The Life of an Unknown Man by Andrei Makine

This is a big novel set within a relatively short book. It deals with the major disruptions of Russian history in the twentieth century from World War II to the coming of the New Russia after the demise of the Soviet Union. The central characters are Shukov, a middle aged onetime dissident and writer who has lives in Paris, and Volsky, a former soldier and victim of Stalin's purges.

"Sobornost", although not invoked directly, provides one of the central themes of novel, as embodied in the life of Volsky, the unknown man, who in the siege of Leningrad had "come to see human lives as one single communal life and it was perhaps this perception that gave him hope".

However, Volsky's sense of solidarity with other people is contrasted with the lives of the new Russian elite, who are in the process of removing him from a small apartment in Saint Petersburg so this can be re-developed. The eviction co-incides with celebrations of the city's tercentenary, and the arrival of global leaders, including one who for Makine seems to symbolise the New World Order, Tony Blair.

SOBORNOST AND THE BIG SOCIETY

Sobornost : "Spiritual community of many jointly living people". Icon showing the Trinity by Andre Rublev (Wikipedia).

Whilst "en vacances" bicycling around the West Midlands, Boris chanced upon an autobiography of the Archbishop of Canterbury called "Rowan's Rule" in a sale of local library books. Being more spiritual than religious, Boris was not familiar with the Archbishop's affinity for the Orthodox Church and deep interest in Russia's intellectual legacy, failings which this book has now rectified.

It is, therefore, a great shame that BBC Radio 4 did not consult Dr Williams in the making of their epic Russian history series, "The Wild East", the final part of which concluded last week. Whilst some episodes of the series were very good, particularly those dealing with the aftermath of the second 1917 revolution, it is a pity that the central premise of "The Wild East" - civil society in Russia always cedes to the power of the state - came across as BBC propaganda.

The last episode, which focused on the Yeltsin, Putin and Medvedev troika, was especially weak. For whatever the ethical and other shortcomings of post-Soviet government, Russian politicians whilst small in stature have nevertheless succeeded in fulfilling their role in big man politics. However, even the autocratic oligarch nemesis and ever-macho Vladimir Putin, notably during last year's disastrous forest fires across Russia, has been firmly put in his place by those fearless babushkas who beat back the flames engulfing the mother land. It is in these admirable peasant matriarchs and their communities that, in Boris's view, the true and enduring spirit of Russia and sobornost are to be found.

Similarly, when Londoners, and their Mayor, took up brooms to sweep up after the recent riots, the Big Society found something of the same sobornost; which just as well given that the state on the this occasion, both in its government and police, has been found lacking in solidarity: or, put another way "success has many fathers....but failure is a single mother."

"Better than afternoon on oligarch's yacht"

Boris is "en vacances" just now, but his friend Janet reports that a half day trip to Droitwich recently was "better than afternoon on oligarch's yacht (although she has never been on one). The above picture shows the Lido at Droitwich: bigger and better images can be found @ http://ladyofthewaters.wordpress.com/

Whilst lounging beside the pool, Janet read "The Song of Triumphant Love" by Ivan Turgenev from a short story collection in the Oxford World's Classics series, edited by Richard Freeborn. Described as a "jeu d'esprit" this is an exotic tale of love and occult powers set in renaissance Italy.

The Real Wild East - Osterns & Red Westerns

From a Cossack Wedding by Jozef Brandt

Whilst re-reading Octavio Paz's "Itinerary" recently, it occurred to us that "Trotsky - The Western", in which the hero is pursued and eventually killed in Mexico by the ruthless Stalin Gang, might be the material of a darkly humorous movie. We were then only vaguely aware of the existence of the "Ostern" or "Red Western".

These were films made in the former Soviet Union, often in the real wild east of Russia - note reference to current BBC Radio 4 series - with plots adapted to convey a socialist message. It seems, therefore, that the Western was not only a dominant narrative of the US state, but also of the Soviet.

Setting aside inconvenient historical time lines, we feel that John Wayne could have played the role of Boris Yeltsin rather well in the classic western mould, whilst the Stalin-Trotsky relationship might unfold more along the lines of a Sam Peckinpah film.

What is certainly true is that "The Wild East" provides a setting just as evocative as "The Wild West", with the option of a Mexican location available to both Western and Ostern.

With this in mind, Boris shall be setting some space aside on his shelves for films as well as books. He may even venture into video-making territory - the contemporary Cossack resurgence would make excellent subject matter - should an appropriate opportunity present itself.

Against the Grain of Businesss and Politics

Alexender Mamut's current interest in Waterstone's bookstore in some ways goes against the grain of strategic investment by Russian oligarchs, although the British media has recently become a focus of attention.

Mr Mamut was a key supporter of First Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and is now regarded as one of the oligarchs closest to Prime Minister Putin.

Boris's Bookshelf received a copy of Mr Yeltin's autobiography, "Against the Grain", as a gift at the time of publication, and we read it with great interest.

Former President Yeltsin, who died in 2007, became identified with the political and economic problems suffered by Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

However, it may well be that without the intervention of Boris Yeltin in rallying opposition to a military coup in 1991 Russia would not have accomplished the transition from communism to a market economy.

The rest, as they say, is history; and had this been different Alexander Mamut might not be investing against the grain in Waterstone's bookstore

MY DANCING WHITE HORSES

The equestrian pomp and circumstance of the recent British Royal Wedding has reminded Boris of another book whose reading is incomplete: Alois Podhajsky's "My Dancing White Horses".

