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Quotes from Bykov

~ Clarissa ~ Leave a comment

The defining Russian idea of the twentieth century is that evil is acceptable because it’s useful.

Dmitry Bykov, VZ (2024)

Bykov is correct but he forgets that Dostoyevsky wrote in the mid-nineteenth century, and this vision of evil was already all over his work.

Another great quote from his new book is this:

The Enlightenment era is ending, and this has a great (and maybe an only) benefit. We are no longer limited to analyzing history through the lens of economic and geographic determinism. As a result, we don’t have to keep looking at history exclusively as an arena where material relations manifest themselves. That is why I insist that a religious interpretation of world politics is legitimate.

These are all my translations, in case anybody wonders.

Bykov is a great admirer of the Polish philosopher Leszek Kołakowski, and that’s one of the things that draws me to his book.

I promise I’ll write about VZ at length very soon, but for now please enjoy the quotes. Bykov is a truly great writer (and a really exceptional poet) who lost his audience. For a writer, there’s no worse fate. Spanish dissidents in the 1930s and 1940s could go to Latin America, join literary life there, get published, hang out with other writers, read their work, find readers, and do all this in their own language. The tragedy of a writer who has nowhere to go and who suddenly lost not only his readers but his literary circle is deep.

This isn’t an issue of finances. Bykov is mega famous. He’s been hired by Cornell and will not become a starving artist. Which might actually have been a good idea given his girth. But he’s bereft by his loss even though he doesn’t whine or pout and insists it’s the right thing to happen and he’s fine with it.

Self-inflicted

~ Clarissa ~ 21 Comments

Many more people in this country know who Jennifer Aniston is than who JD Vance is. And I mean, enormously more. But instead of turning on some charm, complimenting Aniston, and using this interview as an opportunity to moderate his remarks and say something nice about a mega popular celebrity, this useless fellow loses his cool and flutters around like a hysterical spinster. “Disgusting!” he whines, showing that he can become unsettled by a social media remark and can’t be trusted to keep his cool even in the most trivial situations imaginable.

This is somebody who couldn’t bring more voters to the campaign to save his life.

Not Heritable

~ Clarissa ~ 29 Comments

As a daughter of a math teacher, I have some bad news.

A Trump Peace Plan

~ Clarissa ~ 5 Comments

The article is pay-walled but here’s an excellent breakdown (in English) by a Ukrainian professor:

It’s a thread, and you have to see all of it to understand the whole plan.

Obviously, I think it’s a phenomenal plan. It’s definitely miles better than the Democrat plan which is that there is no plan at all.* If I believed that it’s truly Trump’s peace plan, I’d be a happy, happy bunny.

Problem is, I don’t believe that a) this is actually Trump’s plan and b) that any results will be delivered even if it were. I already believed an excellent plan on immigration that came to nought.

But yeah, what a fantastic plan. It’s so good I want to kiss it. It would be amazing to have people with a clear plan that can be widely publicized in charge. And I mean a plan for not just Ukraine, of course. I mean a plan for America.

* If there is, I will be very grateful to be pointed to it.

Yellow Bodies

~ Clarissa ~ 6 Comments

Note to the wise: the expression “black and brown bodies” has been expanded to include “yellow bodies.” Not by me, mind you. It would have never occurred to me to use it.

In the book I’m reading – which is a mainstream novel and “A Good Morning America Book Club Pick”, as well as “Best Book” by Glamour, TIME and Cosmopolitan – “yellow bodies” are Japanese, and I’m not sure I want to know who else might count.

Unlike “black and brown bodies” where only the “bodies” part is iffy, the expression “yellow bodies” is even more disturbing because isn’t “yellow” an insult when applied to East Asians?

The novel, titled Mika in Real Life, is actually quite good but I’m only 12% in. I’ll post a review when I’m finished.

Magical Cure

~ Clarissa ~ 7 Comments

So… they were not sexist, racist fascists as we were exhaustively told until 2 seconds ago? Or have they experienced a magical cure? Or maybe they found a bigger sexist, racist fascist in Kamala than in Trump?

There’s got to be an explanation, and I’m eager to hear it.

Childhood Games

~ Clarissa ~ 2 Comments

Children are exceptionally good at transmitting their traditions throughout history. We played this exactly the same, and in this exact order of movements, in 1984:

Are your children playing the same games you did?

Architectural Riddle

~ Clarissa ~ 17 Comments

This building was erected in the Soviet Republic of Chuvash in 1985. The architects received a prestigious state award (well, it was the USSR, there was no other type) for the project.

Cool, huh? Can you guess what it is without googling?

The answer is on the next page but stop a moment to contemplate this image.

Pages: 1 2

Feeling Understood

~ Clarissa ~ 27 Comments

This is my political trajectory in a nutshell:

I literally simply just wanted to take my kid to play in the park which normally would have made me a good mother but in 2020 it suddenly made me far-right and I haven’t recovered since.

Netanyahu’s Speech

~ Clarissa ~ 12 Comments

I heard there was some big scandal about Netanyahu’s speech in Congress. I watched it to see for myself.

Admittedly, I don’t watch a lot of political speeches. I don’t believe I’ve watched any since the Trump administration. Still, I saw nothing wrong with Netanyahu’s speech. The delivery was clear and strong, the structure worked, the quotes were not abundant and to the point. One joke didn’t land but it’s not a big deal since humor is hard to get right even in one’s own language.

Netanyahu expressed admiration and gratitude to his hosts. In fact, he did it many times and very strongly. He thanked both Biden and Trump, which is appropriate because a foreign dignitary should not take partisan positions in a country where he’s invited to speak. As long-time readers know, I like Netanyahu only slightly more than a bout of diarrhea but nothing rubbed me wrong during this speech.

It looks like people have gotten so deep inside their heads that they honestly believe a good speech is one where the speaker expresses not his beliefs but theirs. If he doesn’t say exactly what they would want to say, the speech is condemned as bad. There is no realization that Netanyahu came to express his official position as his country’s leader. The speech is good if he managed to do that in a way that is clear and easy to understand without mumbling, screeching, or being impolite to the hosts.

I liked the speech and cannot stop feeling sad for people whose worldview revolves around the idea that the goal of life is to avoid any form of discomfort, including of the intellectual kind.