Art · Books · Observations · Humour
Who better than Vasily Andreyevich Tropinin, founder of the Moscow school of painting, to understand the misery of those self-isolating in a flat without a balcony. The woman at the window in this 1841 picture is the Tambov treasurer's wife of Lermontov's poem of the
Books · People · Humour
"I'm not lazy. I'm just very gifted, but instead of being good at music or mathematics, I am skilled at sleeping late" Elizabeth Jane Howard, writer, actress and model
Archive · Books · Mores · People
"My father was senselessly, grievously miserly; he hid even my childish money, given to me for the holidays. However often I begged him to buy me some ribbon, a trifle, he never once gave way. Later, when the revolution came, they confiscated this money-box along with everything else.
Books · Observations · Education · Humour
The Kultura television channel. Former Minister of Culture Shvydkoy reminds viewers that the Decameron was written during the plague of the 14th century. Are you serious? That is the eighth-form school syllabus
Archive · Books · Museums · Society · People
In late 1933 Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich, director of the State Literary Museum, acquired the archive of the poet Mikhail Kuzmin. The papers included the celebrated diary of the Leningrad poet. For the diary entries covering August 1905 to December 1931, Kuzmin received an enormous sum: 25 thousand roubles. Needless to
NB! · Archive · Art · Books · Museums
One of the best-known works in the collection: Konstantin Somov, “Alexandra Levchenko”, 1936. A preparatory study for La Belle Simonetta. I give here the text from Somov's diary of 1934. But Maxim himself says that for him this is, above all, Alexandra Levchenko in the guise of
Faith · Books · Moscow · Science
Pushkin's Boris Godunov contains a tiny scene with a holy fool: children have taken a coin from Nikolka, who never removes his iron cap and is hung about with chains, and he addresses the Tsar as he passes by:. Holy Fool (weeping) They have taken my little kopeck;
Books · Moscow · Paris
The French have their own “Borodino”: a poem no less piercing and significant about the events of 1812. This is L’expiation (“The Expiation”), written by Victor Hugo in exile and describing the retreat of Napoleon's army from burnt Moscow. Since the poem is very long, only an
Books · Observations · Society
There is a tragedy by Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov called "Dimitry the Pretender". And it contains these lines: ... Parmen (with a drawn sword, tearing Ksenia from his hands) Your cruelties and your thunderings are over! Our people are delivered from deaths, persecutions, wounds, The tyrant in his impotence is
Cinema · Books · Education
A film about young people whose lives are unceremoniously invaded by world history. Paul Verhoeven's "Soldier of Orange" (also known in Russian as "The Queen's Soldier"), 1977, is a classic of war cinema. Its heroes are four friends, all students at Leiden
Books · Observations · Society · Humour
A doomed quotation of the day, and very much in season. Though, given that at this very minute the dollar stands at 75.63/72.63, one is tempted to cite Gandalf the Grey’s “Fly, you fools”. As it is, it is curious that the celebrated British playwright Noël
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Saint Petersburg
When the heir of Alexander II, Nicholas, suddenly died of an unknown illness, his bride, the Danish Princess Dagmar, passed, as it were, to the second son, became his betrothed and, accordingly, came to Saint Petersburg. This was September 1866. The weather was splendid. And so Tyutchev, in honour of