We think that the ability to love is what sets us apart from most animals. But from the point of view of science, all romantic experiences are just the cunning of selfish and cynical genes, whose only aspiration is endless reproduction.
Photos of a couple in love, taken with a thermal imager. Different colors correspond to different temperatures. The warmest areas are shown in white, followed by red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and finally the coldest, black. Photo: DIOMEDIA
Cunning
From the point of view of evolution, any creature is just a collection of genes that copy themselves. Genes can grow into cells, grow organisms, interact with each other, but in the end only those who manage to preserve their copies will leave a trace in history.
To achieve a goal, genes go to all sorts of tricks. Some people rely on simplicity and efficiency and produce as many copies as possible in the shortest possible time. For example, bacteria divide in two, and hydras sprout new organisms from themselves. This is called asexual reproduction.
Other genes are trickier. They don't just copy themselves, but mix with other genes and create offspring from the resulting mixture. This is the essence of sexual reproduction, which gave living beings a choice: with whom to “mix” so as to ensure the greatest success for the offspring? Asexual reproduction only targets quantity. For sex, quality is important.
The pick-and-mix strategy has proven to be extremely effective. She helped genes to master the entire planet - from mountain peaks to the seabed. Using sexual reproduction, genes have built fancy machines like the human body for themselves - all in order to keep copying themselves.
But what if we - intelligent adults - are not interested in the intentions of our genes? What if we don't want to reproduce? Of course, the genes foresaw this too. To deceive a person, they invented love.
American anthropologist Helen Fisher shared love into three biological components: lust, attraction and attachment... Just as in airplanes, individual motors operate independently of each other, so in the brain, the three components of love independently govern our emotions and desires. You can feel attachment to one partner, attraction to another and at the same time get excited at the sight of spicy photos of someone else.
Lust
Lust, or libido, is the desire to participate in sexual reproduction at all costs. With whom, for what and with what outcome is not so important. What matters is the process, not the result.
The mission of attraction and lust ends with the transfer of genes. Oxytocin made people choose long-term partners. Photo: DIOMEDIA
An analogue of human lust can be considered the reaction of animals to pheromones. For example, they are isolated by sexually mature male mice. Pheromone molecules, entering the nose of a female mouse, bind to special receptors on the nerve endings. They transmit the signal "Time to breed!" right into the brain, which immediately begins to command: "Prepare for ovulation, pump sex hormones into the bloodstream, do not lose sight of the male!"
Lust is the main driver of reproduction, and Homo sapiens it works on sex hormones: estrogens and androgens. As an ancient mechanism, lust is blind, and moral norms are powerless against its oppression.
Attraction
If, for lust, everyone around you is the same person, then at the level of attraction there is a choice for the sake of which everything was conceived. The female deer will give preference to the male that wins the battle. The young lady will go on a date with the most charming boyfriend. From the point of view of neurophysiology, there is no difference between these events.
The main substance responsible for attraction, which is also called falling in love, is dopamine. As soon as the level of dopamine in the brain grows, euphoria sets in, a person becomes overactive, loses appetite and sleep, worries over trifles and at the same time begins to think better. The same effect is caused, for example, by cocaine and amphetamines, which make the body "squeeze" all the dopamine out of itself.
Why would genes make a person nervous, but joyful and smart? The answer is simple: the gene transfer machine must overcome any difficulties, but bring the matter to sexual reproduction with the chosen partner. And to do this as quickly as possible, until another person appears who wants to take part in the mixing of genes. That is why the lover is so nervous and sees only one way out of the painfully sweet state: to achieve a lady of the heart. And, of course, getting the genes where they should be.
Attachment
By evolutionary standards, attachment has appeared in living things quite recently. The superstructure over lust arose about 120-150 million years ago in mammals and the first birds. This is not surprising: if lust and attraction are based on obvious, momentary observations and immediate sensations, then attachment requires a look into the future, and this is much more difficult.
Why did genes invent such a complex mechanism? If we imagine that offspring appears immediately after fertilization and immediately begins an independent life, then attachment is even harmful: what is the point of limiting reproduction to just one set of genes?
But the more complex living beings became in the course of evolution, the more time and energy their offspring required. It takes twenty minutes and a pinch of sugar to make a new bacterium. To get a full-fledged new person, you need nine months of pregnancy, comfortable conditions, a special diet, painful childbirth and a couple of decades of care and education.
