By Vestnik Kavkaza
The 215th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin’s birth was marked on June 6th, 2014. Maria Filina, Professor of Philology at Tbilisi State University, speaks about the celebration of the anniversary of Pushkin’s birth. According to the scientist, despite the difficult period in Russian-Georgian relations, there is interest in the poet’s works in the country.
Maria Filina says that this year arrangements devoted to Pushkin’s anniversary include a round-table discussion sponsored by “Russki Mir”; an exhibition of children’s pictures, it will take place in the Griboyedov Theatre. And the final stage is a contest. It turns out that there were so many applicants that we lacked awards. Professor noted: “It is great, as it means that Pushkin is alive for our children. The Pushkin Institute is alive, we are working. We should say that some Georgian Pushkin scholars are alive as well. Everybody has their own Pushkin. Georgian Pushkin scholars and Georgian residents have their own Pushkin. It was well-known that Alexander Pushkin was tightly connected with Georgia. It was in the sphere of his interests. We could say that Pushkin laid the foundations of a genre in all spheres. Despite Griboyedov and other great Russian cultural activists in Georgia, the basis of Russian-Georgian literature ties is Pushkin.”
Filina spoke about Georgian Pushkin scholars who played a significant role in development of Russian-Georgian scientific ties in the sphere of philology: “I should say there are no other ties which underwent such dramatic transformations as Georgian-Russian ties in recent decades. However, neither Georgian Pushkin scholars nor fans of Pushkin poetry preserved Pushkin’s living word in the Georgian land. I remember arrangements in the past, when I was a student in the 1970s. I remember wonderful conferences on Pushkin, which were held in Tbilisi State University. I would like to remind you of the names of the old generation of Pushkin scholars: Ivan Yenikolopov, Anna Chkheidze, Sergei Danelia, Professor Vano Shaduri, deputy head of the History of Russian Literature Division of the TSU, Professor Lina Khikhadze, unfortunately, all of them are now deceased. They organized such Pushkin meetings that everybody wanted to come to Tbilisi. I think if it was a different time, we would probably not meet through a video bridge, but would meet in Tbilisi, according to the old tradition. Professor Dmitry Blagoi, Professor Boris Milov, Vadim Vatsura, a wonderful scholar of the whole century of Romanticism, came to Tbilisi meetings. I would like to state the name of Svyatoslav Belza as well. We are very sorry about his death. He was our friend, came to Pushkin conferences. And almost all members of the St. Petersburg Pushkin House came to us as well. These were conferences of real scientists. The arrangements come to an end, but people stay forever. These were firm cultural ties. So Pushkin, who helped us in many spheres, also helped us to preserve a high level of ties.”
