"Art" #3, 2000

This third edition of ART magazine is not going to shock its readers by late post-modernism or early ethno-futurism. On the contrary, even the colour insets of the ART-fact section are devoted to the well-known realist painter Stanislav Torlopov, that singer of northern expanses and the wonders of geological exploration. In the literary section, the reader will find a continuation of Nina Kuratova's story, written in traditions of literary realism, and Koshmariki (Nightmares) - a selection of epigrams of the Vorkuta author M. Kaganzov. In spite of some thought-provoking content, the epigrams are relatively traditional with respect to Russian literature and are reminiscent of the poems of the well-known poet, Kozma Prutkov, and the Soviet writer, Vadim Shefner. In the plays ofYuri Ekishev, the reader is taken into an unstable world of a totally different literary reality, in which heroes can pass from dream to reality and from reality into a different world, as easily as from one room to another.

The literary studio Omfal offers to ART'S readers one of its authors - Elena Salnikova. Her short stories are characterized by a perplexing topic and by paradoxical metaphors. The Eiterary archive is dedicated to the memory of a well-known Komi writer and cultural figure, Veniamin Chistalev (Tima Ven'). Previously unknown pages of his life and creative work are covered in Diana Cholopova's publication Our Chistalev. The reader can make the acquaintance of the author's earlier, unpublished photographs and facsimiles of manuscripts and letters. ART courageously publishes the little known play by Tima Ven', Izkar, preserving an old print of its first edition of 1926.

The Studies section is more poli-ethnical. In this edition researches on Finnish culture are presented. Moscow writer Irma Marzina's article is dedicated to the problems of the development of Finnish literature. In his new work, long-standing magazine author, Amo Survo (Helsinki), talks about ethnic and religious problems in culture using examples of Ingermanland culture. The Finnish ethnographer, Kaya Heikkinen (Helsinki), in the article Strange, Not My, Dumb Dreams shares her experience of the interpretation of dreams. It is impossible not to pay attention to Igor Mikhailov's article Existential modus of Anton P. Chekhov's philosophy (ART-fact), dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian writer. Intelligent reading of Chekhov's plays is possible, but only when the reader "understands" their hidden philosophy. The article discusses the correct "reading" of the play Dyadya Vanya and the producer's interpretation of the play in the current production at the Syktyvkar Drama Theatre.