Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25

True! He was popular even among high schoolers.

Understandable!

I took a independent study course in university on Steinbeck. I had to write a 10 page essay for each novel. I started with Grapes of Wrath and commenced to writing my 10 pager on the migrant camp in Grapes of Wrath and how it represented a socialist/communist utopian state that was under attack by capitalist overlords. I basically condemned Steinbeck as a commie/socialist.

By the end of the course, I thought he was closer to a Chesterton Distributist than a socialist. Neither a capitalist fanboy or a commie.


😀. More like horrified glances and one glare of embarrassment.

As in Edith??!!

EDIT: Torqi just used the pronoun he so it's not Edith, although some photos of her may lead a contemporary mind to think she or he may have been suffering from some type of dysphoria.

I was thinking about William. :)

For some reason, he was immensely popular in Poland (all his books were published in Polish) and his novels topped the bestsellers' lists. There were even books about Wharton and the phenomenon of his popularity in Poland by Polish authors (Fordoński and Podolska).

I never understood the hype but hey, de gustibus non est disputandum and all that.

Transgender is not always visible, however there's a thread for those who spend time thinking about it.

Edith Wharton is one on my list. Fairly near the top.

That was not about trans stuff...It was about stupid things stupid people write...

One was Marx and the other is a moron who wrote Mary Has Two Mommies...

Another moron writes "r*SSia" a lot. His equally moronic friend says Nigeria just to be stooopid funny... My trans stuff is nothing in comparison ...except that it's true.

@Torq

Never heard of William Wharton the novelist...Maf is right, some Americans don't even know who he is. 🙂

English wiki mentions his popularity in Poland...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wharton_(author)

He wrote A Midnight Clear, I see. Heard of that novel-never read it.

I'm amazed how some places gravitate to certain writers, musicians, etc. I went into a bookstore in Poznan years ago and was floored to see a pretty decent number of Don Delillo novels. Delillo of all people.


A lot of people are crazy about her work. Doesn't do much for me. I was forced to read Ethan Frome-not my cup of tea. I can see the writing talent, but the story had me crying for mercy.

Guys, is this your way of being in denial about the war that Russia is winning and driving Russia haters up the wall?

Memo to Russia haters: Get down, shut up, and enjoy the end days.

Even the US warmongers know that the end is near. That's why even these greedy motherfvckers are not pushing for more money to be sent to that bottomless shlthole aka Ukraine ...or whatever is left of it by now.

I'm not a Russia hater by any means, but I wouldn't say their victory is near. Seems like they are winning, but in a very laborious and grinding way. They win centimeters at heavy costs...or so it seems.

Seems like the only ones who have any semblance of desire to continue this SMO are those sitting in government offices and, probably, defense
manufacturing boardrooms.

More like being bored with the SMO/FSI.

But you're right, we are dragging the thread off-topic. Very well then...

onet.pl/informacje/onetlublin/premier-tusk-reaguje-na-manewry-na-bialorusi-konsekwencje-odczuja-tez-polacy/zlpv3fm,79cfc278

Poland is closing the border with Belarus - aka The Chinese Gateway to Europe - because of "the aggressive Zapad 2025 military exercises". I don't really care, I never order anything from AliExpress or Temu. The border should have been closed completely right after Lukashenka started sending hordes of third worlders to Poland. Maybe then the Chinese would have "convinced" him to stop being a retard.

The only three female American authors that I've seriously read are Carson McCullers, Annie Proulx and Donna Tart. All good, Proulx especially. Perhaps it's time to read more.


r*SSia are at a stalemate now, Without the North Koreans they'd be in an even worse situation. Hence the heavy strikes on civilian targets which in military terms achieve nothing,

I'd love to read more, but time to read more is scarce. I'm lucky to get an hour of personal reading time a day. One of the things that make me ponder early retirement.


Not sure about that. Besides, not everything done is for military terms-there's also political terms.

I was at my parents' lake cabin this August, and was browsing the library - and saw a book I loved when I was a kid - "The Headless Horseman" by Mayne Reid (Майн Рид).

