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Zyuganov Joins Literary 'Greats'

Russia rightly boasts of its literary heritage. Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are firmly placed in the pantheon of the world's great writers. On May 24, the Russian literary elite will admit its newest, and surely least expected, member: Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.


In a ceremony at the Federation Council's office building on Tsvetnoi Bulvar, Zyuganov will be presented with the Mikhail Sholokhov prize for literature, which in years past has gone to Fidel Castro and Radovan Karadzic.


Zyuganov it seems is a man of many talents, but is less known as a literary genius. Vyacheslav Orlov, a member of the commission that awards the Sholokhov prize, explained the award Friday by pointing out that "Sholokhov was not only a writer, but also a public figure, so here we have continued this tradition."


"Zyuganov, in his fine style, propagates ideas that make him a true national leader capable of rallying Russia around him. In his best books, which include 'I Believe in Russia,' 'Beyond the Horizon' and 'Great Power,' he precisely and capaciously captures the spirit of Mikhail Sholokhov," Orlov said.


The Communist Party leader's muse can be a little opaque, however. This is a characteristic passage, taken from the first page of "Beyond the Horizon":


"The upheavals connected with the collapse of the U.S.S.R., the end of the bipolar world, the current degradation of Russia and its strengthening decisiveness to return to its historically consecutive path of national and state development, testify that the time for a serious redistribution of the geopolitical balance of forces and a change in the vectors of our culture and the world view of our epoch is close at hand."


Zyuganov's public speeches and writings have had an important impact on Russian society because he speaks to the fate of Russia and her peoples, indicating the paths and principles for reviving the great Russian state, Orlov said.


Orlov manages the Sovremenny Pisatel publishing house, which awards the Sholokhov Prize along with the International Society of Writers' Unions and the Moscow State Open Pedagogical University. The commission instituted the award in 1993.


But Zyuganov will not receive an award from the Russian Writers' Union as reported by Itar-Tass and several newspapers Friday. The confusion in the press resulted from the fact that there are, in fact, two Sholokhov prizes. The Russian Writers' Union broke with the commission several years ago, and then began giving out its own literary award using the same name.


Bondyrev said the Russian Writers' Union had presented its Sholokhov Prize for 1996 to five cultural figures, including the late Boris Mozhayev, and Viktor Petrov, a Rostov poet and editor of the journal Don."We do not award political prizes. We give our prize only for creative literary work, or to artists," he said.

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