With the increasing complexity of animals, reproduction has become a long-term construction, which must be planned in advance. Changing sexual partners like gloves has become unprofitable: if the relationship ends after fertilization, then who will look for food?
Neither attraction nor lust takes such complexity into account. Their mission ends when the genes are passed on to the next generation. What was needed was a way to get the breeding machines to choose a long-term rather than just an attractive partner.
The main "molecule of attachment" is the hormone oxytocin. It is released in huge quantities during childbirth, helping to cope with pain and later forget about it. This hormone promotes milk production, directly affects the manifestation of affection for children and stimulates parenting behavior. Oxytocin enhances the desire to spend time with a partner, to maintain social and physical contact with him. We can say that oxytocin is the hormone of plans for the future.
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Theory The theory that genes, not organisms, are the object of evolution is known as the genocentric approach. It was brilliantly popularized in 1976 by the biologist Richard Dawkins. In The Selfish Gene, he explains that once DNA sequences capable of self-copying were chemically developed, they began to compete with each other. The advantage was given to the fragments that reproduced themselves more efficiently than the others. Over time, genes began to code for enzymes that can copy DNA, and proteins that protect them from external influences. Gradually, machines for carrying and reproducing genes have become more sophisticated, but their behavior is still determined by the needs of the genes, and not the organisms themselves. The genocentric theory explains such seemingly illogical phenomena as altruism and intragenomic competition of genes (the phenomenon when some genes are passed on to offspring with a greater frequency than others). |
Love
The systems that provide lust, attraction and attachment in humans are also found in other mammals. In studies of the role of oxytocin, for example, steppe voles are often used - these rodents are monogamous and attached to a partner. But this does not mean at all that love means the same to a vole as it does to a person. We need to look for a starting point for what we call love.
It is believed that the emergence of love in humans is associated with early evolution. great apes... Eight million years ago, the changing climate of West Africa forced our ancestors to leave the thinning forest and go to the savannah. In open spaces, it was necessary to move long distances, and already about four million years ago, the Australopithecines got to their feet, instead of climbing trees.
Having straightened up, the female could no longer carry the baby on her back, and this made it difficult to find food. But upright posture freed the hands of the males, and they began to carry the obtained food over long distances, instead of having lunch on the spot. Families with a distribution of roles gained an evolutionary advantage: females take care of children, males bring food.
Under the new conditions, the ancient oxytocin system proved to be extremely useful. After playing with the brain settings, evolution "connected" the rapidly developing emotions and consciousness of Australopithecus to the action of the hormone - improved nutrition and new opportunities for raising young have greatly increased its intellectual abilities. Less than three million years later, hormonal and emotional processes, invented by genes to copy themselves as efficiently as possible, overgrown with a dense shell of culture. Religions celebrated oxytocin, and medieval minstrels celebrated dopamine.
But this fact should not at all upset people who seem to be losing control over their lives: after all, who, if not genes, knows better how to please us? So it's worth relaxing and having fun.
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Time scale ~ 3.5-1.2 billion years ago(exact date unknown) 1.2 billion years ago ~ 0.5 billion years ago |
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~ 50 million years ago |
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0.3-0.1 billion years ago
145 million years ago
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195 thousand years agoPhoto: SPL / EAST NEWS, DIOMEDIA (X2), SHUTTERSTOCK (X2), ERIC ERBE, CHRISTOPHER POOLEY / USDA, ARS, EMU
The Ukrainian underground scene of the second half of the 90s is strongly associated with such directions as paganmetal, blackmetal and its radical offshoot NSBM. Many of the projects that originated in those years exist to this day, having managed to gain popularity by now, but, despite this, retaining a radical message in combination with a national flavor. Against the background of such monsters as Nokturnal Mortum, Lucifugum or Dub Buk, you involuntarily forget that it was Ukraine that became the birthplace of one of the most diverse and original collectives of the post-Soviet dark scene. We are talking about the Bumblebee group, now based in Moscow.
