M. Weller. Our Prince and Khan: Historical detective story. – M.: AST, 2015. – 288 p. - 20,000 copies.
Two preliminary remarks as a warning. Officially, Weller is called a Russian writer, but this is not entirely true. He is a Russian-speaking foreigner, a citizen of Estonia. It happens that a Russian writer lives and works abroad, remaining Russian, but this is not the case. Weller, to put it mildly, cannot stand Russia, or, to put it simply, he hates it, this feeling splashes from every page of his book. And further. Mikhail Iosifovich is presented as a "non-commercial" writer, marveling at the huge circulation of his books. It doesn't go through any gates. He is the most commercial, and in no case should one be surprised at his publishing success.
In the annotation, the book is called "a novel from the time of the Battle of Kulikovo." It says: “Russian history was falsified by the PR people of the Middle Ages. The battle with Mamai and the punitive raid of Tokhtamysh did not look at all like we were told for centuries. And we ourselves are not who we thought we were…”
According to Weller, all historians lied, lied to please the authorities, and now he appeared in order to reveal the truth to us. Moreover, he does not have a single reference, not a single name of any historian. Not a single quote. Lies - and that's it. Along the way - arrogant statements that the people do not need the truth, and only a select few are interested in it, as follows from the context, including Mikhail Iosifovich. According to Weller, Dmitry Donskoy was a complete scoundrel and mediocre commander, on the Kulikovo field he carried out an order Mongol Khan Tokhtamysh to punish the commander Mamai who rebelled against him, and nothing more. There was no struggle for the deliverance of Rus' from the Horde yoke, there was no emergence of all-Russian national unity, and there was no battle itself. And St. Sergius of Radonezh did not bless Dmitry for the battle - he hated the prince. And after the battle, almost all Russian principalities allegedly set out to surrender to Lithuania, but only Khan Tokhtamysh did not allow this. And a similar interpretation of literally all the events of that tragic era.
No, I would not say that Weller understands historical facts like a pig in oranges. The pig just eats, she does not call oranges apples or grapefruits, much less hate them. And Weller, speaking about any fact, declares it either non-existent, or having the opposite meaning, or misinterpreted. For example: “The results of the Battle of Kulikovo were quite sad and meaningless for Moscow Rus'. Human losses have weakened the power of the state ... territorial have reduced the economic potential. The invasion of Tokhtamysh, who burned and slaughtered Moscow and its environs (1382), aggravated Muscovy's dependence on the Horde. When the Horde collapses in a hundred years, it will in no way depend on Moscow resistance.
True, in some areas he seems to be really poorly informed - this especially applies to church issues. For example, he shed a tear over the fact that “Sergius of Radonezh, revered by all, was left without a metropolitanate,” that Dmitry Donskoy opposed Sergius receiving the highest church rank. This means that the “Russian writer” knows nothing at all about our great righteous man, about his life and his principles. Weller also mentioned the candidate for metropolitan Mityai - in order to kick him and call him a "helpful confessor." Meanwhile, this Mityai (Mikhail) was a very educated, outstanding statesman. But Weller is not interested in such figures. He is looking for in Rus' only slaves and serfs, serfs and slaves.
And, of course, bandits. “The unification of Rus' by methods was a gang war. Each bandit accumulated strength, recruited supporters and enlisted the support of a senior authority. Each bandit wanted to bend over and oblige the other. Become a foreman, and then a steerer,” Weller writes about the history of the country he hates. He insistently repeats that Rus' and the Horde were the same - both politically and ethnically (the Horde, however, in his opinion, is better). And this is not just a trick of the ignorant. This is a deliberate separation of our country from Europe, from Christian civilization in general. Equalizing Rus' and the Horde, Mikhail Iosifovich brackets out the irrefutable fact that the Russians acted on their own land, and the Mongols came from very distant lands, from the banks of Kerulen and Onon, that they were invaders. The "historical detective" stubbornly talks about the fact that Russia is, in essence, the same Mongol empire. And even the cover of the book is foul and hooligan: the mask of Genghis Khan is superimposed on the portrait of Brezhnev (or some other Soviet leader).
