Re: Tymoshenko on Hohol/Gogol

On Jun 11, 5:37 am, "Ostap S. B. M. Bender Jr."
<ostap_bender_1...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 10, 3:14 pm, ch....@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:





http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua/eng/news/first/7487/

Yulia Tymoshenko: Mykola Gogol’s literary works unite Ukraine and
Russia

 1530, 24 April 2009    // Ukrayinska Pravda

 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko believes the works by writer Mykola
Gogol unite Ukraine and Russia. She said this on Friday during a
presentation of a full collection of Gogol’s works, published thanks
to the joint efforts of Ukrainian and Russian experts.

Tymoshenko wrote the introduction to the publication. “It’s important
for us that two countries truly unite around Gogol and with this
initiative jointly give the world a full collection of his unedited
works,” Tymoshenko said.

She also reminded that Russian Ambassador to Ukraine was the initiator
of the joint Ukrainian-Russian publication of Gogol’s works. According
to her, this new book puts an end to discussions over which culture
this writer belongs to. “When Ukrainian and Russian politicians meet,
what’s most important is that they say “Gogol is ours!” I want for us
to say that he’s both of ours, because he’s truly someone that both
people can be proud of,” she said.

“I believe that two cultural and literary traditions – Ukrainian and
Russian – came from Gogol. Each culture took from the author what was
clearest, closest and most important. Gogol does unite us,” she
noted.

“His works and uncommon figure became part of world history as a
Russian writer, but Gogol was always Ukrainian,” she added.

Chernomirdin added that Gogol opened up the Ukrainian people to the
Russians. “Gogol belongs to all those who love him. Gogol opened up
the Ukrainian people to the Russians – their originality, culture,
unique language and traditions, just like Pushkin opened up Russia for
the world,” she said.

Chernomirdin and Tymoshenko thanked all the experts that took part in
preparing the complete works by Gogol.

 -----------------

So Chernomyrdin is basically conceding that Gogol is as Ukrainian as
Pushkin is Russian....

Well, if Chernomyrdin said so - then it's final. :-)  No wonder he is
the man who, while Russian Prime Minister, was apologizing for some
mistake by his Cabinet and blurted out a classic phrase that best
describes the Yeltsin era policies, as well as all other Russian
policies in the last 200 years: "Hoteli kak luchshe, a poluchilos' kak
vsegda"  - "We wanted to make it as well as possible, but instead it
turned out as usual".

Here is another phrase describing Yeltsin's and his own dead-at-birth
party NDR in the 1990s: "Skol'ko ni zanimaysia seychas
partstroitel'stvom - vse ravno poluchaetsia chto-to napominayuschee
KPSS". "No matter what party we try to create  these days - it turns
out like something resembling KPSS". This phrase sounds like he could
see into the future...

Here is another in my English translation: "Unfortunately I have never
met Mr. Bush Jr., but I know Bush Sr and his spouse Mister... I mean
Mirs. Barbara. A very good family. That is, knowing his wonderful
father and mother - well, this one..."

"My profession and the entire life were spent in the atmosphere of oil
and gas" / He is an oil/gas man and was the original (in both senses)
Chairman of Gasprom /

Shenderovich has a huge collection of "pearls" from Chernomyrdin,
Yeltsin, Seleznev, Zhirinovsky and Putin here:

http://www.shender.ru/arhiv/

But seriously, Gogol is indeed the first greate prose writer in the
Russian  (as well as Ukrainian) culture. He is to the Russian prose
what Pushkin is to the Russian poetry: the founder.

What is quite more important here is how Tymoshenko has moved very far
in the "reconcilliation with Russia" direction in order to get the
majority of the 90+% voters who don't like Yuschenko. A perfect
strategy. She already has the vast majority of Yuschenko's voters,
leaving him with only the far right. Now she is going to gain a big
chunk of Yanukovich's voters and she will be impossible to beat in the
next presidential elections, unless she or her people do something
devastatingly stupid. With Yuschenko looking more and more like an
extremist (and the world economy going into the tank while Yuschenko
is the president), Tymoshenko will be the Centrist and Uniter
candidate, something that the vast majority of the voters have been
longing for for a long time. This woman is smarter than all other Uke
politicians put together.

My impressions from following Ukrainian events from the USA is the
Yushchenko has no support, not even from the right-wing extremists who
have their own party, Svoboda (the "Freedom Party"). Although
Yushchenko has consistantly supported NATO membership he's generally
been perceived as a weak, "pragmatic" moderate figure who never stood
up to Yanukovich/Donetsk enough and as such never had strong support
from extreme elements. The perception among such folk - and not only
them but also from Russian-speaking non-extremists from Kiev who were
sick of their country being controlled by an elite made up of crude
Donetsk gangsters - is that he had a chance in 2004 to rid Ukraine of
Donetsk corruption but was too conciliatory, too peaceful, too weak to
do so, and moreover he prevented Tymoshenko from doing this too.

While Tymoshenko is much more popular her star, as well as that of
Yanukovich, has faded somewhat too. The aforementioned Freedom Party
and the party of Yatsenuk - a 34 year old banker who seems like a
younger version of Yushchenko tried to be (moderate, pragmatic,
intelligent technocrat) - are gaining. If it comes down to Tymoshenko
vs. Yanukovich the former will win. But if the Orange vote gets split
who knows who knows what will happen. The elections are scheduled for
January 2010.

regards,

BM


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