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| 480 БУМАЖНЫХ
СТРАНИЦ ПРАВООБЛАДАТЕЛЬ ООО "ИЗДАТЕЛЬСКИЕ РЕШЕНИЯ" ГОД ВЫХОДА ИЗДАНИЯ 2019, 2021, 2022 ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО RIDERO ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО «МОЛОДАЯ ГВАРДИЯ» ISBN 9785449690852 ISBN 9785235045859 ISBN 9785235042759 |
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© Алексей
Митрофанов
© Rideró
© Издательские решения
© АО «Молодая гвардия»
Russian
This book is devoted to an entire era in the life of our country — the era of communal apartments. An unnatural, uncomfortable way of life, yet at the same time, in its own way, warm-hearted and cozy. The kitchen, bathroom and toilet, gramophone, courtyard games, the shared telephone…
The author, writer and television presenter Alexei Gennadievich Mitrofanov, examines separate fragments of communal life one after another. As a result, a three-dimensional picture emerges.
Here is another incident, inconceivable in the world of modern electric irons:
“Verochka was playing with her doll. I was ironing the laundry. The coals went out and the iron cooled down. I got tired of sorting the laundry and buried myself in Feuchtwanger’s book The Pretender. As usual, I became so absorbed in reading that I forgot everything and saw and heard nothing. By chance I looked up — and, horror of horrors, what a sight!
Verochka was sitting on the floor, the iron beside her, and she was happily eating coal! Her whole little face was black — only her eyes were shining. I involuntarily screamed (from fright!), and Verochka ran away from me… with the coal still in her mouth!”
At that time irons were also used to warm the bed before going to sleep. During illness, or simply to keep warm, hot irons were placed at one’s feet.
Clothes were also heated with irons to kill the insidious insects hiding in their seams. Vladimir Gelfand, described here as a schoolteacher, lamented: “The lice have bitten me again. It turns out I didn’t roast all of them with the iron yesterday. Now I’m heating the iron again — I’m going to roast them.”
And on another occasion: “It is warm where I am. During the day I roasted the lice on my clothes with an iron. They burst and left greasy marks in the folds of my shirt. Oh, how many of them there were! It became unbearable to keep fighting them. I stopped halfway, got dressed — it became a little easier.”
In terms of multifunctionality, the elementary iron was no less versatile than today’s smartphones.
And to check whether the iron was ready or not, people would spit heartily on its working surface. If the spit evaporated with a hiss, everything was fine and one could start ironing. If it remained there, the iron needed to be heated further.
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* Vladimir Gelfand was never
a schoolteacher, did not live in a communal apartment, and wrote about
roasting lice with an iron while he was at the front. See: Wikipedia
* 18 March 1943
“The lice have bitten me again. It turns out they didn’t
roast all of them with the iron yesterday. Now the iron is heating
again — I’m going to roast them.” Vladimir Gelfand. Diary 1941–1946
* 8 March 1944
“It is warm where I am. During the day I roasted the lice on my
clothes with an iron. They burst and left bluish greasy marks in the
folds of my shirt. Oh, how many of them there were! It became
unbearable to keep fighting them. I stopped halfway. It became a little
easier.” Vladimir Gelfand. Diary 1941–1946
© Alexei Mitrofanov
© Rideró
© Izdatelskie Resheniya
© JSC Molodaya Gvardiya
Text visible in the publication images:
“Alexei Mitrofanov — Communal Apartment.”
“Ridero Store — publish a book for free.”
“IQ — Publishing Solutions.”
“Molodaya Gvardiya / Young Guard.”
