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Корни дуба
В книге журналиста-международника Всеволода Овчинникова "Корни дуба" воссоздается портрет англичан, прослеживаются отличительные черты их национального характера; выявляются классовые, социальные корни характерных для общества обычаев и привычек, моральных норм и правил поведения.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
6 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Vsevolod Ovchinnikov
25 books15 followersВсе́волод Влади́мирович Овчи́нников (р. 17 ноября 1926 года, Ленинград), один из ведущих советских послевоенных журналистов-международников, российский журналист и писатель.
На протяжении почти сорока лет был корреспондентом и политическим обозревателем газеты «Правда».
В настоящее время Всеволод Овчинников является обозревателем «Российской газеты».
Овчинников - почетный член российско-японского "Комитета 21 века", эксперт политической экспертной сети Кремль.Org.
Автор книг «Ветка сакуры (Рассказ о том, что за люди японцы)», «Корни дуба (Впечатления и размышления об Англии и англичанах)», «Горячий пепел (Хроника тайной гонки за обладание ядерным оружием)». За эти книги в 1985 году был удостоен Государственной премии СССР.
На протяжении почти сорока лет был корреспондентом и политическим обозревателем газеты «Правда».
В настоящее время Всеволод Овчинников является обозревателем «Российской газеты».
Овчинников - почетный член российско-японского "Комитета 21 века", эксперт политической экспертной сети Кремль.Org.
Автор книг «Ветка сакуры (Рассказ о том, что за люди японцы)», «Корни дуба (Впечатления и размышления об Англии и англичанах)», «Горячий пепел (Хроника тайной гонки за обладание ядерным оружием)». За эти книги в 1985 году был удостоен Государственной премии СССР.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 29, 2012
The Britain observed by V.V Ovchinnikov dates back to the end of the 1970s. And the cover of this book with its Pacman-like graphic and the "O" of "observed" shaped as the Soviet sickle & hammer tells you something more on the odd anachronism of reading it on 2012.
However, I have to admit that Mr Ovchinnikov wrote a pretty good little book on Great Britain (plus Eire and Northern Ireland). The kind of observations the former correspondent of Pravda does here are somehow between a tourist guide of the 1950s and what an author like the Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini wrote about Britain and the Britons in the 1990s selling an awful lot of books.
Here you can find many clever but old-aged notes on the British way of life as it was 25 years ago but also plenty of observations which are still valid nowadays.
The only downwards of Ovchinnikov's work is that he had the weird tendency to compare the UK with Japan and China where he spent years as a correspondent before being sent to London. And sometimes he even states the Britons and Japanese are similar. Oh well, that's news!
That said, the good part of this book is that its author never indulges on the Soviet superiority over the UK, poking fun at Britons sometimes but always stressing out how their way of, say, washing dishes without using running water is a cultural difference rather than a barbarian act.
I think that, in this aspect, "Britain Observed" reflects the period in which it was written with the glasnost at the door and a Soviet Union no longer under the unbearable rhetoric and political influence of Lenin and then Stalin.
Vsevolod Ovchinnikov doesn't have the wit of Ilf & Petrov who themselves wrote a marvelous account of a visit to the US in the 1930s but - at the same time - was never asked to wrote an elegy on a canal dedicated to Lenin as happened to the comic duo.
I don't know what this guy was writing as a correspondent from London for the Pravda and how much freedom he enjoyed in his articles, but "Britain Observed" has a very relaxed and pleasantly ironic tone without doing any annoying proselytism.
This is what I call well-documented escapism and I'm not surprised that the book, with its Russian-Soviet title meaning "The Roots of an Oak-Tree" (?), sold well in the USSR. At least that's what the cover of my British edition says.
Check for the chapters on the British politics and you will be surprised on how good Ovchinnikov is in describing how the English parliament works. Given his training at home with the elephantine structure of Soviet government, I assume the author had no problems at all in grasping the mechanisms of the UK democracy.
All in all, this book stands out as an interesting historic document including many brilliant observations on the UK provided from an unusual half-communist point of view with such funny oddities like Ovchinnikov touring Ireland following the steps of Engels.
However, I have to admit that Mr Ovchinnikov wrote a pretty good little book on Great Britain (plus Eire and Northern Ireland). The kind of observations the former correspondent of Pravda does here are somehow between a tourist guide of the 1950s and what an author like the Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini wrote about Britain and the Britons in the 1990s selling an awful lot of books.
Here you can find many clever but old-aged notes on the British way of life as it was 25 years ago but also plenty of observations which are still valid nowadays.
The only downwards of Ovchinnikov's work is that he had the weird tendency to compare the UK with Japan and China where he spent years as a correspondent before being sent to London. And sometimes he even states the Britons and Japanese are similar. Oh well, that's news!
That said, the good part of this book is that its author never indulges on the Soviet superiority over the UK, poking fun at Britons sometimes but always stressing out how their way of, say, washing dishes without using running water is a cultural difference rather than a barbarian act.
I think that, in this aspect, "Britain Observed" reflects the period in which it was written with the glasnost at the door and a Soviet Union no longer under the unbearable rhetoric and political influence of Lenin and then Stalin.
Vsevolod Ovchinnikov doesn't have the wit of Ilf & Petrov who themselves wrote a marvelous account of a visit to the US in the 1930s but - at the same time - was never asked to wrote an elegy on a canal dedicated to Lenin as happened to the comic duo.
