September 22, 2016

Bears, boycotts, and busting rhymes


Bears, boycotts, and busting rhymes

The voter who came in from the cold

1. Electoral fraud? Bad weather? Or do Russians just not care about letting their political voice be heard? Theories explaining the results of last week’s Duma elections abound. Whether or not you can blame a cold spell for the low turnout (only 35.18% of Moscow’s registered voters turned up) or attribute United Russia’s big win to cheating, the question now is what the outcome will mean for the future of Russian politics.  

2. An occupational hazard of being a meteorologist: having your weather station staked out by polar bears. Five scientists on an Arctic island found themselves surrounded by 10 adult bears and four cubs for two weeks, until a supply ship that happened to be in the neighborhood delivered flares, sirens, firearms, and dogs to ward off the bears. On the bright side, at least it gave them something to talk about that wasn't the weather.

3. Moscow’s answer to Uber might be taking cabbies for a ride. In response to Yandex.Taxi’s new low rates, drivers announced a three-day boycott of the mobile app. The drivers’ statement claims that the new minimum fare of 99 rubles ($1.50) will leave them “penniless.” A rally on the street where Yandex is located was broken up earlier this week, so they’re hoping the app boycott will fare better at driving change.

In Odder News

rferl.org

RosKultLit
Russian Cultural Literacy

Biggie Malenkii? Dvapac? Eminemov? Russian rap started out a niche musical genre, but it has developed along a trajectory totally different from its Western counterpart. Read up on Russia’s top rappers, and maybe even learn a rhyme or two.

calvertjournal.com

Quote of the Week

“The bears usually go to other islands, but this year they didn’t. The ice receded quickly and the bears didn’t have time to swim to other islands...There’s no food on [Troynoy] island, so they came up to the station.”

—Yelena Novikova, spokeswoman of the Sevgidromet monitoring network, on the polar bear stakeout outside a weather station owned by Sevgidromet. 

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955