''Nash Sovremennik'' (Наш современник, Our Contemporary) is a Russian literary magazine, founded in 1956, as a successor to the ''Yearly Almanac''.

History

The predecessor of ''Nash Sovremennik'' was the

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

-founded Almanac that was coming out in 1933-1937 and in 1949-1955, 1 to 4 times a year. The Almanac's title was chronologically changing, from ''Year XVI'' (1933) to ''Year XXXVIII'' (1956), the point of reference being 1917, the year of the

Socialist Revolution Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

. In 1956 the Almanac changed its name to ''Nash Sovremennik'' and up until 1964 was coming out as a quarterly. Initially it belonged to the

Union of Writers of the USSR The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers () was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1932) a ...

, since 1958 it moved under the jurisdiction of the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

Union of Writers. ''Nash Sovremennik''s first editors-in-chief were Viktor Poltoratsky (1956-1958, an editorial staff member up until 1973) and Boris Zubavin (1958-1968). In its early years the magazine had as its main purpose seeking out new literary talents in the Russian province. In 1969 ''Nash Sovremennik''s editor became Sergey Vikulov who gathered around him a strong team of contributors, including

Fyodor Abramov Fyodor Aleksandrovich Abramov () (29 February 192014 May 1983) was a Russian novelist and literary critic. His work focused on the challenging lives of the Russian peasant class, often depicting their struggles and hardships. Although his writi ...

Viktor Astafyev Viktor Petrovich Astafyev (; 1 May 1924 – 29 November 2001) was a Soviet and Russian writer, playwright and screenwriter. He was recognized with the title Hero of Socialist Labour in 1989. Biography Viktor Astafyev was born in the village o ...

Valentin Rasputin Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin (; ; 15 March 193714 March 2015) was a Soviet and Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's works depict rootless urban characters and the fight for ...

Vasily Belov Vasily Ivanovich Belov (; 23 October 1932 – 4 December 2012) was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold (as of 1998) seven million copies. A prominent member of the influential 1970s–198 ...

Yuri Bondarev Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev (, 15 March 1924 — 29 March 2020) was a Soviet and Russian writer and screenwriter. He was best known for co-authoring the script for the serial film franchise ''Liberation'' (1968–71). Biography Bondarev took part ...

, Sergey Zalygin,

Yuri Kazakov Yuri Pavlovich Kazakov (; August 8, 1927 – November 29, 1982) was a Russian author of short stories, often compared to Anton Chekhov and Ivan Bunin. Born in Moscow, he started out as a jazz musician, but turned to publishing his stories in 1952. ...

, Viktor Likhonosov, Yevgeny Nosov, Vladimir Soloukhin, Valentin Sorokin and

Vasily Shukshin Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a Soviet Russian writer, actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altai region who specialized in rural themes. A prominent member of the Village Prose movement, he beg ...

. Vikulov departed in 1989, succeeded by Stanislav Kunyaev. By this time ''Nash Sovremennik'' has found itself in the center of the bitter faction struggle in the Soviet literature and journalism, representing (alongside ''

Moskva Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents within the city limits, over 19.1 million residents in the urban area, and over ...

'' and '' Molodaya Gvardia'' magazines) the conservative, neo- Slavophile and

Russian nationalist Russian nationalism () is a form of nationalism that promotes Russian cultural identity and unity. Russian nationalism first rose to prominence as a Pan-Slavic enterprise during the 19th century Russian Empire, and was repressed during the early ...

flank, opposing the Western-style liberalism (associated in those years with '' Oktyabr'' and ''

Znamya ''Znamya'' ( rus, Знамя, p=ˈznamʲə, a=Ru-знамя.ogg, lit. "The Banner") is a Russian monthly literary magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931–1932, the magazine was published under the name of ''Lokaf'' ("Лок ...

'', with ''

Novy Mir ''Novy Mir'' (, ) is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine. History ''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine ''Mir Bozhy'' ("God's World"), w ...

'' balancing in the center). In 1990 it reached its highest point of popularity with the circulation figures around 480 thousand. In 1990s ''Nash Sovremennik'' became the organ of the newly formed conservative Union of Writers of Russia, a bitter rival to the pro-liberal Union of Russian Writers. Among its consistent contributors were Vladimir Bogomolov, Sergey Kara-Murza, Vadim Kozhinov,

Vladimir Krupin Vladimir Nikolayevich Krupin (, September 7, 1941 in literature, 1941) is a Soviet Russian literature, Russian writer, editor, religious author and tutor. The major proponent of the Village prose movement, noted for his quirky, folklore-rooted styl ...

, Yuri Kuznetsov, Mikhail Lobanov,

Alexander Prokhanov Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov (; born 26 February 1938) is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation, and the author of more than 30 novels and short story collections. He is the editor-in-chi ...

and later, in the 2000s,

Zakhar Prilepin Yevgeny Nikolayevich Prilepin (; born 7 July 1975), writing as Zakhar Prilepin (), and sometimes using another pseudonym, Yevgeny Lavlinsky (), is a Russian writer, politician and paramilitary leader. He was a member of Russia's National Bolsh ...

, Mikhail Popov, Irina Mamayeva, Yuri Kozlov among others. Still led by Kunyayev, the magazine remains true to its once declared 'patriotic' course, but its circulation has fallen to 9 thousand, as of 2008.

References

External links

The official site
{{Authority control 1956 establishments in the Soviet Union Magazines established in 1956 Magazines published in Moscow Russian-language magazines Literary magazines published in Russia Monthly magazines published in Russia Quarterly magazines published in Russia Magazines published in the Soviet Union