What is byt ?

[Profileid]

The distinguished linguist and literary critic Roman Jacobson claims that the Russian word for the everyday, byt, is culturally untranslatable into other languages: in his view, only Russia among all the European nations was capable of fighting "the fortresses of byt" and of conceptualizing radical alterity to the everyday (byt). [1] The opposite of byt, the spiritual, poetic or revolutionary being (bytie), is at the heart of Russian culture. In a similar way, Vladimir Nabokov claims the Russian conception of "banality," poshlost -- a word that refers at once to artistic triviality, lack of spirituality, and obscenity -- to be absolutely original. In Nabokov's view, only Russians were able to devise neatly the concept of poshlost' -- because of the "good taste of old Russia." [2] (This is perhaps one of the least ironic sentences in Nabokov, bordering on the banal). No wonder, another word that was claimed to be untranslatable is podvig -- heroic feat, dynamic force. It does not necessarily refer to a specific courageous accomplishment; rather, it embodies the notion of unlimited dynamism, perpetual movement (dvizhenie) itself. [3] Two Russian "untranslatable" words, then, one referring to the everyday and the other to the heroic feat, are closely linked and reflect what Russian and Soviet Russian critics perceive to be a fundamental feature of Russian mentality. For many Russian and Soviet cultural critics, the expression "everyday culture" would appear problematic, if not oximoronic, because culture in the Russian context, in the singular and with a capital "C," has been defined as a heroic battle against the everyday [4] .

http://cdclv.unlv.edu//archives/nc1/boym_everyday.html

[Crimean]

And now the once mighty Russian language is slowly being transformed into the Russian-English Creole language under the influence of "Western values."

[Profileid]

And now the once mighty Russian language is slowly being transformed into the Russian-English Creole language under the influence of "Western values."

huh?

[Crimean]

huh?

The Russian language has not been developing for 100 years. New Russian words are not created; any new word is a borrowing, usually from English / Romance languages. I think that not only in Russia so.
In principle, I am not against a single world language. Different languages, religions and state borders only hinder a comfortable life on the planet. The problem is only with the racial issue.
Anglo-Latin language would be fine.

[Lisa]

Быть или не быть , вот в чём вопрос ! Я выбираю БЫТЬ ))

[Profileid]

Быть или не быть , вот в чём вопрос ! Я выбираю БЫТЬ ))

i know right

[Ülev]

I have found this: Как быть? - Александр Серов

[Sarmatian]

http://cdclv.unlv.edu//archives/nc1/boym_everyday.html

Quite typical example of how sensitive artistic minds can spot all these little everyday things and explore their meanings. And how they totally fail to see reasons behind them.

Mikhail Mishin, a Soviet satirist, wrote that Russians recognize themselves in the famous fairy-tale character Ivan the Fool. He bides his time napping on the heated furnace and gets up only to undertake major heroic feats. Ivan the Fool might be a great hero, but he has no idea how to survive his everyday life. Everyday life, captured in the Russian word byt, is a more dangerous enemy to him than the multi-headed fire-spitting dragon. The everyday is Russia 's cultural monster. The nation might worship its heroes and their fabled ability to withstand hell or high water, but it also celebrates their impracticality and helplessness in the face of everyday life.

That's easy to understand when comparing to lifestyle environment of some Western European farmer. One Russian writer of 19th century was travelling in Alps and was fascinated with neat and picturesque farmlands all over the place. Painted fences around houses, farming plots separated by stone fences miles long, enchanting gardens with gravel walkways. All of it meant generations of work invested to create and maintain such idyllic imagery. Why was that impossible to recreate in Russia he was wondering?

Because a paint will fall off by the end of the first winter due to harsh freezing, a gravel walkway will sunk into swampy soil at first rasputitsa season and stone fence will require at least meter deep foundation to stand straight for any long period of time. Pretty much any undertaking in Russian countryside will require few times more effort while results will have hundreds times shorter lifespan. So why do that in the first place? Only do things that are big, heavy, extremely reliable and absolutely necessary for survival. Everything else is a child's play. That's the mindset developed over centuries of life in one of the harshest and unforgiving climates on Earth.

Regarding author's inquiry into Soviet communal housing her grave mistake is to associate it with Soviet period. Communal housing was reality of urban Russian life for a few last decades of the Empire. She should read description of life conditions of common factory workers. It wasn't rare to see a bedroom size 3x4 meters to be shared by two family couples with kids and extra two single men. With massive influx of impoverished peasants into cities at the end of 19th century the shortage of housing was catastrophic.

Soviet authorities were actually trying to resolve the pre-existing problem but with more people migrating to cities construction industry was unable to keep up. So they had to invent this propaganda story of shared communal housing to alleviate inevitable tensions it produced. Massive destruction of housing during WWII only made matters worse. I remember even in late 1980's communal housing was still existing. All those Soviet housing blocks deemed by many at the West as ugly and unlivable were actually an improvement for many people.

[Sarmatian]

Быть или не быть , вот в чём вопрос ! Я выбираю БЫТЬ ))

Речь не про быть, а про быт. Тот самый, об который часто разбиваются лодки любви.