Real USSR » books

Sherlock Holmes VS USSR: 1 Nil.

eugenia — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:18:05 +0000

My iPad has really got me reading recently. On iBooks almost all of classic literature is free, so I am reading a book by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Man with the Twisted Lip. There was a passage that struck me as remarkable (or, as Conan Doyle would put it, rather singular):

One night — it was in June 1889 — there came a ring to my bell. … We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps upon the linoleum. Our door flew open, and a lady, clad in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.

The Soviet movie illustration of this book. 1979. Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Dr Watson.

Really. In June 1881, just like that, Sherlock had linoleum, which was nothing extraordinary at the time — given he was presumed to somewhat struggle financially, and thus his need to share a flat. In the USSR — and this is the point I am making now — linoleum was one of the highest sought-after products until at least early 1980. I wouldn’t believe it myself, but I remember how excited my Mum was when in 199o we managed to “secure” some of this precious material to floor the kitchen in our apartment.

What was the price of those space exploration programmes if linoleum was a scarce commodity at least for a century after it became widespread in the rotten, capitalistic West? You feel my pain?

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We Bet Peter Jackson Never Saw This Hobbit!

eugenia — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:31:50 +0000

A fun post for you today — a series of illustrations for a Russian edition of The Hobbit, 1989. The artist Belomlinsky portrayed the characters in a funky manner. The book was published at 300,000 copies and it was a success — I had itas a kid and it had me scared. I could never get over the fact that someone needs to leave their wonderful cave full of jars with pickles!

See how you like Bilbo, Gandalf, Gollum, the Trolls, the Big People and the Dragon — let us know if it makes you smile.

The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. The cover.

The Hobbit, Or There and Back Again.

The Map — from Hobbiton to the Lonely Mountain.

Merry Gandalf, isn’t he?

The Trolls

Gollum, plotting riddles with deadly stakes.

The giant eagles.

Big People — Bilbo’s encounter with humans.

Giant spiders in the black forest of Mirkwood.

The dragon battle

Back cover. Published by Children Literature.

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Good Soviet Kids Go to Heaven? Nope, They Go to Artek!

eugenia — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:44:12 +0000

Kids in the traditional uniform.

The most famous PR image of the pioneria of the Soviet Union was a summer vacation camp situated in the Crimea (Ukraine), next to Gurzuf town. Founded as a sanatorium for the kids suffering and recovering from the TB by the Russian Society of the Red Cross, it first opened doors in 1925, June 16th, accommodating about 80 kids from Moscow and the nearest Ukrainian towns.

Then it was just a step ahead of a basic camping ground, with kids sleeping in tents out in the forest. However, it grew rapidly until in early 1930s a few permanent buildings were built. It was then Artek started working all year round due to its mild Mediterranean-like climate.

One of the first lots to arrive, early 1920s

1927. Central — Artek’s founder Soloviev, next to him — GM Shishmarev.

1925. The evidence of tent life.

1928. Arrival from Simpheropol

For a regular Soviet kid, a ticket to Artek did not cost anything – yet it had to be well-earned. Within a school, for instance, only the top students were rewarded by the trip to Artek. During its heydays Artek accommodated about 27 000 kids a year, so from its first days to 1969 about 300 000 kids were able to enjoy the facilities. By then the area of the camp was about 3.2 km², there were more than a hundred bulidings including the sleeping quarters, three medical buildings, a proper school for those visiting Artek during the academic year; a movie pavillion Artekfilm, three swimming pools, a stadium seating more than 6000 spectators at a time as well as a park, a garden and some sporting and play grounds.

One of the permanent blocks on Artek’s territory

After the Collapse of the Soviet Union the popularity of Artek took a swing, due to the lack of funding and the overall mishaps of the Ukrainian country. But it quickly gained its status back and it is a popular vacation site for the kids from all over Russia and Ukraine – despite the fact that now the parents bear the costs of a vacation.

The seaside. Suuk Su Beach, the diver statue

The flag alignment

A typical day at Artek would have a 7 am start, regardless of the season, followed by the morning exercise and bathroom routines. After breakfast kids would go to the beach, be it summer – or to the school quarters in winter, where they’d stay till lunch – sunbathing or studying, depending how lucky they are. After lunch – and this has been reinforced quite seriously from the very early days of the camp – all kids, regardless of age, would have to take a two hour nap. Traditionally the Artek nap has been nicknamed as Absolut – because during the nap the supervisors would require absolute silence – even if one was awake, he could only read quietly in bed, no exceptions. After the nap and a wee snack (a glass of juice/piece of fruit/tea with biscuits) kids split up into their teams and prepare for competitions or concerts till dinner. After dinner – and the food was good! — the whole of Artek would get together. 10Pm was the bed time, and it would be much desired – after such an intense day.

1933. The Big Fire — the symbol of pioneria.

Structurally Artek was a group of ten smaller camps, each accommodating kids according to their age, from 9 up to 16. Each team of kids would have two or three adult supervisors, who typically are students in training to become teachers. The supervisors are responsible for kids safety, entertainment and the nicest memories. Kids would have to defend the honour of their teams in sport, singing, dancing, theatrical plays and so on.

Faces of 1937

Morning exercise.

Morning exercise

Canteen. Most likely, lunch. The reputation of Artek’s food has always been very envious.

