/lit/ - Literature

>>6205966
Turgenev? Oblomov?
Not a Russian lit expert but those don't seem too obvious.

Has she read Melville? I've yet to meet a girl who's into Melville.

Bring her a good found art type book like The Unfortunates BS Johnson or Tree of Codes Jonathan whatever, so you can wow over how cool it looks and then fuck.

>>6205980

>giving women translated literature
>still wonder why you're a virgin

Give her some Flannery O'Connor, OP, Hazel Motes makes gussets moist.

>>6205980

Both good calls, let me dig through what I have. On Melville--I noticed an older print-run of Moby Dick on her shelf. Spine was broken. Might could venture into a short story collection of his if only to see if she's into Melville or is only covering her seminal bases with The Whale

>Big into American /lit/
dropped

I would just be chill instead of max patrish, OP, and concentrate on presenting yourself as a loveable, fuckable human being rather than a staggering edifice of knowledge and opinions. Well done on snagging a QT who is properly into the lit and knows her shit.

>>6206002

These are good words. It's less that I want her to think I'm a swole patrician and more that I only don't want to bring her something she won't enjoy.

>>6206002
This.

Being in a similar situation as the OP (two months of dating and book swapping so far), my biggest advice to you is to continue focusing on your personal goals, yourself and your regular life.

There's nothing that drives women away more than oneitis... when one has been lonely for a long time it's easy to fall in love and lose your center... try to keep this in mind and not lose your head in the relationship.

I speak from experience, though everything is going well for me, I can see the warning signs and I'm trying to follow this very same advice.

GET IRANIAN AND DROP A LOAD OF KHARMS ON THE BITCH

>>6205992
Bartleby is thoroughly enjoyable for anyone into American lit.

>>6206007
Yeah, I understand where you're coming from. My own QTGF has a volume of Daniil Kharms short stories that are fairly chucklesome and non-committal.

>>6205966
You lucky cock sucker. I'm envious.

Try the Pevear translation of Dead Souls or The Stories of Anton Chekhov.

Don't fuck it up.

>>6206023
>>6206075
Yeah, Kharms is funny as hell and she will definitely actually read at least some of it.

>>6206112
>Pevear translation

oh dear

i'd give her the unconsoled just because i really really love that book and think it's very underrated and the few people i've shared it with have loved it equally, but since you're not me, this advice probably isn't very helpful, except perhaps to indicate that maybe you should share something that you fucking love, not something /lit/ suggests

>>6206140
My bad, I'm sure there is a Constance Garnett one floating around too for plebs.

>>6206152
you act like those are the only two options, and frankly neither are really satisfactory for different reasons

>>6206156
Enlighten me then, anon.

>>6206149

>share something that you fucking love, not something /lit/ suggests

Thanks anon.

>>6206156
Garnett at least has a good grasp of English. Pevear is awful.

>>6206149
Holy shit, I love The Unconsoled. Watched an Ishiguro interview last night and they spent a good while talking about it. It gets a lot of hate but it is hilarious as fuck, in a bleak Kafkian way.

Give her a Russian language edition of Andrei Bely's Petersburg and if she doesn't read it, delete her from your phonebook.

>>6205966

>OP follows /lit/s advice with women
>takes her Gravity's Rainbow
>Oh, nice anon, thanks. It's a bit thick, so I'll put it on my to read pile
>READ IT NAO WHAT ARE YOU A FUCKING PLEB OR SOMETHING ITS THE GREATEST BOOK IN HISTORY AND YOU BETTER READ INFINITE JEST AS WELL YOU SHITFINGERED MONGOLOID WOMEN ARE JUST RECEPTACLES FOR SEMEN
>OP remains a virgin
>and still hasn't read Gravity's Rainbow

The advice to give her something you genuinely love is probably the soundest. At least then you're not going to get outed as a psuedo-intellectual shitbag when you give her some meme book you don't understand yourself.

I'd bring her some D...escartes.

>>6205966
Chekhov's short stories, duh.

Or maybe Tolstoy's. Death of Ivan Ilych etc.

>>6205966
Chekhov's short stories.
Gogol's short stories.

>>6206112
>the Pevear translation
Even I, on the other side of the world, know how shitty Peaver is.

>>6206194
Stop posting.

>>6206225
>>6206183
>>6206156

Wow, that's really informative. Instead of making vapid statements you could actually explain why you don't like their translations? Their generally considered to be the best, go and look at any book they've translated on Amazon and you'll see nothing but glowing reactions.

That good feel when currently reading Krasznahorkai with my beautiful Hungarian gf; her reading the original and me reading the English translation like a pleb. It's fun and informative swapping notes with her, though.

>>6206238
Like I give a fuck what Amazon plebs and marketing shills say. Pevear just can't write for shit; his syntax and diction is awful. If you can't discern this then maybe you need to read more.

>>6206229

Hit a nerve, eh, you pseud?

>>6206238
Nothing. A few months ago Garnett was the worst most disgusting translation ever created and P&V was the only acceptable one.

>>6206242
>beautiful Hungarian gf who reads Krasznahorkai

You're living the dream life, my friend.

>>6206256
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2007/nov/22/tolstoys-real-hero/

And there are dozens, if not hundreds of these articles written about them by influential websites and people. Which you know, kind of shit all over your god awful opinion.

>>6206256
Garnett is bad because every writer she translates sounds the same. Her prose in itself is fine; she just doesn't successfully portray the distinct voice of whomever she is translating. Pevear is bad because he simply can't write.

>>6206238
Because they produce fucking monstrous chimeras devoid of the nuances and wordplay that permeats the writings of many Russian authors, especially Gogol.
Their translations are unfaithful to the style.

These are not some bullshit dime-novels.

>>6205966
>What would you bring this girl?

Lolita if she has a sense of humor, Notes from the Underground if she doesn't.

>>6206161
this this this this this

don't pretend to be who you aren't

>>6206275
36 replies, and 16 posters. I wonder how many of these posts slamming Pevear are written by the same person.

Anyway, please tell me who has the best translation in your esteemed opinion?

>>6206281
Or, you know, take our advice and improve yourself.

>>6206275
>>6206269


Fuck me. Then who's the best translator for Dosto? I have the P&V version

>>6206268
What I said is not an "opinion", you new retard.

>>6206285
P&V is the best. Don't worry.

>>6206283
>Anyway, please tell me who has the best translation in your esteemed opinion?

Depends on the book. Magarshack and Avsey are good Dostoevsky translators. Maude is good for Tolstoy. I'd have to do more research for Gogol, but my Penguin Classics edition of his short stories was fine.

>>6206285

>thinking there's a "better" translation

Enjoy your ersatz literature, pleb.

A Hero of Our Time
Dead Souls
Oblomov
The Magic Mountain
etc.


No need to reinvent the wheel here.

>>6206285
Their C&P is all right. I didn't like their TBK though.

>>6206296

>qt314 takes the book from you and unwraps it
>oh, erm, thanks. it's in translation though? I don't read translations, it's a waste of time
>OP begins to sweat visibly like DFW in a drugstore
>spaghetti begins to fall everywhere
>qt314 goes home with some guy with a Hemingway sweater and muscular, robust prose
>OP is back on here within the hour whinging about how all women are plebs and being a virgin is the only moral choice in a world reduced to whoredom.

>>6206283
Mine are two. The "around the world" and the "chimera" ones.

How the hell would I know that?
I'm a guidepost, not the highway.

Anyway, maybe this can clear some things up.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-pevearsion-of-russian-literature/

>>6206290

>Garnett was the worst most disgusting translation ever created and P&V was the only acceptable one.

Yeah, nothing about that is opinion whatsoever...

>>6205966
>fall asleep at 3am
>meet beautiful girl way into /lit/
>looks like a combination of tswift and the girl who played hero in whedon's much ado (doublepleb ik don't shoot me)
>talk and cuddle for what feels like two hours of dreamtime
>we kiss to crystal castles debut self-titled

>wake up at 8:15am
>get really fucking sad
>go back to sleep

>same exact thing but with a girl I know irl
>I pulled Mason & Dixon off my shelf and read it to her
>we made out for a while
>it was so fucking perfect


>wake up again at 12:15pm
>actually cry a little
>here we are on /lit/

>>6206306

Op here, kek

>>6206021
Listen to this man

Bring her Kropotkin's history of Russian literature

Or Mirsky

>>6206311
Holy shit how are you this illiterate. You even re-read and quoted the post. Stating what the general mindset of this board was is not an opinion, you drooling fucking retard. Jesus fucking christ. You obviously are wasting your time reading books,

>>6206310
I'll be honest, that is eye opening. I appreciate the link, which is timely since I was about to buy a shit ton of P&V translations since I really enjoyed their C&P translation, but something felt off. I figured it was just best one their was but I'm glad to have more perspective on the matter. Fuck I guess I'll actually have to fucking research who has the best translations now.

>>6206362
I'm really glad you actually read it.

It's always useful to drop by a library or a bookstore beforehand, check out what they have available, read a couple of pages to get a feel of the writing, maybe even borrow the book first, rather than whipping out your wallet blindly.

>>6206390
I'll make a note of doing that more often anon, I shouldn't have blindly threw myself at P&V's feet just because of some very good quotes on their amazon page. Ugh I'm disappointed in myself.

Now I'm sitting here comparing the Avsey, Garnett, and P&V translations of The Karamzov Brothers. So far Avsey's is the one I'm enjoying the most but I'm having a hard time understanding as I am with the Garnett and P&V translations. I guess I'm not that well read. What's your preference with that book?

>>6206339

You are so fucking mad it's hilarious, goddamn I'm rolling. The bovine stock will always have that quality of making you laugh at them, feel sorry for them, yet hating them simultaneously.

>>6206025
You give her the bartleby and then hit here with the 'Bartleby; or the Formula' meme for further reading.

>>6205966
Chekhov's plays. All of them are god-tier.

>>6206442
I would have to have read all of them to give you a valid recommendation. Also, I've read the Karamazovs in a Slavic language, not in English.

I'm sorry brother anon, you will have to decide on your own, or do some more digging on the internet.

>>6206628
Yeah going off your recommendation would be a half measure, I appreciate your consideration and patience brother.

Taras bulba

Eugene onegin

>>6206002
>concentrate on presenting yourself as a loveable, fuckable human being

>>6205966

she thinks you're gay

>>6205966

ayyy

>>6206465

>goddamn I'm rolling

aka i slightly grinned

both of you angsty derps need to calm down

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

>>6207077

high five low ten. . . I love that story Taras Bulba so much. Gogol is the best Russian writer I've read.

gogol you pussy