Derzhavin, Schliemann, Tolstoy (Igor Bogdanov and an advance copy of the book "a tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons."). A culturological essay
Аннотация: MMMCCCXСVI. Derzhavin, Schliemann, Tolstoy (Igor Bogdanov and an advance copy of the book "A tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons."). A culturological essay. - November 18, 2023.
Derzhavin, Schliemann, Tolstoy (Igor Bogdanov and an advance copy of the book 'A tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons.'). A culturological essay.
Having received on November 16, 2023, an advance copy of the book 'A tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons' (in Russian and in English), Moscow, "Pero" Publishing House, 372 pages (signed for printing on October 28, 2023) (circulation 1 copy), I returned by my thoughts to my essays about Igor Bogdanov. [A tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons. Учебник писательского успеха. Часть I. Генрих Шлиман и его уроки]
Should I place a biographical sketch about Igor Bogdanov in the book (as an appendix) or not?
I can find arguments pros and cons.
My thoughts turned to the more general picture.
Radishchev, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Bunin, Gorky, Tvardovsky, Sholokhov, Trifonov, Solzhenitsyn... no matter what biography you read, in each of them you meet a reason for sadness.
Derzhavin and Tolstoy stand apart.
A little aside from all of them is Bunin.
Why is Heinrich Schliemann interesting to the public?
The biography of Heinrich Schliemann is optimistic. Nothing in it causes sadness - not even the stories of Schliemann's work as an apprentice (student) in a little shop in Fürstenberg and of the shipwreck (during Schliemann's failed voyage to Venezuela).
In this sense, the biography of Heinrich Schliemann can be placed on a par with the biographies of Derzhavin and Tolstoy. To the extent that we are familiar with their lives, these are positive biographies.
(If we remember Tolstoy's 'departure' from Yasnaya Polyana and the circumstances of his death, then his name can be moved to the first list. In such situation, only Derzhavin and Schliemann remain in the "positive list").
Derzhavin's biography, it seems, is not overshadowed by anything. It is not overshadowed even by the running away of young Pushkin after reading a poem at the Lyceum (in front of Derzhavin and other listeners).
From time to time, the thoughts of representatives of Russian culture turn to Schliemann.
Once again Igor Bogdanov demonstrated this direction of thoughts.
Writer, journalist, translator from St. Petersburg Igor Bogdanov (1949 - 2010) actively wrote about St. Petersburg, about cultural history of this city.
At some point, Heinrich Schliemann came into his field of vision. It was the mid-90s of the 20th century. Relations with Germany were quite positive.
Between 1994 and 2008, Igor Bogdanov published at least five significant books about Heinrich Schliemann:
"The Long Road to Troy" (1994) - 206 pages,
"Schliemann H. Diary of 1866. Travel along the Volga / I. A. Bogdanov fulfilled the preparation for publication. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage Publishing House, 1998",
""Don't Bring Homer with You..." Letters from Ekaterina Schliemann to Heinrich Schliemann" (1998) - 226 pages,
(I have never met a complete list of works by Igor Bogdanov).
In 1996, the exhibition "Schliemann's Gold" was held in Moscow. This was a period when the possibility of restitution-the return of cultural property imported to the USSR after the war-was real.
In the book 'Don't Bring Homer with You...' Letters from Ekaterina Schliemann to Heinrich Schliemann' (1998), Igor Bogdanov expresses gratitude to one of Heinrich Schliemann's modern relatives (woman) for financial support of Igor Bogdanov's work in one of the archives in Athens (Greece) ).
But there was also a headwind. As if by magic, active negative statements appear.
In the book by Philip Vandenberg (1996), the reader can find a number of very different semantic emphases (sentences) about Heinrich Schliemann. We can say that a separate sequence of publications begins.
After long, many years of work on the book, A.K. Gavrilov received active support and quickly completed work on his book about Heinrich Schliemann. This book was published in 2006. The book turned out good. If anyone in this book feels irony towards Heinrich Schliemann, it will be a barely noticeable one.
The headwind is growing. Prospects for restitution disappear (at least temporarily).
A chronological distance of ten years is between (A) the Bogdanov's book ""Don't Bring Homer with You..." Letters from Ekaterina Schliemann to Heinrich Schliemann" (1998) and (B) next two Bogdanov's books about Schliemann, which were published in 2008.
In 2010, Igor Bogdanov died unexpectedly (during negotiations at one of the publishing houses).
Atmospheric phenomena associated with Heinrich Schliemann do not disappear.
In mid-2021, the public will learn about the research of the Pushkin Museum - about the authenticity of Heinrich Schliemann's collection (the most modern technology is used).
At the beginning of 2023, - the exhibition 'Schliemann. Troy is nearby." Apparently, powerful microscopes confirmed the authenticity of "Schliemann's Gold".
And lovers of Russian literature have a list of names - representatives of positive biographies that do not cause sadness: Derzhavin, Schliemann... Maybe we can add Tolstoy to them?...
In any case, Igor Bogdanov, willy-nilly, joined the long list of representatives of Russian literature.
Sholokhov, Trifonov, ... Bogdanov
November 18, 2023 18:52
Translation from Russian into English: November 18, 2023 21:31
Владимир Владимирович Залесский ' Державин, Шлиман, Толстой (Игорь Богданов и сигнальный экземпляр книги "Учебник писательского успеха. Часть I. Генрих Шлиман и его уроки"). Культурологический очерк '.
{3425. Державин, Шлиман, Толстой (Игорь Богданов и сигнальный экземпляр книги "Учебник писательского успеха. Часть I. Генрих Шлиман и его уроки"). Культурологический очерк. - 18 ноября 2023 г.
MMMCCCXСVI. Derzhavin, Schliemann, Tolstoy (Igor Bogdanov and an advance copy of the book 'A tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons.'). A culturological essay. - November 18, 2023.
Vladimir Zalessky Internet-bibliotheca. Интернет-библиотека Владимира Залесского. }