{"id":703,"date":"2010-04-16T16:56:43","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T16:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=703"},"modified":"2010-04-16T16:56:43","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T16:56:43","slug":"a-russian-post-modern-classic-%d0%b2%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%b8%d0%ba%d1%82-%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%be%d1%84%d0%b5%d0%b5%d0%b2%e2%80%99s-%c2%ab%d0%bc%d0%be%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%82%d1%83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/a-russian-post-modern-classic-%d0%b2%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%b8%d0%ba%d1%82-%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%be%d1%84%d0%b5%d0%b5%d0%b2%e2%80%99s-%c2%ab%d0%bc%d0%be%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%82%d1%83\/","title":{"rendered":"A Russian Post-modern Classic: \u0412\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043a\u0442 \u0415\u0440\u043e\u0444\u0435\u0435\u0432\u2019s \u00ab\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The post-modern pseudo-autobiographical classic \u00ab<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430<\/span><\/em><\/strong>–<\/em><\/strong>\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>\u0412\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043a\u0442\u0430<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u0415\u0440\u043e\u0444\u0435<\/span>\u0435\u0432\u0430<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00bb <\/em><\/strong>[\u201cMoscow-Petushki\u201d<\/a> by Venedikt Yerofeev<\/a>] has been translated into English as \u201cMoscow to the End of the Line\u201d, \u201cMoscow Stations\u201d and \u201cMoscow Circles\u201d (all of the above are very correct titles). But it should of course be read \u00ab<\/strong><\/em>\u0432<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u043f\u043e<\/span>\u0434\u043b\u0438\u043d\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0435<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [in the original] \u2013 as should all other \u00ab<\/strong><\/em>\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0438\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u044f<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u044b<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [works of Russian literature]\u2026 but that\u2019s another conversation. Today: <\/em>\u00ab\u0412\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [Venichka]!<\/em><\/p>\n

It was only a year ago that I heard about \u00ab<\/strong>\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430<\/span><\/strong>–<\/strong>\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span><\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> for the first time. I became instantly fascinated about it because of the way other people talked about it. For example, for the longest time did I think that \u00ab<\/strong>\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span><\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [Petushki] wasn\u2019t a real Russian town at all, but something made up for the purpose of mystery or simply a literary invention, like Neverland or \u00ab<\/strong>\u0421\u043a\u043e\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0440\u0438\u0433\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u044c\u0435\u0432\u0441\u043a<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> (the made-up town where the novel \u00ab<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u0411\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u044f<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u041a\u0430\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0430<\/span>\u0437\u043e\u0432\u044b<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb<\/em><\/strong><\/a> [\u201cThe Brothers Karamazov\u201d<\/a>] is set, supposedly a vague hint at the real town \u00ab<\/strong><\/em>\u0421\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0430\u044f<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u0420\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u0430<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [Staraya Russa<\/a>] from Dostoevsky\u2019s side, but who knows? Really, who knows?)<\/em>. As long as I thought that \u00ab<\/strong>\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span><\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> wasn\u2019t a real town was just as long as it took me before I read it in March 2010 \u2013 almost a year! And to think! I could\u2019ve have read it long before that and I could\u2019ve have enjoyed having it in my life, in my heart, pieces of it inside of my brain for whole year longer than I now will be able to\u2026 \u00ab<\/strong>\u041d\u0443<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0438<\/strong> <\/strong>\u043b\u0430<\/span>\u0434\u043d\u043e<\/strong>!\u00bb<\/strong> [Well all right!] At least I have read this \u00ab<\/strong>\u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043c\u043e\u0434\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f<\/strong> <\/strong>\u043f\u043e\u044d<\/span>\u043c\u0430<\/a><\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [post-modern poem] in prose now and now I can share it with all of you. I have been going around in my mind as if in circles (just like the plot in the poem itself)<\/em> for almost a month now trying to figure out a way to write about it here on the blog. For it must be written about! It must be told, it must be spread, it must be shared \u2013 because why does literature exist anyway?<\/p>\n

