NB! · Coming Up · Interviews · Paris
Off to Paris, urgently! A creative meeting with Yury Butusov is an excellent continuation of the touring production. He is one of the finest theatre directors in the country. There is so much one could ask him
Interviews · Art · Books
V–A–C Press has published a translation of the monograph "The Russian Experiment in Art, 1863–1922" by the British scholar and researcher of the Russian avant-garde Camilla Gray. The book is one of the first Western studies of the Russian avant-garde and has become
Interviews · Art · Moscow · Museums · Society · Saint Petersburg
Another interesting fragment from Marina Loshak's recent interview. — Is the Russian art market content with Vasnetsov and Serov? — It is very bad when a culture, however rich and varied it may be, stews in its own juice. It is one single "broth", and every ingredient in
Interviews · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations
Marina Loshak said many interesting things in a recent interview. But as someone who has been inseparably bound up with museums for almost ten years, and who has been collecting art for about as long, and a rather original, non-standard collection at that, I found the following passage especially
In the Press · Interviews · Books · People
New Literary Observer (Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye) has published "Doctor Zhivago as a Historical Novel" by the philologist Konstantin Polivanov. The book deals with Boris Pasternak's principal novel, the prototypes of the heroes of his famous work, Pasternak's spiritual and political evolution, and the way
Interviews · Books · People
Kafka is a prose writer of genius. His narrative voice is clear and pure, full-toned, and, strange as it may seem, reminiscent of Pushkin's prose! Only Pushkin was drawn towards harmony, whereas Kafka was drawn away from it. "The Castle", for instance, reminds me of
NB! · Interviews · Cinema · Pop Culture · Humour
The East · Interviews · Museums · Society · Saint Petersburg
I read Mikhail Piotrovsky's recent interview with the journal International Affairs, and here are some extracts. On the role of the East in the present-day cultural field: «It is no accident that in the world that has now revived and is called the East, universal museums are
Archaeology · Archive · The East · Interviews · Museums · Saint Petersburg
Until 29 September the Hermitage is hosting the exhibition "The Archaeological Phenomenon. Between Past and Future". Today an interview was published with the exhibition's chief curator, Natalia Sutyagina, Senior Researcher in the Hermitage's Department of the East. I decided to highlight the most interesting
Interviews · Books · Museums · Reportage
This weekend the Yasnaya Polyana estate-museum hosted a major cultural event: the eighth "Tolstoy" theatre festival. More than a hundred events took place at 13 open-air venues: plays, concerts, film screenings, lectures, promenade performances and workshops. Now that the sounds of theatre, classical music and cinema
NB! · Interviews · Books · People
Donna Tartt, in a recent interview, likened reading and writing good books to an off-road vehicle driving over terrain so rough that it is unclear whether the machine will ever make it back. "It ought to be fun, I think," the writer remarked.
Interviews · Books · Society · Pop Culture
I asked Tatyana Tolstaya what she thinks of the persecution of J.K. Rowling over her much-discussed remark, and how she deals with the problem of separating the creator from the creation. On J.K. Rowling: her remark was perfectly normal, and society's reaction was utterly cretinous.