User talk:Evermore2/Archive 1

Welcome to Wikipedia!!!

Hello Evermore2/Archive 1! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. If you decide that you need help, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Below are some recommended guidelines to facilitate your involvement. Happy Editing! Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 17:45, 4 July 2008 (UTC) Getting Started Wikipedia Tutorial How to edit a page The five pillars of Wikipedia Manual of Style Be bold in editing How to write a great article WikiProjects Getting your info out there Cite your sources Neutral Point of View Point of View Verifiability Uploading images Image use policy Getting more Wikipedia rules Policy Library Getting Help New contributors' help page Where to ask a question Help Desk Frequently Asked Questions Getting along Wikiquette Civility Sign your posts Wikipedians Conflict resolution Getting technical Pages needing attention Peer review Utilities Village pump

RE

No no. I'm not that Dear87 of ru.wiki and sh.wiki. I changed my name just because I wanted to do an unified login, and Dear87, as for ru and sh.wiki, is busy. Ok?--Matthew Riva (talk) 10:00, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

• Well, may be you are not that Matthew Riva who once been caught adding {featured list} to 'lists that have not successfully completed a featured list candidacy?')) Listen, quite frankly, I don't care who you really are. Just stop fiddling with these 30STM articles, ok? -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:21, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

No. Here [1] I didn't know candidate the 30 Seconds to Mars discography. I'm not the one of sh.wiki and ru.wiki.--Matthew Riva (talk) 16:25, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

And who was that, your ghost?) - Evermore2 (talk) 08:34, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

I don't know. But it's sure, I'm not that Matthew Riva.--Matthew Riva (talk) 18:08, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

List of Russian language novelists

Thanks for the additions. I hope you'll do some more. I removed the two plays you listed for Aleksey K Tolstoy because dramatic works are listed on the List of Russian language playwrights. The List of Russian language novelists is for works of fiction. You might also want to check out the List of Russian language poets. Many of the writers are featured on more than 1 of these lists, along with their corresponding works in that particular genre. Your help would be valuable on all 3 lists. BTW- The Ivan Chonkin book cover pic might end up being removed because of the copyright status. -- I NEVER CRY 02:06, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

• Thank you, and for correcting my mistakes, too. I'll try to be of service, although my English-as-a-second-language resources are rather limited. Intriguing lists, these, even if of a slightly mish-mash quality: classic writers rubbing shoulders with latter day nonentities is somewhat jarring :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 08:11, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

It is a bit jarring ☺, but I guess its a question of space and convenience. You should see the List of Russian people. It's pretty impressive.-- I NEVER CRY 09:13, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

• Monumental) -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:16, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

☺. GreyHood ^Talk 11:34, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Felix Ziegel

— Rlevse • Talk • 06:04, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Mirra Lokhvitskaya

The Lokhvitskaya article is very impressive. I hope you don't mind my working on the article's grammar and wording. I also retouched the portrait at the bottom of the page.--I NEVER CRY 23:20, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

I went through the whole article, and this quote, from the beginning of the article, is the only thing I had a problem understanding:

"Ever since Fet not a single poet has managed to shape up one's own audience in such a winning fashion" (Danchenko)

The phrase "shape up one's own audience" is confusing. "One's own" would usually be "their own" or just "their audience". "Shape up" is strange, and suggests "build" or even "draw", in the sense of building an audience, or drawing an audience's attention.

I've changed it to:

"Ever since Fet, not a single poet has managed to take hold of their audience in such a way"

This is easily understandable to an English reader, and seems like a reasonable alternative. Either way, it's a great article.--I NEVER CRY 04:44, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

• Thank you, and I think your version is perfect! Your help in any of the articles I started/expanded (think of Gippius, Merezhkovsky, Balmont, Vysotsky, Vertinskaya, Demidova and, last but not least, Felix Ziegel) would be very, very welcome. I tend to struggle a bit, you know, when it comes to grammar and style. -- Evermore2 (talk) 07:59, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Evermore2, thought I'd tell you that you do really outstanding work! Lirika filosofskaya (talk) 16:13, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

I really appreciate this:) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:37, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Felix Ziegel

I got rid of the orphan tag by linking Ziegel to several lists. I also added some cats and templates.--I NEVER CRY 19:10, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Excellent. And thank you very much for a Barnstar! -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:37, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Barnstar

		Russian Barnstar of National Merit
		For your extensive work on Russia-related articles.--I NEVER CRY 20:06, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Re: Curved Air

Hello, Evermore2. You have new messages at Martin IIIa's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Ivan Bunin

I polished up the Bunin article, which is really great btw.--INeverCry 23:58, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! It (the Bunin article, that is) needs, apparently, some kind of Critical response/Legacy type of section, but here I don’t even know how to begin, feels like unsurmountable task. ...And what you do is quite fantastic: such a gallery Russian literature figures, some of them forgotten, - with texts much better sourced than their ru_wiki analogues - sheer brilliance! -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:01, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

To get an idea for what you could do for the Bunin article, you might want to take a look at the legacy section of Anton Chekhov's article, as it's a featured article.

In regard to my articles, I do my best and write about the authors that I'm interested in. I wish I was as good with Russian as you are with English- I could get a lot further. I currently rely on translation software for any Russian sources. I've started studying, though, and so far I've learned the alphabet and some common words. I've only been at it for about a month, so I've got quite a ways to go.--INeverCry 23:08, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

That’s extraordinary. Well, if the ability to create big things with little means is the criterion of one’s artistic worth, then you’re a real artist! :)

…As for Chekhov – some food for thought here too. You see, both the article and its Legacy section for an untutored Russian eye look – how shall I put it – ascetic. In ru_wiki self-endulgent monumentalism is much in vogue, as represented, say, by Balmont and Demidova FAs, both, incidentally, of my own making… Problem with Bunin, though, is that Soviet sources are obviously biased and difficult to plod through, you know, what with having to sift all the ideological nonsense away. And post-Soviet sources have somehow failed to come up with the goods… With one exception, probably, of Oleg Mikhailov (who was a Soviet scholar, of course, and) whose 2001 book on Bunin I think I’ll have sooner or later to target.

…And, as I see now, Chekhov’s Legacy theme is something I could help expanding too – although not necessarily in the major article, but by starting a series of short stories’ entries where some biographical details could fit in. -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:14, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Back Street Luv

Meant to drop you a note saying thanks for creating this article and getting it up to such an impressive start. I had actually been thinking about asking you if you thought we had enough info to make a decent article for "Back Street Luv", so it's nice to see you were three steps ahead of me! The article already looks in good shape(though I'm still hoping Sonja will let something about the inspiration for the lyrics slip during an interview). Also, I wanted to ask about what seems to be a copy-and-paste error. At the end of the citation for Allmusic, you have "…It’s also one of the crucial singles of the early 1970s." If this isn't an error, could you explain to me what its purpose is? I've never seen anything like it in a citation.--Martin IIIa (talk) 14:00, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you!.. During an interview... - you mean, for Cherry Red? Don't think she mentioned it there.No, you've meant apparently, any interview, so - never mind.Incidentally, what I, personally, am even more intrigued by is the inspiration for "Melinda (More or Less)" which Sonja once mentioned was about a real girl and which to me sounds very much like a ghost story.

As for the citation, it goes on like this: "Of course it <The Second Album> was always dominated by "Back Street Luv," which isn't simply one of the band's own finest moments, it's also one of the crucial singles of the early 1970s". For some fleeting reason <having to do, aparently, with brevity> I chose to tear two fragments out of it and saw nothing wrong with this, frankly. Although now I wonder why - the phraze might be safely quoted as a whole. Anyway, feel free to change it whichever way it feels right; looks like everything you do is for the better. -- Evermore2 (talk) 08:26, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply, but you misunderstood... I think the way you used those two fragments from the review works well in the article; the part I was wondering about is that the line I quoted is enclosed within the citation itself, rather than as part of the article's prose. I've never seen that done before, so I was wondering if it was a mistake.--Martin IIIa (talk) 01:38, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Cursed Days

Another contribution to the DYK project, thanks Victuallers (talk) 22:43, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:42, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Bunin template and category

Check these out:

Template:Ivan Bunin
Category:Novels by Ivan Bunin --INeverCry 17:21, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, that’s great! Think next week I’ll be able to come up with at least some sort of Bunin's Legacy section. And I wonder if you'd like to critically inspect A.K.Tolstoy article and see if anything there might be wrongly put, or spelled or whatever? -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:15, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

I figured you'd like the Bunin template. I made templates for all the Russian writers who seemed to require them, considering the number of their works with articles written on them: Template:Alexander Pushkin, Template:Maxim Gorky, Template:Mikhail Lermontov, Template:Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Template:Mikhail Bulgakov, and Template:Ivan Turgenev.

It's great that you've made A. K. Tolstoy a real article. I tried to expand it, but there are virtually no English sources on him. Adjusting grammar for the article will be no problem. The same goes for any other articles you do.

