The Russian magazine “Vokrug Sveta” (“Round the World”) has been published for a century and a half already. The proud date of its foundation “1861” is printed on the title page of every issue. Thanks to the magazine millions upon millions of boys and girls could in no time travel to the jungles of Africa or ski with Amundsen through the snows of Antarctica. They could unfurl the sails on the masts of imaginary ships as easily as they could rush through the Universe in a photon-powered spaceship, and they carried that childhood well into their adulthood.
Alas, more pragmatic times have arrived! In a newspaper kiosk I saw the latest issue of “Vokrug Sveta” with a kind of a cartoon on the cover and a splash headline: “The Secret Weapon of Detectives and Burglers” (the subtitle was: “One-and-a-half century of Miraculous Inventions”). The magazine also contained two articles about the history of narcotics and drug-addiction in different countries. There was an article about chorus songs the people of the Caucasus sing round a festive table. To cap that all, some author gave a retrospective description of the industry of strong drinks. To substantiate the author’s research there was a photo of a hooch-still introducing the article (see the reprint below).
In one of my earlier blog-entries I mentioned how popular was chess-playing in the Soviet Union. The names of Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasiliy Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosyan, Boris Spasskiy, Anatoliy Karpov, Garry Kasparov were known to EVERYBODY in the country –from a teenager to an elderly person. Now, when I go to work in the morning, I pass a souvenir kiosk underground at the metro entrance. In its window a chess board with pieces on it is displayed. The pieces are in the form of small wine-glasses with pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, kings and queens portrayed on them.
One last observation related to the topic. It’s a photo of a bookshop. The bookshop isn’t going to be opened. It is being closed down. Until recently I used to drop in at the shop. Some books I bought there were really good.