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A DICTIONARYOF NEW MYTHOLOGY

2012

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I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'LL ENJOY READING

THIS BOOK, BUT I HAD FUN WRITING IT.

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NEW MYTHOLOGY IS A MULTIFORM

PREMONITION OF THE END OF CIVILIZATION.

MYTHOLOGY IS THE ESTHETICS OF FEAR.

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A DICTIONARY OF NEW MYTHOLOGY

Until I turned 70I looked forward,

now I only look upward

ANNIVERSARY

70th

VADIM VOINOV

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Text and design copyright© 2012 Vadim S. VoinovTranslation copyright© 2012 Mary C. Gannon

A Dictionaryof New Mythologyby Vadim Voinov

Designed

by Vadim Voinov

Portrait photographs

Anatoly Shishkov

Vladimir Peshkov

Vladimir Dorokhov

Vlad Karyakin

Anatoly Belkin

Alexander Sizoff

I am grateful to the following peoplefor their support in the publication

of this book:

Monograms by Vadim Voinov

Aslan Uyanaev

Valery Sokolov

Evgeny Orlov

Valentin Bulkin

Marianna Brusovani

Elena Kharkova

Irina Tsapovetskaya

Irina Karasik

Ksenia Astafeva

Tatiana Barti

Anastasia Voinova

Title Page

Vadim Voinov's portrait

by Tatiana Barti, 2008

Translated

from the Russian

by Mary C. Gannon

ÁÁÊISBN

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY �

SELF-RECOMMENDATION

This section, if not the entire book,is just an experiment

in self-knowledge

P O RTA L

I

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My birth certificate data and the plot outline of my life break downlike this: born in 1940 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Mother:Nadezhda, an engineer; father: Serafim Voinov, historian, arrested in1949 in the so-called Leningrad Affair. Sapienti sat.

I graduated from high school in absentia in 1959, after which Iwent to America and Africa as a sailor on a boat in an oceangoingfishery fleet. From 1969 to 1976 I studied at the Department of Historyof St. Petersburg State University (also in absentia), specializing inRussian history. As a minor, I studied in the Department of Art History,where I defended my dissertation. In 1972, during my third year ofstudies, I began working as a senior research fellow at the State Museumof the History of Leningrad. All in all, I worked there for about a quarterof a century. I lectured on the history of architecture, wrote articles, andtook part in archeological expeditions. My primary work at the museuminvolved investigating the premises of old buildings slated for overhaul,where I found the abandoned belongings of former residents. My

The present and the futurewill become the past; and so will you.

The biography of an artistis only a primer on the canvas of his life.

Autobiography

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repeated encounters with these objects in situ led to a philosophical andartistic grappling with the material, and I began making collages on thesubject of Russian History.

I started working on them in 1979 and had my first exhibit in1983. In 1994, the Free Culture Society of Artists, the only orga-nization I belong to, offered me the opportunity to open a personal gallery.This became the "Bridge Over the Styx" at 10 Pushkinskaya Street(entrance from 53 Ligovsky Prospekt) in St. Petersburg. During theseventeen years of its existence, curators from the State RussianMuseum and the Museum of Nonconformist Art have organized severalpermanent expositions in the gallery.

To understand my approach to the material and my working methods,I have to cite manifestos from 1982 and 2005. They not only augmentmy autobiography, but also serve as a key to the working principle of theDictionary of New Mythology.

The 1982 manifesto is reproduced in full in this section as an illustration.The programmatic piece entitled Manifesto is also reproduced here.

An excerpt from the 2005 manifesto: "Especially valuable to mewere the critics' views on the ideological and stylistic resonance offunctiocollage with various trends and concerns of late 19th � early20th century art. Among them were: the Wanderers Movement inRussian art, Dadaism, Futurism, Suprematism, Pop Art, Surrea-lism,the Found Object, Conceptualism, Sots Art, etc.

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Manifesto cleared by the censor and stamped

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Manifesto. Installation. 1982�198563.5 õ 44.5 õ 10 cm

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"This was what prompted me to look for an explanation of thephenomenon that has never been referred to as eclecticism. There wasbut one alternative: to give my new style a completely unique andunprecedented name: Astroconstructivism.

"The name is easily decoded. The individual objects out of which mywork is made belonged to collective groups of objects, the same or similarin function and type. Thus, all the objects that end up in a collage areundoubtedly stars (astra) in relation to a myriad other objects of the samegroup. In combination, the objects form constellation-like constructions.Hence, the second part of the name."

I understood very well that my interference in critical opinionabout my work would not be taken seriously. Furnishing the materialsof expression with texts of some sort, on the other hand, would � atleast in principle � be acceptable. Thus, some forty or fifty aphorismsaccompanying my work were published, starting with the catalog forthe exhibit in the Russian Museum, and continuing through ThePlot of an Object.

Then, realizing that I was about to turn 70 and that of my creativelife remained minumum minimorum, I decided to pursue this projectwith a vengeance. The tricky bit was to achieve quantitative paritybetween work and text. I finally did manage to strike a balance,however, so that neither the body of works nor the body of texts isoutnumbered by the other.

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One of the issues I confronted in creating A Dictionary ofNew Mythology was that for each individual the notion of "myth" hasboth a dictionary definition and a personal meaning. Here is mine: Amyth is the realization of the collective imagination, and theobjective inevitability of fear in the face of it. My work on theaphorisms and maxims progressed parallel to my work on thefunctiocollages, objects, and installations. Minimalism, thematic synergy,and authorial point of view facilitate their melding together in an ultimateunity � a concept.

A list of publications follows in which the basic material included inthe Dictionary first appears. This functions as a kind of bibliographyillustrating the emergence of the concept itself. Several hundred piecesare reproduced in these publications. Some of the images inaugurate thechapters of the Dictionary.

The Exodus of Things. State Russian Museum. Catalog andsolo exhibit retrospective. St. Petersburg: DEAN, 1997

A Convoluted Monograph. St. Petersburg: DEAN, 2002(book presentation at the State Hermitage Museum).

The State Hermitage Under a Full Moon. Catalog and soloexhibit-retrospective in the Hermitage. St. Petersburg: DEAN, 2005

Lukin, V. (Head Architect, the Hermitage), Voinov, V.The Hermitage. Architecture and Metaphysics. An Album.St. Petersburg: DEAN, 2008.

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Pushkin-200 + 0. (A collection of postcards for the eponymoussolo exhibit at the Hermitage.) St. Petersburg, DEAN, 1999

Petersburg Rhine Wine. (A collection of postcards for theeponymous solo exhibit at the Hermitage.) St. Petersburg,DEAN, 2003.

200 Years in the Projection of Gogol. (A collection ofpostcards for the eponymous exhibit at the Museum of NonconformistArt/Bridge Over the Styx Gallery/Department of the Museum ofNonconformism.) St. Petersburg: DEAN, 2009.

The dictionary contains more than 800 separate texts dividedinto ten chapters or sections. The name of the first section, "Journeyinto Another's Soul" � the primary leitmotif of the publication,which speaks in the third person � a cultural outing into the soul ofthe author.

The last, and longest, chapter, which resembles the book an-nouncend, is "Commentary on Reading the Ancients." Its purpose isto establish the notion of a permanent, always contemporary source ofculture. The entire body of commentary corresponds to citations ofcommonly known authors. Dotted lines of varying lengths enabled meto delineate a circle of authors of antiquity of the highest order. Thechapter is a collection of theses and antitheses. As for a synthesis, it isthe author's feeling that this right belongs to the reader, who can drawthe necessary conclusions.

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The greatest problem I faced in carrying out the project was citingdivergent translations and chronologies. The choice of translationdepended on its clarity and poetic qualities, as I understand them (asauthor and compiler of the Dictionary).

The discrepancies in dates in numerous publications and Internetsites appear so often and are so significant that it prompts one to drawthe conclusion that a definitive explication of these truths is a task bestleft to scholars; especially since the task is a never-ending one. In ourcase, the century or centuries in which each of our authors lived replacesthe discursive significance of the exact dates of their births and deaths.

A line of Horace that once struck me, and my current-daycommentary on it, seemed to me an appropriate conclusion of theantiquities section. The quote (and, indeed, the entire rubric of the poet)transcends chronology and serves as an ending to the publication in themore general sense.

This chapter will now continue with several colorful autobiographicalepisodes, and with a collection of aphorisms that relate to my "self-recommendation."

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Self-recommendation I

What is the most important trait of a sailor?That no one drowns when he's in charge.

Since this is a "self-recommendation," I want to begin with twoonshore stories from my archive of memories about life at sea. I hadbeen waiting for a long time for a second exit visa that would permit meto sail abroad (but, unfortunately, still ban me from going ashore in aforeign port attached to it). My request for an audience with the BigBoss to discuss the matter was granted. I go into his office, about thesize of a small stadium, ask him what's up with the visa, and get a verysharp, formal response: "It does not appear to be possible to extend avisa to you personally." I could tell by the tone of his voice that there wassomething fishy about it. Just on a hunch I went to the "window" of thepersonnel department, where, by some coincidence that can only betermed mystical, I received orders to ship out. But I might easily havenot sensed the essence of sailing traditions in carrying out the boss'sorder, not gone to the window, and never received it at all.

The more money I have, the sooner it's gone.I drank up all the money I earned on a roundtrip journey so that I

had nothing to return home on.I thought a bit, and for the first time in my life I not only glanced

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at, but carefully studied my paycheck stub. I had an idea...I dropped into the union committee office and announced that the

dues were not deductible, since I had never submitted a membershipform, and so was not a member of their organization. Then and therethey led me to some high-ranking official, who growled something abouthow it was impossible for a sailor sailing foreign seas not to be a memberof a labor union. I, however, had the option to fill out, right there on thecorner of his desk, two forms: one backdated membership request, andone asking for material assistance to the tune of 50 rubles. I put down100 rubles (a hefty sum in those days), which was in no way impudent ofme, but was undoubtedly bold. Silently, he signed both papers.

Conclusion: neither of us had drunk our brains away yet.

"Study, study, study," but only what no one can teach.In a seminar on Old Russian Art, I was given the following research

topic: "Secular murals on the gallery of one of the towers of the Cathedralof St. Sophia in Kiev." The subject was interesting, and I managed tofind a convincing hypothesis about the reasons for painting the frescos,and thus to determine the date the tower itself was constructed, in the11th century. The research project was very well received. After a shorttime had passed, the author of the evaluation changed his assessment toa sharply negative one. According to university statutes, failing thisseminar would disqualify me from continuing my elected studies in the

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1 "Deciphering the inscription of Peter I on the blueprint of Niccolo Michetti'Upper Chambers in Peterhof.'" Vestnik LGU, 1975, No. 2; "Andreas Architect of Peter the Great." Sovetskoe iskusstvoznanie, 1976, No. 1.

Department of Art History. The matter was brought up at a meeting ofthe department.

I was given a passing grade, and my paper was published in acollection of articles by students and teachers of the History Depart-ment. I became once again convinced that what is new is always fraughtwith conflict.

A real lecturer holds his tongue.I was defending my thesis, entitled "Andreas

Peter the Great," at the Department of Art History. I had already hadit published twice in reputable academic journals1 by that time. Duringthe defense, an academic committee member held up one of thepublications and said: "This is the defense of the Candidate'sDissertation... excuse me, the Master's Thesis." I was dismissed andwent out into the hallway to wait for the verdict. When the powwow hadended, one of the lecturers approached me and said, "I was against passingyou with an 'Excellent,' since the thesis has been bound incorrectly."At that point I thought I should become a professional philosopher or apromising young lecturer. But I didn't become the former because mytemperament stood in the way; likewise in the latter case.

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From time to time the papers print something not only"reasonable, good, and lasting," but also something useful.

I decided to take an oral exam with one of the most colorfulcharacters among the teachers, and in the very office of the deputy dean.I was holding my own and answering the questions quite sensibly, untilthis question was posed: What did the American Secretary of State sayyesterday before Congress? I answered, "It hasn't yet become a matterof historical import, and since there's nothing to lose, it is unlikely tobecome one." The reaction was categorical: "Get out." Only on mythird try did I pass the exam-surprisingly, with an A+.

The Deputy Dean is a sheep in wolf's clothing.I took an exam, and I received an F. Right then and there I went

to another teacher to redo the exam. I received the same list of questionsas before, but I was given a B this time. It was the Deputy Dean whograded the exam the second time around. My conclusion: "It's easier topass an exam with a smart teacher, than with a not very smart teacher."

The main thing in archeology is fate,for some reason called "fortune."

