Books · Observations · Science
Beware of things! They enslave us very quickly and very firmly! So Ebenezer Sidney, the hero of Alexander Grin's novella "The Grey Motor-Car", warns his interlocutor as he reflects on the degree to which mechanical objects, or creatures, may be endowed with life. I recalled
NB! · Books · Observations · Humour
Books · Humour
Andrei Voznesensky
Archive · Books · Moscow
Once Lev Nikolayevich [Tolstoy] asked me to track down everything that had been written about Vereshchagin, whom Rostopchin, in the year twelve, handed over to the people to be torn apart as a traitor. I remember that I collected a great many accounts of the event, from newspapers and elsewhere,
Archive · Books · Ethnography
This legendary story recurs in one form or another, invariably linking the hill of Dinas Emrys, which really does exist in north-west Wales, with dragons and a wizard. In some legends Merlin hid his treasures in this hill. Elsewhere it is said that beneath the hill lay a burial
Archive · Books · People
“18 May, Thursday. Peredelkino. <...> He rose, saying something about the time. I got up too. We embraced. I kissed him on his prickly, unshaven cheek. “God keep you,” he said (I should be the one saying it to him!). We went quickly into the hall, and I opened
Books · Society · Humour
The idiots should be cleared away twice over: in your country and in mine. Andrei Voznesensky, 1977
Aristocracy · Archive · Books · Paris · People
A first edition of Felix Yusupov's autobiography, inscribed "For Jean Cocteau. From Felix Yusupov", has been found in the Library of the History of Paris. Sent in by a reader
Books
Have you ever, even once, burned bridges in your own life, Just as sappers burn bridges, Bringing the decking down from the height And leaving the town behind the river? It is white. Gardens float above it, The spires of the bell towers glitter, But the bridges to it are
Books · London · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Queen Camilla marked the coronation in her own way, placing red telephone boxes stocked with new books across London in the name of her book blog, from which anyone may help themselves. But "Pride and Prejudice" is, of course, a curious choice for Camilla, who has surely never
Books · Moscow · Museums · Observations · People
Since 2011, the Vitaly Wolf Library has been housed at 4, Bannyi Lane, building 2, in Moscow. The library also serves as a cultural centre, with an assembly hall where concerts and cultural events of various kinds are held. There is also a memorial study of Vitaly Yakovlevich, with his
Archive · Books · Observations · Science
Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers corresponded from 1926 for forty years, their long conversation at a distance interrupted only by Arendt's emigration. Pupil and teacher became, over the years, not merely each other's correspondents but good friends, and their families even grew close. Their correspondence is