Weller in many places scoffs, ridiculing the fact that supposedly Russian historians embellish the actions (including military achievements) of their own and denigrating the "Tatars". I put the word in quotation marks, because the Mongols and Tatars are far from the same thing. Ancestors current Tatars, the inhabitants of the Volga Bulgaria (which had the first blow of the Mongols), lived and worked on their land, like all the surrounding peoples. And the Battle of Kulikovo, formally the subject of Weller's opus, was not a battle between Russians and Tatars. As the well-known and authoritative (not like Weller) writer-historian Yuri Loshchits writes: “The battle of September 8, 1380 was not a battle of peoples. It was a battle of the sons of the Russian people with that cosmopolitan forced or hired rabble who had no right to speak on behalf of any of the peoples - the neighbors of Rus'. Weller, among his other, to put it mildly, lightweight statements, expresses doubt that the Genoese fought in the army of Mamai - who, they say, saw them? And Russian historians entered them for no reason. The detective is silent that the Genoese and Venetians had good reasons for participating in the battle. They grabbed wild profits from the slave trade. Usually they bought Russian (as well as Polish, Moldavian and Circassian) slaves from the Horde and resold them many times more expensive in Italy. Naturally, the cost of captives captured by themselves turned out to be much less. But Mikhail Iosifovich is silent about this.
And here it must be emphasized that the author repeatedly points to the similarity of both the USSR and the current Russian Federation to that medieval Rus'. His analogies are simple: they lie about the Battle of Kulikovo - they also lie about the Great Patriotic war. "In all Soviet literature about the war,” he writes, “there were more Germans in 1941, and they had machine guns. And there are a lot of tanks - but it turned out later that there were more of ours, and much more equipment was ours, and we were beaten by a smaller number. Weller is lying shamelessly. A long time ago, everything has been calculated and measured, and above all, the fact that Hitler had one and a half times more people and the industrial potential was more than ours - steel, for example, they produced three times more than the USSR. But why should Weller remind the reader of this? His NATO bosses may not like it. And the Russophobe is trying - he pours the slop of his slander on the reader: from accusations of anti-Semitism to the Maidan interpretation of current events in Ukraine.
At the beginning of the review, the words from the annotation were already cited: “And we ourselves are not who we thought we were.” Without hesitation, the "historical writer" cuts: "Our state is from the Horde, and the people are more and more from Lithuania." In his opinion, the Varangians-Normans first colonized us, giving us the beginnings of statehood, then the Mongols polished the structure. That's all. Just as ingenuously explained national character Russians are slaves, groveling before their superiors.
The listed shortcomings of the book "Our Prince and Khan", of course, do not seem to everyone to be shortcomings. The public like the Shenderovichs and Akhedzhakovs, Latynins and Makarevichs, fans of Silver Rain will surely enjoy Weller's cooking. And why - he shits on Russia and Russians, does not bother the brains of readers with various references to sources and scientific reasoning. Yes, he sprinkles his speech with thieves and semi-thieves words. Weller's pen, it must be admitted, is lively; as Gogol used to say, "an extraordinary lightness in thoughts." The allies of the aforementioned gentlemen rule the modern Russian publishing business - why be surprised at the circulation of 20 thousand copies, which is inaccessible to good Russian writers. And the fact that the author is a foreigner is even more pleasant for these gentlemen, this makes him as a “source historical information even more authoritative.
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From the comedy The Inspector General (1836) by N.V. Gogol (1809-1852), where (act. 3, yavl. 6) Khlestakov, boasting of his literary abilities, says: “There are, however, many of my works: “The Marriage of Figaro ”, “Robert the Devil”, “Norma”. I don't even remember the names. And all by chance: I didn’t want to write, but the theater management says: “Please, brother, write something.” I think to myself, perhaps, if you please, brother! And then in one evening, it seems, he wrote everything, he amazed everyone. I have an extraordinary lightness in my thoughts.
Jokingly ironic:
Meanings in other dictionaries
Lightness in thoughts is extraordinary
Book. Iron. About a frivolous and talkative person, prone to complete irresponsibility in his decision difficult questions. /i> An expression from N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector" (1836). BMS. 334; BTS, 490. ...
Is it easy to be young?
Name of the popular documentary film(1986) by the Soviet Latvian director Juris Borisovich Podnieks (1950-1992). The film was not only widely known in the USSR, but also purchased by television companies in more than 50 countries. The phrase is a symbol of the period of growing up of a person and the problems associated with this time. ...
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
From the Bible. (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, article 24; Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, article 25). There are two versions of the origin of this expression. Some interpreters of the Bible believe that the reason for the appearance of such a phrase was a mistake in the translation of the original biblical text: instead of "camel" one should read "thick rope" or "ship's rope", which indeed cannot be passed through the eye of a needle...
Lightness in thoughts is extraordinary
From the comedy The Inspector General (1836) by N.V. Gogol (1809-1852), where (act. 3, yavl. 6) Khlestakov, boasting of his literary abilities, says: “There are, however, many of my works: “The Marriage of Figaro ”, “Robert the Devil”, “Norma”. I don't even remember the names. And all by chance: I didn’t want to write, but the theater management says: “Please, brother, write something.” I think to myself, perhaps, if you please, brother! And then in one evening, it seems, he wrote everything, he amazed everyone. I have an extraordinary lightness in my thoughts.
