Date: 09.10.2014
October 9th was the 140th anniversary of Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) - a diverse creative personality who combined being an artist, writer, poet, philosopher, archeologist, traveler and one of the most outstanding figures of the Russian and world cultures of the 20th century. Roerich was called “a man of the Planet” and often compared to Leonardo da Vinci due to his contribution to various spheres of science and art. “Cosmos of Leonardo da Vinci and Nicholas Roerich: artistic parallels” is a new book by E. Matochkin that was dedicated to the worlds of those two artists – Renaissance genius and Russian giant of cosmism.
It is a unique fact that all members of Roerich dynasty were outstanding people in various spheres. The illustrated compilation “The family of Roerich. East – West” was dedicated to their lives and work. Elena Ivanova, the wife of Nicholas Roerich, left the richest cultural heritage and was a great companion in all kinds of activity of her husband. Now, published for the first time, we have a volume of more than 300 letters called “Lada” written by Roerich to his wife.
80 years ago on October, 14th was born Mikhail Kazakov (1934-2011), theater and cinema actor, film director and writer. He was a Master who managed to create a whole range of characters from Hamlet to Dzerzhinsky, created a famous film “Pokrovskie Vorota” and a sophisticated drama “Maskarad”. He was the author of ironic and painfully sincere books about the times and about himself.
He was happy to work with his great contemporaries - Oleg Efremov and Anatoly Efros, to be friends with David Samoilov and Oleg Dal, Bulat Okudzhava and Pavel Luspekaev. His “Actor’s Book”, that was constantly amended – “Sketches on the Sand”, “The Third Call” – is a scanned picture of the whole period from the middle of the 20th century until the beginning of the 21st century.
We strongly advise you to reread the screen-novel “Pokrovskie Vorota” by L. Zorin, the story of Kostik Romin, many fragments of which were left behind the scenes of the famous film.
October, 15th was the 200th anniversary of Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), a famous Russian poet. According to Merezhkovsky Lermontov was “The Orb of Night of the Russian Poetry” – a significant figure for our culture. The names of Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol are the ABC for the Russian literature; however the figure of Lermontov still remains unknown to a certain extent. His personality is still a mystery and his poetry still has almost mystic effect on readers and interpreters.
We offered our readers and lovers of Lermontov’s poetry some new publications dealing with research of his works. The new anthology “M.Y. Lermontov. Pro et contra. Personality and works of Lermontov assessed by Russian thinkers and researchers” published as a part of the series “Russian Way” gathered the names of Lermontov’s contemporaries, brilliant representatives of the Silver Age and the researchers of the 20th century.
The death of Lermontov has always been a controversial subject and caused arguments, various theories and assumptions because of the lack of information about his tragic death.
Authentic materials for the criminal case of the duel between Lermontov and Martynov were published for the first time in the series “Russian Judicial Trials” which would help reconstruct many important circumstances and form one’s own opinion on that fatal duel.
We recommend those who love fiction a new novel “Michelle” by E. Haetskaya where the author attempts to follow the trail of Lieutenant Lermontov, a man and a poet.