At the turn of the 2000s and the dashing 90s, for the fragile ears of a young fan of the radical underground scene, the KTR collections "Punk Revolution" were a real window into Big world... The Internet was still considered a luxury at that time, and Troitsky and his comrades, taking advantage of the complete lack of ideas about the canons of punk music among the target audience, turned most of the compilations into a musical and ideological joke.
It would seem that this could be invented in order to stand out against the background of this colorful obscurantism - it does not matter, for the better or for the worse, but even then the project attracted attention, supplementing the usual punk rock with strict industrial rhythms atypical for this direction, sometimes turning into gloomy semi-acoustics. As for the lyrics, there was no rude protest, no down-to-earth dirty everyday life, no abstract philosophy characteristic of the work of the notorious Az, and even more so, politics. Instead, there were gloomy mystical images, in some places interspersed with the downright Letov surrealism of the late 80s.
One more business card Bumblebees from the very beginning had vocal features. In fact, there were and are two voices in the group, and if for the male component, which is assigned a secondary role, you can still find analogues if you wish, then Lyolya's vocals combine rudeness and at the same time some kind of infernal femininity, causing associations with succubus stuck in the transformation phase.
All this was back in 1999, and the history of the Shmeli group began a year earlier, in the Ukrainian city of Rivne. This, however, does not mean at all that for the founders Alexander Shmelev and Lyolya Zasedateleva this was the first project, but it was precisely as Bumblebees that they received recognition and fame.
Contrary to someone's expectations, the name of the group has no mystical connotation or anything like that. Alexander Shmelev had the nickname "Bumblebee" long before the founding of the collective, and after Lyolya joined him, the newly-made family began to be called simply "bumblebees." The session musicians came and went, but this reckless couple remained and remains inseparable.
The first albums of Bumblebees were also recorded in Ukraine. This happened, by the way, at the Kiev studio Moon Records, which released about the same years semi-official editions of rare albums of Civil Defense and Communism on cassettes with some kind of printing. From the very beginning, the Bumblebees actively used the keyboard section, but in the songs, no, no, and the typical punk shocking idiocy was slipping through, and the dirty guitar sound was very reminiscent of the same Summer period of the 80s.
The Moscow stage of Bumblebee's creativity began a year later, when their notes caught the eye of Spider. The Heavy Rock Corporation not only published their albums, in parallel including the songs of the Bumblebees in almost all the collections published by the corporation, but also gave the Bumblebees the opportunity to declare themselves to the Moscow public from the stage.
Collaboration with the Hard Rock Corporation had a twofold effect on the band. On the one hand, it was Spider who opened Bumblebees to a much wider audience than when the group was based in Rivne.
On the other hand, Sergei Evgenievich Troitsky by that time had long and tightly played with politics, involving in this process those collectives that he took under his wing. One way or another, participation in events under the slogan "Skinheads are Coming" has created a definite reputation for Bumblebees among the so-called "correct" punks. Even so, in those years, the Russian punk culture began to join the overseas culture at an accelerated pace, so the exclamations of “Nazi punx, fuck off” to the group were constantly flying.
It was during the KTR period that the epoch-making song "Shaved Muscovites" was recorded, which became one of the hymns of young fighters for the domination of the Aryan race, at the same time causing tons of hatred among anti-fascist punks. What the musicians themselves were thinking about then is not known for certain, but now they confidently assert that it was a delicate banter. However, it is enough to listen to this track once, being in your right mind, to believe them.
It is difficult to say how everything would have turned out if in 2002 the group had not left the Heavy Rock Corporation in order to begin to conquer the brains and ears of the Russian public on their own. This event was preceded by the release of the first Bumblebee CD entitled "The Hangover". At its core, it was a collection that absorbed the best pieces of the KTR period of the group's existence. There were no shaved Muscovites there, but the compilation included tracks that really enriched the band's repertoire, the lyrics of which the group is also obliged to cooperate with Spider. We are talking about things that were originally recorded for the collections of "Party member songs" on the verses of the scandalous writer Oleg "Gastello" Abramov, such as "The Clown" and "Skeletons". There is not a drop of politics here, but there is lyrics, hopelessness and, of course, horror:
Exactly at 5.30 am Moscow slept in a sticky coma
And the shadow fell as trains entered the ground from the tunnels.
The card is blue, the card is red
Exactly at 5.30 am the skeletons on the trains.