Jokingly ironic: about a frivolous, eccentric person; about playful, frivolous behavior, mood.
encyclopedic Dictionary winged words and expressions. - M.: "Lokid-Press". Vadim Serov. 2003 .
Synonyms:
See what "Extraordinary Lightness in Thoughts" is in other dictionaries:
Adj., number of synonyms: 13 carefree (49) careless (31) wind in the head (22) ... Synonym dictionary
LIGHTNESS and; and. 1. to Easy (1 6 digits). L. air. L. clothes. L. gait. Easily complete orders. L. character. 2. Feeling of elation, cheerfulness, surge of strength, desire for activity. Feel l. in body. 3. Feeling of freedom, absence ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Schoolboy, trifling, giggles and hahanki, frivolous, nonsense, unrespectable, petty, useless, trifling, penny, childish, third-rate, windy, third-rate, superficial, unusual lightness in thoughts, light-minded, ... ... Synonym dictionary
Carefree, careless, cheerful, safe, careless, blunder, blunder, reckless, carefree, unruly; frivolous, negligent, indifferent; slut. But I did not doze (in inactivity). Grief (sorrow) is not enough for him before this ... Synonym dictionary
See frivolous… Synonym dictionary
Childish, windy, undistinguished, frivolous, careless, wind-blown, windy head, anemone, unfounded, mischievous, lives today, lives a minute, empty, lives one day, unusual lightness in thoughts, a breeze ... ... Synonym dictionary
Frivolous, anemone (anemone), helipad, carminative. Wed frivolous… Synonym dictionary
Unusual lightness in thoughts, lives one day, frivolous, empty, carefree, the wind in the head, frivolous, lined by the breeze, naughty, careless, lives today, unfounded, wind-lined Dictionary of Russian Synonyms. ... ... Synonym dictionary
Windy, carefree, careless, imprudent, careless, indiscriminate, unreasonable, inconsiderate, fickle, changeable, empty; unreasonable, thoughtless, hasty; gullible. Anemone (anemone), carminative, ... ... Synonym dictionary
Unreasonable, groundless, unfounded, empty, shaky. This news has no basis, is devoid of basis, the newspaper duck is not based on anything. House built on sand. .. Wed. unproven, frivolous ... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and ... ... Synonym dictionary
How and why a xenophobic poll appeared on the Ekho Moskvy website and why it is still hanging there
On the website of the radio station "Echo of Moscow" there is a section "polls". The results of voting are posted there, which are held both on the Echo website itself and by phone. At the moment when I write this column, the results of three polls are visible on the site: “Does Russia need Foreign tourists?”, “Do you manage to save money with energy-saving lamps?”. And between them there are the results of the answers of the Echo of Moscow audience to the question: “To meet a representative of what nationality in dark time Are you afraid of the day?" For the first two questions, three response options are offered: “yes”, “no” and “difficult to answer”. There are also hints for the third one: “Ukrainian”, “Chechen” and “I find it difficult to answer”. The latter, apparently, in that case. If the listener of "Echo" has not yet decided for himself who is scarier: a Ukrainian or a Chechen.
Such are the everyday issues that are relevant for Russians are offered to them by the most popular and pluralistic Russian radio station. As a result of the voting, the audience of Echo can look in the mirror and find out that the majority in this audience, 54% believe that Russia does not need foreign tourists, and also that only 39% manage to save on light bulbs. And in between times to find out that 57% of those who took part in the survey - there were more than 9 thousand of them at the time of this writing - are afraid of Ukrainians, 31% are afraid of Chechens, and 12% have not yet decided which of the representatives of these two peoples they are more afraid of .
It is clear that polls in the media have about the same relation to real public opinion as canned food to the conservatory. It is clear that the study public opinion in a country crawling from an authoritarian regime to a totalitarian one, the task is very non-banal, and in today's Russia it is poorly implemented. It is clear that this poll about “terrible Ukrainians” and “terrible Chechens” was designed in such a way that among its participants there were only a minority of those who took this filth seriously and really made a choice in a situation where it is clear to a more or less sane person that and there is no such question. With the same success, you can invite the audience of "Echo" to answer the question: "Who would you like to abuse this evening: mother or father?" And what, it’s cool, isn’t it, “Echo”?
From comments to in social networks it became clear that the “leadership” of the Ukrainians in this “poll” was provided by the citizens of Ukraine, who, having learned about another foul language on the “Echo”, decided to have fun and vote for themselves, “terrible”. Troll the organizers of a stupid poll, bringing it to complete absurdity. However, a certain number of fans of "Echo" took part in this event seriously ...
