Samizdat; the Bremen publications

[Olga Meerson]

Re: Bremen.
Dear Yelena,
Thank you for mentioning both the excellent volume and, arguably, the best collection on Samizdat there is. I would also like to mention its main compiler (at least of the Russian part, but not exclusively), himself a dissident and a an excellent philologist, from the Tartu school. His name is Gabriel Superfin. He is an excellent source but is also worth studying! He is both a representative and a memory repository of a whole epoch. Pasternak may have had a right to say about himself what I still would say about very few people besides Gabriel:

Душа моя, печальница
О всех в кругу моем,
Ты стала усыпальницей
Замученных живьем.

Тела их бальзамируя,
Им посвящая стих,
Рыдающею лирою
Оплакивая их,

Ты в наше время шкурное
За совесть и за страх
Стоишь могильной урною,
Покоящей их прах.

Их муки совокупные
Тебя склонили ниц.
Ты пахнешь пылью трупною
Мертвецких и гробниц.

Душа моя, скудельница,
Всё, виденное здесь,
Перемолов, как мельница,
Ты превратила в смесь.

И дальше перемалывай
Всё бывшее со мной,
Как сорок лет без малого,
В погостный перегной.

(B.L. Pasternak, 1956)

It is very rare that such pain, passion, and pathos could be due an archivist's daily work, as well and as much as his life.  I have long thought Garik's work deserved an homage but didn't know the occasion, for me personally to give it, would be this list. Thank you for the opportunity, colleagues! Thank you, Garik, for being what you are and remembering those you love and respect! (I doubt he will read the entry but that is how I feel: although I know him personally, I would be embarrassed to send him this panegyric as a private letter, alas...)
o.m.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------