Better not try to open this book at night — you definitely won’t be able to fall asleep until you swallow it whole.
Linguist Irina Levontina will easily give odds to most writers of detective stories and romance novels. Reading her funny and sad, sarcastic and philosophical essays about the occurrence of words, concepts and meanings in the Russian language is much more interesting than the strained writings of other authors about great love or investigations of terrible crimes. Apparently, because Lewontina actually writes about something that concerns all of us, it’s just that not everyone and is not always aware of it. The idea that the language we speak is the most accurate reflection of our lives is, of course, banal. But you need to have the knowledge and talent of Lewontina in order to present evidence of this thought so vividly and convincingly.
Her book is an accurate, lively and deep portrait of the modern Russian language. So, to some extent — and all of us, its carriers. “What is it about” is a continuation of the previous collection by Irina Levontina “Russian with a Dictionary” (Azbukovnik, 2010). And the long wait was totally worth it.
Quotes from the book
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The “you-you” system works like this. The appeal to you is marked and indicates a certain social relationship between the speakers. Therefore, they turn to you not only to those with whom they are in other, closer relationships, but also to those who are generally outside the social hierarchy (God, Muse, soul, dead person, animal, thing, etc.)
________
There is nothing wrong with practicality, of course, for life this quality is very useful. But Russian culture is arranged in such a way that everything utilitarian, everything connected with calculation and profit is located rather low in its hierarchy of values. Practicality is a property of Stolz, and, as you know, he is good for everyone, but we only love and feel sorry for Oblomov.
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There are many opportunities in the Russian language to present a person’s own actions as something like natural processes that a person does not fully control, thereby partly removing responsibility from him. Well, I didn’t get out … I wasn’t going to …