понедельник, ноября 21, 2005
Russian Lit
Have any of you guys out there read much Russian Literature? What about Dostoyevsky? Ok so of the people who have read Dostoyevsky, how many liked him? I ask the question because apparently Russians really don’t care for him. Last Wednesday (the 16th) at our weekly round table with some Russian English students, the topic was American and Russian opinions on Dostoyevsky. It was a surprisingly interesting discussion, but every single Russian student there admitted to disliking Dostoyevsky. I find this interesting because I actually really like him, as do many Americans (I was told), and this was obviously what we talked about. The other interesting thing was that the only book that the Russians had read was “Crime and Punishment”. This is odd because most people claim “The Brothers Karamazov” as Dostoyevsky’s greatest work and usually if they’ve read Dostoyevsky, they’ve read that (of course that may not be true, most people I’ve talked to have read Crime and Punishment as well). Unfortunately, I can really recall the specifics of the conversation, but it doesn’t really matter. I was just found it interesting.
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I read Brothers Karamazov, but it didn't make anywhere near as much an impression on me as many other literary works have (such as War and Peace). I wouldn't go so far as to say I didn't like it, but nothing in it really stands out in my memory. I thought some of the famous scenes from it, like the Inquisitor scene, are highly overrated.
Russian students probably feel more free to be harsh because they don't have to worry about being perceived as disparaging the literary tradition of another country. American students might be quicker to say that they didn't like Hawthorne, for instance.
One thing I should mention is the fact that the Russian students pretty much all said they had read only Crime and Punishment and all in "high school" (it's not really high school here). I would imagine that would have a big effect on them as well. I don't recall enjoy many of the books I had to read in high school, which were mostly American novels. Thinking back, I read many booka that I actually like now (Great Gatsby, Brave New World) but absolutely hated back then.
One thing the Russians all said was how they might like it when they get older and actaullt chose to read it. But I would have to agree that the fact that it is Russian book and Russian author they are more willing to critize
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