Comments on "The Darwin Archipelago" - The Naturalist's Career Beyond "Origin of Species" by Steve Jones
"The Voyage of the Beagle" is a very interesting travel book that many people continue to read. "The Origin of Species" is Charles Darwin's famous scientific book, and it is also read by people today. However, these 2 books represent only about 15% of Darwin's lifetime publication.
Charles Darwin wrote more than a dozen other equally well written, "in good, plain Victorian prose", scientific books. They cover various subjects: "Barnacles"{most exhaustively}, "Orchids and Insects", "Variation under Domestication", "The Descent of Man", "Expression of the Emotions", "Insectivorous Plants", "Climbing Plants", "Cross and Self-Fertilisation", "Forms of Flowers", "Movement in Plants", and "Formation of Vegetable Mould by Earthworms". These books make up what the "eminent evolutionary biologist" Steve Jones calls the "Darwin Archipelago". All of these subjects, and others, are expertly brought up to date.
The last chapter, or "Envoi", of this book is entitled "Darwin's Island", which is what Steve Jones says the world has now become; that is, the world is no longer an "archipelago" of far more distinct biological environments.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Experimental Blog #89
Comments on "Deviltry - How Two Twins Destroyed a 'Middle Manager'" and "Dog's Heart - A Monstrous History" by Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov
This absurd short story of about 35 pages seems to be Mikhail Bulgakov's first attempt at social-political satire. "Deviltry", or"Dyavoliada", was published several times in 1924, '25 and '26, and, at first, it was little noticed. The main character, Varfolomay Petrovich Korotkov, apparently, disastrously "collides" with the circumstances and people of the new Soviet Union. In a few days he evidently becomes violently insane and ends his life, and this story, by jumping off an 11 story building.
"Deviltry" was eventually, and soon, severely criticized and condemned by most communist literary writers; along with Bulgakov's later, even more absurd and fantastical stories.
Although numerous attempts were made to publish this "novella" of about 89 pages, which was written in 1925, and the Moscow Art Theater had made a contract to produce a play; "Dog's Heart", or "The Heart of a Dog", was not allowed to be published in the Soviet Union until 1987.
In the introductory pages the story is told by the "thoughts" of the dog, Shareek; then the story is mixed with ordinary narrative, followed by the introduction of people. After Shareek's grotesque operation; which replace his gonads and a small part of his brain, Shareek undergoes a completely unexpected physical and mental transformation. In about one month he becomes a young man; who eventually names himself Polygraph Polygraphovich Shareekov.
However, in another month or so, Polygraph Polygraphovich is, apparently, forcibly operated on again, and within 10 days he is on his way back to being the dog Shareek. The story soon ends with his complete retransformation.
Mikhail Bulgakov's fantastical satire in this story is "deeper" and, some people might say, even shocking and cruel, sometimes, than in any other of his literary works. Some people might feel that Mikhail Bulgakov was not completely free of the prejudices of his times, and that these prejudices sometimes showed through in this not entirely funny, but still surprisingly impressive and provocative story.
This absurd short story of about 35 pages seems to be Mikhail Bulgakov's first attempt at social-political satire. "Deviltry", or"Dyavoliada", was published several times in 1924, '25 and '26, and, at first, it was little noticed. The main character, Varfolomay Petrovich Korotkov, apparently, disastrously "collides" with the circumstances and people of the new Soviet Union. In a few days he evidently becomes violently insane and ends his life, and this story, by jumping off an 11 story building.
"Deviltry" was eventually, and soon, severely criticized and condemned by most communist literary writers; along with Bulgakov's later, even more absurd and fantastical stories.
Although numerous attempts were made to publish this "novella" of about 89 pages, which was written in 1925, and the Moscow Art Theater had made a contract to produce a play; "Dog's Heart", or "The Heart of a Dog", was not allowed to be published in the Soviet Union until 1987.
In the introductory pages the story is told by the "thoughts" of the dog, Shareek; then the story is mixed with ordinary narrative, followed by the introduction of people. After Shareek's grotesque operation; which replace his gonads and a small part of his brain, Shareek undergoes a completely unexpected physical and mental transformation. In about one month he becomes a young man; who eventually names himself Polygraph Polygraphovich Shareekov.
