Between 11 and 13 November, Platonov Days were held at the Faculty of Philology on the initiative of the Department of Russian Literature of ХХ–ХХI Centuries and the Theory of Literature and Humanities. Andrey Platonov is an iconic figure for our city as the writer’s literary career began here in Voronezh. Platonov’s first poetic and prose works were published in local newspapers “Voronezhskaya kommuna” and “Zhelezhny put”. The beginning of Platonov studies goes back to 1960s when people started reading his works again.
Platonov Days at the Faculty of Philology included several events. The first of them was a lecture meeting that combined two kinds of art, literature and music. Professor Tatyana Ternova talked about the development of Platonov studies at the Faculty of Philology Associate Professor Anna Gryaznova spoke about the issues of the writer’s early works. One of the main images in his stories was the image of electricity which was the symbol of the transformation of the world through human efforts, difficult but necessary. The topic of electrification was deeply personal for Platonov. Being an electrician by profession, he worked on the construction of the first power plants in the Voronezh Region, and being a writer, he poetised electricity and saw “a light and subtle spirit of love” in it that “comes out of everything and enters everything that has energy”.
Professor Yuri Anisichkin, Honoured Art Worker of the Russian Federation, Chief Conductor of the Voronezh Opera and Ballet Theatre, was the special guest of the event. He talked about how the play “The Motherland of Electricity” based on Platonov’s works and written by Gleb Sedelnikov was staged at the Voronezh Opera and Ballet Theatre. The unique performance was produced in 2017 for the Platonov Arts Festival and received six nominations of the Golden Mask Award.
After the lecture meeting, the students went to see the opera “The Motherland of Electricity” (conducted by Yuri Anisichkin).
“It helped them to get a deeper understanding of the author’s works and attracted sincere interest to his characters. Students remembered some scenes from the opera when analysing the topics of the global transformation and the relationships between man and machine in Platonov’s stories. It was obvious that the performance really impressed them,” said Anna Gryaznova.
Platonov Days at the Faculty of Philology and students’ interest in an unusual stage version of Platonov’s works show that there is a productive communication between contemporaries and the works of this classical 20th century writer.
