Опубликовано в журнале Дружба Народов, номер 8, 2011
This issue is dedicated to two mutual events of 2011: The Year of Italy in Russia and The Year of Russia in Italy. To our opinion it’s a good reason to look closely to today’s cultural, social, religious life of Italy; to reflect upon likeness and difference of our mentalities, moral values, world outlooks. And at the same time to refresh our memory about centuries-old tradition of our contacts — considering that Italy always ranked high in biographies and creative works of many Russian writers, musicians, artists and it doesn’t take much effort to find traces of Italian architecture in Russia.
“I wish you would know how happily I left Switzerland and flied to my sweetheart, my beauty, my Italy. It is mine! Nobody in the whole world will ever take it from me (…) As if all-powerful hand of Providence has thrown me under the brilliant sky of Italy so that I could have forgotten of the grief, of the people, of everything and glue my eyes to its luxurious beauty”, — thus N.Gogol wrote to V. Zukovskij from Rome in October, 1837.
It’s easy to find utterances like this in the works of many Russian artists. And how is it today? What place does Italy occupy in the creative consciousness of nowadays poets, prosaists, painters, musicians, literary and art critics? What are their images of Italy?
In this issue are presented some significant works of Italian prose, poetry and drama in Russian translations as well as Russian authors’ poems, essays and articles dedicated to Italy which also is an old tradition of Russian literature.