The Society of Russian Literature in California celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019 in Venice, Italy. All in attendance were presented with the first edition of the first volume of Natasha Petersburgskaya’s poems—From the Bottom of the Soul. These poems had been written many years earlier and had never been previously published. The event marked a completely new stage in Natasha’s work. Considering the fact that Natasha had donated the entire printing of the first edition to those present at the anniversary celebration, it was decided to print a second edition of the first volume of poems in 2021.
Later in 2022, a second volume of 150 poems was published. This volume included not only poems written in the distant past but also poems written in the United States. At that time, Natasha’s combined Russian and American stages of literary creativity spanned 25 years. Thus, the festivities in Italy marked not only the ten-year anniversary of the Society of Russian Literature in California but also a quarter-century of literary and social creativity by Natasha, although she started to write and paint many years before.
Natasha’s creative work in America continued very productively. New poems and short stories were written; paintings were painted; and all this rich literary and artistic heritage had an outlet which was completely impossible in the Soviet Union.
The moral component of Natasha’s work obliges the author not only to feel love but to consistently express love. The high level of kindness in Natasha’s work characterizes her as a person who sincerely wants to benefit others; who shares warmth, mercy, desire, and a willingness to do something pleasant and useful for everyone; who contributes to the happiness and well-being of others without expecting external or internal remuneration, just as those great writers and poets of the Russian diaspora did who emigrated from Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century.
In his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13:4-7), the Apostle Paul says:
Love is patient, it is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, is not proud, does not act rudely, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it covers all things, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything.
Natasha’s Orthodox Christian values are reflected in her love of icon painting, which was passed down to her from her grandmother. Natasha further developed this love during her studies at art school, and it has remained with her throughout her life. It was Natasha’s passion for icon painting that led her to study the origins of Orthodox Christianity, where the moral values of the Saint are inextricably linked to Russian national culture. This, in turn, led to an understanding of the spiritual unity of people and God, based on Jesus Christ’s suffering on the cross and his sacrificial love and voluntary death for the salvation of humanity.
Он пришёл в этот мир подарить всем тепло
И душевного равенства свет,
И всем тем, кому больно и страшно темно,
Подарил своё сердце от тысячи бед.
Он пришёл в этот мир, чтобы люди смеялись,
Чтобы парки цвели круглый год,
Чтобы люди войны не боялись,
Чтоб всегда улыбался народ.
Но народ не услышал, его не заметил,
И прошёл сквозь него, как сквозь стен,
Ведь народу не нужен Святой Благодетель,
И не встал ни один с колен…
The moral meaning of Natasha Petersburgskaya’s literary and artistic creativity was initially, and continues to be, determined by goodness itself. This was the case in Leningrad and Moscow, and it remains the same in San Diego. Kindness provides the strength and will needed by a writer and artist in order to fulfill their human duties even in the conditions of moral degradation of modern society.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, a deeply Christian Russian system of values had developed, which was greatly suppressed for a century, but even today has not been lost. The great Russian literature abroad managed to carry through the centuries and preserve the moral imperative of Russian philosophy, the main components of which are the ability to distinguish between good and evil; the preference for goodness regardless of practical considerations; and the acquisition of virtue as a consequence of living these values. When these human values were abandoned a hundred years ago in post-revolutionary Russia, Russian literature abroad sang these values of kindness, compassion, and hope. Today, these same universal values are heard in every poem and in every short story written by Natasha Petersburgskaya:
За моею спиной эпоха,
Музыкантов, актёров, поэтов,
Всех страна разбросала до срока,
Виноватый ушёл от ответа.Ростропович, Некрасов, Войнович,
Солженицын и Александр Галич,
Не ценила страна сокровищ,
Вон кричал указательный палец.Ну, а тех, кто остался случайно,
Тех умела верхушка гнобить,
Напечатав Живаго тайно,
Пастернака смогли убить.Пушкин был – Золотая эпоха,
А потом и Серебряный век…
Побеждал доносчик-пройдоха,
В Гумилёва стрелял человек.У бездомной Ахматовой сына
Он на годы в тюрьму посадил,
Вот такая в стране картина,
Кто за жизни их заплатил…Доведенный до смерти Осип
И Марина с петлёй на шее,
Господи, милости просим,
Я с той эпохи и мне виднее...