29
votes
Accepted
How did Leo Tolstoy approve Maude's English translation of War and Peace? Did he speak good English already?
Tolstoy was born into the Russian aristocracy and thus had the benefit of paid tuition as a young man. He was interested in languages and so, given the opportunity to learn them, he did. In fact he ...
- 21k
12
votes
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Meaning of the "quips" from Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita
Here is the same paragraph in Russian:
Произошло подсчитывание, пересыпаемое шуточками и прибаутками Коровьева, вроде «денежка счет любит», «свой глазок — смотрок» и прочего такого же."
[link]
...
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12
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How did Leo Tolstoy approve Maude's English translation of War and Peace? Did he speak good English already?
In his critique of Shakespeare, Tolstoy wrote:
For a long time I could not believe in myself, and during fifty years, in order to test myself, I several times recommenced reading Shakespeare in every ...
- 3,198
7
votes
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"Hamlet" reference in "Crime and Punishment": translator's invention?
To answer your question, let's refer to the Russian original. Here's the relevant passage:
Идти с фальшивым билетом — куда же? — в банкирскую контору, где на этом собаку съели, — нет, я бы ...
- 86
7
votes
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Why did Russian corpses rot in "War and Peace", but not French?
These uneducated soldiers ascribe supernatural unhuman qualities to the invaders. A little further they suspect that the French military commander Napoleon possesses shape-shifting and undead ...
- 1,571
7
votes
Accepted
Why does Pierre think a priest giving a deserter the cross to kiss is hypocrisy?
To begin with, Pierre is describing a particularly brutal method of execution. Being "knouted to death" means being whipped until your body literally cannot take any more. Hanging would be ...
- 898
6
votes
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Quote from Chekhov about a person who does not answer a letter
Mentioned in Korney Chukovsky's diary entry for Jan. 23, 1910:
Вас. Ив. Немирович-Данченко был у меня сегодня и рассказывал между
прочим про Чехова; он встретился с Чеховым в Ницце: Чехов отвечал на
...
- 1,571
6
votes
Accepted
Source of three Icelandic kennings quoted (in Russian) in poem of Martynov?
As noted by Rand al'Thor in the comments, skaldic.org has good information on the scaldic poetry that typically uses these long, complicated kennings, meaning many-part, complicated likenesses that ...
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5
votes
"Hamlet" reference in "Crime and Punishment": translator's invention?
If the original contained a Shakespeare allusion, then all English translations would include it.
Here is a different translation, where it is rendered as "where they know that kind of thing ...
- 2,221
5
votes
Accepted
What was the original meaning of "rolling their eyes"?
Seems to be a mistranslation.
Rolling one’s eyes is a gesture “used to disagree or dismiss or express contempt”. The Russian phrase for it is «закатывая глаза». The novel says «выкатывая глаза» (...
- 1,571
4
votes
Accepted
Which literary movement do Pushkin's Little Tragedies belong to?
It seems that authors find elements of both realism and romanticism in Little Tragedies.
The Pushkin Handbook (2005) explains that Soviet authors overstated a case for realism for ideological reasons:
...
- 1,571
3
votes
Accepted
War and Peace: Russian troop movements in part 2, chapters 7 and 8
My understanding of the events. Nesvitski is sent with the order to “tell the hussars that they are to cross last and to fire the bridge […]; and the inflammable material on the bridge must be ...
- 1,571
3
votes
How did Denisov reappear in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace?
While I didn’t find an explicit explanation in the book, it’s possible to speculate about it. The simplest solution is as follows.
Vasily Denisov has a clear historical prototype: Denis Vasilyevich ...
- 1,571
3
votes
Does the original Russian prose in The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov sound unusual/unconventional to Russian speakers?
Some more reactions from Russian speakers.
Сritic Yuri Saprykin in a popular educational resource Polka:
Почему «Котлован» написан таким странным языком?
Это первое
впечатление от любых текстов ...
- 1,571
2
votes
How are the Chekov passages handled in the translation of 1Q84?
The English translation of 1Q84 has used the translation by Brian Reeve. Here’s a passage from 1Q84:
The Gilyak is of strong, thick-set build, and average, even small, in
height. Tall stature would ...
- 1,571
2
votes
Accepted
Locating a quote in Dostoevsky's The Idiot
It is from Chapter VIII. A copy of The Idiot is freely available from the Internet Archive, and the quote (by Aglaya) appears here on page 632:
I shall tell you everything, EVERYTHING, even the most ...
- 8,861
2
votes
Accepted
What is the significance of the money given to Liza in Notes from Underground?
It seems that the Underground Man tried to humiliate Liza, acting out of spite.
There are some accessible introductions online (YouTube has a couple of seminars by Prof. Michael Moir, lectures from Dr....
- 1,571
2
votes
In Turgenev's "First Love", what did the father mean by “Vous devez vous séparer de cette.”
We don't know, but we can guess (pretty easily). There are enough hints in this novella about what happened.
The reader can imagine that his father asks Zinaida to get rid of the baby.
'Vous devez ...
- 21
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vote
What does Dostoyevsky's character's statement about Permissiveness mean for Morality in Western Civilization?
Dostoevsky brings out the idea that there is a higher essencethan just a simple reward and punishment. It is the noble, essential virtue called accountability. With a laissez faire approach to moral ...
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Does the original Russian prose in The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov sound unusual/unconventional to Russian speakers?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Platonov:
The style and subject matter
One of the most striking distinguishing features of Platonov's work is the original language, which has no analogues in ...
- 41
1
vote
Does the original Russian prose in The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov sound unusual/unconventional to Russian speakers?
Platonov's books are not easy for Russian readers also. An ideal reader should know well the daily routine of Soviet people before WWII and understands the Stalin's propaganda slogans and stereotypes. ...
- 41
1
vote
Marxist reading of Gogol's "The Overcoat"?
A Marxist reading of Gogol's "The Overcoat" would focus on the exploitative class structures that are in play throughout the story. The protagonist, Akaky Bashmachkin, is an impoverished ...
- 310
1
vote
Is there a meaning to Koroviev 's nickname?
As far as i remember he was always in suits and well-dressed. I thought that maybe his name might derive from French, "se fagoter" well dressed or proper
- 11
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vote
Which of Leo Tolstoy's stories are appropriate for children?
"a reader [of Anna Karenina] below 18...wouldn't understand a thing of what is going on."
That's an exaggeration. Teen-age readers would understand the basics of the plot.
I first read The ...
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