Yevgeny Zharinov explains at the National Centre RUSSIA how works of genius begin to live on their own

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Scholars often say: "You do not control the brain; the brain controls you." Doctor of Philology, Professor at Moscow Pedagogical State University, writer, literary scholar and publicist Yevgeny Zharinov spoke at the National Centre RUSSIA about what happens when the brain of a genius is seized by inspiration during a meeting of the Literary Club "What to Read?!".

"Pushkin is astonished: 'Do you know what my Tatyana has done? She has got married.' Ilf and Petrov conceived Ostap Bender as an episodic character, but admit in their notes: 'What is this bastard doing? He keeps growing and growing.' Samuel Richardson receives a request from the king not to kill Clarissa, promises to spare the heroine, and yet the next morning seems to justify himself to his readers: 'Sorry... Clarissa has died'," Yevgeny Zharinov said.

According to the expert, at some point, the text, the character and the work as a whole slip out of the author’s control. It is no longer the author who controls them; they begin to control him.

The discussion also touched on other topics: human destiny in literature, the image of Russia and the mystical dimension in classical prose. These became part of the intellectual duel "Battle of Talents: Dostoevsky vs Bulgakov", which was held at the National Centre RUSSIA as part of the Literary Club "What to Read?!". Father and son found themselves on opposite sides of the literary barricades: Yevgeny Zharinov spoke in favour of Fyodor Dostoevsky, while philologist, culturologist and writer Nikolai Zharinov argued in favour of Mikhail Bulgakov.

Watch the full recording of the livestream on the russia.ru website.

The Literary Club "What to Read?!" is an original project by the National Centre RUSSIA. Anyone can take part in the club’s events and other educational programmes of the National Centre RUSSIA free of charge by registering in advance on the russia.ru website in the "Events" section.