The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! The Russians are...Boring.

The last two posts have been about Russian literature, which means that I am gearing up to start working on the Russian half of my dissertation again. The last two posts have also been a means of procrastination. These émigré boys are no fun. They are juvenile. They take themselves too seriously. They are not world-class. And they know that I think that about them. They stand in a row, shaking their heads and clicking their tongues. "Silly girl," they say, "We know that the Czechs in the 1930s are better than we could every hope to be but they won't get you a job. No one knows about them. No one cares about them." Sigh. Academia: the last bastion of Russian cultural imperialism. Here's hoping the Poplavskii, Fel'zen, and Gaito eventually stop giggling about sex and start enjoying it. Here's hoping that I can eventually elicit a belly laugh from them. Here's hoping that I can eventually find a reason for pushing them out of the periphery and into the limelight. Although, they really shouldn't be sharing it the Burian, Seifert, and Nezval....

I'm too high on caffeine and sugar to cope with this. I'm going to go play in the sun. -Zh.