I arrived at the permanent archeological dig at Staraya Ladoga as aguest for two days. On the second day I went to the site in the morningand dug around in one spot for three hours, then left to catch my train.

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Fifteen minutes later, on the square where I had been working, a cacheof 10th century instruments was uncovered. The train schedule failedme � that's Fate.

The museum � viewing platform of history.On the first day of my job at the Museum of the History

of St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), I was required to attend a weeklyseminar. There we listened first to a political affairs bulletin("politinformatsia"), and then one or two reports by our researchscholars. Of course I tuned out during the political bulletin. On thatday, one of the announcements concerned some celebration of theanniversary of the Battle of Poltava. It interested me because it consistedalmost exclusively of praise for Peter the Great. Suddenly the directoraddressed me: "We have a new colleague here, it would be interestingto hear what he has to say." Again, everyday mysticism: just the daybefore I had heard a lecture on this very topic. So I answered veryconfidently, "One year before Poltava, at the Battle of Lesnaya,Sheremetev recaptured transport wagons and a large number ofcannons from the Swedes, so at least part of this panegyric should bedirected at him." The seminar ended for me when the director officiallyannounced that Vadim Voinov would be relieved of the necessity ofattending the mandatory weekly seminars, the reason being that "hehas so much work investigating buildings slated for overhaul that he

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does not have the time." It seems that diverging views on history, aswell as politics, can be mutually beneficial. I needed those morningseminars like a hole in the head. For many years running I received afree morning, in exchange for that Monday nonsense, and the directorhad the opportunity to conduct that nonsense without watching herback.

My motto during my youth:"Never sober, but never drunk, either!"

In the hall of the administrative offices of the Museum I happenedto see an announcement with a list of countries one could travel to on alabor union vacation voucher. I presented myself at the director's officeand said, "I'm writing a paper for one of my courses on the history of artof Ancient Egypt. I would like to examine a certain object � a votiveplate of the pharaoh Narmer in the National Museum in Cairo, and atthe same time the pyramids, temples, stone quarries, etc." The director'sresponse was as follows: "Come in, all of you in the waiting room." Shepointed at me and said, "Voinov has been drinking since morning again."The director, Lyudmila Belova, a very fair and upright woman on thewhole, in this way gave me to understand that they would never allowme (and many others) out of the country. So I went to Egypt onlyspeculatively, as a lesson to others.

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In my case, the artist is a premature pauseat a turning point of history.

In 1982 I wrote a manifesto, and in 1987 it cleared the censors(i.e. giving me the right to display it publicly), after I had concealed in apacket of tags and posters and temporarily removed the word "manifesto."This was the first free declaration since the strict ban on them imposed in1932.

I displayed the manifesto, during the same year, at a group exhibitionat the Palace of Youth.

One day I was killing time in one of the bars at the Palace near theglass wall of the exhibition hall. Suddenly they cordoned off the hugepalace. Shortly thereafter a group of fifteen to twenty middle-aged menparaded in. Their profession was obvious. They walked up and downthe aisles, stopping silently in front of the paintings and objects. Theystood for a long time by mine, but only threw a cursory glance at themanifesto. Then they turned back around and went out, getting intotheir black and gray cars with identical license plates. The cordon wasimmediately removed. Already starting to suspect what I had justwitnessed, I asked my friend the bartender who they were. He answered,"They came in from Moscow on a chartered flight. A whole brigadefrom some department of the KGB. They're already on their way backto Moscow." I understood at that moment that they already knew mymanifesto by heart before they had even seen it.

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The mayor in Russia differs from other cityheads in that he tries to abolish not paper, but ink.

In 1994 "The Bridge Over the Styx," my solo gallery, opened atPushkinskaya 10, under the auspices of the Free Culture Society andas a department of the Museum of Nonconformist Art. In the same yearthe mayor of Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, visited Pushkinskaya andstopped into the gallery. One of the high-ranking officials accompanyinghim, someone concerned with cultural affairs, stepped out of the retinueand shouted "Hi!" Then he stood in front of me, beaming. While I wastrying to figure out who he was, this vaguely familiar person, who turnedout to be fellow student from the Department of History at LeningradState University, asked in a loud voice, "Do you live here, too, or what?"I answered in the same offhand tone, "Nah, I live with some babe. I justhang out here." Mayor Sobchak smiled, and the escort broke into asmile, too.

Much later, fourteen days before his death, when he was no longermayor, he again visited Pushkinskaya. He announced publicly (thus,officially) that he would like me to illustrate his book on Stalin. To this dayI don't know what happened to the book.

Genuine, healthy laughter is a gift from the gods.When I was investigating communal apartments slated for

renovation, I thought up a convenient way of going about my job � I

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pressed the doorbells to all the apartments on one floor at once, then toldeveryone, as a group and not individually, why I had come.

Once, one of the residents, a deaf old man, said, "Come one, I'llshow you!" We walked for a long time, through a labyrinth of rooms.Finally, we arrived at a small room. The old man, pointing at one of thecorners, said, "This is where the stove used to be!"

He was very surprised when I burst out laughing. But he gave mesomething that doesn't happen every day � genuine laughter.

The public is a fool. Yes, and no.The "Bridge Over the Styx", the only solo gallery in St. Petersburg,

has received thousands of visitors over the eighteen years of its existence.Sometimes they ask questions. Some questions are interesting, many aretrivial, and two are especially irritating: "Where do you find these things?"and "How do you do this?" No matter what, you have to remain polite whendealing with the public. So I have come up with two pat answers to thesequestions: "I find these things where your fathers and grandfathers left thembehind", and "I'm capable of understanding how and what I do in my artwork,but I never dwell on it." If they insist, I recommend that they reread Balzac'sThe Magic Skin � in the context not of villainy, but of creativity.

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Self-recommendation II

Life: the bright spots of the Milky Wayon the black stripe of my existence.

The greatest part of my conscious lifeis unconscious hope.

Time for me is the bedrock of everything;the fulcrum of everything is myself.

I have a curious memory:I always remember what I was born with; the rest I have to recall.

I know how to work long and patiently;it's trifles I get impatient with.

I may not live well, but then again, it's Russia.The less I think about myself, the better I know myself.

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I would be better off not knowing some of the people I know;but how would I know people then?

Creation for me is the sensation of an emerging spotand its experience; form and meaning come on their own.

In my case, knowing myself means studying the reasonsfor creative failure, which only I am aware of.

The fourth dimension, in my case,is the metaphysics of everyday objects.

History, in my own case, is the lethargic dream of objects.

A still life is the combination of objectsin the non-pragmatic part of my mind.

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I want people to know about me, but only by my work,and only those people whom I would like to know myself.

The first part of my life was dark alleys and dead-ends;the second is only creation.

My art and my aphorisms illustrate one another.

Creation for me replaces almost everything people live by;herein lies my unhappiness, and my happiness, too.

Things in my artwork are fluent in any language.

Among other things, I'm fortunate in that my completedworks outnumber those I have planned, but have yet to realize.

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Dostoevsky 2000. Installation. 1999. 96 õ 54 õ 32 cm , passe-partout, inventory number.

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My motto:Give from the heart,

but keep the Soul

P O RTA L

II

JOURNEY INTO ANOTHER'S SOUL

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The Soul is a metaphysical substance made of impulsesthat the mind has not filtered out.

Is the Soul the foundation of consciousnessor a second consciousness?

The life of the Soul is experience.

The logic of the Soul is in the strength of feelings.

Character is the reason of the Soul.

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Art is the proof of the existence of the Soul.

A pure conscience is the poetics of the Soul.

A sincere Soul is Fate's sailing directions.

Any epithet for the word Soul becomes metaphor.

The less civilization, the more Soul.

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The consequence of trust is usually disappointment,but also the rooting of the Soul.

If "Another's Soul is darkness," however deeply you peerinto it, it will become no lighter � though yours

might grow dimmer.

Freedom is the collective stateof the Soul on Palace Square.

The highest capacity of the intellect is the ability to decipheryour own Soul.

Wrinkles, not eyes, are the mirror of the Soul in Rembrandt'sportraits of old men.

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"Boredom is the repose of the soul," and thus the impetusbehind much doubt and temptation.

The equivalent of the blackened Soul is its ashes.

The dilemma of many is either living without a Soul,or living without a penny.

Despair is the chaotic circling of the Soularound death.

Indifference is a frame of the Soul.

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If fate can cripple the Soul, which of the two is primary?

Spirit is the strength of the energy of self-awareness.

Conscience is the measuring scale of justice.

One can reach self-awareness as a result of negotiationswith one's conscience.

Conscience is either a belief or a movement towardmoral comfort.

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If there is eternity, there is also immortality.This is impossibleto prove; and all the more impossible to refute.

Matter is synchronous with the consciousness that perceives it.

Existence determines only the rudiments of consciousness;consciousness then studies and develops existence.

To grasp various forms of matter, various levels of development ofconsciousness are essential; and both are infinite.

Death is the superficial victory of Being over Mind.You can sense it especially acutely if you refuse to understand.

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Life is the awareness of the interval between oblivionand death.

Death is the transition of the energy of mindinto the stable orbit of unknowable existence.

A person's life is his Eternity; the afterlife is variationson silence.

Life after death most likely exists, but onlyfor those who believe it.

Everything is subject to comparison except the variationson the next life.

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One needs to remember death,but not necessarily wait for it.

It's easier for a nonbeliever to live than to die.

The price of immortality, in the contextof the preceding theses, can only be life.

The mind is the extra-instinctual realizationof one's own anthropomorphism.

Thought is the non-progressive paralysis of consciousness.

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Memory is a bridge to the past that the mystery of natureor its incomprehensible equivalent has built for us.

Watch out! Chance may be the business card of fate.

Chance: incomprehensible phenomena in an ordinary fate,and all the more in an extraordinary fate.

Fate is a chain of laws forged from chance momentsand events.

The contour of fate is not in every name.

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Different lives have different quantities of fate; that is to say, thefulcrums of its structure are mystical instances of chance.

Lives not marked by mysticism readily lend themselvesto generalization, and even statistics.

Do not place success above fate.

You can't fool fate; you can change it,but then only for a dangerously unpredictable one.

Always act justly, or not at all. If you make a mistake, it willonly be within the time-frame of the positive reaction of fate.

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The strength and reason of fate lie in the firmness, weakness,or absence of character.

Philosophical experience is the result of juxtaposingthe positive and negative manifestations of fate.

Intelligent courage may conquer anything,sometimes even fate, if it knows why.

Courage is the readiness to oppose fate without betrayingyourself.

Fatalism as a conviction is a gift to someone else's fate.

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Anti-fate is a series of dark phantoms, the eternalcompanions of a tragic fate.

Tragic destiny is the fatal intersection of fate and anti-fate.

Between tragic destiny and fate lie intuition and mind.

The essence of time is in the fact that each of us is the handsof our own clock.

Everything is contradictory, and only Eternity is immobile,like a clock standing still.

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If one imagines time to be encoded in human nature,its principle might be called the "instinct of extensiveness."

Space is the extension beyond time or the formof the "instinct of extensiveness" parallel to it.

It was the human being who managed to break Eternityinto time, and thus to become

"the module of self-knowledge of the Universe."

Time � the axis of life of the human being �is the dynamism of his Universe.

Our knowledge of the Universe is objective in relationto ourselves, but not to the Universe itself.

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Eternity is the most objective of realities for those who,sensing it sharply, are able to remain sane.

In spite of science we are always in the early stagesof understanding the Universe, and this keeps us sane.

The knowledge of the fragility of life and the Earth existsin the far corner of our mind, guaranteeing its sanity.

Metaphysics is touching the incomprehensibility of Eternity.

Mysticism is the sublimation of energy, incomprehensibleto us, in forms that give rise to inexplicable phenomena.

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Mysticism emerges of itself; metaphysics is created.

The wonder of mysticism is the everyday of metaphysics.

Philosophy is only the wrappings of metaphysics.

Philosophy, in my case, is the supporting structureof the Bridge over the Styx.

Philosophy stopped being a guidebook to life; now it is atbest, like history, a tranquilizer.

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Nature knew how unbecoming wisdom was to women,and gave them universal everyday philosophy.

The fact that there were no female philosophers in antiquityis balanced out by the number of women doctors of philosophy.

Everything revolves around everything: the Moonaround the Earth, the Earth around the Sun, the Universe around

philosophy.

The philosophy of religion is the attempt to realize the mysteryof birth and the meaning of life in the context

of the inevitability of death.

The philosopher's stone of the future is the cornerstonefor the tomb of our civilization.

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Ball in a basket. Installation. 1994. 100 õ 35 cm.Globe, wastebasket, street sign.