One way or another, the first 5 years of the band's existence turned out to be extremely fruitful, since at that time more than 15 releases were released, not counting participation in compilations. The stage that followed after this can to some extent be considered the second birth of the group. The point here is not only and not so much that our couple once again renewed the rest of the line-up - yes, now the Bumblebee albums have begun to be released on discs by labels such as Mystery or Moroz Records, but with the departure from KTR their concert audience has seriously decreased. As a result, a difficult period began in the life of Bumblebee and Les, when Alexander was forced to earn a living as a dishwasher and a loader, and Lyolya traded on the notorious Gorbushka.
Nevertheless, it was during this difficult period that the art of Bumblebees evolved rapidly. Not a trace of dirty punk themes remained, both in music and in lyrics, where swearing almost completely disappeared, and the style in which Bumblebees began to play was characterized as industrial folk. The lyrics began to focus more on feelings and dark aesthetics; we can say that creativity has become more romantic. The demonic essence of a woman, previously embodied only in the characteristic vocals of Les, is now reflected in a whole series of songs that have invariably been included in each of the collective's albums for five years. Taking a start with the track "Woman-bird", a folk semi-acoustic ballad from the album "Ice", it ended with the track "Woman behind the wheel" from the disc "Fuel" 2010. Between them were - a shadow, and - a butterfly, and - bat, and even - drama.
Around the same time, the first car appeared in the life of a cheerful couple, and since they were always not fools to travel, the attitude towards it was somewhat different than just a tin can on wheels. One way or another, at this time a new stable image appeared in their songs, first embodied in the tracks "Head straight" and "Black Volga":
You keep me warm
You keep me warm
The iron comfort of my car.
I know it's not in vain
I know it's not in vain
We strive with you to the dream of the peak.
Past cities and distant lands
Leaving a trail of sore wheels, feet
On the bones of love of unhealed wounds
There, where the last crossroads in life awaits.
At the same time, the stage image of Bumblebees acquires its current gothic-aristocratic appearance... The albums are recorded one at a time, maximum two per year, but their quality is incomparably higher than the first creations of the collective. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the temporary return to the composition of the keyboardist Rostislav Shcherbatko, known as Ross and who played with the Bumblebees back in 1998. As a professional pianist, this man made a significant contribution to the high quality of the music performed by the collective, which was preserved even after his final departure.
The new period of creativity of Bumblebees begins in 2009. The crisis that broke out a year earlier was not only a blow to the well-being of the majority of citizens of the Russian Federation - this hot topic has found a rich embodiment in culture and contemporary art. The Bumblebees also did not stand aside, having recorded at the very beginning of 2009 a truly anti-crisis disc "Moscow Pleasure Fair" (abbreviated as MNU), which is a caustic mockery of the consumer society that has undergone a cruel bummer:
There is a crisis in the world, a crisis in the world ... prosaic revenge!
Business perishes, business perishes ... But there is always money for vodka!
However, this does not mean that all the images in their songs have become so mundane. There was a place on the disc for both gloomy philosophy and abstract mysticism. The track "Zoya" stands apart, where, under the synthesized sounds of the organ, Bumblebees present their version of the once sensational story about "stone Zoya", a girl who decided to dance with the icon of St. Nicholas and paid dearly for it.
The band's next disc was released in 2010. The Mechanical Ballerina album turned out to be remarkable for a number of reasons. On the subject, he continued the line set at the MNU, however, the problem of a consumer society that turns people into soulless dummies is considered much more globally:
Soon there will be no subcultures
In the moment of the apocalypse, except for one.
A subculture called "people"
People, go, go! People, hoi!
The gods have drawn eyes for us,
We are not people - we are living masks,
We do not need love, not affection,
It would take us longer so that the paint does not wear off
We are porcelain dolls
And don't say anything
Just if you are with us too
Pret? So with!
Most of the things included on the disc were originally intended for another side project by Bumblebee and Les called U.L.A. I must say that this is not the first attempt by Bumblebees to create a parallel project.
Back in 2001, together with the musicians of the Tetrider group, Bumblebees created the Shreds project, within the framework of which the album Drawings in the Soul was released. Later, together with Alan Waters, they recorded in 2003 the disc "Stop Humanity", which was released already within the framework of the "AntiVirus" formation, and the album "Eight Women on the Rainbow" in 2005 in the column "performer" reads: "Bumblebees & Alan Waters ". By the way, for the first time a live violin is used on the last of the listed discs.
