It's as if he were the wind or weather itself.

December 10, 2014 2:34 PM

Vyacheslav Korotki is a man of extreme solitude. He is a trained polyarnik, a specialist in the polar north, a meteorologist.
posted by ChuraChura (7 comments total)

Lovely...like something out of the twentieth century.
posted by salishsea at 3:36 PM on December 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting. This hits several sweet-spots for me.
posted by misterbee at 5:58 PM on December 10, 2014

A wonderful experience, to study the pictures of Korotki and his house, while listening to that song.
posted by stinkfoot at 6:45 PM on December 10, 2014

Very interesting. Thanks! I like his speedboat plans.
posted by Drexen at 5:39 AM on December 11, 2014

Gorgeous photos, thanks! (I see at least one Russian site has already ripped them off with no credit.)

The North has played a great role in the Russian imagination from the time of the Great Northern Expedition in the 18th century; a high point in Soviet times was the dramatic rescue of the crew of the SS Chelyuskin in 1933, which was followed breathlessly by the entire country. Anyone interested in this stuff should read John McCannon's Red Arctic: Polar Exploration and the Myth of the North in the Soviet Union.
posted by languagehat at 6:10 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Thanks for that context, LanguageHat. I was kind of wondering why there were so many nationalistic and proud paintings of Russian Polar Explorers (the same series on YouTube has farmers and factory workers, for example). That makes much more sense.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:12 AM on December 11, 2014

Used be that way for us Canadians too, languagehat. Brian Mulroney was the last prime minister to really play on that mythology that the north has in the Canadian psyche. Subsequently, the creation of Nunavut in 1999 (and subsequent Inuit semi-autonomous areas in Quebec and Labrador) was something of the crowning glory for this policy, entrenching public governance systems into the Canadian framework, led by Inuit communities and people. Not without problems, but noble in intent.

Recently Stephen Harper exploited the mythology by single handedly discovering the remains of the Franklin Expedition, which conveniently represented the first foray into the commercialization of the northwest passage, which represents his vision for the North. We have now fully downgraded every part of the Canadian imagination to the status of "shopping mall."

That is why, to me, this post seems so "twentieth century."
posted by salishsea at 9:57 AM on December 12, 2014 [1 favorite]