Mikhail Lermontov Part I: The Original Hipster



If Russian literature is a history of Pushkin imitators, then Lermontov came first, and he’s still the best. Many have tried imitate Pushkin’s style, but few went as far to write tragic poems about his hero’s death in a duel, and proceed to, years later, perish in a duel himself. People just aren’t committed to their writing like that anymore.

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Whose Moscow is it, anyway?



Rustem Adagamov, known as Drugoi in his LiveJournal, a rather well-known photographer and public figure, posted a series of photos entitled “Курбан-байрам по-московски” – “Kurban-Bayram Moscow-style”, which was celebrated on Friday, October 26th. The photos and the captions to them are rather objective, but there is one line in his post that tells it all: “Это теперь тоже наша Москва и к ней нужно привыкнуть” – “Now this is our Moscow, too, and it’s time to get used to it”.

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