There was also the 2006 album "Button", listed as the solo album of Bumblebee and Les, but the only release by U.L.A. Sky Against was never officially published. Nevertheless, this side-project turned out to be the richest in terms of the use of exotic instruments by the Bumblebees. From the very first things, the live bagpipes draw attention to themselves, evoking associations with the tireless Germans Tanzwut. In addition, the album found the use of flute, which, however, can hardly surprise a connoisseur of heavy music flavored with folk, and even gusl and dombra. The last instrument came from the Bumblebees after a trip to Kazakhstan and was used to record one of the most notable tracks on the album, called "Ael Aua". The lyrics for the song are inspired by Kazakh legends and traditions, and a very worthy video was shot for the song itself.
I must say that Bumblebee clips have been filmed for a long time and regularly. As if to counterbalance the teams complaining about how expensive and time-consuming it was, initially the group used only available means to create video sequences. Sometimes the clips were cartoons created in Flash or filmed on an amateur camera, then to be included on the first CDs as a free bonus. This approach, in which the group was not afraid to practice and gain experience, has borne fruit, since for several years now any new clip of Bumblebees has invariably aroused interest.
The period of socialism and anti-glamor is completed by the disc "Fuel" released at the end of 2010. At the same time, it became a real hymn to desperate travelers who are not afraid to go "only by signs on a deserted road" towards adventure.
The subsequent "Workshop for the rehabilitation of paranoids" in some places returns the listener to the times of dirty shocking images characteristic of the Rovno and KTR periods of the group's creativity. After such a reboot, two more discs have been recorded to date - "Theater of Freaks" (2012) and "A pair of corpses" (2013), but it is difficult to talk about the emerging trends at the new stage of creativity. Perhaps the answer to this question will be given by the next Bumblebee albums, but for now it remains only to wait and speculate.
Having become Moscow long ago, the Shmeli group was and remains an atypical example for the underground scene that enthusiasm and creative fertility do not always go away with age. Both Bumblebee and Les have already passed 40, but this reckless couple continues to do what they love and delight their fans, both with fresh records and regular live performances, many of which are colorful shows.
In conclusion, it remains only to quote from one of the tracks from the disc "Theater of Freaks", which, in fact, is a good metaphor for the creative position of this original band with an unusual history:
People
Forget the years
Die on weekdays
Past worries.
They made me laugh and silently melt away.
Hyena, dance, hyena, sing!
Siren, kiss with your lips in hellish syrup.
Skeletons wake up underground
And the tattoo on the pope will come to life by itself.
There are many books in the world, and not all of them are well written. At the same time, most authors choose the same eternal theme, which is called love, as the basis of the plot. How many platitudes have been written on this score! And every year the number of trivial books is growing exponentially. However, there are authors who bring to this concept something new, exciting, completely different from what is called romance today. Their novels tell about the relationship between a man and a woman, about love between mother and daughter, about narcissism. Moreover, each story is both unique and painfully familiar.
1. "Young Adam" - Alexander Trokki
Young Adam was written by the Scottish writer Alexander Trokki, who can be counted among the beatnik movement. The novel itself was filmed, and such worthy Hollywood stars like Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton.
The narrative is not devoid of extreme and sensuality, the intensity of passions. The book is a thriller novel, deeply pessimistic, describing the history of modern Adam, who not only eats the forbidden fruits, but also does not pay for it. Others suffer instead, because we live in modern times rather than biblical. He does not need to be afraid of punishment - let others be afraid of it. There will be no happy ending.
2. "Expanding the space of struggle" - Michel Houellebecq
Michel Houellebecq is one of the rare occasions when a popular writer of popular novels can also be a deep writer who studies the topic thoroughly before taking up the pen. This Frenchman is world famous and world scandalous. His latest book, Submission, caused a stir in the European community and split it into two irreconcilable sides.
But the earlier Houellebecq was just as good. Expanding the Space of Struggle is a novel about sex and its effect on the mind young man and, of course, about love. The main character is easy to try on because of his absolute dullness. He works as a programmer at one of the many computer companies, he is thirty years old, and he makes a good income. A book about an ordinary person in modern world and liberal model through which this world passes.