However, in another month or so, Polygraph Polygraphovich is, apparently, forcibly operated on again, and within 10 days he is on his way back to being the dog Shareek. The story soon ends with his complete retransformation.
Mikhail Bulgakov's fantastical satire in this story is "deeper" and, some people might say, even shocking and cruel, sometimes, than in any other of his literary works. Some people might feel that Mikhail Bulgakov was not completely free of the prejudices of his times, and that these prejudices sometimes showed through in this not entirely funny, but still surprisingly impressive and provocative story.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Experimental Blog #88
Comments on "Fatal Eggs" and the play "Dead Souls" by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov
Although only about 72 pages long "Fatal Eggs", which was published in 1925, is referred to as a novel, or book, in this volume of Bulgakov's collected works. This "fantastical - satirical" story is filled with references to people and events of those times, but almost all of them have little or no meaning to an American "outsider" today. The obvious exceptions are a couple of phone calls from a "rather well known, but mysterious person in the Kremlin" to professor Persikov, the primary character in the story, who "speaks in a sonorous bass voice", "sympathetically", or "importantly and tenderly", or "condescendingly".
Perhaps by 1930, when Joseph Stalin called Mikhail Bulgakov and identified himself, Bulgakov was already acquainted with this "baritone" voice; or perhaps Bulgakov had only heard about such calls from other people who had received them.
Although in 1930 "Fatal Eggs" was still counted as one of the most read books in the Soviet Union, Bulgakov had been at first mostly condemned by Soviet critics as a "right-wing and a reactionary writer" and then ignored and refused publication for his works.
The play "Dead Souls" was the first, or one of the first works, that Mikhail Bulgakov completed after he received his phone call from Joseph Stalin, which led to his employment at the Moscow Arts Theater. The play premiered in November 1932 and was performed at this theater for "decades", and, it seems, it was made into a movie.
The book "Dead Souls" by Nicolai Gogol was, as is well known, incomplete and, maybe, partly destroyed by the author Gogol himself. Roughly the first 2 of the 4 acts of this play sound rather repetitious and, perhaps, distorted to conform with the approved Soviet Marxist-Leninist idealogy. The play is called a comedy, but there doesn't seem to be anything to really laugh at, or about.
However, the rest of the play improves, where Bulgakov becomes more the real author; for instance, where in the book does Chichikov end up briefly in jail? The play becomes more alive and entertaining, and even a little bit genuinely satirical, in spite of the required ideological conformity.
Although only about 72 pages long "Fatal Eggs", which was published in 1925, is referred to as a novel, or book, in this volume of Bulgakov's collected works. This "fantastical - satirical" story is filled with references to people and events of those times, but almost all of them have little or no meaning to an American "outsider" today. The obvious exceptions are a couple of phone calls from a "rather well known, but mysterious person in the Kremlin" to professor Persikov, the primary character in the story, who "speaks in a sonorous bass voice", "sympathetically", or "importantly and tenderly", or "condescendingly".
Perhaps by 1930, when Joseph Stalin called Mikhail Bulgakov and identified himself, Bulgakov was already acquainted with this "baritone" voice; or perhaps Bulgakov had only heard about such calls from other people who had received them.
Although in 1930 "Fatal Eggs" was still counted as one of the most read books in the Soviet Union, Bulgakov had been at first mostly condemned by Soviet critics as a "right-wing and a reactionary writer" and then ignored and refused publication for his works.
The play "Dead Souls" was the first, or one of the first works, that Mikhail Bulgakov completed after he received his phone call from Joseph Stalin, which led to his employment at the Moscow Arts Theater. The play premiered in November 1932 and was performed at this theater for "decades", and, it seems, it was made into a movie.
The book "Dead Souls" by Nicolai Gogol was, as is well known, incomplete and, maybe, partly destroyed by the author Gogol himself. Roughly the first 2 of the 4 acts of this play sound rather repetitious and, perhaps, distorted to conform with the approved Soviet Marxist-Leninist idealogy. The play is called a comedy, but there doesn't seem to be anything to really laugh at, or about.