Yes, interesting question isn\u2019t it: \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0435<\/span>\u043c \u0447\u0438\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c \u043b\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u0443?\u00bb<\/strong> [why, what for; for what reason (should one)<\/em> read literature?]. I don\u2019t know the ONE and ONLY answer to this question, but I\u2019ll tell you my own personal reason why: \u00ab\u0447\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0435\u0437 \u043b\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u0443 \u043c\u044b \u0443\u0437\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u043c, \u043a\u0442\u043e \u043c\u044b\u00bb <\/strong>[through literature we find out who we are]. And I\u2019ll repeat this until your ears start to ache: \u00ab\u0432 \u043a\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0433\u0430\u0445 \u0434\u0440\u0443\u0433\u0438<\/span>\u0445 \u043c\u044b \u0443\u0437\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u043c \u0441\u0435\u0431\u044f<\/span>\u00bb <\/strong>[in the books of others we get to know ourselves]. And for the purpose of getting to know ourselves through literature there\u2019s one literary genre that does the job better than all the others: \u00ab\u043f\u043e\u044d<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [poem]. I\u2019m talking here about the long epic poem<\/a> [for \u2018poetry\u2019 <\/em>in Russian is \u00ab\u0441\u0442\u0438\u0445\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> and \u2018a poem as in a shorter literary work written in verse\u2019<\/em> is called \u00ab\u0441\u0442\u0438\u0445\u043e\u0442\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435\u00bb<\/strong> in Russian]. The thing about this special genre is that it doesn\u2019t place a work within a particular time; though sometimes in the work there might be several hints at a certain point in the history of mankind. It is also a wonderful genre for that it does not \u2013 despite often having one main \u00ab\u0433\u0435\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [hero], whom we get the pleasure of following throughout the poem \u2013 tell of a \u00ab\u0447\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0443<\/span>\u0434\u044c\u0431\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [personal fate] but focuses on \u00ab\u0432\u0441\u0435\u043e<\/span>\u0431\u0449\u0430\u044f \u0447\u0435\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0443<\/span>\u0449\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [the universal human essence]. When we read a poem (in prose)<\/em> \u2013 like for example \u00ab\u041c\u0451<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0432\u044b\u0435 \u0434\u0443<\/span>\u0448\u0438\u00bb<\/a> <\/strong>[Dead Souls<\/a>] \u00ab\u0413\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u043b\u044f<\/a>\u00bb<\/strong> [by Gogol<\/a>] \u2013 we soon come to understand that this not is not at all what it seems to be on the surface, but that it has a much deeper meaning, that the key to understanding it lies within our human souls, in our very most human existence and that the poem \u2013 \u00ab\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u043c \u0441\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u043e\u043c\u00bb <\/strong>[in a word; in one word] (Dostoevsky loved to use this as a sign that he was seemingly soon to wrap up a subject, but then went on for another ten sentences or so about it anyway)<\/em> \u2013 the poem speaks not solely TO us, but also ABOUT us and FROM us at one and the same time. If you read \u00ab\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430<\/span>-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> without realizing that you also you are \u00ab\u0412\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [Venichka] \u2013 the narrator who is both an intellectual and an alcoholic \u2013 but even more that \u00ab\u0412\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb <\/strong>[Venichka] is you, well, then you haven’t read nor got it all!<\/p>\n

When I was in the middle of reading this book (it is only some 130 pages long in its \u00ab\u0441\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u043e\u0435 \u043f\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0438\u0437\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435\u00bb <\/strong>[fullest edition] in Russian so you can easily finish it in two days like I did) <\/em>I told my best friend here in Yekat about my thoughts on it and explained at length the fact that we are all \u00ab\u0412\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong>. She\u2019s Russian and four years younger than I am and she didn\u2019t agree with me at first: \u00ab\u041d\u043e, \u0416\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u044f, \u0432\u0435\u0434\u044c \u044f \u043d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0433\u0434\u0430<\/span> \u043d\u0435 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441\u044b\u043f\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u0441\u044c \u0432 \u0447\u0443\u0436\u043e<\/span>\u043c \u043f\u043e\u0434\u044a\u0435<\/span>\u0437\u0434\u0435 \u0441 \u043f\u043e\u0445\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0435\u043c?\u00bb<\/strong> [But, Zhonya (short for \u0416\u043e\u0437\u0435\u0444\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430<\/strong>)<\/em>, <\/em>I have never woken up in a strange porch with a hangover?] That\u2019s how \u201cMoscow-Petushki\u201d begins, by the way, with Venichka awakening on an early morning with a hangover in a strange porch somewhere in Moscow, trying to remember what it was that he drank yesterday\u2026 And already on the first page you\u2019ll find the classic line:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0412\u044b, \u043a\u043e\u043d\u0435<\/span>\u0447\u043d\u043e, \u0441\u043f\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0441\u0438\u0442\u0435: \u0430 \u0434\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0435, \u0412\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430, \u0430 \u0434\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0435 \u2013 \u0447\u0442\u043e \u0442\u044b \u043f\u0438\u043b?\u00bb<\/strong> [You, of course, will ask: and then, Venichka, and then \u2013 what did you drink?]<\/p>\n

