November 16, 2017

Lions and Lawyers and Baba Yaga, Oh My!


Lions and Lawyers and Baba Yaga, Oh My!
Extinct Creatures and Fairytale Creatures

1. Quit lion around! Easier said than done for a cave lion cub that has been lying encased in permafrost since the Ice Age. The cub, whose remains were discovered in the permanently frozen ground of Yakutia in Russia’s far northeast, belongs to a species of cave lions now extinct. The remains are in relatively good condition, so there’s talk of trying to clone the cub – though of course, debates about resurrecting extinct animals is a matter of hot debate. This particular cave cat may have been lyin’ in ice for 10,000 years or more.

2. How well do you know your Slavic folk heroes? Well enough to get by if you were magically transported to a fairytale alternate universe? That’s the task before the 21st-century hero of the new film The Last Bogatyr. The movie is a team effort by Disney and the Russian company Yellow, Black, and White, and it’s one of Russia’s top box office hits of the year. Consider yourself warned: if you’re dying for a selfie with Baba Yaga or Koshchei the Deathless, make sure you watch your back. (And brush up on who they are here).

3. In a rough day for non-Russian journalism, Russian lawmakers have voted unanimously to make foreign media outlets report on their activities and submit to financial inspections. The move is a response to the United States’ application of the label of “foreign agent” to the Kremlin-backed news source RT. The U.S. calls it safeguarding against propaganda; the Russian government calls it an attack on Russian media abroad, and this latest law is a retaliation against the United States that will make it harder for foreign media like Radio Liberty and CNN to operate in Russia. Where's a folk hero to save the day when you need one?

In Odder News
  • Want to hone your Russian art knowledge? How about the whole 20th century in 25 minutes? Arzamas can help you with that.
  • Dachas are a distinctly Russian phenomenon. Find out why weekend trips to dig up veggies in the countryside are more than meet the eye.
  • Whoopsy-daisy: the Russian Defense Ministry accidentally showed video game footage and said it was the U.S. helping terrorists. It could happen to anyone, right?
Quote of the Week

“I wouldn’t exaggerate the significance of this error...Mistakes happen and it’s no big deal if they’re corrected in a timely manner.”
—Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the accidental use of video game footage as proof of U.S. forces supporting terrorists in the Middle East.

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

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.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

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.
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.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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. 
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

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.

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