There are some other major writers whose articles could really use your help, the most important one being Ivan Goncharov. I've done some work on Aleksey Pisemsky, but, again, biographical info is scarce in English. I've had the same problem with other major writers: Alexander Radishchev, Yury Olesha, Nadezhda Teffi, and Mikhail Zoshchenko, to name a few.--INeverCry 16:09, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

AK Tolstoy for me is easily the most likeable character in the whole of the Russian literature, a true maverick. And whatever they'd say about Gogol and Pogorelsy influences, it's him, as far as I am concerned, who was the godfather of Russian horror story (if there was indeed such a thing for the genre, sadly, remained underdeveloped - with Russian realism, apparently, stealing it's beat, what with life horrors there being around aplenty). Most certainly, I'll try and do something for article on Ivan Goncharov, too. Of whom AK Tolstoy not long before his own death spoke as of the only decent guy left in the Russian Literature Premier League (not sure about terminology, though). Which for me is good enough reason to do him some service :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 12:43, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

A. K. Tolstoy

I've gone through the A. K. Tolstoy article and made the needed grammatical changes. This article may very well be the best bio of A. K. Tolstoy in English. I haven't seen anything nearly as good or as detailed from any other source.--INeverCry 21:50, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

What you say (and, actually, do) is so very encouraging!.. <Awfully sorry for my late replies. Looks like I've slipped into some kind of spontaneous semi-retirement, which will last, hopefully (that is, if long-term weather forecasts for Moscow will prove right :) for another couple of weeks.> -- Evermore2 (talk) 12:43, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

I've nominated A.K. Tolstoy for good article status.--INeverCry 18:53, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Good work, indeed! GreyHood ^Talk 14:14, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Really good work, (that goes for Greyhood and INeverCry too)-- amazing actually! Wikipedia doesn't know how lucky it is that you are volunteering. Lirika filosofskaya (talk) 04:19, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Ivan Bunin nomination

I've also nominated Ivan Bunin for good article status. (I went through the "Legacy" section and made the necessary corrections)--INeverCry 20:50, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Excellent, thank you! -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:58, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

...and for Lidia Charskaya too! I've written the one on Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko and wondered if that was not a case of 'crossing your road' as it were, for the two appear to be dangerously close in my 'personal' Top 20 (at the bottom of this page). Should we perhaps coordinate efforts? My nearest target would have been Dmitry Gorchakov, but perhaps you've already plans on him?) Or do you think what I/we should do next is concentrate on answering potential questions on the GA rewiew pages? Frankly, I've rather a vague notion of the procedure - in ru_wiki there's this teeth-grindigly boring 'why-this-is-not-according-to-that sort of bickering that goes on and on for days on end)) - so I very much hope you won't leave me there without your helping hand. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:58, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

I added a nice portrait and an English translations section to the Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko article. I'll go through it soon. My to-do list for the near future is a possible nomination of Mirra Lokhvitskaya, a clean-up and eventual nomination of Konstantin Balmont and Vladimir Vysotsky, and maybe a few small articles on Russian women writers. I looked at your "top 20"; I already searched for English language sources on Gnedich, Markevich, and Surikov, with no success. As for the rest of the list- Chekhov's friend Ivan Shcheglov is interesting, as one of his novels The Dacha Husband is available in English in a high-quality translation. Others that I've thought of doing small articles on in the future are: Viktor Bilibin, Ivan Gorbunov, Daniil Mordovtsev, Alexander Sheller, Alexander Skabichevsky, and Ivan Volnov. I would help with any articles you do as well.

Then we're on our separate, but parallel lines. I'll do Gnedich, Markevich, and Surikov, but first - Gorchakov and also Vasily Belov, Ivan Sokolov-Mikitov and Viktor Likhonosov, since they've 'reddened up' so the AKT legacy section. Lokhvitskaya, I think, is quite comprehensive, Balmont is slightly less so, but I could easily expand any section or open new ones, if needed. Vysotsky's a tougher proposition (some parts of it are unsourced and original research-looking) but anyway, why not give it a try. That would be immensely important job (and, of course, I'll be around should you need anything checked via Russian sources) since - there is a school of thought he's almost as essential for both the Russian language and the understanding of Russian psyche as Pushkin. <Opinions on this are violently divided and, frankly this in itself attests to his greatness, for at the heart of detractors' argument, I think, lies the utter disbelief as to how could someone half-Jewish prove to be more-Russian-than-most, of his contemporaries, anyway). -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:38, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm familiar with Belov and Likhonosov, as they have works that have been translated into English. There are English sources available for Vysotsky and Balmont, which should atleast allow me to provide back up refs.--INeverCry 17:36, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

I'd love to work with you on improving articles on major writers like Ivan Goncharov, Nikolai Leskov, and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, and other well-known writers like Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, Aleksey Pisemsky, Fyodor Sologub, etc etc.

Certainly! I'm especally glad you've mentioned Leskov, one of my all time personal favourites. All in all, looks like an effective tandem is beginning to take shape)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:38, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Leskov is the best known of these writers (in English translation), mostly for Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (one of my favorites) and Lefty. Shchedrin is still somewhat known for his story How a Peasant Fed Two Officials and for The Golovlyov Family. Sologub's The Petty Demon is still read, while Marlinsky and Pisemsky are just personal interests of mine. I have a collection of Leskov's satirical works with a detailed introduction that should help with his article, and I have several sources on Shchedrin.--INeverCry 17:36, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

I'll be here for the reviews. I just think that if Anton Chekhov is a "featured" article, than Tolstoy and Bunin, and probably Lokhvitskaya are atleast "good".--INeverCry 17:27, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

Here's my newest article: Maria Shkapskaya --INeverCry 23:20, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Great! Again, she's someone not very well known in her home country, and your article is better than the Russian one. Good job! -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:38, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Generally I try to do articles on writers who have works in English translation. Shkapskaya comes from an Oxford anthology of Russian women's writing that I have.--INeverCry 17:36, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko?

I uploaded this pic from a volume of tales in English translation here, labeled as Peasant Tales of Russia by Vasily Nemirovich Danchenko. The pic here is only labeled as V. I. Nemirovich Danchenko, and a full name isn't given anywhere in the book (which is stupid when you have 2 brothers with the same initials).

I'm really not sure in looking at the pic whether its Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko or Vasily??? It looks like Vladimir to me, especially when compared to the portrait I put in Vasily's article (taken from ru:Немирович-Данченко, Василий Иванович). Tell me what you think.--INeverCry 05:06, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

I think you are quite right. What they certainly have in common are facial hair and dressing habits. Otherwise, several things (no spectacles, shape of head, the poise) point at this being Vladimir. But that's very interesting and I think I might as well consult some people from ru_wiki on that.-- Evermore2 (talk) 10:38, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

A lot of the early English sources on the brothers Nemirovich-Danchenko leave me doubting whether they knew there were two seperate men, or which was which.

Two white spots on the man's lapel contain the clue: they appear to be Order of Lenin and Order of the October Revolution. According to ever helpful Triumphato (the one, incidentally, who's done a lot to the ru_wiki Balmont article, especially in its decorative aspect) the portrait might have been made by a certain Litvin (?) a year after Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko's death. -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:32, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

It looks like the original image is signed "Litvinov 1944". I wondered about this when I uploaded it, seeing that the book itself was published in 1917. It looks like someone glued this pic into the book later.--INeverCry 17:15, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

BTW- I love words like Консультация, which are nice for me as they are English words spelled in Russian. This means that I already have a somewhat sizeable Russian vocabulary. ;) But words are easy, it's the verbs, adjectives, and syntax that are hard.--INeverCry 18:13, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

I wonder if this might go some way in helping learners of Russian in their plight :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:32, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Ю́лий Алексе́евич Бу́нин

I was wondering if you had any plans of doing an article on Yuli Bunin? --INeverCry 01:02, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

No, I have none. And you?) -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:38, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

I'd like to do an article on him if I can find a source or sources for biographical info. We'll see.--INeverCry 17:07, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

New pic of Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko

I added this to the article. I'm not sure about the date, except to say that it's a 19th century photo, but my guess is circa 1880, as he looks like he's in his mid 30s.--INeverCry 17:45, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Template for A.K. Tolstoy

Template:Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy --INeverCry 20:47, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Gorchakov

The beginning of the 2nd paragraph in the biography section of the Dmitry Gorchakov article says:

"In 1979 Prince Gorchakov rejoined the Russian army as a volunteer"

I don't know the correct year...

I added a portrait and infobox, etc.--INeverCry 23:22, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. Yes, the year was totally wrong, now I've changed it. -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:45, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

DYK nominations

I've nominated your article A Common Story for Wikipedia:Did you know to be featured on the Main Page - see Template:Did you know nominations/A Common Story. If you could also create the article about An Uncommon Story (Goncharov memoirs) that would be really nice hook.

That would be a trickier task, for it doesnt feature in any of the Complete collections as far as I know, but still I'll do some research, and who knows. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:59, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

The book indeed is a bit of a rarity, but a detailed analysis of it is available, with more than enough data. Think I'll do it next week. --Evermore2 (talk) 14:28, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

Also I've nominated another your article, Stepan Shevyryov, and it was promoted - see Template:Did you know nominations/Stepan Shevyryov.

