December 18th, 2008 / 5:15 pm
 Excerpts

Excerpt: Dimitry Morgachev: My Life

 

Here is an excerpt from Memoirs of Peasant Tolstoyans In Soviet Russia (Indiana University Press):

 

In our village of Burdino there were fistfights three times a year- in December and January, on Shrove Tuesday in February, and at Easter, in April. The village was divided in half, and on Shrove Tuesday village fought village–Burdino and Terbuny.  I also took part in those fights. Our priests said that fistfights were not bad: men got training from them and would be bolder and more active in war. The fights began with boys, then with teenagers, then grown men, and after that even bearded old men. Once the old men gathered close together like a wall and pushed me up against one of the strongest old men from the other side. I knocked him down, and from that time on they considered me a strong man. They said, “How he knocked over that big granddad!” It was the rule that you should never beat a man who was lying down, whether he was knocked down or whether he fell by himself, but sometimes they would agree to hold the very strongest men up by the armpits, and other strong men would not let them fall down and would keep beating them. Sometimes the outcome was fatal. Once a  wealthy shopkeeper offered two buckets of vodka  to the side that won. No fewer than three thousand men got together for the brawl. Our village won that time.

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14 Comments

  1. December 18th, 2008 / 10:29 pm andré—

      I really enjoyed that. There is something that I really like about… translated Russian syntax. Like when Putin kissed that boy on the belly– it was weird I guess, but there was something very endearing about the language.

  2. December 18th, 2008 / 6:29 pm andré—

      I really enjoyed that. There is something that I really like about… translated Russian syntax. Like when Putin kissed that boy on the belly– it was weird I guess, but there was something very endearing about the language.

  3. December 18th, 2008 / 10:56 pm Ken Baumann—

      I really enjoyed reading that.

  4. December 18th, 2008 / 6:56 pm Ken Baumann—

      I really enjoyed reading that.

  5. December 18th, 2008 / 8:11 pm pr—

      thanks guys! I am trying to be the most random of all excerpters.

      3000 drunk Russian dudes beating the crap out of each other!- fight club has nothing on drunk russians.

      andre’ re language- “how he knocked over that big granddad!” that line cracks me up.

  6. December 19th, 2008 / 12:28 am jereme—

      i fucking love this.

  7. December 18th, 2008 / 8:28 pm jereme—

      i fucking love this.

  8. December 18th, 2008 / 9:59 pm pr—

      jereme- all your kung fu fantastic japanese stuff is – to my mind- even more random than the stuff I read and share. i mean that as a compliment, btw. but i am fighting you for the battle of “most random, yet still entertaining.” OK?

  9. December 19th, 2008 / 2:19 am jereme—

      pr,

      i alone am best

  10. December 18th, 2008 / 10:19 pm jereme—

      pr,

      i alone am best

  11. December 18th, 2008 / 10:29 pm pr—

      fight you..fight youoooo- let’s fight.

  12. December 19th, 2008 / 2:41 am jereme—

      hold on. i need to get some old dudes to hold you by the armpits so i can punch you in the stomach 50 times.

      fear my shaolin fist of obscurity

  13. December 18th, 2008 / 10:41 pm jereme—

      hold on. i need to get some old dudes to hold you by the armpits so i can punch you in the stomach 50 times.

      fear my shaolin fist of obscurity

  14. December 18th, 2008 / 10:45 pm pr—

      til it is “fatal”? whoops. Also, two buckets of vodka? how are you gonna share that with 2999 other men? hmmm.

      I lose every arm wrestling fight I get into these days. And I start every one of them. Just ask Francis at the Bkln inn. And I make him fight left handed, cause I’m left handed. But he’s right handed. Sigh. I’m beat you at obscure good stuff. The fight is on.