NB! · Art · Books · People · Pop Culture
Arthur Rimbaud in his bed after Paul Verlaine shot him with a revolver. A painting by Jef Rosman. And the very revolver with which Verlaine tried to shoot his lover was sold in 2016 for €430,000.
Archive · Books · Science
An indispensable work for all who are interested in military history and the history of Russian military dress, "A Historical Description of the Clothing and Armament of the Russian Troops" by Colonel Bibikov and Staff Captain Viskovatov, has appeared on the website of the Historical Library in almost
Cinema · Books · Observations · Society
The National Electronic Library, under the Ministry of Culture, has released an app called “Svet” [“Light”] with free access to thousands of books, films and plays. Since we do, after a fashion, have a copyright law, what has been made openly available is mostly classic works whose terms happen to
Coming Up · Books · Museums · Saint Petersburg
In the Korf Hall of the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg, at 18 Sadovaya Street, an intriguing exhibition, "Legends of the NLR: Rossica. Marking the 170th Anniversary of the Founding of the Collection", is now open, presenting works by foreigners about Russia from the 18th to
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
In light of the note on Leo Tolstoy, I recalled a passage from Daniil Granin's book "Evenings with Peter the Great", which unambiguously points to an intimate relationship between Peter Alexeyevich and Alexander Menshikov. I remember well the strong impression this episode made on me, all
Aristocracy · Art · Books · Observations
The most interesting thing about this child's portrait, in my view, is that the child is reading a primer, and he is three years old. The count's son Ivan Alexeyevich Musin-Pushkin was painted by an unknown artist of the Yaroslavl school around 1786. The boy&
Archive · Books · Mores · People
The first text is a diary entry of 29 November 1851, when Tolstoy was 23: “I have never been in love with women. <…> With men I have very often fallen in love: my first love was the two Pushkins, then the second, Saburov (?), then the third, Zybin and
The East · Art · Books · Observations · Mores
Eighteen years ago, Miyoko Ihara, a graduate of the Nippon Institute of Photography, began photographing her grandmother Misao, who was grieving the death of her husband together with her extraordinary white cat named Fukumaru, and a whole photobook came out of it. The project ended 8 years ago, and what
Books · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society
A campaign is under way on Planeta to raise funds for opening a museum of the Gumilev family in the town of Bezhetsk, in the Tver Region. The project is run by the Foundation for the Development of Small Historic Towns, and so far less than 250 thousand of the
Coming Up · Cinema · Books · Observations · Pop Culture
The new screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" premieres on 23 October 2020. We are promised a stunning reunion of the cult British comedy duo of the 1980s and 1990s, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Not, of course, so epic a pairing as
Coming Up · Books · Observations
I confess, I have long been awaiting the publication of my book by the publishing house AST, and I am immensely glad that you too have shown an interest in it☺️ At the end of September my tome will at last appear on bookshop shelves: my hardbacked offspring, assembled from
Books · Museums · Observations · Education
Podcasts once more. Not long ago I wrote about what various museums are recording. Today I shall tell you what else the world of podcasting has to offer by way of education. It seems that everyone has taken up podcasts of late, so finding good content is now fairly easy.