"We have a strong literary spirit"
Andrei Voznesensky answered Kommersant's questions.
— What is the PEN club for?
— This is a human rights organization. But here it also has other functions, it is more professional and, in my opinion, it is more involved in literature than in the West. PEN replaces the Writers' Union to some extent.
— What do you personally expect from the congress?
- First of all, Günter Grass will come. I will host a poetry evening where he will read poetry. Then Robert Bly will arrive. For the first time, so many bright writers will come to Moscow. This is the most important thing, because you can chat there and chat here... But such a landing of major European, Western, or rather, literature has never happened in Russia.
— European injection of Muscovy?
— In terms of literature, our country is not provincial. Provincial in the sense of computers and agriculture. As for poetry and literature, we are one of the leaders, so at the end of the 20th century it was not by chance that they decided to gather here. Our literary spirit is very strong. The only thing we have that is strong so far.

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 88 dated May 19, 2000, p. 9