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.