Read Ch. I and II of Chechov’s short story in translation: The lady with the little dog
Chekhov was a Russian author who wrote only in Russian. He had a home in Crimea, and from this story, set in Crimea, you will get a feel for the fact that Crimea was always Russian since 1783.
Scroll to the next-to-last post for the story by Crimean resident Anton Chekhov 1899. To be continued.
I always think of Chekhov when I hear debate over whether Crimea is Russian or Ukrainian.
Chekhov was a Russian author who wrote only in Russian. He had a home in Crimea, and from this story, set in Crimea, you will get a feel for the fact that Crimea was always Russian since 1783 and had nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine, although for political reasons, it was transferred from the Russian SSR to the UkrSSR in 1954, after which no effort was made by any government to “Ukrainize” the population in terms of culture or language. I spent a week in Yalta in the early 70s and can assure you everyone in the hotel where I stayed and out on the beach spoke nothing but Russian. The Crimeans do not FEEL Ukrainian and they are not. These are very simple facts but the msm refuse to mention them in order to support the going disinformation from Washington, which wants to make you think Crimea is Ukrainian and that tyrant Putin is illegally snatching the peninsula from its rightful owner. Not really. I believe the Crimeans would fight hard to resist any effort to return the peninsula to Ukronazi control.
This is my first attempt to expose my readers to a bit of Russian culture and I hope you will enjoy reading this story by a brilliant Russian author. More tomorrow.
Just one more thing. Lest you think overly ill of our two adulterers, note that when Chekhov mentions their marriages, in each case he writes “he/she was married to …” In the original Russian, it is clear that both of the fallen protagonists were victims of arranged marriages, ie, were virtually forced, presumably by their parents, to marry the spouses of the parents’ choice, not their own. Mitigating circumstances for which we can perhaps forgive them.
Public domain
Here’s your daily air strike update for July 23, 2024
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://vz.ru/news/2024/7/23/1278789.html?ysclid=lyy8j9ytjn972271077
JULY 23, 2024
Iskander-M strike destroyed about 50 foreign mercenaries of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kharkov
The Iskander-M strike destroyed about 50 foreign mercenaries of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kharkov@ Press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense/TASS
Text: Vera Basilaya
An Iskander-M missile attack on a camp of foreign mercenaries in the Kharkov region, killeds about 50 instructors from Western countries, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.
It is noted that the strike was carried out at the point of temporary deployment of mercenaries and instructors in Dergachi in the Kharkov region, as follows from a message from the Ministry of Defense on the Telegram channel.
Earlier, retired Spanish Army Colonel Pedro Baños said that a strike on Odessa killed at least 18 members of the British Special Air Service, as well as soldiers of the French army.
**
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
07/23/2024
Fifth generation Su-57 fighters attacked targets in the Sumy region
Anton Valagin
A series of missile strikes were launched against critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine.
The targets were in the Sumy region in the Shostka area. [near border with Russia]
“A flight of fifth-generation Su-57 fighters was operating,” the Military Observer reported.
According to the Military Chronicle, three aircraft of this type entered the airspace over the Sumy region around midnight. In parallel with the Su-57, the MiG-31K with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles operated.
The Russian Aerospace Forces use fifth-generation aircraft in the North Military District for electronic reconnaissance and ground strikes. Their Kh-59MK2 precision missiles fly long distances and are invisible to radar.
However, there have been no reports of the Su-57 entering Ukrainian airspace heretofore.
**
EVERY THIRD RESPONDENT IS READY TO GIVE UP TERRITORIES TO RUSSIA: THE UKRAINIANS HAVE MADE A DECISION. WHAT WILL ZELENSKY SAY?
The Ukrainians made a decision. Every third person agrees to renounce claims to territories liberated by Russia. The question is what Zelensky will say to this.
A new study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed unexpected results. Many Ukrainians changed their minds and admitted that they agreed to renounce territorial claims in favor of Russia.
