Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. My Hamlet.

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Commentary to “A Parable of Truth and Lie”.

This parable has much in common with the parable “About the Lie” of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him.

And it is pertinent to give here an old saying: “Vir bonus semper tiro est.” (“A good man is al­ways a beginner.”)

Here is another suitable saying: “Veritas laborat saepe, exstinguitur numquam.” (“The truth is often in danger, but it never dies.”)

Bulat Okudzhava was a poet and a singer of his songs, one of the founders of the genre of author song. Vladimir Vysotsky repeatedly called him his “spiritual father”.

The presented text is adapted from Andrey Kneller, Stas and Margaret Porokhnya, Sergey Roy and Alec Vagapov’s translations.

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