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Russian Misery Tourism
SUFFERING IS THE ESSENCE OF RUSSIA

The art of suffering, of experiencing and inflicting it, has been developing for centuries and brought to perfection in this land of intrigue, murder, and slavery, of brutal revolutions followed by merciless supressions, of soul-less apparatchiks trapped in a self-devouring system, of powerless men, battered women and endlessly crying children, ragged cats, three-legged dogs and collective farm cows covered in a thick layer of dirt, all plodding about under high-voltage power lines between fallen over reinfoced concrete fences in the shadow of smokestacks.

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For a lover of misery there is no place better than Russia. And here it is of the most uncompromising quality. A bolivian farmer may live a tough life, but he, with his sombrero hat and unhurried macho manners, may at least be pleasant to look at. But a Russian druken muzhik lying in a ditch in his cotton-padded jacket and cheap Chinese boots represents wasted life pure and simple. And Ethiopian children starve in the midst of a vast majestic desert, and food caravans are on their way, thus reminding you that people are not quite so uncaring as you need to believe. In Spain they succeeded in making an act so plainly ungly as killing a cow into an art performance. But in Russia you will see none of that. Here you will find the purest undiluted and unadulterated misery of the true connoisseur grade.

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You will see dozens, hunderds or even thousands of sad, grumpy, unwashed faces. In fact, a whole population of sick malnourished chain-smoking alcoholics will be there for your pleasure of contemplating the the vanity of human existence.

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Write to inbox@unclepasha.com to arrange for this unique experience.

 

Background for this page:
Dostoyevsky by Valery and Natasha Cherkashin
(stylized painting of the monument to Dostoyevsky in front of the Lenin Library
List of art backgrounds