The idea to conduct a stupid survey arose in the course of the “Personally Yours” program with Vasily Oblomov, who, in fact, made this proposal. That's where "it" grew from. The conversation turned to Chechnya and Kadyrov.
V. Oblomov: “You can conduct a survey among the listeners of Ekho Moskvy: “Do you think that Russia ... who even won this Chechen war, in the first, and in the second - who actually won? Moreover, if you conduct a survey among the viewers of the First Channel, who is more feared during an ordinary meeting on the street - an American, a Ukrainian with Western Ukraine, such a Western Bandera, Russian native, Chinese or Chechen - and ask him a question: who poses a big threat to you personally - it seems that all three of us sitting here can guess what answer will take the leading position. Conduct a survey, file a question right now!
A. Naryshkin: “We have two answers…”
V. Oblomov: "Let there be Ukrainians or Chechens."
I cannot fail to note the amazing ease with which Vasily Oblomov pronounces the ethnopholism “khokhol”. Let me remind you that we are not talking about some cave xenophobe. In the Echo studio sits a young, talented poet of quite distinctly democratic convictions, the author of wonderful texts for the no less remarkable project Good Lord, who spoke at the 2011 rally. He has many bright and precise words about the Putin regime. Here, for example: "the symbol of Russia may not be St. George Ribbon, but insulating. Well said, isn't it? And here is such a wonderful young man sitting in live, when many thousands of people listen to him and see him, and he utters a word for which, in a good way, it's time to beat him in the face. As in a normal company, they have long been beaten in the face for ethnopholism, denoting a Jew. By the way, I don't think derogatory nickname Jews could fly out of the mouth of anyone on the Echo. Since there is a consensus on the Holocaust in the liberal community and 6 million victims are already automatically turned into a scoundrel by anyone who utters the word with which Jews were sent to the gas chambers. Apparently, for the Russian liberal party, 10,000 citizens of Ukraine are not enough for the same taboo to be for the humiliation of Ukrainians. By the way, if the leaders of Roskomnadzor had brains, instead of four completely harmless swear words, with which the Russian language has long been dealt with, and Russian culture has long given them their place of honor in a dark but well-ventilated cultural basement, would ban all the words of "hate speech", to which ethnopholisms relate in the first place.
Let's get back to the poll. If we ignore the trolling by the citizens of Ukraine, who decided to laugh at the "Ehov" fools, then in the remainder we get what is called a "formative survey." This is often done by dirty political strategists before elections. They ask, for example, the question: “Will you vote for Ivanov, who wants to make pensions of 5,000 euros, or for Petrov, who wants to cancel them altogether?” Then the poll data is published and the conformist citizens add their vote to the formed majority.
The results of the xenophobic poll are posted on the Echo website and, at the time of writing, they were viewed by tens of thousands of people. What is the result. The initiator of the xenophobic survey, the poet Vasily Oblomov, undoubtedly acted stupidly and disgustingly. He is not a media manager. Not Chief Editor. He is a poet who easily and quickly writes sharp and biting verses. This is a special device of the head. "Lightness in thoughts is unusual." Such, for example, is Dmitry Bykov. Sometimes, it seems that the words do not pass through their heads. They just don't have time to be processed by the brain. The main thing is that they can write good poetry on the topic of the day, and God grant them both health and inspiration, and Bykov and Oblomov. But, pardon me, this does not mean that it is necessary to immediately translate into metal everything that flies off their tongue. Here Bykov, for example, admires the Soviet project, so what do you order: to revive the USSR?
There are no questions to Oblomov's interlocutors, to two Alekseys, Solomin and Naryshkin, who “washed down” a completely Nazi question on Echo. These are two chicks from Venediktov's nest, from among those that AAB breeds with the help of special selection. Here, appeals to reason and conscience are meaningless, since there are no addressees. It's the same story with Vitaly Ruvinsky, editor-in-chief of the Eh's website. This is the one who filmed Viktor Shenderovich's interview about Putin and his criminal-sports environment from the Echo website. Ruvinsky then lied a lot on the network, endlessly repeating: "I removed him (Shenderovich's interview) from the site, there are personal insults throughout the broadcast." The text of this interview is still hanging on the website of Radio Liberty, it is called: "Shenderovich stopped joking." There you can see how Ruvinsky is lying and why this interview was actually removed.
One could, of course, ask Alexei Venediktov if he likes what he has on his site (just don't play the fool that the site is a separate media!) For the second day now, Nazi muck has been hanging. But for some reason I don't want to ask. Let it hang and be an identification mark for everyone who has not yet understood what Echo of Moscow is and who Alexei Venediktov is.
