What’s the deal with gambling in old Russian stories? It…
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What’s the deal with gambling in old Russian stories?
It seems like every time I read something by a Russian author, gambling plays a big role in the story.
It’s usually tied to a character’s downfall and portrayed as an irresistible yet TERRIBLE vice that leads to UTTER DESTRUCTION. Rather like we Americans talk about opioids.
This depiction seems rather overblown when compared to how gambling is portrayed in other cultures. Gambling exists everywhere, no?
Here are some examples:
“The Queen of Spades” by Alexander Pushkin.
A man named Hermann becomes obsessed with learning the secret of three winning cards from an old countess. He frightens her while trying to force the secret from her, and she dies. Her ghost haunts him, and Hermann ends up financially ruining himself with gambling. Ruined past the point of insanity!
\*War and Peace\*
Young aristocrat Nikolai gets sort of… seduced… into gambling against his will. His family is financially unstable and teetering off the upper crust, but for some reason, the young man can’t resist risking it all in an unregulated game. Even if the game seems spontaneous and unofficial, the debt is real, enforceable, and deadly serious.
Of course, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s \***The Gambler\*…** what more can be said about that one…
Tonight my son was reading an old folk tale to me, wherein a Russian deserter receives a pack of cards from Jesus himself. With these cards, the deserter can never lose, and his gambling is actually a blessing. Thanks, Jesus!
So what’s the deal with gambling in old Russian stories? Did a lot of people famously get ruined that way? Did a lot of people famously get rich that way?
#entertainment
source
It seems like every time I read something by a Russian author, gambling plays a big role in the story.
It’s usually tied to a character’s downfall and portrayed as an irresistible yet TERRIBLE vice that leads to UTTER DESTRUCTION. Rather like we Americans talk about opioids.
This depiction seems rather overblown when compared to how gambling is portrayed in other cultures. Gambling exists everywhere, no?
Here are some examples:
“The Queen of Spades” by Alexander Pushkin.
A man named Hermann becomes obsessed with learning the secret of three winning cards from an old countess. He frightens her while trying to force the secret from her, and she dies. Her ghost haunts him, and Hermann ends up financially ruining himself with gambling. Ruined past the point of insanity!
\*War and Peace\*
Young aristocrat Nikolai gets sort of… seduced… into gambling against his will. His family is financially unstable and teetering off the upper crust, but for some reason, the young man can’t resist risking it all in an unregulated game. Even if the game seems spontaneous and unofficial, the debt is real, enforceable, and deadly serious.
Of course, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s \***The Gambler\*…** what more can be said about that one…
Tonight my son was reading an old folk tale to me, wherein a Russian deserter receives a pack of cards from Jesus himself. With these cards, the deserter can never lose, and his gambling is actually a blessing. Thanks, Jesus!
So what’s the deal with gambling in old Russian stories? Did a lot of people famously get ruined that way? Did a lot of people famously get rich that way?
#entertainment
source
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