July 21, 2016

Ivan the Terrible and Pokémon the Great


Ivan the Terrible and Pokémon the Great

Pokémon, Go Away

1. Russia is a fascinating place, full of beauty and history. Would it be even better if you could snag a Jigglypuff on your tour of the Kremlin? According to the government, keep your eyes on the tour guide. Hunt for Pokémons in the wrong places and you could even land in jail. Still, maybe that’s not the worst that could happen, given that Pokémon “reeks of Satanism.”

themoscowtimes.com

2. Is a statue honoring Ivan IV a terrible plan? The tsar, better known as Ivan the Terrible, founded Oryol as a fortress to defend Russia’s southern border in 1566. As the city celebrates its 450th birthday, there’s plenty of debate about whether the founding father should be celebrated, too – specifically, in bronze. Residents are campaigning against the monument to one of history’s cruelest leaders, but the governor says the statue’s going up, picketers be darned.  

3. Feeling dopey? Investigations have revealed exactly how Russia’s positive doping samples performed disappearing acts in past Olympics. Here’s a hint: it involved swapping out dope-laced urine, cutting holes in walls, tampering with tamper-proof bottles, adding a pinch of salt, and other super-spy tactics. Performance-enhancing drugs don’t exactly fit the Olympics model, but the Games won’t feel quite complete if the International Olympic Committee rules to ban Russia from competing.

In Odder News

spbdnevnik.ru
  • You’d think a huge thunderstorm would make street cleaning irrelevant. Not for one street cleaner who dumped water on a flooding street.
  • Russia’s intelligence service raided Russia’s top police force to dig up connections to organized crime. Huh?

Quote of the Week

"People should be dragged out of this virtual world, it reeks of Satanism. There are so many interesting things to do and people are just wasting their lives." 

—Cossack Leader Andrei Polyakov on Pokémon Go. Polyakov has plenty more to say – about Pokémon and otherwise – in The Spine of Russia, an epic journey down Russia's backbone in which Polyakov is one of 43 people Russian Life correspondents met, interviewed, and photographed. Get your book today

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Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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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.  
The Moscow Eccentric

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.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

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Fearful Majesty

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Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

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Dostoyevsky Bilingual

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The Moscow Eccentric
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Life Stories
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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.

White Magic
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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.

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