Larisa, I didn't receive the notification for this new post of yours, but I'm happy I came here to check out.
I can't believe you went to see Nureyev as a young dancer, he's the reason why I started to study Russian at 15!
In the middle of all those big events in politics and the arts – which I find extremely interesting – I'd like to read more about your friendship with the two Galina's: three young women in Leningrad in the 1960's, a whole novel in the making.
I thought my post would go automatically to my subscribers' emails. What is wrong?
This is interesting!? You began studying Russian because of a ballet dancer? And, yes, I was at his last morning performance at Mariinka. About two Galina, I write a lot, especially a thief, she went with me until the end of her life. Thank you for reading.
Your "Siberian exile," among the law students caused me to reconsider your time as a child outside of Cheremkhovo.
In my ignorance, I had imagined the idealistic national impetus of soviet custom was what separated you from your close blood relations.
Was it, in fact, personal politics that left you to mostly fend for yourself against the likes of Aunt Shura, as a child?
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Also, you shed light on the tenuous nature of being related to a famous voice, beautifully.
Ill-will is a potent force, and fresh starts can be near impossible for a known entity.
Fame that precedes can be a such a difficult thing.
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Your work on Russia's poetic heroes and your own story elucidate the burdens of one destined to be an outsider.
Being ostracized with a misfit and an outlaw to such a distant orbit certainly expedited the course of your inevitable encounter with an information source as scandalous as Voice of America. Life is rich!
As it happens, Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago came to me at the beginning of a seven-year journey through information that ran counter to everything I had learned prior. Most of my scandalous reading material was shamed as "conspiracy theory" or "Russian propaganda."
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Forgive my garrulity.
Thank you for your creative devotion, your noble disposition, and your transportive articles.
Cameron, please, don't make me noble. I am just a regular person, who at the end of my life decided to tell the story about my Soviet experience, which is unknown in this country. Yes, you're right about my idealistic impetus, which sent me at 16 (not a child) to Siberia to build communism according to Communist propaganda. We, children, all believed in their propaganda. It's almost the same here. My daughter and her husband believe in the idea of Socialism from their college studies, as a lot of us in Soviet Russia believed in Communism. The best part of the Soviet intelligentsia were the insider immigrants in their country. Thank you very much for reading and thinking about my past in my country. It is the best present to me from my reader.
The anecdote about the author who so revered Dostoevsky that he married his widow, who commenced to tyrannize him, seemed like an “only in Russia” kind of thing to me, in the sense that literature enjoys a peculiarly exalted place in Russia.
David, it wasn't anecdote for him. It was a real-life tragedy. He became a famous philosopher, was deeply disappointed in A. Syslova, Dostoevsky's lover (who wanted to marry her in his time), loved the other woman and her children, but Suslova didn't give him a divorce. He died from hunger in 1921. Young Tsvetaeva had a correspondence with him. I don't know about "only in Russia" in this case.
I was in Russia to visit my parents and friends. I was shocked by how poorer people became, and mostly the pensioners. They sold on the streets their humble belongings. In what year did you leave the country, if I may ask?
Larisa, I have enjoyed reading about your life in Russia.
Oh, thank you very much. It was a long life there, I hope you will continue enjoying reading it. Thank you.
Yes, I intend to. Good night, Friend.
Good night, Kathleen, thank you.
Larisa, I didn't receive the notification for this new post of yours, but I'm happy I came here to check out.
I can't believe you went to see Nureyev as a young dancer, he's the reason why I started to study Russian at 15!
In the middle of all those big events in politics and the arts – which I find extremely interesting – I'd like to read more about your friendship with the two Galina's: three young women in Leningrad in the 1960's, a whole novel in the making.
I thought my post would go automatically to my subscribers' emails. What is wrong?
This is interesting!? You began studying Russian because of a ballet dancer? And, yes, I was at his last morning performance at Mariinka. About two Galina, I write a lot, especially a thief, she went with me until the end of her life. Thank you for reading.
Your "Siberian exile," among the law students caused me to reconsider your time as a child outside of Cheremkhovo.
In my ignorance, I had imagined the idealistic national impetus of soviet custom was what separated you from your close blood relations.
Was it, in fact, personal politics that left you to mostly fend for yourself against the likes of Aunt Shura, as a child?
--------------------
Also, you shed light on the tenuous nature of being related to a famous voice, beautifully.
Ill-will is a potent force, and fresh starts can be near impossible for a known entity.
Fame that precedes can be a such a difficult thing.
---------------------
Your work on Russia's poetic heroes and your own story elucidate the burdens of one destined to be an outsider.
Being ostracized with a misfit and an outlaw to such a distant orbit certainly expedited the course of your inevitable encounter with an information source as scandalous as Voice of America. Life is rich!
As it happens, Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago came to me at the beginning of a seven-year journey through information that ran counter to everything I had learned prior. Most of my scandalous reading material was shamed as "conspiracy theory" or "Russian propaganda."
-------------------
Forgive my garrulity.
Thank you for your creative devotion, your noble disposition, and your transportive articles.
Cameron, please, don't make me noble. I am just a regular person, who at the end of my life decided to tell the story about my Soviet experience, which is unknown in this country. Yes, you're right about my idealistic impetus, which sent me at 16 (not a child) to Siberia to build communism according to Communist propaganda. We, children, all believed in their propaganda. It's almost the same here. My daughter and her husband believe in the idea of Socialism from their college studies, as a lot of us in Soviet Russia believed in Communism. The best part of the Soviet intelligentsia were the insider immigrants in their country. Thank you very much for reading and thinking about my past in my country. It is the best present to me from my reader.
Cheers to your patience with my flattery and your willingness to correct my errant memory concerning your time in Siberia!
The anecdote about the author who so revered Dostoevsky that he married his widow, who commenced to tyrannize him, seemed like an “only in Russia” kind of thing to me, in the sense that literature enjoys a peculiarly exalted place in Russia.
Sounds like torturous liaisons indeed
David, it wasn't anecdote for him. It was a real-life tragedy. He became a famous philosopher, was deeply disappointed in A. Syslova, Dostoevsky's lover (who wanted to marry her in his time), loved the other woman and her children, but Suslova didn't give him a divorce. He died from hunger in 1921. Young Tsvetaeva had a correspondence with him. I don't know about "only in Russia" in this case.
I really enjoy your memoirs. I recognize a lot of what you say even though I was a student in 1990s. The DNA of the country remains the same.
Thank you, Eugine. But the country was free of Communism after 1991, and nothing changed? This is interesting.
Some things started to slowly change, but they were stifled in 2001.
I was in Russia to visit my parents and friends. I was shocked by how poorer people became, and mostly the pensioners. They sold on the streets their humble belongings. In what year did you leave the country, if I may ask?
Overall, people got a little richer, relatively speaking. We left in 2016.
You are fresh here, and you have made such a big following! You are Molodets!
I like reading memoirs about the 50s-60s when my parents were young and the transition from Stalin to Kruchev’s thaw.
A fascinating story as always!
Thank you! I appreciate your love of Russian literature and language.
That was most enlightening
Thank you, thank you very much.