Every third respondent agrees to recognize the areas currently occupied by the Russian army as part of Russia if this means a cessation of hostilities. The number of Ukrainian citizens who are loyal to this issue has tripled compared to last year. Now they are 32% of all respondents.
The number of those who are not ready to give up territories under any circumstances decreased by 29% over the year - from 84% to 55%.
At the same time, 73% of those who are ready to make concessions wish that after peace is established, movement between countries will not be free. The majority of respondents were in favor of introducing visas; 16% were in favor of open borders and friendly interaction with Russia, and 1% of survey participants stated the need to form a single state.
The question remains whether the acting President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky will take into account the opinion of the people. Let us recall that earlier he admitted the possibility of an “open dialogue” with Moscow, as reported by the French TV channel France Info.
**
Goodbye Ukraine
Quote
Right now, Western Ukraine is losing about 30,000 men a month. Even with forced mobilization, these losses are unsustainable.
At this point, Russian military losses are about 5 to 10% of this. And their military is growing with 30,000 volunteers a month— will get a full year of training, unlike Ukrainian draftees who are lucky to get three weeks.
JULIAN MACFARLANE
JUL 23, 2024
The Russians continue making progress one village at a time all along the contact line in the Donbass, while strengthening their position in the Kharkov region. Wack a mole, military style.
In Russia there is much discussion as to what to do about Kharkov.
But —since the region east of the Dnieper is historically Russian and Russian-speaking, the people there will almost surely want to join the Russian Federation as have other oblasts to the south. The same will apply to Odessa.
These regions could be expensive for Russia in the short term – but immensely profitable in the long term—whatever the cost of rebuilding.
But the only way to resolve the issue is through referenda – allowing the inhabitants of these regions to make their own decisions.
It's called "democracy"-- a word often used in the collective West for a kind of subtle totalitarian system where elites listen to the people and ignore what they say, like noisy children. The public should be seen, not heard.
How long will it take to end this conflict?
Right now, Western Ukraine is losing about 30,000 men a month. Even with forced mobilization, these losses are unsustainable.
At this point, Russian military losses are about 5 to 10% of this. And their military is growing with 30,000 volunteers a month— will get a full year of training, unlike Ukrainian draftees who are lucky to get three weeks.
More here
**
Big news day on the battlefield
Alexander Mercouris
**
Could it be that the Zionazis believe implicitly that a Trump presidency is inevitable and that he will cover for them no matter what?
What if they’re wrong?
Horrific Israeli attack in Khan Younis with almost no warning – Day 289
Palestinians, including women and children, living in the east of Khan Younis city move towards safe areas with whatever belongings they can take with them after Israel announced that an operation will be carried out and ordered the Palestinians to evacuate the area immediately in Khan Yunis, Gaza on July 22, 2024. (photo)
At least 77 Gazans killed in Khan Younis with no chance to flee; Israeli army admits to leaving Palestinian man with Down Syndrome to die; journalists killed by Israel reaches 163; Israeli forces open fire on UN convoy; water and garbage crisis in Gaza; polio vaccines for Israeli soldiers, but not for Gazan civilians; Israel has killed 2 more Israeli hostages; 250% increase in killing of West Bank children; Yemeni harbor still ablaze after Israeli strike; Knesset members listen to rehashed, debunked myths of October 7; our founding fathers supported Israel?; JD Vance to skip Netanyahu speech; Dem Majority for Israel endorses Harris; potential VPs regarding Israel; more.
Read more here
**
Can CNN reporting influence the elections by making people reflect?
I wonder if you have noticed that CNN (and msn as well) has been quite honest and straightforward in its reporting on the Israeli crimes, and has been so for quite a few months now. I wonder that if this continues, whether it could affect public opinion, causing American voters to reflect on the cruelty of the Israeli government and IDF and the heartlessness of US candidates supporting it.
