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19th Century Russian Authors
Posted: 22 Mar 2009 15:07
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...
Posted: 22 Mar 2009 15:28
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.
Re: 19th Century Russian Authors
Posted: 22 Mar 2009 15:38
by cmsahe
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.
Re: 19th Century Russian Authors
Posted: 22 Mar 2009 15:43
by Freakzilla
cmsahe wrote:...I felt like reading the novelization of a mexican Soap Opera.
I was flipping through channels the other day and stopped when I came across the Mexican version of "Ugly Betty".
A laugh riot.
Posted: 22 Mar 2009 16:04
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.
Posted: 23 Mar 2009 16:18
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.
Posted: 23 Mar 2009 18:59
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.
Re: 19th Century Russian Authors
Posted: 23 Mar 2009 21:22
by cmsahe
Freakzilla wrote:cmsahe wrote:...I felt like reading the novelization of a mexican Soap Opera.
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:
Posted: 24 Mar 2009 16:30
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.
Posted: 24 Mar 2009 20:05
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.
Posted: 25 Mar 2009 00:31
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.
Posted: 25 Mar 2009 17:34
by guild navigator
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?).
Posted: 25 Mar 2009 18:38
by SandChigger
Yep. Stalkers and Zones.