NYT reported on a Russian writer's novel that inspired Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping was inspired by Nikolai Chernyshevsky's Russian novel "What Is To Be Done?". This was reported on December 15 by Garnaut Global analysts John Garneut and Sam Chetwin George in a column for The New York Times (NYT).

The publication noted that the Chinese chairman mentioned Chernyshevsky's novel during the BRICS summit, which was held in Kazan from October 22 to 24. According to analysts, Xi Jinping's attention was attracted by the image of the hero Rakhmetov, who, in their opinion, is a reference revolutionary.

The authors of the article wrote that the Chinese President mentioned that he read this book as a teenager and was shocked by Rakhmetov's ascetic methods, but they helped to temper his will. According to Xi Jinping himself, the newspaper specifies, he even tried sleeping without a mattress and taking cold showers.

What is the power, Bart: French philosopher on Russian cinema, Soviet poet on laughter

Literary novelties of the month

Earlier, on December 27, American businessman, billionaire and owner of social network X (formerly Twitter) Ilon Musk said that the books of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky are better than many books on psychology. Musk commented on the publication of one of the users who posted an excerpt from the novel "The Brothers Karamazov" with the caption that some books on psychology do not reach the same level as this fragment. The owner of the social network replied that this is indeed true.