**
محور المقاومة يصعّد في حرب الاستنزاف (alkhanadeq.org.lb)
Friday, July 19, 2024 01:59
The axis of resistance escalates the war of attrition
Yemeni Army/Sanaa
Estimates and data indicate an important development in the war of attrition that the resistance axis is waging against the American-Israeli-Western alliance to subjugate its leaders and accept the cessation of the aggression against Gaza, based on following up on news reports on the one hand, and statements by politicians and those in positions of responsibility in the interim entity, both loyal and opposition, on the other hand, and statistics. The popularity carried out by some of the Center for Israeli Studies on the third hand, and the reports of officials and leaders of security and military services in the interim entity on the fourth hand, the following estimate can be drawn:
First - At the level of the Gaza negotiations:
- Netanyahu is still placing obstacles by adding new conditions to every step taken by the mediators through which the gap of disagreement between the resistance and the entity can be bridged, leading to stopping the genocidal war, and thus things will go backwards, leading to the continuation of this genocide in the Gaza Strip, which is what he hopes to do. During which Netanyahu sought to exert greater pressure on the resistance.
Second - At the field level inside Palestine:
1- In Gaza and Rafah:
The Palestinian resistance is still depleting the enemy forces in the entire Gaza Strip, and in Rafah, inflicting human and material losses on the enemy army and its elite, most of which are kept secret and exposed by some leaks, which indicates the readiness and full capacity that the Palestinian resistance still enjoys in its fight against the enemy.
2- In the West Bank:
With all the enemy’s measures of incursions, suppression, assassination, etc., an increase in the pace of resistance military operations in the West Bank and an increase in enemy losses is observed, which constitutes a sustainable burden on the leadership and members of the enemy’s security and military services in both the physical and psychological dimensions, creating a state of despair and restlessness in the souls of these forces and a feeling of inability to achieve their goals. Any positive result through the actions of their leaders.
Third - At the level of support fronts:
1- The Yemeni Front:
The operational situation on this front demonstrated the following:
- The ineffectiveness of the military aggression operations carried out by the American and British forces against Ansar Allah in preventing them from imposing a blockade on the entity’s economic ports and striking its military facilities.
- The development and expansion of Ansar Allah’s operations to pose a greater military and economic threat to the entity.
- Increased joint military operations between Ansar Allah and the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, extending the siege to the Mediterranean Sea (and the specific Tel Aviv operation with the Jaffa drone had three branches: Israeli, American, and Saudi).
2- The Iraqi Front:
- Increasing military operations against military and economic targets within the enemy entity.
- Occasionally striking some American military bases.
- A direct threat to sea ports on the Mediterranean.
3- On the northern front:
- The northern support front is still burning, and it is the main and basic front in depleting the enemy’s material capabilities (facilities, equipment, equipment, and the displacement of settlers...) and humanity in both the physical and psychological dimensions. It is expected to develop with the increase of the Israeli threat, whether in terms of targeting civilians in southern Lebanon, or in terms of its growing Decision-makers, the opposition, and the social environment of the enemy have an idea of Israeli military action, provided that it is limited in time and place in the south, whether by land or air, with the aim of dragging the resistance to negotiate Resolution 1701 in a new way, which will force the Islamic resistance in Lebanon to respond in a way that suits the scale of this action to reset the rhythm of the rules. Engagement, balance and deterrence, and therefore things may deviate from what they are now if the enemy fools and goes further.
With the belief that such a scenario will not be possible to implement before the end of the US presidential elections and the dust clears.
Accordingly, it can be estimated that the war of attrition waged by the axis of resistance, which is bearing fruit on the security, military, economic, social and cultural levels, will be prolonged in a way that serves the goal of dismantling and fragmenting the temporary entity and striking the pillars and foundations of its establishment and survival.
This goal is certainly well understood by the enemy in all its ranks, and therefore he is working and striving to try to break out of the siege and war of attrition that the axis of resistance is waging against him. Can he do that, and what exits can he take?
