“A child of Stalin's time”: on the life and creative legacy of Yuriy V. Knorozov

For the first time in the national historiography, the scientific heritage of Yuriy Valentinovich Knorozov (1922 - 1999) is considered from a new point of view. It is examined not only from the perspectives of the decipherment of the ancient Maya hieroglyphic writing, but also in connection with theoretical conclusions in the field of communication, targeted to the increasing interaction of members of the collective. Based on the analysis of the sequence of Knorozov’s publications the formation and development of his scientific interests are considered. The main attention in the article is given to the examination of Knorozov’s basic theories: communication, fascination and ethnic semiotics. These theories were based on the interaction of the individual’s brain and the types of signaling, which provides the implementation of common tasks for the collective. This activity distinguishes human from the animal environment and is accompanied by the development of social organization. The author resorts to the previously unknown memoirs of his contemporaries - colleagues and friends, - supplemented by archival documents which manifest Knorozov’s interdisciplinary research approach. His approach presupposes the formulation of a certain theoretical concept and the subsequent practical testing of his hypothesis, as was done with the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphic writing. The memoirs of his contemporaries allow us to reconstruct the peculiarities of the epoch of Knorozov’s rise as a scientist, to assess the scale of his personality. The important role of such scientists as S.A. Tokarev and V.P. Tolstov in supporting young talented historians is reconstructed. On the one hand, there were fears of repressions, and on the other, despite those fears, the dominant dogmas were challenged, and within the framework of the adopted rules, workaround solutions to the set goals were found. All these tasks were solved not so much by Knorozov himself, but by his teachers, who held leading positions in historical science. In addition, he had to confront unscrupulous pseudo-scientists who tried to create a name for themselves at the expense of someone else’s discovery.