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Russian Life: Nov/Dec 2009

Cover: Julia Valeeva

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7: Dam Disaster Maria Antonova
Russians have learned to fear August, and this year it delivered the Sayano-Shuchenskaya dam disaster, which could be a harbinger of things to come.
Note Book

15: Plyuschenko Returns to the Ice Nikolai Dolgopolov
After a three-year absence, Olympic champion Yevgeny Plyuschenko is staging a comeback.
Sports
:: Translation by Mikhail Ivanov

21: The Fall of the Berlin Wall Tamara Eidelman
Editor Tamara Eidelman reminisces about how little the Berlin Wall was part of Soviet life.
Russian Calendar
:: Translation by Nora Favorov

24: Alexander Vasiliyevich Kolchak Tamara Eidelman
Thirty years ago, the name "Admiral Kolchak" was only mentioned in negative terms; today it is exactly the opposite. Neither interpretation gets it right.
Russian Calendar
:: Translation by Nora Favorov

26: 12 Angry Peasants Tamara Eidelman
In November 1864, Alexander II introduced jury trials to Russia. It had countless unintended effects and led to a 70-year hiatus in the practice, only recently resurrected.
Russian Calendar
:: Translation by Nora Favorov

30: Marital Squabbles Mikhail Ivanov
Where we examine the linguistic conventions of sparring with one's spouse.
Survival Russian
:: Illustrations/Images by Victor Bogorad

32: Winter Holidays Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby
A colorful mix of pagan and Christian traditions influenced 19th century rural Russian Zimniye Svyatki (Winter Holidays). While many of these traditions did not survive the 20th century, they nonetheless tell us much about Russian culture today.
Features
:: Illustrations/Images by Julia Valeeva

40: Lighthouse Master Natasha Beskhlebnaya
Where we visit a craggy outpost in the White Sea, meet a colorful lighthouse keeper and get a taste of real solitude and self-reliance.
Features
:: Translation by Susanna Nazarova :: Illustrations/Images by Natasha Beskhlebnaya

48: Bolshoi Troubles Kevin O'Flynn
The massive reconstruction of Moscow's iconic Bolshoi Theater has been underway for four years and looks to stretch for another two. Some question if anything original will be left of the landmark when it finally reopens in 2011.
Features

52: Travels with a Patriarch Nikolai Gernet
An official visit to the Solovetsky Islands in the retinue of the Patriarch offers an intimate glimpse at the resurgence of the Orthodox Church.
Religion & Spirituality
:: Translation by Paul E. Richardson :: Illustrations/Images by Nikolai Gernet

54: Tsarina Elizabeth Lev Berdnikov
"Elizabeth couldn't take her eyes off herself," wrote historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. Indeed, Peter the Great's narcissistic granddaughter (born 300 years ago this month) was infamous for being a tyrannical fashionista.
Features
:: Translation by Leigh Mosley

60: TableTop Agitprop Darra Goldstein
A look at how Soviet propaganda made it onto people's plates.
Cuisine

62: Terror, Pushkin and the Beatles Paul E. Richardson
Reviews of In the First Circle, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the documentary How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, and four other books: There is no Freedom Without Bread!, by Constantine Pleshakov, Brief Lives: Alexander Pushkin, by Robert Chandler, Privet Amerika, and Terrible Tsarinas, by Henri Troyat.
Under Review

64: The Powers that Bully Paul E. Richardson
When governments or their agents bully citizens, it is everyone's responsibility to speak up.
Post Script

65: Uchites 06 Susanna Nazarova and Evgeny Dengub
The sixth edition of our Uchites language insert, sponsored by Russkiy Mir Foundation, takes off on our story about a White Sea lighthouse keeper to explore antonyms, verb and adjective declensions, and offers a murder mystery puzzle.
Language