The Brothers Karamazov book
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"Lolita" by Nabokov, very accessible. A wonderful story.This is my 1st attempt at Russian Literature by the great Fyodor Dostoyevsky. No spoilers please, is this book as good as advertised? Lets hear the perb novel readers voice an opinion.
i haven't read karamazov. i have read war and peace. the russian classics are a bit of a chore to get through, but i think part of that is due to the overprint of the translator
i remember in war and peace reading one section where some soldiers were joking about something and me stopping and saying to myself, hey, wtf - soldiers don't talk like that? but upon reflection i figured that here was an upper class russian author writing down HIS impression of a soldiers' conversation, then that conversation being translated by a british upper class writer into what HE thought soldiers should speak like, and the whole thing ended up reading like the conversation of some retarded upper classmen
but they give you the opportunity to not just read a novel, but to try to put the events into the context of the times in which it was written, and the context of the social class of the writer - that is, the way he saw the world
i did read a few of solzhenitsyn's books and i thought they were much better. stanley kubrick directed a movie based on what i thought was the best of solzhenitsyn, 'one day in the life of ivan denisovich'. both are fine examples of their respective arts
the first paragraph of 'one day...' follows:
let us know how it goes :thumb:
i remember in war and peace reading one section where some soldiers were joking about something and me stopping and saying to myself, hey, wtf - soldiers don't talk like that? but upon reflection i figured that here was an upper class russian author writing down HIS impression of a soldiers' conversation, then that conversation being translated by a british upper class writer into what HE thought soldiers should speak like, and the whole thing ended up reading like the conversation of some retarded upper classmen
but they give you the opportunity to not just read a novel, but to try to put the events into the context of the times in which it was written, and the context of the social class of the writer - that is, the way he saw the world
i did read a few of solzhenitsyn's books and i thought they were much better. stanley kubrick directed a movie based on what i thought was the best of solzhenitsyn, 'one day in the life of ivan denisovich'. both are fine examples of their respective arts
the first paragraph of 'one day...' follows:
by the end of the book you're exhausted... by the end of the movie you'll be craving a puff of tobacco so bad you'll probably go out and buy a pack of smokes, lolThe hammer banged reveille on the rail outside camp HQ at five o'clock as always. Time to get up. The ragged noise was muffled by ice two fingers thick on the windows and soon died away. Too cold for the warder to go on hammering.
let us know how it goes :thumb:
I've read half of Brothers Karamazov (when I was in my late teens)
like vancity said, it was a chore.
since internet chat rooms, I've actually talked to other russians over the years, and on occasion this book has come up as a topic, even natural speaking Russians find it a tough book to read sometimes
I do plan on getting back to it, starting over and such, one day.. see if it's any easier now that I'm a bit older.
one of my life's goal's is to read that book in the original Russian language (obviously I have to learn Russian first lol)
like vancity said, it was a chore.
since internet chat rooms, I've actually talked to other russians over the years, and on occasion this book has come up as a topic, even natural speaking Russians find it a tough book to read sometimes
I do plan on getting back to it, starting over and such, one day.. see if it's any easier now that I'm a bit older.
one of my life's goal's is to read that book in the original Russian language (obviously I have to learn Russian first lol)
I read War and Peace a long time ago, but I prefer Chekhov (the playwright, not the Star Trek navigator) to Tolstoi. I think the Russian novel I got the most from was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago".
Nineteenth century Russian literature and perhaps early twentieth century is the epitome of storytelling in all of Western civilization. There are more readable novels by Doystoyevski than The Brothers Karamazov, honda761, which you may wish to start with, i.e., The Gambler or Notes From The Underground.
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I couldn't get in to Tolstoy.
I found he had very little to say, just loved the sound of his own voice...
Solzchenitsyn, I loved, then Dostoyevsky both I thought were thinkers and had something to say, I felt.
God I read them so dam long ago.
Read everything they wrote.
Kafka talk about a chore.
