Why are Russian writers the absolute best at writing about

because they have 6 months of winter where there's nothing to do but think about shit and write

>>9541115

You forgot smoke and drink.

>>9541109

they are a bridge between western and eastern cultures

File: piotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky.jpg (106KB, 1200x1200px) Image search: [Google]

106KB, 1200x1200px

How does he do it? No seriously, how the FUCK does a single man write so many memorable melodies, symphonies, suites, and even ballet in one fucking lifetime?!?!

>>9541150
Russia is like an ordinary star going supernova. For the vast majority of its cultural and artistic existence, it was nothing. Then, in the 19th century, it became the brightest thing in the cultural sky, outshining anything else around it and that had come before it. Then it died away, and all was darkness forevermore.

>>9541109
Why are people who use the phrase "the human condition" such absolute fags?

>>9541168
But Why is the question. Why did 19th century Russia produce more great writers than any other country. As an American I feel closer to Melville, Poe and Whitman, but the Russians beat us on numbers alone as far as who has the greater breadth of vision and scope.

>>9541485
Probably because it remained in relative, but not complete, isolation from Europe and the rest of the world. The geographical barriers acted as idea-permeable membranes, but little physical influence was felt from outside actors. So Russia's cultural development, while slow, was largely pure. That this cultural development concluded in self-destructive Social Nihilism and offspring movements definitely gave the people living during its cresting moments something to write about.

>>9541109
Because they supplement a lot of their materials with stereotypes

Or maybe Russians just happen to be made up of a lot of stereotypes

>>9541109
>Why are Russian writers the absolute best at writing about the human condition?

You think Rand and Nabokov capture the human condition best? Are you sure you arent cherry picking a few authors from over a century ago?

>>9541150
Human culture thrives in the rare period between terrible starvation and comfortable living for the majority of people.

because it's such a shithole on so many levels that they literally have no barriers between the human condition at its rawest and their pens.

Culture of gulag

>>9541109
because they were concerned about the spirit where europe was concerned with materialism

>>9541109
Going from medieval serfdom to industrial capitalism so quickly produced a state of alienation from which they could observe things. The suspicion that they should all be one gemeinschaft remained, and this alienation was coloured by a desire to become a collective again.

To boot, the people these alienated intellectuals observed were passionate and violent semi-medievals with rifles and paper money.

>>9541131
So much this, Russian culture is extremely unique in this way.

>>9541115
>When I imagine Troitzky in his Siberian forest, surrounded by howling wolves, analyzing night after night whether king plus four knights can always beat king plus queen, that is great. That’s what chess is all about, only you have to be a chess player to appreciate it. How can you explain to a non-chess player that within chess there is a little world of endgame studies…within which there is a microcosm made of utterly mad men analyzing four knights against queen.