June 08, 2017

Celebrating Russian Language Day with Poets, Filmmakers, Journalists, & Robots


Celebrating Russian Language Day with Poets, Filmmakers, Journalists, & Robots
Masterpieces of Russian Culture

1. June 6th is Pushkin’s birthday, which is also celebrated in Russia as Russian Language Day. On the Russian language, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev marveled at its being alive and ever-changing, but also stressed the need to preserve its beauty and purity. If you’re more interested in the Pushkin side of the holiday, check out this photo gallery or take this quiz to test your knowledge of Russia’s favorite poet. Want to test your Pushkin smarts in Russian? There’s a quiz for that, too.

2. Renowned Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov has been recognized by the European Film Academy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Some of the most celebrated works in his lifetime of achievements include Russian Ark, which explores Russian history in a one-take journey through the Hermitage Museum, and his trilogy of films about power focusing on Hitler, Lenin, and Emperor Hirohito. The “European Oscar” he has received celebrates his unique contributions to directing, dramaturgy and cinematography.

3. In a feat not so likely to win any awards, NBC journalist Megyn Kelly had a tough time with Russian interviewees this past week. First there was the state-run news executive criticizing allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election – Kelly referred to him a “broadcaster,” perhaps accidentally implying that he had no stake in that particular party line. In her subsequent powwows with Putin, the president deflected, denied, and accused her of hysteria to derail the conversation about hacking. For a first assignment on a new network, Kelly didn’t get a walk in the park. 

In Robotter News
  • For sale: Facebook likes and Instagram followers. All thanks to another robot, also known as a kiosk in a central Moscow mall.
  • If you’ve ever been to a museum in Russia, you’ve likely been hushed, glared at, or told not to take photos by lady in a chair. No, there’s not a robot version yet. But their stories poignantly speak to the power of Russian culture and the museums that display it.
Quote of the Week

"Of course, language is a living organism and it changes, but it is important to preserve its beauty and purity. We have paid serious attention to these issues."
—Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's remarks on the Russian language to mark Russian Language Day.

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.

 

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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.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
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The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
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.
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 Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Steppe / Степь

Steppe / Степь

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
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Russia 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.
The Little Humpbacked Horse

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

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