Pushkin Poetry Highlights Global Values of Freedom, Love - Foundation President
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2021) The heritage of famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin highlights the global values of freedom and love, the President of the "Pushkin for the Whole World" foundation Julian Henry Lowenfeld told Sputnik.
The Pushkin online marathon, organized by the foundation, will kick off on June 6 at 3:00 p.m. MSK (13:00 GMT, 08:00 Eastern time). The project will celebrate the great poet's 222nd birthday.
The Pushkin for the Whole World foundation is undertaking the online marathon to raise funds to provide bilingual educational materials to the Russian diaspora around the world, and also to assist children with special needs.
Lowenfeld, a renowned translator of Pushkin from Russian into English and promoter of his global legacy, noted that hundreds of people from different countries already signed on to participate in the 5-hour-long marathon.
"Iceland, Australia, China, Japan, Australia,� Russia, Central Asia, the US, UK, Qatar, Israel, Tanzania, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Sweden, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Malta, Nigeria, Tanzania, Indonesia - dozens of countries all over the world. I think it shows that Pushkin's values are global, love, freedom, art, beauty.
As he wrote, 'There is no truth where there is no love,'" citing his own translation of Pushkin. "I think the whole world can respond to that, and needs more of that energy."
Lowenfeld said he was amazed at the international response to the marathon. "This spontaneous reaction we've received dispels the myth that Pushkin is just for Russians, and cannot be appreciated in translation," he said.�
He expressed the hope that more people around the world will become interested in Pushkin's poetry and in Russian culture in general because it helps to build bridges and friendship between countries.
"The day will come when all the peoples of this world, their quarrels forgot, in one great family will be united,"� Lowenfeld cited Pushkin.� "Art and poetry bring people together, remind us of our common humanity. There are many problems in the world today, naturally, yet I believe in what some call l soft power, and others just call love.� It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness 1000 times," he said.
In addition to Pushkin, Lowenfeld has translated into English the verses of Mikhail Lermontov, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Alexander Blok, Osip Mandelshtam, and other Russian poets.