Dickens and Pushkin as Saviours of National Identity

Wonderful. 200 years of Dickens. What could be nicer? Celebrations, BBC documentaries, author readings, competitions, blogs, biographies. Your favourite Dickens character? Your favourite Dickens novel? What would you have said to Dickens? What does Dickens mean to us in 2012?

Nice, if it wasn't so heavy-handed. It is so very obvious that poor old Dickens has his role to play in this "special year" for Britain: Jubilee, yeah, Olympic Games double yeah, Dickens yeah. Yeah us, Great Britain. And remember Dickens' Victorianism? Wasn't all hunky-dory then was it? People had it tough too, actually a lot tougher than you lot. Scavenging, no money, crime, alcoholism.. you name it, they had it. You've got it really good in comparison, so stop moaning and get ony with it. Best country in the word innit! So there.

1937, the height of Stalin's terror regime. Also, the centenary of Pushkin's death. An author who used to be labelled aristocratic and decadent now became a cultural figure of national identity. Kulturny'i were the people who read Pushkin, cultured folk, not backward peasants. And Stalin saw to it that everybody did indeed read Pushkin. And that every poet, writer, musician (Shostakovitch!) did their bit explainig why -oh yes indeed - Pushkin was their favourite poet. A national hero. The embodiment of the Russian soul. Legacy of what we're about. National source of Russianism, the essence of our literary heritage.

Pushkin sculptures sprang out of the ground next to the usual Lenin and Stalin ones. A literary figure became a national treasure. Pushkin's works became the ersatz-bible of the new state. Communist party, Stalin, Pushkin - your reference system if you're a modern Stalinist who loves his country. Hero of the masses.

Your favourite work by Pushkin? Err, sorry, Dickens!

Crisps - Interculturally

In France and Germany crisps are called "chips". But let's not worry about that at the moment. There are enough intercultural conundrums surrounding crisps, crisp eating and the attitudes towards them. You wouldn't think so, would you?

In Britain eating crisps is the most humdrum, every-day activity imaginable. Go to a Boots, and they're part of the "Meal-Deal". Go to a newsagent, and they're there, nicely stacked in a rack. In the supermarket, they come in huge sack-like multi-packs. Crisps are essentials.

A very different "crisp-scenario" presents itself in Germany. There, crisps are stashed away in the "snacks"area of the supermarket. The bags look uniform, and come in only one size- quite a large size, approx. 4 servings of a Walkers packet. And - especially signifcantly - they overwhelmingly come in ONE flavour: "Paprika", sometimes called "Hungarian". Which explains why Germans often call crisps generically "Paprika-Chips".

In Britain, there's prawn cocktail flavour, grilled steak, Marmite, salt and vinegar (one of the most popular of course), cheese and onion, ketchup... you name it. And in fact Walkers did just that with its Social Media campaign "Do Us A Flavour".(http://bit.ly/mxfPNG) In Germany this exercise would have probably resulted in another paprika flavour! (That said, very recently, German producers have actually created some whacky flavours themselves, amongst them "Currywurst", Wasabi, or pumpkin oil flavour.) The French stick firmly to their No.1 flavour "salé" (ready salted.) Oh, and in Ireland life is really difficult if you're not a Cheese&Onion fan.

But the most surprising thing is, that Germans would not ever dream of eating crisps during the day. "Chips" are strictly for evenings. Offered to friends in a bowl, put on the table as a "TV snack", an ideal accompaniment to beer and football on the telly. (Not surprising you need those big bags!)

I find it fascinating that even such an ubiquitous thing as crisps has an unbuilt intercultural factor. Same thing, so many different habits, flavours, associations connected to it!