vladimir lenin had this painting framed above his bed, hitIer bought one of the originals, freud had a print hanging in his study, rachmaninoff composed a musical piece inspired by it, & it influenced salvador dalí. nabokov wrote the painting “could be found in every berlin home”

"In May 1944, Stalin ordered the mass deportation of the entire Muslim Crimean Tatar population from Crimea to Central Asia. But in the early 20th century, Crimean Tatar culture was flourishing. Here is a glimpse of Tatar life." https://t.co/XakXc5cUaI

Marinocore

Apparently, Bertolucci (who had previously adapted Moravia’s THE CONFORMIST) was supposed to adapt it into a film around 1984, but nothing came of it. Almost as sad as Visconti failing to adapt Proust . . .

A hidden gem, from Harold Bloom’s Western Canon list: Alberto Moravia’s late novel 1934 (published in 1982). At the risk of overselling it, I can only describe it as “DEATH IN VENICE (meets VERTIGO) but heterosexual and Italian”

There is something profoundly lonely about leaves swept along by the wind.

Reading the Wikipedia page for Liechtenstein, the tiny principality nestled between Switzerland and Austria, and this bit under the Military section is an absolute delight

Only two nations in the world are doubly landlocked: Lichtenstein & Uzbekistan. They otherwise have nothing in common.

Churchill deciding to blow up the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir was one of his rare lion moments

‘Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link’, Simone Weil

Thomaskirche in Leipzig: its choir dates back to 3 years before the signing of Magna Carta, Luther preached here, & Bach was the music director

Was the Secret Speech the most important speech ever? It: Devastated western communism Caused riots in Georgia Coup in North Korea Diplomatic split with China/Albania

Bashō—so disaffected from the lit community that he “avoided blossom-viewing”

Thanks

Mask of Ai apaec ("Maker"), chief deity of the Moche civilization/Mochica culture (northern Peru, 100-700 AD). Nicknamed "the Decapitator" by scholars because the heads of the sacrificed were given to It.

Caspar David Friedrich kept the items in his studio to a minimum as to avoid distractions, and worked with the window shutters closed for the same reason, only leaving the top-left open for light. You will never be a Strum und Drag painter…

Frank O'Hara to John Ashbery.

Wehrmacht and American soldiers, after they joined forces to fight the Waffen SS in the Battle of Castle Itter. May 5, 1945: three days before the end of WW2. https://t.co/45R0K7d0zY

On this day in 1945 one of the strangest events of WW2 took place at Castle Itter in Austrian Alps where German Wehrmacht joint forces with American soldiers to fight off the advancing Waffen-SS

Mazanderani (a language spoken by people from the north part of Iran, including @RoyaPak) has over 1,000 words for different types of cows! Here are a few of them. https://t.co/TCH5q6iB2S

Learning about Hirohito’s brother Prince Mikasa, an anti Japanese army and later professor of Semitic and Hebrew studies in Japan. He became inspired by this from watching the PLA learning the roots of communism having some origins to Judaism and Christianity