One of the founders of Moscow conceptualism, a poet and—if not the very most known—at least one of the most famous Russian columnists of recent years, Lev Rubinstein always speaks up first on the most important matters. And each time his sharp, witty columns end up spreading through social networks as quotations. Rubinstein, like no one else, knows how to see the little details that make up our lives—and to turn those observations into words.
Rubinstein’s new book, “Most Likely,” is an updated and expanded collection of his columns “Ghosts of the Spirit of the Time,” published five years ago—now more than one and a half times larger. Since then, a lot has changed, but the stupidity and ignorance that Rubinstein writes about remain unchanged. Which means this is not Lev Semyonovich’s last collection.
Contents:
Foreword. The Curly Hedgehog
Most Likely
Let’s begin, perhaps…
On the pole there’s more of the same
On the pole there’s more of the same
If the whole school starts cock-a-doodle-ding
Where does it all come from?
One fine day
Do you know Bulgakov(-o)?
About the national pride of the Great Russians
Who are you?
What does the Chukchi have to do with it?
Find out about yourself
Gloomy devils
We’ll be like Mburugu
Dunkal
Heavy honeycombs and tender nets
Most Likely
About what didn’t happen
About what didn’t happen
About fears
Popov’s dream
A toy parrot
The writer’s skeleton
So it just happened
In memory of Kulibin
Farewell, pigeons
Where does everything go?
Bicycle
Story
Semantic shift
No word about politics
Sovereign logic
Father or Stalin?
Word for word
Enough simplicity
Pride with a load
Lost paradise
Yes, liberty
Grandma’s tales
The twists of love
Uncritical days
About uniqueness
Complex hurts
Song of the reindeer meat
Eternal frost
Semantic shift
Caution: August
Worldly responsiveness
Vocabulary
The clearer it is, the sturdier it is
Semiotic breakthrough
An apology for one place
Communal reading matter
May it not be lacking—or Four is just right
Dances from the hearth
On the railway
Air alert
Literature lessons
May I address you
Ice massacre
I will take you to the museum
For your health and our health
Personal weight
An apology for one place
We’ll rest
Everybody dances
Out of the game
Man and machine
Brand packaging
We’re not given to foresee
Reading lessons
Old fables about the main thing
Watch the advertisement
Swan swamp
Exposing the device
Rural prose
Do you want music?
Point of intersection
Pre-industrial landscape
We’re going for a walk
Ghosts of the spirit of the time
Brand packaging
Triumph of excess
Beaver stream
Insurance provision
Eastern motif
Beaver stream
Having risen from a distant summit
Spring mood
Dreams and sounds
After the intermission
Have a smoke, maybe?
Ladies and gentlemen
Dog metaphors
Just as it is
The author’s dream
Afterword. Rubinstein as “zhirshi”