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New exhibition of the Presidential Library will reveal the history of Russia in the light of fiction
The Year of Literature the Presidential Library will present the exhibition, "Fact and Image: History of Russia in the Works of Russian Fiction of the 18th -20th centuries."
The exhibition will feature artistic images of events and characters in the history of Russia created by the classics of Russian literature, whose works are studied in high school. Writers have always had different approaches to the creation of literary works on historical themes. For example, representatives of the Golden Age of Russian literature mostly relied on the facts set out in the multi-volume work by N. M. Karamzin, "History of the Russian State," which itself has high literary merits. Some writers sought to maximize accuracy and reliability to describe certain historical events using archival documents. Among them for example was Pushkin, who studied the era of Peter I in the state archives and libraries.
Other authors did not believe it necessary to follow the known historical facts literally. For example, A. K. Tolstoy in his novel "Prince of Silver" often deliberately misrepresented the chronology of events randomly selecting those important for him personally and introducing them in the time period described in his text. Moreover, writers could interpret the same event in different ways; this or that historical character could be assessed differently. All the diversity of individual approaches, interpretations will be on display at the Presidential Library. Quotations of domestic classics will be accompanied with a factual reference containing accurate information about a particular event, historical figure. Among the considered figures of Russian history are: Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, Peter I, Catherine II, Alexander I, Nicholas II, Joseph Stalin. The exhibition will also tell how the events of Russian history, such as the War of 1812, the First World War, the revolutions of 1917, the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War were reflected in literature.
The exhibition will feature works of fiction, copies of archival documents, scientific papers, various illustrative material, as well as videos of various historical events. In addition, there will be displayed the sketches of costumes used in theatrical productions of the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries based on literary works of Mikhail Lermontov, Ivan Turgenev, Mikhail Bulgakov. Visitors will also learn about historical research works.
Materials for the exhibition were provided by the Presidential Library, the National Library of Russia, the M. Gorky Scientific Library of the St. Petersburg State University, the Empress Maria Feodorovna Fundamental Library of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, St. Petersburg State Theatre Library, Mayakovsky Central City Public Library.
The exhibition is timed to the launch of multimedia lessons of literature for students, which will also be held at the Presidential Library. The exhibition will run through April 10, 2015. Press tour for journalists in connection with the opening of the exhibition will be held on February 6, 2015 at 12.00.
To visit the exhibition please pre-register by calling (812) 334-25-14 or send an email to: excursion@prlib.ru.
To cover the event journalists must accredit prior to 12.00, February 5:
Applications for accreditation should be sent in accordance with the attached form to the email address:
press service of the Presidential Library: Maria Smirnova, smirnovamk@prlib.ru, tel.: (812) 305-16-21, ext. 233, mob. +7 (981) 894-47-70.
The attached form must specify the name of the media, the full name of journalist, the date and place of birth, full passport details (series, number, when and by whom issued), place of registration, the equipment to be used, contact numbers.
Please note that the entrance to the Presidential Library for the media is available through entrance N 2 only upon showing the passport!