What Are We Reading? 8 March 2021

[Bill]

Lljones wrote: "I'm just asking whether it's likely that the entire Jewish ethnoreligious group in Russia at the time (1890s) spoke the same language."

Maybe more than you want to know here.

[Lljones]

Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "I'm just asking whether it's likely that the entire Jewish ethnoreligious group in Russia at the time (1890s) spoke the same language."

Maybe more than you want to know here."

Ah, thank you, Swelter. (How did you locate this resource so quickly?!)

I've only skimmed the Oxford article, will read in more detail tomorrow. At first blush the article conveys what I suspected: the homogeneity reflected in the 1897 census was politically motivated at best and at the least spurious. Will study in more detail anon.

[Kayaki]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Andy wrote (#14): "My version [of Silence] had an introduction from Martin Scorsese..can anyone recommend the film?"

I've read the book first, with some caveats about the translation, and then I t..."

My beloved Totsuko went to a Catholic girls high school in Nagasaki in the 1970s. The nuns there told her and the other students that they were not permitted to read Shusaku Endo's "Silence". Of course this meant that Totsuko read "Silence" as soon as possible, possibly because she is a Buddhist and did not feel threatened by Catholic authority, or possibly because that's just what happens when you ban books.

It may seem a little odd that a Catholic School would censor this book, but I think that for conservative Catholics in Japan "Silence" asked some rather uncomfortable questions regarding religious idealism and faith - then frustatingly failed to provide any answers. I suspect they considered "Silence" too nihilistic and failed to recognise the more complex existential questions - the condition and fate of the soul (for believers), the condition and fate of the self (for secular humanists) - questions that no doubt attracted Scorsese and explain why it became something of a passion project for him.

I saw the Scorsese film at a cinema in Nagasaki. Sitting next to me was a woman who I chatted to during the pre-film ads. She was a Catholic from the Goto Islands near Nagasaki, a descendant of the Hidden Christians depicted in the film, she had travelled by ferry into Nagasaki specifically to see "Silence" and seemed to be in a state of excited anticipation. She talked a bit about the history of Catholicism in Nagasaki, she had an intimate knowledge of it.

The film is exquisitely crafted, meticulously detailed. Yes, it is bleak and somber, but it is that way precisely because it is faithful to Endo's book which, lets face it, isn't exactly a comedy. The film follows the book devotedly in content, action, dialogue, mood. The one major departure was right at the end - the final few seconds of a long film - and I have no idea why Scorsese did this, it didn't quite fit. One thing I quite enjoyed about it was that the Japanese dialogue was liberally peppered with Nagasaki dialect, which made me laugh occasionally - Totsuko informed me that the original Japanese version of the book is also filled with Nagasaki dialect, something not evident from reading the English translation.

The actors Adam Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson received top billing, but the real stars were the Japanese actors who played the serpent-tongued interpreter, the wily old inquisitor Inoue, and especially the actor Yosuke Kuzonoba who played the wretched Judas figure Kichijiro (he should have won an oscar, he was brilliant). Kichijiro was Totsuko's favourite character in the book and the film.

And the woman from the Goto Islands ? As the end credits rolled I asked her what she thought. She just shrugged, let out a sigh and said nothing. Silence. I had the impression that she felt Martin Scorsese had let her down.

I would recommend the film to anyone who likes the book, just close your eyes in the last few seconds.

[Hushpuppy]

Kayaki wrote: "(...)"

I am so pleased that you made that beautiful and enlightening comment about this Kayaki. I was hoping you might...

I was going to say to Magrat: the mood was not right when I watched the film, and I already knew the story intimately having just finished the book, so I didn't feel like watching it to the end (I knew about its very final alteration too). I will definitely give it another try, especially as I have since then really got to appreciate Yôsuke Kubozuka in Giri/Haji.

[SydneyH]

Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "I’m incorrigible, there is clearly no hope for me."
Ah, I don't know. Like various other incorrigibles here, I find your approach full of hope (not least due to your valiant pursuin..."

Thank you, fellow incorrigible :)

[Veufveuve]

SydneyH wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "And there was a Patrick White, "The Vivesector." I've never read him, but I know there are fans here, so I went for that. Has anyone read it?"

I'm surprised you have to ask. I th..."

I admit to being a complete ignoramus when it comes to White, knowing nothing of his biography or his works - I don't know why, but there it is. I just knew I'd seen praise for him here and for 20DKK, what was there to lose? I'm happy to see my lucky find so strongly endorsed.

