From the London Review of Books, July 22: The Death of Tolstoy, Russia on the Eve, Astapovo Station 1910. Author of the review: James Meek.
…William Nickell describes the death drama itself as Russia’s first great mass media event. The room in the stationmaster’s house in Astapovo where the dying Tolstoy was lodged was the eye of a news hurricane. A horde of reporters elbowing their way through crowds of onlookers sent out their dispatches in thousands of telegrams to hundreds of newspapers, some of which gave over half their editorial space to a kind of frozen proto-blog. “Please delete that Tolstoy ate two eggs; incorrect: drank only milk tea,” one telegram reads. The cameras were there, and the cinematograph. You can see Tolstoy on YouTube.
The essential modern corollary of a media feeding frenzy, the self-flagellating analysis by the media of its own actions, was rampant, as reporters masochistically savoured the irony that they were trying to grab and sell a piece of the great anti-materialist. “We’re shams!” wailed Sergei Yablonovsky, correspondent of the Voronezh Telegraph. “With counterfeit bodies, counterfeit souls.”
Eric Koch’s new book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
Coincidentally, I saw “The Last Station” last night, a marvelous movie (2009) about Tolstoy’s last years, from a novel by Jay Parini. Splendid performances by Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Sergey Yevtushenko. (Is Yevtushenko a common Russian surname? Is Sergey perhaps related to Yevgeny?)
That film inspired the blog! Yes, it’s a lovely film.
Yevtushenko nust be Ukrainian, no? I say Sergey is Sergey – basta. Parini also wrote a novel about the last days of Walter Benjamin.
These questions must not remain unanswered, parentheses or no. According to Wikipedia, Sergey (French “Serge”) originates from the Roman family name Sergius, and this from a more ancient Etruscan name of unknown meaning. Not related to Yevgeny, which is Eugene, of Greek origin, meaning “well-born, noble”.
Yevtushenko is indeed a Ukrainian name.
Just to make sure he gets it, I e-mailed your reply to “Curmudgeon”, alias for Charles Small. Please do not resist the urge to find out where “Curmudgeon” comes from.
Yes but I was being far too etymological, the relatedness related to the two Yevtushenkos, not their first names!
I have no statistics, but I am convinced that all institutions of higher learning are now “dumbing down”. For competitive reasons. It is easy to criticize – and all of US do – but hard to overcome. Everybody is happy to be admitted to that prestigious university ! So, there is not much trouble.
The issue for universities is the increasing influence of corporations and the emphasis on professional training at the expense of the humanities and disinterested research. The political issue in the Canadian census debate – and the discussion about CBC – is related: it is the ideological objection of the Conservatives in power to the liberal intellectual tradition.
Just for the record – I wasn’t asking whether the names Sergey and Yevgeny are etymologically related – rather, whether the composer of this haunting music is related to the famous poet/writer whose last name he shares. Not that it really matters I suppose…