You could make such nominations yourself if you like. Featuring on the MP could give your articles many thousands of additional views. GreyHood ^Talk 15:38, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:59, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Here is another one: Template:Did you know nominations/Dmitry Khvostov (poet). I'm going to vacation soon and will be absent from Wikipedia for about 10 days, so please watch for this nomination template and the Goncharov one (there could be some issues which need to be fixed, but nothing serious likely, since the articles are very good). Also note the talk on Khvostov. Cheers! GreyHood ^Talk 17:42, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Okey! I've expanded Khvostov, so as to make it look more or less complete. Every possible help in terms of style and, possibly, grammar, will be, of course, very welcome. -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:32, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

As for the 'move'-suggestion, I've left my support, of course, but am not sure what the procedure will be: should the Dmitry Khvostov page be made a disambiguation one? And wouldn't it be better to move the 'suffering side' to Dmitry Khvostov (basketball player)? Being quite a dork in such matters, I'd rather keep myself away from trying to sort this one out myself :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:32, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Stepan Shevyryov

Materialscientist (talk) 00:03, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

Re: Deletion review for Wizard (American band)

Usually if I speedy something I'm more inclined to undelete in article or userspace if you ask on my talk. If you want to let the DRV run its course then by all means let it do so, but I am willing to restore to userspace as while yes on second glance it does have a claim but I'm not entirely sure it'll pass AfD. Alexandria (talk) 13:43, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

• Sure, if you are ready to restore it, I'd remove my DRV bid, if that's what you mean. Sorry for failing to go to your talk page first - its just that my being-speedied-exprience up until now has been somewhat limited) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:04, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
  • No prob, I'm all for trying to salvage pages, User or Article space on second thought? Alexandria (talk) 14:15, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

    Erm... Article space, if you ask me (which of course is very nice of you). Fanfares to the Peace & Salvage process, then. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:25, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

     Done Alexandria (talk) 14:27, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

    Cheers! -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:38, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

DYK for A Common Story

The DYK project (nominate) 00:02, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

DYK for An Uncommon Story

The DYK project (nominate) 00:03, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Dmitry Khvostov

Thank you Victuallers (talk) 00:02, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:36, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Nikolai Leskov

Leskov, Goncharov, Fet... I can't keep up with you! All I've done lately are small articles on Daniil Mordovtsev, Viktor Muyzhel, and the slightly better known Lev Lunts. I also did an expansion that almost compares with some of yours: John Banim. I looked for sources on Palmin, Lensky, and some others but without success. With Lensky, all I got was "he was a friend of Chekhov." I'm going to work on images and navboxes (I've done 40 of them) for a while, and on touching up your work, which is no small task. I don't mind; a good part of your material hasn't appeared in English before. I've done articles on all the writers I'm personally interested in. I hope you'll eventually pick up the article on Pisemsky, as I haven't been able to find any more biographical sources on him, although I do have some sources that provide criticism of him and his work by Dostoyevsky and others.--INeverCry 02:43, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Sure, Pisemsky is mine to tackle) And thank you for your work, which of invariably high quality. -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:16, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

I've started on the Leskov article. I came across the above sentence in the journalism section, and was wondering what riots you're referring to? Where did they take place? etc etc.--INeverCry 02:38, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Leskov himself considered his long essay "Sketches on Wine Industry Issues", written in 1860 about the 1859 riots and published in Otechestvennye zapiski (April 1861), to be his proper literary debut

It's the 1859 Anti-alcohol riots, starting as "a movement for sobering up", ending up (somewhat typically) in wine-shops being everywhere destroyed, high prices and bad quality of wine having been other reasons for this all-Russian grudge. A murky affair (with not much written about it, although here's the 3rd Department chief Prince Dolgorukov's account) so I don't know if a special footnote here is warranted, or may be just couple of words ("anti-alcohol riots") should be added. --- Evermore2 (talk) 09:16, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

I added the simple detail "anti-alcohol riots". Sounds like it would make an interesting article.--INeverCry 09:37, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Another question from the beginning of "literary career": You give Погасшее дело as Extinct Affair in English, but the word "extinct" is strange, and is only used like this. Could Погасшее дело be "A Finished Affair"? This would be more understandable.--INeverCry 04:12, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Погасшее is more like "extinguished," although, yes, it means "finished" too. Lirika filosofskaya (talk) 04:38, 11 November 2011 (UTC) Besides chiming in on a translation question, sorry for interrupting, I'd also like to say (as I've said before) that both of you are doing tremendous work! Lirika filosofskaya (talk) 04:59, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

From what I've found, the phrase means something like "Extinguish it", which doesn't express a solid singular idea in English; but titles like "An Extinguished Affair" or "A Finished Affair" are clumsy and ambiguous in English as well. "It's Finished" or "Finish it" would be a bit better because they're striking, but what is "it"? The word affair can mean a love affair, or something casual like business affairs. I don't know what Leskov's story is about, so I'm at a complete disadvantage.--INeverCry 08:26, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Well, the story, to put it very short, is about how a draught-pestered village community exhumed a drunkard ponomar [a guy at the bells, etc] to strip some fat off him and make a candle - so as to goad God into sending them some rain. And how Illarion, the village priest, horrified with the crime/sin his people committed, went to visit a land-owner to somehow settle the affair, and the latter informed him he'd do this by bribing some people, but of course he'd need those 1 thousand rubles back, and very soon. And how priest Illarion on his way home - in the pouring rain, of course, for how God could have failed to comply? - has a dream where he sinks and goes to the bottom of things. So it would be a hybrid between The Settled Case and The Extinguished Flame. -- Evermore2 (talk) 08:57, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

"The Extinguished Flame" works for me.--INeverCry 09:07, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Sounds very romantic, but never mind)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:18, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

I finished polishing the Leskov article. I do have a slight issue: The statement "In 1889 Suvorin's publishing house started bringing out the Complete Leskov 12 volume series", from the Later Years section sounds a little questionable next to the statement "His collected works were published for the first time in 1902-03" which immediately follows in the Legacy section.--INeverCry 21:38, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you!.. Yes, the latter statement was wrong <in 1902-03 an expanded, 36 volumes version of The Complete...(1889-93) came out>. I just haven't got to the Legacy section yet, it demands serious consideration, at the moment every statement in it looks flippant and vague. Its a remnant of this article's earlier version which has been pasted from here, the source which, while occasionally helpful, is prone to horrible mistakes (like 'breast cancer' instead of - what, asthma? stenocardia?) and is to be approached with great care, if at all. In a 3-4 days' time the Legacy section will be ready, I hope. -- Evermore2 (talk) 08:05, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Leskov pics

Nikolai Leskov in 1872? by Ledakov (looks more like late 1850s)

I just cropped and uploaded the image on the left, which is supposed to show Leskov in 1872, according to the original uploader. I cropped it from File:Leskov Portrait In Museum In Oryol 08Jul09.JPG. It looks much earlier than 1872, when Leskov would've been 41 yrs old, especially in comparison to your upload at right. It looks like he's in his late 20s or early 30s doesn't it? This would make it late 1850s/early 1860s. I uploaded it so that we could put it at the start of Leskov's article, as there are no other images of him as a younger man, but nobody would believe that this portrait and the pic on the right are from the same year. Also- It looks like the painting is by Anton Zakharovich Ledakov, who was active as a portraitist in the late 1850s/early 1860s. I didn't want to put it in the article untill we could find a reliable date.--INeverCry 03:45, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Hmmm. Leskov Jr. in Part IV, Chapter 4 gives Anton Ledakov extraordinary negative characteristic, calling him 'talentless', but at least (all but) corroborates the date, giving it as 1871. On the other hand, could I have been mistaken, and the date here is 1892? If so, it might refer not to the photo itself but to the signature under it, in other words, 1892 might have been the year he sent this picture to somebody (still cannot make out, exactly whom) Pavel Gaideburov, Nedelya editor [found not a single mention of him, though, in this list of letters]?... Moved it to the top of the 'Later years' section and dropped any reference to the year with the 'let the signature speaks for itself' explanation)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:15, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for Ledakov-cropping thing, by the way, that was highly ingenious) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:36, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

File:Vasiliy Shukshin Novod 1.jpg

before

File:Vasiliy Shukshin 7.jpg

after

Here's an even better cropping I did for Vasily Shukshin.--INeverCry 19:12, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

• You are a virtuoso cropper! -- Evermore2 (talk) 08:57, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Image editing is meditation for me.

