On the Dark Side of the Moon

You get the feeling Viktor Pelevin read quite a bit of Kurt Vonnegut, as he had great fun with the decaying Soviet space program in his first novel, Omon Ra. The introductory chapters are pretty much background for the story, which sees two boyhood friends dreaming of flying to the moon while at pioneer camp. You don't really get the full impact of the story until the two find themselves in a flight training camp named after the famed fighter ace, Alexei Mariesiev. Eventually, they are shipped out to the cosmonaut program where they undergo a rigorous set of exams including a reincarnation test.

It's a brisk read, as Pelevin leads you on a journey of discovery quite unlike any other. The Soviet Union finds itself in a battle with the USA in keeping up the appearances of a space program during the Brezhnev era. Even a great bear hunt for the visiting Henry Kissinger was staged, with disastrous consequences, as related in a story to "Ommy" by a blind, wheelchair bound general, who becomes his mentor. Omon and his buddy Mitiok soon find themselves pitted against each other, much like Gagarin and Titov, to further Soviet scientific studies on the dark side of the moon.

This cosmic journey is peppered with a number of fun references. There's even a cameo appearance by Laika, a very aged space dog in a general's jacket and cap. Belka and Strelka also make appearances in a climactic chase scene. Although you figure out where this narrative is headed long before you reach the final chapters, the story doesn't lose its impact, thanks largely to Pelevin's wonderful sense of irony.

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Ward No. 6

Ward No. 6 is a short story written by Chekhov in 1892. It has appeared in various collections of Chekhov short stories, including The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories translated by Constance Garnett in 1921. In this story, Chekhov explores the inner working of a run-down lunatic asylum in a provincial town. He introduces the readers to a coarse porter who speaks mostly with his fists, various patients, a doctor who presides over this ward, and expresses his thoughts with a local postmaster. It was recently made into a movie , featuring Vladimir Ilyin. Here's a clip . There's also this very recent short film (30 min.) by Suzana Purkovic, with English subtitles.

Light and Dark

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The Morning of Our Motherland

I was watching a History channel special on Socialist Realism art of the Soviet Union and this was one of the grand canvases that is now stuffed away in the Tretyakov State Gallery . The painter was Fyodor Shurpin and he had a wonderful eye for detail, right down to the secret service black car on the road to Stalin's right. To the left, one sees a row of combines turning over the field of golden wheat, which became symbolic of Stalin's Soviet Union. Утро нашей Родины is from 1949, with Stalin radiating a post-war confidence. It is also known as Dawn of our Fatherland and other titles. Shurpin was one of the better artists to carry over from the pre-war years. The narrator pointed out how socialist realist art changed dramatically as a result of the war, becoming much more static and propagandist in appearance. He pointed to two stops along the Moscow subway as an example of this divide. Here, Shurpin essentially transposes Stalin for an earlier "Mother"

Chekhov's Gun

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