D. T. KAPUSTIN

Candidate of Historical Sciences

A heavy tropical rainstorm did not prevent residents of the capital of Sri Lanka from coming to the Russian Cultural Center on November 24, 2010, to take part in a" literary ceremony "(as it appeared in the programs) dedicated to the memory of the" great Russian " - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

This date was not chosen at all by chance: exactly 120 years ago, day after day, 30-year-old Anton Chekhov, returning by sea from Sakhalin to Odessa, left the "paradise" - as he called the island of Ceylon, after spending three days and two nights here*. In addition, it was on this day that the writer (in his own words) "conceived" his little masterpiece - the poignant story "Gusev", which casually tells about death on the road, in the midst of the beauty of the endless tropical ocean of an "indefinite private" who completed the term of "five years of service in the Far East".

The Russian Cultural Center, under the leadership of its director, A. A. Akhmetov, an employee of Rossotrudnichestvo, which has become one of the" centers of attraction " in the intellectual life of Colombo, and the Sri Lankan Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at the Russian Center, under the leadership of an authoritative literary figure, Dr. V. A. Abeisinghe, organized not only a solemn celebration of the 150th anniversary of A. P. Chekhov, but and a fruitful scientific seminar on the writer's work with the participation of leading literary critics of Sri Lanka.

The celebrations began with a beautiful local ritual - lighting lamps.

On the stage - a sculptural image of Chekhov sitting. It was sculpted by a 16-year-old Sri Lankan youth, Rosita Vijendratunga, from Sri Rahul College in Alauwwa, in the Northwestern Province, famous for its rubber plantations. Students of the last 12-13 grades can study Russian at this college if they wish, and back in March 2010, an evening dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Russian writer was held there. The children prepared a large program, performed Russian songs and dances, acted out scenes from Anton Pavlovich's stories and Russian folk tales. The audience was more than two thousand people. And the young sculptor presented his work to the Russian Embassy.

After the solemn ceremony, the seminar was attended by the main "speakers" - the professor

* According to the logbook of the steamship Petersburg and the Ceylon newspapers of that time, it is reliably established that Chekhov arrived at the port of Colombo at 10.30 am on November 22, 1890 (November 10, U.S.S.R.) and left it at 8 pm on the 24th (November 12, U.S.S.R.). He spent one night in or near Colombo (the exact location is uncertain), and then" on a moonlit night, in a coconut forest, " he rendezvoused "with a black-eyed Hindu woman." And the second night - in Kandy, the former royal capital (120 km from Colombo), which is confirmed by the account of the bar at the Queen's Hotel recently found in Anton Chekhov's personal archive (see: Asia and Africa today. 2010, N 1).

Mendis Rohanadira, a nationally recognized historian, writer and literary critic; Dr. Isha Khevabovala from Kelaniya University, a researcher of Chekhov's work; Dr. V. A. Abeisinghe, a well-known writer, poet, translator, Professor emeritus at Wayamba University; writer and playwright Ranjit Dharmakirti, and the author of these lines.

The topics of the presentations ranged from an analysis of the artistic features of The Seagull to new biographical findings related to the writer's stay in Ceylon. As one of the speakers aptly put it, "Anton Chekhov is not a stranger to our country or to our literature lovers."

Indeed, it was felt that Chekhov for Sri Lanka is "his own", personally once visited the island, who left rave reviews about its exoticism, the beauty of nature and about the "bronze women". By the way, in the Soviet Union, some of these revelations were always wiped out by "non-commissioned officers from censorship" from all the collected works of the classic and are not known to the general Russian reader until now, although "advanced" Sri Lankan Russian scholars, as it turned out quite recently, they were long known from the original source-a collection of letters of the writer published by his sister Maria Pavlovna in 1912-1916.

Speakers emphasized that the Russian writer is not only close to the hearts of Sri Lankans, but also had a huge impact on the development of Sri Lankan literature. The first translations of Chekhov into English came to Ceylon at the beginning of the last century, shortly after their appearance in Europe, and in 1944, for the first time, his stories were translated into Sinhala, and then Tamil, and they became available to all the people.

