It may sound strange, but I have never read a work of Russian literature in English, with the exception of perhaps one or two Chekhov short stories that were in our English anthology books in middle school.
The literary poverty of American schools is such that I hardly read any "foreign" (i.e., originally written in a language other than English) literature in English class school. The only French work I can remember reading is Cyrano de Bergerac, the only Spanish work I read is Don Quixote, and we certainly didn't read any Russian, German or Italian literature. Spanish class made up for the dearth of Spanish-language literature quite quickly, but that was only because I was in the advanced class and even there got bored quickly.
The only work from the Classic Era that we read, honestly, was The Odyssey. Once again, Latin class helped make up for some deficiencies, but once again (again), it was only because I took a one-person advanced course in which I read Ovid, Virgil, Cicero and others in the original language.
As a result, when I started studying Russian, I hadn't read any Russian literature. When, after one year, I was given Crime and Punishment in Russian as my first reading assignment while studying in Russia, it was the first major work of Russian literature I had ever read.
I ended up buying pretty much everything from Russian literature (and I really do mean that), but I've never bought it in English or had any interest in reading it in translation. I glanced at a few translations here and there and just shuddered.
The literary poverty of American schools is such that I hardly read any "foreign" (i.e., originally written in a language other than English) literature in English class school. The only French work I can remember reading is Cyrano de Bergerac, the only Spanish work I read is Don Quixote, and we certainly didn't read any Russian, German or Italian literature. Spanish class made up for the dearth of Spanish-language literature quite quickly, but that was only because I was in the advanced class and even there got bored quickly.
The only work from the Classic Era that we read, honestly, was The Odyssey. Once again, Latin class helped make up for some deficiencies, but once again (again), it was only because I took a one-person advanced course in which I read Ovid, Virgil, Cicero and others in the original language.
As a result, when I started studying Russian, I hadn't read any Russian literature. When, after one year, I was given Crime and Punishment in Russian as my first reading assignment while studying in Russia, it was the first major work of Russian literature I had ever read.
I ended up buying pretty much everything from Russian literature (and I really do mean that), but I've never bought it in English or had any interest in reading it in translation. I glanced at a few translations here and there and just shuddered.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
This message last edited by Tom on 20/07/2010 at 07:32:19 PM
The Joint Book Club: Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita
- 15/07/2010 08:36:47 AM
1708 Views
Things you liked
- 15/07/2010 08:37:57 AM
1101 Views
The Passion interludes and Margarita's witchification and night flight.
- 23/07/2010 11:19:59 PM
1311 Views
Things you didn't like
- 15/07/2010 08:38:20 AM
1010 Views
Things that didn't make sense to you
- 15/07/2010 08:38:54 AM
1065 Views
The murder of Judas.
- 23/07/2010 11:13:58 PM
1031 Views
Does it make more sense if Aphranius is seen as...
- 26/07/2010 12:39:46 AM
993 Views
See, that seemed obvious to me.
- 28/07/2010 02:55:02 AM
1124 Views
Oh, so that was them making up a story to tell anyone else if needed? *NM*
- 28/07/2010 08:29:10 AM
601 Views
The walls have ears. Nobody would know that better than Aphranius and Pilate.
- 31/07/2010 07:32:09 PM
1149 Views
Also, who was Koroviev supposed to be?
- 23/07/2010 11:44:28 PM
1044 Views
Characters (ordinary)
- 15/07/2010 08:39:53 AM
1073 Views
Characters (supernatural)
- 15/07/2010 08:40:36 AM
1023 Views
Behemoth was hilarious. I love the idea of him being a large mischievous cat.
- 23/07/2010 11:22:01 PM
932 Views
I'm reserving a spot for my comments but not posting them just yet.
- 15/07/2010 03:46:34 PM
1103 Views
I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
- 16/07/2010 02:44:53 PM
1184 Views
Re: I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
- 21/07/2010 12:22:28 PM
1061 Views
I haven't collected my thoughts on the experience of reading the novel yet, but I wanted to share...
- 16/07/2010 02:50:03 PM
1177 Views
My thoughts
- 20/07/2010 04:50:06 AM
1284 Views
Does this story translate well?
- 20/07/2010 06:27:50 PM
1082 Views
I honestly have no clue.
- 20/07/2010 07:31:03 PM
1195 Views
About evil in this book.
- 21/07/2010 07:14:59 PM
976 Views
There is a Russian author who believes Margarita was Gorky's girlfriend.
- 22/07/2010 03:15:13 AM
1150 Views
Aha. There's the question I was going to ask:
- 31/07/2010 10:32:17 PM
971 Views
To the devil with this. I don't care if I am showing my ignorance.
- 31/07/2010 10:52:54 PM
1329 Views
Any time you have a dual story, the invitation to draw parallels exists.
- 10/08/2010 05:56:23 PM
1088 Views
For all the expressed interest, this book club discussion is languishing. *NM*
- 21/07/2010 02:07:23 AM
535 Views
An anniversary, a birthday, and a successful job interview do tend to slow me down somewhat
- 21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
1019 Views
- 21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
1019 Views
Vacation and all the stuff associated with it. Will try to write something, but it might be a while. *NM*
- 23/07/2010 02:03:57 AM
550 Views
Give me a day or two to catch up on things and finish the book. *NM*
- 24/07/2010 11:14:17 PM
520 Views
Names.
- 21/07/2010 07:16:23 PM
1106 Views
They're not common.
- 22/07/2010 03:08:55 AM
1106 Views
The Damnation of Faust has been steadily moving up on my list of books to read. So many
- 26/07/2010 05:42:41 PM
1066 Views
Why do you think Bulgakov chose to wait so long before introducing us to Margarita?
- 24/07/2010 12:05:59 AM
971 Views
Have any of you heard of The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia?
- 25/07/2010 09:01:30 PM
1148 Views
Unfortunately do to my eye surgery I could not participate.
- 28/07/2010 12:36:28 AM
1136 Views
I "read" it in audiobook form, in the car and on the move.
- 29/07/2010 02:55:50 PM
1137 Views
I wonder if having the words in front would have helped Ivanovich's dream make (more) sense.
- 29/07/2010 10:37:27 PM
926 Views
I've finished.
- 28/07/2010 02:39:57 AM
1130 Views
I am about 2/3 of the way through the book and it sounds like my feelings on almost all of it are
- 28/07/2010 05:48:07 AM
953 Views
Civil Rights? You do realize that Russia never imported slaves, right?
- 28/07/2010 01:52:12 PM
1210 Views
It felt like two different books.One part I felt like I was wading through a meaningless fluff.
- 31/07/2010 10:45:52 PM
1105 Views

*NM*