There is an amusing chapter on the history of Russian hippiedom, presented as ‘a small and impractical Russian-English dictionary of hippy slang’ (zabivat — to roll a joint, perenta — parents, flet — a flat). Bep, a hippy patriarch, is officially shiz (schizophrenic), as dissidents were diagnosed by the Soviet regime. After its collapse, the authorities apologised and offered to withdraw the diagnosis, but Bep declined, so he could keep his disability pension: ‘I’m the last person to be suffering from an illness that doesn’t exist.’
Such bitter jokes — of which there are many here — are typical of Russia under any regime, as heavy drinking has been since Peter the Great. Alcohol has a chapter of its own, but also features strongly in nearly all the others. The average citizen consumes 16 litres of spirit per annum, and 40,000 per annum die of it. Russia also tops the league in murder and suicide, and Siberia tops the Russian league. There are two million indigenous Siberians, of nearly 50 races, and they are drinking themselves to death. Only 235 Enets remain, 12 Alutors, and eight Kereks. ‘White fever’ is their name for the DTs, for which the only remedies are fried reindeer brains or suicide.
Hugo-Bader is an excellent and intrepid reporter, and seems to have enjoyed his hellish odyssey, but is understandably upset about his hosts’ ‘languid way of waiting for disaster to happen’.
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