The most interesting idea was expressed in the speeches: Ceylon was a colony of Great Britain for almost a century and a half, but it was not Dickens or Galsworthy who became the "masters of thoughts" of the local intelligentsia, but Chekhov, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. They had a huge impact on the development of literature in Sri Lanka.

By the way, the patriarch of modern Sri Lankan literature Martin Wickramasinghe (1890 - 1976) spoke and wrote about this very well and for a long time. Some participants in the festivities were given the opportunity to visit his homeland - Koggala, in the picturesque south of the country, to stand at the modest grave in the garden of his estate - quite in the spirit of Yasnaya Polyana. It was he who in 1957, in a special book in English - The Buddhist Jataka Stories and the Russian Novel, drew attention to the amazing consonance of the ancient stories of the Buddhist Jataka - "tales of rebirths (Buddha)" with Russian epics, with the motives and spirit of the works of a number of Russian writers, including Dostoevsky, Gogol, Turgenev, Chekhov and even Gorky. Wickramasinghe also wrote the first work in Sinhala (1970) with an analysis of Chekhov's work and its place in Russian literature, in the preface to which he described in some detail about the Russian writer's visit to Ceylon.

Another highlight of the celebrations was the presentation of a curious collection. Its meticulous and talented compiler, Ranjana Senasinghe (a graduate of the Peoples ' Friendship University of Russia), translated into Sinhala and analyzed almost everything that is currently known about Chekhov's visit to Ceylon - the short story "Gusev", the writer's brief memoirs about Ceylon (in letters), articles by Russian authors, and also collected, including from with the help of Russian friends, rare photos and documents. I note with envy that there is no such book in Russia.

An organic addition to the anniversary evening was a photo exhibition organized by the Russian Center with a number of unique Chekhov photographs, a book fair selling works by A. P. Chekhov and other Russian writers, and a screening of the movie "Chekhov's Motives".

The "art part" at the Center has not yet finished, as one of the speakers, Ranjit

Dharmakirti dragged those who wanted to see "The Seagull", which was staged by his students, future playwrights, directors, actors. Of course, we were ungodly late, but, nevertheless, in the tense silence of the theater, we immediately felt a genuine interest in Chekhov, in the Russian life of both the audience and the performers themselves. The action unfolded not against the background of a forest lake, but against the background of palm trees and an endless foggy ocean. Maybe Chekhov's characters were too modern, but she also felt that the young performers caught the paradoxical, "Chekhov spirit" of the play, playing a comedy (as the author called it) with an implicitly developing tragic plot.

Chekhov's events in Colombo, the personality of Anton Pavlovich, his biography and work aroused genuine interest in the local and foreign press. The author of this article had to devote almost two days to interviews for various press and TV agencies. A special interest was shown by the BBC correspondent, for whom the topic "Chekhov and Ceylon" turned out to be just a godsend, and the famous photo of Chekhov and midshipman Glinka with mongooses in their hands was an incredible find.

The final chord of the Chekhov Days was the opening on December 6 of a memorial plaque (sculptor G. Provotorov) in memory of the writer's visit to Ceylon in November 1890. It was installed in the lobby of the picturesque colonial-style hotel Galle Face, looking out into the Indian Ocean-the same distances whose sunset beauty so struck Chekhov (and was reflected in "Gusev" and several letters). A parliamentary delegation headed by State Duma deputy and actress Elena Drapeko arrived from Moscow for the opening ceremony.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka G. L. Peiris and other participants of the ceremony, speaking at the reception that followed, highlighted another feature of the great Russian writer's work and biography: "Chekhov brings us, the peoples of Russia and Sri Lanka, closer together for a long time and firmly, as dozens of diplomats and hundreds of contracts could not have done.

It should be noted that another old Moscow hotel - the Grand Oriental Hotel claims to be the" place of honor " where Anton Chekhov stayed. (I repeat, reliable documents about this fact have not yet been found.) A memorial plaque was installed here a few years ago and a memorial "Chekhov room" was organized, where anyone can stay for $ 80 a day. And in August of this year, a bust of A. P. Chekhov (author - G. Potocki) was also installed in the lobby of the hotel.

The Chekhov jubilee year is over, but Chekhov's march around the world continues. According to UNESCO, his works have been published in 112 languages, he remains the most widely read and published writer in the world, and only Shakespeare is his rival in stage productions.

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