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
- 1597 Views
Things you liked
15/07/2010 08:37:57 AM
- 1002 Views
The Passion interludes and Margarita's witchification and night flight.
23/07/2010 11:19:59 PM
- 1185 Views
Things you didn't like
15/07/2010 08:38:20 AM
- 909 Views
Things that didn't make sense to you
15/07/2010 08:38:54 AM
- 956 Views
The murder of Judas.
23/07/2010 11:13:58 PM
- 919 Views
Does it make more sense if Aphranius is seen as...
26/07/2010 12:39:46 AM
- 872 Views
See, that seemed obvious to me.
28/07/2010 02:55:02 AM
- 1012 Views
Oh, so that was them making up a story to tell anyone else if needed? *NM*
28/07/2010 08:29:10 AM
- 530 Views
The walls have ears. Nobody would know that better than Aphranius and Pilate.
31/07/2010 07:32:09 PM
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Also, who was Koroviev supposed to be?
23/07/2010 11:44:28 PM
- 936 Views
Characters (ordinary)
15/07/2010 08:39:53 AM
- 977 Views
Characters (supernatural)
15/07/2010 08:40:36 AM
- 915 Views
Behemoth was hilarious. I love the idea of him being a large mischievous cat.
23/07/2010 11:22:01 PM
- 839 Views
I'm reserving a spot for my comments but not posting them just yet.
15/07/2010 03:46:34 PM
- 994 Views
I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
16/07/2010 02:44:53 PM
- 1071 Views
Re: I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
21/07/2010 12:22:28 PM
- 964 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
- 1075 Views
My thoughts
20/07/2010 04:50:06 AM
- 1150 Views
Does this story translate well?
20/07/2010 06:27:50 PM
- 970 Views
I honestly have no clue.
20/07/2010 07:31:03 PM
- 1082 Views
About evil in this book.
21/07/2010 07:14:59 PM
- 881 Views
There is a Russian author who believes Margarita was Gorky's girlfriend.
22/07/2010 03:15:13 AM
- 1045 Views
Aha. There's the question I was going to ask:
31/07/2010 10:32:17 PM
- 861 Views
To the devil with this. I don't care if I am showing my ignorance.
31/07/2010 10:52:54 PM
- 1235 Views
Any time you have a dual story, the invitation to draw parallels exists.
10/08/2010 05:56:23 PM
- 973 Views
For all the expressed interest, this book club discussion is languishing. *NM*
21/07/2010 02:07:23 AM
- 498 Views
An anniversary, a birthday, and a successful job interview do tend to slow me down somewhat
21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
- 919 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
- 499 Views
Give me a day or two to catch up on things and finish the book. *NM*
24/07/2010 11:14:17 PM
- 479 Views
Names.
21/07/2010 07:16:23 PM
- 1007 Views
They're not common.
22/07/2010 03:08:55 AM
- 998 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
- 968 Views
Why do you think Bulgakov chose to wait so long before introducing us to Margarita?
24/07/2010 12:05:59 AM
- 891 Views
Have any of you heard of The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia?
25/07/2010 09:01:30 PM
- 1034 Views
Unfortunately do to my eye surgery I could not participate.
28/07/2010 12:36:28 AM
- 1041 Views
I "read" it in audiobook form, in the car and on the move.
29/07/2010 02:55:50 PM
- 1034 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
- 820 Views
I've finished.
28/07/2010 02:39:57 AM
- 987 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
- 851 Views
Civil Rights? You do realize that Russia never imported slaves, right?
28/07/2010 01:52:12 PM
- 1099 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
- 984 Views