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A former Colonel of the Red Army who becomes the Chief Administrator of the secret police in Russia. When the Soviets reopen Russia to foreign relations, he asks the Count to tutor him in French and English—both for the language and for the culture. He argues with the Count on why Bolshevism is good, even though its revolutionary methods seem particularly rigid, providing the novel with a more sympathetic perspective on the Bolsheviks.
Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov Quotes in A Gentleman in Moscow
The A Gentleman in Moscow quotes below are all either spoken by Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov or refer to Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 3, Antics, Antitheses, an Accident
Quotes
In 1916, Russia was a barbarian state. It was the most illiterate nation in Europe, with the majority of its population living in modified serfdom: tilling the fields with wooden plows, beating their wives by candlelight, collapsing on their benches drunk with vodka, and then waking at dawn to humble themselves before their icons. That is, living exactly as their forefathers had lived five hundred years before. Is it not possible that our reverence for all the statues and cathedrals and ancient institutions was precisely what was holding us back?
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Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov Quotes in A Gentleman in Moscow
The A Gentleman in Moscow quotes below are all either spoken by Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov or refer to Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 3, Antics, Antitheses, an Accident
Quotes
In 1916, Russia was a barbarian state. It was the most illiterate nation in Europe, with the majority of its population living in modified serfdom: tilling the fields with wooden plows, beating their wives by candlelight, collapsing on their benches drunk with vodka, and then waking at dawn to humble themselves before their icons. That is, living exactly as their forefathers had lived five hundred years before. Is it not possible that our reverence for all the statues and cathedrals and ancient institutions was precisely what was holding us back?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