With his prior knowledge that the axis of resistance is also ready to wage an open, comprehensive war against it, this is what the pillars of the axis have stated several times on several occasions from Iran, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon.
In short, the cards in the hands of the temporary entity are very few, and playing with them is not without danger to its existence.
Writer: Yahya Al-Dayikh
**
The lady with the dog
A short story by Anton Chekhov, translated from Russian
I always think of Chekhov when I hear debate over whether Crimea is Russian or Ukrainian.
Chekhov was a Russian author who wrote only in Russian. He had a home in Crimea, and from this story, set in Crimea, you will get a feel for the fact that Crimea was always Russian since 1783 and had nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine, although for political reasons, it was transferred from the Russian SSR to thr UkrSSR in 1954, after which no effort was made by any government to “Ukrainize” the population in terms of culture or language. I spent a week in Yalta in the early 70s and can assure you everyone in the hotel where I stayed spoke nothing but Russian. The Crimeans do not FEEL Ukrainian and they are not. These are very simple facts but the msm refuse to mention them in order to support the going disinformation from Washington, which wants to make you think Crimea is Ukrainian. I believe the Crimeans would fight hard to resist any effort to return the peninsula to Ukrainian control.
This is my first attempt to introduce my readers to a bit of Russian culture and I hope you will enjoy reading this story by a brilliant Russian author.
Just one more thing. Lest you think overly ill of these two adulterers, note that when Chekhov mentions their marriages, in each case he writes “he/she was married to …” In the original Russian, it is clear that both of the fallen protagonists were victims of arranged marriages, ie, were virtually forced, presumably by their parents, to marry the spouses of the parents’ choice, not their own. Mitigating circumstances for which we can perhaps forgive them.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Lady_with_the_Dog_and_Other_Stories/The_Lady_with_the_Dog
Short story about a bored middle-aged adulterer who picks up a young married woman little expecting the great love that will develop
I
It was said that a new person had appeared on the sea-front: a lady with a little dog. Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov, who had by then been a fortnight at Yalta, and so was fairly at home there, had begun to take an interest in new arrivals. Sitting in Verney's pavilion, he saw, walking on the sea-front, a fair-haired young lady of medium height, wearing a beret; a white Pomeranian dog was running behind her.
And afterwards he met her in the public gardens and in the square several times a day. She was walking alone, always wearing the same beret, and always with the same little white dog; no one knew who she was, and every one called her simply "the lady with the dog."
"If she is here alone without a husband or friends, it wouldn't be amiss to make her acquaintance," Gurov reflected.
He was under forty, but he had a daughter already twelve years old, and two sons at school. He had been married young, when he was a student in his second year, and by now his wife seemed half as old again as he. She was a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, staid and dignified, and, as she said of herself, intellectual. She read a great deal, used phonetic spelling, called her husband, not Dmitri, but Dimitri, and he secretly considered her unintelligent, narrow, inelegant, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home. He had begun being unfaithful to her long ago -- had been unfaithful to her often, and, probably on that account, almost always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked about in his presence, used to call them "the lower race."
It seemed to him that he had been so schooled by bitter experience that he might call them what he liked, and yet he could not get on for two days together without "the lower race." In the society of men he was bored and not himself, with them he was cold and uncommunicative; but when he was in the company of women he felt free, and knew what to say to them and how to behave; and he was at ease with them even when he was silent. In his appearance, in his character, in his whole nature, there was something attractive and elusive which allured women and disposed them in his favour; he knew that, and some force seemed to draw him, too, to them.
Experience often repeated, truly bitter experience, had taught him long ago that with decent people, especially Moscow people -- always slow to move and irresolute -- every intimacy, which at first so agreeably diversifies life and appears a light and charming adventure, inevitably grows into a regular problem of extreme intricacy, and in the long run the situation becomes unbearable. But at every fresh meeting with an interesting woman this experience seemed to slip out of his memory, and he was eager for life, and everything seemed simple and amusing.
