Books · Mores · People
After the publication of Yusupov's memoirs about the murder of Rasputin, Maria brought a suit against Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Romanov, demanding monetary compensation for the moral damage caused, but the claim was dismissed, since under French law the court did not consider it possible to
Books · Observations · Humour
The Nine Daughters of King Pierus of Macedonia Are Turned into Birds After Losing a Singing Contest to the Muses. A textbook case of the punishment not fitting the offence: so they doubted the talents of the Muses, what of it? The Muses, incidentally, might have refrained from swaggering about
Archive · Books · Ethnography
Illustration from the children's educational book of the early nineteenth century, "Cosmorama"
Books · Observations · Society
Your universe means nothing to them. They will not try to understand. They will grow tired, they will be cold, and they will light a fire at your beautiful oak door ― Jean Raspail. These photographs spread across social media at the time amid a great wave of discussion about illegal
Archive · Books · Museums · Society · People · Saint Petersburg
The Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House holds collections of verse with pasted-over pages. It is reported that Akhmatova herself pasted these pages shut. What is beneath? Akhmatova's poems about Stalin. It is believed that Anna Andreyevna was compelled to write them in order to help her
Books · Observations · Humour
"What news have you?" "I have heard nothing." "How can you have heard nothing, when you are always in the company of great men?" "No, Your Excellency, nothing has been said to me." "That cannot be; at the very least you
Books · Mores · Education · People
Why do parents send their <children> away from home to the gymnasium? It suddenly became clear to me. If parents kept their <children> at home, they would see the consequences of their own immoral life in their children. Leo Tolstoy
Books · Observations · Humour
It is foolish to think that one must read every book one has bought, just as it is foolish to criticise those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It is the same as saying that one must use up every fork, glass, screwdriver or
Books · Observations · Education
In the Russian Academy of Sciences' Russian Orthographic Dictionary, biennale and b'ennale are recorded as nouns of masculine or feminine gender. The dictionary of foreign words, by contrast, makes biennale neuter. In practice, meanwhile, we see that biennale is most often used as a feminine word. Though
Faith · Books · Observations
Who can speak of joy without having known pain, or of peace without having seen and known strife? At dawn the day is parted from the night, and each is known in its own nature and strength, for without contrast nothing is revealed. No image appears in a clear mirror
Faith · Art · Books
When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as
Books · Observations · Mores
The English journalist Bruce Chatwin on collecting:. The acquisition of an object is in itself a quest for the Grail: the hunt for the prey, the moment of recognition, the decision to buy, the loss, the fear of financial catastrophe, the dark cloud of uncertainty ("Is it a fake?