The Teacher's Label

A fat writer Dima Bykov in poor health with his head held high has distinguished himself. He has decided to rank in descending order the passed away colleagues. Some of them has been ranked first, others take second and even third places. Sergei Dovlatov has been taken down a peg next to his classmates. The teacher Bykov gave him a satisfactory grade. He even didn’t hide that he wanted to give him a poor grade.

Dima Bykov has unleashed a war on social media by his ranking. Somebody noticed that the teacher is not good even at his own domain. Someone replied that he have been aware of Dovlatov’s bad marks... I was astonished by the desire to make value judgements about literature and even the literary characters. This approach reeks of the judgments of school teachers. It's not the most pleasant aroma...


By the way, Dima Bykov's fans know that he had been working at school for a long time. He lectured children on Pushkin and Dostoevsky. Then he became a patron of the opposition channels and continued lecturing on literature there. I once came across his listener:

- "I hope everybody knows that Zheglov and Professor Preobrazhensky are the villains?" - arrogantly declared a regular attender of Bykov's YouTube lectures.

- What a school approach to literature! You can dislike a character, call him a bastard. But there don't exist the sacred tablets with the explanation what character is good or bad upon it.

-You are the Homo Sovieticus and defend Zheglov! You as a dictator think that you can break the law in order to put an unwelcome person in jail!

- Good gracious! I just point out that the "negativity" and "positivity" of a character is only in the eye of a beholder who is a reader.

He broke off and sent the link to Bykov’s “lecture”.

- What about your own opinion?

- I have no time to explain, Dima Bykov has sorted out everything ...

These oppositionists is a curious public. They fight so fiercely for the ability to express their opinions, however, they give up it for the tyrannical idols well before the triumph. They are so furious when their heroes are stigmatized and at the same time they aim to brand their opponents. Maybe, it's effective in politics. When a reader runs through the library with a bundle of other people's opinions he impoverishes only his mind.

Reading is a very intimate process like a pillow talk between two lovers in the bed ... Now picture the following situation: you look for your future partner, relying on an authoritative rating. This girl has been given three points and the other only two points by Kolya Mokhov. With whom am I going to have sex today? Oh, this girl has been highly rated. In addition, he described her topics of conversation. Is it possible to have a frank conversation with her? ... I have some doubts. The exchange of the lines is maximum.

- Have you come (to read)?

- And you?

Does it make sense to discuss something else with her when everything has been said by the authoritative person?

All you need to do is just to make a choice. Well, I have had sex with this girl, this book has already been read. I have a notion that this girl is smart even if she is stupid (according to Kolya Mokhov). As for "Heart of a Dog ", Dima Bykov says that Professor Preobrazhensky is a villain. Don't read Dovlatov because he is the third-rate author ...

Does anyone really want to live in the world where all grades are given by some strangers? It's little wonder that modern people mainly complain of boredom. If everything has been thought out for you and before you, thus, life turns into a plain masturbation. Maybe a thinker who tells that there are plenty of judges and judgements is right? Is there a shortage of comprehension and alive thoughts?

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