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Hmmmm. The Shrike Send a noteboard - 16/03/2017 01:18:14 PM

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I'm not terribly put out by it, because I hate rereading books and I know I would not have gotten much at all out of Dostoyevsky at that age. I read Bulgakov in undergrad after taking a few history courses and loved it. </I>

We read Crime & Punishment in AP English Lit in high school. I definitely got a lot out of it at that age. I am sure I would get more now. But I think reading and rereading certain books throughout life is a journey. You start out with a book and as you get older (and perhaps wiser) you reread books getting more and more out of them. Crime & Punishment is one of those books. So was Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy that we also read.


I was taking a seminar on Horace that semester, and seeing the ways the two authors were subversive elements in authoritarian regimes was wonderful. It also marked the beginning of my disenchantment with academia. We had to write a term paper, and I came to my professor very excited to write a paper exploring how satire has changed from the classical to modern period, with the lynchpins being Horace and Bulgakov. She was uninterested and gave me another topic. Around page ten of my philology paper on Horace's use of the word virtus, I decided (rather unfairly) that academia in the classics had its head irredeemably far up its ass and that I was going to law school.

I'm still a little bitter.


Your professor sounds awful. One of things they taught us in graduate school was only write things about which you have passion. Your topic sounds pretty damn great to me. Hope law treats you better than academia did. Though I left my graduate program too because of what I viewed as the assassination of thought. Essentially history programs had been hijacked by anthropology.

