I
would say, NO. Maybe Russians do, but I would not be so certain however silly
it may sound. Living in western societies for many years and in Australia most
of the time, but being born Polish, arrogantly, I felt that I have an advantage
in the field of understanding the Russian soul in comparison to people around,
now I am not so sure. I am not sure how much I actually understand myself. OK,
so I have read Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Bunin and others. Even Pushkin as I had to
read Eugene Onegin at school. I even
learn some of it by heart. I have not read Nabokov, but this should not count
as he defected Russia and I do not consider him having a Russian soul so much.
I am planning to check it out as he seems to come to my mind rather often
recently. I like the Russian music, but not more than anybody else who likes
music. Definitely not more that Lech one of the people who comment sometimes on
my blog. I appreciate that there are so many famous Russian musicians famous in
the world. The nation seems to be more sensitive to feelings and changes in mood
than many others. It seems to stand out in the sensitivity department.
I
get mushy seeing birch forests, be it in reality when I go to Poland but I get
sentimental even seeing the trees on films. I am not sure if this is a normal
reaction because they are beautiful trees or it is because I have this purely eastern
liking and birch associations. Today I watched The Last Station, compliments of
Netflix, film about the last days of Tolstoy.
I loved the film, it fitted beautifully with my current mood and just
after I finished the book about Shostakovitch listening quite a bit to his
music. Helen Mirren played convincingly a hysterical wife of Tolstoy (aren’t
they all hysterical in Russian literature?) played by Christopher Plummer who was not himself
a symbol of composure and control over emotions. And the film is based on a
book by Jay Parini, an American writer. They all seem to understand the Russian
soul as well as Julian Barnes does. And they all gave me an opportunity to get
immersed in a very Russian climate and get emotional in the process. I realized
that my feeling of being comparatively a bit of an expert on a Russian soul
does not have grounds. I got humbled.
I think it is time to get out of the eastern climate
and read or see something more level headed. Like Bachelorette or more likely
some book by Alain de Botton. I have ordered so many of his books and I wonder
how many of them I will read. Will I
have time?