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Everything that an artist seescan become art

ART IS ONLY THE GLANCE

OF ETERNITY

P O RTA L

III

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Eternity stares at us with the eyes of art.

Art is the materialization of Eternity.

Eternity is a spatiotemporal category that art transformsinto a category of philosophy.

The Universe is a cosmic abyss fixed conventionallyby science, and directly by art.

Art is the highest form of self-expression;it reconciles us with the infinity of the Universe.

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Art is the combination of what you know withwhat you can't know.

Art is the precedence of expressiveness overthe means of mimesis.

Art is the magical parity between feeling, style, and skill.

Art edits the present, transforms the past,and predicts the future.

Art sublimates the psyche in those who create it,and regulates it in those who perceive it.

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The two components of art: constant � metaphysics(inscrutability); and variable � the present juncture (style).

Style is the final form of generalization of beautyat the main stages of the history of civilization.

Style is the single form underlying creative repetitionsof various authors in one period of the history of art.

Everything that is fanatically defended in art risks becomingobscurantism.

Art, in spite of Lenin's claim,does not belong to the people!

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Art, in the case of social perception, works like oddsand evens, that is like the hangman and the doctor.

Art forgives its author everything except betrayal of himself.

The prerequisites for practicing art are talent, temperament,and patience.

Great art has no need of petty sacrifices.

Authenticity is the most common sacrifice to art.

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There is as much culture in art as there is tradition in it.

The most important thing in science is calculationsof the mind; in art, it is the perspicacity of feeling.

Unlike the exact sciences, in art changing the order ofoperands creates or destroys virtually everything.

In a breakthrough moment science can become art;the converse is never the case.

Art history is the ability always to see art as thoughfor the first time; all the rest is simply knowledge.

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Much in art is consigned to oblivion for the lack of preciseterminology, but this is a problem for art critics.

Collectors of art are a stone's throw away from becoming mentalpatients.

Art criticism is a dash between the artist and the viewer.

The meaning of aggressive art criticism can be found onlyin its form � linguistic design.

Creative life is shorter than ordinary life; the former flies headlongto the finish, the latter follows the calendar to the end.

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In art there is no progress; there is regress, there is theexchange of the mystery of birth and the degeneration of style.

Alcohol is sometimes good for art in the sense that it's notalways bad for the artist.

The best short definition of art is Malraux's:Art is anti-destiny.

Perfectly executed fakes of masterpieces affirm Aritstotle'struth: Mastery is the last order of art.

Art lies in the most inexplicable movements,which never depend on mastery.

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What resounds in art can be conveyed in star charts.

Experience � a friend during the processof creating artwork � becomes an enemy in the end.

Intuition is the consequence of an explosionin the unconscious at the intersection of instinct and intellect.

The spark of inspiration is a moment of intersection of impulsesof consciousness and the unconscious; it can provoke a diagnosis.

Inspiration: an explosion of intuition igniting creative energyor a breakthrough in the aforementioned energy

that opens up intuition?

58

The outcome of realized inspiration is a crisis.

The outcome of unrealized inspiration is a deep crisis.

Intellect is the ability to create a nonlinear connectionbetween givens.

Creativity is first and foremost an unorthodox attitudetoward one's own intellect.

Creativity is the simultaneous work of the consciousness,the unconscious, and Providence.

59

Creativity is the process of combining open intuitionwith the ability to realize it in a palpable form.

The creative conveying of an idea can be muchmore convincing than its substance.

Genius is a form of metaphysics.

Talent is the creative reaction to unerring intuition.

Talented does not necessarily mean intelligent.

60

The reincarnation of time is the return to the past in dreamsof the future.

The shadow of an object is its myth.

The poetry of an object is in the ineluctability of its shadow.

Dynamism in art is the level of expressive definition of form.

Artist! Personality is no substitute for the absenceof dynamism in your work.

61

Argument in favor of paganism: the astounding beautyof the ruins of the Parthenon.

The perfection of antiquity is in the displayingof a museum fragment.

Caesar "dontated" a copy of Notes on the Gallic War to theAlexandrian Library, and then burned it, along with other

books, bookshelves, and, indeed, the whole building.

It would make sense to turn the concrete drama theater fromthe end of the 1980s, the "Novgorod concrete fire nest"on the banks of the Volkhov River, into a memorial ruin.

Monochrome illustrations resemble counterfeit documentsfar less than colored ones.

62

The museum is the trepanation of memory's core,which is then exhibited or preserved in inventory units

of material culture.

The museum syndrome is the obverse of collectivecommunion in art.

Unlike other museums, the genius loci of the Hermitage isalways its director.

Petersburg is the cornerstone of the Hermitage.

The Hermitage is the keystone of Petersburg.

63

The mysticism of Petersburg is a bright sunny day.

Sometimes alcohol is the most comfortable aspectof Petersburg weather.

Rhine wine runs in the blood of Petersburg.

Guidebook: at the beginning of the 21st century, Petersburgbecomes a suburb of Moscow; and Moscow, of Petersburg.

Russian culture lags about 100 years behind Petersburgculture, and about 1,000 years before Western culture.

Question: does it even need to try to catch up?

64

Hernia. Object. 2002. 61 x 78 x 15 cmBelt buckle, globe, globe fragment.

65

My road passed throughthe rubbish heaps of culture

RUBBISH HEAPS OF CULTURE

P O RTA L

IV

66

Kandinsky is the author of the laboratory Universe.

Abstraction is the mother-in-law of the Cosmosand the adopted daughter of Chaos.

Malevich is one of the templates of the Universe.

Suprematism is a telescope with an ever increasingmagnification factor.

Constructivism is the highest reasonableness not inhibitedby historical tradition.

67

Kandinsky and Malevich are the road through imageryto the resolution of the supreme problem

of the precedence of material or consciousness.

The paradox of the Avant-garde lies in the fact that itarose in Russia as a form of art, then disappeared,

and returned as the great tradition.

Modernism is the breakthrough into a new worldviewthrough the negation of the art of imitation and the discovery

of formulas of expressive algebra.

Modernism is an abyss that divides culture into its fanaticalsupporters and opponents.

The style of the Egyptian pyramids, in a contemporary reading,is astral constructivism.

68

Postmodernism is a step backward that electrifiesmodernism.

Minimalism is the shard of a silent explosion selectedby the artist.

Conceptual art is the precedence of the idea over the meansof expression.

Understanding topical art is possible, but only as mysticalco-authorship with the artist who creates it.

In order to generate an interest in contemporary art inRussia, one must talk about its cost everyday

on all TV channels.

69

The Earth revolves around every artist; well,maybe the galaxy. But not the Universe!

For an artist, the absence of any notoriety or fameis an existence one cannot envy.

An exhibit is the only proper form of communicationbetween the artist and the public.

The majority of those who find themselves in art pay a pricefor this that far exceeds what their talent is worth.

"Art requires sacrifice," and the most unavoidableone is the artist himself.

70

The artist suffers from loneliness until he realizes that hereally doesn't need anyone.

The other side of art is the confrontation betweenthe pretensions of the artist and the complexes of the viewer.

The creative process for the artist, if he is not scaredby the principle of shagreen leather or the "magic skin,"

is knowing himself.

One cannot remain an artist without absolute confidencein the validity of what you are doing.

The artist is the counterbalance of the unavoidableannihilation of culture.

71

To be a born artist and not to become one is more thana tragedy: it amounts to living someone else's life.

To understand how to become an artist, you must turneverything you have learned into a guidebook,

and devise your own version of knowledge.

An artist who has exhibited his art becomes,at least for a moment, free.

An outstanding artist, by renewing tradition,prolongs the life of culture.

The great artist is the perfection of form within tradition, and,more important, outside of it.

72

Being a mediocre artist with any level of skill,and � unavoidable in such cases, pretension �

is hardly a creative profession.

A generation without strong artists who gave expressionto it seems not really to exist.

The mind and talent of the artist wear out not fromexperience, but through peace and repose.

In the artist's case, creativity and plagiarism are compatibleonly as ways of camouflaging the latter.

How the artist lived and how he ended is not at allimportant; what's important is that he was.

73

Fashion is the texture of a generation, a declarationof understanding of the beauty of the time in which it arose.

Prague is one of the Slavonic capitals, though descryingits proto-Slavonic foundation is impossible.

Athens consists of three worlds: the white, southerndevelopment; the quarter of Turkish alleyways; and the mirage

of ruins of antiquity � the Agora and the Acropolis.

Venice is a city of trained black crocodile-gondolas,stolen bronze horses, and a floating spider of streets.

In the center of Venice are toilets with elementsof Sots-realism for 1.5 to 3 euros � their coat of arms

should have a Cloacina riding a lion.

74

The eternity of Rome is in the ruins of the Palatine Hill,in the archeology of the forums, Marcus Aurelius

and Michelangelo, and in the Romans,who look just a little bit like elegant gypsies.

The last of the merits of Rome is its proximity to Florence.

Architecture is the anthropomorphized universe.

Architecture is not only the first among the arts;for the artist it is the first among the sciences.

Architecture is not only "use, durability, beauty" (Vitruvius),but also the sign of metaphysical presence created by man.

75

Prehistorical graphic art is the first result, albeit the mostprimitive, of planned architectural thought.

The brick is the cornerstone of our civilization.

The foundation is an underground pedestal.

The basement is the chthonic boundary of everydayconsciousness.

The backbone of an apartment building is its main staircase.

76

The attic is the naked structure between the roofand the body of a building.

The roof is the boundary between earth and heaven.

The courtyard is the tectonic seamy side of external

A landscape park is a forest with a degree.

A symmetric park is a military hairdo.

77

Culture is the transformation of tradition into instinct.

Beauty is the horizon of culture.

Style is the integration of a cognized period of cultureinto an understanding of beauty.

Tradition creates culture, then gives it to its child �civilization � which inevitably turns it into anti-culture.

The level of culture depends directly on the level of life;the dependence of the level of life on culture is arbitrary.

78

Civilization is the degradation of culture.

Mass culture is civilization.

Old calendars are trivially graphic artifacts provingthe existence of culture in the past tense.

The culture of absolutism is such in that the wordof the king excludes hope.

The apotheosis of culture for many peopleis table manners.

79

The path to the zenith of civilization goes throughthe graveyard of culture.

Russian culture has already been in the handsof evil geniuses.

If civilization does not seek a path of the rebirth of culture,it is doomed.

There are people of culture, and people of civilization;the difference is that some are more individual than others.

The human being, with many exceptions, is still the resultof the evolution of culture.

80

�Hermitage� Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream. 2005. 24 õ 28 cmMelchior ice cream dish, cast iron cannonball, tennis ball.

81

The defining feature of the card indexof immortals is that it will never grow

too big

CARD INDEX OF IMMORTALS

P O R TA L

V

82

Pushkin is the first emperor of Russian poets;Mandelstam is the second.

Pushkin provoked the great epoch of Russian literature;Mandelstam became its horizon.

83

Gogol is our past, present, and, most likely, our future.

My Lermontov � Taman, Taman, and yet again Taman!

Dostoevsky is an epic with "Russian Mentality" as its onlypossible title. Every name in that epic is an outline of fate.

Tolstoy, paraphrasing Lenin, is a shardof the "mirror of the Russian revolution."

The Intelligentsia � a novel by Tolstoy withan afterword by Dostoevsky.

84

Shenshin was a gentleman by birth, and only then the poetAfansy Fet.

Tiutchev and Annensky are proof that a career as a publicofficial does not preclude one from being a poet.

Saltykov-Shchedrin was vice-governor and first awardeeof the "For Bravery" medal.

Bunin is Russia�s Black Earth Region, with a lyrical border,embellished with a Nobel hue.

Chekhov is the blue lamp of the Russian Intelligentsia.

85

Blok is a Jugendstil abyss.

Bely is the other side of Blok's mirror.

Gumilev is an African sun over a Finnish swamp.

Yesenin was a poet killed by youth.

Voloshin of Koktebel � poet, author of propheticapocrypha.

86

Tsvetaeva � a pause between three hyphens:doom, genius, and fame.

Severyanin � a great cosmetic poet in the styleof art nouveau.

Sasha Cherny was the melancholy poet with the mostprecise pseudonym and the most skeptical mind.

Akhmatova � an alchemical alloy of silver and steel.

Bagritstky � a gift opened by a frenzyof Bolshevik fanaticism.

87

In the unique stellar life of Pasternak, ill fate was simply unableto realize itself.

Nabokov is the author of mystical thematic coincidences(chances), written not on the desktop,

but on the top of a coffin.

Zabolotsky is a poet with a fate in prison and severalmasterpieces in a blue volume of the Poet's Library series.

