she was expelled from the professor. Such is life. I'm going to write the book Great Women now. I believe there are three of them for each person: mother of God, Motherland and mother.

- I have heard for a long time that your son is a celebrity, vice-president of the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities, a psychiatrist and narcologist with a name. And recently I found out that he had published a book of prose "On the Eve of a Miracle". How do you view your son's literary experiences?

Yes, Grisha is a doctor. And the doctor is good. Many ask him for treatment, even from Feodosia, although Dovzhenko is there. It is also true that the institute has a name. He has branches in France, in Finland, and opens another one in Switzerland. Grisha is very busy. He might just want to write, but a lot of other work. I think he could be a good prose writer. As a child, he still began to write poetry, but I said: “If you write twice as well as I do, write. Otherwise, it makes no sense. "

And he has something to write about. He had a difficult life in a submarine, where he was a doctor, was in extreme situations, he held on. Yes, and now well done! All winter bathes in an ice-hole for 45 minutes in the cold.

- Igor Nikolaevich, we do not put an end to this, okay? Let's, sometime when u hearth all your family will gather, we will continue the conversation. After all, all members of your family, as far as I know, are directly related to literature, art, and therefore to inspiration.

Interviewed by S. PONOMAREVA

Igor Vityuk, the secretary of the Board of the Russian Union of Writers, is talking with the Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Regional Organization (MOO) of the Union of Writers of Russia, the Secretary of the Union of Writers of Russia, the editor-in-chief of Poetziya magazine, poet Lev Kotyukov.

- Lev Konstantinovich, the expression "A poet in Russia is more than a poet" has become commonplace in our country. Our society expects answers from the Russian writer exciting questions... How do you feel about the changes taking place in Russia?
- First, I want to make it clear right away that the words “The poet in Russia is more than a poet” does not belong to Yevgeny Yevtushenko, as many of our compatriots believe, but to Vissarion Belinsky, who published them in 1847. And although our legislation on the protection of intellectual property establishes the term of copyright protection only for 70 years from the date of the death of the writer, our journalists, like Yevtushenko himself, would not be superfluous to indicate the real author of this phrase.

Secondly, Belinsky's thesis itself is highly controversial. Do we love Pushkin as a chamber junker (in the modern version - a colonel) or as a historian, or as a liberal (in his youth)? No, we love Pushkin for his poetry. It will be appropriate to recall a quote from his letter to V.A. Zhukovsky (1825): “You ask, what is the goal of the" Gypsies "? Here on! The goal of poetry is poetry ... Ryleev's "Dumas" are targeted, but everything is out of place ".

Nothing can be demanded from poetry, like from clouds over a lake, like from forest dawns. But the mass consciousness, subconsciousness, unconsciousness all demands and demands ... And, naturally, it receives spiritual vomit as food under the guise of postmodernism. But, thank God, there are still human souls in this world who need nothing from poetry except poetry. The number of these souls, alas, is small ... But they are immortal. And therefore, no, there has not been and will never be for Russian poetry of the last times.

Attempts to ascribe some kind of socio-political goals to poetry and poets are senseless, and even more senseless when poets (in a broad sense - people of art) are trying to rule the country. The most recent example is Gorbachev's perestroika and Yeltsin's reforms, the most active promoters of which were representatives of the so-called creative intelligentsia. Now this creative intelligentsia, when its stupid dreams about capitalism, about freedom of speech, about a multiparty system have come true, on which capitalism, and the president, and Russia, and freedom of speech, together with the notorious multiparty system, are abused.