3. "Morel's Invention" - Adolfo Boi Casares
Morel's Invention is a book by a Latin American writer, a good friend of Borges, by the way. He doesn't have many books, he wrote reluctantly. But he still created several novels. Morel's Invention is a novel that tells the story of unrestrained loneliness, devoid of any meaning. The hero drives himself into a prison, which, although it looks like an island paradise, is still a prison.
He falls in love with the image of a girl whom he sees at the same time on the same hill. But he cannot approach her - he is afraid. The girl, meanwhile, does not notice him. Perhaps, on purpose, perhaps, he really does not see an unkempt, savage-looking man. Casares shows the inner conflicts of the protagonist and his attempts to get mutual sympathy from the girl, and all this takes place against the backdrop of island landscapes.
4. "The Body Snatcher Story" - Anne Rice
Once upon a time, vampire novels were quite respected genre literature. But it looks like the good vampire books settled on Anne Rice, who came up with the very story behind Interview with the Vampire. One of the most colorful characters was the vampire Lestat, who was not central - all the attention was drawn to the character of Brad Pitt. And it seemed unfair.
However, not everything is so bad. Lestat de Lioncourt is the protagonist of many of Rice's other books, including The Story of the Body Snatcher. The narration is conducted on behalf of the main character, as is customary for this author. Lestat at the very beginning of the book falls into a severe depression: he no longer wants to be a vampire. It seems terrible to him, but he really wants to become a human being, to be alive in the full sense of the word. And, fortunately for him, such an opportunity appears. He becomes a person, a mortal person who can have ordinary sex, love, show feelings. But things are going awry, because being human is not so easy. Good mysticism, not without humor. The book contains sex, lust, narcissism, and, of course, the essence of a person, described from the outside.
5. "Door to December" - Dean Koontz
Dean Koontz is arguably one of the top 10 American horror writers. He is highly praised by critics, and each A new book for sale faster speed bullets.
"Door to December" may not be a film about love between a man and a woman, but it is a film about love for a family. Old feuds are immediately forgotten, the problems with which they turn to a family therapist, too, when something mysterious threatens the life of a child. There are three main characters in this story: detective Dan Haldane, courageous mother Laura McCaffy and her nine-year-old daughter Melanie. Of course, there is a fourth character that has nothing to do with humanity - it is simply “it”, which is dangerous, who kills and with whom you cannot agree. The Trinity is simply trying to survive while cementing family ties. Dean Koontz is actually a very family writer.
Inaccessible Emmeline Suzanne Forster
Your hottest fantasies will come true ... Your most secret dreams will come true ... Here are four stories written by the masters of a modern love story. Four stories of love - and passion, feelings - and sensuality, joy - and pleasure. Do you think our days are devoid of romance? So you haven't read this wonderful book yet!
Waiting for Prince Patricia Horst
Seven long years have passed since the divorce of Tessa and Tyler. Having met again, they understand that they still love each other, but it is not so easy to forget past grievances. Will they be able to use the second chance given by fate, and, in spite of everything, be together again or love will fail again?
The Incredible Shrinking Man Richard Matheson
The story of a man who, under the influence of radiation and insecticides, begins to inexorably decrease to microscopic proportions. The fame of R. Matheson truly knows no bounds: his works have been translated into many languages of the world, films based on his scripts, shot by such eminent directors as Roger Corman, Steven Spielberg and others, have long become classics of cinema. No wonder Ray Bradbury called R. Matheson one of the most important writers of the 20th century, and Stephen King argued that this author had the most big influence... R.'s creativity ...
Barabbas. The Tale of the Times of Christ Maria Corelli
Fiction story about the fate of the biblical Barabbas. The drama of two thousand years ago, which influenced the history of all mankind, described in the book, opens before us a picture that was played out in Jerusalem, first as a tragedy, and then as a great joy for the apostles and all sincere believers in Palestine. The story is presented as if this is happening now before our eyes, and each of us is a direct participant in certain scenes. Reading this book, you immediately understand why the Jews crucified Christ. The events of distant antiquity have become ...