Edit: in fact, such an ignoramus that I've only just realised he was a Nobel laureate.

[SydneyH]

Veufveuve wrote: "I admit to being a complete ignoramus when it comes to White."

That isn't surprising, as I suspect his work is mainly studied in Australia, and he has gone dramatically out of fashion since the '70s. Many readers have a negative first impression of Patrick White and they don't dare attempt him again, but I mainly attribute that to text selection. I've searched hard to try and find my original TLS review, and, failing that, Samye88's favourable review when she read it on my recommendation. No luck. If you're interested, Sam Jordison reviewed The Vivisector when it was nominated for the Lost Booker Prize. I would characterise his response as grudgingly respectful (he was a big fan of Troubles and wanted that one to win).

[scarletnoir]

Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "I have not even finished my reread of Dostoevsky's The Gambler for my reading group yet. "

I am a huge admirer of Dostoyevsky; on the other hand, few things bore me more than gambling, or stories about gambling.

I read that book many years ago, and although it had some positive qualities (what book by D. doesn't?) it was a long way from his best, IMO. It's a great pity that, if your group wanted to read one of his shorter works, you didn't choose Notes from Underground, or the novelised memoir The House of the Dead, which describes his time in a Siberian prison camp.

[scarletnoir]

SydneyH wrote: "Many readers have a negative first impression of Patrick White and they don't dare attempt him again, but I mainly attribute that to text selection. "

That describes my reaction, except that I'd replace 'don't dare...' with 'couldn't be bothered'! I read one book by White, probably in the 1970s, can't remember which one or anything at all about it, except that I was not much impressed!

[scarletnoir]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Tam wrote: "Still I loved the place. It was well worth a visit."

Yes, I've visited and loved it too. But then again I think everything about Mall/jorca is absolutely gorgeous (I have stayed well c..."

To lower the tone a little (OK, quite a lot...) - I have never visited Mallorca, but much enjoy the stunning scenery and local architecture as seen in light and frothy cop show The Mallorca Files. This makes for relaxing post-lunch viewing, and has the added bonus of a star from my home town - the charming Elen Rhys.
(That's an unbiased view - I don't know her, or her family!)

[AB76]

Lljones wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Surprisingly, another private sector vulture nation, the USA has all its censuses available for free back to the 1800s..."

True, but, other than aggregate population data for redistri..."

here is the british empire census from 1901:
https://ia800208.us.archive.org/32/it...

well done for putting it all into access, i have so many census charts and XLS stored. i tend to pick sections for analysis and have been doing for about a decade

my big project, mentioned here before, was looking at the 1851 religious census of Britain:
http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/P...

, which is all available. Ive been doing charts based on all attendance, seating accom and am leisurely doing the Sunday AM attendance in last 6 months. Amateur interests, nothing major but still fascinating

[AB76]

Lljones wrote: "Anastasia wrote: "This.. is fascinating :) ..."

Indeed.

As I just replied to AB76, I'm wasting my time building a database to do some other analysis. More on that later, but I do have a question ..."

on this topic i tried to do some research into the Yiddish-Hebrew split in the Pale of Settlement(where Tsarist Russia confined many of its Jewish population) about 2 yrs ago, linked to a collection of Hebrew short stories from the 1900s

It seems to me that Yiddish was the common "tongue" in the shetl s and communities, with Hebrew a minority, mostly among the learned clerics and intellerctuals but i would be pretty sure russian must have been understood, it would be essential.

This 1897 census table shows 5m Yiddish speakers and the census of empire records 5m people with "jewish" as their mother tongue i think that clarifies it

Rank Language Speakers % of population
1 Russian (as “Great Russian”) 55,667,469 44.31
2 Ukrainian (as “Little Russian”) 22,380,551 17.81
3 Turkic-Volga Bulgar 13,373,867 10.64
4 Polish 7,931,307 6.31
5 Belarusian (as “White Russian”) 5,885,547 4.68
6 Yiddish 5,063,156 4.03
7 Finnic languages 3,502,147 2.79
8 German 1,790,489 1.43

[Kayaki]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Kayaki wrote: "(...)"

I am so pleased that you made that beautiful and enlightening comment about this Kayaki. I was hoping you might...

I was going to say to Magrat: the mood was not right when..."