Venichka will, of course, at length tell us about everything he drank the day before \u2013 using a lot of brand names of alcohol produced in the Soviet Union and not available in the Russian Federation today \u2013 while drinking more: \u00ab\u043d\u0435\u043e\u0431\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0445\u043c\u0435\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> [it is necessary to perf.<\/em> drink some more alcohol to cure (or lessen)<\/em> one\u2019s hangover], as he himself expresses the situation. Venichka has recently been fired from his job as a \u00ab\u0431\u0440\u0438\u0433\u0430\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u0440\u00bb<\/strong> [brigadier; overman] for making detailed diagrams over how much his \u00ab\u043f\u043e\u0434\u0447\u0438\u043d\u0451<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435\u00bb <\/strong>[here:<\/em> people] drank before, during and after the work day. These meticulous diagrams can be found in the book \u2013 \u00ab\u0440\u0430\u0437\u0443\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f!\u00bb<\/strong> [needless to say!] We follow him on his journey traveling from Moscow on the \u00ab\u044d\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [suburban electrical train] to the small town of \u00ab\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> where his beloved is waiting for him as well as his three year old son (there is, however, no apparent blood relation between his woman and his child)<\/em>. While on the train Venichka continues to drink and has monologues with himself on philosophy, literature and history\u2026 Beautiful monologues! He also strikes up conversations with fellow passengers and in between manages to give many recipes for different (and rather complicated)<\/em> cocktails. Unfortunately, today it is impossible for us to make these cocktails; Venichka is speaking from the context of the USSR in the late 1960\u2019s and many of the ingredients he mentions are \u2013 sadly \u2013 unavailable to us now. He does give us a couple of explanations on how to make several versions of the (still today in Russia)<\/em> popular drink \u00ab\u043f\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0432\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u043e\u0446\u0435\u043b\u0443<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [the first kiss]: equal parts \u00ab\u0432\u043e<\/span>\u0434\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [vodka] and \u00ab\u043a\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0432\u0438\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [red wine]. When he\u2019s not drinking \u2013 or after he has drunk \u2013 he expresses wonderful thoughts about the Russian people, like for example:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0417\u0430\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u0443 \u043c\u043e\u0435\u0433\u043e<\/span> \u043d\u0430\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0434\u0430 \u2013 \u043a\u0430\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u0435 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0437\u0430<\/span>! \u041e\u043d\u0438<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043e\u044f<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e \u043d\u0430\u0432\u044b<\/span>\u043a\u0430\u0442\u0435, \u043d\u043e \u2013 \u043d\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e \u043d\u0430\u043f\u0440\u044f\u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u044f \u0432 \u043d\u0438\u0445. \u041f\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u043e\u0442\u0441\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0438\u0435 \u0432\u0441\u044f<\/span>\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0441\u043c\u044b<\/span>\u0441\u043b\u0430 \u2013 \u043d\u043e \u0437\u0430\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u043a\u0430\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u044f \u043c\u043e\u0449\u044c! (\u041a\u0430\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u044f \u0434\u0443\u0445\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u043c\u043e\u0449\u044c!)\u00bb<\/strong> [But my people have such eyes! These are always protruding eyes \u2013 but there\u2019s no tension in them! Complete absence of any kind of sense \u2013 but then again there\u2019s such might! (Such spiritual might!)]<\/p>\n

In the beginning of the poem you\u2019ll be laughing. Constantly laughing. Because Venichka is funny and because Venichka is true and because somewhere in the depths of our souls we understand that even if we haven\u2019t EXACTLY been where he is, there is always the POSSIBILITY of ending up there. And who hasn\u2019t been misunderstood in this lifetime? Who hasn\u2019t longed for the utopian city of Petushki, where the birds always sing and the flowers are always in bloom? Who hasn\u2019t wanted to escape, who hasn\u2019t had strange dreams of declaring war on Norway? (There\u2019s a hilarious chapter where Venichka and his friends declare war on Norway from Petushki and then are very offended that Norway doesn\u2019t take their declaration seriously)<\/em>. But there\u2019s also a part where Venichka and his fellow passengers decide \u00ab\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c \u043e \u043b\u044e\u0431\u0432\u0438<\/span>, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0443 \u0422\u0443\u0440\u0433\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0435\u0432<\/a>\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [to perf.<\/em> tell about love like in a novel by Turgenev<\/a>], that is \u00ab\u043e \u043f\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0432\u043e\u0439 \u043b\u044e\u0431\u0432\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [about the first love] to each other. For Turgenev has a famous novella called \u00ab\u041f\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0432\u0430\u044f \u043b\u044e\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [First Love<\/a>], with which of course everyone who knows Russian literature is familiar. But as always with Russians things don\u2019t go exactly the way it was planned from the beginning. One of them \u2013 the oldest man present among them \u2013 tells the story of he how once felt pity for someone that had been given a terribly offensive nickname. But Venichka thinks this is alright for as he concludes:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u041f\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0432\u0430\u044f \u043b\u044e\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u044c \u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u043d\u044f\u044f \u0436\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c \u2013 \u043a\u0430\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u044f \u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0437\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430? \u0411\u043e\u0433, \u0443\u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u044f \u043d\u0430 \u043a\u0440\u0435<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u0435, \u0437\u0430\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043b \u043d\u0430\u043c \u0436\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c, \u0430 \u0437\u0443\u0431\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430 \u041e\u043d \u043d\u0430\u043c \u043d\u0435 \u0437\u0430\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043b\u00bb<\/strong> [The first love or the last pity \u2013 what\u2019s the difference? God, while dying on the cross, commanded us to pity, but He did not command us to mock].<\/p>\n

