“Against the Background of Pushkin”: S.I. Vavilov’s Speech at a Meeting at the Poet’s Monument in June 1949
https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2020-17-5-550-559
Abstract
The article introduces a previously unpublished speech of the outstanding Russian scientist-physicist, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, academician Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, which was delivered by him at the anniversary meeting held on June 5, 1949, at the monument to Alexander Pushkin in Moscow in connection with the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the great Russian poet’s birth. S.I. Vavilov was a great connoisseur of Pushkin’s poetry and literature about him. In the second half of the 1940s, Vavilov actively participated in projects to prepare the anniversary celebrations dedicated to Alexander Pushkin and perpetuate the memory of the poet. Analysis of S.I. Vavilov’s speech, which, unlike his other “Pushkin speeches”, was not intended for the press, shows that in evaluating the great poet’s work, along with the use of cliches, traditional for the epoch, the scientist also took certain liberties. In particular, he did not utter the ritual words praising Stalin, the Communist Party and the Soviet State. The poet Ya.P. Polonsky quoted by Vavilov was not among the classics recognized by Soviet literary criticism, and the selected quote from him could be interpreted as a hint of condemnation of the surrounding Stalinist reality. Numerous fragments of the scientist’s personal diaries indicate his critical attitude towards the latter, in particular.
About the Author
Aleksandr Yu. Samarin
Russian State Library;S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Russian State Library,
3/5, Vozdvizhenka Str., Moscow, 119019, Russia
S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
14 Baltiyskaya Str., Moscow, 125315, Russia
ORCID 0000-0002-2690-7298; SPIN 4719-4284
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Review
For citations:
Samarin A.Yu. “Against the Background of Pushkin”: S.I. Vavilov’s Speech at a Meeting at the Poet’s Monument in June 1949. Observatory of Culture. 2020;17(5):550-559. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2020-17-5-550-559
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