One evening he was dining in the gardens, and the lady in the beret came up slowly to take the next table. Her expression, her gait, her dress, and the way she did her hair told him that she was a lady, that she was married, that she was in Yalta for the first time and alone, and that she was dull there. . . . The stories told of the immorality in such places as Yalta are to a great extent untrue; he despised them, and knew that such stories were for the most part made up by persons who would themselves have been glad to sin if they had been able; but when the lady sat down at the next table three paces from him, he remembered these tales of easy conquests, of trips to the mountains, and the tempting thought of a swift, fleeting love affair, a romance with an unknown woman, whose name he did not know, suddenly took possession of him.
He beckoned coaxingly to the Pomeranian, and when the dog came up to him he shook his finger at it. The Pomeranian growled: Gurov shook his finger at it again.
The lady looked at him and at once dropped her eyes.
"He doesn't bite," she said, and blushed.
"May I give him a bone?" he asked; and when she nodded he asked courteously, "Have you been long in Yalta?"
"Five days."
"And I have already dragged out a fortnight here."
There was a brief silence.
"Time goes fast, and yet it is so dull here!" she said, not looking at him.
"That's only the fashion to say it is dull here. A provincial will live in Belyov or Zhidra and not be dull, and when he comes here it's 'Oh, the dullness! Oh, the dust!' One would think he came from Grenada."
She laughed. Then both continued eating in silence, like strangers, but after dinner they walked side by side; and there sprang up between them the light jesting conversation of people who are free and satisfied, to whom it does not matter where they go or what they talk about. They walked and talked of the strange light on the sea: the water was of a soft warm lilac hue, and there was a golden streak from the moon upon it. They talked of how sultry it was after a hot day. Gurov told her that he came from Moscow, that he had taken his degree in Arts, but had a post in a bank; that he had trained as an opera-singer, but had given it up, that he owned two houses in Moscow. . . . And from her he learnt that she had grown up in Petersburg, but had lived in S---- since her marriage two years before, that she was staying another month in Yalta, and that her husband, who needed a holiday too, might perhaps come and fetch her. She was not sure whether her husband had a post in a Crown Department or under the Provincial Council -- and was amused by her own ignorance. And Gurov learnt, too, that she was called Anna Sergeyevna.
Afterwards he thought about her in his room at the hotel -- thought she would certainly meet him next day; it would be sure to happen. As he got into bed he thought how lately she had been a girl at school, doing lessons like his own daughter; he recalled the diffidence, the angularity, that was still manifest in her laugh and her manner of talking with a stranger. This must have been the first time in her life she had been alone in surroundings in which she was followed, looked at, and spoken to merely from a secret motive which she could hardly fail to guess. He recalled her slender, delicate neck, her lovely grey eyes.
"There's something pathetic about her, anyway," he thought, and fell asleep.
II
A week had passed since they had made acquaintance. It was a holiday. It was sultry indoors, while in the street the wind whirled the dust round and round, and blew people's hats off. It was a thirsty day, and Gurov often went into the pavilion, and pressed Anna Sergeyevna to have syrup and water or an ice. One did not know what to do with oneself.
In the evening when the wind had dropped a little, they went out on the groyne to see the steamer come in. There were a great many people walking about the harbour; they had gathered to welcome some one, bringing bouquets. And two peculiarities of a well-dressed Yalta crowd were very conspicuous: the elderly ladies were dressed like young ones, and there were great numbers of generals.
Owing to the roughness of the sea, the steamer arrived late, after the sun had set, and it was a long time turning about before it reached the groyne. Anna Sergeyevna looked through her lorgnette at the steamer and the passengers as though looking for acquaintances, and when she turned to Gurov her eyes were shining. She talked a great deal and asked disconnected questions, forgetting next moment what she had asked; then she dropped her lorgnette in the crush.
