At the Leningrad University philological faculty, Tatyana Gnedich, great-great-grandniece of the translator of the «Iliad», was accused of concealing her noble origins

At the Leningrad University philological faculty, Tatyana Gnedich, great-great-grandniece of the translator of the «Iliad», was accused, in her postgraduate studies, of concealing her noble origins. When the accusation reached Gnedich herself, she objected: how could she possibly have concealed her nobility with the surname Gnedich, when the ancient house of Gnedich has been known since before Pushkin's day?!

In the end she was expelled from the postgraduate programme for «priding herself on her noble origins».

Tatyana Gnedich, however, managed to prove that these were mutually exclusive and absurd charges: how could she have boasted of what she was hiding, or hidden what she was boasting of? After that she was reinstated and allowed to finish her studies in peace. Gnedich went on to teach and translate, and even served as dean of the foreign languages faculty at a pedagogical institute.

Report a translation error

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

At the Leningrad University philological faculty, Tatyana Gnedich, great-great-grandniece of the translator of the «Iliad», was accused of concealing her noble origins

Read more

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s