For me what we all do here is more like a Séance. A way to say hello to Gippius or Khvostov, or, in the latter case, to Shukshin, who sure must be very pleased) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:46, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

On the Leskov painting- I see that in his article on ru.wiki the label is "portrait of Leskov in the Oryol museum", which would work here too.--INeverCry 09:15, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Pics

I uploaded a 1st edition title page pic for Russkaya Beseda, and 2 pics for Afanasy Fet, which I've started copy editing. The pic you uploaded of Leskov is great.--INeverCry 02:03, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! I've also noted this* and that**, but 'bad tag' (whatever that means) makes it impossible for me to upload them. As a reserve I also have with me a rather pompous photo from Vol.1 book of the (non)Complete (1973), might as well scan it later, just in case. It still feels like the 'old and severe-looking Leskov'-niche is already full, some youngish ones would be more welcome, but alas. The rough version of Legacy: part 1 is ready, but it feels like a lot more is yet to come) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:29, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Here are the 2 Leskov pics.--INeverCry 17:10, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

--INeverCry 17:10, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

--INeverCry 17:10, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

• Ah! Wizardry in action) I've incorporated them into the expanded version (which is of course far from being complete), but the whole panorama looks still somewhat disheveled, I'm not sure neither about those captions, or those 2 similar-looking guys in it's upper regions. Feel free to experiment further :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:25, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

I flipped his profile pic around to make him face to the left, and then switched the 2 pics so that the "2 similar looking guys" are much further apart and not quite as similar.--INeverCry 16:40, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Brilliant! -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:20, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Mighty Lev Anninsky, by far the best modern Russian literary scholar/critic (to my mind, anyway), seems to be a fan of both Leskov and Pisemsky. Interestingly, his biographical novels are called: on the former - The Unbroken One, on the latter - The Broken One. These are parts of a trilogy called Three Heretics, the third being Melnikov-Pechersky: Ломавший, ~ The Breaking One, our next candidate for being the expanded one, perhaps, after Pisemsky?) -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:20, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

...and back to Leskov, here are some interesting illustrations to some of his works, plus a photo of his Petersburgh cabinet and - well, something dated 1894; a take on a photo, or could it be a drawing? -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:20, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Melnikov is unknown to English speakers, as none of his works have been translated. If you want to expand his article, though, I'd certainly help. It's too bad that more writers like Melnikov aren't translated. Many of the writers I've found and really loved have only 1 or 2 works in English: Nikolai Garin-Mikhailovsky, Vasily Sleptsov (I'd love to be able to read his Трудное время), Alexander Levitov, Stepan Skitalets, Valentina Dmitryeva (Dmitryeva's story Больничный сторож Хвеська is one of my all-time favorites), etc. Fyodor Mikhaylovich Reshetnikov is another writer I've heard alot about, even praise from Turgenev, but none of his works are available to me.

Here's my list of suggestions, in regard to expansions:

• Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky
• Nikolay Pomyalovsky
• Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak
• Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
• Sergey Aksakov
• Alexander Radishchev
• Konstantin Staniukovich
• Apollon Maykov

Shchedrin, Aksakov, and Radishchev are the most important from an objective standpoint, while Pomyalovsky, Mamin, and Staniukovich are the ones I love as a reader, along with Shchedrin, who seems like a heroic figure. Two of the most neglected Russian works, in my view, are Pomyalovsky's Очерки бурсы and Shchedrin's Господа Головлёвы. I think that Mikhail Artsybashev is unjustly forgotten as well. I've done my best with the limited English sources I have, and I might be able to expand Shchedrin, Maykov, Radishchev, and the others a little on my own, but I don't think I can do any of these great writers justice without your help.--INeverCry 17:39, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

I'm very much looking forward to collaborate with you, along these guidelines. Some of these authors I know not much of, all the more interesting the process for me will be. And Shchedrin, yes, he's a giant, deserves an entry of corresponding proportions) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:58, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

I'll be working on Fet, Goncharov, and Leskov for the near future, and then maybe Balmont. I also have sources that I can use to expand some other articles, including Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Nikolay Dobrolyubov, Andrei Sinyavsky, and another of my favorites, Fyodor Abramov. I do have another great writer who I'll need your help with, whose article is currently in sad shape: Vsevolod Garshin. I also wonder if you'd be interested in working on Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya?--INeverCry 20:04, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Change of plans: It doesn't look like you're quite done with Fet or Goncharov. I think I'll start on Balmont and Gippius, which appear to be complete. Let me know when you're finished with Leskov and A K Tolstoy, and the others. This way I can go through an article once from start to finish rather than going back multiple times.--INeverCry 03:21, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

All I can say for certain, is, - my immediate plans are: 1) Leskov (a couple of weeks or so), 2) Pisemsky (might take very long, his is a tricky story), 3) articles on books by Balmont, Merezhkovsky, Bunin, Goncharov, Tolstoy, etc, etc, 4) stubs on small things that might come up my way. As for being 'finished' and 'not finished' with, there's a thin line between the two, for me, anyway, and I very much hope to be able to return to any of these articles and add something new in the (un)forseeable future. Evermore2 (talk) 12:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Hope I'm not being too vague. Garshin, Khvoshchinskaya? - I don't know. Some kind of Garshin bug should bite me first, and there's too many of them crawling about, fangs out)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 12:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

By "finished" I just mean that you don't plan on making any more substantial changes or additions. It's not that big of a deal, as I'll go through all of them eventually. I suggested Garshin because his story sounds interesting: his service in the Russo-Turkish war, his bouts of insanity, his strange visit to Tolstoy, his gruesome suicide, and the praise his works received from writers like Chekhov. I suggested Khvoshchinskaya because Russian women prose fiction writers are almost unheard of. Gippius is mostly known as a poet and dramatist, rather than for her short stories, and English speakers usually only know about Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, and non-fiction writers like Ginzburg and Nadezhda Mandlestam.

I also wanted to ask you what you think about Vladimir Gilyarovsky? He sounds like an interesting character, according to what I've read about him from Teleshov, Chekhov, and Gorky. As for me, Sophia Perovskaya and Vera Figner are future projects, along with Mikhail Sholokhov, Yury Olesha, Vladimir Tendryakov, and maybe Daniil Kharms.--INeverCry 18:15, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

The first thing that comes to mind for an answer here is a quote from Ian Dury classic: ...Pardon, sort of, oh. Pardon, you know, oh. Pardon, um, oh. Pardon, er, oh. You see, never before I've been asked for an opinion on Gilyarovsky, small wonder I haven't got one. Promise to catch up and form one, one day)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

As for Perovskaya & Figner... For some reason ...liberation for women, that's what I preach... is the first thing that comes to my mind, but again, I know not much of both, besides the fact they were bombing our tsars along with stray passers-by, did they write poetry too?)) Never mind, Kharms was a darling! -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

My interest in the 2 ladies is more for their personal characters, beliefs, and principals, and the fact that 2 women born into the upper classes became violent revolutionaries.--INeverCry 17:15, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Leskov

I made a navbox and a category for Leskov.--INeverCry 17:44, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you

		The Writer's Barnstar
		For your superb work on Russian writers, especially for the articles on Ivan Bunin, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Nikolai Leskov, Afanasy Fet, Konstantin Balmont, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, Mirra Lokhvitskaya.. well, too many good works to list them all here! Keep on writing quality stuff! From me and INeverCry . GreyHood Talk 20:45, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

• Thank you! :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:09, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I left another barnstar on your Ru talkpage.--INeverCry 17:23, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Весы

Here's my newest article: Vesy. I figured you might be interested in this one because of the connection to Gippius and Balmont. I did it mainly because I like Bryusov and Sologub.--INeverCry 00:41, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, that's an important connection. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Surikov

I have a question: in his memoir A Writer Remembers, Nikolay Teleshov mentions the "Surikov circle", as an important group of writers with Surikov at the head, meeting regularly, or at least organized around Surikov, in Moscow. Teleshov doesn't go into detail, but he places it 1st in his chapter on "The Writer's Circles". Do you have any info on this?

I do not, but I promise to go back to it and inverstigate further. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Here it is: (ru:Суриковский литературно-музыкальный кружок).--INeverCry 02:05, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Teleshov also gives prominent mention to Mamin-Sibiryak, Gleb Uspensky, Vladimir Korolenko, and Nikolay Zlatovratsky (especially in regard to so-called "peasant literature").--INeverCry 20:04, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

WikiProject Russia, the task forces and the interview for the Signpost

Hello! You are a great contributor to Russian topics, and I suggest you to join WikiProject Russia formally. You could either place the project banner on your user page (like our friend INeverCry did) or add your name to Wikipedia:WikiProject Russia/Members, or both.

Since you do a great amount of work in the areas of Russian literature and historical journalism, I also suggest you to sign up for the language and literature and mass media task forces (here and here). I kindly ask you to do this, because the more participants the project has, the more serious and promising it looks, which means more people would like to join in future. Also, this will help other editors and newcomers to identify the people who work in the topics in order to ask them for some advice or help. In case you still not wish to join formally for some reason, I'll add you as an "Honorary member" and you'll be there anyway

No, no, I'd rather join on my own accord! :panic: )) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Also, here is an invitation for you to give an interview for the Signpost newspaper:

• The WikiProject Report would like to focus on WikiProject Russia for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering.