However, the rest of the play improves, where Bulgakov becomes more the real author; for instance, where in the book does Chichikov end up briefly in jail? The play becomes more alive and entertaining, and even a little bit genuinely satirical, in spite of the required ideological conformity.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Experimental Blog #87
Comments on 3 plays: "Bliss", "Ivan Vasilyevich", and "Alexander Pushkin" by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov
The plays "Bliss" and "Ivan Vasilyevich" are both science fiction satirical comedies based on the invention of a "time machine" by an eccentric scientist-engineer. In fact, although the inventor is not the same person, other characters in both plays are the same people; and they even say the same, or almost the same lines in the opening scenes of the two plays. The play "Bliss" goes forward in time about 300 years into the 23rd century, while "Ivan Vasilyevich" goes back about 350 years to the 16th century, that is, to the time of the well remembered Tsar "Ivan the Terrible".
Both plays were contracted and read at a theater in Moscow. It seems, however, that Mikhail Bulgakov had his usual problems with the soviet censors and critics, and they could not find acceptable compromises to his politically satirical, and often comical and intertaining hints and remarks. Even Joseph Stalin, who almost certainly must have read all of Bulgakov's plays whether they were published or not, gave his views on the positive reevaluation of Tsar "Ivan the Terrible", that is Ivan Vasilyevich.
A form of the play "Ivan Vasilyevich" seems to have been published in 1940, and again in 1965. "Bliss" seems to have been published in the magazine "Star of the East" in 1966 in Tashkent.
The play "Alexander Pushkin" is considered to be a serious play, and it has little or no noticable humor or satire. In the beginning, around 1934, it was a joint effort with a well known writer and historian of literature, V V Veresaev. However, they could not agree on various points: for instance, on the character and reputation of "Dantes". By the time that the play was finally approved in 1939, Mikhail Bulgakov was the only author.
"Dantes", who never seems to be mentioned by any other names, besides being the man who shot and killed Alexander Pushkin in their duel, also turns out to be Pushkin's brother in law.
Eventually the play "Alexander Pushkin" was deemed to be "ideologically acceptable" from the Soviet point of view. It premiered in 1943, and was performed for 16 years, apparently continuously, and perhaps in various theaters.
The plays "Bliss" and "Ivan Vasilyevich" are both science fiction satirical comedies based on the invention of a "time machine" by an eccentric scientist-engineer. In fact, although the inventor is not the same person, other characters in both plays are the same people; and they even say the same, or almost the same lines in the opening scenes of the two plays. The play "Bliss" goes forward in time about 300 years into the 23rd century, while "Ivan Vasilyevich" goes back about 350 years to the 16th century, that is, to the time of the well remembered Tsar "Ivan the Terrible".
Both plays were contracted and read at a theater in Moscow. It seems, however, that Mikhail Bulgakov had his usual problems with the soviet censors and critics, and they could not find acceptable compromises to his politically satirical, and often comical and intertaining hints and remarks. Even Joseph Stalin, who almost certainly must have read all of Bulgakov's plays whether they were published or not, gave his views on the positive reevaluation of Tsar "Ivan the Terrible", that is Ivan Vasilyevich.
A form of the play "Ivan Vasilyevich" seems to have been published in 1940, and again in 1965. "Bliss" seems to have been published in the magazine "Star of the East" in 1966 in Tashkent.
The play "Alexander Pushkin" is considered to be a serious play, and it has little or no noticable humor or satire. In the beginning, around 1934, it was a joint effort with a well known writer and historian of literature, V V Veresaev. However, they could not agree on various points: for instance, on the character and reputation of "Dantes". By the time that the play was finally approved in 1939, Mikhail Bulgakov was the only author.
"Dantes", who never seems to be mentioned by any other names, besides being the man who shot and killed Alexander Pushkin in their duel, also turns out to be Pushkin's brother in law.