Thanks HP, I had the feeling you may have been teasing a comment out of me. Silence really is a brilliant book, gets better in the 2nd and 3rd readings. I will probably reread it again soon, but I lent my copy to an interloper a while back on the understanding that it was to be a "boomerang". Unfortunately it never came back. Then again the lender was English and she may have misunderstood me when I said "This one's a boomerang mate." Oh well, will pick up a new copy at a bookshop in the city.

Scorsese's film is magnificent, really it is worth seeing, but can understand how you might need to be in the right mood for it (yes, the final few frames were a copout). Apart from everything else it was nice to see Hollywood tackle Japanese literature and history while remaining true to the source material. How can we forget "The 47 Ronin" film which starred Keanu Reeves or the execrable "Last Samurai" (Tom Cruise) which was about as historically relevant as the last Marvel Superhero movie. That's not to say I would like to see more Hollywood directors take on Japanese literature. No one wants to see an adaptation of say Rashomon by Quentin Tarantino, the Kurosawa version will do nicely thankyou.

Thanks for correcting me on the name of the Kichijiro actor, Yusoke Kubozuka (what was I thinking ? Long covid brainfog perhaps).

Lastly, on the subject of big screen adaptations. Prior to covid the cinema complex where I saw Silence would screen classic Hollywood movies on tuesdays. In the 12 months to March last year I saw Breakfast at Tiffanys, To Kill a Mockingbird, Apocalypse Now (okay yes a loose adaptation), The Godfather, Jaws and quite a few others. The latter two had the distinction of being great movies adapted from rather ordinary books. I am very much looking forward to picking up again on my tuesday cinema day, sometime soon.....

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Anastasia wrote: "I'm curious about the listing of 'Jewish' as a language. Is that how it appears in the Russian data? And what language is that? Do you think that's accurate - was ..."

i didnt know that book bill thanks. i have the stories of Sholem Aleichem lined up on my pile

i read a Toby classics collection of hebrew novels from the 1900-1930 era, mainly of russians who emigrated to Israel but it was without any references points or notes and became rather difficult to make sense of. I'm not Jewish or aware of the details of seasonal rituals beyond the big holy days and it became a bit like puzzle to solve with all the hints and references. So i dumped it

[Lljones]

SydneyH wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "I've searched hard to try and find my original TLS review, and, failing that, Samye88's favourable review when she read it on my recommendation..."

Here's samye's...

[Lljones]

Machenbach wrote: "I have this Carrington book on order..."

Which book?

[Lass]

AB76 wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "Bill wrote: "pulling a book altogether for political reasons makes her uncomfortable.."
Yes, it ought to make us uncomfortable and, not having read the books myself, I'm in no po..."

Apologies. Butting in here, and off topic, but @Georg may be interested in a recent BBC6 Music Tom Robinson prog. Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy and Martin Carthy interview.

[AB76]

Sybille BedfordJust started the third in an informal triology of female non-fiction rich with observation and nuance. Ditlevsen, First and now Sybille Bedford

The Faces of Justice is a study of the courts of law in various european countries in the late 1950s. Already the language entices, in an ordinary trial in England she observes

" two string bag wigs meet in confabulatory hisses, black cloth billows"

[Georg]

Lass wrote : Apologies. Butting in here, and off topic, but @Georg may be interested in a recent BBC6 Music Tom Robinson prog. Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy and Martin Carthy interview.

Thank you, lass, how kind and thoughtful of you.

Looking forward to listening. Three hours!

I miss you!

[Bill]

Machenbach wrote: "she dropped the last 't' in 'tarot' thinking that it better chimed with its putative Egyptian origins"

Some writers cite a sentence of anagrams, ROTA TORA ORAT TORA ATOR, that supposedly means "The wheel of Tarot speaks the law of Hathor" in a jumble of various languages. The letters are on the Wheel in the Waite deck:

[Gpfr]

yay, the Spring Slightly Foxed quarterly has arrived! Pleasure in store - which will certainly lead to more books I want to read 📚📚
Subjects include Barbara Hepworth, Sybille Bedford, Antal Szerb, Michel de Montaigne, Hazel Holt's crime novels ...

[Paul]

My oldest son has moved on to the next book he chose for his assigned reading (he had to choose 3 from a decent-sized list). He's a fair chunk of the way through The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and enjoying it. I however, thought it was boring when I was 10 and more so at 45. Dull, nothing happens. Slowly. I'll be damned if I know how C.S. Lewis achieved immortal status in the young reader pantheon.

