Dmitry Yevgenyevich Galkovsky (Russian: Дмитрий Евгеньевич Галковский; born 4 June 1960 in the USSR) is a Russian conspirolog writer, journalist, philosopher and blogger. He is best-known as the author of the novel The Infinite Deadlock (Бесконечный тупик).
Dmitry Galkovsky was born in Moscow in a working-class family, his father being an engineer, and his mother a tailor. Both his parents were originated from the families of Russian Orthodox clerics.[1] He graduated from school No. 51 in Moscow in 1977.[2]
(Alternative translations: Endless Dead-end, Endless Impasse).Galkovsky's first major work was the philosophical novel Бесконечный тупик (The Infinite Deadlock). The work consists of three parts. The first part, completed in 1984 and entitled "The Round World," is a brief analysis of, and homage to, the work of the Russian philosopher Vasily Rozanov. Rozanov's writings were not published during Soviet rule, and he had become somewhat obscure by the time Galkovsky was writing. "The Round World" argues that Rozanov's work is "very modern and relevant" to Russia in the late 20th century, and that he is "perhaps… the most modern Russian philosopher."
The second part of The Infinite Deadlock, referred to as "The Infinite Deadlock (main text)" in the third edition, is an essay (completed in 1985) that fleshes out many of the arguments made in "The Round World." In this work, Rozanov is placed in the greater context of 19th century Russian history and philosophy. The essay favorably compares Rozanov to such writers as Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Berdyaev, whom Galkovsky views as "infantile" and "talkative." Galkovsky makes the argument that the Russian language is inherently highly amorphous, and that Russian culture is better adapted to faith (which is associated with "silence") than to reason ("logos" or "speech"). In this interpretation, the fragmented nature of Rozanov's later writing is the ideal expression of the Russian way of thinking.
The third part of The Infinite Deadlock is called "Comments on 'The Infinite Deadlock'" and consists of 949 "comments" (fragments of text anywhere from one sentence to several pages long). Each "comment" is addressed to a single phrase, either from the "main text" in the second part, or from an earlier comment. Thus, the comments have a tree structure, with one main branch commenting on the "main text," and other smaller branches taking off from comments in the main branch, forming a hypertext. The comments constitute the vast majority of the overall text of The Infinite Deadlock (the third part takes up 1077 out of 1230 pages in the third edition).
The fragmented, episodic nature of the comments resembles Rozanov's style of writing. However, although Rozanov provided the main inspiration for Galkovsky's work, he is only one of many subjects discussed in the third part of The Infinite Deadlock. The main topics covered by the hypertext include the following:
Many other subjects are covered in passing, including the nature and purpose of philosophy, a discussion of Platonism and Aristotelianism, and an analysis of the characters of Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Lenin.
Parts from The Infinite Deadlock were published in the USSR in both the "liberal" journal Novy Mir and the "nationalist" periodical Nash Sovremennik (Наш Современник). It sparked some interest and discussion in the press, though many official critics condemned the novel. The third edition of The Infinite Deadlock contains a selection of hypothetical critical reactions (written by Galkovsky himself) to the work http://www.samisdat.com/3/311-943.htm from across the ideological spectrum.
The Infinite Deadlock is also cited in:
The novel has not been translated into English.[8] The complicated structure of the hypertext, and Galkovsky's heavy use of conversational idioms, make English translation difficult.
In 1997, Galkovsky was awarded the Anti-booker prize for The Infinite Deadlock, but he refused the monetary award. He explained his refusal in an essay later published in the collection Propaganda.
To this day, The Infinite Deadlock is Galkovsky's best-known and most expansive work. However, despite the critical acclaim it has received, it has never been published by any Soviet or post-Soviet organization, and every edition released so far has been self-published by Galkovsky. The first edition was released in 1997, nine years after the novel was completed. The third edition was released in 2007 by a publishing house expressly founded by Galkovsky for this purpose.[9]
Galkovsky compiled an anthology of "typical" Soviet poetry, referencing the Orwellian term Уткоречь (Duckspeak) as a title. It was first published online in 1997 and in print in 2002. In the introduction, Galkovsky argues that earlier anthologies of the Soviet poetry featured a disproportionally large number of Russian silver age poets, whose aesthetic views were largely carried over from pre-revolutionary times, and rejected by the Soviet order. Furthermore, in Galkovsky's opinion, a truly "representative" collection should include the most "typical" poems in a certain category, rather than the "best" ones. Thus, Duckspeak samples many obscure and provincial Soviet poets in addition to more acclaimed ones.
The poems are categorized by subject. The subjects covered by the anthology include:
The size of each section is intended to mirror the frequency of the section's topic in Soviet poetry.
In 2002, Galkovsky wrote a film script called "Друг Утят" ("Friend of Ducklings"). The screenplay tells a futuristic (both utopian and dystopian) story describing a technologically advanced, robotized post-nuclear age. The script was written at the request of film-maker Vladimir Menshov, but has never been adapted. "Friend of Ducklings" was widely reviewed throughout the Russian press; Galkovsky's comments on some of the reviews can be found in Magnet.
In 2003-2004, Galkovsky published two collections of essays, articles and interviews, entitled Пропаганда (Propaganda) and Магнит (Magnet). These collections include Galkovsky's analysis of Soviet philosophy, entitled "Разбитый компас указывает путь" ("The Broken Compass Points The Way"), his explanation for his own refusal of the monetary component of the Anti-booker prize, and other writing. Around this time, many of Galkovsky's short stories (from the series Svyatochnye Rasskazy and Skazki Druga Utyat) were published in both online and offline media.
In 2009, Galkovsky published another collection of essays entitled Два идиота (Two Idiots). The core of the book consists of articles written by Galkovsky in 2005-2007 for the online newspaper Vzglyad and the magazine Russkaya Zhizn. The title refers to Konstantin Rykov, Russian publisher and editor of Vzglyad, and Dmitry Olshansky, editor of Russkaya Zhizn. The book was published through Galkovsky's own publishing house.
During the 1990s, Galkovsky decided to boycott post-Soviet media as a result of his inability to publish The Infinite Deadlock, which he believed to be caused by an organized campaign against him. (His account of this campaign was later published in Propaganda.) After that, his interviews and articles began to appear in various publications:
In 2003, Galkovsky started a Livejournal blog, covering wide range of topics in history, culture and politics. His blog has gained recognition in the Russian blogosphere and regularly appears on various lists of the most popular blogs.[12]
Galkovsky has participated in the creation of a website parodying the typical style of youth movements in the 20th century.[13] Members of the "Ducklings" movement are encouraged to participate in Massively multiplayer online games. Between 2005 and 2007, the movement published the online magazine "Утиная Правда" ("Ducks' Truth", a parody of Pravda), co-founded in 2004 by Galkovsky and Russian counterculture publisher Konstantin Rykov. The magazine contained many articles on history and politics, written by Galkovsky under his "Friend of Ducklings" pseudonym.
The original website of the magazine has now closed, but the content has been archived by a Galkovsky fansite.[14] In 2011, the magazine was reopened under the name "New Ducks' Truth."[15]