“A Real Gift” (on the Edition of “Anthology on the Literature of Transbaikalia”)

This article is a review of the publication “Anthology on the Literature of Transbaikalia” (Chita, 2020). It is the first of its kind, intended for students to be used in the integrated course “Transbaikal studies”. The publication was funded by Genesis Company LLC, co-authored by O. E. Nadelyaeva, head of the Competence Development Center of Genesis Company. The anthology includes works by 25 authors from Transbaikalia, including well-known names as well as less familiar ones. The anthology is undoubtedly of interest not only to students, but also to a wide audience. However, the author of the review points out that some fundamental names of Transbaikal literature are left out of the edition: Avvakum, Fedor Baldauf, Alexander Cherkasov, Nikita Sakharov, Konstantin Sedykh, Vasily Balyabin, Zhamyan Baldanzhabon, Nikolay Yashchenko, Oleg Petrov and many others. Not only authors, but the whole periods of Transbaikal history, consecrated in literary works, have dropped out of the reader’s bibliography. Thus, there is not a single work about the time of revolutions, the Civil War, or even the Great Patriotic War (apart from poems). The author notes the discrepancy between the contents of this publication and the basic regional documents (the “Concept” and “Programme”) on the regional component of education, and the need for the educational authorities to monitor the quality of the educational literature. On the positive side, the readiness of private businesses to invest in the publication of educational literature is highlighted. This publication of textbook stands out against the general background of successful development of the integrated educational course “Transbaikal Studies”. Keywords: Transbaikal Region, anthology on the literature of Transbaikalia, Transbaikal writers, regional component of education, “Transbaikal Studies”