[Lljones]

Machenbach wrote: " is there any evidence for Egyptian origins do you know?..."

I think it's traced to a c. 1300 Egyptian card game, which was just a card game, nothing occult.

[Tam]

I have received an enormous book as a birthday present (tomorrow 11th, which I'm glad to see that I share with Douglas Adams) from my son in Spain, who signs himself 'your Iberian beast' of 'The Grand Medieval Bestiary' It is huge, and so heavy, I'm not at all sure how easy it is going to be to read but it is packed full of strange and alluring beasties. And best of all it has a picture of St Margaret on the cover, being swallowed by a dragon. Not as cute as my favourite dragon, and he has what looks like a dogs head on his tail.

There is a large amount of text as well, on the various histories of the beasties, so that is me sorted for a while. This talk of Tarot reminds me that I have a set of tarot cards. At one time I used to do fortune telling with them... But I kept them in an intricately carved sandal wood box and I lost the key about 25 years ago. Its mislaid rather than truly lost, so I am unable to go and check them out, as to which particular pack they are. I have tried looking for them on google and I had no idea that there were so many different packs in existence, but I did not recognise any of the cards I saw, but my memory of them is that they are an arcane mystical set, and that by mislaying the key, the universe was telling me that I should not be using them...

Hopefully the cover of the Grand Medieval Bestiaryhttps://i.postimg.cc/qRRkwfbk/the-gra...

[Lljones]

Forgot to mention, in my message to Bill last night: My brother's tarot collection also includes Gorey's deck (which is now in one of my boxes)...

[Tam]

Paul wrote: "My oldest son has moved on to the next book he chose for his assigned reading (he had to choose 3 from a decent-sized list). He's a fair chunk of the way through The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrob..."

You could watch 'The Time Bandits' a Terry Gilliam film, from 1981, with him, that might enliven his appreciation of bed-room cubboard possibilities...

[Lljones]

Machenbach wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "I have this Carrington book on order..."
to resit
Which book?"
Sorry, this one:
https://fulgur.co.uk/books/the-tarot-...
I didn't go so far as to plump..."

Damn you, mb. I had successfully resisted ordering Carrington's book since reading the LitHub article. Continued to resist for 48 minutes after I learned you had ordered. Caved, despite exorbitant shipping.

[Paul]

Tam wrote: "Paul wrote: "You could watch 'The Time Bandits' a Terry Gilliam film, from 1981, with him."

Oh, that's a great idea. I loved that film, it used to be on heavy rotation in the early days of HBO and I must have seen it at least 40 times.

[AB76]

Just read this excellent P&P essay on why the USA emerged as such a powet in the 20th century when many other New World nations had a similar history

Its a tough read,lots to digest and my spinach trottole pasta lunch sat heavy on my brain but i recommend this, its a free link:

https://academic.oup.com/past/article...

my take from this was that broad, non-specialised private small businesses and industry, matched to state level regulations that differed from state to state, led to a dynamic and thriving economy with a broad base, unlike in other new world nations were centralised metropolises developed and a stronger coercive state.(it wasnt till FDR and WW2 that the state changed this bias somewhat)

article also debates lack of similarity with the asian boomers of the last 40 years like Singapore-HK -Taiwan and China, when their economies are heavily controlled, subsidised and manipulated to achieve the ends they desire. S

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "yay, the Spring Slightly Foxed quarterly has arrived! Pleasure in store - which will certainly lead to more books I want to read 📚📚
Subjects include Barbara Hepworth, Sybille Bedford, Antal Szerb, ..."

co-inc! i'm reading a Bedford non-fiction book(see earlier post)

[Andy]

Paul wrote: "Andy wrote: "I've read a few reviews and seen it compared to many things, but with its darkly humorous and irreverent tone it reads to me like a Python film."

Ah, that is exactly what DeWitt feels..."

Looking forward to French Exit also..

[Andy]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Andy wrote (#14): "My version [of Silence] had an introduction from Martin Scorsese..can anyone recommend the film?"

I've read the book first, with some caveats about the translation, and then I t..."
Its useful in that youve told me how bleak it is... I suspected it might be. I really struggle with films of books I have seen. Almost all I pack up on..
Cheers..