The festive crowd began to disperse; it was too dark to see people's faces. The wind had completely dropped, but Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna still stood as though waiting to see some one else come from the steamer. Anna Sergeyevna was silent now, and sniffed the flowers without looking at Gurov.
"The weather is better this evening," he said. "Where shall we go now? Shall we drive somewhere?"
She made no answer.
Then he looked at her intently, and all at once put his arm round her and kissed her on the lips, and breathed in the moisture and the fragrance of the flowers; and he immediately looked round him, anxiously wondering whether any one had seen them.
"Let us go to your hotel," he said softly. And both walked quickly.
The room was close and smelt of the scent she had bought at the Japanese shop. Gurov looked at her and thought: "What different people one meets in the world!" From the past he preserved memories of careless, good-natured women, who loved cheerfully and were grateful to him for the happiness he gave them, however brief it might be; and of women like his wife who loved without any genuine feeling, with superfluous phrases, affectedly, hysterically, with an expression that suggested that it was not love nor passion, but something more significant; and of two or three others, very beautiful, cold women, on whose faces he had caught a glimpse of a rapacious expression -- an obstinate desire to snatch from life more than it could give, and these were capricious, unreflecting, domineering, unintelligent women not in their first youth, and when Gurov grew cold to them their beauty excited his hatred, and the lace on their linen seemed to him like scales.
But in this case there was still the diffidence, the angularity of inexperienced youth, an awkward feeling; and there was a sense of consternation as though some one had suddenly knocked at the door. The attitude of Anna Sergeyevna -- "the lady with the dog" -- to what had happened was somehow peculiar, very grave, as though it were her fall -- so it seemed, and it was strange and inappropriate. Her face dropped and faded, and on both sides of it her long hair hung down mournfully; she mused in a dejected attitude like "the woman who was a sinner" in an old-fashioned picture.
"It's wrong," she said. "You will be the first to despise me now."
There was a water-melon on the table. Gurov cut himself a slice and began eating it without haste. There followed at least half an hour of silence.
Anna Sergeyevna was touching; there was about her the purity of a good, simple woman who had seen little of life. The solitary candle burning on the table threw a faint light on her face, yet it was clear that she was very unhappy.
"How could I despise you?" asked Gurov. "You don't know what you are saying."
"God forgive me," she said, and her eyes filled with tears. "It's awful."
"You seem to feel you need to be forgiven."
"Forgiven? No. I am a bad, low woman; I despise myself and don't attempt to justify myself. It's not my husband but myself I have deceived. And not only just now; I have been deceiving myself for a long time. My husband may be a good, honest man, but he is a flunkey! I don't know what he does there, what his work is, but I know he is a flunkey! I was twenty when I was married to him. I have been tormented by curiosity; I wanted something better. 'There must be a different sort of life,' I said to myself. I wanted to live! To live, to live! . . . I was fired by curiosity . . . you don't understand it, but, I swear to God, I could not control myself; something happened to me: I could not be restrained. I told my husband I was ill, and came here. . . . And here I have been walking about as though I were dazed, like a mad creature; . . . and now I have become a vulgar, contemptible woman whom any one may despise."
Gurov felt bored already, listening to her. He was irritated by the naive tone, by this remorse, so unexpected and inopportune; but for the tears in her eyes, he might have thought she was jesting or playing a part.
"I don't understand," he said softly. "What is it you want?"
She hid her face on his breast and pressed close to him.
"Believe me, believe me, I beseech you . . ." she said. "I love a pure, honest life, and sin is loathsome to me. I don't know what I am doing. Simple people say: 'The Evil One has beguiled me.' And I may say of myself now that the Evil One has beguiled me."
"Hush, hush! . . ." he muttered.
He looked at her fixed, scared eyes, kissed her, talked softly and affectionately, and by degrees she was comforted, and her gaiety returned; they both began laughing.
Afterwards when they went out there was not a soul on the sea-front. The town with its cypresses had quite a deathlike air, but the sea still broke noisily on the shore; a single barge was rocking on the waves, and a lantern was blinking sleepily on it.
