Shakespeare in Saransk: spring 1937 (a fragment of M.M. Bakhtin's lectures recorded by M.A. Beban)

The article analyzes a fragment of the lectures, given by M.M. Bakhtin at the Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute (later named after A.I. Polezhayev; now Ogarev Mordovia State University) in the second semester of the 1936/37 academic year and recorded by M.A. Beban (1913- 1986) - a Moksha-Mordovian writer, one of the founders of the professional Mordovian literature, at that time - a student of the literary faculty. The fragment focuses on the consideration of the personality and literary creativity of William Shakespeare. The dating of May 1937 gives the document its particular historical value. At that moment, at the institute, as well as throughout Mordovia, truly “Shakespearean” conflicts and passions flared up, both the teacher and the student faced a real threat of political repression. Bakhtin managed to leave Saransk, Beban was arrested, accused of “complicity in counter-revolutionary agitation and propaganda” (without giving any indicative testimony, in 1939 he was released “for lack of evidence”). As an attachment, the text of the reviewed records (decoding and photocopies) with the comments of the author of the article is published. An unknown photograph of Bakhtin of the 1930s is first published.