Comments on "White Guard" by Mikhail Bulgakov
This relatively short Russian novel, around 249 pages, was written during 1923 and 1924, in the relatively "mild" soviet regime of those years; which, however, soon came to an end. The novel is somewhat autobiographical, and everything takes place in the Ukrainian city of Kiev, or nearby places, in several months of 1918 and 1919.
To the American "outsider" the history of this time is rather confusing.
Imperial Russia had collapsed in 1917 and, from the notes to this volume, in Kiev a soviet government had taken control and had proclaimed a "Ukrainian Peoples' Republic", but when that government announced its independence from Russia in January of 1918 they were invaded by the soviet army in February. However, in March of 1918 the German Army drove out the soviets and occupied Kiev. The occupying German Army supported a government of the "Hetman of All Ukraine", but they were defeated in December of 1918 by a larger Ukrainian Army. However, this army and its government lasted only until February of 1919 when the Red Army returned and again occupied Kiev. At this point "White Guard" ends, but there were more very violent changes in the years ahead.
The style of writing of "White Guard" is considered to be very "Tolstoyan" in its portrayal of people in the vast movements of history, and, perhaps sometimes, in the description of the most unpleasant details. It contains no noticable satire, or other humor, and its focus is on a rather limited number of people in a large city of hundreds of thousands of people. And these people all seem to be, not aristocratic or governing people, but from the same "officer" class. Of course, the story is about one family, and a few people associated with them, over about 2 months of time. It is also noticable that, in spite of a great deal of violence against people, there is little or no destruction in the city, and even the electricity never seems to go out.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Experimental Blog #82
Comments on "Notes of a Deceased - A Threatrical Novel" by Mikhail Bulgakov
Besides working as a doctor in World War I, Mikhail Bulgakov apparently was "conscripted", at different times, to serve as a doctor during the Russian Civil War by both sides; both the "Red Bolsheviks" and the "White anti-Bolsheviks". It might be that he never actually "fought" for either side.
Mikhail Bulgakov's greatest endeavor was to write plays and have them put on stage, and by the middle of the 1920s he was a well known and usually increasingly popular dramatist in the new USSR. However, by 1930 he had been completely excluded from any such work by the Bolshevik regime. In that same year Bulgakov received a completely unexpected phone call from Joseph Stalin; that was, in part, a response to a letter, one of several, that Bulgakov had written to the Soviet government and to Joseph Stalin, plus a few other specific people.
Mikhail Bulgakov's wife, Elena, possibly made a hand written transcript of their seemingly cordial conversation, and, among other things, Joseph Stalin said that he and Bulgakov must definitely find some time to get together and talk things over. Although Mikhail Bulgakov seemed in earnest agreement, their meeting in person apparently never took place.
During the 1930s and to the end of his life in 1940 Mikhail Bulgakov was allowed to work in the theater. He wrote plays based on the classics "Dead Souls" and "War and Peace", and he helped put them on stage, but, with only one other brief exception, it seems he was never allowed to stage or publish his own works from his imagination. Joseph Stalin had announced that because of the critical times no satirical works of any kind could be permitted.
This short novel, or novella, of about 142 pages, which was published in the Soviet Union along with other of Bulgakov's works in 1966, is all about Bulgakov's life and great interest in Russian drama and theater. Without the many additional pages of commentary in this volume, "Notes of a Deceased" seems, at least half largely tedious, pointless, and incomplete to the "outsider" today.
However, the commentary reveals that 40 of the characters in this book, but not the main character, Maksudov, or his confidant, Bombardov, come from "prototypes"; that is, living people in Russian drama and theater that Bulgakov probably knew, and a few contemporary literary people. Most of the many episodes also come from real events and issues probably experienced by Bulgakov. However, virtually all of these people and issues are completely unknown to outsiders today.
Unlike the well known "Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov's "fantastical" writing is all but completely absent in "Notes of a Deceased". It might be there, along with Bulgakov's other "literary talents", but they are quite obscured. There are a couple of episodes that involve cats, and there is a "devil image", and a few other "odd images" as well.
Besides working as a doctor in World War I, Mikhail Bulgakov apparently was "conscripted", at different times, to serve as a doctor during the Russian Civil War by both sides; both the "Red Bolsheviks" and the "White anti-Bolsheviks". It might be that he never actually "fought" for either side.