They found a cab and drove to Oreanda.
"I found out your surname in the hall just now: it was written on the board -- Von Diderits," said Gurov. "Is your husband a German?"
"No; I believe his grandfather was a German, but he is an Orthodox Russian himself."
At Oreanda they sat on a seat not far from the church, looked down at the sea, and were silent. Yalta was hardly visible through the morning mist; white clouds stood motionless on the mountain-tops. The leaves did not stir on the trees, grasshoppers chirruped, and the monotonous hollow sound of the sea rising up from below, spoke of the peace, of the eternal sleep awaiting us. So it must have sounded when there was no Yalta, no Oreanda here; so it sounds now, and it will sound as indifferently and monotonously when we are all no more. And in this constancy, in this complete indifference to the life and death of each of us, there lies hid, perhaps, a pledge of our eternal salvation, of the unceasing movement of life upon earth, of unceasing progress towards perfection. Sitting beside a young woman who in the dawn seemed so lovely, soothed and spellbound in these magical surroundings -- the sea, mountains, clouds, the open sky -- Gurov thought how in reality everything is beautiful in this world when one reflects: everything except what we think or do ourselves when we forget our human dignity and the higher aims of our existence.
A man walked up to them -- probably a keeper -- looked at them and walked away. And this detail seemed mysterious and beautiful, too. They saw a steamer come from Theodosia, with its lights out in the glow of dawn.
"There is dew on the grass," said Anna Sergeyevna, after a silence.
"Yes. It's time to go home."
They went back to the town.
Then they met every day at twelve o'clock on the sea-front, lunched and dined together, went for walks, admired the sea. She complained that she slept badly, that her heart throbbed violently; asked the same questions, troubled now by jealousy and now by the fear that he did not respect her sufficiently. And often in the square or gardens, when there was no one near them, he suddenly drew her to him and kissed her passionately. Complete idleness, these kisses in broad daylight while he looked round in dread of some one's seeing them, the heat, the smell of the sea, and the continual passing to and fro before him of idle, well-dressed, well-fed people, made a new man of him; he told Anna Sergeyevna how beautiful she was, how fascinating. He was impatiently passionate, he would not move a step away from her, while she was often pensive and continually urged him to confess that he did not respect her, did not love her in the least, and thought of her as nothing but a common woman. Rather late almost every evening they drove somewhere out of town, to Oreanda or to the waterfall; and the expedition was always a success, the scenery invariably impressed them as grand and beautiful.
They were expecting her husband to come, but a letter came from him, saying that there was something wrong with his eyes, and he entreated his wife to come home as quickly as possible. Anna Sergeyevna made haste to go.
"It's a good thing I am going away," she said to Gurov. "It's the finger of destiny!"
She went by coach and he went with her. They were driving the whole day. When she had got into a compartment of the express, and when the second bell had rung, she said:
"Let me look at you once more . . . look at you once again. That's right."
She did not shed tears, but was so sad that she seemed ill, and her face was quivering.
"I shall remember you . . . think of you," she said. "God be with you; be happy. Don't remember evil against me. We are parting forever -- it must be so, for we ought never to have met. Well, God be with you."
The train moved off rapidly, its lights soon vanished from sight, and a minute later there was no sound of it, as though everything had conspired together to end as quickly as possible that sweet delirium, that madness. Left alone on the platform, and gazing into the dark distance, Gurov listened to the chirrup of the grasshoppers and the hum of the telegraph wires, feeling as though he had only just waked up. And he thought, musing, that there had been another episode or adventure in his life, and it, too, was at an end, and nothing was left of it but a memory. . . . He was moved, sad, and conscious of a slight remorse. This young woman whom he would never meet again had not been happy with him; he was genuinely warm and affectionate with her, but yet in his manner, his tone, and his caresses there had been a shade of light irony, the coarse condescension of a happy man who was, besides, almost twice her age. All the time she had called him kind, exceptional, lofty; obviously he had seemed to her different from what he really was, so he had unintentionally deceived her. . . .
