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Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

theatlantic.com

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Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#51

Post by atemerev »

I am Russian. We will discuss the problems with Russian culture after the end of the war (with the Ukrainian victory, of course). For now, our time would be better spent not mourning Russian culture, but helping Ukrainians and learning how to fight the criminal Russian regime.

When my country has begun the greatest atrocity of our generation, there are now more urgent things to do than write articles about the loss of its culture. For example, volunteering to help Ukrainians, donating money to their cause, and doing other things that will help reverse this disaster, even if only a little bit.

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#52

Post by UIUC_06 »

As someone who's read Anna Karenina three times and yet despises anyone in Russia who puts up a Z, or who idolizes Stalin.

The cleanest way out is to separate them. The work of art stands on its own, and you can't critique The Epic of Gilgamesh by complaining that they still had slaves back then and there was no health care system.

I haven't read Pushkin, not being into poetry OR speaking Russian, but if Pushkin said some evil things in "To the Slanderers of Russia", you just have to concentrate on the poetry he wrote that does speak to you. Apparently that's difficult but passing moral judgment is easy?

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#53

Post by the_af »

dynamic_sausage wrote: post #31
nathell wrote: post #18

Well, I can live with not blaming Dostoyevsky. But when I read Pushkin's "To the Slanderers of Russia", or Brodsky's "On the Independence of Ukraine", I can't help noticing the same mindset of entitlement that perpetuates and fuels the present war. It beats me how Brodsky, the same person who penned "Bosnia Tune", could have succumbed to that thinking.

Yep. Likewise for Solzhenitsyn who denied Ukraine and its language the right to existence in no uncertain terms. See e.g. the 1990 essay "How should we organize Russia": (link in Russian) https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BA_%D0%BD%D0...

Solzhenitsyn also held antisemitic views. But the Western world is more or less in love with him because he was an anticommunist. Oh, well.

That's why cherry picking quotes to show how "imperialist" classic Russian writers were because we currently dislike Putin's Russia is so silly.

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#55

Post by the_af »

azangru wrote: post #16

I wonder who Shishkin is writing this for, and why he bothers. Readers interested in Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, or Chekhov are presumably intellectuals. Presumably, they will be familiar with the countless examples from history when, driven by patriotic fervor, countries cleansed themselves from the culture of an adversarial state, including language, literature, music, linguistic borrowings, scientific contributions, com…

So you think trying to educate people or sway their opinions should never be attempted?

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#56

Post by [deleted] »

nathell wrote: post #18

Well, I can live with not blaming Dostoyevsky. But when I read Pushkin's "To the Slanderers of Russia", or Brodsky's "On the Independence of Ukraine", I can't help noticing the same mindset of entitlement that perpetuates and fuels the present war. It beats me how Brodsky, the same person who penned "Bosnia Tune", could have succumbed to that thinking.

[deleted]

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#57

Post by jnsaff2 »

zmgsabst wrote: post #43
WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you read the Minsk agreements? Have you fucking read it? Do you know what they have in them, point by point? Care to quote them?

This is a weird comment. > This agreement consisted of a package of measures, including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government. While fighting subsided following the agreement's signing, it never ended completely,…

No post body was provided.

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#58

Post by the_af »

vlyubin wrote: post #13

A Ukrainian here - couldn't disagree more with the author. Take a beloved in the West author like Solzhenitsyn, whose "compassion" suddenly evaporates when Ukrainian question is raised. Even a modern sci-fi author Sergei Lukyanenko does not shy away from racial jokes against Ukrainians or Lithuanians in his Dozor books. Ukraine is a pawn at the world stage, but if the West is serious about battling russia (for its ow…

The "cultural front" terrifies me. I hope war is not waged on that front.

Re: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

#60

Post by Mordisquitos »

atemerev wrote: post #51

I am Russian. We will discuss the problems with Russian culture after the end of the war (with the Ukrainian victory, of course). For now, our time would be better spent not mourning Russian culture, but helping Ukrainians and learning how to fight the criminal Russian regime. When my country has begun the greatest atrocity of our generation, there are now more urgent things to do than write articles about the loss o…

I would go one step further. What if we spend our time not on performative cancellation and condemnation of Russian culture, but on helping Ukrainians and learning how to fight the criminal Russian regime?
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