Mikhail Bulgakov's greatest endeavor was to write plays and have them put on stage, and by the middle of the 1920s he was a well known and usually increasingly popular dramatist in the new USSR. However, by 1930 he had been completely excluded from any such work by the Bolshevik regime. In that same year Bulgakov received a completely unexpected phone call from Joseph Stalin; that was, in part, a response to a letter, one of several, that Bulgakov had written to the Soviet government and to Joseph Stalin, plus a few other specific people.
Mikhail Bulgakov's wife, Elena, possibly made a hand written transcript of their seemingly cordial conversation, and, among other things, Joseph Stalin said that he and Bulgakov must definitely find some time to get together and talk things over. Although Mikhail Bulgakov seemed in earnest agreement, their meeting in person apparently never took place.
During the 1930s and to the end of his life in 1940 Mikhail Bulgakov was allowed to work in the theater. He wrote plays based on the classics "Dead Souls" and "War and Peace", and he helped put them on stage, but, with only one other brief exception, it seems he was never allowed to stage or publish his own works from his imagination. Joseph Stalin had announced that because of the critical times no satirical works of any kind could be permitted.
This short novel, or novella, of about 142 pages, which was published in the Soviet Union along with other of Bulgakov's works in 1966, is all about Bulgakov's life and great interest in Russian drama and theater. Without the many additional pages of commentary in this volume, "Notes of a Deceased" seems, at least half largely tedious, pointless, and incomplete to the "outsider" today.
However, the commentary reveals that 40 of the characters in this book, but not the main character, Maksudov, or his confidant, Bombardov, come from "prototypes"; that is, living people in Russian drama and theater that Bulgakov probably knew, and a few contemporary literary people. Most of the many episodes also come from real events and issues probably experienced by Bulgakov. However, virtually all of these people and issues are completely unknown to outsiders today.
Unlike the well known "Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov's "fantastical" writing is all but completely absent in "Notes of a Deceased". It might be there, along with Bulgakov's other "literary talents", but they are quite obscured. There are a couple of episodes that involve cats, and there is a "devil image", and a few other "odd images" as well.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Experimental Blog #81
Comments on "Neodnazhdy v Amerike" by Svetlana Bukina
The author of this book, Svetlana Bukina, has been described as the most popular blogger in the Russian language in America.
The last word of the title is obvious to anybody, but the first word is not found in the Russian-English language dictionary. Maybe the title could very loosely be translated as something like, "Events, People, and Topics of American Life", and, actually, a lot more. Anyway, the book consists of a minor portion of the author's many blogs, and perhaps a few other additions.
Svetlana Bukina, who says that she is "pureblood Jewish", came to America from Moscow in December of 1990, and is now an American citizen. However, she "blogs" in Russian and apparently has a large audience in Russia; and this book was, in fact, published and printed there.
Among many other things, Svetlana Bukina writes very originally and provocatively about society and politics. For instance, she very broadly defines democracy as "predictiveness{or dependability} of the political process combined with the relative unpredictiveness{or undependability} of the outcome." In another piece she remembers that 25 or 30 years ago Valentin Zorin {who was either the Soviet ambassador or UN represetative} explained that both the American Democratic and Republican political parties are capitalist parties, so are basically not different from each other. Svetlana says that both parties represent various combinations, or coalitions of "leftists, rightists, libertarians{she says most Russian speaking immigrants are more or less libertarian, besides being Jewish}, statists, and centrists."
A few pages farther on she says that means that America is politically stable, that is, although both Democrats and Republicans are capitalist parties, we have only one regime; so "Zorin was not so far from the truth, thank God"{actually, she writes "slava bogu"}.
The author of this book, Svetlana Bukina, has been described as the most popular blogger in the Russian language in America.
The last word of the title is obvious to anybody, but the first word is not found in the Russian-English language dictionary. Maybe the title could very loosely be translated as something like, "Events, People, and Topics of American Life", and, actually, a lot more. Anyway, the book consists of a minor portion of the author's many blogs, and perhaps a few other additions.
Svetlana Bukina, who says that she is "pureblood Jewish", came to America from Moscow in December of 1990, and is now an American citizen. However, she "blogs" in Russian and apparently has a large audience in Russia; and this book was, in fact, published and printed there.
