"Art" #3, 2001

This birthday issue of Art Magazine opens with an interview with the President of the Republic of Komi, Iuri Spiridonov. The republic's contemporary literature scene should delight the reading public. Firstly, we'd like to mention A Breath of Wind, a new story by I. Ekishev, dealing with the distant events of Dmitrii Donskii's time. There is historical evidence that the northern militias who fought in the battle of Kulikov Field included Permians, the forebears of present-day Komi. Ekishev's creative intuitiveness reconstructs the journey made by two Permian brothers to the place of battle as a spiritual feat, a self-styled pilgrimage from the darkness of the pagan forests to the light of their achievements on the field of battle. I. Basiutov's poem, Vezha muslun jylysj legenda (The Legend of Sacred Love), is dedicated to the events surrounding Perm's conversion to Christianity by Stefan Permskii. In addition to the wonderful poetry, the reader can enrich his linguistic baggage by looking at the dictionary of old words which have survived best in the Udorskii dialect of Komi. Russian-language poetry is represented by a selection of verse by well-known poet V. Kushmanov. His verse is, as ever, elegant and lyrical, of the type you might softly read to your beloved. The magazine continues its tradition of translation into Komi, this time with S. Gabov's translation of fairytales by famous Finnish writer L. Laulainen. And E. Gabova shares her impressions of her journey to the Far East in her travel notes, Quiet Japan.

The Zhakov section is dedicated to the birthday of K.F. Zhakov, the famous Komi philosopher. The magazine gives the reader the opportunity to get to know sections of Limitism, the professor's book published in Riga in 1929. Commentary on the book is provided by philosopher I. Mikhailov - who should already be known to our readers - in philosophical post-modern style. The reader's interest should also be drawn to an article by the well-known contemporary and countryman of Zhakov, P. Sorokin, dedicated to an analysis of his literary works. And the intriguing pages of Zhakov's creative biography - especially his work as a pedagogue - come to light in his grand-daughter and philosopher L.V. Zhakova's article, Zhakov the Pedagogue.

The Zyrianskii Studies section includes A. Paniukov's article, The World of Birds in Traditional Komi Culture. But it's not an article about ornithology, in actual fact dealing with the ethno-linguistic aspects of Komi music culture. Art-Fact includes the little-known work of artist/scene-painters. S. Beliaeva's article, Prologue : The Coming into Being of Theatre Design Art in the Komi ASSR, deals with early experiences in theatre design and A. Kotylev's article, Erich Wilson's Chronotopes, analyses the work of a contemporary artist/scene-painter from the V. Savin dramatic theatre. The Review section includes V. Sharapov's article, Hypertext and Multimedia Projects on Traditional Komi Culture.

Translated by Desmond Tumulty