In the introduction Lermontov writes that the book was not just a portrait of one man but of all his generation’s vices. Many critics, however, have taken the character of Pechorin to be more of a self-portrait than Lermontov would admit...
A teenage star of the Russian music world, 19 year-old Lera Masskva is a young rocker with a bright future. With the rock chick attitude down pat, a hit album under her belt and a talented producer behind her, Masskva has managed to build a huge fan base in her short rise to fame. In what is a male-dominated genre in Russia, Masskva is conspicuous as much by her gender as by her age.
Lera explains that females are under-represented in Russian rock, “simply because pop music sells better. Girls who want to be singers, they just get acquainted with producers and the producers write songs for them that are designed to sell. It’s easier for them to start their careers as pop singers. The mentality of our country is such that pop music has a big audience.”
Lera explains that females are under-represented in Russian rock, “simply because pop music sells better. Girls who want to be singers, they just get acquainted with producers and the producers write songs for them that are designed to sell. It’s easier for them to start their careers as pop singers. The mentality of our country is such that pop music has a big audience.”
Somebody said that we live the stories that we are telling to ourselves. And Tatyana Tolstaya writes about the people who live through the kind of stories that make their existence unbearable. The protagonists of her books -- Soviet clerks, doctors, engineers, and housewives -- are all stuck in something. For some it is hopes and dreams for a better life, for the others it's unbearable circumstances they chose for their own existence. And the only way to escape the burden of this reality is to create your own world of enchanting dreams and imagination, full of lively characters, magic objects, and playful interactions...
(Photo by Sasha Reshetilov)
Tolstaya's stories do not only offer an interesting way of looking at our perception of everyday life, they also provide a new understanding of life in Russia and The Soviet Union during that time. The period when Russian people had to transform from dreaming romantics into ruthless survivors and when the longing for material well-being came in conflict with the desire for inner peace.
(Photo by Sasha Reshetilov)
Tolstaya's stories do not only offer an interesting way of looking at our perception of everyday life, they also provide a new understanding of life in Russia and The Soviet Union during that time. The period when Russian people had to transform from dreaming romantics into ruthless survivors and when the longing for material well-being came in conflict with the desire for inner peace.