Among many other things, Svetlana Bukina writes very originally and provocatively about society and politics. For instance, she very broadly defines democracy as "predictiveness{or dependability} of the political process combined with the relative unpredictiveness{or undependability} of the outcome." In another piece she remembers that 25 or 30 years ago Valentin Zorin {who was either the Soviet ambassador or UN represetative} explained that both the American Democratic and Republican political parties are capitalist parties, so are basically not different from each other. Svetlana says that both parties represent various combinations, or coalitions of "leftists, rightists, libertarians{she says most Russian speaking immigrants are more or less libertarian, besides being Jewish}, statists, and centrists."
A few pages farther on she says that means that America is politically stable, that is, although both Democrats and Republicans are capitalist parties, we have only one regime; so "Zorin was not so far from the truth, thank God"{actually, she writes "slava bogu"}.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Experimental Blog #80
Comments on "Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
To an American outsider in the early 21st century this book seems to be bristling with jabs at communist party programs in the 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union, stereotypical communist party personalities, and Joseph Stalin in particular.
It also seems that Mikhail Bulgakov actually fought against the communists in the Russian civil war, and, subsequently, his work was so severely attacked by Bulgakov's communist literay contemporaries that his output must have been significantly curtailed.
Mikhail Bulgakov's Moscow apartment was searched several times by the secret police, and they must have known about his unpublished manuscripts, but he was never arrested. Perhaps it was because this book, at least, was too fantastical and bizarre and, maybe, too obscure.
Joseph Stalin, who was not Bulgakov's severest critic, actually telephoned Mikhail Bulgakov at least twice, in 1930 and 1937; and the first time he helped him to find work.
"Master and Margarita" ends in a time of such a violent approaching storm, this seems to have been written around 1940 when Mikhail Bulgakov died, that the book seems very prophetic.
To an American outsider in the early 21st century this book seems to be bristling with jabs at communist party programs in the 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union, stereotypical communist party personalities, and Joseph Stalin in particular.
It also seems that Mikhail Bulgakov actually fought against the communists in the Russian civil war, and, subsequently, his work was so severely attacked by Bulgakov's communist literay contemporaries that his output must have been significantly curtailed.
Mikhail Bulgakov's Moscow apartment was searched several times by the secret police, and they must have known about his unpublished manuscripts, but he was never arrested. Perhaps it was because this book, at least, was too fantastical and bizarre and, maybe, too obscure.
Joseph Stalin, who was not Bulgakov's severest critic, actually telephoned Mikhail Bulgakov at least twice, in 1930 and 1937; and the first time he helped him to find work.
"Master and Margarita" ends in a time of such a violent approaching storm, this seems to have been written around 1940 when Mikhail Bulgakov died, that the book seems very prophetic.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Experimental Blog #79
Comments on "Here on Earth" - A Natural History of the Planet by Tim Flannery
"Training in economics" according to Tim Flannery, who is "credited with discovering more species than Charles Darwin and "is one of the world's most influential scientists", makes people less cooperative and "neoclassical economists", in particular, seem likely to become selfish and hardened to the needs of their society.
In an earlier chapter Tim Flannery writes that "there is more genetic diversity in a random sample of about fifty chimpanzees from west Africa than in all seven billion of us." And on the next page he states, "There's as much diversity of thought, mannerism and emotion in a small New Guinean village as there is in the entire world, and in this commonality lies the foundations of our < > hopes for a future."
Speaking of hope and the future; if it is true that people in the past were the same, organically, as people in the future will be, and the world was the same, organically, as it will be in the future; and, also, that all people confirm their own histories, and that everybody together confirms world history; then what real, that is undeluded, hope people think there is for the future depends on what they think of their history and world history in general.
And what about China? The world's oldest continuous civilization, 4000 years at least, and, arguably, the world's most amazing country at the beginning of the 21st century? Don't they seem undaunted by history?
"Training in economics" according to Tim Flannery, who is "credited with discovering more species than Charles Darwin and "is one of the world's most influential scientists", makes people less cooperative and "neoclassical economists", in particular, seem likely to become selfish and hardened to the needs of their society.
In an earlier chapter Tim Flannery writes that "there is more genetic diversity in a random sample of about fifty chimpanzees from west Africa than in all seven billion of us." And on the next page he states, "There's as much diversity of thought, mannerism and emotion in a small New Guinean village as there is in the entire world, and in this commonality lies the foundations of our < > hopes for a future."
Speaking of hope and the future; if it is true that people in the past were the same, organically, as people in the future will be, and the world was the same, organically, as it will be in the future; and, also, that all people confirm their own histories, and that everybody together confirms world history; then what real, that is undeluded, hope people think there is for the future depends on what they think of their history and world history in general.