After a while you begin to understand that this isn\u2019t going to end well. No matter how funny it seems and how many brilliant one-liners Venichka and the other passengers deliver \u2013 for there are too dazzling one-liners to mention even a small part of them here! The comedy starts slowly to transform into a tragedy as a sneaking sense of the fact that Venichka is never going to get to Petushki arrives in your heart and at this point you will be unable to put the poem down\u2026 In the end you will cry just as hard as you laughed in the beginning. And you will know, you will come to understand, you will comprehend that \u00ab\u0432\u0441\u0435 \u043c\u044b \u2013 \u0412\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [we are all Venichka]. There are some books that remain with you for a long time after you\u2019ve finished them, after you\u2019re done with the last page, even sometimes years after you last looked at the book \u2013 when it is collecting dust somewhere on you shelf\u2026 But all you have to do to relive the book is to travel back to it in your mind \u2013 or why not pick it up and read a chapter from it randomly? \u00ab\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430<\/span>-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> is such a book. It is a true piece of art because it contains everything from our human culture and everything about what it means to be human. Some might argue that they don\u2019t want to have anything in common with such a low-life drunk and intellectual loser as Venichka. One of my other Russian friends even told me that she can\u2019t read it \u2013 though she\u2019s tried many times \u2013 for always being too disgusted with the whole thing. Of course that is a valid opinion. And some parts are really disgusting. And Venichka swears a lot. But the truth! Oh, the truth! I must repeat it: the truth! We are only the most human when we are at our outmost weakest; when we travel deep within ourselves \u2013 knowing for sure long before that we\u2019ll never reach Petushki, and yet we travel \u2013 to find that also we can \u2013 just like Venichka often does \u2013 hear angels speaking to us, have long discussions on philosophy and literature and wake up with a terrible hangover in a strange porch without exactly knowing how we got there or what we drank the night before\u2026 This is the main strength \u2013 it is universal and it is honest.<\/p>\n

It was not published in the Soviet Union upon its completion by \u0412\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043a\u0442 \u0415\u0440\u043e\u0444\u0435<\/span>\u0435\u0432<\/strong> [Venedikt Yerofeev]. Maybe because it was too honest; but then again \u2013 a lot of the best works of Russian literature in the 20th<\/sup> century was not published in the Soviet Union. But today we can enjoy it without censorship and today we can be honest with each other. And agree that in order to stand up on our two feet we must first fall\u2026 Some fall deeper than others but what we all have in common is that we all do fall \u2013 once in a while. For to be human is not to be without fault, but to have a heart capable of \u00ab<\/strong>\u0441\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [mercy; compassion]. Maybe this is a very Russian idea. So be it! Who says we can\u2019t all be a little bit Russian \u2013 at heart?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The post-modern pseudo-autobiographical classic \u00ab\u201d\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430–\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438\u201d \u0412\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043a\u0442\u0430 \u0415\u0440\u043e\u0444\u0435\u0435\u0432\u0430\u00bb [\u201cMoscow-Petushki\u201d by Venedikt Yerofeev] has been translated into English as \u201cMoscow to the End of the Line\u201d, \u201cMoscow Stations\u201d and \u201cMoscow Circles\u201d (all of the above are very correct titles). But it should of course be read \u00ab\u0432 \u043f\u043e\u0434\u043b\u0438\u043d\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0435\u00bb [in the original] \u2013 as should all other \u00ab\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0438\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,178,7827,995],"tags":[8279,8275,8280,8288,8075,8290,8282,8289,1239,1250,8285,8287,8284,8286,8283,8276,1492,8281,8278,1670,1681,8079,1743,8277],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history","category-russian-life","category-soviet-union","tag-8279","tag-8275","tag-8280","tag-censorship","tag-compassion","tag-moscow-to-the-end-of-the-line","tag-moscow-petushki","tag-russian-drinks","tag-russian-history","tag-russian-literature","tag-russian-post-modern-literature","tag-soviet-literature","tag-turgenev","tag-ussr","tag-venedikt-yerofeev","tag-8276","tag-1492","tag-8281","tag-8278","tag-1670","tag-1681","tag-8079","tag-1743","tag-8277"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}