Life against the tide:
honesty, independence, enlightenment

MOSCOW. For the eighth time, Nezavisimaya Gazeta named the non-conformism prize laureates.

The desire to be in the comfort zone, the craving for predictable stability is natural for any person. Creative location is contraindicated. For the game by the rules and compromises you have to pay with a thinning talent. Not everyone is capable of going against the tide, experimenting, defending their beliefs even to the detriment of material well-being and successful integration in society. For laureates of Nonconformism, this is the norm. The image of an Abyssinian cat, an independent intellectual with high resistance to stress, chosen for a statuette presented with a cash prize, is an accurate and vivid allegory.

In the category "For consistent service to the ideals of the underground", the jury decided to mark with a special prize the frontman of the DK group, the musician and poet Sergey Zharikov, who is called the guru of the anti-system direction in Russian music, the ideologist of counterculture. His creative baggage includes work on the compositions of the DK group, underground concerts, self-publishing, production of a multi-volume anthology of Russian rock, the three-volume Leçons des ténèbres, and albums of famous rock artists.

The artist and writer Alexandra Nikolaenko is a laureate in the Nonconformism Act category. The style of the novel “Kill Bobrykin” with its white five-footed iambic gives rise to associations for the reader, referring to the works of Andrei Bely, Fedor Sologub, Venedikt Erofeev, Sasha Sokolov. The mental illness of the protagonist, the tormenting Oedipus complex, imaginary letters from his beloved, reconciling with the chaos of fantasies and memories. “Kill Bobrykin”, which was highly praised by the jury of Nonconformism, was also included in the long list of the 2017 National Bestseller.

The literary critic and writer Marietta Chudakova is a laureate in the Nonconformism Fate category. Her biography is an example of fidelity to the only principles possible for an intelligent person: honesty, independence of judgment, the need to educate those who need it. Long-term studies of the works of Bulgakov, Zoshchenko, Zamyatin, articles and reviews without negative interpretations and ideologically verified formulations. Organization of annual Tynian readings in Latvia. Conscious refusal to use in the dissertation the demagogic, in her firm conviction, the terms "socialist realism" and "Soviet literature." Reluctance to adhere to loyal coalitions, to sign collective letters and to cheat.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru