8 ms·
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 h
by nathell 4y ago
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.
- darepublic 4y agoDostoyevsky was also a nationalist, right? He had a lot of bad things to say about Germans and Polish. I am comfortable just reading his work and taking what I appreciate from it and disregarding the dated or problematic parts. Would have no issue applying the same logic to Pushkin
- dynamic_sausage 4y agoThis is a good point. Just like it should be ok to read Kipling for his literary merits, keeping in mind you don't have to agree with his politics.
- tlear 4y agoRussian intelligentsia ends where Ukraine begins. Always been the case
- dynamic_sausage 4y agoYep. 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%B0%D0%BC_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8E%3F https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BA_%D0%BD%D0...
- the_af 4y agoSolzhenitsyn 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.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]