GreyHood ^Talk 21:43, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

В общем, милости прошу к нашему шалашу! GreyHood ^Talk 21:47, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Am I really the 79th lodger in the шалаш? Sounds overcrouded)) Anyway, thank you for the invitation, hopefully I'll be able to contribute more or less regularly and be of service! :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for joining! Well, in fact there is a great lack of manpower in the project, and the more crowd we have, the better. You still need to decide whether you would like to be an ordinary member of the language and literature and mass media task forces or an honorary member, like INeverCry. GreyHood ^Talk 09:06, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

This time I'd opt for 'Honorary', please. -- Evermore2 (talk) 12:08, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

As you wish. Thanks again! GreyHood ^Talk 20:15, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

A. K. Tolstoy

I went through and cleaned up A. K. Tolstoy again. The article is looking nice and shiny.--INeverCry 02:59, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Excellent, thank you! -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

I also uploaded the 1922 D. H. Lawrence cover of The Gentleman from San Francisco.--INeverCry 18:15, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

As for me, I had to make a step in the opposite direction; removed the illustration from Arthur Benni infobox. With Comrade Triumphato from ru_wiki we came to the conclusion, the guy must have been some senior official of Alexander II times, perhaps Bennigsen, in his prime? Very embarrassing, but there we seem to have it :( -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:59, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Grigory Eliseev

In looking at this article, I noticed that you used the term "internal review". In English this term usually refers to an internal audit or a review of company practices, ethics, etc.--INeverCry 20:13, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

The term "internal review" doesn't really give an idea of what's meant, especially in the context of a "genre" in journalism. I could see something like "editorial review" but this might not quite agree with the claim that he created a "new genre".--INeverCry 20:50, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

It's rather "internal affairs review", as explained here by Dobrolybov. Think I'll change it to "Domestic affairs review". I am not sure about this claim for him being innovator (apparently Dobrolybov started it) but that was what the source was saying. If you find the assertion dubious, please remove it. -- Evermore2 (talk) 08:18, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

"Domestic Affairs" is good.--INeverCry 15:44, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Хвощинская/Кохановская

Надежда Степановна Кохановская

This is a painting of Надежда Степановна Кохановская that was mistakenly uploaded as Хвощинская. If you compare it to the photos of Хвощинская in Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya, you can easily see it's 2 different people. It was uploaded on the 22nd and placed in the Хвощинская article on ru.wiki. Can you have a look at this, or show it to Triumphato?--INeverCry 04:28, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

• Problem is, Ivan Makarov's portrait was definitely that of Khvoschinskaya, of Kokhanovskaya's portrait by the same artist Google knows nothing. Question is, how this 1850 person could have turned this (1880s) through Kokhanovskaya by Ivan Makarov (1866).jpg that (1866)? Biographers mention her having been severely ill with typhoid on 1865. Also, in 1865 her beloved sister Sophia died, this too might have had a bearing on the way she looked next year. Anyway, in Sokhanskaya (Kokhanovskaya)I see an altogether different person. And what made you think it was Kokhanovskaya, not Khvoschinskaya, whom Makarov painted in '66? -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:14, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

The woman in this painting doesn't look anything like Khvoshchinskaya. A while ago, I looked into doing an article on Kokanovskaya, but I decided against it. In looking for a portrait of Kokhanovskaya I came across this on the left labeled as her. No big deal though.

The history of this potrtrait would be worthy of digging into. Think I'll approach User:Shakko who's upoaded it, she does a lot of museums, etc-related stuff in the ru_wiki and seems to be an expert. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:39, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

I asked Shakko about it first, but all she gave me was a rude answer.--INeverCry 08:00, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Certainly, you don't mean her refusal to swear [it on the Bible]? It would have been ruder if she did) Of course she didn't mean to offend you. -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:27, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Triumphato's answer is: "Not sure about Kokhanovskaya, but she's definitely not Khvoschinskaya", - as for his arguments (facial features, the whole image, incongruous with her 'muzhik'-like manners), they seem inconclusive. On the other hand, this article maintains she moved from Ryazan to St.-P. only in 1880s. Tellingly, Kokhanovskaya in 1862 came to the capital, was introduced to the Court and was invited to teach royal children, which she refused. Very confusing, but lets wait and see. -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:27, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

To my utter astonishment, Shakko seems to be undecided, for there's no official Makarov catalogue available. And she pointed me to her own collection of mistakes revealed. So consider my answer above as not entirely valid. And yes, Comrade Triumphato has to be urgently addressed. Incidentally, he's a writer, author of several books and has a site of his own stuffed with interesting things. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:33, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Did you see my work on Anna Filosofova, the mother of your Dmitry? I was surprised to see no article on her in ru.wiki, especially since we have pretty extensive sources on her in English.--INeverCry 17:03, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Superb, and a bit of an eye-opener too, for me, anyway. She was tough, to send Purishkevich to jail! (apparently, the Tsar himself interfered to change the sentense into just 7 days home arrest, though, which was a shame). -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:39, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

INeverCry

• Please come back soon, or Leskov and then Pisemsky will be written in this Runglish manner and style I've been making here my own :) As for the portrait, Shakko suggested to remove it from the Russian article, so it might be on its way out. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:43, 1 December 2011 (UTC)
• By the way, I forgot to thank you for the Translator Order you've given me in ru_wiki. Indeed, I used to be [it], some time ago. Believe it or not, mighty Marguerite Steen's The Unquiet Spirit novel exists in its Russian version curtesy of yours truly... and yes, W.W. Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw, too :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:43, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

You're so lucky to be able to translate. I wish I could. Maybe someday. I'd start with Garin-Mikhailovsky and Sleptsov.--INeverCry 07:36, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

• I'd rather use my time reading the works of these great writers than writing about them. I see your point and totally support it. Think I'll follow your example and go and read at least some of Pisemsky's novels before even thinking of expanding the article. Believe it or not, I've not read a single word by him, yet, now its time to catch up. -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:45, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

It doesn't feel right to leave you hanging, so I think I'll just cut down on my editing time, rather than leaving altogether.--INeverCry 19:57, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

• Coincidentally, the only pre-1917 orthography book which I have is a work by Pisemsky. Might go and read as well. Hope INeverCry will return after doing some reading. GreyHood ^Talk 18:23, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

?s

Take a look at this: User talk:Sturmvogel 66#Questions and this: User talk:LadyofShalott#Question. I asked them whether or not our (mostly your) literature articles had a shot at GA or FA, and there seems to be hope. I just needed something extra to keep me interested. It'll probably be a while before I nominate any of our articles.--INeverCry 04:29, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

It crossed my mind once or twice that footnotes should look better if transliterated, but frankly, now there too many of them for me to bother. Besides, I find the whole GA-related procedure here utterly undemocratic; its so much simpler in ru_section: whoever feels like it, chirps in, and then curator, sifting the rubbish out, makes a decision. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:30, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Maybe someday. I'm in no hurry. The one article I successfully nominated, The Vicar of Bullhampton, was reviewed by Malleus Fatuorum, and the whole thing was quick and painless. The FA article Badnjak (Serbian) has mostly Serbian/Russian refs, so I think yours would probably pass. I was thinking of nominating one of the articles in the distant future, after Goncharov, Leskov, Fet, Gippius, Merezhkovsky, Demidova, Balmont and the rest are all dressed up. I also have a bit of an interest in expanding Pushkin; his article is shamefully short. I just nominated one of Greyhood's lists, the List of Russian explorers for FL, so we'll see how much fun that turns out to be.--INeverCry 07:36, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Circumnavigation on frigate Pallada

Hello! INeverCry suggested promoting the List of Russian explorers to the Featured List status, and that reminded me that the topics of Russian explorers and Russian literature intersect sometimes. We need the article Circumnavigation on frigate Pallada. It is the third most renown Russian circumnavigation after the First Russian circumnavigation and the First Russian Antarctic expedition. To a great extent it became that famous thanks to the participation of Ivan Goncharov. Would you be interested in writing the article about the journey of Pallada? GreyHood ^Talk 23:46, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I'm entering the period of relative inactivity here, grandiouse tasks are beyond me, anyway, but the article on Frigate Pallada (book) is surely for me to see to, sooner or later. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:32, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, surely the materials from the article on the book would deserve to be incorporated to the article about the journey. When and if the article about circumnavigation is created by me or someone else, I'll let you know. GreyHood ^Talk 14:51, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Aleksey Merzlyakov

I did a short article on Aleksey Merzlyakov, but I couldn't find much on him from English sources. I did find a nice portrait.--INeverCry 06:45, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

I'll Try to expand it a little later. Thank you for good work! -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:30, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Merry X-Mas

Merry Christmas! I'm glad to see they gave you the Литературный орден for Balmont; I'll get our Balmont taken care of one of these days. I redesigned the translation barnstar I gave you so that it looks like the one here; I thought it would be a bit amusing (and maybe even unique) to have an en.wiki barnstar over there. I have a quick question for you: I've been adding images to articles on ru.wiki for a while (like Лиодор Пальмин today:), and I see they use a "check" system for edits. Can you tell me how many edits I have to make before I'm "auto checked" or do I have to ask for the right? Anyway, I guess the New Year comes before Christmas in Russia, so Happy New Year too!--INeverCry 17:58, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for you! My very best wishes for you, hope our tandem here will be only strengthening!.. I'm afraid one has to apply for the auto-checked-one status, here. Not sure about criteria nowadays, it's been a long time since I've visited the page. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:26, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Hopefully they'll get rid of the check system at some point. I only add images, so it's not too big a deal. Anyway, I've gone through the first 2 sections of Fet, but I'm going to put that on hold and focus on Gippius and the other articles that you seem to be finished with, atleast for now (Balmont, Merezhkovsky, Demidova, Vertinskaya, Shatskaya, and Vysotsky).--INeverCry 00:17, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

