The Ethics of a View: Notes on Boris Mikhailov

The agonistic spirit reminiscent of Ancient Greece pervaded Russia under Brezhnev. Friendly drinking sessions, walks, camping holidays and unofficial seminars were exhilarating. People went rock-climbing, travelled in search of Shangri-La…The agonistic spirit reminiscent of Ancient Greece pervaded Russia under Brezhnev. Friendly drinking sessions, walks, camping holidays and unofficial seminars were exhilarating. People went rock-climbing, travelled in search of Shangri-La, visited art exhibitions held in private flats, and attended underground rock concerts, lectures by the semiotician Yuri Lotman and exhibitions of American graphics. All kinds of ‘confessions’ existed side by side in society: those who supported the restoration of the monarchy, Jew-bashers, Zionists, Russian orthodox believers, followers of the occult and Oriental religions, the postmodernists, hippies, old believers, Trotskyites, liberal Westernisers, moderate Slavophiles, Castaneda’s followers, Gnostics, Stalinists and out-and-out Epicureans.