On October 26, the opening of the XLIV International Research Readings – N. G. Chernyshevsky and his Epoch – took place at the N.G. Chernyshevsky Museum-Estate. The organisers of the conference are the museum-estate and Saratov University. The main topics of the readings are the life and work of the writer along cultural and historical events of the epoch.

This year, a wonderful galaxy of participants has gathered at the readings. These are scholars from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Tambov, Saratov, Penza, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, as well as Italy and Brazil. They study not only Chernyshevsky's life and work, but also of a whole period in the history of thought and culture of the 19th century. Traditionally, the conference is attended by teaching staff members of the Institute of Philology and Journalism, SSU.

‘Nikolai Chernyshevsky is one of the outstanding figures of public and cultural life of Russia in the second half of the 19th century. He grew up here, Saratov was making of him, and he left memories of our city. Chernyshevsky is an example that people from the province can become flagships for a whole generation of a huge country,’ Director of the museum-state Elena Manova said, opening the readings.

Leading philologists spoke at the plenary session. Professor of Moscow State University, Leading Researcher of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Makeev presented the report titled The Memories of N.G. Chernyshevsky as a Source of Studying the Biography and Literary Works of Nekrasov. Vladimir Kantor, Tenured Professor at the HSE, Head of the International Laboratory for Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue, shared a study on The Christian Thought as a Crime: Dostoevsky and Chernyshevsky topic.

Professor of the Department of Literary Studies and Journalism, SSU, Valerii Prozorov told the audience about Chernyshevsky’s work in the research of Alla Zhuk, Professor of the Department of History of Criticism and Theory of Literature, SSU. Professor of the Department of Russian and World Literatures Aleksei Gaponenkov made a report titled The Holy Scripture in S.L. Frank’s Works: The Period of “Unbelieving Youth”.

‘It is gratifying to see Vladimir Kantor who wrote one of the most interesting Chernyshevsky’s biographies – The Felled Tree of Life. The debutant of our readings is Mikhail Makeyev. Recently, he has published the Nikolai Nekrasov book of the The Life of Wonderful People series. Next year, on the 195th anniversary of Chernyshevsky, the 45th readings will be held. N.G. Chernyshevsky and his Epoch is one of the longest scientific conferences in Saratov, and we, of course, honour the traditions and experience of holding international readings. This event is considered as a conference that gathers a significant number of scholars not only from our country, but also from all over the world on the days of Chernyshevsky's memory,’ Alexander Semenov, said A.V. Semenov, Academic Secretary of the museum-estate, commented.

In the sectional part, the reports were delivered by Associate Professor of TSU Anastasia Grigorovskaya (N.G. Chernyshevsky and the Ideas of Modernisation of Russia: Problem Setting), Associate Professor of the School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, HSE, Elena Besschetnova (The Architectonics of N.G. Chernyshevsky's Social Being), and Professor of Novosibirsk Pedagogical University Tatyana Pecherskaya (The Fallen Woman in the Works of Chernyshevsky and his Contemporaries).

On the final day of the conference, October 27, the reports were made by scholars from St. Petersburg State University, the Higher School of Economics, Saratov State Technical University, Irkutsk State University, Voronezh State University, Derzhavin Tambov State University, Moscow Region State University, N.A. Dobrolyubov Literary Memorial Museum, Fluminense Federal University (Rio de Janeiro), University of Bergamo (Italy), and researchers from the Institute of Philology and Journalism and the V.A. Artisevich Regional Scientific Library.

During the conference, open lectures of scholars were organised at Saratov State University as part of the implementation of the exhibition-to-education project titled The Perpetual Motion Machine: Dreaming, Discussing, Implementing, which was developed with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives. MSU Professor, Leading Researcher of the IRL RAS (Pushkin House) Mikhail Makeev will give a lecture titled The Poet as We Do Not Know Him: Nekrasov and the High Society of the Russian Empire. Tenured Professor of the Higher School of Economics, Head of the International Laboratory for Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue Vladimir Kantor will deliver a lecture titled The Christian Thought as a Crime: Dostoevsky and Chernyshevsky. Associate Professor of the School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, HSE, Elena Besschetnova will talk about the meaning of the concept of unity in N.G. Chernyshevsky's cultural and philosophical texts.