Bulgakov � a Doctor Faustus amphitheater in the middleof Central Russian Upland.

Zoshchenko � the ironic grimace of Leningrad.

88

Platonov � a translation of Hieronymus Boschinto Russian.

Mayakovsky � the main Russian Futurist, painterof a steep, emotionally fraught stairway to a red heaven.

Voznesensky � an architect who put the steps and the angleof incline of Mayakovsky's staircase to the rhythm

of his own time.

Khlebnikov � the only real shaman amongthe Russian poets.

Babel � minimalism with an Odessan flavorand a fiery red temperament.

89

Ilf and Petrov � authors of masterpieces on the theme"Our philistine is no enemy, he's a jester!"

Kharms � guardian of a field of dreams in a countryof fools.

Gaidar � proof that the magic of languagedoes not depend on the radicalness of political conviction.

Sholokhov is an authentic Cossack from the "Red Don"that grew quiet.

Tvardovsky was a poet; Private Tyorkin, in his own way,was too.

90

Galich was the last Russian epic poet,and its first significant anti-Soviet poet.

Vysotsky was a national hero who happened to be an actorat the Taganka Theater.

A memorial to the youth of my generation � a commutertrain named after Venichka Erofeev.

Rubtsov � a poet with the largest capital letterof the alphabet of his own time.

Reading Rubtsov one can't help but think that he andYesenin came not only from different villages, but from

different galaxies.

91

Yevtushenko is a poet that keeps eluding categorization.

Brodsky left without saying goodbye, exchangingthe Muruzi House in St. Petersburg for a Nobel Eternity.

Dovlatov is a St. Petersburg star shining aboveNew York City.

Tarkovsky is a path of self-awareness of five contemplativefilms and of, as it were, unanimous criticizm.

"Doubt is the beginning of wisdom" for beginning wisemen;"He who replies to words of Doubt/Doth put the Light

of knowledge out" (W. Blake) is for the merely intelligent.

92

Kafka is absolute authenticity mixed with magical pathology.

Proust is a billiard ball that flew by mistake into a Russiapocket with torn netting.

Treasure Island is the most golden of Stevenson's romanticbooks; there's even more gold in it than salty seawater.

In the nautical regulations it's "do as I do"; in literature it's"think as I think."

In the Japanese tradition art arrives when the artist leaves;in the Russian tradition, it happens any which way.

93

Question in an arts quiz: What was the name ofShakespeare's theater? The long answer: the blood-red

Globe.

What Shakespeare calls "bubbles of the earth," Dostoevskycalls "poor folk."

The words "wait and hope" at the endof The Count of Monte Cristo are synonyms.

The fact that Edgar Allen Po is an American cannot beexplained otherwise than as a caprice of European culture.

A masterpiece is the result of co-authorship with God.

94

Old Abacuses. Installation. 2006 50 õ 56 õ 57 cmAbacuses, the body and movements of a desk clock, plastic globefragment, inventory number tag.

95

The more the man learns aboutthe Universe, the less significant

becomes his existence in it

O N LY H U M A N � I

P O RTA L

VI

96

Temperament and character are the relationship of personalenergy and individual traits of the reason of Soul.

A strong temperament in a blockhead is a catastrophe;in a person of wisdom, it is an epoch.

Character is the blind portion of human nature, its fatum.

The wise demonstrate reason, then character; the intelligent,often the reverse.

A strong character is stronger, but not more intelligent,than reason.

97

The winner is he who knows how to block his own characterso that it doesn't look like weakness.

Exercising self-control is the ability to concealone's character as long as one deems necessary.

"Sow character, reap fate," and if you have no characterof your own, your fate will grow from someone else's.

A powerful, active mind is often incapable of dealing withtrivial day-to-day problems, which easily turn it into stupidity.

Education and upbringing, or knowing how to wear a suitand tie, may look like intelligence; but only for a limited time.

98

The ability to be respectful is an obvious sign of intelligence.

The ability to be respectful not from fear or servility is notalways evident.

Respect shown by careerists is a behavioral imitationof the real thing.

If you don't want to lose respect, learn to answer it withoutwardly polite indifference.

Being oneself is above all showing only sincere respector contempt.

99

Honesty is the virtue of the weak; the virtue of the strongis justice.

Refinement is relating to the weak as equals,and relating in like manner to the strong.

Many empty lives are filled with the thrill of enmityand squabbles, and, as a result, simple idiocy.

The ability to greet casually and to part meaningfullyis not mastered by many.

If you don't want to answer politely, maintain a deep silence.

100

Caution has transformed far more lives into dull existencethan audacity has killed.

Aristocracy is the ability to express luxury through brutality.

Good manners are hard to copy; they are imperceptible.

In the eyes of the general public, nobility backed by forceis conviction; nobility out of weakness is refinement.

Missing a chance to act nobly is akin to losing a pieceof one's soul.

101

Nobility is the gesture of a strong Soul.

Nobility is a Soul that does not succumb to character.

The highest form of nobility, not to mention wisdom,is not wanted to have the last laugh.

If you always give people the benefit of the doubt, you riskgaining the reputation of a noble fool, or even a madman.

Nobility is the most hopeless form of opposition tostupidity.

102

Love is the surplus value of life.

If eternal love exists, then only in realist literature.

Wait until darkness falls before you embark on closerrelations with someone.

The bed, as they say, is no good pretext for gettingto know someone; calling someone by name is!

Incomprehensibility makes love and death more intimate.

103

Love is the struggle of the unconscious with the teachingsof Sigmund Freud.

Man is the imbalance between resolution and caution.

Woman is the imbalance between caution and resolution.

A beautiful woman who forgets about it even for a minutebecomes twice as lively and beautiful.

A handsome man,who is not an artist's model or an actorbecomes freak when he shows off his looks.

104

A typical genre scene: the helpless faces of lovers beingmocked by those who know their plight.

A woman's candor takes a man hostage to it.

A man's candor is a woman's weapon.

Love and hatred are equidistant from indifference;the interval between them is fate.

Charm is when two rhythms of motion �passionate psychotechnics and the suggestibility

of contact � meet head on.

105

The tragedy of so many lives is that only at their end dothey acquire decisiveness; but by then, there is neither

strength, nor time, nor reason for it.

It is rational to devote one's life to one's health and comfort;it is irrational to call that life.

Life without mistakes is not life, but full-blown existence.

One should live so that money, health, and conscience wouldallow one to pass it sitting over a beer with friends until old

age.

If your life ends in an empty barrel or a gutter by theroadside, it means you are a true "citizen of the world."

106

Gramophone and record. Object. 2007. 53 x 40x 40 cmGramophone, circular saw blade, photograph reproduction, sticker.

107

There is no horizon in our knowledgeof the Universe; in our studies

of the human being there isn't either

ONLY HUMAN � II

P O RTA L

VII

108

"God created man in His own image,"but not in His own likeness, that's for sure.

Three levels of the mind reason � the foundation of survival;intellect � the balance between intuition and analysis;

and wisdom � a contemplative sequence.

Intellect is a limited category, whereas foolishness is an abyss.

The mind is hostage to guile.

Wisdom, or philosophy, is a contemplative attitudetoward the pace of life, a cool head, and a rare form

of will power.

109

Wisdom and foolishness are the limits of intellect.

Wisdom is what the fool calls foolishness,and the wise call silence.

One of the conditions of wisdom is the abilityto think without being in the mood.

Wisdom often appears as madness.

Fools release their anger often, the intelligent sometimes �but the wise, never.

110

What is difficult to comprehend often appears either wiseor very foolish.

Foolishness in the eyes of some may be lack of pettinessin the eyes of others.

For a fool, the only wisdom is silence; but that silencedoesn't last.

Foolishness � unlike wisdom � is always right.

Intellect is mistaken for foolishness more often thanfoolishness is mistaken for intellect.

111

Greed is either a pathology, or just one of the innumerableforms of foolishness.

The constant certainty that one is smart is either foolishnessor an illness.

Only a fool never admits things to himself and never loseshimself, for he has nothing to lose.

Conversing with a fool even on something as humdrum asthe weather, you have the feeling that you have lost yourself.

The decisiveness of a fool is akin to the fury of a unicellularorganism.

112

For those to whom "rudeness plays second fiddle to joy,"insolence always plays the lead.

Insolence is the merit of the impudent, and cunning occupiesa significant portion of their flat minds.

As for impudence, it tends to lean toward foolishness.

Impudence, to paraphrase the expression, is "the feetof a dumb swine on your table."

Impudence and boldness may make the same impression,but the consequences will be different, because boldnessis aimed upward, whereas impudence is an oppression.

113

Vanity heralds vulgarity.

Vanity is the desire to outdo everyone at everything,no matter the price; a dead-end for the sophisticated mind.

Vanity is the launch pad for intellect and the antipodeof wisdom.

Vulgarity is the lowest selvage of ordinary thinking.

Vulgarity and foolishness are "apples from the same tree."

114

The highest form of vulgarity is ostentatious honestyand ostentatious civility.

Ambition is the desire to prove to anyone � but usually notto yourself � that you are deserving of praise.

The impulse behind gossiping is a hunger for adrenaline.

Politics is expressing a positive opinion while holding anegative one.

"Man is style," if he is on stage or in power; in others,however, it is barely visible.

115

Moral superiority, if not backed up by a convincing character,spells defeat.

Envy is self-immolation, and is the best catalyst for earlywrinkles and dementia.

Envy is the queen of all complexes.

Within a person there is a scale, and the weights of chagrinand disappointment are heavier than the weights of joy.

Strong affection is a land mine.

116

The impulse of off-stage humor is metaphysical.

Humor is wit breaking through the armorof everyday thought.

The Truth is rarely born of an argument;the latter more often proves deadly for friendship.

The human body is a machine, and the medical encyclopediais its operation manual.

The best thing about paid healthcare is the doctor'ssemblance to a well-wisher.

117

Kamplanius, the ferocious governor of the Long-HairedGaul, showed deep respect for doctors and trusted them

until he himself fell ill, whereupon he called them"the henchmen of grave diggers."

The healthiest part of a man is the part rooted in nature; butman sees to it that his nature is in constant need of a doctor.

If medicine is art, then the doctor is Pygmalion.

At the end of one's life, the best companyis a courteous doctor.

Old age is the last span of the bridge over the Styx.

118

Column. Installation. 1994. 188 x 65 cm , rope, artwork affixed to column.

119

By mixing approaches and techniquein the alchemical beaker of history one

can find the lever of politics

MIXED TECHNIQUE � I

PORTAL

VIII

120

History is the flow of time through civilizations.

It is strange that despite being the foundationof self-consciousness and the bedrock of culture,

"history teaches us nothing."

One might, hypothetically, read the word Rus as Ruka("a hand"), but by no means as Golova ("a head").

Commentary on a small cafe in Great Novgorod calledCharisma: in the Russian mind, charisma begins with

Peter I's "The Table of Ranks."

Early Christianity in Rus is a side dish of paganism.

121

Russian paganism is when men don't cross themselvesat a peal of thunder.

The interior of the cupola of the Church of Transfiguration onIlin Street in Great Novgorod is the microscope

of the Pantokrator pointed at Earth.

"Oleg of Novgorod" and "The Death of the Varangian"are the Norman-Russian theme that spontaneously united

the names of the land and sea "anthems" of Russia.

In Japan, the attitude toward monuments is one of "eternalrenewal"; in this context, the monuments of Russia are an

"eternal return".

Written in pencil on the cover of a notebookof musical scores: "On the Hills of Manchuria,"

the great Russian memorial waltz.

122

The 20th century is an era of the serial doom of peoplesand the mass paranoia of politicians.

What they call the "October Revolution" was planned byidealists, realized by adventurers, further developed by

demagogues, and ruined by officers of the Cheka.

Lenin cynically called upon the masses, who had beencorrupted by his own slogans, to "Be honest workers,

don't steal!" And the masses snickered gloatingly.

"Film is the most important art form" (Lenin) �and the first strategy used by the Soviet Authorities

for collapsing the worldview of the audience.

As a form of address, Sir shows traditional respect;Comrade shows revolutionary chumminess.

123

Between the terms of address of Citizen and Comradelie jail, the taiga, and so-called freedom.

A notice: A Tour of Communism on the "Kolyma Streetcar."

Shalamov, Solzhenitsyn, and many others told horrifyingstories of the deaths of millions to the millions who

themselves were quick to forget about them.

An ominous example of Late Constructivism on the Neva:the "Red Doric," Frunzensky Mall lightly influenced by the

order, and bastion houses "for the good folk."

