Turgenev on cosmopolitanism and national identity in “Rudin”, written far from his homeland

Rudin's misfortune is that he does not know Russia, and this is indeed a great misfortune. Russia can do without any one of us, but not one of us can do without her. Woe to him who thinks otherwise, and double woe to him who actually does do without her! Cosmopolitanism is nonsense, the cosmopolitan is a nonentity, worse than a nonentity; outside of nationality there is no art, no truth, no life, nothing at all.

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev. "Rudin". 1856. Incidentally, Turgenev wrote these words while living far from his homeland, already possessed of a pan-European fame. Turgenev, who was acknowledged in his lifetime as one of the greatest men of letters, and who never wrote a single literary word in any language other than Russian.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Turgenev on cosmopolitanism and national identity in “Rudin”, written far from his homeland

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s