на ножах

I found a decent looking 1885 cover. It's hard to find 1st edition covers, so I figure reprints will work ok. I wish this novel was available in English.--INeverCry 04:00, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

I found one for Некуда.--INeverCry 04:19, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Excellent. Now I'm back from our very Russian 10 days NY/Xmas holidays, the show hopefully will go on. -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:27, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Ми́рра/Тэ́ффи

I went through the Lokhvitskaya article, cleaned up the refs and translated them all into English. I merged the "Family" section into "Biography". "Personality", "Critical Reception", and "Legacy" are very short on references, in case you intend to return to it. No hurry of course, and if you don't return to the article, it's no big deal. Also, I was wondering if "Тэ́ффи" means "Taffy" in Russian? Our article on taffy links to ru:Ирис (конфеты) which looks like fudge, which it also links to. I'll understand if you don't want to waste your time answering this part of the question. ;) INeverCry 20:25, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

According to her own memoirs it had to do initially with some 'foolish man' she knew who's been nicknamed Steffi. But as the play (signed for the first time this way) had been staged she found it difficult to explain it ("It had to do with one fool I knew..." sounded, well, foolishly) until one journalist prompted: "I've heard it was to do with Kipling's poem ("Taffy was a wale-man / Taffy was a thief…"), she grabbed it eagerly, and and since then this Kipling-related version of her pseudonym's origins became the 'official' one. -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:27, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I expanded the Teffi article with a new source that gives the Steffi/Kipling info. INeverCry 22:09, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I'll try to add references to Lokhvitskaya's sections, although, all of them mostly come from one source: Tatyana Alexandrova's site/biography. And if by 'thin' you mean this, that's a problem I'm not sure I'll be able to solve in the forseable future: Alexandrova is, apparently, the only modern Russian authority on Lokhvitskaya. -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:27, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I mentioned the refs because I would hate to see someone put "citation needed" tags in such a nice article. I might be able to add a few Eng refs. INeverCry 22:09, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Adamovich and Leskov

I've expanded the Adamovich article a bit with a new source I have. I added a "criticism" section which I should be able to add to from other sources. The details about Akhmatova and the Бродячая Собака nightclub are very interesting (career section). I just ordered a copy of one of our best English sources, "A History of Russian Literature" by Professor Victor Terras, which should be a big help with Adamovich and all of our other Russian lit articles. I found a better portrait of Adamovich as well. I also wrote a start article on Mikhail Osorgin, who you might know of.

Excellent, thank you! -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:04, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I did some work on Leskov. The sub-section "The Cathedral Clergy" seemed strange by itself, as many of his works were covered, including "The Enchanted Wanderer" which is much better known in English. The "Leftie" sub-section was better because it focused only on Leftie and because Leftie is the story Leskov's best known for in English. I removed the sub-sections, after trying more sub-sections etc - I've added a "debut" and a "major works" sub-section to go along with the "later years" sub-section (start-middle-end was the basic idea). Lady Macbeth and Leftie (the start and finish of the "major Works" sub-section) seem to be his most popular works, along with The Enchanted Wanderer. I have a good source on Leskov and his works in English, so I should be able to make some additions to these sub-sections. Considering its size, this "monumental" article will take quite some time to polish. INeverCry 22:04, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

---

This statement in the Leskov article lead seems questionable to me:

"Leskov is credited with being arguably the only writer who succeeded in creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms"

What about Anton Chekhov? INeverCry 19:31, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

The word 'comprehensive' might be changed here to 'all-embracing' (in the source: 'широчайшая' ~ widest possible). Gorky apparently was saing the same (in 'He dissected Rus through...') Chekhov's scope (in terms of social strata, regional dialectisms, etc etc) was nowhere near as wide. -- Evermore2 (talk) 13:04, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

This is probably true, but it's hard to believe from an American or British point of view because Leskov is almost an unknown with English language readers while Chekhov is one of the "big 4" along with Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Dostoyevsky. I think that Chekov's range was a bit wider than the above statement allows. As for Gorky, who I love, his statements about writers are often tinged by his revolutionary/socialist views. His comments about Dostoyevsky, Artsybashev, Andreyev, and other non-revolutionaries often read like propaganda. For instance, Gorky, in his memoirs of Tolstoy, gives us negative quotes from Tolstoy in regard to Dostoyevsky, while I have several of Tolstoy's letters in which he praises Dostoyevsky highly. In the end, I still think the statement above is a bit strong. The question "what about Chekhov?" wouldn't be all that uncommon with English language readers reading the Leskov lead.

Here's my version:

"Leskov is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms"

This is what I would suggest for the lead. What do you think? INeverCry 20:36, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Of course, no problem. Although, from what you say, I see my worst suspicions as to Chekhov's reputation in the West being greatly overbloated, being totally confirmed. The same goes for Turgenev, whose place in the Top 4 by rights should go to Gogol)). But never mind, I accept your point totally. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:41, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Turgenev is thought of in the West as a colleague of Flaubert, de Maupassant, and Daudet more than as a "Russian writer". He and Gogol are both great writers, but Gogol is more Russian, and hence a bit strange to Western readers. I love reading both of them, as I do reading Chekhov and Gorky. INeverCry 17:17, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

I think it's all down to translatability, as it were. Turgenev and Checkov were very translation-friendly. Gogol's difficult to tackle and Leskov's virtually untraslatable... I remember once having heard Turgenev's Torrents of Spring on the BBC World Service - couldn't believe my ears: it was a piece of brilliant prose, totally in contrast with this dull original text in Russian. And recently I looked into Leskov's Lefty in English and saw something that was very similar to what goes on to fill in Wikipedia 'Synopsis' sections: not so much Leskov's prose, as somebody relating in English what Leskov's story was about. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:34, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

There's a brilliant essay called Chekhov and Gorky by Merezhkovsky whose point was that (by 1906) Chekhov & Gorky duo has completely overshadowed for the Russian reading public Tolstoy & Dostoyevsky which he saw as very symptomatic of the times. The tragedy, according to the author was that, while the latter 'saw the future', the former two only 'saw the present', and even that only from the narrow-minded leftist intelligentsia's point of view. And then Merezhkovsky goes on to explain the roots of intelligentsia's love for bosyak [a kind of lumpen lout, Gorky at some point was much fond of]. Sheer brilliance, if you ask me. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:13, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, and the key quote: While Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky fathom the depths of people's soul and represent Russia's highest cultural consciousness, Chekhov and Gorky are the mouthpiece for not so much people in general, as their own social group; of [Russia's] 'intelligent' (rather than 'cultural'] middleground, the one that is most miltitudinous and hyperactive these days; that is about to 'make history' and will face this History's Judgement day for what it is about to commit. - Л. Толстой и Достоевский -- выразители глубочайшей народной стихии и высочайшего культурного сознания России. Чехов и Горький выразители не столько народной, сколько сословной, не столько культурной, сколько интеллигентной середины русского среднего сословия, самого многочисленного и Деятельного, которому в настоящее время предстоит "делать историю" и за то, что будет сделано, дать ответ на страшном суде истории. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:26, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

These comments by Merezhkovsky seem unfair, just like Gorky's comments about emigre writers in the Soviet period. Merezhkovsky's evangelical worldview was completely at odds with Chekhov's basic pessimism and especially his atheism. Tolstoy loved Chekhov as a man and for his fiction, which Tolstoy often read aloud to his guests at Yasnaya. I would think that if Tolstoy saw Chekhov as a great talent, than this might trump Merezhkovsk's criticism which is more ideological than truly literary. As for Merezhkovsky's views of Gorky, I think they center more on Gorky's atheism and his socialism than on anything artistic. Gippius stated that she found Gorky "intimidating" and that there was much resentment of him in the emigre community because of his status with the Soviet regime, and the fact that they payed for his travels. I love the works of all of these writers, and many more, and that's what really counts in the end: readers- not critics. INeverCry 17:17, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

I don't think Merezhkovsky's worldview could be described as 'evangelical' - 'metaphysical' would be closer to home. For somebody so deep as him, Checkhov must have seemed very shallow, which indeed he was. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:34, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

We'll just have to agree to disagree. ;) INeverCry 16:39, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Скабичевский etc

I cleaned up the Skabichevsky article. I also found a portrait and signature which I added to our Skabichevsky and the ru.wiki version. I added a short "criticism" section, but my English sources focus more on Mikhailovsky and Lavrov, so I don't have anything more to add.

I did a stub on Dmitry Begichev and a start article on Herzen's Who is to Blame? (I got my copy of A History of Russian Literature in the mail). I'm thinking of expanding Fonvizin and doing an article on his Infant, and working on Ostrovsky among many others.