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The February Revolution and Kerensky’s Missed Opportunity The Shrike - 13/03/2017 09:37:00 PM 805 Views
Fascinating stuff damookster - 13/03/2017 10:52:58 PM 427 Views
Who knows? It could have been worse off. The Shrike - 13/03/2017 11:37:54 PM 518 Views
What's your opinion on Lenin? Ghavrel - 14/03/2017 02:06:59 AM 464 Views
Lenin. A monster. The Shrike - 14/03/2017 12:55:18 PM 497 Views
Thanks. I'll ask him too. *NM* Ghavrel - 14/03/2017 03:01:36 PM 236 Views
Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky were all bloodthirsty mass murderers. Tom - 14/03/2017 08:59:06 PM 522 Views
That's fascinating. But give me a book recommendation! Ghavrel - 14/03/2017 09:15:57 PM 430 Views
Start with a general history of Russia The Shrike - 14/03/2017 10:17:22 PM 549 Views
Excellent. Thank you. It's next on the list. Ghavrel - 15/03/2017 02:11:14 AM 493 Views
Russian history is as depressing as they come. The Shrike - 15/03/2017 12:08:15 PM 491 Views
Read Figes first, I suppose. Tom - 14/03/2017 10:55:23 PM 455 Views
Thanks, Tom. I've been putting off reading good literature because of my unfamiliarity with Russia. *NM* Ghavrel - 15/03/2017 02:12:10 AM 221 Views
Which books have you put off reading? *NM* The Shrike - 15/03/2017 12:05:32 PM 207 Views
DEMONS and THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV are the big two. Ghavrel - 15/03/2017 02:58:13 PM 445 Views
You don't necessarily need to know the history. The Shrike - 15/03/2017 03:15:38 PM 484 Views
I'm always afraid I'm missing something critical, though! Ghavrel - 15/03/2017 03:50:59 PM 429 Views
Annotations are amazing. My eBook version of War and Peace was the same. The Shrike - 15/03/2017 04:03:59 PM 450 Views
My High School English teacher neglected Russian literature. Ghavrel - 16/03/2017 01:46:29 AM 411 Views
Hmmmm. The Shrike - 16/03/2017 01:18:14 PM 452 Views
Tolstoy was a reprehensible human being Tom - 15/03/2017 04:02:52 PM 428 Views
I had no idea. I was under the impression he was deeply devout. Ghavrel - 16/03/2017 01:47:43 AM 442 Views
Here's one example: Tom - 16/03/2017 02:06:45 AM 447 Views
Good lord. The man sounds deranged. But that's fascinating! Is there a good biography on him? *NM* Ghavrel - 16/03/2017 07:50:10 AM 218 Views
Pavel Basinsky's bio is best Tom - 16/03/2017 02:46:47 PM 618 Views
Getting it now. Thanks. *NM* Ghavrel - 16/03/2017 11:06:25 PM 211 Views
For what it's worth, I read Lenin & Trotsky as genuine idealists, while Stalin as just a thug Cannoli - 15/03/2017 11:16:36 AM 502 Views
Didn't the 40k authors mainly crib from the Nazis, commissariat excepted? *NM* Ghavrel - 15/03/2017 03:00:17 PM 211 Views
I think that's entirely incorrect. Tom - 15/03/2017 04:00:54 PM 511 Views
Fascinating post. I so need to read up on Soviet history. And Russian history. *NM* Legolas - 15/03/2017 11:10:29 PM 221 Views
I didn't mean stupid or brutish, I meant more like a mafia don than a statesman Cannoli - 16/03/2017 12:18:34 PM 400 Views
Well if you want to completely redefine the phrase "just a thug", perhaps you're right Tom - 16/03/2017 02:43:38 PM 427 Views
Good point Cannoli - 16/03/2017 09:52:29 PM 558 Views
I hear what you're saying, but... Tom - 16/03/2017 11:53:19 PM 452 Views
Yeah, it doesn't really matter if the motive is purely power seeking, or revenge. *NM* Cannoli - 17/03/2017 12:57:19 AM 281 Views
Attempt at clarification Cannoli - 17/03/2017 12:55:03 AM 527 Views
Hehehe..."Fuck off" Tom - 19/03/2017 05:23:49 PM 466 Views
Seems kind of nonsensical Cannoli - 14/03/2017 01:33:49 AM 529 Views
Good reply. The Shrike - 14/03/2017 12:57:47 PM 508 Views
They weren't really wrong Cannoli - 14/03/2017 01:30:07 PM 544 Views
I do enjoy historical "what if" situations. LiterateDog - 14/03/2017 01:47:27 AM 441 Views
Hi there. The Shrike - 14/03/2017 01:02:44 PM 412 Views
I still think democracy among those insidiously intrusive Western values Russia resists so fiercely Joel - 14/03/2017 02:37:39 PM 525 Views
Is it your persistant anti-Russia bias that makes you so dogmatic? damookster - 14/03/2017 02:51:23 PM 449 Views
I have no problem with Russia, only its government Joel - 14/03/2017 03:07:14 PM 553 Views
Really? damookster - 14/03/2017 03:15:10 PM 473 Views
Look, we both know I consider your knowledge of Russia to be non-existent and that your own bias The Shrike - 14/03/2017 03:27:05 PM 495 Views
You are just stunningly stupid. Not merely ignorant, but stupid. Tom - 14/03/2017 08:35:00 PM 559 Views
Very interesting article. One thing that's struck me more and more about WW1 is... Legolas - 14/03/2017 06:34:14 PM 552 Views
Kerensky risked a revolution if he pulled Russia out of the war Tom - 14/03/2017 08:21:05 PM 436 Views
Re: Very interesting article. One thing that's struck me more and more about WW1 is... The Shrike - 15/03/2017 11:58:01 AM 412 Views
What a terrible article Tom - 14/03/2017 08:04:50 PM 418 Views
Your criticisms of the scholarship found in posted articles never fail to make me laugh. damookster - 14/03/2017 09:02:54 PM 473 Views
I don't think anyone's ever gotten an open peer review from me *NM* Tom - 14/03/2017 11:54:45 PM 203 Views
Too bad. I would seek it out just for the amusement factor. *NM* damookster - 15/03/2017 02:18:33 AM 208 Views
I thought you would think this way. The Shrike - 15/03/2017 12:04:57 PM 501 Views
I can't decide what I think about Evans Tom - 15/03/2017 04:10:05 PM 413 Views
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