The Writings of V.D. Kolupaev in Russia and Abroad: Publishing and Research Strategies

The heritage of Viktor Dmitrievich Kolupaev (1936-2001) includes about fifty short stories (including two cycles), three novels, eight novellas. During the life of the writer in Russia, nine collections of his works were published. In 1976, he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1988, having released the collection Vesna Sveta [Spring of Light], he became the winner of the famous literary prize in the field of science-fiction “Aelita”. Kolupaev's readers and fans have not lost interest in his works. In 2016, the Tomsk Regional Universal Scientific Library named after A.S. Pushkin found the virtual museum of the writer “Prostranstva i Vremena V. Kolupaeva” [Spaces and Times of V. Kolupaev]. The museum presents his biography, interesting facts about the writer's works, the historical background as well as current contests and events. In 2017, Kolupaev's first collected works in three volumes were published by the Moscow publishing house Prestizh Buk. In addition, at the end of September 2018, the IV Annual Non-Stop Reading “Literaturnyy Ekspress Tomsk -Fomsk [Tomsk-Fomsk Literary Express] was successfully held at Tomsk State University. Its participants spent 9 hours reading Kolupaev's novella Firmennyy poezd “Fomich” [Fomich Passenger Corporate Train]. The article presents the critical reception of Kolupaev by his contemporaries. The article discusses the available and most representative critical articles published in 1972-2001: “Vremya Vnutri Nas” [Time is inside us] by S. Zaplavny, “Kacheli Fantasta” [The Swing of the Science-Fiction Writer] by S. Fedotov, the preface to the collection Oshibka Sozdatelya [Error of the Creator] by A. Kazantsev, the review of the collection Bilet v Detstvo [Ticket to Childhood] by M. Chernenko, Gorizonty Fantastiki [Horizons of Fiction] by E. Brandis, the review of the novella “Tolstyak” nad Mirom [Fat Man Above the World] by K. Milov and Skazka i Zhizn' [Tale and Life] by G. Pavlov. As a result, the authors identified the main features of Kolupaev's short prose. Along with criticism, special attention is paid to the research reception of Kolupaev's works in Russia and abroad. The materials used were works that explicated various research approaches: the master's thesis of B. Kunz, a review of the fantastic parody Sokrat Sibirskikh Afin [Socrates of Siberian Athens] by T. Rybalchenko, articles by I.V. Nikienko. The study of the historical background allowed formulating a new research problem that had not previously been studied in the study of Kolupaev's works: the translational reception of Kolupaev's works abroad. As part of the work on the translation reception of Kolupaev's heritage in England, the USA, Germany and France, the authors discovered and added a number of English, German and French translations to the bibliography of the translations presented in the bibliographic index “Viktor Dmitrievich Kolupayev” (2005).

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