Share this page!

Slava Malamud Profile picture
Twitter logo
16 Dec, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Fascinating replies.
Thing is, we grew up with a very different concept of the American culture. Now, there was some overlap (Westerns, Hemingway, Moby Dick, Uncle Tom, Mark Twain), but these four are examples of authors way more popular in the USSR than in their native country..
Now, most people have heard of Cooper, but it's mostly due to The Last of the Mohicans, while in Russia, his entire body of work was hugely popular. I read Deerslayer when I was 8. There are people back there who know the Susquehanna River only because of his novels...
Mayne Reid was an absolute icon for Soviet boys. Ask anyone in Russia about the Headless Horseman, and they will talk about Reid's novel and not about Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow. The reason, most likely, is that he was much easier to translate...
Dreiser was very popular for uncovering the evils of capitalism (as was Sinclair, you know him since you were forced to read The Jungle in school). My grandma, a peasant from a tiny village, read Sister Carrie while in vocational school. May have been the only novel she ever read
As for Sheckley, he is a part of the Holy Trinity of American Sci-Fi Writers for Russian readers, along with Asimov and #FuckMeRayBradbury. And there will be lots of Russian sci-fi fans who will rank him No. 1.
Nobody here has ever heard of him.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Slava Malamud

Slava Malamud Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SlavaMalamud

Slava Malamud Profile picture
16 Dec
A quick survey of my American followers. How many of these names do you know without looking up?
Theodore Dreiser
Robert Sheckley
T. Mayne Reid
James Fenimore Cooper
All were enormously popular in the Soviet Union. Like, ENORMOUSLY.
(Not asking about Upton Sinclair, because in his case, the notoriety is about equal, I think)
The reason these authors achieved prominence in Russia, despite being not as well known in the States (or in case of Cooper, known but not as popular) is Dreiser presented a very bleak view of industrial America, while Reid and Cooper were anti-colonial and sympathetic to Indians
Read 6 tweets
Slava Malamud Profile picture
15 Dec
So, who is the worst AG in America's history?
AG Palmer Raids, AG Watergate, AG Waterboard or...
For the record, nobody disgusts me as much as Palmer, Mitchell is extremely tough to beat since he actually went to prison, but the other two have brought their A game big time.
Gonzales really set the template for shameless politicization of the office and was willing to step over any scruples (of which he had none) to advance Cheney's goals. He is severely underrated on lists of worst AG's because people now tend to look nostalgically at the Bush years
Read 4 tweets
Slava Malamud Profile picture
14 Dec
This would be nice.
But here is what's going to happen instead:
1) Trump fully asserts control over the GOP who realize that vengeance against anyone not in thrall of him will be swift and ruthless. Mainstream Republicans live at the mercy of the unhinged Trumper base...
2) GOP quickly realizes that they came only within 5 House seats and a couple of state Supreme Court appointments in GOP-controlled Biden states of having the election overturned, no matter the results.
3) GOP also quickly realizes that it will likely regain the House in 2022
4) GOP spends 4 years stonewalling Biden and turning him into a figurehead president as the US worldwide status plummets and the Democratic base turns on its leaders.
5) Dems lose the House and the GOP gets a Senate stranglehold in 2022 by winning WV and not losing any seats..
Read 6 tweets
Slava Malamud Profile picture
10 Dec
It is so fitting that Rush Limbaugh is proclaiming there can't be peaceful coexistence between conservative and liberal America. Because he is 100% right. He knows it because it's the state of affairs he has labored hard to create for 30+ years. He has finally succeeded...
When I was young and stupid and fresh "off the boat" and utterly susceptible to the prevailing Russian emigre philosophy ("GOP is against Communists, Democrats are against GOP, ergo Democrats = Communists, and also black people will get our money"), I listened to Rush. A lot...
I didn't find him tremendously exciting, because my conservative passions didn't that deep after all. I cared about sports more. But I could see how effective he can be in exciting people committed to his ideology. He was extremely combative, adverse to the notion of compromise..
Read 12 tweets
Slava Malamud Profile picture
8 Dec
Literally no other country in the world has developed the concept of leaving your domicile and paying with currency or credit to have a professional establishment provide you with nourishment.
Except for every single one of them, including communist dictatoriships. Image
I mean, yes, Olive Garden's unlimited breadsticks is a great American invention which, for the first time in known history, managed to make Italians furious, but do your Republican eateries make a pledge "To Service Every Customer Culturally"? Image
Does Applebee's advertise with classical poetry?
"Always be mindful of everyday life
For your labor and free time shall be full of joy
Taking food out or consuming it at Socialist Eatery Attached To Local Trade Union By Special Decree of the Party
Shall save Soviet people's time" Image
Read 7 tweets
Slava Malamud Profile picture
4 Dec
More on "The Queen's Gambit."
Besides the fact that it is:
1) a typical American sports movie,
2) a visual joy,
3) a caricaturistic but true at heart portrayal of the USSR (our aesthetics were indeed drab, even if Ep. 8 seemed a bit Rocky IVesque),
there is one other thing...
Namely, the mixing of sports and politics, which is a minor, but important, theme in the episode.
Earlier in the series, there is a glimpse of two KGB officers following Soviet chess players around, something that was indeed normal and expected (no doubt, Kasparov's suggestion)..
However, TQG did something other films didn't: turned the situation around and showed that the US during the Cold War could be just as bad in this regard, if not worse.
Indeed, the Soviets always treated sports (and chess WERE considered a major sport in the country)...
Read 13 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @SlavaMalamud has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @SlavaMalamud!

Read all threads by @SlavaMalamud