19th Century Russian Authors


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19th Century Russian Authors

Post by guild navigator »

Has anybody here read works by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, or Gogol (particularly Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, and Crime and Punishment)? I'm going to try an read War and Peace this summer, and have read Karamazov and Karenina already.

P.S- Didn't KJA say he took course in early Russian Lit? Probably didn't understand a word of it...
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Post by Seraphan »

Even if he did understand russian he wouldnt understand the books. He'd probably accuse them of being boring or pseudo-intellectuals.

My philosophy teacher recomended me Crime and Punishment last year but i havent gotten around to aquire it, yet.
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Re: 19th Century Russian Authors

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guild navigator wrote:Has anybody here read works by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, or Gogol (particularly Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, and Crime and Punishment)? I'm going to try an read War and Peace this summer, and have read Karamazov and Karenina already.

P.S- Didn't KJA say he took course in early Russian Lit? Probably didn't understand a word of it...
Yes last year I gave it a try to War & Peace and I didn't like it, I kept jumping pages. I thought it was going to have Napoleon Bonaparte as the main storyline but I felt like reading the novelization of a mexican Soap Opera.
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Re: 19th Century Russian Authors

Post by Freakzilla »

cmsahe wrote:...I felt like reading the novelization of a mexican Soap Opera.
:lol:

I was flipping through channels the other day and stopped when I came across the Mexican version of "Ugly Betty".

A laugh riot.
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Post by Redstar »

Anyone seen Destinos? Great Spanish-language soap opera. I'm planning on picking up some Tolstoy after my current list. Maybe they'll compare. :D
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Post by chanilover »

I read Crime And Punishment. "Oh woe is me for my wife is consumptive and I'm an alcoholic who has just been run over by a horse and cart whilst staggering around pissed in the street and now I've lost my job so I've forced my daughter into prostitution to keep the leaking roof over our nit-infested heads".

Meh. That's about the long and short of it.
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Post by Omphalos »

I have read a ton of Russian short stories. My brother was a Soviet Area Studies major in college and inspired me to take a Russian lit class. I liked the short stories but was pretty much bored to tears with the novels.

I have read a bunch of Russian SF too, and most of that is good.
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Re: 19th Century Russian Authors

Post by cmsahe »

Freakzilla wrote:
cmsahe wrote:...I felt like reading the novelization of a mexican Soap Opera.
:lol:

I was flipping through channels the other day and stopped when I came across the Mexican version of "Ugly Betty".

A laugh riot.
Some years ago, my guilty pleasure was to watch the original colombian version of Ugly Betty, the mexican one was a very bad copy. To watch a mexican soap opera is like reading a book by the hacks, an insult to intelligence :) And I really didn't like War & Peace, there are "historical" soaps operas here that are as boring:
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Post by guild navigator »

Hey Omphalos, ever read R.U.R, The Cyberiad, or Solaris? I hear Solaris is one of the best SF novels ever, but haven't even found it at the used bookstore.
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Post by Omphalos »

guild navigator wrote:Hey Omphalos, ever read R.U.R, The Cyberiad, or Solaris? I hear Solaris is one of the best SF novels ever, but haven't even found it at the used bookstore.
I have read all three of them. Lem is Polish, not Russian, and the Capek brothers are Chech. If you want some Russian stuff start with the Brothers Sturgatsky. There are lots of others that are translated too.
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Post by cmsahe »

guild navigator wrote:Hey Omphalos, ever read R.U.R, The Cyberiad, or Solaris? I hear Solaris is one of the best SF novels ever, but haven't even found it at the used bookstore.
Solaris is an excellent read, I liked it. I've just checked it out, it's available on Amazon.
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guild navigator wrote:
Hey Omphalos, ever read R.U.R, The Cyberiad, or Solaris? I hear Solaris is one of the best SF novels ever, but haven't even found it at the used bookstore.


I have read all three of them. Lem is Polish, not Russian, and the Capek brothers are Chech. If you want some Russian stuff start with the Brothers Sturgatsky. There are lots of others that are translated too.
Yeah, I've read Roadside Picnic a long time ago. It was pretty good, but don't remember parts of it (its the one with the Stalkers right?).
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Post by SandChigger »

Yep. Stalkers and Zones. :D
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