Here at the station was already a scent of autumn; it was a cold evening.
"It's time for me to go north," thought Gurov as he left the platform. "High time!"
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
**
الباحثون الإسرائيليون يعانون.. والأسوأ كامن في المستقبل (alkhanadeq.org.lb)
Thursday, June 27, 2024 04:39
Israeli researchers are suffering... and the worst lies in the future
Israeli academic institutions and university demonstrations
Israeli academies are experiencing their worst days at the international level, and are clashing with the Western boycott due to the impact of the Gaza war in large parts of the world, as the global standing of Israeli academic institutions has been greatly affected, in light of several factors pushing towards placing more restrictions on academic institutions and figures in “Israel”. "In the context of the international isolation that the occupying entity suffers from, these restrictions relate to the withdrawal of funding and the cancellation of various types of exchange of scientific expertise, leading to the severing of institutional relations. In addition to the tense academic atmosphere externally, the Israeli academic sector is also suffering from other internal crises.
Internal influences: students to reserve
One of the manifestations of the direct internal effects on Israeli academies is the call-up of 55,000 university students to the Army Reserve, 18% of the total student body, in addition to 3,000 members of the educational and administrative staff in Israeli universities (according to the plan agreed upon between the heads of university institutions and the army), as well as the reduction of the university educational semester. To 11 weeks instead of 13, in addition to postponing the university academic year for about two and a half months.
It should be noted that the training and courses provided by Israeli higher education institutions constitute an essential element of Israel's military-industrial complex. This interconnection between universities, the arms industry and the military is strongly condemned by activists supporting the Palestinian cause, who have called for an academic boycott of Israel at various universities in the Western world.
Israeli researchers: The worst lies ahead
The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz wrote a long article from interviews with a large number of Israeli researchers, who agree on the various experiences they have gone through, most of which are in European countries, about the pressures they are exposed to related to canceling their membership in Western institutions. A large number of researchers do not want to participate in research linked to an Israeli researcher. . In addition, canceling invitations to scientific conferences, canceling the exchange of scientific expertise, deleting published scientific articles, refusing to publish scientific articles, refusing to supervise postgraduate studies for Israeli students, and demonstrating against researchers in their presence. Researchers in Western institutions say that they cannot cooperate with a country that commits genocide and practices... War crimes While institutions trying to stand in a gray space say that they cannot ignore the refusal of students on campus to have an Israeli researcher on campus, so nullifying the visit is the best option.
Researchers also agree, according to the newspaper, that the academic boycott that Israel is being subjected to is unprecedented, in terms of its horizontal spread and the severity of the situation. But what is most worrying, according to Israeli researchers, is that “Israel is still at the beginning of the road, and the worst lies in the future.”
In addition, at the level of institutional cooperation, many European universities responded to the demands of their students, calling for severing partnerships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories. Thousands of researchers and university professors participated in this and signed a document pledging “no academic cooperation” with Israeli institutions. The cases were not limited to individuals only, but also affected Israeli institutions and universities, and the most prominent European countries in which universities responded to the demands of their students and severed their relationship with Israeli universities: Belgium, Spain, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
The head of the Israeli National Security Research Institute links international relations as the lifeblood of the Israeli academy, and the latter is the lifeblood of advanced and security industries. The head of the Israel Institute of Technology adds to this that Israeli scientific research and graduate studies are “based on international relations and the exchange of academic experiences with foreign institutions and researchers.” Accordingly, the extent of the damage that will be inflicted on the academic sector in light of international isolation, which has become a real crisis that the entity is experiencing, will be difficult to control or compensate for, which will lead to a series of economic losses, prevent development in Israel’s military-industrial complex, and deteriorate the quality of Israeli scientific research and consequently the professional life of Israeli researchers. outside.
Writer: Hussein Shukroun