This post originally appeared on November 14, 2019, on A Light So Lovely. I’ve been thinking, lately, about the question of …
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Forming the Moral Imagination with Fairy Tales
This post originally appeared on September 29, 2020, on A Light So Lovely. I recently received a wonderful question from one of …
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Finding Your Mentor Through Stories
We all recognize the trope of the mentor figure in the hero's journey, right? Luke Skywalker needs both Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda to …
Should We Emulate the Masters or Subvert Them?
Seems like an obvious answer, no? I certainly thought so. Of course we should be inspired by the masters, even copy them …
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How a Group of Young Russians are Creating Culture with Folk Music
It's been a while since I've posted anything about Russian culture or history on my blog. There have been lots of good reasons for …
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Water in Slavic Mythology (Part 2)
Have you ever seen photos of Russians getting in long lines in the middle of winter only to jump into a cut-out in the ice? Have …
A Hero for Our Time: Prince Dimitry Pozharsky
Does the news cycle depress you? Have you lost any hope in the emergence of a hero for our time who might direct our political …
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I asked you what you thought of my books and blog. Here’s what you said.
Well, it looks like winter's finally done. After a snowstorm on April 30, we've finally made it over the hump. It's been 80 …
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Anna Dostoyevsky: the Heart of Soul of Russia’s Greatest Author, Part 2
Last week, you were introduced to one of the most fascinating and fruitful romances of literary history. Feodor and Anna …
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Why Do Some Icons Have Battle Scenes?
It's a short post today, about as much as a toddler-induced headache can muster. But I found an interesting article about a …
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Constantine the Great: Russia’s Secret Tsar
The problem of power and personality is one that has fascinated people from the beginning of history. We are going to through our …
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The Rosetta Stone for Old Rus Was… a Piece of Birch Bark?
Have you read Evgenii Vodolazkin’s excellent novel Laurus? If you haven’t, you’ve deprived yourselves of a rare experience of …
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Mikhail Nesterov: A Modern Artist with an Old Soul, Part I
The end of the 19th and turn of the 20th century was a period of rich cultural growth for Russia. As the empire expanded, the …
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Heroes from Slavic Mythology: Ivan the Idiot (or the Genius?!)
This week has been even more distressing than usual. And it’s been a pretty distressing year. Frequent terrorist attacks, a …
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How to Self Publish a Book: The Story of My Novel
The Story of My Novel Part I In a psychedelic cafe in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, a Sirin came and sang to me. (well, …
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The strange tale of how Napoleon’s soldiers became Cossacks
You know that scene in Godfather II where young Vito is given the last name “Corleone” by the American border guard, only because …
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Don’t blame the Byzantines: Why does Russia have such problems?
One of the early readers of my first novel complained that I had too many adjectives in my writing. He was absolutely right; I was …
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What do the most popular Russian insults actually mean?
Something a little less serious this week for your reading pleasure. I found a rather absurd little article about the historical …
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