I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: TIMBER TIMBRE-Tiny Desk Concert #355 (May 10, 2014).

I wanted to like this band because I think their name is very clever. But I just don’t enjoy this kind of slow song.  Ten years ago I wouldn’t have even given this a chance, but since I have embraced the Tindertsicks, I have a lot more patience from this kind of music, but I just can’t get into this—it’s way too slow and meandering for me.  They play three songs, “Hot Dreams,” “Run From Me,” and “Grand Canyon.”  The second song “Run For Your Life” has a mellow Elvis vibe (I don’t like Elvis either), and when they break into the staccato guitar chords it sounds like Roy Orbison’s “Running Scared” (Nope, don’t like Orbison either).  I do like the way it builds but it’s not enough to sell the song for me.  And when you get to the lyrics, I’ll just say that the world did not need another song in which the singer calmly says “Run from me, darlin’, you better run for your life.”

[READ: June 4, 2014] “The Fugitive”

I really loved this story by Ulitskaya (which was translated from the Russian by Bela Shayevich).  What I liked about it was that there wasn’t a lot of plot exactly, because it centered on the mind of the “fugitive” who is an artist in Communist Russia and is persecuted for his drawings.

As the story opens, the police have come to his house and question his wife.  They are there for Boris Ivanovich (yes, there is a problem for me with compound Russian names, but I found this was pretty easy to get through after a few pages) because he has made some drawings that put Communism in a bad light (letters made of bologna that spelled out “Glory to the Communist Party” with a price tag of 2 rub. 20 kop.

Once the police leave (he presents a document that gives him temporary safety), he flees Moscow to the distant village of Danilovy Gorki–a tiny settlement of five houses.  He stays with his friend and fellow artist Nikolai.  The country life is a novelty as he does all of the things that country folk do.  And he feels largely safe because he is far enough away from prying eyes.  He doesn’t even write to his wife for fear of giving himself away.  This also means that he can have wild sex with a woman who is visiting for the holidays–Anastasia (“She’s so educated.  But such a slut!”).  Eventually he tells his friend that he loves this life because it is so anti-Soviet, but the friend replies that it is not anti-Soviet, simply a-Soviet. 

But in the beginning of the fall, the people of the village begin gathering things up in preparation to head back to the city.  Obviously Boris couldn’t do that so Nikolai says he can stay with an old and feeble woman who needs help around the house.  Boris finds that enjoys Nura and her stories of the old days and all he is asked to do is bring her vodka.  He begins drawing still life portraits of his surroundings.  As the holidays approach, Nura has friends comes over–more older ladies who enjoy drinking and laughing and telling stories.

They even at one point decide to bathe (as long as Boris hides behind a curtain) because it has been several months since any of them has.  When one of them falls he stands to assist but when he sees their old naked bodies he can’t stop looking even though he is saddened by the way they look.  But the image is seared into his mind and he begins drawing them along with everything else he is drawing.

When Nikolai returns in the mid winter, he sees the drawings and thinks they are amazing.  But he says that there are police around so Boris can’t stay there any longer.

The end of the story sums things up very quickly–it tells of Boris’ life in the next for years–his travels around the country, his success with his art and even that he had a show in Cologne called “Russian Nature Laid Bare.”  Things were not all great for Boris, but, the end of the story is positive with the finishing line reading”Everything is fine.”

I found this story very charming and I enjoyed nearly everything about it.