I never finished one of his books. But then I don't think he ever finished The Castle either,
So if he couldn't be bothered to finish, why should I
I found he had very little to say, just loved the sound of his own voice...
Solzchenitsyn, I loved, then Dostoyevsky both I thought were thinkers and had something to say, I felt.
God I read them so dam long ago.
Read everything they wrote.
Kafka talk about a chore.
I never finished one of his books. But then I don't think he ever finished The Castle either,
So if he couldn't be bothered to finish, why should I
i made a big blunder in my post above and too late to edit it. the movie one day in the life of ivan denisovich was NOT directed by kubrick. it was directed by Caspar Wrede
also too late to edit this video into my post above, but this is the opening segment of the movie
also too late to edit this video into my post above, but this is the opening segment of the movie
Kafka requires a certain kind of addiction. He was brilliant and thoroughly original but just not your "cup of tea". Loving particular kinds of literature is an acquired taste and that taste shifts during one's lifetime.
I couldn't get in to Tolstoy.
I found he had very little to say, just loved the sound of his own voice...
Solzchenitsyn, I loved, then Dostoyevsky both I thought were thinkers and had something to say, I felt.
God I read them so dam long ago.
Read everything they wrote.
Kafka talk about a chore.
I never finished one of his books. But then I don't think he ever finished The Castle either,
So if he couldn't be bothered to finish, why should I
another point of view.
i wouldn't call brothers k a friendly entry-point to russian literature, nor to dostoyevsky for that matter.
each time i get going on brothers k and get a few hundred pages into it i put it down. just not getting anything more by continuing and not really enjoying myself. i'm sure i'll get around to finishing it someday.
another approach to d would be to try poor folk and some other shorter works, available in collections.
as for other russian lit suggestions you might try gogol (also shorter works) or 'we' by zamyatin.
war and peace. justifiably considered one of the greatest novels ever written. don't let its massive size daunt you, the story is massive also and will carry you through many rainy days and nights. its true that tolstoy can go on a bit and an editor's services would have been welcome. you can skip the last couple of hundred pages and not miss anything (you'll know it when you come to it, but probably continue anyway for the accomplishment, as i did).
i wouldn't call brothers k a friendly entry-point to russian literature, nor to dostoyevsky for that matter.
each time i get going on brothers k and get a few hundred pages into it i put it down. just not getting anything more by continuing and not really enjoying myself. i'm sure i'll get around to finishing it someday.
another approach to d would be to try poor folk and some other shorter works, available in collections.
as for other russian lit suggestions you might try gogol (also shorter works) or 'we' by zamyatin.
war and peace. justifiably considered one of the greatest novels ever written. don't let its massive size daunt you, the story is massive also and will carry you through many rainy days and nights. its true that tolstoy can go on a bit and an editor's services would have been welcome. you can skip the last couple of hundred pages and not miss anything (you'll know it when you come to it, but probably continue anyway for the accomplishment, as i did).
Kafka brilliant.
Different yes. But I guess it depends on your definition of brilliance.
Solzenhitsyn said Intellegenista is original thought. So I guess by that definition brilliant applies.
Brilliant or nuts, some one send Kafka was the most in depth look at a schizophrenia in literature.
It takes one to know one.
I met a guy on the train yesterday rambling on about nothing, certainly original
My favorite would be The Idiot by Dostoyevsky an easier read I think.
Why force yourself to read anything.
Who cares.
How smart people think you are or how much culture or education.
Different yes. But I guess it depends on your definition of brilliance.
Solzenhitsyn said Intellegenista is original thought. So I guess by that definition brilliant applies.
Brilliant or nuts, some one send Kafka was the most in depth look at a schizophrenia in literature.
It takes one to know one.
I met a guy on the train yesterday rambling on about nothing, certainly original
My favorite would be The Idiot by Dostoyevsky an easier read I think.
Why force yourself to read anything.
Who cares.
How smart people think you are or how much culture or education.