[Andy]

Ankomst by Gøhril Gabrielsen, translated by Deborah Dawkin.
Peirene, who specialise in European translations, come up with some great stuff, and this is certainly one of my favourites; not a surprise really in that its glides in and out of the horror genre, and is set in the Norwegian Arctic.
An environmental scientist has travelled to a remote site in Finnmark in the north of Norway, cut off from all society, to study seabird populations, as she waits for her partner to join her. A simple premise, 'woman versus nature', initially grounded in reality, but the situation soon reveals itself to be more complicated, more allegorical, and far darker.
Gradually we realise why the woman has chosen to withdraw from society, and the internal struggles she is faced with; she has fled one type of horror, only to find herself in another.
Though ultimately it is a frustrating ending, Gabrielsen does a wonderful job in building tension, describing the narrator’s deteriorating state of mind, and the omens written in the skies over the frozen tundra.

[Bill]

Machenbach wrote: "Is this a Crowley-Waite Thoth-related invention or is there any evidence for Egyptian origins do you know?"

I'm not sure who originated the anagram sentence. I tend to think the whole Tarot / Egyptian thing is kind of wishful mystical thinking on the part of its advocates. The cases made for it that I've see tend to be more of the intuition / revelation / esoteric tradition sort than the digging in the desert and poring over papyrus type of scholarship. More Aegypt than Egypt.

[Lass]

AB76 wrote: "Sybille BedfordJust started the third in an informal triology of female non-fiction rich with observation and nuance. Ditlevsen, First and now Sybille Bedford

The Faces of Justice ..."
Thank you, Georg. Kind of you to say. I’ve mostly been re-reading, and enjoying the novels of Linda Grant, Anne Tyler, Maggie 0’Farrell, and the late, and much missed Helen Dunmore. Hope all’s well with you, and here’s to the re-opening of libraries and book shops.

[Bill]

My most recent encounter with the Ancient Egyptian / Tarot tradition was last year in Beyond the Time Barrier.
From my review:

The author has two chapters devoted to series of enigmatic predictions which I found interesting if not convincing. In the first, apparently the author’s own discovery, the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot are said to be an encoded prophecy from Ancient Egypt, each card covering one century of the Piscean Age, which the author defines as extending from the first century BCE through the present 21st century. Some of his interpretations are kind of ingenious, but when one has a century worth of events to draw from in interpreting a single highly symbolic image, probably not particularly difficult to devise. For those who want to try this at home, he orders the trumps from 1 through 21, with “The Fool” card in penultimate position, between 20, “Judgment” and 21, “The World” – not the standard order, but sanctioned by no less an authority than Arthur Edward Waite.

[AB76]

Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm is my latest Imperial German literature read, this volume has been lying around too long on various TBR piles

The first tale i chose in this collection, is pre-Imperial Germany, written in 1859 entitled "The Last Farmstead", its a wonderfully pure, chaste tale of gentle decay and death.

The landscape of his beloved North Friesland, on the Danish border, is similar to North Norfolk and South Lincolnshire, with dykes, marshes, fens and small roads leading above the low lying land

Storm manages the rare feat of packing a lot into 25 or so pages, as he explores the slow decline of a local family represented by their enormous farmhouse, sitting on a peninsula and the fascination it holds for the young main character. A beautiful little tale...

Angel Classics have let Denis Jackson the translator weave his magic with two introductions, two lovely maps and extensive footnotes. Storm has been covered in detail by Jackson, bringing this great novelist to english readers

A link here shows the type of farmhouse common in North Friesland in the 19thc:
https://www.arcanumurbex.de/photos/ci...

[Veufveuve]

AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm is my latest Imperial..."

This sounds particularly appealing.

[AB76]

Veufveuve wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm is my la..."

i think you will love it Veuf, i just attached a link to the original post with photos of the typical North Frisian farmhouses, lots of good images, though they do seem a bit "treated" ie photoshopped

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm [bookcover:Carsten the Trustee; with 'The Last Farmstead', 'The Swallows of St George's' and 'By the Fireside'..."

Sounds like it would go well with a showing of the film Babette's Feast.

