The Presidential Library hosted poetry readings

On October 27, 2022 the Presidential Library hosted poetry readings “Art in the Light of Conscience” timed to coincide with the 130th anniversary of the birth of Marina Tsvetaeva.

The article "Art in the Light of Conscience", written by Tsvetaeva in 1933 in Paris, is important for understanding her creative method and presents the author not only as a poet, but also as a literary critic.

Reflecting on the nature of art in general and poetry in particular, Tsvetaeva relies on such concepts as creative will and inner ear, thanks to which the ability to distinguish genuine art from imaginary arises, high poetry from “poetry water”, which Tsvetaeva refers to as “strand of inspiration”. Tsvetaeva writes: "A work of art is the same work of nature, but it should be an enlightened light of reason and conscience".

However, according to Marina Tsvetaeva, do art and literature really need a moral and ethical imperative? Is it possible to identify the "conscience of the poet" and "everyday conscience"? Is the existence of “art without skill” possible, and is the poet responsible for what he writes? At the Presidential Library’s poetry readings, the discussion was devoted to these and other issues, after which the poets from St. Petersburg and Moscow read Marina Tsvetaeva's poems and their own works.

The readings "Art in the Light of Conscience" was attended by poet and translator German Vlasov (Moscow), poet, researcher of the Russian avant-garde Arsen Mirzaev (St. Petersburg), poet and art theorist John Narins (New York - St. Petersburg), poet and literary critic Zhanna Sizova (St. Petersburg), poet, prose writer and translator Faina Grimberg (Moscow), poet, professor at the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute Olesya Nikolaeva (Moscow).

The event recording is available on the institution's Rutube-channel.