280th anniversary of birth of Denis Fonvizin

Specialists of the Regional Centre of the Presidential Library, based on M.Y. Lermontov Penza Regional Library, held an event Brave Lord of Satire for the eighth grade students of school №52, timed to the anniversary of the Russian playwright Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin.

The children were told the biography of the famous writer of the XVIII century. The story was accompanied by the presentation "Magnificent Wit", which reveals the writer's personality in the light of new historical facts.

Schoolchildren were also introduced to books from the collection of the Presidential Library. On the example of rare editions about D. I. Fonvizin, such as S. M. Brilliant's biographical essay Von-Vizin: His Life and Literary Activity (1892), pupils were taught to work with electronic sources: to look for answers to questions about the writer's life on the pages of digitised editions.

D. I. Fonvizin's imperishable work remains the comedy "The Undergrown Man", in which the author masterfully denounces the domestic and social vices of his time, shows the ignorance of the nobility. Eighth-graders were introduced to a rare edition of the comedy "Nedorosl" by D. I. Fonvizin of the late XIX century, which is kept in the Regional Centre of Rare Documents and Book Monuments of the Penza Regional M. Y. Lermontov Library.

Schoolchildren agreed with the opinion of the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky, who believed that despite the outdated language, naive dramatic construction and morality characteristic of the XVIII century, "Nedorosl" still retains its artistic force and relevance. Then all with pleasure considered Illustrations to the comedies of D. I. Fonvizin (1975) by the artist E. Sumatokhin on the site of the Presidential Library.

At the end of the event the schoolchildren were offered to answer the quiz questions about the creative path of Denis Fonvizin, which the children successfully coped with.

On the portal of the Presidential Library anyone can access the collection Penza Region: Pages of History. It includes archival documents, essays, studies, statistical and other materials covering various aspects of the region's development in different historical periods.