Current Issue
Jan/Feb 2010
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Table of Contents
Here is what you'll find in our current issue:
7: Terror Returns
The November 27, 2009, train bombing turned public attention once again to domestic terrorism...
12: An Activist is Born
Alexei Dymovsky becomes a YouTube star for highlighting police corruption, then loses his job... yet few Russians seem to know of him.
19: Ivan the Terrible
In January 1565, Tsar Ivan the Terrible split Russia in two. Five hundred years on, Russia still hasn't gotten over it...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
22: Literaturnaya Gazeta
Founded in 1830 by Alexander Pushkin and Anton Delvig, this important newspaper has long been something of a bellweather for Russia's relationship to literature...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
24: Galina Ulanova
On January 8, 1910, Prima Ballerina Galina Ulanova was born. Unquestionably a great dancer, she has somehow always been above criticism...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
26: Survival Russian
There is nothing like the tender, inoffensive insult to patch up strained relations...
28: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Chekhov was one of Russia's most prolific and influential writers, and this January marks his 150th birthday. We look back at his work, always worth another read.
:: Translation by Paul E. Richardson
36: Berlinograd
No other part of Europe can match Berlin and its immediate hinterland for having such a prolonged engagement with Russia. In fact, locals sometimes refer to the German capital as Berlinograd.
:: Illustrations/Images by Susanne Kries
44: Russia On Line
Lines are "a condition of the Russian soul," as expat Carl Schreck rediscovered recently. And it may be that the only way to cope with this condition is to submit...
46: Lev Tolstoy's Unhappy Family
Lev Tolstoy's family was unhappy in its own peculiar way, split by a three-decade-long disagreement between the writer and his wife about money.
54: Sagaalgan
It could be the world's longest New Year's celebration, stretching a whole month in midwinter. Indeed, this Buddhist holiday is becoming an important way that Siberian Buryats seek to preserve their cultural identity.
60: Feasting with Angels
A look at lubok and its use to promote etiquette, manners and morals at the dinner table. And a recipe for Steamed Trout.
62: Math and Memoirs
A review of "Perfect Rigor" by Masha Gessen, "Anton Chekhov, a Brother's Memoir," by Mikhail Chekhov, three excellent new fiction volumes, and the first of a two part series on language learning aids.
64: Do Svidaniya Stirlitz
"We were all Stirlitzes..." A fond look back at the stoic actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov, who brought to life the WWII spy Stirlitz.
:: Translation by Maria Antonova
PLUS:
Note Book: Quotes, facts, news briefs and other noteworthy items...
Events Calendar: Russian events going on outside Russia.
Practical Traveler: The latest from the travel front ...
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