Word in modern texts and dictionaries Leonid Krysin
The book is devoted to the processes taking place in the Russian language at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. It is a collection of essays, grouped thematically. The first part of the book is essays on foreign language borrowings, their properties, their relationship with the original Russian (or previously borrowed) vocabulary, their “behavior” in the language, on the ways and forms of describing foreign words and special terms in modern explanatory dictionaries. The second part contains articles devoted to the literary norm - its nature, its relationship, on the one hand, ...
Cure for insomnia Andrey Kurpatov
"Remedy for insomnia" is a unique practical guide that simply, accessible and substantively talks about sleep disorders and how to deal with this problem. Sleep disorders include: difficulty falling asleep, shallow sleep, night (or early morning) awakenings, daytime sleepiness, nightmares, etc. In this book you will find detailed description causes of insomnia, as well as a list of effective psychotherapeutic techniques to get rid of it. The author of the book, Andrey Kurpatov, is a unique and authoritative expert, ...
The Stones Keep Silent by Diana Cooper
Diana Cooper. The world famous psychic healer, visionary and medium, writer and publicist. Diana Cooper's books have helped thousands of people find the purpose and meaning of life, to realize their spiritual purpose. Two women who accidentally received from the hands of a dying Tibetan monk a mysterious manuscript of the ancient, mythical Atlantis ... Attempts to translate the message of the Atlanteans - and give humanity their Spiritual Knowledge ... Fantasy? Mystic? Or - a genuine experience of an encounter with the Unknown? - Mysterious Manuscript - Key to Healing - New Forces of the Earth ...
Astral Dynamics Robert Bruce
Support Group. First Evil Robert Stein
Support Group. The Second Evil Robert Stein
Accidents, mysterious accidents, nightmarish attacks and grisly murders all happen to the members of the Shadeyside High School cheerleading group. Who hunts girls in empty school corridors - a maniac, an evil spirit or a ghost? Start reading and feel the chilling horror and otherworldly fear. This book will be of interest to fans of action-packed prose and to all those who, having become adults, have not forgotten how to believe in the mysterious and are still afraid of the dark ...
Support Group. The Third Evil Robert Stein
Accidents, mysterious accidents, nightmarish attacks and grisly murders all happen to the members of the Shadeyside High School cheerleading group. Who hunts girls in empty school corridors - a maniac, an evil spirit or a ghost? Start reading and feel the chilling horror and otherworldly fear. This book will be of interest to fans of action-packed prose and to all those who, having become adults, have not forgotten how to believe in the mysterious and are still afraid of the dark ...
Support Group. New Evil Robert Stein
Accidents, mysterious accidents, nightmarish attacks and grisly murders all happen to the members of the Shadeyside High School cheerleading group. Who hunts girls in empty school corridors - a maniac, an evil spirit or a ghost? Start reading and feel the chilling horror and otherworldly fear. This book will be of interest to fans of action-packed prose and to all those who, having become adults, have not forgotten how to believe in the mysterious and are still afraid of the dark ...
Astral dynamics. Theory and Practice of the Out-of-Body ... Robert Bruce
If you are interested in the topic of astral projection, lucid dreaming and awareness raising in general, this book is for you. Robert Bruce collected in one book personal experience, recommendations, solutions to common mistakes and a theoretical overview of the non-physical structure of our complex multidimensional life. Whether you are a skeptic or a veteran of astral travel, a beginner or a lover of other people's stories, here you will find a lot of interesting things. This simply amazing, priceless book can allow almost everyone, regardless of their spiritual or metaphysical experience, to achieve conscious ...
Recently, several friends have been thinking about the eternal without saying a word, namely, about books. We rarely read them (and I am no exception). But 20 years ago, the book was an obligatory attribute of the bedside table. And I'm not talking about the hundred-year-old past.
Screen adaptation of the erotic novel " 50 shades of grey”Became one of the most sensational events of this winter. The modern public is clearly “hungry” for shocking and sexual revelations. However, few people know that the best examples of an erotic novel were written in the Victorian era, and their authors spoke much more openly about sex and BDSM.
The books are arranged in reverse order ...
10. Erotic magazine "Pearl" (1879-1880)
For the top 10 sexiest books of the 19th century, start with The Pearl, a monthly magazine published during the 1879-1880s by Englishman William Lazenby. Until the publication was closed, accused of immorality, erotic stories were printed on its pages, which often depicted frank scenes from the life of high society, incest and flagellation.