I then thought, for the first time ever - why the hell are there two books about headless horsemen? Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and then this guy's book? Could they not come up with more original material? Is it maybe, even the same story, just adapted for different audiences?

I immediately googled Mayne Reid, and realized he's not some German, but an Irishman that spent most of his life in the United States. His full name was Thomas Mayne Reid.

Started reading his Wikipedia profile, and was surprised to read the following:

"While Reid's novels have become almost completely forgotten in the Anglosphere, they have remained popular in Eastern Europe and particularly in Russia (ever since the Tsarist era), being considered a part of the canon of Western literature and being published under the category of "World Classics" along with Jack London and James Fenimore Cooper."

Fascinating... how that works. In the former Soviet Union, every person has heard of Mayne Reid, but in America nobody has. Why?

Steinbeck is at least considered a giant in both places, but with this Reid fella - it's very lopsided. Part of the school program in Russia, but completely forgotten in America.

To a lesser extent, I think it applies to Jack London as well. In Russia, White Fang and Call of the Wild are mandatory reading for young people. Whereas in America I don't hear him being discussed as much.

When looking at this war, think Aschwitz, not Stalingrad. Slow, grinding, but very effective...I mean A, not S.

That's why the nukes in H and N. I love both...btw...

What? Russians have libraries in their dachas? I bet they only contain orc manuals on skinning children alive and some obscure fairy tales about horsemen without heads. ;)


Yaaaaawn...

Tell us about the books you like, Ryszard. We know about the guns and Corvettes but we never hear about literature from you. You are a Soviet-block engineer - that's a rough equivalent of Western literature professor. Come on, give us some good recommendations.

Same.

I get downtime travelling and also don't watch TV which does help. There's so much on the list to read though.


Basically hoping to lower morale and cause social instability. Part of r*SSia's playbook as we can see right now with their antics in France.

Do what I did, start working much less. Money's overrated, once you have enough it's enough.


I am cruising towards retirement - only 19 years left, can't wait. :)

Same.

I get downtime travelling and also don't watch TV which does help. There's so much on the list to read though.


Basically hoping to lower morale and cause social/political instability. Part of r*SSia's playbook as we can see right now with their antics in France.

They used to say Russia was the most reading nation in the world. I believe that since then countries like Thailand and China have taken us over.

Still, 9/10 Russians report that they read regularly.

Source: themoscowtimes.com/2018/10/01/9-in-10-russians-read-books-poll-says-a63038

My dacha library is the typical Soviet library:

1) A huge series of ZhZL books (ЖЗЛ - Жизнь Замечательных Людей). These books always make me laugh. They write about people like Timurlane or Martin Luther, on the large part seriously, but then every few paragraphs they will write something like:

"As Timur looked over his assembled troops, he thought of the challenges ahead", or "On that day, Martin Luther walked to his home, consumed in thought."

Never understood these unnecessary belletristics, but they seem to be a feature of Soviet biographies.

2) A 200 book series, called "World Literature Library" (Всемирная Библиотека Литературы). I think most Soviet houses own this collection, if they hadn't used it for kindling in the 1990s. This is quite good - and features translations by people who were great authors in their own right.

3) Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Many books, also written by committees of famous academicians and professors.

4) Collected works of Lenin.

5) Marx and Engels, and like ten books which provide commentary on those books.

Nobody wanted this stuff in the house anymore, so it went to the Dacha, which is a perfect place to read anyway. There's never time in the city, to sit down with a book for 10-12 hours.

I'm a few years less but may finish early for personal/fam8ly reasons and also due to having had enough. There'll be 1 job more at most after this one ends and then maybe running a nice B&B by the seaside.

Cheers for that, quite interesting.


"Stirlitz - thought the wh*res.
Wh*res - thought Stirlitz."


Good one. :)

Russian/Belarussian/Ukrainian students learn the Polish language very quickly. Sometimes, if they have names that might as well be Polish, I wouldn't be able to tell they are not native speakers if I didn't have the student's info in my e-register. Apart from being able to learn the language, they more often than not receive above average grades in both sciences and humanities. This means that either they are genetically superior to Poles or they come from a Jewish-like culture, where books are cherished and read widely from early age. Something tells me it's the latter.