- In your words there is a derogatory attitude towards the intelligentsia ...
- Let's deal with the meaningful side of this word. In the Russian language, the word came from the West. In Latin " intellegentia "- higher intelligence (the ancient Romans borrowed this term from the Greeks). In modern timesHegel gave this term the meaning of "the universal human ability to speculatively comprehend things." For Marx, the intelligentsia is the self-consciousness of the people, and its bearer is the entire people. In Russia, according to research by A.M. Kamchatnova, this word was first used by VA Zhukovsky in his diary entry dated February 2, 1836 in relation to “the best Petersburg nobility”. To the middleXIXin Russia, a social group is already taking shape, which, on behalf and for the good of the people, has declared itself the best part of society and the beginning active struggle with the state and traditional Russian culture. As a rule, these were losers who could not find their place in life, but "competently" talked about everything and gave advice to everyone and in all areas of activity. The term “intelligentsia” was introduced into Russian journalism by the now forgotten writer P.D. Boborykin in 1866, thanks to which, by the way, he remained in literature. It was this intelligentsia that gave birth to the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, and then was "devoured" by them. By the way, when sending the so-called "philosophical steamer" from Russia, Lenin was perfectly aware of who he was expelling, since he himself was a typical "intellectual." He understood the entire destructive role of the so-called intelligentsia in the development of society, and, probably, not in vain in his letter to Gorky, he wrote that she was not the brain of the nation, but, shit (see. Complete Collection The works of V.I. Lenin, 5th ed., Vol. 51, p. 48). In the Soviet years, proceeding from the political situation, the authorities introduced the term "Soviet intelligentsia", which is not a class (like the working class and or collective farm peasantry), but a stratum of people of intellectual labor. But already during the Khrushchev thaw, a group of people reappears, calling themselves the intelligentsia, which self-proclaimed on behalf of the people begins to call us to "universal human values" friend. And if until the seventeenth year, the intelligentsia called us to the "kingdom of freedom, equality and brotherhood," then, starting in the 1960s, to "glasnost", "socialism with human face”,“ Open society ”,“ market economy ”,“ popular privatization ”,“ Euro-Atlantic values ​​”, etc. And if we speak in a completely understandable language, then the Russian intelligentsia is a stratum of losers-intellectual workers who blame all their troubles Russian state(regardless of the prevailing socio-political system) and who despise traditional Russian culture. Solzhenitsyn, the "educated", said well about these people. For this one statement, regardless of the works written by him, he, like the aforementioned Boborykin, will forever remain in Russian literature.

Therefore, any attempt by a writer to “be more than a writer” brings only new troubles to our country. By the way, can you name our great writers as intellectuals, such as Krylov, Griboyedov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Tyutchev, Goncharov, Fet, Dostoevsky, Blok, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Sholokhov? - No. But Bulgakov, Nabokov, Pasternak, Brodsky, Akhmatov can. But maybe that's why the first are the writers of the first row of Russian literature, and the second, alas, of the second row ... Yes, yes, the second! .. For the provincialism of the so-called "Silver Age" is visible naked eye... I will also note that the great Russian philosophers Vasily Rozanov (1856-1919) and Alexei Losev (1893-1988) strongly objected to being counted among the intelligentsia.

The artist (in the broadest sense of the word) does not have the task of giving answers to all the questions of concern to society. There are too many questions now and, unfortunately, they most often remain unanswered. And maybe, not unfortunately, that without answers? .. If humanity had answered the sacramental: "To be or not to be?", Life on Earth would have ceased long ago. So questions alone are enough. And as my friend from the Literary Institute, the wonderful Russian poet Nikolai Rubtsov used to say: "The sailors have no questions, the poets have no answers ..."

But back to the question about modern Russia... Thinking that tomorrow will be better is a common thing for us. A Russian person always wants a Russian tomorrow, but the Chinese sage and philosopher Lao Tzu said not in vain: "God forbid you to live in an era of change." Our people all the time yearn for an era of change. And we constantly live in a permanently changeable era. TakeXXor XXIcentury. Literature is not only part of society, and also, as Lenin aptly put it in his article "Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution," a mirror of society. True, this mirror is now crooked, but what can we do about it? So the state of our literature is the same as the state of our society: unstable, disequilibrium and uncertain.

Previously, the officials in the Kremlin could be asked: "What do you promise us?", And they could answer: "Communism." This, of course, was stupid, but at least they could answer that they were promising something. If you now ask the current deputies sitting in the Duma what they promise you, then at best they will answer you: "Doubling the GDP" - although most of them will not really be able to decipher this abbreviation, let alone to clearly explain how doubling GDP (gross domestic product) will make our lives better. One gets the impression that they are confusing a doubling of GDP with a second term of GDP (Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin) as President (interviewer's note - the conversation took place in 2006).

