Understand the nineties

The most significant cultural event in April is, of course, the book fair in London, of which Russia was the guest of honor for the first time. 50 of the most significant Russian writers present new books, about a hundred large and small publishing houses display their products on stands, which are literally torn from their hands.

All this is very important - and not only in the sense of publications, translations, contracts and other tangible consequences. The fair is the ideal environment. A Russian writer can use it to imagine the state of the Western market and navigate it, understand trends and imagine his place not in ours, but in the world literary process. The English reader begins to understand how outdated any cliches are, how diverse Russia is, how far it has gone forward in understanding its own future: literature is traditionally ahead of philosophy and political science. In general, this is a great success, the echo of which will last long.
The Rostropovich Festival in Moscow was incredible, and especially its finale, when the Indian conductor Zubin Mehta, whose name is associated with the major musical events of the last twenty years, conducted Mozart’s forty-first symphony and Mahler’s first. Mahler is generally his favorite composer, this time Meta performed with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a Florentine orchestra that lives up to its name: magic is what it is. Mozart’s last symphony, “Jupiter,” surprisingly connected with Mahler’s first, called “Titan”: both are about the birth of a new world and man from decay and chaos, and the relevance of this reading was almost frightening.

And from the cinema, I would name - in addition to “Generation P”, which will be talked about a lot more - “PiraMMMida”. An artistic understanding of the nineties is beginning, albeit belatedly. This is also the birth of something new out of absolute chaos, so it was an extremely interesting time. “PiraMMMida” is a notable event. Silly, but noticeable. First class acting. Perfectly conveyed bewilderment, absurdity, collapse - but also courage, cunning, and unkillable self-mockery. In general, in art, reality is always more attractive. Not because it is embellished - in the film everything is quite similar - but because art gives meaning to everything that happened. It turns out that he was - and this is the main trick of a good movie.

Mikhail SHVYDKOY