The Soviet Authorities replaced psaltery players, kobzaplayers, akyns, and folk singers with songwriters.

124

War is not only the "hygiene of a nation," but the returnto a more youthful time in its culture,

all the way back to the early Neolithic Period.

In war, the Russian character turned out to be more radicalthan the German character.

Russian muzhiks entered Berlin twice: in 1761,and once again in 1945. Would it be acceptable to call it

a historical tradition?

As humanists, Hitler and Stalin differed only in the styleof their mustaches.

As military commanders, both Hitler and Stalin spentall their time changing horses at river crossings.

125

The German fighter agent Tavrin and Stalin were both sonsof shoemakers. If T. had killed the Soviet leader,

he would have become a hero of the Reich, and ultimatelyof Russia, as well.

The art of war should be measured not by victories,but by losses.

If war is an art, then a senator General in chargeof the army is a guarantee of defeat.

People are a biomass of their own fate; in the case of war,a mere statistic.

For the reader, war stories or a general's memoirs arethe protocol of war; but not for the historian.

126

At least once in your life as you lift your right arm up at anangle, remember with disgust the Nazi slogan Rudolf Hess

thought up: "the Party of Order."

The Cold War cost Russia as much as WWII,and that's not counting the expenditure for changing

the social structure.

Somehow or other, regional wars at the end of the 20thcentury stabilized capitalism and helped finish off socialism.

The 20th century in Russia was the red Stone Ageof the third millennium.

There is a phantom of justice making its way around Russia,never stopping for long.

127

In Russia, many deeds find their beginnings in hope,the process of their realization in ardor, and their demise

in the apathy of unfinished projects.

In business relationships, as with everything else in Russia,there is a completely irrelevant psychological insightthat is exhausting and endangers the project itself.

In Russia there is nothing more psychologically difficultthan the interrelations of the Intelligentsia with the People.

Jews in Russia in the beginning of the 21st century are just onemore reason to examine the sad statistic of their latest

Exodus.

Unlike Soviet leaders, government officials often becomeveterans of the stage upon retirement.

128

Large offices for great people: both a rule and an exception.

The Russian establishment is not salt, but sugarto the government, and the people are its insulin.

Big Bosses in Russia are not just protection racket "roofs,"but nomenklature cupolas of various shapes and sizes.

The absolute unity of various branches of power is incest.

The Apophis Asteroid is just another hint to the BigBosses that not only everyone else, but they, too, are

mortal.

129

Government in Russia: the security service is the numerator,and the rest is the denominator.

The most constant thing in Russia is that power is governednot by mind but by character.

After its unofficial death, any political or social organization inRussia becomes just a playground for the self-assertion

of its leaders.

Russia is a great country, sometimes a power �but by no means a state.

In order to "improve Russia," it would have to be plantedin a strange, yet-to-be-discovered civilization.

130

An epigraph to the 21st century: a perfect balanceof everything and everyone, or else the end of it all.

A beehive without honey is a mausoleum for the drone.

The title of Govorukhin's film The Meeting Place CannotBe Changed, and quotes from it, have become free verse

to the people, with the subtext close to their own identities.

Russian vodka is a stabilizer of melancholy, and a solventof happiness.

Smoking is the sworn enemy of old age.

131

Don't appeal to God unnecessarily; and if he does exist,think and worry about it prior to making your appeal.

Eternal values are the things that are valued for the most partspeculatively, yet eternally.

The critical mass of successive fortunes can be quicklygeneralized by a disaster.

Meditative people are shaped by the past; the rest areshaped by the present, which also happens to be the future.

Hypochondria is a dangerous enemy to objectivity.

132

The Royal Hotel. Functiocollage. 1987. 45 x 45 x 5 cmTin box, signboard, telephone receiver.

133

If you don't know how to place synonyms,arrange them alphabetically

MIXED TECHNIQUE � II

P O R TA L

IX

134

Trustfulness is the Achilles' heel of those who are strongin spirit; Caesar is an example of that.

Suvorov's aphorism "to surprise is to conquer"is from his own practices and his military manual

The Science of Victory.

Bonaparte the artillery officer is an example of a cannonballturning into a missile.

A constant union between people is a fragment of the mythof "Entente," or a rare but favorable pathology.

Nobel invented two opposites: dynamite and a Peace Prize.

135

Tesla deserves a monument in the shapeof a shovel upon a parapet of one of America's ditches:

T. began his career digging trenches.

Americans are free of false mannerisms and thisis their national character.

Only a philosopher can say, "I have nothing; but then again, Ispent my whole life doing nothing."

From the thoughts of an Athenian demagogue:"'Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is the truth,'

as long as it is appropriate."

Hermes' motto: "Honesty, not out of fear!"

136

Loneliness is a cage to a choleric, a diary to a melancholic,a mirror to a sanguine, and a pillow to a phlegmatic.

In the theater of any life, drama is one of the actsof a comedy; a tragedy is only for the chosen.

During the pauses in between deeds, man is a mystery.

People open up on the road, and that's wherethey also close themselves.

A bad influence is infectious, as is a good influence �but that is less common.

137

A friend is an irrational brother.

The hero is the highest form of self-awareness, minusthe feeling of self-preservation.

Heroism is the disdain of death and the love of life.

The more you measure, the less you understand.

The grass is always greener, but maybe that's justbecause we're not there.

138

Willpower is the biceps of fate.

The qualities of a leader: constantly testing one's will,and often clipping the intellect.

Willpower can conceal a low intellect,but not a complete lack thereof.

It is more interesting, but not necessarily safer,to critique that which nobody argues about.

Specialists both know and do; dilettantes either know or do.

139

True gratitude should exceed a good service unnoticed.

For many people, honesty is the best policy outside their jobs.

Learn from yourself, bypassing memory and everyday lifeexperience, leaving only your soul.

"Whatever happens is for the best" could suggestthat someone whom everyone knows should simply never have

been born at all.

Many unpleasant things could be avoided if we treated themwith less seriousness; achievementsachievements being no

exception.

140

Money is a terrible thing, but only when you don't have any.

Foolish money creates problems; smart money resolves them.

It's great that "money can't buy happiness"; what's not sogreat is that "time is money."

Many people, including me, live their whole lives waitingfor the day when their money runs out,

or when the money returns.

Debts not only destroy one's relations with people;sometimes they foster them.

141

A good upbringing is the foundation of boredom;a bad upbringing, of fisticuffs.

Aristocracy is the external appearance of a very goodupbringing.

Good manners are more likely a defense weaponthan an attack weapon.

Elegance is the rare state of harmony between the energyof the idea and the stasis of the material.

Happiness is a question of the vividness of one's experienceof the world. One may say with certainty

that it is a fragmentary category.

142

There are dumb beasts; but there are talking beasts, too!

What came first: the chicken or the egg? Perhaps it wasthe architecture � i. e., the shell?

Watching puppies, baby birds, and little kidsdissipates stress.

In the animal world, the human being stands out as the onlyone who bites his nails.

Perhaps organicism is the theology of nature.

143

An unmotivated lie gives one a sense of superiority,but only while one is saying it.

The larger portion of untruth is expressed instinctively.

Trust is a temptation; it often gives birth to nonentities.

The academic exterior, with few exceptions,is the result of prolonged conformity.

It's strange when the manners of beautifully dressed and well-groomed people reek of eau de cologne.

144

One must always know precisely the measure of people withwhom one gets into a leaky boat.

"If you know too much, you get very little sleep";if you know too little, you rarely awaken.

Avoid new acquaintances and you won't be mistakenin people.

Many fairly intelligent and extremely cautious people neversay anything wise. Well, maybe they think it...

Better never to make a witty remark than to make a singleone that falls flat.

145

Good deeds and good relations are fromtwo different operas.

If you do a favor that no one requested � forget about it!

Silence is not always golden; a wise word, always.

The word becomes golden in the silver of silence.

Never take silence as a sign of agreement, until someonesays it.

146

Irony is well-intentioned doubt.

Irony is the ozone layer of the intellect.

Self-irony that is expressed may be perceived as weaknessof spirit.

Sarcasm is the irony of plebeians.

Hackneyed phrases may be used either ironically,or in the context of an original idea.

147

The critical mass of exceptions is already the rule.

An aphorism is the concentration of reason drivento the point of the disintegration. This is already wisdom.

The successful conclusion of a matter that can be expressedwith an aphorism at the start, is already in sight.

A beggar, as everyone knows, has no friends;he has no one to be afraid of, either.

Snobbery is emptiness expressed through pretension.

148

Intrigue is the move of a pawn toward the crownof the Queen.

One can learn to know oneself as the result of workcompleted for which one is unexpectedly not paid.

If you want to look ahead, you must rely on experience, and,thus, turn back.

The expediency of one's own life dependson the choice of context in which you view it.

There are galaxies upon galaxies between the humanbeing and the crowd.

149

In a certain great book it is said that "Patience is sublime."Is this a pearl of philosophical wisdom or the morality

of a slave?

The ends justify the means, but onlyif the ends envisioned it.

The New Scholasticism � a fatal dialogue betweentechnological development and the instinct

of self-preservation.

People of Eternity �those who grapple with eternal problems.

The last success in life �to pass away together with your hope.

150

THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION OF THE EXPRESSION OF

ANCIENTS IS MORE MONUMENTAL, AND, THUS, MORE

CONVINCING TO US, THAN APHORISMS AND MAXIMS

THAT ORIGINATE CLOSER TO US IN TIME.

A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ANCIENT GODS AND

PEOPLE IS THAT THE GODS LIVE ON MOUNT OLYMPUS, WHEREAS

PEOPLE LIVE EVERYWHERE.

151

VADIM VOINOV

COMMENTARYON A PRESENT-DAY READING

OF THE ANCIENTS

P O R TA L

X

152

Greece

Homer (8th century BCE), poet

Everything is transient; of allthat grows or lives on earth,man is the most transient.

But what about a blossom,a beetle, or a fish?

Even a fool understandswhat is already finished.

Not always, and not everyfool.

Beauty does not last. Homer never saw the ruins ofthe Acropolis.

Periander (mid. 7th�beg. 6th century BCE), philosopher

Be moderate in prosperity,prudent in adversity.

Moderation and prudence aresynonyms.

Pittacus (mid. 7th�beg. 6th century BCE), poet

Wish to be liked. But I don't want to.

Even gods do not argue withinevitability.

Inevitability is always whateverything amounts to.

Thes i s Antithesis

153

Above all, do not lose yourself-respect.

Always behave justly and youwon't even have to think

about it.

Everyone hashis predicaments.

Many are always lookingfor them.

Thales of Miletus (beg. 7th�mid. 6th century BCE),philosopher

The most difficult thing isto know yourself; the easiest,

to give advice to others.

Knowing oneself absolutelyhas always been impossible,be it the 7th or 6th centuriesBCE, or any other century;giving advice has been easy

in any century.

The best path to virtueis to avoid what you condemn

in others.

To paraphrase a famoussaying: The road to virtue

is paved with vice.

Do not believe the probablewhen told by enemies;

believe in the improbablewhen told by friends.

The philosopher is right �it's better to delude yourself

consciously.

Time is the wisest of all, forit reveals everything.

Time is revealed only bytime.

154

No fool can be silent attable.

Silence at the table preservesthe appetite.

Bias of Priene (mid. 7th�beg. 6th century BCE), philosopher

From youth to age choosewisdom, for there is no more

reliable possession.

Whoever is wise in youth isno longer young.

Procure things by persuasion,not by strength of force.

Persuasion in and of itselfis a great strength of force.

Solon (mid. 7th�mid. 6th century BCE), statesman

Let no man be called blissfulbefore his death. Till then,he is not blissful, only lucky.

Solon probably wasn't a kindman, but certainly a just one.

Learn to obey before youcommand.

When you command, obeytradition.

In giving advice to a friend,seek to help, not to please.

When you help your friendwith advice, avoid smiling,otherwise his smile might

swallow the advice.

Give honor to the gods,respect to your parents.

I don't see the difference.

155

Bias (late 6th century BCE), philosopher

Doubt is the obstacleto success.

For the wise, "doubt is thebeginning of wisdom"; for

the rest, it is all but a disease.

Pythagoras of Samos (6th century BCE),philosopher and mathematician

When leaving for a strangeland, don't look back.

A poetic formulation, and anauspicious practice.

Friendship is equality. Friendship is equalityof equals.

Don't reason with children,women, or the people.

And with anyone for whomreasoning is an act in itself.

If you wish to reveal animportant truth to people,dress it in the clothes of

common belief.

Eloquent banality isconvincing.

In your words and deedsavoid the banal and

commonplace.

