Translated material
Eternity smells of chicken broth
Yuri Mamleev, Black Mirror. Recommendation for reading for those who asks: why is the “Russian world” such as it is now?
QUOTE
“And then everyone saw that his face was changing again. A smooth human expression disappears, not only the eyes burn, but also the mind. And something distant, ghostly deep appears. And the ears - yes, yes, the ears are moving quickly. "
Many people probably remember the sensational British series “Black Mirror”, which was released ten years ago. The main idea is massive “discontinuation”, stimulated by black screens of electronic gadgets. These "black mirrors" of monitors and smartphones are total. They are practically always before their eyes, they are in every palm. They make dependence, act as a drug - with all the ensuing side effects. The human world is covered by hopeless technocopane.
But, apparently, as every family is unhappy in its own way, so every nation is “divided” in a peculiar way. For the “Russian world” there is its “black mirror”, and it arose before.
This is a collection of stories by Yuri Mamleev, which were written in the early perestroika years. In fact, the writer Russian “Deep people” shows here - long before this name becomes a political meme. And in fact, the main subject is not so much the people themselves as the same “depth”.
Firstly, in the texts of Mamleev, a simple and flat idea of identity is completely collapsed, where the conscious “I”, as it were, is equal to himself. The characters of Mamleev are never identical to the so -called themselves, i.e. its obvious and talking social person. Such a person is only a unsteady cover for turning on further and deeper. But not somewhere immeasurably far away, in some Platonic “world of ideas”, but very close by hand. She, this “depth”, breaks into the visible reality is not just easy, but as if into one touch. It is the real nature of reality - Russian reality. Whereas all human words, and deeds, and thoughts are not that, the main thing is determined by them.
Never in the "Russian world" words, deeds and thoughts have not determined the main thing. They are no more than a shell or inside.
In general, the shell or the wrong side is the same here. And play with the shells "Russian World" hunting.
But here is the second and most importantly. When the “depth” breaks out and shows, it becomes completely clear: there is no similarity in it with the Platonic “world of ideas”. There are neither principles of form formation, no global cosmic isometry. In fact, it does not have what defines the “world of ideas” - there is no logos. The “depth” is indefinable, shapeless and allying. Meaningless. But in this, she is already attractive to the heart of a Russian person, so intimate to him and is always recognized by him. He smells the “depth”, like the smell from boiling chicken broth, and with anticipation goes to this smell. At one time, Yegor Letov, and Viktor Pelevin, said that “eternity smells of oil” - probably, in some Russian geopolitical sense, it is so. But still, for the most common representative of the “Russian world”, for that Russian who, in the stream of his own kind, fills streets, trolleybuses, metro and sleeping quarters daily, she smells much more ordinary and in a kind. Kurin broth, why not.
If we imagine that the German theologian and mystic Jacob Beme who lived in the 17th century somehow got acquainted with the Russian “deepness”, he would probably admit that this is
Ungrund is a dark abyss, an atheism lying in the matrix of all things that existed before creation and outside of creation. The abyss, locking thought.
But where the mind of a theologian sees something like that, a Russian man smells the breath of his native open spaces. Actually, Fedor Tyutchev once wrote about this:
*Oh, these terrible songs are not singing
About ancient chaos, about darling!
How eagerly the world of the soul is night
He seduces the story of his beloved!*
***
The characters of the stories of Mamleev are direct guides of the Russian “deepness”. But the guides are not conscious, not deliberate. They are like toys, dolls in her hands. They do not feel that some kind of austerity is required from them, discipline, as the ancient Greeks felt in relation to their logos. They simply surrender to “depths”, jump into it as it is, as in a pre -prepared coffin (from the story “Jump into the coffin”). And she completely swallows them. And then the transformations, transformations, overtaking the most ordinary, unremarkable inhabitants of communal apartments follow:
QUOTE
“At that time, the door to the Sasha’s room-and it was just opposite the kitchen-opened, and a creature with a goat look and in some forest, root rags looked at everyone.”(From the story "Udaloma".)
Perhaps the main feature of the Russian “deepness” is that it almost does not know differentiation. There are no clear boundaries between life and death, light and darkness, soul and flesh. This clearly appears in the language. Where else can you meet such an expression addressed to an amateur lover: “Meat Soul”? But the Russian man does not experience any inconvenience on this occasion. Neither about the language, nor about politics. “Everything is not so clear” is one of the most popular slogans today, but it will approach the “Russian world” in general, at any almost time.
In the same place where there are no differentiations, there are no clearly conscious forms, there are no morality.
The Russian “depth” in its manifestations is essentially immoral. This is a fairly unusual immorality, with its applied logic and even with some kind of “immoral ethics”.
An extraordinary phenomenon. Yes, for example, an episode from a conversation of relatives with his incurable sick sister:
QUOTE
“ - Well, you will live another six months, and what's the point? And you will get yourself, and you will send us ahead of time to the grave. Let's get you bury you. Living. You look like dead. Any one will take you for the dead. Bearing quietly, without a punks. You yourself will fall asleep in the coffin. You suffocate quickly, you will not have time to look around. And all. It’s better to lie down in the coffin than to be painful and tormenting us. Do you think scary? Not at all. All one - to lie in the coffin. ”(From the story "Jump to the coffin")
***
At the beginning of the century, the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev said that the gift of form is very small in Russian man. As if a Russian person is absorbed in the space, absorbed in his endless plain landscape. And the writer Yuri Mamleev in his stories showed that not so much in earthly spaces there is a matter. Other, otherworldly reasons showed. He also explained why the Russian person is in a hurry to understand. After all, not only a pleasure he experiences from his “deepness”, as if from a fresh chicken broth.
He also experiences from her the strongest, transcendental horror.
After all, there is so that the broth is made on the bones and flesh of the dead bird. It’s better not to think about it. If the “black mirror” is not just on the wall or in the palms, but inside you, what to do here?
QUOTE
“Well, it’s good that it’s not clear, Tan! So better! And then you will go crazy, from understanding! From the understanding of what was! Do not start, Tanka, spit on understanding! "(From the story "Udaloma".)