‘Poems unspelled’: on Georgy Obolduev’s early poetry

Abstract

In her interview with S. Shargunov, editor-in-chief of the Yunost magazine, a writer and a public figure, the critic T. Solovyova raises various problems and questions. Among these are questions of contemporary literature, which, Shargunov believes, relies too much on the principles of stability and elegance, and needs some kind of a shock; the fate of thick literary magazines, which no longer can survive in a Soviet reservation and have started to actively explore the world around them; and the principles of biographical research, which is largely based on the invention of the protagonist, etc. The interview is concerned with Shargunov’s own prose, including his biographical novel about Valentin Kataev, his first experience in serious research, as well as works by Shargunov’s contemporaries, including authors of the same age. At the same time, the interview deliberately avoids politics and ideology; it does not discuss Shargunov’s activities as a people’s representative in the State Duma.