Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006580, Tue, 21 May 2002 08:02:11 -0700

Subject
Russian classics as read by politicians (fwd)
Date
Body
From: alex <sklyarenko@users.mns.ru>

I wonder, if the concepts "politician" and "reader" (in the modern world) are compatiable at all.
May I make a little comment on the reading abilities of Russian politicians in that respect. A few months ago the Moscow mayor (who is a leader of some new party), Y. Luzhkov, said:
"Everything has come in confusion [vsyo smeshalos' - a Tolstoyan phrase from the beginning of "Anna Karenina" quoted to death in Russian mass media] in our party as in that novel by Goncharov" (confusing Oblonski with Oblomov in the process).
Nabokov's spirit would be delighted with that howler (in fact, one almost wonders if that pronouncement wasn't somehow suggested to the unfortunate quoter by his spirit).
And the late mayor (of St. Petersburg) Sobchak, who gave the impression of most intelligent Russian politician of the time and who was actually the patron and "political godfather" of our present leader, once said that his favorite writer was Chase (author of the detective novels, I don't remember his initials) whom he read in translation, of course.
But, nevertheless, big polititians tend to be writers themselves (and here both mentioned city fathers are no
exceptions). So, let them write by all means, and may God send them a reader! - as Pushkin would say.

Alexey