[AB76]

I am confused with the Imperial German census for Schleswig(previously the Danish Duchy of Schleswig, the southern area was part of Germany from 1860s), in that it has three Protestant faiths under the Lutheran canopy. Now i know the Prussian Union of Churches brought the Reformed minority into union with the Lutheran majority but the categories are as follows:

Evangeliche
Lutheraner
Reformierte

Not sure what the difference between the Evangeliche and Lutheraner is? Unless maybe one is the old danish church in the duchy when it was Danish? Clearly "Reformierte is the Reformed Church.For some regions they have much more divisions of protestant faith but not here

In Husum and Eiderstedt(North Friesland), there are more "Lutheraners" than "Evangeliche", the only areas in the Duchy with this difference

I doubt any can help with this real minutae of Imperial german protestant confessional data but any thoughts will help

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm "

The same Adolf von Menzel painting on the cover as my copy of Effi Briest.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm "

The sa..."

thats interesting Bill....i am trying to remember what my copy of Effi Briest had on the cover...must check.; I love Von Menzel, one painting of the short lived KaiserFriedrich as Kronprinz is my favourite

my edition is this one, i read it a good decade ago:

[Veufveuve]

AB76 wrote: "I am confused with the Imperial German census for Schleswig(previously the Danish Duchy of Schleswig, the southern area was part of Germany from 1860s), in that it has three Protestant faiths under..."

This is way beyond my pay grade, but my first guess would be that it has to be to do with the often shifting borders. I have Danish colleagues of German ethnicity, for want of a better word.

[Georg]

Veufveuve wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm is my la..."

Veuf, if you haven't read anything by Storm yet I would suggest you start with The Dykemaster.

[AB76]

Veufveuve wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I am confused with the Imperial German census for Schleswig(previously the Danish Duchy of Schleswig, the southern area was part of Germany from 1860s), in that it has three Protestant..."

whats so odd is that i expected a Lutheran majority with a tiny reformed minority within the Prussian Union, which is what my Brandenburg study revealed (approx 10% of all Prussian Union were non classic Lutheran) but in Schleswig in particular its more like 58% are not in the Union and its still about 48% for Schleswig-Holstein

So i guess there is an older Danish lutheran church that many germans remained part of but i can find no records or reference to it( Bit like i guess if the scottish border anglicans became part of Northumberland but remained seperate to the Northumberland anglicans)

apologies if i am boring anyone!

[Anastasia]

Lljones wrote: "More on that later, but I do have a question ..."
Looking forward to an update on that database :) I've been away all day and now it seems that the question has been answered, so just another quick comment from me on this.

In his White Guard Bulgakov describes the advance of Petliura's forces approaching Kiev in 1917-1918 claiming that it was a mass of barely literate peasants with an intention to take the city and with it reclaim the territory and their rights to landownership. The novel has it that the city population was largely Russian-speaking, which is clearly not the case if we look at the census figures of urban and ethnic Ukrainian population in Kiev governorate. Unless there was a massive exile of Ukrainians from the cities in those 20 years (spoiler: no exile, not even on a lesser scale) it doesn't reflect the actual state of affairs at the time.

In the recent years The White Guard book has generated some controversy as Bulgakov, born and raised in Kiev, allows his characters some rather harsh remarks up to denying the existence of Ukrainian language. Obviously, the opinions of the characters are also part of the game and the ideas that are being conveyed, but it's curious to compare this to historical reality as we know it a century later.

@AB76 no, I'm not from the former Kovno governorate :) I am Ukrainian, but curious about Lithuanian culture and folklore, so one thing led to another as the song goes ;)

[Veufveuve]

Georg wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Carsten The Trustee and other stories by Theodor Storm [bookcover:Carsten the Trustee; with 'The Last Farmstead', 'The Swallows of St George's' and 'By the Fireside'..."

Thanks Georg, yes I've read and very much appreciated "The Dykemaster."

[Georg]

AB76 wrote: "I am confused with the Imperial German census for Schleswig(previously the Danish Duchy of Schleswig, the southern area was part of Germany from 1860s), in that it has three Protestant faiths under..."

Evangelisch just means protestant.
You can be evangelisch-lutheranisch (Luther, Melanchton) or evangelisch-reformiert (Calvin, Zwingli), the evangelisch is somehow redundant, 'lutheranisch'/'reformiert' implies it already.

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote: "To lower the tone a little (OK, quite a lot...) - I have never visited Mallorca, but much enjoy the stunning scenery and local architecture as seen in light and frothy cop show The Mallorca Files. This makes for relaxing post-lunch viewing, and has the added bonus of a star from my home town - the charming Elen Rhys."

Haha, I discovered this series the other week but gave up after a couple of episodes. I visited Mallorca several years ago and can confirm the scenery is lovely.