Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
This is a reasonably close, I believe, translation of a rather pessimistic poem by a rather important, and influential–as it turned out in the middle of the 20th century–Russian poet. Should be easy to identify for sophisticated enough Russians, since…
A few weeks before I rushed through A Maggot, I dashed into Kierkegaard and the Philosophy of Existentialism by Lev Shestov, also known as Léon Chestov. A fortunate juxtaposition in time, I think: Fowles’ amazing women are somehow related to…
I got through three novels during my 12-day stay by the Mediterranean: first A Maggot by John Fowles, in English, then The French Lieutenant’s Woman, in a Russian translation, and for dessert, Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart, in Russian, too. It…
In the 1920s, Nikolai Zabolotsky was a member of a literary group called OBERIU–perhaps the last close circle of young innovators in Russian literature. None of the major OBERIUTs, except Zabolotsky, survived the 1940s: most died in confinement. NZ, too,…
Yuri Olesha’s Envy re-appears in a new NYRB translation. To read the reviewers, you risk choking on laughter reading this short 1927 novel: NYRB: “cutting social satire, slapstick humor, and a wild visionary streak… Olesha’s anarchic comedy.” The Stranger (Yuri…
By G.P. Fedotov (1886, Saratov–1951, Bacon, NJ), a major Russian philosopher and historian. “Man is born free and dies in bonds.” There is nothing as false as this famous statement. Rousseau meant to say that freedom is the natural state…
Boris Grebenschikov, the founder of Aquarium, is the Leo Tolstoy of the Russian rock, independent and alternative universe. Back in the Soviet times, in the first half of the 1980s, Aquarium was one of a pretty large number of “underground”…
… or No disavowal for those in love A song from a still unboundedly popular Soviet musical comedy. Music by Mikael Tariverdiev, words by Veronika Tushnova, a talented Soviet poet (1915–1965). The stanzas in [brackets] are part of the original…
Tatyana on the Russian “Bard” Scene at 2Blowhards.com A most recommended and essential read. (Tatyana, I know that’s got to be you, not some other Tat!)
Valery Koshliakov is a renowned Russian painter whose preferred media are, inter alia, cardboard and scotch tape, and subjects are above all depictions of Europe’s. I first learned of Koshliakov’s achievements from All About Poetry, an unfinished online oeuvre by…
“Dmitriev had turned thirty-seven in August. Sometimes he felt that everything was still ahead for him.” Yuri Trifonov, The Exchange (1969).
There are two types of Russian folk tales. One is clean stuff adapted for children’s reading. The other is the unexpurgated tales recorded by Dahl, Afanasiev and numerous others. They go back to the dark heathen days and are naturally unfit…