Letters to the Editor

To the Editors:

During this last year, I have been reading Russian Life. It had been given to me by my son for Christmas and I enjoyed it very much. Hopefully he will give it to me again this Christmas.

In the last issue (Nov/Dec 2009) I have been wondering about your translation of the word мужик (Marital Squabbles, Survival Russian, page 30, which is very amusing and probably true). Мужик is a “peasant”; a man is a мужчина... In American English, I think, you do not use the word peasant, but say “farmer,” [but] the dialog would sound awkward if you would have written... “You are not a farmer [peasant] but a rag.”...

Perhaps it became a Soviet way of using мужик for мужчина. But now it would be time to reverse things like that, because a мужик is a man, but a man need not be мужик.

Thank you again for a lovely magazine.

Kindest regards,

Mrs. M. Brandt

Strathfield, Australia

Ms. Brandt:

You summarize it well in your last statement. Мужик is a particularly rich Russian word, and can be used to mean man, peasant, prisoner, husband, boor, and sometimes even a combination of one or more of the above, depending upon the context!

— The Editors

To the Editors:

I’m a forever subscriber to Russian Life, way back into Soviet Life days, and think it now to be an absolutely wonderful publication. Our ASU Russian language program is one of the Russkiy Mir beneficiaries, being given 150 free subscriptions this year for our students.

Every issue is a treasure, and the articles therein are always exemplary and fascinating. But your article on “Tolstoys Taking Sides” in this latest Jan/Feb 2010 issue is just superb… a masterpiece in my opinion, ranking with some of the best I’ve read there (e.g Fyodor “The American” Tolstoy and “The First Ambassador,” on John Quincy Adams). It’s fascinating for the layman and specialist alike, with acute narration and truly great photo accompaniment. There is a revelation or more on every page. Thanks for this wonderful work.

Lee Croft

Tempe, AZ