Eventually the play "Alexander Pushkin" was deemed to be "ideologically acceptable" from the Soviet point of view. It premiered in 1943, and was performed for 16 years, apparently continuously, and perhaps in various theaters.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Experimental Blog #86
Comments on 2 plays, "Flight" and "Adam and Eve" by Mikhail Bulgakov
The play "Zoykina's Apartment" has been described as about the rather large number of people who had not supported the "Bolshevik" revolution in Russia, but had to live, somehow, with the results. While the play "Flight" is characterized as being about a much smaller number of people who also did not support the "Bolshevik" revolution, but who left Russia around 1920, or soon after. The small group of people in this play went south from as far north as Staint Petersburg to the Crimea, and then on to Constantinople. From there they perhaps went on to France, but a few eventually even returned to Russia.
Mikhail Bulgakov wrote, and rewrote, "Flight" numerous times in response to political and other criticisms, over more than a ten year period. Although there seem to have been many readings and attempted rehearsals, only one of the eight scenes, or "dreams", was ever published in Bulgakov's lifetime. "Flight" was called anti-soviet by Joseph Stalin himself, and he approved, for the last time in 1937, that its performance was to be prohibited. It seems, however, that the play was performed for the first time in 1957, in Stalingrad, and possibly later.
E Y Yerikalova, the author of the notes to the second play, says that "Adam and Eve" was written in 1931; a time when the world seemed headed more and more toward war. Other Soviet authors, such as Aleksey Tolstoy, were writing about future war and other "catastrophes". During this time important Soviet scientists, historians, and economists, besides others, were being arrested and sometimes executed. Some people who went abroad decided not to return to the USSR.
In 1931 Mikhail Bulgakov made contracts with at least one theater and made at least one reading of "Adam and Eve". However, after a copy was sent to the Soviet government for the necessary approval, it never came back one way or the other. Bulgakov apparently did not push the matter, which is what he had previously done. "Adam and Eve" contains, among other things, critical and intertaining comments about communism in Russia, and it seems prophetic in various ways.
"Adam and Eve" was not published in the USSR until 1987, but an earlier shortened and somewhat defective version came out from the Paris, YMCA Press in 1971.
The play "Zoykina's Apartment" has been described as about the rather large number of people who had not supported the "Bolshevik" revolution in Russia, but had to live, somehow, with the results. While the play "Flight" is characterized as being about a much smaller number of people who also did not support the "Bolshevik" revolution, but who left Russia around 1920, or soon after. The small group of people in this play went south from as far north as Staint Petersburg to the Crimea, and then on to Constantinople. From there they perhaps went on to France, but a few eventually even returned to Russia.
Mikhail Bulgakov wrote, and rewrote, "Flight" numerous times in response to political and other criticisms, over more than a ten year period. Although there seem to have been many readings and attempted rehearsals, only one of the eight scenes, or "dreams", was ever published in Bulgakov's lifetime. "Flight" was called anti-soviet by Joseph Stalin himself, and he approved, for the last time in 1937, that its performance was to be prohibited. It seems, however, that the play was performed for the first time in 1957, in Stalingrad, and possibly later.
E Y Yerikalova, the author of the notes to the second play, says that "Adam and Eve" was written in 1931; a time when the world seemed headed more and more toward war. Other Soviet authors, such as Aleksey Tolstoy, were writing about future war and other "catastrophes". During this time important Soviet scientists, historians, and economists, besides others, were being arrested and sometimes executed. Some people who went abroad decided not to return to the USSR.
In 1931 Mikhail Bulgakov made contracts with at least one theater and made at least one reading of "Adam and Eve". However, after a copy was sent to the Soviet government for the necessary approval, it never came back one way or the other. Bulgakov apparently did not push the matter, which is what he had previously done. "Adam and Eve" contains, among other things, critical and intertaining comments about communism in Russia, and it seems prophetic in various ways.
"Adam and Eve" was not published in the USSR until 1987, but an earlier shortened and somewhat defective version came out from the Paris, YMCA Press in 1971.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Experimental Blog #85
Comments on 2 plays, "Zoykina's Apartment" and "Crimson Island" by Mikhail Bulgakov
A M Smelyansky, V V Gudkova, and A A Neanov supplied many pages of necessary information and notes in this volume of the collected works of Mikhail Bulgakov.