I removed the drinking/agoraphobia detail from Pisemsky. I added his signature. Strange to see such an extensive article here while ru.wiki only has a stub. ;) INeverCry 18:12, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but my Arthur Benni begins to lag behind that of Triumphato :) -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:40, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

He may be winning the battle at the moment, but you're winning the war. :) I'm glad to see that you found a portrait. INeverCry 19:03, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

...As for drinking, I saw some source mentioning this, but lets wait until it will surface up. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:40, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I have a source for that detail, but it only gives a couple sentences. That was ok when the article was start class, but now it needs something more considerable. INeverCry 19:03, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Marks/Suvorin/etc?

Google and archive.org have alot of free pdf "complete collected works" sets in Russian, of Tolstoy, Leskov, and most others. These are the editions published by Adolf Marks, Aleksey Suvorin, etc from the late 1880s to the early 1910s. Do you know if there was any censorship of these volumes or if the texts are complete? Here's an example of a Leskov volume and one from Veresaev. INeverCry 04:44, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I don't know this for sure, but Leskov's must have been certainly censored.-- Evermore2 (talk) 15:40, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

File:BooksINeverCry.JPG

There's a couple volumes of Leskov in this bookcase of mine; his Lady Macbeth is a great work even in translation, as are those of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, etc.

I'll sort it all out eventually, and put together a library of authoritative texts. My best English source, Professor Terras, recommends quite a few works that just aren't available in translation; Sleptsov, Zlatovratsky, Teleshov, etc. There are also many Soviet authors whose works I would need modern editions of anyways: Panova, Abramov, Astafyev, etc. I'll just have to order volumes online and slowly build up a collection, which is what I've been doing for many years as it is. If I ever got to take a trip to Russia, I'd come back with a bunch of suitcases/boxes full of books. :) INeverCry 18:57, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

You mean, Russian books translated into English? I don't think you'll find many here. Or just new editions of any of the Russian/Soviet books? That would be a bizarre wish! ...Speaking of Astafyev, though, there are 2 comprehensive books on him, as far as I know, and the author of both is my former boss who's 2 floors below where I abide currently. If you by any chance have any questions for him on the subject of Astafiev (or, say, Losev, he's a scholar of, too), may contact me at hanging.around @yandex.ru, I'll translate and futher them down the stairs) -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:09, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

What I would want are the newest Russian language editions of Russian and Soviet literature. I would be looking for "complete collected works" editions, annotated and with uncut texts or even single volumes. One of the modern publishing companies I've heard of is Eksmo, but I'm sure I'll find many others. Basically what I'm going to be looking for are modern scholarly editions of classics in Russian language- like the English lit provided by Penguin Classics.

If you wanted to go to a book store in Moscow to buy classics like Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, who would be the publishers of the best/newest editions? I hope to be able to read/write Russian (and speak it badly ;) within 3 or 4 years. INeverCry 20:09, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Frankly, I don't know (who the best publishers would be) - not even if there are such publishers anymore. Such projects here are usually doomed one-offs. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:50, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Leskov

From the top of the "major works" section of the Leskov article:

Two more novellas came out at this time: The Passed By (Oboydyonnye; Otechestvennye zapiski, 1865) which targeted Chernyshevsky's novel What's to Be Done?, and The Islanders (1866), a more placid work about the everyday life of Vasilyevsky Island's German community. It was in these years that Leskov debuted as a dramatist. The Embezzler (Rastratchik), published by Literaturnaya biblioteka im May, was staged first at the Alexandrinsky Theatre (as a benefit for actress E.Levkeeva), then in December at Moscow's Maly Theater (with E. Chumakovskaya in the lead).

Is it May and December of 1866? That's what it looks like, but I want to be sure, so that I can state 1866 in the article. INeverCry 17:11, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Happened to be 1867, according to Chronology. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:40, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Thx. I'm a little more than half way through cleaning up the article. INeverCry 18:59, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm having a bit of trouble with a few of the titles in the later years section. The meaning of "The Defrocked One's Notes" and its relation to Jesus aren't very clear. "Falkon Drive" sounds strange, "Unnoticed Trace" doesn't give a clear idea as to meaning, and I don't know what "Small Things" is? "The Devil Dolls" sounds like a modern sensation novel title. These titles would be confusing for an English reader. INeverCry 04:08, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Соколиный перелёт = A distance for a falcon to fly. Any other suggestion? Falcon Drive is just something I like the sound of)).... Записки расстриги = The Defrocked One's Notes. Well, sounds turgid. But rasstriga is the defrocked priest. Should it be something like Defrocked's Notes? .... Незаметный след = Unnoticed Trace? This probably should be changed. Незаметный means 'inconspicuous', 'imperceptible'. Might be 'ivisible', even. Make your choice. .... With Small Things in Bishop's Life I have some problems too. 'Little nothings'? Мелочи = life's trivia. Could there be possibly an English source on Leskov to help? Think its important for I might do an article on this book in the future..... Чёртовы куклы = The Devil Dolls? Well, for me it looks like this (and Gippius had the novel of the same title). For чёрт = the Devil, like it or not. Darned or Damned Dolls? Somehow, I don't think so. In the context 'the devil's doll' means 'a nature-less man', the one devil easily takes hold of. Incidentally, it's a grim tale, goth tinge aplenty)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 10:33, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Соколиный перелёт = As the Falcon Flies would be better in English. Записки расстриги = Notes of a Defrocked Priest would be more clear. Незаметный след = The Unseen Trail is understandable. Мелочи = Trifles from the Life of Archbishops is what I have in my volume of Leskov's satirical stories in translation (the orange volume on the first shelf in the pictured bookcase). If/when you do the article on it I'll add a note about the available selection in translation (the selection is called "The Archbishop and the Englishman" in which Leskov talks about his uncle Scott). Чёртовы куклы = it looks like The Devil Dolls is a keeper. I'll make the necessary changes. INeverCry 20:40, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Fine. Except that with 'archbishops' they've shoot a bit too high. Архиерейский = bishopian, and the stories were dealing with certainly small provincial clergy, not their bosses. --Evermore2 (talk) 14:50, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

We could always change it to Trifles from the Life of Bishops. INeverCry 18:39, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

And, incidentally, what should the article on the book be called: The Muff (Aleksey Pisemsky) or The Simpleton (Aleksey Pisemsky). Simpleton = простак, not тюфяк. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:50, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

The Simpleton is what the novel is known as in English. Also, the word muff brings to mind a woman's private parts to most English speakers. ;) INeverCry 18:39, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Wow!.. Incidentally, the direct meaning of 'тюфяк' would be 'mattress'. No end of erotic connotations here) --Evermore2 (talk) 15:14, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

I've finished cleaning up the Leskov article. I re-rated it as a B-class article. :) INeverCry 03:48, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Павел 183

I just did a stub on one of your fellow Moscow residents: Pavel 183. INeverCry 20:29, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Шацкая

I cleaned up the Nina Shatskaya article, added categories, and re-rated it B-class. INeverCry 00:59, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks!) --Evermore2 (talk) 14:50, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

marking progress

Would you mind if I put icons or check marks on your user page next to the articles I've cleaned up? INeverCry 18:57, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

No, I won't, of course do. -- Evermore2 (talk) 14:15, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Терапиа́но

I did some work on the Terapiano article. Take a look. INeverCry 01:43, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, that's fine. I'll see what I can do to slightly expand it. If you wonder, what's made my progress on Pisemsky slow down, its, predictably, the Legacy section in which I'm stuck half way house. Hopefully, next week it will appear, no matter how rudimentary the form might be. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:52, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Are you sure about those beautiful blue stars? - they rather make the impression these articles are 'good-status'-bearing ones. Wouldn't smaller (and no less beautiful) B-discs do? And, incidentally, what the latter 'B' could possibly stand here for? --Evermore2 (talk) 11:52, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

I've switched to simple black check marks instead of blue stars. As for the B-icons, they indicate a B-class article (only one step below good article status), so they can only go with our articles of that class (the longer ones you've expanded and I've then cleaned up like this one) - we've already got quite a collection of them. :)

Great!)--Evermore2 (talk) 15:44, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

The Pisemsky article is looking "monumental" as expected. I'm already wondering what's next? Are you going to start on Shchedrin? Are you going to return to Goncharov at some point? Goncharov and his Oblomov are pretty well-known here, so I'd like to be able to clean him up and maybe add something from my English sources. It might surprise you, but the best-known Russian writer in need of an expansion here, besides the ones we've mentioned before, (from a Western point of view) is probably Vladimir Odoevsky. Alexander Ostrovsky needs expanding too, but English readers usually prefer fiction writers, especially in translation.

