On Saturday I went to my first Russian play (I've been to a few in Ukraine), appropriately it was written by Gogol (a Ukrainian). If you've never read anything of Gogol, you really ought to. His stuff is very bizarre, but in an absolutely delightful way. The story of the play is that of the slow descent into madness of a low ranking official in St. Petersburg after he falls for a girl who barely knows he exists. The only way he is able to find greatness in life is through his delusional fantasies of becoming the king of Spain. I certainly can't relate to that even a little bit (quiet Drinky, you'll spoil everything! (that was an inside joke, if you're lucky, someday I'll let you in on it).
It was such a great evening, and I left feeling like if Gogol could get through the tough Russian life, just maybe I can too. But then I remembered that the whole point of the story is that in an ever maddening world, only those who completely lose what's most precious to them (individuality/soul) will achieve greatness. Russian authors have a terrible tendency to live a shadow of what they write. Pushkin was killed in a duel much like his hero in Eugene Onegin, Tolstoy's life is well described by the life of Levin in Anna Karenina, and Gogol really did eventually descend into a maddened state, burning the last half of his greatest novel Dead Souls (still an incredible novel, maybe the last half would have ruined it). So the real moral of this story is that no matter how hard you try, you'll fail. Or maybe it's that you'll never succeed unless you believe in success. I guess what I'm trying to say is tяh#$ Z7ющikфиR^. (I'm not condoning the viewing of pirated material, this is just my unique way of properly citing my work, so watch 19:32 of this for further commentary on what sort of ending this was.
http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v433502ab3b )
These are the impressions of some of my friends I went with...
It was such a great evening, and I left feeling like if Gogol could get through the tough Russian life, just maybe I can too. But then I remembered that the whole point of the story is that in an ever maddening world, only those who completely lose what's most precious to them (individuality/soul) will achieve greatness. Russian authors have a terrible tendency to live a shadow of what they write. Pushkin was killed in a duel much like his hero in Eugene Onegin, Tolstoy's life is well described by the life of Levin in Anna Karenina, and Gogol really did eventually descend into a maddened state, burning the last half of his greatest novel Dead Souls (still an incredible novel, maybe the last half would have ruined it). So the real moral of this story is that no matter how hard you try, you'll fail. Or maybe it's that you'll never succeed unless you believe in success. I guess what I'm trying to say is tяh#$ Z7ющikфиR^. (I'm not condoning the viewing of pirated material, this is just my unique way of properly citing my work, so watch 19:32 of this for further commentary on what sort of ending this was.
http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v433502ab3b )
These are the impressions of some of my friends I went with...
I commented on this right after you posted it, but it didn't save. Just wanted you to know. I twas an awesome post, too.
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