For an artist this advice goeswithout saying; the ordinaryperson runs the risk of being

misunderstood, however.

156

Cleobulus of Lindos (6th century BCE), philosopher

Let go of enmity. A radical variant: learn tostep on your own soul.

Accept nobly the vicissitudesof fate.

Just learn never to talk aboutthem with anyone.

Aesop (6th century BCE), fabulist

No good will come to peoplewhen each demands his own.

When the people startdemanding from other people,

it's the eve of war.

For happy people, death isnot harder, and perhaps eveneasier, than it is for others.

A life of death is suffering,and suffering is not for

the happy.

Every person has his task,and every task its time.

Coincidence is happiness.

Life is still better than death. Not always; it depends onpeople and circumstances.

Eloquent silence is better thansilence.

Be silent, or speak what isbetter than silence.

157

Do not fawn on your wife orargue with her in the

company of others: the first isa sign of stupidity, thesecond of madness.

Respect for your wifeis a character trait.

Theognis of Megara (6th century BCE), poet

It is hard for a reasonableman to converse with fools.

But to remain always silent isbeyond human capability.

Never tell a fool anythingintelligent, never tell anyone

anything unnecessary.

There are impossible things.Do not think about them,

ever. What cannot be done,you will never be able to.

The courage of those whostrive for the impossible

makes it possible.

Think over twice, and threetimes, what passes through

your mind.

If you don't trust yourself,however much you think �

you won't exist.

Chilon of Sparta (6th century BCE), poet

Vouching demands,retribution follows.

Vouch only for those whowould definitely vouch for

you.

158

Heraclitus of Ephesus (6th�5th BCE), philosopher

You cannot step twice intothe same river.

Remember this when you goto visit a female acquaintance.

A grown man passes for afool to a god, as a child does

to a grown man.

The less you want, the moreintelligent you are in God's

eyes.

Do not listen to meaninglesswords.

But pretend to be listening.

Parmenides (6th century BCE), philosopher

There is existence;nonexistence simply does not

exist.

This thesis is not aboutanything, the keenly brutal

wit of its authornotwithstanding.

Do not gaze meaninglesslyat the world.

Do not identify yourself withthat which is already bydefinition meaningless.

Do not reach after whatis impossible.

The road upward alwaysruns through the impossible.

God is static, finite, and hasthe shape of a sphere.

The shape of a sphere has noend; i.e. it is infinite.

159

Not only is there a new sunevery day, but the sunrenews itself constantly.

The sun dies, renewing itself.

It would not be better forpeople if their every wish

came true.

Especially all of them, foreveryone, and at the same

time.

If what you are seeking iswise, think about

it at night.

Learn to think with your eyesclosed.

The gods give us all thatis good, but only if we work

for it.

But you can receive everythingfrom them at the price of

risking to lose it all.

Epicharmus of Kos (6th�5th century BCE), writer

Themistocles (6th�5th century BCE), Athenian statesman

The poet Simonides, whoknew all his poems by heart,offered to teach Themistocles

to improve his memory."Rather teach me the art

of forgetting," Themistoclesanswered.

The inability to forget is notperceived as a tragedy, yet itis the very reason that tragedy

occurs.

160

Pindar (6th�5th century BCE), poet

Justice is the unshakeablefoundation of the state.

State justice is naiveconceptualism.

Pericles (5th century BCE), strategist

When youths perish in war itis like spring being plucked

out of the year.

Pericles was first a poet, thena strategist.

Aeschylus (6th�5th century BCE), dramatist

Forced marriage is horrific. Nature is such that even thisis not always true.

The fate of one whom no oneenvies is unenviable.

Do not envy anyone, andmany will envy you.

Leonidas (6th�5th century BCE), King of Sparta

Leonidas ordered his warriorsto eat breakfast, informingthem that they would only

eat dinner when they were inHades.

King Leonid was the godof self-control.

161

Sophocles (5th century BCE), dramatist

Great deeds take time. And a pretext for themdoesn't arise every day either.

Protagoras of Abdera (5th century BCE), philosopher

I cannot know whether thegods exist or not, because thereis too much that hampers thisknowledge � the question

is dark and human life is short.

In fact, sometimes the godsexist, and sometimes they

don't.

Herodotus (5th century BCE), historian

Do not mend misfortunewith misfortune.

The phrase could be anepigraph to a Lexicon of the

State of Utopia.

It is better to be envied thanpitied.

Do not take pride in becomingan object of envy, and youwill not become an object

of pity.

People usually dream atnight what they think about

during the day.

Many creative people thinkin sleep, and think it over

during the day.

162

There is no real life withoutart.

Understanding, and evenmodeling, life through art ispossible; whether the oppositeis true is subject to debate.

Democritus (5th century BCE), philosopher

Trying to teach someone witha high opinion of himself

is a waste of time.

To paraphrase a saying:Teaching a fool only dulls

a pencil.

Courage mitigates the blowsof fate.

There is no courage equalto the blows of fate;

it is either more, or less.

Euripides (5th century BCE), dramatist

True courage is caution. Not always, and noteverywhere, and not in

everyone.

He who is satisfied forgets;he who is injured remembers.

Some animals also recall aninjury.

I have never once heard thatsomeone forgot from old age

where he had burieda treasure.

The magic of gold is notconquered by senility.

163

Medicine is the sisterof philosophy.

A doctor, like anyone else,can be a philosopher, but onlyas long as his patients don't

know about it.

Philosophy is the motherof all sciences.

This is because the mother ofphilosophy is, after all, logic.

The friendshipof a reasonable man is morevaluable than the friendshipof all unreasonable men.

Nature is such that no one isever reasonableall the time.

Alcibiades (5th century BCE), statesman and general

Called away from Sicily toAthena for a punishable

offense, Alcibiades took flightand went into hiding, sayingthat it was ridiculous to try

to save himself from asentence, when he could save

himself from the trial.(According to Plutarch.)

Whatever he did, he startedfrom the wrong end.

164

Medicine is truly the noblestof the arts.

Only if the doctoris Hippocrates.

Life is short, art is long. It's significant that it was the"father of medicine" who

brought together life, art, andeternity for the first time.

If sleep lessens suffering,the disease is not fatal.

Ultimately you die becauseyou die � that is, you don't

wake up. And if lifeis a dream, then it's the other

way round.

Hippocrates (5th�4th century BCE), philosopher doctor

Severe illnesses requireequally strong cures.

The decisiveness of the doctorcomes at the risk of thepatient; indecisiveness

likewise.

Old men are not ill as oftenas young men, but their

illnesses end only with theirlives.

Old people don't have enoughlife to get cured; young people

don't have enough time.

165

Antisthenes (5th�4th century BCE), philosopher

One must learn in orderto learn what it is notnecessary to learn.

To understand this you haveto be an accomplished

wiseman.

Eat to live, don't live to eat. One must live and eatfor something.

Socrates (5th�4th century BCE), philosopher

I know that I know nothing,but many don't know even

that.

What Socrates knew, afterall, was incomparable with

what he didn't know � and,just like us, would never

find out.

What art is the mostessential? The art of

forgetting the unnecessary.

That's not art, only instinct.

One must live with thosewomen who will themselves

be grateful for it.

Women express theirgratefulness before they leave

you.

166

Dionysius of Syracuse (5th�4th century BCE), ruler

When asked whether he hadany spare time, Dionysiusanswered, "No, and may

there never be!"(According to Plutarch.)

Spare time comes at the riskof filling it with future

unpleasantness.

Isocrates (5th�4th century BCE), writer

If you intend to seek advicefrom someone about your

affairs, first look at how thisperson manages his own.

An observant person doesn'treally need advice.

Xenophon (5th�4th century BCE), philosopher

All I own I carry with me. What about the Spartanmoney, the sizeof a millstone?

The single god, the greatestamong gods and people, doesnot resemble mortals either

in external appearanceor in thought.

But dismissing externalappearances is one

of the earliest intimationsof Christianity.

167

Archytas of Tarentum (5th�4th century BCE),philosopher

We are born not onlyfor ourselves, but also for ourparents, for our relatives andfriends � so what belongs

to us personally is aninsignificant portion.

We are all here for someone,but someone is also here

for us.

Plato (5th�4th century BCE), philosopher

Many people go mad, andin many different ways.

Those many consider thosefew who are not like them to

be mad.

Man is the plaything of thegods. And so we should play

the noblest games.

God can kill when at play,but you must learn to love

by yourself.

A certain terrible, wild, andlawless kind of desire hides inevery human being, even inthose who seem moderate;this is revealed in dreams.

Plato has this kind of desire,Aristotle sleeps without

dreams, and some don't sleepat all, but slumber, etc.

God is in ourselves. Not always, and not ineveryone.

168

When Diogenes warmedhimself in the sun Alexanderthe Great stopped and stoodover him, saying, "Ask mewhat you wish." Diogenesanswered, "Don't block

the sun."

To paraphrase Pushkin,Diogenes was the "Sun

of Alexander."

In broad daylight, Diogeneswandered with a torch in hishand, saying; "I'm searching

for an honest man."

He could have just walkedwith a mirror instead

of a torch.

Wealth is not blind at all,it is sagacious.

A wiseman can buy himselfoff at the price of his mind.

Diogenes of Sinope (5th�4th century BCE), philosopher

When asked where he wasfrom, Diogenes said, "I am

a citizen of the world."

In the ancient world ofAlexander the Great citizenswere citizens in name only.

Fate is the path from theunseen to the next unseen.

Pay attention to chance, it canbe a sign of the realization

of fate.

Being in a good moodtorments those who envy you.

Moreover, it makes of themyour sworn enemies.

169

Aeschines (4th century BCE), Athenian orator

Drunkenness reveals the soulof the man like a mirror

reflects his body.

So don't put your soul intoyour drinking.

Arostotle (4th century BCE), philosopher

In a man is the courageof dominating; in a woman isthe courage of submitting.

A small child of either sexhas the "courageof dominating."

Crime only needs a pretext. An epigraph to a text onpsychiatry.

There is as much differencebetween an educated and anuneducated man as there isbetween a living and a dead

one.

On this point Aristotle ismore radical than Plato.

What is well known is wellknown only to a few.

The Newtons of the world,and a very few artists, aretruly the ones who see whatis well known in what isn't.

Some people save like they willlive forever, others spend likethey will die in a moment.

And moderation is for thosewith moderate means.

170

Both friends and enemies getoffended, because it is easyto offend the former, and

habitual to offend the latter.

At first it is easy to offendfriends, then pleasant;but by then they are no

longer friends.

There has never been a greatmind without a touch

of madness.

Reason can turn intomadness, and madness canturn into reason � also,

but exclusively.

To beget a problem one onlyneed choose separation and

division.

In this context, there'sno difference.

Wisdom must be somethingbetween dissoluteness

and indifference.

Ancient wisdom is foundsomewhere between Plato and

Aristotle.

Of all the animals, only thehuman being knows how

to laugh.

We should add: and bite hisnails.

In the eyes of the crowd,uneducated people are moreconvincing than the educated.

For the crowd, the uneducatedare part of the crowd; theeducated are an insult to it.

Wit is polished arrogance.Unpolished wit is the

expressive fragment of agigantic brickwork foundation.

171

Everyone knows that death isunavoidable, but since it is

far off, no one thinks about it.

Whether you think about it ornot, it's coming.

Knowledge begins withsurprise.

And ends with it, too.

We have it good sometimes;the gods, always.

And what about demigods,not to mentiondemigoddesses?

Words attributed toAlexander just before hisdeath: "I'm dying from thehelp of too many doctors."

The doctor in chargeof treatment is the first

in curing and the last in thecouncil of physicians.

Alexander the Great (4th century BCE), military commander

There is nothing more slavishthan luxury and comfort,

and nothing more kingly thanlabor.

A warring king managesto combine both luxury

and labor.

Phillip II of Macedonia (4th century BCE), king of Macedonia

The most difficult war Ifought was the war with my

wife Olympia.

War with your wife can betrench warfare, just not from

her side.

172

If God heard the prayersof people, soon all people

would perish always wishingevil upon one another.

In anger one forgets that oneprays to the gods, and not forsomething one wants from

them.

Epicurus (4th�3rd century BCE), philosopher

There is nothing to fearin life for one who hasunderstood that there

is nothing to fear beyond life,either.

In this thesis the word deathis strangely absent.

The best defense againsttyrants is mistrust.

Fear of tyranny inspires trustin future tyrants.

Domination by the fewinspires fear in citizens, but

does not inspire shame.

The crowd may feel fear,but it never feels shame.

Demosthenes (4th century BCE), Athenian orator

The easiest thing of all isto deceive oneself.