Cover of the magazine "Pearl"
9. Novel "The Romance of Lust, or Early Experiences" (1873-1876)
Most erotic novels were published anonymously, one of which was “ The Romance of Lust, or Early Experiences» (« The romance of lust, or Early experience "). This work was published by William Lesenby... The story is based on the confession of a fifteen-year-old boy about his first sexual exploits, which were not limited to deprivation of virginity with two sisters, but continued with a series of familiar guys, girls and governesses. For the author of this novel, there is no taboo: homosexuality, incest and pedophilia - all this and much more will be learned by the readers of the novel.
Cover of the novel * The Romance of Lust *, 1873-1876
8. The novel "The Sins of the Cities of the Plain" (1881)
William Lesenby in 1881 he contributed to the publication of yet another novel that shocked prim England. " The Sins of the Cities of the Plain"- the first work, the main character of which was a homosexual. It is noteworthy that not only fictional characters act in the novel, but real personalities are also mentioned. In particular, the author writes about two transvestites Ernest Bolton and Frederick Park ... By the way, the seller of pornographic literature Charles Hirsch even claimed that he had acquired this particular book. Oscar Wilde in 1890.
Cover of the novel * The Sins of the Cities of the Plain *, 1881
7. The book "The Nunnery Tales" (1866)
Book " The nunnery tales"(1866) shocked readers not only explicit scenes group orgies and all kinds of sexual perversions. The author chose a nunnery as the scene of action, needless to say that nuns and priests “sinned” a lot and with delight.
Cover of the collection * The Nunnery Tales *, 1866
6. The story "Venus in Furs" by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1870)
The recognized genius of sexual pleasures is, of course, the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch... His story " Venus in furs”To this day remains one of the most widely read works, because in it the author for the first time showed a love affair in which a man takes the role of a slave, obeying a woman in everything. In fact, this novel is a harbinger of masochism in the broadest sense of the word, because the term itself appeared by the name of its "discoverer".
Cover of the story of Sacher-Masoch * Venus in furs *
5. Novel "The Autobiography of a Flea" (1887)
Novel " The Autobiography of a Flea» (« Flea autobiography", 1887) is one of the most daring satirical works of the 19th century. Its author, a London lawyer Stanislas de Rodes, published the work anonymously. The narration is on behalf of pubic lice , settled on the body of a nymphet, who observes the various love adventures of her "mistress".
Cover of the novel * Autobiography of a Flea *, 1887
4. The novel "The Lustful Turk" (1828)
Erotic novel " The lustful turk» (« Lustful turk", 1828) - a tribute to the enthusiasm of readers for exotic countries and traditions. The work has an epistolary form, these are letters from an Englishwoman who fell into sexual slavery to the Turkish sultan and is doomed to fulfill his all sorts of whims, living in a harem. The novel gained such immense popularity that it was reprinted several times in the 20th century and was even filmed.
Cover of the novel * The Lustful Turk *, 1828
3. The novel "The Mysteries of Verbena House" (1881)
Two-volume novel " The Mysteries of Verbena House”, Published in 1881 with numerous illustrations, inspired by the British love of discipline and order. The storyline is based on the later classic collision: for disobedient schoolgirls, the abbess of the boarding school summons a strict teacher who willingly "punishes" the guilty nymphets.
Cover of the novel * The Mysteries of Verbena House *, 1881
2. The collection of poems "The Whippingham Papers" (1887)
« The Whippingham Papers"- a collection of sado-masochistic poems by authorship Algernon charles swinbure... In most of his joke poetry, he describes corporal punishment that was applied to young men in school. Apparently, the memory of the rods remained with men for a long time, as they read this edition with interest.
Cover of the collection * The Whippingham Papers *, 1887
1. The novel "Gynecocracy" (1893)
Voted Best Erotic Novel of the Victorian Era " Gynecocracy"(1893). Critics believe that he reveals secret desires that haunted the British. In particular, the author describes typical cases when men dressed in women's clothes, imitating the governesses, and served the girls, fulfilling any of their whims, sometimes even the most unpredictable ones.
Cover of the novel * Gynecocracy *, 1893
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