December 14, 2017

Superputin, Sly Wolves, & Censorship Stalkers


Superputin, Sly Wolves, & Censorship Stalkers
The Finest of Fine Art

1. It’s a bird...it’s a plane...it’s Superputin! A new art exhibit centers around the Russian president in various heroic guises, some based in fact (Putin playing hockey, Putin cuddling his pets) and others in imagination (an armored Putin riding a bear, Putin as Father Frost). The goal, according to the gallery, is to showcase Putin’s popularity and the ways his public perceives him. Opened at Moscow’s UMAM Museum on the same day Putin announced his bid for a fourth presidential term – a pure coincidence, but if the incumbent succeeds in his bid, it’ll be more proof of his superpowers.

2. With the World Cup opening in Russia just months away, it’s high time to start collecting merchandise. But only official stuff: authorities are on the hunt for fakes and clamping down on counterfeit World Cup products. The World Cup mascot, Zabivaka the wolf, has been especially sneaky: last week 640 toy wolves were stopped trying to cross the border from China, and over 100,000 products illegally bearing the trademark image have been withdrawn from sale. Luckily for football fans aiming to get some merch in time for the New Year, an official fan store is now open in Moscow.

3. Obscenity, pornography, information on drugs or suicide, and anything falling under the broad label of “extremism” is off limits for Russian mass media. And if you're lucky, you can get PAID to read it. After all, someone’s got to go through all the bad stuff to weed it out, and that someone is GRCHTs, the state enterprise that pays people to scan the web for inappropriate material. GRCHTs has a hefty contract with Roskomnadzor and is even hunting for more employees to ensure that internet censorship is going a-okay. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

In Odder News
  • How does a leopard cub nurse if it’s separated from its mom? The Vladivostok Zoo knows: enlist a golden retriever as a wet nurse.
  • The U.S. has got one all-Russian radio station. It broadcasts from Portland, but not all expats like what it plays.
  • What did Kiev look like in 1966? Rainy and gray, grandiose and ordinary, all in one.

Quote of the Week

"Each artist depicted positive attributes of Vladimir Putin. Every artist loves him and respects him and supports him."
—Pro-Putin activist Yulia Dyuzheva on the Superputin exhibit, of which she was one of the organizers.

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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.
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.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
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. 
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

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