TODAY.AZ / Arts & Entertainment

Russian dramatist tells about a truly home-like atmosphere of Baku

28 April 2016 [13:00] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Laman Ismayilova

The Russian dramatist has got deeply impressed by his recent visit to Baku, the capital of the Land of Fires.

Leonid Zorin, the author of many popular works including "The Pokrovskie gate" and "Warsaw melody", shared his admiration of what he saw in Baku, in particular truly home-like atmosphere, meeting with the writer Maxim Gorky and passionate love for football, while talking to "Moscow-Baku".

"Thoughts about hometown always stir the soul. Baku of my childhood was very funny, noisy, and vociferous. There was a close proximity to the sea and the sun -- these two main elements were felt everywhere. Multilingual speech was heard in every parts of the city made painted Baku with unusual colors. That is all I took in the baggage of memories to Moscow. Here, I dived into another atmosphere, which is seemed me less a homelike. I still can't get used to it. First of all, because I'm a southerner," Zorin told.

In his interview, the Russian dramatist described the nature of Baku citizens in the 1930s.

"There was a friendly treatment with anyone in Baku of my childhood and youth. I witnessed perfect internationalism, a deep feeling of brotherhood among people. I used to play football. My team was consisted of six players representing different ethnicities. I would like to see this feature to remain in Baku," he added.

Leonid Zorin also told about his first attempts to write.

"I have learned literacy at early age. I began to write, when I was four. At ten, I wrote my first book of poems. It has been published with pleasure. Baku is a very ambitious city and it was nice to have your attraction in the form of a ten-year-old child, writing poetry. Narkompros (People's Commissariat for Education) even decided to send me to Maksim Gorkiy. At his request, I had read his poem "People". Aleksey Maksimovich wrote a large article about me, which was titled "Boy" and it was printed in all central newspapers of the country,' Zorin remembered .

The author of "Warsaw melody" also spoke about his student years.

"I was passionate about football! I thought to dedicate my life to professional sport. The team that I played was called "Youth Neftchi". The coach asked me "how long do you gonna be lazy? I replied: "You Know, Benik, I think more about literature", after what he spat and said, "Well, well, let's see how much fun it will give you, your literature". Needless to say, I loved football very much... My closest friend was a football player, a great athlete Konstantin Beskov. However literature canceled all my sports plans. So, it was not allowed to waste your time on anything else but it," he added.

Comparing the contemporary creativity with the past Zorin said creating something new today is easier than it was in the Soviet times.

"It was a time of censorship, the most important could be deleted. Another thing that was present is inner censor," he stressed.

Concerning his work, Zorin said that he has published twelve volumes of prose, got 50 plays in the country and 17 abroad. Moreover, his last work has been released very recently.

In the end, Zorin also spoke about poplar literary genres. Dramatist believes that the genre of short stories will be popular in the coming years.

"The time passes very quickly. I personally came to the genre of short stories. In my opinion, it's in step with the times.

Three or four papers are not a tenet, but it seems to me that fits well with the rhythm of our time.

Leonid Genrikhovich Zorin was born 3 November 1924 in Baku. His first book was published when he was 10 years old. Verses of the young author relished himself Maxim Gorky. At 17, Zorin became a member of the Union of writers. He graduated from the Azerbaijan University named after Kirov, and then the Literary Institute named after Gorky. In twenty three, he debuted with the song "Youth" as a playwright at the Maly theatre. Then he wrote a number of plays, including "Guests", "Roman Comedy", "Decembrists", "Warsaw melody", "the Theatrical imagination", "the Pokrovskie gate", "Royal hunt", "Carnival", "Quote". Many of his works were filmed and staged. Leonid Zorin is a holder of the Order of theBadge of Honour and the Order of Friendship. He is a laureate of numerous contests and awards.

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