In this article the author continues the series of publications devoted to the creative work of A.D. Kantemir. The year 2019 marks not one but three anniversaries of Kantemir: 310 years since his birth, 275 years since his death, and 290 years since the publication of his first satire. Nevertheless, Kantemir is practically forgotten: his memorable dates were not covered by any media. As a response to this situation, the author composed a questionnaire of 13 questions "What do we remember about Antioch Kantemir". The purpose of the questionnaire is to find out if the name Kantemir is alive in the memory of our contemporaries and what can be done to "resurrect" it. This article presents an analysis of the results of the questionnaire. The author discovered that the modern reader has little knowledge of the works of Kantemir: when asked whether respondents can list the names of all the satires by Kantemir, quote any of his works, whether they refer to the texts of the poet in the everyday reading experience or in the process of communication, whether the works of Kantemir are perceived as a source of internal support, the majority of respondents gave a negative response. Outdated language and temporary distance of poet's works from our era, inability to present information about him was mentioned as the main reasons of indifference of our contemporaries to Kantemir. At the same time, a number of respondents stressed their interest in the heritage of Kantemir because of the high poetic value of his works, as well as the depth of the poet's ideas and the accuracy of his observations. Respondents suggested many ways to revive interest in the work of Kantemir, including changing the school curriculum and approach to teaching 18th century literature, holding thematic training and scientific events, raising awareness of the poet's biography and linguistic and artistic discoveries.
|
