Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
Shaun Walker, the Guardian‘s man in Moscow (again), tweeted yesterday: Quite odd how Muscovites, who in normal times are super fastidious about hygiene (washing hands regularly, avoiding dirt etc) are mask averse. 600 Covid cases a day in Moscow and…
Here‘s the Russian artist Pavel Pepperstein portrayed as a boy by his father, Viktor Pivovarov. Here’s Pavel’s face on a temp fence around the ruins of the Gear Pavillion in what used to be the Gorky Park in Moscow. Still…
Looking for an example of a Constructivist building that would be clearly pre- and non-Brutalist, I’ve stumbled on a half-ruined structure remarkable for reasons not limited to architecture. Actually, it was by coincidence that I spotted it – here’s the…
BTW, why QAnon and not, say, XAnon? Because it looks mysterious enough – and cute enough – even when mirrored or reversed? Nona Q, Susie Q‘s lost sibling – or grandma. Karen Bennhold reports from Berlin for The New York…
An American (apparently) freelance writer writes of his experience working for what turned out a Russian operation posing as a “progressive global news outlet.” PeaceData, seemingly a leftwing news outlet, offered me a column. I should have known it was…
Orwell’s 1984 begins comically: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. “Oh the horror of the continental (Papist) 24-hour clock! Anything but that!” sneered John Dolan. Good enough, but there’s also the obvious…
Alexander Adams has reviewed a number of books on architecture in the Soviet block (aka the Second World) and the Third World. It’s in the Critic, one of those Save Western Civilization mags whose writers are generously paid to keep…
John Gray’s piece in the New Statesman is prefaced with an image of Isaac Newton demonstrating the diffraction of daylight to an awestruck colleague. This image, and a similar one showing Newton projecting diffracted white light onto the backrest of…
This picture was taken in Moscow in the early 2010s. I hope they have painted over this graffiti: every time I look at it, it scares the bejeezus out of me. On the other hand, I won’t be surprised if…
In 2013, Brazilian writer and translator Ronaldo Bressane reviewed a translation of Oblomov by Rubens Figueiredo. Caution: this book is extremely dangerous. A genuine affront to society. Reading it can poison you with a diabolical languor… a sweet apathy… a…
Madame de Genlis appears twice in War and Peace. First, as the author of books for children, “de nombreux ouvrages édifiants à l’usage de la jeunesse” to quote Wikipedia, much disliked by some of her involuntary readers for her oppressive…