Sea voyage. The boat is called Artek

1934. Sailing in the harbour

After the swim. Till late 1940s, there were alternate boys’ and girls’ days, until swimsuits were made compulsory

Circa 1935

Idle time

Chess tournament

Supervisors, late 1920s

A concert.Different coats of arms of different republics. Kids dressed in traditional costumes.

Dance Rehearsal

Dance performance

And now possibly two of the most scary photographs of the entire epoch, which could not even leave the kids’ summers alone. Every time I look at these two pictures below, I feel a pang of guilt — something which we all own to those kids.

The one below is all camp’s gathering. Mind the blank faces — those guys, during the Stalin’s repressions, were announced as public enemies and were executed. Their faces were erased from all photos — so the camp wouldn;t be linked with those names.

1937.

And one more.

A regular outing? It is. The only issue is, it is the morning of June, 22nd, 1941. A few hours later it will be announced that Germany has invaded Russia and the war is upon these kids.

June 22nd, 1941.

To be continued.

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Soft Kitty, Small Kitty, Little Ball of Fur

eugenia — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:10:46 +0000

Warm kitty, Sleepy Kitty, Purr Purr Purr.

For those of you who found the previous post a tad too serious (and we always welcome you feedback!), here’s a set of illustrations for a childrens’ book Look At These Kittens! by Georgy Karlov. Please retweet and stay tuned! Cheers

Cowardy

Look At These Kittens! The cover

Greedy

Bully

Thiefy

Scruffy

Crybaby

Lazybones

Grumpy

Kids, surely you are not like some of these kittens, are you?

The end

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The Book on Tasty and Healthy Foods: Una Dolce Vita, Soviet Style

eugenia — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:18:04 +0000

The every day Soviet life was far from luxurious, however, the government had its ways of making people believe that life was good and constantly getting better. An interesting means of achieving it was a notable culinary book published in the USSR – The Book On Tasty and Healthy Foods. This book, a few inches thick, turned out to be more than a collection of recipes – it is considered to be an encyclopaedia of the Soviet epoch, an insight into the ordinary life of the Soviets.

The most famous image behind the Russian food, caviar was literally impossible to buy (let alone exorbitantly expensive!)

Originally it was created as a way to deliver information on the culture of dining, the values of home cooked meals and good eating habits. Written by prominent chefs and dieticians of the time, the book was approved by the minister of health and then by Stalin himself (the first edition dating 1939). Everything that went into it was carefully chosen and selected. Apart from the recipes, it contained information on how to plan a weekly menu for a family, what is healthy eating, how to serve the tables nicely, as well as basic principles of food handling and kitchen hygiene.

Dairy products: most likely, this is the whole range of dairy foods available in the USSR. Milk, cream, plain youghurt, eggs, cheese, canned coffee cream and skim milk. That was it.

Nowadays this style of cuisine would be called fusion, as it contained recipes from all over the Union: borscht was followed by lamb pilaf with the Soviet style black forest gateau for the dessert. Usually the recipes were simple and would not demand fancy ingredients or time/labour investments. The food shortages were still on and the book could only stretch as far. A few easy meat recipes, a sauce or two, simple salads – surprisingly, “meat and three veggies” recipes were universal across the globe.

Meat and three veggies Soviet Style. Yum.

The images in the book were not considered to be an advertising material – they were merely a way to form the demand for the foods produced by the food factories – as everything, it was planned in the Soviet economy.

Unappetisingly looking preserves: green capsicums, meat in cabbage parcels, eggplant chutney.

Interestingly, in some later edition, fish was a recommended dietary element at least once a week – that was dictated by the shortages of meat: the protein levels had to stay up in order to keep the nation nourished and thus maintain the medical costs at bay.

Dinner on the stove: tinned beef garnished with green peas. No, it was not called spam.

Cooking was not considered to be art or indulgence; rather, it had a technological focus — typical for the Soviet era of industrialisation. Here a very important point was made about who would do the cooking: the traditional, western-style family, where the man is the breadwinner and the woman is the pretty homemaker would go against the Soviet ideology, in which women were equal partners and comrades. Therefore the image of a wife was being shifted from a stove towards the factory production line, and a husband would eat something simple, something cooked for the entire family in the weekend, for instance.

Extended family hand-making meat dumplings — later to be frozen.

Noteworthy, until the 1980s, the book contained no actual photographs — only drawings. However, it does not justify the sad-looking foods pictured in it. Some of it looks just inedible.

Green peas soup with croutons, wheat porrige well-buttered and jelly for dessert, anyone?

Desserts are always nice, though. Timeless, too.

Chocolate cake, served with tea.

Because restaurants were scarce and the whole concept of dining out was simply non-existent, dinner parties played a very important part in every person’s life. Labour Day on the May, 1st; Victory Day on May, 9th; November 7th (the Revolution Day) and New Year’s Eve were to be celebrated in style and in abundance — regardless of the food supplies.

Soviet alcohol selection: sparkling wine, white wine from Georgia, white port, Georgian port.

Such dinners required a lot of leg work as hunting for the necessary ingredients was required and queuing for as long as hours was unavoidable. However, the outcomes were remembered for long and treasured with all hearts. Family time together, what could be nicer, really.

Circa 1970s. At a table.

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