Brusov Readings

The tradition of the international academic conference Brusov Readings goes back to 1962. Brusov Readings is the main strand that binds Brusov specialists leading them to Yerevan, Brusov Science Center of the Yerevan Brusov State University. The conference is usually arranged for anniversary dates referring to Valery Brusov and the Yerevan Brusov State University.

On December 13-15, 1962, the first BR were held in Yerevan. Johanna Brusova, the poet's widow, was enthusiastic about the Yerevan conference and was pleased to know that in 1962 the Institute was named after Brusov. The papers of the first Brusov Readings were included in the collection of academic works «Brusov Readings 1962» published in Yerevan in 1963.

Alexander Brusov, Valery Brusov's brother, was the honorary guest of the conference. He provided some interesting details related to Valery Brusov’s life and creativity.

BR-1963 coincided with celebrations of V. Brusov’s 90th anniversary. There was a significant increase in the number of participants and new topics. The nation-wide celebration of the poet’s jubilee witnessed the Armenian people’s great respect and gratitude to V. Brusov for his efforts in promoting the Armenian culture worldwide.

Large Field Presence

The conference revealed a more diversified geography. The academics from Moscow and Sofia, Riga and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and many other cities attended BR-1963.

BR-1966 were dedicated to the 50th anniversary of publication of «The Anthology of Armenian Poetry».
The first complete publication of the almanac (after the one published in 1916) was initiated by Hayastan Publishing House, with the corrections and additions made after V. Brusov’s initial draft.
In 1966, a book entitled «Valery Brusov on Armenia and Armenian Culture» (in Armenian) was published.
Upon completion of the conference a monument to V. Brusov (designed by Ara Sargsyan, the People’s Artist of the USSR) was installed in front of the Yerevan Pedagogical Institute for Russian and Foreign Languages.

Valery Brusov's Vision of National Culture
Unlike the two previous conferences, the topics selected for this conference were defined as «Valery Brusov and National Cultures». A range of issues referring to the history of «The Poetry of Armenia» was laid in the basis of the conference scope.

BR-1971 were held at the Great Hall of the Moscow State Museum of Literature on January 20-23, 1971. The participants stressed an ongoing necessity to study the neglected issues referring to V.Brusov’s activity as a multi-skilled translator, writer and poet.
Upon completion of the academic conference, the participants visited the apartment where the poet had lived and worked in his later life and participated in the opening ceremony of V. Brusov’s Memorial Study Room.

In 1973, V. Brusov’s 100th anniversary was celebrated. The jubilee celebrations were held in Armenia and Russia. On December 13–15, 1973, the Yerevan State University and the USSR State Museum of Literature jointly held an academic conference BR-1973 in Yerevan. The rapporteurs endeavored to reveal the conciseness of V. Brusov’s poetic forms, and to consider his innovation in poetry.
In 1973, Fiction Publishing House issued the first two volumes of a seven-volume collection of works by V. Brusov.
Research papers on V. Brusov’s life and creativity were also published, in particular, «Brusov on the Russian Poets of XIX Century» by V. Tikhancheva, «The Poetry of V. Brusov» by S.Gindin, and «The Russian Literature of XX Century». «The Poetry of Armenia» was re-edited.

Valery Brusov's 100th Anniversary
The rapporteurs tended to reveal the conciseness of V. Brusov's poetic forms, to consider the issues referring to his poetic innovation, his interrelations with the Russian and foreign, in particular, Lithuanian and Moldavian, lyric poets.

The 6th BR were held in Yerevan on May 22-24, 1980. About 30 reports were presented at the conference. M. Gasparov’s report, «Brusov and Line Glosses», was of particular relevance. M.Gasparov suggested the exact principle for calculating the degree of any translation’s accuracy.
The period between BR-1973 and BR-1980 was eventful. A seven-volume collection of works by V. Brusov was published in Moscow; the 85th volume of «Literary Heritage» dedicated solely to the poet was issued in 1976. The publication of V. Brusov’s Bibliography (1884 – 1973) took stock of the research by V. Brusov’s Study Room staff.

Extensive Discussion
The papers presented at the conference referred to the unknown aspects, such as V. Brusov’s drama, translations of W. Whitman’s and F. Schiller’s works by V. Brusov, the reports on his controversies with Leo Tolstoy, etc.The participants of the conference underlined the necessity of elaboration and publication of V. Brusov’s academic biography, along with a need to improve the organizational and academic criteria of Brusov Readings. Recommendations on publication of works and materials referring to V. Brusov’s creative activities were approved.

BR-1983 were held on November 17-19, 1983, to celebrate V. Brusov’s 110th anniversary. The conference featured sessions referring to the poet’s experience in free verse, his last poetry collections, personal relationship with Anna Akhmatova, Marinta Tsvetaeva, Russian classical writers’ surveys. Academic collection BR-1983 was published in 1985, emanating from the Conference.

Valery Brusov's 110th Anniversary
The geography of Brusov Readings was enlarged. In addition to the academics who represented the acknowledged centers for studying Brusov’s creative heritage such as Moscow, Leningrad and Stavropol, specialists from Kiev, Tbilisi, Kishinev, Alma-Ata, Odessa, Gorky, Kamenets-Podolsky, Krasnoyarsk and other USSR cities participated in the BR-1983 as well.

