June 07, 2018

From Their Smile to Their Heartbeat, Everybody's Hiding Something


From Their Smile to Their Heartbeat, Everybody's Hiding Something

This week we find a kindred spirit in a Kickstarter campaign! David Urban and his team are looking for funds to turn their Kickstarter campaign, Beyond Your World: Into Russia, into a reality. The team is planning a series of videos from across Russia that “take you beyond the headlines, into the culture and natural beauty of Russia.” Their campaign ends next Friday, June 15th, so donate now if the project speaks to you.


That Mona Lisa Smile, Zombie Journalists, and Putin Goes to Austria

1. Is there a smile more mysterious than that of the Mona Lisa? Well, she may have a surprising new competitor in Kim Jong-un. The Russian television show “Vesti Nedeli” apparently photoshopped a slight, mysterious smile onto the face of Kim Jong-un, captured in a photo during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pyongyang. It’s not clear why this particular photo was chosen, as there were other moments when the North Korean leader actually was smiling. Maybe the hope is that a smiling visage will encourage smiling (read: peaceful) relations. If that’s the case, everybody should put a bit more effort into keeping a grin on their face!

Photo: Лентач

2. Back from the grave and better than ever! Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko shocked the world not once but twice this week as he died violently and appeared alive later, safe and sound. Apparently, the Ukrainian security service faked his death in an effort to apprehend persons who were actually trying to kill him, and Babchenko maintains that the plot was necessary for his survival. The police claim to have made one arrest in connection with the operation, though it is unclear how the operation led to the arrest. Although internet users have already begun to make resurrection memes about Babchenko, one has to admit that this was a very dead-icated undertaking.

3. All the world’s a stage, and Russian president Vladimir Putin is milking it. Putin was interviewed by Austrian television host Armin Wolf this week, and although the conversation became serious and even tense, Putin got in his fair share of quips and jabs. Highlights include a defense of his shirtless photo ops and a request in German for the host to allow him to finish his sentences. On the more serious side of things, Putin denied the existence of Russian troll farms, maintained that Crimea will not be returned to Ukraine, and scoffed at opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

In Odder News:

Photo: Vkontakte

  • There must be something in the water: the aptly nicknamed “Chameleon River” of St. Petersburg turned a flashy violet this week.

  • Neigh to cars: one Russian official is switching from a car to a horse… and he’s asking for a new parking spot!

  • Another back-from-the-dead story: a Soviet pilot who has been missing for 30 years has been found alive in Afghanistan.

Quote of the Week:

“You said ‘half-naked’ not ‘naked,’ thank God. When I am on vacation I see no need to hide behind the bushes, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

—Vladimir Putin’s response to questions about his shirtless photos

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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Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

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The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
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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.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

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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. 

Frogs Who Begged...
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Frogs Who Begged...

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.

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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.

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93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

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