Finished Dead Souls and loved the conversation in Part 2 between Chichikov and the General. 'What's he writing a book about?' 'Generals.' 'Generals? What kind of book about generals? A general book about generals or a book with portraits of individual generals or a book about the generals of 1812?' 'The generals of 1812.' In a book shop near the university, we bought Absurdistan and a book of conversations between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said - I'm now reading the latter.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Day 3 - Random Conversation
This takes place in a travel agency which has the word 'Bialarus' on the window in big white letters. A woman is sitting at the far end of the darkened interior.
Nick: Do you speak English?
Woman: shakes head.
Kate (in Russian): Do you speak Russian?
Woman: nods head. Rest of conversation in Russian.
Kate: Do you have any information about Belarus?
Woman: No. We have no information about Belarus. [Relenting slightly.] What is it you want to know?
Kate: Do you have a map of Minsk?
Woman: No. [Pause] Try a map shop.
Kate: Where is such a shop?
Woman: shrugs.
Nick: Do you speak English?
Woman: shakes head.
Kate (in Russian): Do you speak Russian?
Woman: nods head. Rest of conversation in Russian.
Kate: Do you have any information about Belarus?
Woman: No. We have no information about Belarus. [Relenting slightly.] What is it you want to know?
Kate: Do you have a map of Minsk?
Woman: No. [Pause] Try a map shop.
Kate: Where is such a shop?
Woman: shrugs.
Day 3 - Jewish Warsaw
Today we went to the Nozyk Synagogue (which actually survived the Second World War) and the Zydowski Instytut Historyczny (Jewish Historical Institute Museum). The latter had a film showing images of suffering in the ghetto so sickening that it was almost unbearable to watch - in all my time of studying war representation, I haven't seen anything like it. Not much to say except that, oddly, I found most poignant of all the information that the autumn of 1942 was particularly beautiful.
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