"An unknown horde appeared; and
nobody knows who they are, where
they are from, what is their language,
their tribe, their religion..."
(From the modern rendition
of the thirteenth century
Novgorod manuscript referring to
the Tartar-Mongolians)
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Recently much has been said about the Mitki culture, but where can one actually partake of its fruits?
The flood of superfluous information covers the world, yet the golden thread of the Mitki culture barely glows (small wonder that even the persons like A.Florensky and Phil, very remote from literature, resort to the pen clenching their teeth - with the only aim of not allowing this thread to tear).
Dmitri Shagin who, upon first publications about the Mitki, was so exultant as to promise to buy me a bottle every day, has now grown very gloomy. The Mitki culture, wagging right and left, has lost touch with its leader and wanders in the dark. There appeared young Mitki who have never heard about the founder of the movement.
On a warm "white" night a group of young people walked close to Dmitri Shagin, waving the Mitki quotation-books and shouting, "We're Mitki! We're Mitki!" You can imagine what bitter feelings the founder of the movement experienced when he saw Walkman players plugged to the ears of those so-called "Mitki" and fashionable jogging shoes on their feet!
Not every Neophyte can easily part with fashionable clothes he acquired during his pre-Mitki period.<...> This is not so important, really, since a true Mitki-man is able to wear a David Bowie costume as if it were a threadbare quilted jacket.<...>
Let us, however, return to the sore subject of culture.
I shall not dwell on the particulars of the Mitki tastes and affinities. This has been done in A.Florensky's article to be discussed later. I shall simply try to establish some basic notions of the Mitki culture and outline the directions of further research.