Don't consider yourselfsmarter than you are, and you

won't be deceived.

Seize the day. That is to say, days whenfate is asleep.

173

A person who has manyreasons for parting with life is

absolutely despicable.

Actually, someone whomanages this is not at all

despicable; sometimes he caneven be great.

We are not so much in needof the help of friends as

in the certainty of being ableto rely on that help.

Relying on friends iswonderful, even if it is

a mistake.

Zeno of Citium (4th�3rd century BCE), philosopher

There is no need to seekwhat is not given by nature.

Many lives have been wasted insearch of what is not given bynatur � mainly, common sense.

Cleanthes of Assos (4th�3rd century BCE), philosopher

Fate leads the willingand drags along the unwilling.

Let it drag you � as longas it's yours.

Pyrrhus of Epirus (3rd century BCE), king of Epirusand military general

If we sustain one more suchvictory I will have nothingto return to Epirus with.

I wonder if the Roman senatefound out about this,

and when.

174

Bion of Smyrna (2nd or 3rd century BCE), poet

Be careful telling jokes �you may be taken at your

word.

Tell jokes at your ownexpense � but only withpeople you know well.

Crispus of Sol (3rd century BCE), philosopher

Greatness of soulis self-mastery that allows

you to remain aboveeverything that happens toyou, the good and the bad.

The principle of greatnessof soul is the absenceof the manifestation

of personality.

Lucian of Samosata (2nd century CE), writer

I despise those whoremember what happened

at the feast.

It's up to you to drink or not todrink, but if you do, drink only

with those you know well.

Menander (4th�3rd century BCE), writer of comedy

The evil man is recognizedby his words.

The good man, too �and both of them can berecognized by silence.

There is nothing morevalorous than stupidity.

Valor is dangerous, but itisn't at all stupid.

175

Sybarites, they say, sent theirwives invitations to a feast ayear in advance, so that they

would have enough timeto get dressed.

An invitation like thisis a completely justified hopefor living through the next

year.

A man can only be whathe is.

This is how we shouldunderstand people.

A young man threw a stoneat a dog, but when it hit his

mother-in-law, he said,"That's not bad either."

A smart kid, with goodinstincts.

Plutarch (1st�2nd century CE), philosopher-historian

Aphrodite does not concernherself with carnal coitus, andDionysius does not concern

himself with hangovers.

There are no obstacles for thegods; all the more,

a hangover.

Not a single word spoken hasbeen so useful as the myriad

of words left unsaid.

The unsaid word is a tellingsilence.

Character is nothing morethan a longstanding acquired

habit.

Habit may be second nature,but character, after all is said

and done, is first.

176

Epictetus (1st�2nd century CE), philosopher

If you want to live a happylife, consider the future

as the past.

The fee is modest �the cost of your mind.

It is not things that tormentpeople, but their notions

of things.

Epictetus was the firstexistentialist.

With a madman, don't speaktoo much; don't even get

near the foolish.

Preserve your reason;reveal it only before reason.

With ordinary people, talkless about theories, but

behave more in accordancewith them.

Talk with them aboutanything except how

to behave.

A sensible person mustbeware of enmity and

animosity.

Caution can save you, but itcan also turn you into

a nonentity.

A woman need not have herown friends; the friends of her

husband suffice.

In a contemporary context, thewife's friends must be

acceptable to the husband.

177

Rome

Cato the Elder (3rd�2nd century BCE),writer and statesman

What isn't necessaryis always too costly.

When you buy somethingexpensive that you don't need,you feel you've been seduced.

It's amazing that soothsayersdon't burst out laughing when

they look at each other.

Or restrain themselves fromcoming to blows.

The spirit of someone in lovelives in another's body.

Sometimes not just one.

War feeds itself. War feeds on hunger.

Thes i s Antithesis

There is no law that wouldbenefit everyone.

For those who are alike, rulessuffice; the rest need laws.

Lucius Aemilius Paullus (3rd�2nd century BCE),military commander

You can't maneuver shipsfrom land.

The sailor maneuvers a ship,the shipowner maneuvers

its cargo.

178

Caecilius Statius (3rd�2nd century BCE), writer of comedy

Live as you can, if you can'tlive as you wish.

Live as you can, and dieas you can, too.

Plautus (3rd�2nd century BCE), writer of comedy

Man is wolf to man, if hedoesn't know him.

And if he knows him, he's alsoa wolf � but a trained one.

Quintus Ennius (3rd�2nd century BCE), poet

The ape, vilest of beasts,how like to us!

The one being imitatedresembles an ape slightly less,

but only when people arearound.

A sure friend is known whenin difficulty.

Many difficulties, one friend.

Terence (2nd century BCE), writer of comedy

There is nothing that hasn'tbeen said before.

Everything that was saidbefore but didn't end up

in literature was never said.

179

Marcus Terentius Varro (2nd�1st century BCE),encyclopedist

There is much laughter,but not much to laugh about.

There is so little that is trulyfunny that one easily

remembers it for a long time,if not forever.

There is no nonsensethat comes from a sick manthat a philosopher hasn't said

before.

The philosophy of a foolis his only diagnosis.

Cornelius Nepos (2nd�1st century BCE),historian and poet

The common vice of freestates is that envy

accompanies glory, people ofhigh stature are subject tohumiliation, and the poor

hate the rich.

In other words the rabblewon't accept anything thatisn't the rabble, and doesn'tknow how to rule or govern

either.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla (2nd�1st century BCE), dictator

He who has taken up armsshould not seek help from

unarmed legs.

Sulla's arms are the fearof the people.

180

How often we pursuesomething for the sake of

a friend that we would neverpursue for our own sakes!

Friendship gives riseto nobility only among

the noble.

Man is small but his home isthe world.

The juxtaposition Man/Worldis the axis of ancientphilosophy; healthy

skepticism, its alter ego.

Every person wishesto achieve old age, and

having achieved it, blames it.

Old age is understoodas the result of a long life,

not as oblivion duringlifetime.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (2nd�1st century BCE),philosopher and orator

Pompey the Great (2nd�1st century BCE),military commander

Pompey had to reach Romeurgently. There was a storm,and the sailors refused to

weigh anchor. Pompey orderedthe anchor to be raised,

saying, "To sail is necessary;to live is not necessary."

Pompey had the courageof a stoic and the ambition

of Caesar.

181

It is pleasant to be praisedby a person worthy of praise.

The person who deserves thehighest praise is the one who

doesn't expect it.

History is the life of thememory and life's teacher.

All that is sublime is rare. The sublime often becomesmonstrous; the monstrousrarely becomes sublime.

History doesn't teach anything,especially those to who don't

know it.

When a state must beeternal, it clings to the breath

of one man.

Cicero doubled every intakeof breath by Caesar with

public exhalation.

On fortunetelling: Can youfind one person who throws

the javelin all day anddoesn't hit the mark a single

time?

Fortunetellers believe inpredestination, the javelin does

not.

Good taste is scrupulousness. I should add: not onlyin choice, but in freedom

of choice.

Self-evidence is diminishedby proof.

Do not engage in superfluousargument; leave that to badlawyers for paltry sums.

182

Honors must be yielded tothe strongest, and necessities

to the weakest.

Honor is necessary only fora few, weakness for no one.

Julius Caesar (1st century BCE),statesman and military commander

I came, I saw, I conquered! Anyone else would say: "Icame, I saw, I stepped aside."

Caesar's wife must be abovesuspicion.

In the modern context herhusband � Caesar �

should be, too.

Gaius Marius (2nd�1st century BCE), military commander

Cowardice has neverimmortalized anyone.

If an international "Orderof Immortality" were to beestablished, it would bear

the words of Gaius Marius.

Hoping is more sensiblethan fearing.

If you act, act without hope,and, thus, fearlessly.

One must judge a person beforeloving him; if one loves him

already, one is unable to judge.

Love falls under thejurisdiction only of love.

183

Marcus Junius Brutus (1st century BCE), politician

Not one condition of slaverycan discourage me from waron slavery itself, that is, with

what wants to be abovethe law.

Brutus, the assassin of Caesar� a noble anachronism; the

illustration of this is yetanother civil war.

Cato the Younger (1st century BCE), statesman

Insolence is greater wheredefense is weaker.

Insolence is strong when itgoes unpunished.

If you are careless and idle, itis useless pray to the gods;

they are wrathful and hostile.

If labor is found in prayer,the gods are found in labor.

Stopping to rest for the nightat a small city: "I had rather

be the first here thanthe second in Rome."

Where Caesar is, there isRome.

Sallust (1st century BCE)

Most men reject freedom. Freedom can be understoodas generosity of spirit, but this

quality is rare.

184

Pubilius Syrus (1st century BCE), dramatist

Fortune often gives too much,but never enough.

Fortune is the most capriciouslady on earth; it is as

impossible to understand heras it is to understand those

who don't understandthemselves.

For a man obsessed withdesire, everything happens

too slowly.

The highest of the abilitiesis waiting.

Every person measuresdanger by the degree

of his own fear.

There is reason for caution;none for fear.

Last words: "Have I playedthe part well? Then applaud

as I exit."

The last words of EmperorNero � "What an artist diesin me!" � are suspiciously

similar to the wordsof Augustus, which gives riseto doubt about the credibility

of either utterance.

Augustus (1st century BCE), emperor

Hurry slowly. When you hurry, there'sno time for philosophy.

185

It is a great comfort to diealong with the whole

universe.

The relationship to theuniverse here is such that

destruction threatens no one.

Often in dubiouscircumstances daring replaces

sensible decisions.

Courage destroys doubt,cowardice amplifies it.

Even someone who commitsan injustice hates injustice.

Hatred is the midwifeof injustice.

Life is short, but unhappinessmakes it longer.

Philosophy doesn't shorten it,either.

A beautiful face is no smallrecommendation.

The ugly face, too; but morereliable.

Time, not reason, putsan end to love.

Its beginning is also beyondreason.

It is harder to untanglea dispute between friendsthan between enemies.

If a dispute arises amongfriends, they were never true

friends.

What does it mean to do agood deed? To imitate God.

Unlike man, god is nevercursed for showing mercy.

One should be afraid of theman who is not afraid to die.

You don't meet people likethat every day. Far from it.

186

Livy (1st century BCE), historian

People are rarely given bothhappiness and common sense.

Don't consider yourself to behappy, and you'll keep your

common sense.

On Alexander the Great:"However magnificent thisman may appear to us, it isthe magnificence of just oneman who enjoyed success for

ten years."

Success is spontaneous,but in it are accumulated

genius, willpower,and personality as a whole.

Whoever tolerates the vicesof a friend commits them

himself.

Usually friends add up theirvices, and only then divide

them.

The guilty man fears the law,the innocent fears fate.

The fate of the guilty personis in the law, but for the law

there is no fate.

All people find themselvesat the same distance from

death.

This means that people areequal in the most important

matter.

Many people who know theyhave done something foolish

call it naive.

A fool who knows he is a foolis a fool no more.

187

People of the crowd live likein the gladiator's school: theone they drink with today

they will fight with tomorrow.

Naturally � it's a crowd!

Work doesn't chase after us� we hold on to it ourselvesand consider being busy a

sign of happiness.

The most obvious signof happiness is the absenceof the necessity to lookfor something to do.

Seneca (1st century BCE), philosopher

The young listen eagerlyto bad advice.

Bad advice is more fun thangood advice, although no one

really listens to either.

The misfortune of foolishnesslies also in the fact that italways begins life anew.

As does reason �but wisdom, never.

If you fear everything thatmight happen, there will be

no reason for living.

Chance changes the directionof life, fear destroys it.

Stop demanding penuryof philosophers � no one

condemned wisdom to poverty.

The rich man understandswisdom as the timid smile

of poverty.

Everyone forgives me, but noone helps me.

Forgiveness unties the hands.

188

Phaedrus (1st century BCE � 1st century CE), fabulist

When rulers change, nothingchanges for the poor man but

the name of the ruler.

The name of the poor man'sruler should be his middle

name.

Galba (1st century BCE � 1st century CE), emperor

You will find yourself rulingover people unable to beareither true slavery or true

freedom.

Slavery and freedom are twosides of a medallion hanging

from the neck of a blindman.

Velleius (1st century BCE � 1st century CE), historian

Idleness is accompanied byenvy.

Idleness, if it is not rest,is collapse.

Ardor weakens along withhope. If we cannot achieve,

we stop striving.

"Why be short of breath andget a stitch in your side" if

you can think a bit, and findthere is nothing to run after.

Pliny the Elder (1st century CE), writer

No mortal can be wise allthe time.