By the way, the very idea of ​​"doubling the GDP" is a kind of evidence of the spiritual crisis of the government. Even a run-of-the-mill commercial firm is not aiming at “doubling turnover,” but, for example, doubling profits, market share, and so on. And serious companies are already talking about their national mission. "Doubling GDP" is an economic abstraction that is not at all interesting to our people. Moreover, in dollar terms, GDP has already doubled over the past few years. So what? I can give a recipe for how to instantly double GDP in ruble terms - to issue about forty trillion additional rubles (this is approximately the volume of our GDP), to divide this money among all residents of Russia in the form of registered accounts in Sberbank (it will turn out 280 thousand per brother), which you can will only take advantage of, for example, when a person reaches the age of one hundred (this will be a good incentive for our people to lead healthy image life). Sberbank will use this virtual money to buy 100-year (or 500-year) one-percent bonds from the Central Bank, and as a result, due to a colossal increase in the share of financial services in GDP, we will get the desired doubling. And, besides, we will show the whole world that when planning we think in categories not momentary, but eternal. True, the Chinese, who consider their civilizational project within the "framework" of infinity, will still be far away for us, since eternity and infinity are alien to each other, like life and time.

- Then what should be the national idea in Russia?
- You correctly asked the question: not a “Russian idea” (otherwise Tatar, Bashkir, Ukrainian, Yakut, etc. ideas will appear in opposition), not “state” (since the state and the people have objectively different interests), not “Russian idea "(sounds clumsy - not in Russian, and it only means that the idea belongs to the state with the name" Russia "), namely a national idea. And you don't need to invent anything here. Russia has always existed as a Great State in which hundreds of other peoples lived together with the Russian people, united by Russian culture, Russian language and Russian statehood. Therefore, as a Russian idea I propose: "Great, eternal, indivisible Russia", and everything else can be attributed to ideological concepts, long-term and short-term goals, five-year plans, etc. I also propose to the State Duma to adopt a law "On the fight against envy." By God, human envy is terrible corruption. And in literature it is a hundred times more terrible. Eh, colleagues, colleagues, many of you will not die of old age, but of black envy of others, more talented. This is the national idea of ​​some of them.

— What can you say about the state of contemporary Russian literature?
- Literature, like the authorities, also often promises something to the reader, protects against something. Take Literature XIX century. She defended the little man, and it was no coincidence that a man like Akaki Akakievich appeared on the horizon of Russian literature. And all the writers, with rare exceptions, stubbornly defended and defended this little man. Only from whom? - it is incomprehensible, since this little person like Akaki Akakievich, in my opinion, is a monster. This is a half-man, or rather, an extra-human, for whose problems it is not society that is to blame, but rather his personal qualities. Take, for example, the alleged existence of Akaki Akakievich after 1917. I can represent him as an employee of the Cheka or the OGPU. And in this capacity, he will easily send thousands and tens of thousands of people to the next world without hesitation. It will send and not frown, because it does not have a soul. And Russian literature urged pity on such people.

Such was the state of literature, the vector of development was such - "the fight for the little man." And a small man is a small one. That is, not great. But at this time the greatest masterpieces were created, such as “ Bronze Horseman"Pushkin or" The Brothers Karamazov "by Dostoevsky.

The state of our literature now corresponds to the state of literature in XIX, XX centuries with their peaks, their enlightenments, their stupidity. The only thing, unfortunately, is hallmark modern literature is what the Great Style is leaving. What is Big Style? Big style - this is the time of poems, epics, such as "War and Peace". One of the last peaks of the Big Style is Sholokhov's Quiet Don, the greatest peak in world literature as a whole. Although, unfortunately, this is hardly spoken about, and even when celebrating the centenary of Sholokhov, we somehow bypassed this issue. If you bring together all the world's works, select, say, ten works by ten authors from all over the world, then Sholokhov will certainly appear in them. If we reduce, say, to five works - too. This is one of the gigantic achievements of Soviet literature, a great phenomenon with all its advantages and disadvantages. The big style, it seems to me, ended already with such average writers as Leonid Leonov, who created a crushingly unsuccessful work. His novel Pyramid is helpless and confusing. One gets the impression that he had absolutely nothing to say, although the writer himself had the full information and abundance of life experience. The failures of such creations began in Soviet time... For example, Vasily Fedorov's poem "The Marriage of Don Juan" does not stand up to criticism at all. Big style began to fizzle out at the end of the twentieth century. Apparently, the dynamics of life, computerization and so on require some special forms of perception from human consciousness. Whether we like it or not, there is simply no time to read a long article in the newspaper now. There are computers everywhere, and time is running out. This is strange, because the computer should provide time savings, but it turns out the opposite.

