The Composition of State Anthems of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union

The motley gloss of book covers on street stands is offensive to the eye of a Russian intellectual, be he "liberal" or "patriot." Every true writer, critic, and literary scholar considers it his duty to vent his ire periodically on criminal reading matter. This turbid flow of whodunits and thrillers, it is claimed, is precisely what has eroded the foundations of great Russian literature, sweeping the ordinary reader away from the home continent into a boundless sea of vulgarity. That is, people who a dozen years or so ago feverishly devoured Bulgakov, Platonov, Rybakov, Aksenov, and others suddenly, after a taste of the semiliterate Dotsenko with his Madman Beshennyi], are opting for bloody thrillers.