Anywhere near Tricity perhaps?

My little brother, with whom I have a 16 year difference (same mom, same dad), is in his second year at NYU now - in their engineering school. His friend, and the smartest guy in the class (according to my brother), is a guy named Antony from Gdansk.

This guy destroys even the Chinese and Indians with his math skills.

So at least within the tiny example of my own family, Poles are certainly not "inferior".


You are dealing with the children of Russia's intelligentsia. These are the only people that might move to Poland, to avoid the war and provide better opportunities for their kids.

I'm fairly certain you don't have the kids of plumber San Sanych, or cab driver Pal Palych.

Their parents were probably already pretty smart folks, and their kid is a product of that upbringing.

At the same time, your Polish students probably represent a more true cross section of Polish society.

So not fair to compare kids of Russian dissidents, with average Polish kids.

You know what Asians say...

Roses are red, violets are blue,
There's always a Pole that's smarter than you.

... or is it the other way around? ;)

You are right about the students' background. As far as I know most of their parents have university degrees.

Two things, from my experience:

1) Audiobooks are not half as terrible as I thought they would be. Recently finished listening to Dostoyevsky's Demons, after about 10-12 long walks. It works nicely - walking around, and listening to a book.

2) Since you are an American - again audiobooks - but also in the car. During those long road trips, it works nicely to keep you awake, and it's easier than having to flip through podcasts every 20-30 minutes.

Most of my reading still happens at night. During my private time.

My wife calls it my "revenge insomnia". That is, I suffer from insomnia, because I am a person that absolutely needs his personal "alone" time - so I get my alone time after everyone else goes to sleep - as revenge.

As a result - I'm a perpetually irritable person, and always angry. People don't give me the freedom I need, so I get it anyway, at the expense of my sleep and my health.

In this way - I read from 11 PM, to about 2:30-3:30 am. I always promise myself - one hour and no more, but then I end up reading for 3-4 hours.

It's when I feel happiest.

In the morning, morning Bobko of course hates the night Bobko. But what can be better than reading a book?! It's a chance to live a whole life, through different eyes, in a matter of a few hours! Who in their right mind would refuse this kind of magic?

Your who?

Wait a minute... you got married??? Mazel tov and all that but why didn't you tell us anything? Who's the lucky girl? An American or an émigrée - tell me everything!


:)

No wiser words have been spoken on this forum since Crow called Poland the Real Sarmatia and Great Mother of All Slavia (or something to that effect).

As opposed to you, Bobi, I am a morning person so gotta catch some z's now. When I wake up at 4:30 am, I want to read full report about your better half.

Good night!

Since August 21st, yes :)

Writing that word, was a bit weird for me.

A lady from the motherland. Never lived in America (though speaks English quite well).


He was too good for this forum, and we didn't cherish him enough.

It's a nice place though North Yorkshire beckons. Depends on two people though not one and the times for both being right and both wanting it rather than just going along with it, The other party favours Spain or Portugal.

I'm old enough that I remember when the old PRL university system was still in place... we had students from all over the country, including tiny obscure villages that were 10 or more hours away by train. Talent in Poland is scattered and you needed a system like that to make sure you can find it.

A few years later and that system had started to break down and students were rarely from more than a couple of hours away (and the quality... dipped a bit) and then it got even worse and we were getting only students whose parents could afford to carry them for 5 years and the quality dropped more... then things started to improve and Poland's improved economy has done a lot of work in helping poor but smart kids find a path away from the village or bloki.

One of my best friends is from a tiny village but grew up in the PRL and so his intelligence was already recognized in elementary school and by age 12 or so was living away from home to have access to better schools and ended up with a very successful career. I tell him sometimes that had he been born 20 or so years later he'd never have made it to university and he realizes that's true....

russia seems like a covert caste system..... the gap between the self-styled elites who send their gender-fluid children to expensive foreign schools and the lumpen proletariat seems 20 times bigger than the gap between the top and bottom in Poland (the top is less endlessly grasping materialist and the bottom is not as totally degraded as in russia).

I wonder what prospects a super smart kid born to plumber or store clerk parents in russia has