Troubled Water

[...] And then there are passages that illustrate Sleptsov’s uncanny ability to convey peasant speech. Off-the-cuff remarks, humorous or sarcastic interjections, flashes of anger, an abrupt shift from one scene to the next—these devices vary the pace and propel the plot forward, while narrative intrusions are so rare that the work reads like a play. It is not surprising that Konstantin Stanislavsky , in a letter to Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko , suggested that, with a few modifications, Hard Times would be suitable for staging. Despite Sleptsov’s sympathy with Riazanov’s political views and Shchetinina’s break with her past, the characters are treated with equanimity. All have their limitations. The landowner Shchetinin’s emotions are often portrayed as sympathetically as those of the other characters. It is a measure of Sleptsov’s success that each of his three personages was in turn designated by contemporary critics as the central, positive figure, the designation depending on the...

Amistad es lo mismo que una      mano que en otra mano apoya su fatiga y siente que el cansancio se mitiga y el camino se vuelve más humano.         El amigo sincero es el      hermano claro y elemental como la espiga, como el pan, como el sol, como la hormiga que confunde la miel con el verano.         Grande riqueza, dulce      compañía es la del ser que llega con el día y aclara nuestras noches interiores.         Fuente de convivencia, de      ternura, es la amistad que crece y se madura en medio de alegrías y dolores. Amistad -  Carlos Castro Saavedra El 24 de junio falleció el doctor Artemio Bracho , quien fue en vida, el ideólogo de lo que hoy se conoce como el “Día internacional de la amistad” . Su partida se produjo a los 96 años. Silvia Bracho, hija de don Artemio, explica el legado que dejó su padre, no solo para el país, sino para el mundo con esta ini...

[...] Twelve days later The Savage of Surrey had been released and could be seen, heard and felt in every first-class feely-palace in Western Europe. The effect of Darwin Bonaparte's film was immediate and enormous. On the afternoon which followed the evening of its release John's rustic solitude was suddenly broken by the arrival overhead of a great swarm of helicopters. He was digging in his garden–digging, too, in his own mind, laboriously turning up the substance of his thought. Death–and he drove in his spade once, and again, and yet again. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. A convincing thunder rumbled through the words. He lifted another spadeful of earth. Why had Linda died? Why had she been allowed to become gradually less than human and at last … He shuddered. A good kissing carrion. He planted his foot on his spade and stamped it fiercely into the tough ground. As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport. Th...

«There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it a good world and would like to conserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. It is understandable that those who fail should incline to blame the world for their failure. Extravagant hope, even when not backed by actual power, is likely to generate a most reckless daring. For the hopeful can draw strength from the most ridiculous sources of power—a slogan, a word, a button. Those who would transform a nation or the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope. It matters not whether it be hope of a heavenly kingdom, of heaven on earth...

A arquitectura tem de acompanhar a evolução dos tempos, precisa do poder e, fundamentalmente, de dinheiro: está sempre dependente da circunstância. A primeira oportunidade de intervir em arquitectura foi com o Siza no âmbito do SAAL, onde participei bastante naquelas três casas em São Vítor . Nós vivíamos praticamente lá. Era um entusiasmo para um jovem estudante: quer da arquitectura, quer dessa transformação de um país novo. E isso explica em parte a minha adesão ao Movimento Moderno. Havia uma certa sede de ser moderno — fazer um piloti era quase um manifesto e os Cinco Pontos do Corbusier eram uma espécie de cartilha de esquerda. Havia, portanto, esse sonho de construir um país novo numa micro-geografia que era o SAAL. Mas depois houve uma grande desilusão, politicamente, não com o SAAL propriamente dito. Quando vejo que as casas vão parar à direcção da associação, tenho o meu grande choque político de esquerda. Mais tarde, já no início dos anos 80, aparece, como refere, toda uma...