I don't know what this guy was writing as a correspondent from London for the Pravda and how much freedom he enjoyed in his articles, but "Britain Observed" has a very relaxed and pleasantly ironic tone without doing any annoying proselytism.
This is what I call well-documented escapism and I'm not surprised that the book, with its Russian-Soviet title meaning "The Roots of an Oak-Tree" (?), sold well in the USSR. At least that's what the cover of my British edition says.
Check for the chapters on the British politics and you will be surprised on how good Ovchinnikov is in describing how the English parliament works. Given his training at home with the elephantine structure of Soviet government, I assume the author had no problems at all in grasping the mechanisms of the UK democracy.
All in all, this book stands out as an interesting historic document including many brilliant observations on the UK provided from an unusual half-communist point of view with such funny oddities like Ovchinnikov touring Ireland following the steps of Engels.
November 10, 2021
Ieteikta grāmata.
Manā apziņā mīlēta nācija.
Neuzticamā laikā rakstīta (1980).
Ne līdz galam uzticams grāmatas autors.
Bet tā sajūta, kas piedzīvota, aptveršana - piepildoša.
Grāmata ar vispatiesāko, visprecīzāko, saturam atbilstošāko nosaukumu.
Ideoloģijas nodevai zaudēta viena zvaigzne, bet citādi - kā var neiemīlēt angļus?
Manā apziņā mīlēta nācija.
Neuzticamā laikā rakstīta (1980).
Ne līdz galam uzticams grāmatas autors.
Bet tā sajūta, kas piedzīvota, aptveršana - piepildoša.
Grāmata ar vispatiesāko, visprecīzāko, saturam atbilstošāko nosaukumu.
Ideoloģijas nodevai zaudēta viena zvaigzne, bet citādi - kā var neiemīlēt angļus?
Anglija savu atspulgu saredz Šekspīrā, tāpēc ka angļu tautas slavenais dēls pilnībā simoblizē tai piemītošās raksturīgākās īpašības: anglosakšu prakticismu un ķeltu sapņotāju dabu, vikingu pirātu drosmi un normāņu disciplīnu.
-Nikoss Kazantzakis (Grieķija). Anglija. 1965
April 13, 2022
Формат: Аудиокнига Язык: Русский
В очередной раз восхитился как автору в 1980-х удалось подать информацию в интересном виде, и при этом сделать вкрапления которые от него видимо требовала официальная советская цензура. Книга интересна формированием образа англичан. Из минусов наверно факт того, что данный срез датируется 1980-м годом, и я готов поверить что определенные аспекты уже не актуальны т.к. например текущий россиянин и гражданин Советского Союза 80-х годов прошлого века все равно достаточно расходятся, хоть может быть в основе и остаются общие элементы. Интересно бы было почитать про современных британцев и понять в чем же разница.
В силу этой "устарелости" книги оценку ей все-таки ставлю сильно нейтральную. Но явно не за стиль и подачу материала, которая в "неидеологизированных" частях очень интересна.
К перечтению - наверно нет, основной слепок к пониманию англичан сделан, и переознакомления не требует.
Очень достойная книга.
В очередной раз восхитился как автору в 1980-х удалось подать информацию в интересном виде, и при этом сделать вкрапления которые от него видимо требовала официальная советская цензура. Книга интересна формированием образа англичан. Из минусов наверно факт того, что данный срез датируется 1980-м годом, и я готов поверить что определенные аспекты уже не актуальны т.к. например текущий россиянин и гражданин Советского Союза 80-х годов прошлого века все равно достаточно расходятся, хоть может быть в основе и остаются общие элементы. Интересно бы было почитать про современных британцев и понять в чем же разница.
В силу этой "устарелости" книги оценку ей все-таки ставлю сильно нейтральную. Но явно не за стиль и подачу материала, которая в "неидеологизированных" частях очень интересна.
К перечтению - наверно нет, основной слепок к пониманию англичан сделан, и переознакомления не требует.
Очень достойная книга.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2013
A pretty good book! I found quite a few of author's observations on british life and traditions really interesting and still valid despite the fact that the book was written decades ago. Definitely enjoyed it more that Watching the English!
February 9, 2022
Показалась устаревшей, хотя какие-то наблюдения о жизни британцев все ещё актуальны.
September 17, 2022
P.S. - It is a good thing I listen to Goblin, otherwise the use of the phrase of William Blake's "Milton"; "Dark Satanic Mills" - would get completely past me. In his books, Tolkien described Mordor as inspired by the industrial area of London (Although today many use the word in reference to Russia, see the entry "Evil Empire").
I haven't read the other part of the duology (Branches of Sakura).
And I doubt I'll do so. The book is not as interesting as it could be.
I look forward to reading Peter Ackroyd's "London: The Biography".
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/GOwbh9IZkhysh
As an example of what an interesting 80's book about a foreign culture would be;
Look no further than "The 15th stone of Ryoanji Zen garden".
Same - a Russian author. However, this time, a diplomat and ambassador.
I doubt back then the Japanese were already hiring based on your blood type.
I haven't read the other part of the duology (Branches of Sakura).
And I doubt I'll do so. The book is not as interesting as it could be.
I look forward to reading Peter Ackroyd's "London: The Biography".
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/GOwbh9IZkhysh
As an example of what an interesting 80's book about a foreign culture would be;
Look no further than "The 15th stone of Ryoanji Zen garden".
Same - a Russian author. However, this time, a diplomat and ambassador.
I doubt back then the Japanese were already hiring based on your blood type.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews