tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post5368052708296519236..comments2024-02-26T13:12:10.143-05:00Comments on Lizok's Bookshelf: Favorite Russian Writers A to Я: S Is Splendid Lisa C. Haydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-22241027958995379932023-03-15T13:33:05.406-04:002023-03-15T13:33:05.406-04:00Thank you very much for your comment, Alex, this i...Thank you very much for your comment, Alex, this is great to hear! I've only read <i>The Golovlyovs</i> but sometimes wonder about looking into more Saltykov-Shchedrin. What you say about "deliciously surreal" and "uncannily foretell" make me want to find a copy! Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-43845360396794905012023-03-15T13:20:21.083-04:002023-03-15T13:20:21.083-04:00I recently read Saltykov-Shchedrin's "His...I recently read Saltykov-Shchedrin's "History of a Town" - in Paul (I.P.) Foote's translation (he deserves a shout-out as Saltykov-Shchedrin's champion and premier translator in the English language) - and was astounded. Not only are these cod annals of a provincial town, standing in for the whole of Russia, deliciously surreal, they also uncannily foretell Russia's 20th century, and its present politics. With so many questions now being asked as to whether Pushkin/Tolstoy/Dostoyevsky represent a literature of imperialism (e.g. by Elif Batuman in her recent New Yorker essay), perhaps Satykov-Shchedrin is the the Russian classical writer to carry a mantle into the twenty first centuryAlex Andersonhttps://www.facebook.com/alexandersonicgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-3213348086362222652013-11-07T09:02:15.047-05:002013-11-07T09:02:15.047-05:00Only a brief story or two. I have Шатуны and shoul...Only a brief story or two. I have <i>Шатуны</i> and should read it one of these days, particularly because it's being translated! Let me know if you have other recommendations. Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-54045475337327029822013-11-07T06:55:22.311-05:002013-11-07T06:55:22.311-05:00Lisa, have you ever read Mamleev?Lisa, have you ever read Mamleev?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-5866827765797340522013-07-10T09:49:29.520-04:002013-07-10T09:49:29.520-04:00Hi, Ani! I pre-posted it before I left home!Hi, Ani! I pre-posted it before I left home!Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-10611571371774664412013-07-10T09:43:29.063-04:002013-07-10T09:43:29.063-04:00Ha, I missed this! How on earth did you manage to...Ha, I missed this! How on earth did you manage to post this on 16 June? I am amazed!Anihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05485094983371913490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-24561525118590557952013-07-01T08:38:36.822-04:002013-07-01T08:38:36.822-04:00Yes, these are the problems we love to have... Hap...Yes, these are the problems we love to have... Happy reading! Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-5196928215633333362013-06-30T19:33:40.578-04:002013-06-30T19:33:40.578-04:00Sigh. More to add to my wish list. To which I say ...Sigh. More to add to my wish list. To which I say thanks!Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-41846161393180436682013-06-22T13:54:37.035-04:002013-06-22T13:54:37.035-04:00Аля, I was very happy to see you, too, and meet (m...Аля, I was very happy to see you, too, and meet (most of) your family! I hope the trip home went smoothly. Hello to all!<br /><br />As a drama queen, I do love these winks of fate, particularly when someone tells me a piece is difficult, so will email you about the Brothers' play when I know where my head is... I'm starting to think it left the plane somewhere around Iceland. About the play: I am nearly certain I saw it performed somewhere in Moscow. I'll have to dig through my old papers. (This is the advantage of not throwing anything away!) Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-4513425950143558132013-06-21T17:55:50.259-04:002013-06-21T17:55:50.259-04:00It was so good to see you!
Your question re the S...It was so good to see you!<br /><br />Your question re the Strugatsky brothers seems like a wink of fate -- they have written an amazing play (the only one, nothing to do with sci-fi, quite different from the rest of their oeuvre), bits of which I've translated, for fun, into both German and Russian. It is one of my favourite plays ever, and very difficult to translate (the title alone is challenge enough) -<br /><br />http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/vidypitera.txt<br /><br />Would you like to try and translate it together? Email me! (and please don't hesitate to say no, if that's not your cup of vodka)<br /><br /><br />Do novykh vstrech!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-82627644980316948382013-06-20T04:38:40.679-04:002013-06-20T04:38:40.679-04:00Thank you for this list, Sashura! I look forward t...Thank you for this list, Sashura! I look forward to sorting through some of these names when I get home and have a big screen (and my books!) again! I have the most experience thus far with Sumarokov, thanks to a great 18th C Russian lit course. As for ABS, yes, I'm still looking for that "right" thing to get me started, betting on an enjoyable picnic. Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-18951011970377851762013-06-19T10:42:09.737-04:002013-06-19T10:42:09.737-04:00I was just thinking, what about Shishkin and all t...I was just thinking, what about Shishkin and all the others on Ш/Щ, and then saw your qualifier, with which I agree. <br />In addition to LH recommendations, which I support, <br />there is the 18C poet and playwright Alexander Sumarokov, who contributed immensely to the development of Russian language, literature and theatre; a good post-war lyrical poet Vladimir Sokolov; a classic of socialist realist military-naval writing Leonid Sobolev and military writer Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov, who was phenomenally popular in 1960-70s as someone who specialised in discovering unknown heroes of the second world war and presented the 'Soldiers' Letters' programme on TV; Mikhail Slonimsky was a member of the most influential Russian writers group in 20C, the Serapion Brothers; Lidiya Seyfullina, who flourished in 1920s with hard-line proletarian works, including the play 'Fellow-travellers.' <br />S is immensely rich. If I had to choose a 'must read', I'd recommend ABS, the Strugatsky brothers, Arkady and Boris.Alexander Anichkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08716415983965000292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-48181303933746834392013-06-17T13:26:32.954-04:002013-06-17T13:26:32.954-04:00Thanks, Languagehat! I enjoy these posts very muc...Thanks, Languagehat! I enjoy these posts very much, too, largely because so many of you add comments with more reading ideas... I'll take a look at all your links when I return from London and have a whole computer on which to read... I particularly want to reread your Brothers S posts. I have their Piknik and keep intending to read it... for now, off for a poetry translation event. Thank you!Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932429135630556215.post-42166507984956717192013-06-17T11:07:08.762-04:002013-06-17T11:07:08.762-04:00I love your letter posts! I'd add Osip Senkov...I love your letter posts! I'd add Osip Senkovsky (whom I wrote about <a href="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004991.php" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004998.php" rel="nofollow">here</a>), Vladimir Solovyov (I've only read him in bits and pieces, but have liked what I've read), Konstantin Simonov (<a href="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004185.php" rel="nofollow">LH post</a>), Andrei Sinyavsky (<a href="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004459.php" rel="nofollow">LH post</a>), and Solzhenitsyn (<a href="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004378.php" rel="nofollow">LH post</a>); I haven't read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Sukhovo-Kobylin" rel="nofollow">Sukhovo-Kobylin</a>, but his plays are supposed to be very good and he had a remarkable beard.<br /><br />I very much hope you do come to enjoy the Strugatskys (I link to a couple of posts about them <a href="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004991.php" rel="nofollow">here</a>); I consider them amazing writers who just happened to choose sf as their field, and I'm only sorry I came to them so late in life.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.com