So in the field of literature, people have a clip consciousness. TV has played an important role in people's lives since the middle of the twentieth century. Whether we like it or not, we turn on the TV. Although they say that “no one is forcing you to watch,” but a person is a product of his time, of his era, and if a person is determined to press this button, then one should not blame him for this. I myself press this button. When I am no longer able to perceive the printed text after a hard day at work, but I want to watch the news, I turn on the TV, especially since we receive 90 percent of the information through sight. Reading is not easy. Take, for example, the "Literary Gazette" of the old days. Now try to read it all. It published a lot of articles that would be suitable for quite serious (including scientific) collections. And now - the fragmentation of information, the fragmentation of the text. Information replaces true knowledge for us. There is too much of this information - you want it and you won't read it. And if before we knew nothing about, now we know nothing at all.

The state of literature is inevitably associated with scientific and technological progress. Scientific and technological progress is actually not evolution, it is the degradation of human consciousness. Has our happiness increased with the advent of computers and mobile phones? No. But, nevertheless, it is impossible to imagine our life without them now. Here, they say the decline of poetry. This is bullshit. Earlier Belinsky wrote about the decline of Russian literature, and now other critics write about the same, but literature is not in any decline, since there were, are and will be talents. The Earth gave birth to them, and this is already the law of life and the law of world energy. Another thing is that they do not have mass recognition now. There are many writers who are generally unknown not only to the general reader, but even to a narrow circle. Or poets. For example, Nikita Ivanov. I published him, he is a brilliant poet, one of the best modern poets, but who knows? Or Vladimir Boyarinov and Ivan Pereverzin, my old comrades and living classics, whom Yuri Kuznetsov, the hardened giant of Russian poetry, noted in his first books.

The remarkable prose writer, literary critic, critic, outstanding Russian thinker Vladimir Ivanovich Gusev is also unknown to our television, but he is incredibly talented, although only a narrow circle of writers and readers knows him. And he, as a person with a clear consciousness, and a person with a clear consciousness, is a very rare phenomenon at any time, without bitterness, but sadly says about himself: "Widely known in narrow circles ..."

However, no one really needed a lot of literature before. Nabokov, for example, is a fairly average second-tier writer, just an overblown figure. And if you touch on the knowledge of the texts by his admirers, they don’t know. He was more interesting as a poet. However, all you hear is: “Nabokov! Nabokov !! Nabokov !!! " At one time, Pushkin, Blok, Yesenin also knew a few people, so ... only in the metropolitan get-togethers of those times. Take the recently shown on television film about Yesenin, which everyone is throwing mud at each other. And he, in my opinion, is not so bad. At least by the fact that he redirected attention from various postmodernist rubbish to Yesenin. People began to buy Yesenin's books, read memoirs about him, and someone suddenly realized that there is great Russian poetry.

Therefore, there is no need to talk about the decline of today's literature, it does not exist and cannot be, our life is always in a normal state of decline, for it ends in death. Nevertheless, there are wonderful poets, prose writers and critics. Another thing is that literature is beginning to transform, go into limited circulation, into the legal underground, on the Internet ...

— And how do you feel about literature on the Internet?
- I myself use the Internet a little. First of all, the Internet is a means of communication, and therefore it is a useful business. People communicate, they read texts - that's good. We even have a heading in the magazine "Poetry" "Internet-Parnassus". But many professional writers complain to me that graphomaniacs have flooded the network, and I answer: "Well, come on into this network yourself, flood it with your masterpieces, who's stopping you?"

But everywhere commerce is solid, everywhere they print for money. The Internet is all about accessibility and almost ubiquity. I do not know whether this form of communication will lead to the creation of some masterpieces or not, but God is with him, let him not. But many novice writers use the Internet, this is a kind of educational program, since not all literature can be found in stores. For example, Kvyatkovsky's "Poetic Dictionary" is now difficult to find, although the book is very good. There is a lot on the Internet. Of course, there is also a downside to the coin: any novice graphomaniac has the opportunity to instantly make his texts publicly available, and this, as a rule, leads to the fact that the overwhelming number of such texts can hardly be attributed to fiction. The tradition of working on the text is lost, especially when there is no smart editor nearby who would advise or correct something. Of course, over time, the graphomaniac will grow wiser, begin to adequately perceive his work, I hopelessly hope. But even if he doesn't wiser, the Internet has one interesting feature(remember the Russian proverb about a feather and an ax): if this is not a personal site of a graphomaniac, then it is not always possible to delete the information posted on it, and if the posted texts are indexed by search engines, then consider that they have remained on the World Wide Web forever. So my advice to novice writers: do not rush to immediately make your works available to the whole world, it is better to come to a literary association and show them to other writers.