Saltykov-Shchedrin should be read by the whole family: a Literary Club meeting held at the National Centre RUSSIA to mark the writer’s 200th anniversary

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What turns the works of Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin from compulsory school reading into a creative tool for reflecting on people and society, the past and the present? How can the essence of his fairy tales be explained to children, and why does the writer remain one of the most quoted authors today, including on social media? These and other questions were addressed at a meeting of the literary club "What to Read?!", dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birth. Together with the audience, the experts explored Saltykov-Shchedrin’s life and work from various perspectives — as the author of immortal fairy tales, an architect of Russian satire, and a wise critic of society’s deep-rooted flaws.

"There are problems that run through the history of all humanity like a red thread. That is why, when you reread Saltykov-Shchedrin even many years later, you always find something meaningful for yourself. Any of his works is also a confrontation with oneself; it helps you comprehend the changes that have taken place in your life and in your perception of reality. And despite the fact that this year marks 200 years since his birth, in essence, his works remain relevant today. And if he were, for example, a contemporary blogger, I believe he would handle Telegram with ease and would certainly be a regular visitor to the National Centre RUSSIA," said the permanent host of the club, Head of the Scientific Council of the Centre for Political Conjuncture, Professor at the Higher School of Economics, and author of the Telegram channel Chesnakov Library, Alexei Chesnakov.

The author of the modern biography "Saltykov (Shchedrin)", recently published in the "Life of Remarkable People" series, Vice-Rector for Research and Creative Work, Head of the Department of Modern Russian Literature at the Gorky Literary Institute, literary and cultural historian and prose writer Sergei Dmitrenko, drew attention to the educational value of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tales. According to him, they are well suited for family reading, which can unite generations while revealing the unexpected depth of children’s literary perception.

"Without family reading, there is no normal development of a person and no normal development of a child. Incidentally, the image of a clever child is one of the leitmotifs in Saltykov’s fairy tales. That is why they should be read together with children. We must not underestimate our children under any circumstances. Yes, they live in a space that feels strange to us, with the internet and gadgets, but that does not make them less intelligent. They simply have different channels for receiving information. And if you help them develop an interest in reading, then by reading together with them, you yourself will return to your own childhood. I believe that from the age of five or six, children can easily understand, for example, "The Tale of How One Peasant Fed Two Generals". So, to repeat: in his fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin gives us the opportunity, on the one hand, to return to childhood, and on the other, to see that our children are far more intelligent than we tend to think," Sergei Dmitrenko emphasised.

Head of the Department "M. Y. Lermontov House-Museum" at the Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature, Candidate of Philological Sciences Sergei Shaulov added that Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tales are valuable for cultivating good literary taste and understanding how language functions.

"They are useful not only for children, but also for those who are interested in the structure of literary language. For example, we can see how the expression 'a swarm of peasants' in 'The Wild Landowner' suddenly grows into an entire description of a kind of fantastical reality, where this 'swarm' suddenly takes off, rises, flies away and returns. This is useful for understanding how our language works. Sometimes I read contemporary journalism and think that if Saltykov-Shchedrin were to read it, he would be pleased and would take note of certain things and develop them further. So his fairy tales can and should be used to cultivate a proper, conscious taste for language, which is why I devote so much attention to them," Sergei Shaulov said. 

During the meeting, the experts also traced how the writer’s legacy reveals deep social and philosophical undertones, discussed his circle of acquaintances and the paradoxes of his biography that shaped his unique satirical style. At the conclusion of the event, the authors of the best audience questions received books with Saltykov-Shchedrin’s works as gifts from the Eksmo publishing house.

The signature club "What to Read?!" was established at the National Centre RUSSIA to discuss literary heritage and exchange ideas and experience. The focus of the experts and guests of this intellectual platform is the development of reading culture, interest in thoughtful writing, and the expansion of public dialogue.

Participation in club meetings and many other educational and cultural programmes at the National Centre RUSSIA is free of charge, subject to prior registration on the website russia.ru. Up-to-date information on events is available in the "Events" section.