The first play, "Zoykina's Apartment", is considered to be a comedy, and it was completed and it premiered in 1926. V V Gudkova says that the Soviet press gave more attention in the years 1926 and 1927 to Mikhail Bulgakov than to any other dramatist. Besides playing in Moscow, "Zoykina's Apartment" played in Leningrad, Saratov, Tiflis, the Crimea, Rostov on the Don, Simferapol, Riga, and Sverdlovsk, and maybe other places; and everywhere it had "material success".
However, there was almost unanimous condemnation from the critics; who used a very great amount of "political labeling and accusation": "counterrevolutionary, lack of sympathy for the serious problems facing the Bolsheviks, rehabilitation of the past", and many, many other charges. The play was performed about 200 times before it was taken of the stage in 1929.
The second play, "Crimson Island", was finished and premiered in 1928. It is characterized as "parody and sharp satire". It seems to contrast with "Zoykina's Apartment", and it was part of the politically "left theater" of the times. "Crimson Island" is extremely "fantastical" and has numerous "unexpected transformations of scenes" and other theatrical devices.
However, the "overwhelming majority of the press" was also sharply negative about this play too. Joseph Stalin also gave his negatve evaluation of "Crimson Island". The play was staged more than 60 times before March of 1929 when it was apparently no longer allowed to be performed.
A M Smelyansky, V V Gudkova, and A A Neanov supplied many pages of necessary information and notes in this volume of the collected works of Mikhail Bulgakov.
The first play, "Zoykina's Apartment", is considered to be a comedy, and it was completed and it premiered in 1926. V V Gudkova says that the Soviet press gave more attention in the years 1926 and 1927 to Mikhail Bulgakov than to any other dramatist. Besides playing in Moscow, "Zoykina's Apartment" played in Leningrad, Saratov, Tiflis, the Crimea, Rostov on the Don, Simferapol, Riga, and Sverdlovsk, and maybe other places; and everywhere it had "material success".
However, there was almost unanimous condemnation from the critics; who used a very great amount of "political labeling and accusation": "counterrevolutionary, lack of sympathy for the serious problems facing the Bolsheviks, rehabilitation of the past", and many, many other charges. The play was performed about 200 times before it was taken of the stage in 1929.
The second play, "Crimson Island", was finished and premiered in 1928. It is characterized as "parody and sharp satire". It seems to contrast with "Zoykina's Apartment", and it was part of the politically "left theater" of the times. "Crimson Island" is extremely "fantastical" and has numerous "unexpected transformations of scenes" and other theatrical devices.
However, the "overwhelming majority of the press" was also sharply negative about this play too. Joseph Stalin also gave his negatve evaluation of "Crimson Island". The play was staged more than 60 times before March of 1929 when it was apparently no longer allowed to be performed.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Experimental Blog #84
Comments on "Batum" - A Play by Mikhail Bulgakov
This play, "Batum", begins in 1898 in the Georgian city of Tiflis, or Tbilisi. A nineteen year old Joseph Vesarionovich Dzhugashvili is being expelled, because of his revolutionary propagandizing, from a seminary; where, it seems, he had been a student for almost 6 years. Young Joseph was not known as Stalin in those years, and among his comrades he was usually called "Soso". Sometimes he was called "Pastir" because he had been a seminary student.
The play continues through 1902 when "Soso", or "Pastir", is arrested and imprisoned, for leading strikes and demonstrations in Batum; and, eventually, he is exiled in 1904 to Siberia for a 3 year term. However, in only about 2 months, a 25 year old "Soso", or Pastir", is unexpectedly back in Batum; and the play ends.
Completed in July of 1939, "Batum" is the last literary work of Mikhail Bulgakov. He died the next year. Bulgakov thoroughly researched "Batum", and, inspite of not being believable in a few places, it is considered to be historically accurate. The author of the notes to "Batum" in this volume, A A Neenov, has also been very thorough. A 59 year old Joseph Stalin read the play and said, "it was very good, but could never be put on stage".
