Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
According to Christopher Hitchens, of course (The Old Man). A sage whose morals rested upon one rule: what is good for the world revolution, or the world proletariat, is moral. We’re supposed to forget that Trotsky, along with Lenin and…
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!)
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…
An article Paul Klebnikov contributed to The Moscow Times in 2001. Is he strengthening the rule of law? Is the wave of gangsterism subsiding? Are small businesses flourishing? Are civic associations multiplying? These are the yardsticks by which we will…
[The opening clause edited out in 2019] …the NYT’s reaction to Paul Klebnikov’s assassination was Journalists’ Deaths Make It Harder to Excuse Putin’s Excesses by Serge Schmemann, and the WaPo’s, Same Old Ruthless Russia by Michael R. Caputo. Both opinion…
John Zmirak–a writer I sincerely respect–poured out this invective onto his adversaries in a speech last year (“Neocons or Vichy Cons?”): America’s governing elites increasingly rule the American people as if they were an occupying army, dictating its ideology and…
My blog is now old enough I can quote what I wrote a year ago. Right now I am only trying to identify, naively, two popular perceptions of the Great Revolution. One is that the Revolution was basically a good,…
Masha Gessen’s new book (via Languor Management) It’s titled Two Babushkas: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler’s War and Stalin’s Peace. The Guardian reviewer, Virginia Rounding, is “captivated” by Gessen’s account. I’m not–this kind of storyline is typical of a generation,…
OK, I guess I’m going to take on windmills. I like stereotypes no less than the guy next door, and I also like whiskey. Taken in excess, either is fatal to the brain. Let’s start with my fave, “Russian even…
…with nearly no comment, for want of time. Richard Pipes published an important piece (preview only, subscription required) on Russian society in Foreign Affairs. Some of his ideas are very close to what I’ve been saying all along (lack of…
Kevin Kinsella runs a most interesting entry with a priceless link. Now that you have finished reading it, I have a few words to add. Synthia Ozick’s article on Tolstoy’s The Cossacks (a novel I have not read) is summarized…
Konstantin Vaginov‘s probably best-known poem – see the original. Black is the infinite morning;Like tears, street lights stand.Purple, booming soundsAre heard of a faraway dawn. And the word burns and darkensIn the square before the window,And birds are crowing and…