On May 28, the 2022 Library Night project was held at the Regional Scientific Library named after V.A. Artisevich. The guests were able to participate in various events: performances of folklore ensembles, tours around the library, other exhibitions and master classes. This year, it is titled Folk. Night. Fake and it dedicated to intangible cultural heritage: folk art, traditions, legends, epics, fairy tales, mystifications, and magic.
The opening of the event was attended by the Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Development Aleksei Koronovskii, the guests were met by the Director of the SSU Library Elena Poznyakova and the library staff. The Oak Forest folklore ensemble of the Saratov State Conservatoire performed in the hall. The audience heard Belarusian chastushkas (ditties), guest songs from various regions of Volga Region. After the musical part of the performance, the guests of the library were able to take part in the ancient folk games.
The Crane folklore ensemble from the Saratov Armenian community continued to welcome visitors to the library. The audience got acquainted with Armenian folk songs and dances.
The fans of active intellectual entertainment divided into four teams and went to the Jorge Magical Labyrinth quest game named after the mysterious blind librarian from Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. The participants had to go through a mystical labyrinth to unravel the riddles. According to the plan of the organisers, the hackers launched a malicious programme that broke logical connections and mixed up plots in all fairy tales, epics, and legends. In order to restore the previous order and win, the participants had to find the cipher. Therefore, they walked a certain route through the halls of the library and performed various tasks.
The visitors were able to join the tours around the library, which were held non-stop throughout the evening. The guests were introduced to the history of the library by Deputy Director for Research Aleksei Zyuzin, the Head of the Department of Mass Affairs Ekaterina Salkova and other library guides. During the visit, they spoke in detail about the book storage room, the reading room, the department of rare books and manuscripts. Virtual exhibitions were shown in the hall – The Itelmen Fairy Tale – Kutkh the Raven, The Postcards with Illustrations for Kochergin’s Epics, Kireevskii’s Song Heritage in Children's Drawings, and The Pyatnitsky State Academic Russian Folk Choir.
The guests actively participated in creative workshops: the preview of Saratov artists and master classes in linocut. The training was conducted by Saratov artists Andrei Golubtsov and Dmitrii Grabenko. On the second floor, the visitors attended an exhibition of the children's drawing contest titled The Tales of the Peoples of Russia In Children’s View, and the participants were awarded in the same evening. During the university Library Night the people could get acquainted with the following book and illustrative expositions – The Ethnoculture. Saratov Region, The Ethno-Cuisine, and The Ethno-Art. They were devoted to the life of the ethnic groups of the peoples of Volga District, their traditional dishes, and creativity.
At the intelligent meetings titled The Fairy Tale As a Source of Magical Thinking in the Era of Metamodern, the participants considered examples of hoaxes in literature and art. The experts presented various sciences: cultural studies, philosophy, philology, sociology, psychology, and medicine.
The discussion was moderated by Professor of the Department of Theoretical and Social Philosophy, the Faculty of Philosophy, Sofia Tikhonova. She noted that people develop magical thinking when they turn to fairy tales as a source of divinatory practices or modern rituals. ‘We love riddles and the psychological tension associated with a mystery,’ said Sofia Tikhonova. In addition, the professor spoke about the role of fairy tales in a literary context. ‘A fairy tale is universal: it allows us to endure what happens to us. I believe that each work of this genre has its own reader and each fairy tale will strike the chords.’
The Dean of the Faculty of Psychology Lyudmila Aksenovskaya discussed the principles of dividing fairy tales into groups. ‘Each fairy tale has its own consumers who get exactly what they need. Therapeutic fairy tales are divided into different groups: there are forbidding, there are permissive, and there are programming for some kind of behaviour ones. For example, the well-known fairy tale – Cinderella – programs that you need to learn to accept what happens to you. Such tales teach patience, humility, and responsiveness.
The Chair of the Department of Philosophy of Culture and Cultural Studies, the Faculty of Philosophy, Evgeniya Listvina noted the significance of fairy tales in the modern world. ‘The fairy tale is used as a kind of allegorical image. It is no coincidence that society, having survived several decades of the science fiction boom, has turned to the fantasy genre. The function of a fairy tale is to satisfy our needs. We often identify ourselves with a character who goes through many challenges, exceeds the limits,’ she added.
Associate Professor of the Department of Clinical Medicine, Reaviz Medical University, an employee of the SSU Library Galina Teper talked about the ontology of a fairy tale, the features of the fairy tale universe, and also about magical thinking as an element of myth and psychotic discourse.
The Chair of the Department of Clinical Medicine, Reaviz Medical University, Aleksei Trubetskov spoke about the possible choice of topics in fairy tales. ‘Using the example of a fairy tale, we talk about almost everything. There are no boundaries between allowances and prohibitions. It is not surprising that the example of a fairy tale makes it a little easier to talk about this. In addition, all accomplished classics began their criticism of literary texts precisely from the analysis of fairy tales, because in such a work all characters’ types are understandable and they are based on understandable models.’
The final block of the evening was The Musportal. The Theatre of New Music instrumental group (Saratov State Conservatoire) played various instruments: guitar, piano, saxophone, and flute. The guests heard the music of both famous and new composers.
To remind, 2022 has been declared the Year of Folk Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Russia, which determined the choice of the topic of the events.
About 570 people attended the Regional Scientific Library named after V.A. Artisevich.