Yes, Odoyevsky is a surprise choice, but let's take him into our consideration too. Yes, I'll get back to Goncharov and, more importantly, I think, to Leskov, but first somehow will have to kill this Pisemsky problem off. Criticism here is so contradictory, one's mind boggles. --Evermore2 (talk) 15:44, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

I mention Odoyevsky because 2 volumes of his works in English translation have been published recently and because Gothic fiction is enjoying a revival lately, especially here in the U.S. Odoyevsky is an interesting man on his own; whenever I read biographies or memoirs related to Russian literature in the early 19th century (Pushkin, Lermontov, etc) I always run across the name of Odoyevsky. INeverCry 23:13, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

And speaking of 'going back to', I mean of course not the main article, but, rather, new ones, on novels and novelets. For me its became now quite obvious that writing first Criticism/Reception section in the main article and then starting pages on novels (each having the Reception section of its own) is the wrong modus operandi, it should be vice versa. --Evermore2 (talk) 11:27, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

My next clean-up might be Vertinskaya. I'd also love to see you expand Olga Kabo (I found a great photo of her for the article). INeverCry 16:47, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Here's my newest contribution: Irina Saburova. INeverCry 18:42, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Excellent!--Evermore2 (talk) 15:44, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

I cleaned up the Vasily Avseenko article. It had been marked for possible deletion, but luckily I was able to find a good English language ref. I also uploaded a good portrait. INeverCry 19:03, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Judging by User talk:Green-Halcyon's record, the fact that he's not speedy-deleted it, should be seen as a great comliment. Anyway, thanks a lot. In a way it's been my fault, for I've left the article unfinished (and it still is not).--Evermore2 (talk) 15:24, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Here's another new article I just did: Osip Braz. I'm surprised there's not an article on Braz on ru.wiki. INeverCry 04:00, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

• Great work done!--Evermore2 (talk) 15:24, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

user page

I added a simple design and title to your user page. The design won't interfere with the way you add things. I hope you don't mind, but I don't like to see things looking plain. :) INeverCry 23:04, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Fantastic! Feel free to do with my user page whatever you feel like) --Evermore2 (talk) 15:24, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

I did a few more things. I hope you like the photo; it's by far the best Moscow panorama that I could find. INeverCry 05:39, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Gorgeous! --Evermore2 (talk) 07:47, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

No Way Out etc

Привет. Как поживаешь?

Привет-привет! and welcome back! --Evermore2 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I added the title page pic to the ru.wiki page for No Way Out. If you get a chance can you add a caption to that article's infobox noting that it's the 1879 edition title page? I've started adding black borders to these white title page images so that they look better in infoboxes. Have you noticed the name pronunciation files that have been added to quite a few Russian writer articles, like ru ^ⓘ (Bunin) and ru ^ⓘ (Balmont)? They sound a bit rushed in some cases. The one for Balmont makes it sound like Beelmont, while the Bunin one doesn't quite sound complete. I've started on Vertinskaya, and added a basic infobox to Melnikov. If you ever have the time, in the distant future, I'd love to help with an expansion of Gleb Uspensky. It looks like the monument to Pisemsky is just about complete. What's next after Melnikov? Maybe Shchedrin?

Yes, Schedrin will be the next! And yes, these pronunciation files are sometimes misleading.--Evermore2 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Hmmm. Do you think its right the way Schedrin article is divided into the Early life/Later life/ Works sections? Shouldn't they all be roofed by 'Biography', with 'Works' incorporated into 'Life', be it 'early' or 'later'? -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:48, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

The only thing decent about the Shchedrin article is the lead. I would recommend that you organize the rest of the article the way you usually do (Leskov, Bunin, etc). INeverCry 17:57, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I've made a start, feel free to go and re-phrase whatever looks cumbersome. --Evermore2 (talk) 15:33, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

---

Пока. INeverCry 20:35, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Пока! - but don't disappear, or rather, don't do it that often. I've had some questions for you, but while you've been away, forgot what I wanted to ask)) -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I was finally able to help get an article to GA status, so my enthusiasm for wikipedia is pretty high at the moment. INeverCry 17:57, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations, the article is excellent! -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:33, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Ah yes, one of them re-surfaced. The Life of a Peasant Woman. Haven't you, perhaps, come across any alternative version for the Житие одной бабы translation - in some of your English books? I've used the one I found in Great Sovien Enc. (English version) but dislike it a lot. Житие is so much more than 'life', it comes from the 'life of a saint' (житие святого). And баба is not necessarily a peasant woman, its meaning has more implications than I could ever comment on. Leskov's title is very sly: using a contrast, juxtaposition of the high (житие) and the low (баба). -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I'll get back to you on this, once I've had time to look into it. INeverCry 17:57, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Professor William B Edgerton, the translator of my volume Satirical Stories of Nikolai Leskov gives the same title of "Life of a Peasant Woman" in reference to the piece in his general intro to Leskov's work. The Cambridge History of Russian Literature also gives the title as "The Life of a Peasant Woman". Professor Victor Terras translates the title as "The Life of a Peasant Martyress" in his Handbook of Russian Literature. INeverCry 03:16, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

This last one is very interesting and, I think, should be considered as a contender. It captures the deeper sense of the title perfectly. And thanks for a definitive answer! -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:33, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

---

I finished cleaning up Vertinskaya. INeverCry 00:15, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Great! Do you know why I started re-working the Russian article on Vertinskaya at all? Came across her bitter remark in some Russian paper: "Wikipedia says I've had four husbands, its so much more thrilling to them to imagine it was more than one", something like that. I looked into the non-article in question, got horrified and - well, the rest is history. I mean, its interesting, how much feedback is there. Celebrities do care about what's written on them, and one can imagine how vile nonsense (like, 4 husbands/5 children when there's been 1/1) could outrage and hurt - both herself and her son. --Evermore2 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

If she ever looks at our English version, she might be surprised to see that it's bigger and better than quite a few of the articles on American and British actresses. INeverCry 17:57, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

---

They're trying to resurrect the en.wiki version of the pending changes system now used on ru.wiki. I voted against it, but there are more than twice as many yes votes as no votes so far, so it may be back at some point. :( INeverCry 02:03, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for putting me to it, I left a vote there. Meaningless and horrible are the two words that come to mind. --Evermore2 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

With the way the voting is going, it doesn't look good. I should be able to get reviewer status pretty easily, though, if they do decide to use pc here (I'm already an "auto-reviewer" as it is). INeverCry 17:57, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

And I'll sink down to where I've come from, ru_wiki, I'm afraid. Any other option looks humiliating. -- Evermore2 (talk) 15:33, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

I really hope not! The articles we've worked on so far, like Bunin and Leskov, are the best Russian writer articles en.wiki has (only the Chekhov article and maybe a couple others compare). I'm sure we'll figure something out. I don't think they'll implement pc for atleast a few months. I'm know that ru.wiki would be more than happy to welcome you back, though, especially the music folks. :) INeverCry 17:06, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Come to think of it, I'd rather - yes, stay afloat for a while) --Evermore2 (talk) 11:58, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Saltykov

The basic story is there, but numerous details are pending addition, to use the form in vogue. The last Saltykov's quote in the 'Biography' section might be quite legitimate, I just failed to come across its Russian analogue, may be you'd know where it came about, Britannica, perhaps? And Господа Ташкентцы = The Tashkent Clique (my own version, I'm afraid), or is it? Looks similar to Господа Головлевы, but its about not a family but a social/political group. -- Evermore2 (talk) 11:58, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

I've reffed the quote. The Tashkent Clique sounds good to me. INeverCry 18:30, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Saltykov's house in Vyatka (now a museum in Kirov)

Thanks. I added this picture to ilustrate the 'Vyatka captivity' bit, but don't you feel the picture's upper 1/3 should better be amputated? --Evermore2 (talk) 10:33, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

The pic is a bit too low-res at 79kb to be cropped, but it looks ok as is. Because the upper third is balanced by the street in the lower third, the crop would have to be to center, which would leave a fuzzy image with no context. INeverCry 18:09, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Leads

I added back a few details to the A. K. Tolstoy lead. Eventually I'd like to expand it further. I'd also like to expand the leads of all our big articles, as this is the accepted style here on en.wiki: see Stephen Crane or Edgar Allan Poe for examples. The basic method is to give a short summary of what the reader will see in the article, using important dates and events, etc, as per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section. Personally, I think that such extensive and detailed articles look a bit strange with small leads, especially Balmont. I can take care of this, I just didn't want you to delete my additions again. ;) INeverCry 04:55, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

I've done the expansion of the Tolstoy lead. I think it gives the article a better balance. I may polish up the Tolstoy lead a bit further, but this is an example of what I can do for all of them. INeverCry 05:19, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Excellent, please do)) --Evermore2 (talk) 10:33, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Boris Almazov

"In 1860 Almazov joined the Moscow educational chancellery; three years later he moved to the Russian Synod's publishing house and retired from service in 1861."

The above sentence occurs in the 4th paragraph of the bio section and presents a few problems:

• Three years later would be 1863/64.
• What was his position in the Moscow educational chancellery?
• "Retire" seems strong if he was only there a few years. Maybe we should just say he left or ended his service, etc.

  I re-viewed the dates and made changes. There's been several mistakes of that kind, awfully sorry for that. --Evermore2 (talk) 09:19, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

  He was working in the chancellery of a trustee (попечитель) of the Moscow University-based Ministry of Education of Central Russia. The latter was called (rather misguidingly, I think, for it united many gubernias), Московский учебный округ ~ The Moscow educational district. Somewhat confusing, perhaps some simple way round all this should be found. -- Evermore2 (talk) 09:19, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

I'll finish cleaning up the article once we've cleared this up. INeverCry 03:00, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

I've taken care of the Almazov article. INeverCry 05:17, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks!--Evermore2 (talk) 07:47, 11 April 2012 (UTC)