[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 197 KB, 1174x1767, 1477456446.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12399746 No.12399746 [Reply] [Original]

Anyone read this? And is it anything more than anti-Russian propaganda?

>> No.12399763

It's not as good as I hoped.

It's not anti-Russian propaganda, it's the first person account of a journalist who worked in the Russian media industry.

However, he's not a particularly good writer, and seems unable to relate his experiences to anything more interesting or wider than himself - there is minimal exploration of his experience in the context of Russian history, politics, culture, or wider global changes taking place right now.

So although the book has its interesting moments, by the very nature of the author's experiences, it left me fairly disappointed.

If you're interested in the spectacle of media and information wars in Russia, I'd try to find something more detailed. But if you have a passing interest in the subject, then it is a nice introductory piece of gonzo journalism.

>> No.12399767

>>12399763
Thanks anon! I'll save my money and look for something else on the subject.

>> No.12400994

>>12399767
As a matter of fact, if you're interested in modern Russia, I highly recommend Svetlana Alexievich's "Second hand time". It's a compilation of stories she has collected from traveling across the former USSR and interviewing ordinary people. It's one of the most beautiful and harrowing things I've ever read.

>> No.12402213

>>12399763

This was exactly my experience. Good review.

There are some redeeming moments, especially when it comes to some minor insights into the psychology of occultism and the general tendencies of democracies to forge not only totalitarian tendencies, but more insidious forms of unreality. But for the most part I felt that the authors insights were fairly juvenile and limited; he was implicated in everything he wrote and still took a weird, unreflected upon sanctimoniousness toward it all.

I’d summarize the entire book against the backcloth of our current trump Isom: take the first sip out of the cup of democracy and you will of course declare yourself a good liberal Frenchman, Englishman, american; but keep sipping, because Russia will be waiting for you at the bottom.

It’s a quick read, btw. I’d ultimately recommend it— Yurchak’s “everything was forever until it was no more” and Surkov’s “writings” are good and really better supplements to the Pomerantsev. Also, of course, this poster knows what’s up:>>12400994

>> No.12402256

>>12399763
Care to recommend more detailed works on the spectacle of media and information wars in russia?

>> No.12402886

>>12399763
accurate

>>12400994
I also enjoyed “Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More” which chronicles the last soviet generation before the wall fell.

>> No.12403013

>>12400994
>Svetlana Alexievich's "Second hand time"

recc checked. Thanks, anon.

>> No.12403071

I can also recommend Pelevin's "Generation P" (not sure how the translation in English is) if you are interested in contemporary/post-Soviet/transition Russia. Really interesting, and widely read here.

>> No.12403119

literally all literature is propaganda.

>> No.12403262

>>12403119
woah, slow down there Morpheus. You’re blowing my mind.