Many never are; many areonly by chance.

189

Quintilian (1st century CE), rhetorician

We should never make it ourideal to lose a friend sooner

than lose a jest.

This dilemma is for peopleof the "second oldest

profession."

He who follows behindalways lags behind.

When you follow behind,keep your distance and you

won't lag behind.

On imitation: "It is easier todo more than to do the same

thing."

The human being is not anape, he can imitate creatively.

One shouldn't count days,but weigh them.

The heart weighs difficultdays, and the soul weighs

easy ones.

When you talk about peoplein their absence, they hear

a ringing in their ears.

People whom everyone knowshear a constant ringing

in their ears.

Caligula (1st century CE), emperor

Beat him so he feels thathe's dying.

Gaius Caligula is a copyof the Life Stories

of the Twelve Caesars;his life is a medical history.

190

Titus Flavius Vespasianus (1st century CE), emperor

Among the Romans, evena victory without an order

brings no glory.

The glory of the Romanlegion was their immeasurable

courage; their banner wasdiscipline.

It is worse for rulers than forsubjects: when they uncovera conspiracy, no one believesthem until they are dead.

If this thought was alwaysuppermost in the emperor's

mind, his life was notan enviable one.

Martial (1st century CE), poet

Don't fear the last day, butdon't provoke it.

Commentary in the styleof Marcus Valerius: No onecan prove or disprove that

this day is no picnic.

Nero (1st century CE), emperor

Someone saidin a conversation: "When I

die, let the earth beconsumed in fire." "No,"

Nero interrupted him, "whileI live!"

Nero was the pearl of Romanhistory; his paternal nickname

was "Red"(lat. Ahenobarbus). Luckily,

he didn't live long.

191

Tacitus (1st century CE), historian

People pass, examplesremain.

Nothing more Roman hasever been said.

Medicine works more slowlythan illness.

Sometimes they arein competition.

If you have no enemies, yourfriends will destroy you.

Remember: every one of themhas a list of friends

and enemies, and you arealways on it.

The crowd must blamesomeone for every chance

event.

The crowd is never rightin circumstances requiring real

thought.

Lucan (1st century CE), poet

In a civil war, every victoryis a defeat.

A civil war is nationalsuicide.

Florus (1st�2nd century CE), historian

Those who study the deedsof Rome will learn

the history not of one city,but of all humankind.

And, truly, all roads leadto Rome � the capitalof the ancient world

and its people.

192

Juvenal (1st�2nd century CE), satirist

The wise man observesmoderation also in worthy

things.

Every matter has its ownmeasure � the wise man, too.

Domitian (1st century CE), emperor

Rulers who don't deal outenough punishment should

not be called kind, but lucky.

Perhaps the emperor hadin mind his own relatively

peaceful reign.

Quintus Curtius Rufus (1st century CE),historian and rhetorician

Haste slows you down. When you hurry, you losenot only time, but yourself.

Trajan (1st century CE), emperor

No one has yet killedhis successor.

A natural thought foran emperor who knew the

"modern history" of his time.

I want to be the kindof emperor I would want

if I were a subject.

The wit of Trajan is hischaracter.

193

Pliny the Younger (1st�2nd century CE), writer

The unhappy are forgotten,as are the deceased.

Only saints always rememberthe unhappy ones.

One should read much,but not many.

Wisdom is in choice.

A disservice becomesa service if gratefulness

is demanded for it.

One who demands thanksfor a service is ignoble,

and not very smart, either.

People appreciate glory notbecause it is great, but

because it has been broadcastfar and wide.

Great glory is absolutedistance; broad notoriety

is social distance.

All good things are likea good speech � the longer

they last, the better.

If a long speech seems short,it is truly good.

Time passes quickly,the happier it is.

The shorter the happy days,the longer the difficult ones.

Marcus Aurelius (2nd century CE), philosopher emperor

The present is but an instantof eternity.

Ditto the past and future.

194

1. The more a person loveshimself, the more dependenthe is on the opinion of others.

Self-love can move mountains,blocking the roadto philosophy.

Without understandingdivinity you will do no goodfor humanity, and vice versa.

Hope is divine;its realization human.

2. The more a person loveshimself, the more dependenthe is on the opinion of others.

What does the man whohates himself depend on? Onthe opinions of others, only he

is usually indifferent to it.

Nothing happens to a personthat he is not capable

of enduring.

This doesn't hold foreveryone.

It is quite possible to becomea godlike person whileremaining unknown.

The motto of an Epicureanon the shield of a Stoic.

It doesn't matter if youobserve human life for fortyyears or for ten thousand.What new will you find

there?

From this perspective,the "new" can only be what

you do yourself.

195

Apuleius (mid. 2nd century CE), philosopher, poet

Man is mortal, humanityis eternal.

The immortality of a humanbeing and eternity

as a spaciotemporal categoryare different things.

For me, as an Antonin, mycity and country are both

Rome; as a person,the world. And only what

is beneficial to themis a boon for me.

Aurelius is first an emperor,and only then a citizen

of the world.

Soon you will forget abouteverything, and everyone,

in his turn, will forget aboutyou.

The statue of MarcusAurelius on the Capitoline

Hill, taken to be Constantinethe Great, proves and refutesthe second part of the thesis

at the same time.

Septimus Severus (3rd century CE), emperor

His last words were: "I waseverything, and everything

was for nought."

In this sense, everythingis for nought.

196

Vegetius (end 4th�beg. 5th century CE), writer

The northern peoples, thoughless reasonable, are strongly

inclined to combat.

Northern peoples protect theirwarmth.

He will justly be firstaccording to his own

judgement who is secondaccording to the judgement

of all others.

In your own judgement youcan be anyone you wish,

which others don't necessarilyneed to know.

Julian the Apostate (4th century CE), emperor

Whoever neglectsthe possible, striving

to achieve the impossible,does not try to achieve

the one, and fails to carry outthe other.

The impossible is achievedthrough the possible.

Augustine (4th�5th century CE), theologian,one of the fathers of the Church

The prayer of Augustinein his youth: "Dear Lord,

grant me chastity andrestraint, only not now."

Excessive restraint cripplesyouth, turning it into a hellish

existence.

197

In trying to be concise,I become incomprehensible.

Being concise, be brutallystraightforward and you'll

be understood.

Who achieves much,lacks much.

Who achieves much, willcertainly lack justice.

Horace (1st century BCE), writer

The same night awaits us all. No comment.

The desire to avoid a mistakedraws you into another.

Avoiding mistakes isimpossible; not making themfatal is sometimes possible.

Dare to be wise. Begin by lengthening theinterval between your jokes

� say, a year or two.

198

G r e e c e Bi b l i o g r a p h y :

À í ò è ÷ í à ÿ á à ñ í ÿÏåðåâîä Ì. Ãàñïàðîâà. Ì., 1991

À ð è ñ ò î ò å ë üÑî÷. â 4-õ òò. Ì., 1975

Á ð à ø Ì .Êëàññèêè ôèëîñîôèè. ÑÏá., 1907. � Ò.1

à å ð î ä î òÈñòîðèÿ â äåâÿòè êíèãàõ. Ïåðåâîä Ã. À. Ñòðàòàíîâñêîãî. Ì., 1993

à ð å ÷ å ñ ê à ÿ ý ï è ã ð à ì ì àÏîä ðåä. Ô. À. Ïåòðîâñêîãî. Ì., 1960.

Ä è î ã å í Ë à ý ð ò ñ ê è éÎ æèçíè, ó÷åíèÿõ è èçðå÷åíèÿõ çíàìåíèòûõ ôèëîñîôîâ. ÏåðåâîäÌ. Ãàñïàðîâà. Ì., 1979

È ñ ò î ð è ÿ ã ð å ÷ å ñ ê î é ë è ò å ð à ò ó ð ûÏîä ðåä. Ñ. È. Ñîáîëåâñêîãî, òò. I�III. Ì., 1946�1960

Ë ó ð ü å Ñ. ß.Äåìîêðèò: Òåêñòû. Ïåðåâîä. Èññëåäîâàíèÿ. Ë., 1970

Ì à ò å ð è à ë è ñ ò û Ä ð å â í å é à ð å ö è èÏîä ðåä. Ì. À. Äûííèêà. Ì., 1955

Î ð à ò î ð û à ð å ö è èÏåðåâîä Í. Áðàãèíñêîé è Ì. Ãðàáàðü-Ïàññåê. Ì., 1985

Ï ë à ò î íÑî÷. â 4-õ òò. Ì., 1994

Ô ð à ã ì å í ò û ð à í í è õ ã ð å ÷ å ñ ê è õ ô è ë î ñ î ô î âÏåðåâîä À. Â. Ëåáåäåâà. Ì., 1989. � ×. 1

Ô ð à ã ì å í ò û ð à í í è õ ñ ò î è ê î âÏåðåâîä À. À. Ñòîëÿðîâà. Ì., 1998. � Ò. 1. Çåíîí è åãî ó÷åíèêè

199

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À í ò è ÷ í à ÿ ë è ò å ð à ò ó ð àÏîä ðåä. À. À. Òàõî-Ãîäè. 2-å èçä. Ì., 1973

Ê ó ç í å ö î â à Ò. È., Ñ ò ð å ë ü í è ê î â à È. Ï.Îðàòîðñêîå èñêóññòâî â Äðåâíåì Ðèìå. Ì., 1976

Ì à ð ê À â ð å ë è é. Ð à ç ì û ø ë å í è ÿÏåðåâîä À. Ê. Ãàâðèëîâà. Ë., 1985

Ì û ñ ë è è à ô î ð è ç ì û ä ð å â í è õ ð è ì ë ÿ íÑîñòàâèòåëü Ê. Â. Äóøåíêî. Ì., 2000

Ï à ì ÿ ò í è ê è ï î ç ä í å é à í ò è ÷ í î é í à ó ÷ í î -õ ó ä î æ å ñ ò â å í í î é ë è ò å ð à ò ó ð û II�V â å ê à

Ïîä ðåä. Ì. Ë. Ãàñïàðîâà. Ì., 1964Ï ë è í è é Ì ë à ä ø è é. Ï è ñ ü ì à

Ïåð. Ì. Å. Ñåðãååíêî è À. È. Äîâàòóðà. Ì., 1984Ï å ò ð î â ñ ê è é Ô . À .

Ëàòèíñêèå ýïèãðàôè÷åñêèå ñòèõîòâîðåíèÿ. Ì., 1962Ï ó á ë è ë è é Ñ è ð. Ñ å í ò å í ö è è

Ïåðåâîä Å. Ì. Øòàåðìàí // Âåñòíèê äðåâíåé èñòîðèè.Ì., 1982. � ¹ 1

Ð è ì ñ ê è å ñ ò î è ê è: Ñ å í å ê à, Ý ï è ê ò å ò, Ì à ð êÀ â ð å ë è é. Ì., 1995Ñ à ë ë þ ñ ò è é, à à é Ê ð è ñ ï. Ñ î ÷ è í å í è ÿ

Ïåðåâîä Â. Î. Ãîðåíøòåéíà. Ì., 1981Ñ å í å ê à. Í ð à â ñ ò â å í í û å ï è ñ ü ì à ê Ë ó ö è ë è þ

Ïåðåâîä Ñ. À. Îøåðîâà. Ì., 1977Ñ å í å ê à. Î ê ð à ò ê î ñ ò è æ è ç í è

Ïåðåâîä Â. Ñ. Äóðîâà. ÑÏá., 1996Ò à ö è ò, Ï ó á ë è é Ê î ð í å ë è é

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Èçáðàííûå ñî÷èíåíèÿ. Ì., 1975

200

C o n t e n t s

P O R T A L IAutobiography � Self-Recommendation ............................................9

P O R T A L I IJourney into Another's Soul .........................................................31

P O R T A L I I IArt is only the glance of eternity .........................................................49

P O R T A L I VRubbish Heaps of Culture ..................................................................65

P O R T A L VCard Index of Immortals ..............................................................81

P O R T A L V IOnly Human � I ............................................................................95

P O R T A L V I IOnly Human � II .........................................................................107

P O R T A L V I I IMixed Technique � I .....................................................................119

P O R T A L I XMixed Technique � II ...................................................................132

P O R T A L XCommentary on a Present-day Reading of the Ancients .........................151

Bi b l i o g r a p h y ................................................................198

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����� ������ A Dictionaryof New Mythologyby Vadim S. Voinov

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Layout and Computer-AidedPage Maker

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Translated from the Russianby Mary C. Gannon

On the title page:Vadim Voinov's portrait by

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On the flyleaves:Logo of A Dictionary

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2012

A DICTIONARY

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