And what about China? The world's oldest continuous civilization, 4000 years at least, and, arguably, the world's most amazing country at the beginning of the 21st century? Don't they seem undaunted by history?
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Experimental Blog #78
Comments on "The Discovery of Jeanne Baret" - A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe by Glynis Ridley
The subject of this book, Jeanne Baret, left France with the Louis-Antoine de Bougainville expedition on February 1, 1767. This expedition became France's first successful circumnavigation of the world when it returned to France on March 15, 1769.
France became the third country in the world to achieve this distinction, but Jeanne Baret, who had been disguised as a man for at least 15 or 17 months, had been left at French possessions in the Indian Ocean and did not return to France until late in 1774 or early 1775.
Jeanne Baret did not write a journal or book or, it seems, even letters of any kind in her entire life. It is recorded that she had two children; the first child before the voyage and the other child before the voyage was completed. The author, Glynis Ridley, concludes from a careful study of the 4 accounts that were written about the voyage by participants, including the account written by Bougainville, that Jeanne Baret was "gang raped" not very long after it was finally revealed that she was a female; and using her extremely vivid imagination she tells the story of the life and voyage of Jeanne Baret, along with a great deal of interesting 18th century history and natural history.
Thanks to Glynis Ridley, despite all the resistance of male denial and rationalizing, the world now has a very fine unlikely-likely account of Jeanne Baret, a very strong and hard-working, but, it seems, not very articulate or educated lower class French woman from the 18th century.
The subject of this book, Jeanne Baret, left France with the Louis-Antoine de Bougainville expedition on February 1, 1767. This expedition became France's first successful circumnavigation of the world when it returned to France on March 15, 1769.
France became the third country in the world to achieve this distinction, but Jeanne Baret, who had been disguised as a man for at least 15 or 17 months, had been left at French possessions in the Indian Ocean and did not return to France until late in 1774 or early 1775.
Jeanne Baret did not write a journal or book or, it seems, even letters of any kind in her entire life. It is recorded that she had two children; the first child before the voyage and the other child before the voyage was completed. The author, Glynis Ridley, concludes from a careful study of the 4 accounts that were written about the voyage by participants, including the account written by Bougainville, that Jeanne Baret was "gang raped" not very long after it was finally revealed that she was a female; and using her extremely vivid imagination she tells the story of the life and voyage of Jeanne Baret, along with a great deal of interesting 18th century history and natural history.
Thanks to Glynis Ridley, despite all the resistance of male denial and rationalizing, the world now has a very fine unlikely-likely account of Jeanne Baret, a very strong and hard-working, but, it seems, not very articulate or educated lower class French woman from the 18th century.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Experimental Blog #77
Comments on 2 books
"Epigenetics - The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance" by Richard C Francis
"The term epigenetic refers to long term alterations of DNA that don't involve changes in the DNA sequence itself". These changes are produced from the environment: from the food that we eat, from pollutants, and even from social interactions, and can last a lifetime.
This epigenetic process, or gene regulation, can even be "transgenerational"; either directly, as an "epigenetic mark" that is passed from parent to offspring as part of the original chromosome in the egg or sperm, although this does not commonly happen in mammals; or indirectly, by what is called "genomic imprinting", in successive generations.
"How Many Friends Does One Person Need?" - Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks by Robin Dunbar
This book contains many educational and enlightening "Darwinian" and other current scientific explantions and "stories".
The answere to the question of the title is 150, which the author, Robin Dunbar, says is now called "Dunbar's Number"; and he refers to it 4 times in this book.
"Epigenetics - The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance" by Richard C Francis
"The term epigenetic refers to long term alterations of DNA that don't involve changes in the DNA sequence itself". These changes are produced from the environment: from the food that we eat, from pollutants, and even from social interactions, and can last a lifetime.
This epigenetic process, or gene regulation, can even be "transgenerational"; either directly, as an "epigenetic mark" that is passed from parent to offspring as part of the original chromosome in the egg or sperm, although this does not commonly happen in mammals; or indirectly, by what is called "genomic imprinting", in successive generations.
"How Many Friends Does One Person Need?" - Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks by Robin Dunbar
This book contains many educational and enlightening "Darwinian" and other current scientific explantions and "stories".
The answere to the question of the title is 150, which the author, Robin Dunbar, says is now called "Dunbar's Number"; and he refers to it 4 times in this book.
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