The big question is, "How did young Joseph return so quickly and easily from Siberia where he was supposed to stay for 3 years?" The official soviet version has been that "Soso" had "somehow escaped and had obtained forged documents". In the following years "Soso, Pastir, or Koba" would have repeated successful escapes from prison or exile. Besides that, the underground communist party organizations with which "Koba" was connected had a history of "large scale failures and downfalls.
Eventually an official document was discovered in Soviet archives that revealed a connection between "Koba" and the Tsar's secret police, or "Okrana", that showed that in 1912 "Koba" had given information about communist party activity to an "Okrana" agent. A A Neenov maintains that young Joseph's relationship with the Tsar's secret police goes back to 1904, and that is how he was released from Siberian exile; and that his papers were not forged, but were in fact genuine. So things worked well for "Soso" or "Koba" or "Stalin".
However, these views only confirm what is already well known; that is, Stalin was a dedicated and dogmatic Marxist-Leninist in the extreme. A A Neenov writes that people in the communist party, working at the same time with the secret police, were not at all uncommon.
Perhaps Mikhail Bulgakov wrote this play, "Batum", to remind Joseph Stalin of the years of his youth, and he hoped it would have some affect or influence on Stalin's tyrannical leadership. An early, but not completely corrected, version of "Batum" was published in 1977 in America. However, the most corrected version was not published until 1988, and it was published in the Soviet Union. The play still seems to be something of an embarrassment to many people.
This play, "Batum", begins in 1898 in the Georgian city of Tiflis, or Tbilisi. A nineteen year old Joseph Vesarionovich Dzhugashvili is being expelled, because of his revolutionary propagandizing, from a seminary; where, it seems, he had been a student for almost 6 years. Young Joseph was not known as Stalin in those years, and among his comrades he was usually called "Soso". Sometimes he was called "Pastir" because he had been a seminary student.
The play continues through 1902 when "Soso", or "Pastir", is arrested and imprisoned, for leading strikes and demonstrations in Batum; and, eventually, he is exiled in 1904 to Siberia for a 3 year term. However, in only about 2 months, a 25 year old "Soso", or Pastir", is unexpectedly back in Batum; and the play ends.
Completed in July of 1939, "Batum" is the last literary work of Mikhail Bulgakov. He died the next year. Bulgakov thoroughly researched "Batum", and, inspite of not being believable in a few places, it is considered to be historically accurate. The author of the notes to "Batum" in this volume, A A Neenov, has also been very thorough. A 59 year old Joseph Stalin read the play and said, "it was very good, but could never be put on stage".
The big question is, "How did young Joseph return so quickly and easily from Siberia where he was supposed to stay for 3 years?" The official soviet version has been that "Soso" had "somehow escaped and had obtained forged documents". In the following years "Soso, Pastir, or Koba" would have repeated successful escapes from prison or exile. Besides that, the underground communist party organizations with which "Koba" was connected had a history of "large scale failures and downfalls.
Eventually an official document was discovered in Soviet archives that revealed a connection between "Koba" and the Tsar's secret police, or "Okrana", that showed that in 1912 "Koba" had given information about communist party activity to an "Okrana" agent. A A Neenov maintains that young Joseph's relationship with the Tsar's secret police goes back to 1904, and that is how he was released from Siberian exile; and that his papers were not forged, but were in fact genuine. So things worked well for "Soso" or "Koba" or "Stalin".
However, these views only confirm what is already well known; that is, Stalin was a dedicated and dogmatic Marxist-Leninist in the extreme. A A Neenov writes that people in the communist party, working at the same time with the secret police, were not at all uncommon.
Perhaps Mikhail Bulgakov wrote this play, "Batum", to remind Joseph Stalin of the years of his youth, and he hoped it would have some affect or influence on Stalin's tyrannical leadership. An early, but not completely corrected, version of "Batum" was published in 1977 in America. However, the most corrected version was not published until 1988, and it was published in the Soviet Union. The play still seems to be something of an embarrassment to many people.
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