May 30, 2019

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Fire/Lightning?


Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Fire/Lightning?
Blast off at the speed of light! @Rogozin

Throwback Thursday

Boris Pasternak painted in 1910 by father Leonid
Boris Pasternak, painted in 1910 by father Leonid Pasternak. / Wikimedia Commons

On this day in 1960, Boris Pasternak, one of Russia’s most famous dissident writers, poets, and translators, died in the Soviet Union. He was fondly remembered not just in the West, where he received a Nobel Prize, but also by his Russian literary peers, including Mandelstam and Akhmatova. Read some of their reminiscences here on Russian Life.

Avengerful Pomp and Fiery Circumstance

1. Avengers Endgame 2: Graduation Boogaloo. In Russia, as in the US, it’s high school graduation season. Some teachers at a Murmansk high school decided to send off their graduates in style. The graduating students were big fans of the Avengers, so the teachers filmed a 2-minute video of themselves as Marvel and DC superheroes (be sure to keep watching, the vid takes an unexpected turn at about 40 seconds). “We decided to be on the same wavelength as them,” said one teacher. Needless to say, the students loved it. It was a heroic way to end the heroic feat of school.

Teachers in Avengers costume
The Avengers return to say farewell. / 360tv

2. Onwards and upwards! The Plesetsk Cosmodrome launched a rocket on a cloudy Monday morning. About fourteen seconds in, a bolt of lightning hit the rocket. Nevertheless, the rocket continued its intrepid launch into the sky, prompting a major general at the cosmodrome to quip, “We’re all-weather forces.” As it turns out, the engineers usually anticipate such situations, even though they are rare. Let’s hope that next time around, lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice.

3. Keep calm and swing on. In Yamal, a boy was swinging cheerily in a playground. This would not be news if it weren’t for the fact that there was a huge fire burning right behind him. The short video has gone viral on social media and sparked comparisons to the popular “This is fine” meme. One commentator, however, admonishes us for taking this video too seriously: “What did you want from the kid?…He had already seen enough of the fire.” Honestly, that’s a fair point. Still, we can’t help marvelling at how he could keep his cool in such heated circumstances.

Boy swinging in front of fire
He didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world was turning / Vkontakte

Blog Spotlight

Tired of hearing about Americans going to Russia for the first time? Then read Victor Pogostin’s story about visiting an American subway (Subway) for the first time.

In Odder News

Swan father and baby
Father and baby. / 47channel
  • After the untimely death of his swan partner, one swan father in Gatchina took it on himself to raise their sole surviving swan baby. The elder swan is teaching the hatchling to nip at the grass and clean its feathers.
  • Make way for utkas! In St. Petersburg, drivers on a busy street stopped for two ducks crossing the road — in the crosswalk of course, these are clearly very law-abiding ducks.
Ducks crossing the road
Bon quackage! / Serg Mikerov

Quote of the Week

“Because of the abundance of expletives in the video, the audio had to be turned off.”

— A news website regarding a (terrifying) video of a tourist who got too close to a bear and just barely managed to escape

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

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Some of Our Books

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.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
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. 
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
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.
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.
Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

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.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

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
December 12, 2016

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.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

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