BR-1986 were held in Yerevan in October 1986, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of «The Poetry of Armenia» and the Feast of the Holy Translators, in honor of St. Mesrop Mashtots, who created the Armenian alphabet, and St. Sahak Partev. The academics tended to reveal new aspects, such as the way the Western philosophers had affected the poet, how he assessed history in his works, etc.

Brusov Readings-1986 and the Feast of the Holy Translators in Armenia
Although the traditional conference was arranged for 70th anniversary of the publication of the anthology «The Poetry of Armenia» the conference was not limited by the frames of V. Brusov’s translations .

BR-1996 were held after a ten-year hiatus, owing to political developments. Only the academics from Moscow participated in the Yerevan conference. The participants tended to more deeply comprehend Brusov’s world-view, to thoroughly consider Silver Age poetic and scientific background, the poet’s relationship with G.Chulkov, Z.Gippius, Vl.Khodasevich, A.Akhmatova, S.Solovyev and others, his translations of N.Lenau, G.Byron, French symbolists. The subject «Brusov and Polish Literature» was considered as well.

BR-2002 were dedicated to the 40th anniversary of naming the Yerevan State Linguistic University after Brusov and the establishment of Brusov Study Room. The academics gave a new perspective to the traditional topics – Brusov and Armenia, his theoretical reviews, and Scriptural motifs in his works.

Inexhaustible Creative Heritage
The participants addressed the comprehension of V. Brusov's works («The Altar of Victory», «Jupiter the Prostrate»), his short stories and novels, the peculiarities of the poet’s theoretical attitude towards the theater, as well as an analysis of gender issues. The discourse on the criteria of «keeping abreast with time» in the poet’s works, on his ways of depicting the Russian lifestyle, as well as on scriptural motifs in Brusov’s sonnets, is really noteworthy. The comparison of the poet’s works with the masterpieces of the outstanding representatives of world culture such as Victor Hugo, Vladimir Nabokov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, George Byron, Thomas Moore, Nikolay Gumilev and others lead to unusual derivations.

BR-2006 were held within the frames of «The Year of Armenia in Russia» at the Russian State University for the Humanities and Ryazan State University named for S.Yesenin,
dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the publication of «The Poetry of Armenia».
Addressing the audience at the solemn opening of XIII Brusov Readings in Moscow, Y.Pivovarov and S.Zolyan, the rectors of the co-sponsor universities (Russian State University for the Humanities and Yerevan Brusov State Linguistic University), stressed that the format responded to present-day realities.

Brusov at the Origin of the Russian Poetic Vanguard
Renowned academicians from Moscow, St.Petersburg, Stavropol and Tbilisi, as well as from Guimri, Vanadzor and Stepanakert, participated in the conference. Once again, it became evident that the poet’s creative heritage, his mastery and versatility were really inexhaustible.

BR-2010 were held in Yerevan in October 2010, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Brusov University. A lot of international participants attended the conference. The XIV conference was marked by a relatively less number of papers referring directly to V.Brusov’s creativity, giving more emphasis to intercultural dialogues and V. Brusov’s relationship with seminal literature and culture practitioners.

New Vision
The academics from Moscow, Yerevan, Tokyo, Stavropol, Tula and Perm gave a new vision of still unknown issues referring to V.Brusov’s creativity. They were selective in addressing the issues and offered new angles for the poet’s illimitable creative heritage.

BR-2013 were devoted to V.Brusov’s 140th anniversary. The academics sharpened their focus on V.Brusov’s war correspondence, translation technology, dedicatory inscriptions on his books, the poet’s relationship with K.Nekrasov’s Publishing House in Yaroslavl and his correspondence with his spouse in 1914-1915.

Academic Discussion
Over 50 participants from 10 countries (Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania, USA, Japan, Poland, Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary) submitted their reports. The participants were very emotional in their speeches, hence, the reports often turned into academic discussions.

BR-2016 were held in Yerevan on October 6-8, 2016, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of «The Anthology of Armenian Poetry». The conference hosted renowned academicians and young specialists from Armenia, Russia, US, France, Czech Republic and other countries. The presentation of the facsimile publication of «The Anthology of Armenian Poetry» and the official site of the Brusov Science Center, as well as a concert program was held within the frames of the conference.

Visiting Historical and Cultural Landmarks in Armenia
The participants of the conference visited Martiros Saryan House-Museum, the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, and Oshakan. The academics visited Mesrop Mashtots’s grave on October 8, within the framework of the celebration of the Holy Translators’ Day.

BR-2018 were held in Yerevan on September 19-21, to celebrate Brusov’s 145th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of publication of The Chronicle of Historical Destinies of the Armenian Nation by Brusov. In addition to the academic reports, there was an opening ceremony of the exposition The History of the Archive of Brusov Science Center, and the presentation of online collections entitled Brusov and Armenia and Brusov and Music, on Google Arts & Culture online platform.

The participants of the conference visited the landmarks in Armenia: Khor Virap, one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Armenia, Noravank, a 13th-century Armenian monastery, and Areni, a popular winery 110 km from Yerevan, one of the country’s main attractions for connoisseurs of wines.

The 21st-century specialists on Brusov Studies propose new approaches to the traditional issues, also tending to reveal largely unexplored aspects referring to Valery Brusov’s creativity.