Nikolai Zharinov invites guests to the National Centre RUSSIA to discuss forms of love in literature

Love, family and relationships in Russian culture have often been understood through literature: for 19th-century writers, the family novel was not merely a genre but a model of an ideal human life. How the classics understood love and why it is worth returning to them today will be discussed by participants in the open dialogues "Forms of Love: Literature and Art" at the National Centre RUSSIA. Writer, philologist and cultural studies scholar Nikolai Zharinov invites everyone interested to join the conversation on 9 July at 13:00.

"Literature is the code of the heart. Style is merely the everyday vessel in which bitter drink is served to people," wrote Thornton Wilder. "On 9 July, I invite you to the National Centre RUSSIA to talk about how the theme of love has been reflected in Russian literature. What did such great writers as Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and other Russian classics think about love? How did they view family values, and what did family mean to them, if the entire 19th century in Russian literature was above all a family novel?" said Nikolai Zharinov, addressing guests of the National Centre RUSSIA.

The open dialogues will also feature Yevgeny Zharinov, Professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, Doctor of Philology, writer and translator; Sofya Ernst, theatre and film actress, producer and founder of the "Istok" Cultural Centre; and Yelena Davydova, Director of the "M'ARS" Centre for Contemporary Art and curator of cultural projects. The meeting will be moderated by Dmitry Morozov, radio presenter and announcer at the National Centre RUSSIA. Participants will discuss how literature and art can help us look at forms of love in a new light, strengthen relationships and create family traditions.