An autobiography by the former, and perhaps best known, director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, this book deals with the tumultuous events of the first part of the twentieth century from the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire as a consequence of the First World War, through events leading to World War II, to the re-building of Europe in its aftermath.

"My Dancing White Horses" is testimony to how a great passion - in Podhajsky's case horses and the Spanish Riding School - can sustain people through the most difficult circumstances.

Writing the Century - The Iron Curtain

We found the latest BBC Radio 4 "Writing the Century" drama about the 1980s  love affair of Paula, an English teacher, and Knut, an East German doctor, very moving.

MAY DAY 2011 - BORIS & FRIEND JANET

THE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO RUSSIA & BRITAIN

The hero of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is, it turns out, a cultured, albeit spiritually afflicted, man who returns to Russia from travels in Europe to rediscover his homeland. Similarly, Martin Sixsmith revisits "Russia - The Wild East" in a new series for BBC Radio 4, whose first omnibus edition I caught yesterday.

It is interesting that Sixsmith was for a time close to the heart of New Labour, and then fell out with "The Party". In his re-iteration of the centrality of the state in Russia, I cannot help but feel that Sixsmith, also a cultured and, perhaps, somewhat tortured soul himself, may be projecting something of New Labour into his Russian history.

Indeed, to paraphrase Prince Myshkin, the soul of New Labour was also a dark place, and I'm wondering whether the plot of Dostoevsky's book may serve as a parallel to the recent history of England, particularly as we share Saint George - whose day it is today - with the Russians.

On Resuming "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A copy of Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" has lain on Boris's shelves for some years, and we resumed reading this the other day. Our earlier reading had, due to some external development, ceased during Nastasya Filippovna's birthday party, and we are now struck by the likeness of some of the tales told at this event to the short stories of Anton Chekhov. An interesting review of "The Idiot", but not of our Wordsworth Classics translation, written by the contemporary English novelist AS Byatt is available on The Guardian's website.

Our cultural journey travels through time and space....on an otherworldly pace

Ivan Tsarevich Riding The Grey Wolf by Viktor Vasnetsov (1889)

The Soviet Space Programme & London Book Fair

My post of today is on a lighter note than of late, but it cannot defy gravity. The fiftieth anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's orbit of the earth is commemorated in a play commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company. His achievement is also recognised in a Russian Market Focus at the 2011 London Book Fair, currently underway. However, contemporary Russian authors interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Front Row programme yesterday suggested that the positive spin on Russian culture might not be all that it seems.

MORE TROUBLE WITH TOLSTOY - DARK DAYS AND NIGHTS OF THE SOUL

The final episode of BBC 1's account of Tolstoy's life was, perhaps inevitably, not so enjoyable as the first. Indeed, the author's final days were compared with the tragedy of King Lear. Although Tolstoy famously disliked Shakespeare, preferring the English Victorian writer Mrs Henry Wood, of whose novel "The Maze" he wrote favourably to his brother. However, whilst this detail was omitted by Alan Yentob, Tolstoy's own novels of Anna Karenina and Resurrection were explored, together with the spirit of Christian anarchy which the author came to embody. Tolstoy's political interests where also developed, including his correspondence with the future Indian leader Gandhi, as well as fears amongst the Russian authorities of a Tolstoyan revolution. Nevertheless, whilst not exactly uplifting, the conclusion of Yentob's reflections on the life of Tolstoy struck a thoughtful note, certainly something to be welcomed in the present time.

In Search of Russian Soil: The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains

Sadly, one book that will not be found on Boris's shelves - nor that of our local library in England - is a copy of "The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains" by Roderick Impey Murchison (main author), Edouard de Verneuil and Count Alexander von Keyserling, published in London and Paris, 1845. For although Murschison presented a copy to the Worcestershire Natural History Society, this was recently sold by the County Council ; along with a first edition of Malthus's Essay on Population, which fetched £52 000. A memorial stone to Murchison in the Russian city of Perm is shown above.

The themes of soil and population in the present day contexts of Russia and England do, however, make for some interesting reflection. For whilst it is questionable whether England's present population is sustainable, that of Russia has declined significantly in recent years. Could a modern Rouble - or perhaps Euro - equivalent of the "Ten Pound Pom" therefore be a possibility in the light of projected increases in the English population. I'm sure our nineteenth century intellectual ancestors would have something more sensible to say on this subject, having both a spiritual and practical outlook, than the supposed cultural and environmental custodions of the present age.

IN SEARCH OF THE RUSSIAN SOUL - THE TOLSTOY TRAVELOGUE OF ALAN YENTOB

I very much enjoyed the first episode of "The Trouble With Tolstoy" on the BBC last Sunday. The portly Alan Yentob made an excellent guide for a literary travelogue by rail which followed Tolstoy's life - starting with his death at a railway station - from birth to middle age. Beginning at his ancestral home (shown here), an earlier version of which the young man Tolstoy gambled away, the journey took in the city of Kazan where he was a student, the Crimea where he was a soldier, St Petersburg where he was a socialite, and back to Yasnaya Polyana where Tolstoy settled down to married life and wrote the epic "War and Peace".  Episode one ended with a regular re-enactment of the Battle of Borodino outside Moscow, which the Russians successfully defended against Napoleon. For the viewer, as for Yentob, the scenes of dare devil horsemanship seem to symbolise the brinkmanship of the Russian soul which Tolstoy's life also embodied. Episode two is next Sunday.