Al Excelentísimo señor Vicepresidente de Nueva Granada. Ayer se ha confirmado con una espléndida victoria el nacimiento político la República de Colombia. Reunidas las divisiones del Ejército Libertador en los campos Tinaquillo el 23, marchamos ayer por la mañana sobre el Cuartel General enemigo situado en Carabobo, en el orden siguiente: La primera división, compuesta del bravo batallón Británico, del Bravo de Apure y 1.500 caballos a las órdenes del señor general Páez. La segunda, compuesta de la segunda brigada de La Guardia con los batallones Tiradores, Boyacá y Vargas, y el Escuadrón Sagrado que manda el impertérrito coronel Aramendi a las órdenes del señor general Cedeño. La tercera, compuesta de la primera brigada de La Guardia con los batallones Rifles, Granaderos, Vencedor de Boyacá, Anzoátegui y el regimiento de caballería del intrépido coronel Rondón, a las órdenes del señor coronel Plaza. Nuestra marcha por los montes y desfiladeros que nos separaban del campo enemigo fue r...

Morning breezes, take my supplication,  to the kingdom of Bahá, no other place– where only rain can wash clean the corpses  of those struck dead when they behold his face,  where winds of mercy blow in from Iraq  to raise the fallen back to life reborn.  The western Gate has unlocked all the gates,  with bounties from the city of Tehran.  You Bábís from the province of pure Light!  Strip off your splendid veils, just look and see.  Believers, he has thrown away his veil,  so forget the verse "You will never behold me." Morning Breezes If I met you face to face, I  would retrace–erase!–my heartbreak,  pain by pain,  ache by ache,  word by word,  point by point. In search of you–just your face!–I  roam through the streets lost in disgrace,  house to house,  lane to lane,  place to place,  door to door.  My heart hopeless–broken, crushed!–I  heard it pound, till blood gushed from m...

«Completing the structure were several larger-than-life statues of Artemis herself, the biggest of which was located in the center under a partially opened roof. Today, the Artemisium is known less for its meticulous construction than for its infamous demolition in 356 BC, which happened not — as its architects had feared — because of some natural disaster, but the deliberate actions of one disgruntled citizen known as Herostratus. Little is known about Herostratus, who by sheer coincidence burned down the world wonder on the same night the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great was born into the world. Historians suspect that he was of low social standing, being either the son of a slave or a former slave himself. The Russian poet Semyon Nadson may have given the best analysis of the arsonist, who upon his arrest claimed that he committed this unthinkable crime because he was seeking kleos : infamy, notoriety. Nadson supposes that Herostratus was driven by the grim realization tha...

[...] O leitor perdoará ainda menos que em nenhuma página se diga claramente por que razão alguém se deixa levar até à Pérsia, um país distante e exótico, apenas para aí sofrer investidas sem nome. Fala‑‑se antes e sobretudo de desvios, de escapatórias, de falsos caminhos. E quem hoje vive num país europeu sabe como muitos não resistem à tensão atroz — uma tensão que se estende do conflito pessoal entre a necessidade de repouso e a capacidade de decisão, que se estende da necessidade material mais simples e inadiável às questões mais gerais e no entanto prementes da política, do futuro económico, social e cultural — uma tensão a que ninguém escapa ileso. E se, não obstante, a juventude tenta escapar ilesa, por conscienciosa que seja no modo como interpreta a sua fuga, ainda assim traz na testa a marca de Caim, a marca de quem traiu o irmão.  É um pouco esse o caso da rapariga que escreveu estas notas. Quando tinha já o manuscrito acabado na mão, percebi que teria de construir uma h...

Il paraissait certain, quand on ouvrait la porte et voyait l’escalier, plein d’un calme implacable, impersonnel et sans couleur, un escalier qui ne semblait pas avoir gardé la moindre trace des gens qui l’avaient parcouru, pas le moindre souvenir de leur passage, quand on se mettait derrière la fenêtre de la salle à manger et qu’on regardait les façades des maisons, les boutiques, les vieilles femmes et les petits enfants qui marchaient dans la rue, il paraissait certain qu’il fallait le plus longtemps possible — attendre, demeurer ainsi immobile, ne rien faire, ne pas bouger, que la suprême compréhension, que la véritable intelligence, c’était cela, ne rien entreprendre, remuer le moins possible, ne rien faire. Mais ils ne demandaient rien de plus, c’était cela, ils le savaient, il ne fallait rien attendre, rien demander, c’était ainsi, il n’y avait rien de plus, c’était cela, « la vie ». Rien d’autre, rien de plus, ici ou là, ils le savaient maintenant. Il ne fallait pas se révolter,...