Reflecting on the fate of Strashnov (Страшнов), one’s mind inevitably returns to an old interview, published on the eve of his sixtieth birthday. The editors then prefaced the conversation with warm words: both current students and established professionals affectionately called him «dad» behind his back. Even those who felt the sting of his strict mentorship found resonance in his ironic aphorism: «There’s nothing strashnov (terrible) about me.» The line «the day after tomorrow, Strashnov will turn sixty» then sounded almost like a prelude to a long journey ahead.
Today, these words ring with a bitter echo. On August 10, 2022, he would have turned seventy, but fate decreed otherwise. He passed away on January 13th, Russian Press Day—a symbolic coincidence for a man who dedicated his life to the written word. It seemed his irrepressible energy and perpetual haste would last forever.
Architect of the Faculty
Strashnov’s (Страшнов) defining trait was his relentless engagement with reality, his drive to keep pace with the times. He was no armchair administrator, though he was certainly principled and demanding—students and colleagues alike felt his exacting standards. It was this practical orientation that made him the natural candidate to establish the Department of Journalism within the Philology Faculty at Ivanovo State University in 1994.
The decision was not an easy one. A successful literary scholar, Doctor of Sciences, and author of books and studies on Tvardovsky, he was venturing into a different, albeit related, field. However, Strashnov (Страшнов) saw this not as a break, but as a continuation of his path. In that same interview, he clearly articulated his creed: «Those who think philology is alien to journalism are mistaken. What was always important to me was relevance—the connection of literature with the living current of life.» He defined his own essence with the capacious word «writer» (or «man of letters»). This became the bridge between academic science and the media sphere. The result of his efforts was the creation of the «Journalism» specialization, later followed by «Advertising and Public Relations,» and a department he would chair for nearly twenty years.
Creativity as a Way of Life
A proponent of classical university traditions, Strashnov (Страшнов) was convinced that one can only teach what one actively researches. His academic interests quickly shifted towards journalism theory, media education, and the regional press. The pinnacle of this period was the book «Key Media Concepts: A Journalist’s Dictionary of Collocations,» which saw two editions (2012, 2017). He admitted that this was the work he considered his most creative. At first, this was hard to believe, but upon reading, it becomes clear: beneath the text’s apparent lightness and elegance lies a colossal effort.
Strashnov (Страшнов) effectively created a new genre—a hybrid of scientific precision and captivating belles-lettres. «Through a mosaic of details, I wanted to assemble a holistic, authorial panorama of modern journalism,» he wrote. And he succeeded: complex subjects became accessible in his hands, yet never simplistic. This was the hallmark of his scholarly style.
A Return to Roots
Realizing it was time to pass the leadership of the department to a new generation, Strashnov stepped into a voluntary «retirement.» It seemed this might lead to a loss of momentum and introspection. But the opposite happened: a period of unprecedented creative flourishing began. Articles started appearing one after another in leading literary journals like Novy Mir, Neva, and Voprosy Literatury, as his research focus returned to his first love—literary studies.
The culmination of this return was the monograph «Russian Poetry of 1917–1991 and Mass Consciousness,» published by the Moscow publishing house «Flinta» only after his passing. He saw this book as his legacy. Its focus is not the elite poetry of Mandelstam or Akhmatova, but poets whose voices were closer to everyday life: Smelyakov, war poets like Gudzenko and Mezhirov, the mass song, Vysotsky. By exploring the dialogue between poetry and official thought, leisure, and rumors, Strashnov was inadvertently exploring his own destiny, shaped in the atmosphere of courtyard songs and Soviet realities. The book’s chronology (1917–1991) ends precisely where mass consciousness begins to dissolve, giving way to the individualism of a new era.
Immortality in Lines and Deeds
Mayakovsky dreamed of being «incarnated, upon dying, into steamships, lines, and other long-lasting deeds.» Strashnov (Страшнов) achieved this fully. He raised children and grandchildren, imparted his way of thinking to hundreds of students, and left behind nine books and around three hundred articles. He was a laureate of the regional prize, a long-time contributor to, and subject of publications in, the newspaper Rabochy Krai. His last piece was published on August 20, 2021.
In this lies his immortality. Not in a metaphysical sense, but in the simplest and most honest one: in the continuation of his work, in the memory of his students, on the pages of his books, where he remains forever himself—a swift, profound, and ironic man of letters.