/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.23220356]

is it a hard read?

[Anonymous No.23220360]

>adapted by
that's a new one

[Anonymous No.23220377]

>>23220356
If you are new to Russian literature, yes. It was my introduction to Dosto, and I had to be constantly going back to the character index to remember who was who. There are some chapters that are quite slow too, but it's in general a great read.

[Anonymous No.23220385]

what's anon's preferred translation? I read the Constance Garnett version simply because it's public domain

[Anonymous No.23220659]

>>23220385
P&V have a lot of haters but they're the only Dostoevsky translators I find remotely readable. Their translation is so much fun and captures elements that make it clear I'm still listening to foreigners speak, I can just understand them now. Other translators strip away too much personality for me.

[Anonymous No.23220694]

>>23220659
I’m of the same opinion. It feels somewhat clunky but that is just what Dosto wrote in the Russian. If you read a translation that takes considerable liberties in translation then you’re getting cucked.

[Anonymous No.23220696]

>>23220385
>>23220659
Does briggs do dostoyevsky? I like briggs war and peace

[Anonymous No.23220933]

>>23220356
No. If Ulysses is a 8/10 difficulty and Moby Dick a 6/10 then candp is a 5/10

[Anonymous No.23220967]

>>23220356
easiest dosto except from the fact it's long

[Anonymous No.23221074]

>>23220356

It's an easy read and a page-turner, so don't be intimidated and don't put it off.

[Anonymous No.23221132]

>>23220933
maybe i'm just retarded but if Moby Dick is a 6/10 then C&P is Like a 3/10, Moby Dick was was harder in my opinion, C&P is pretty straight forward and easy to follow

[Anonymous No.23221144]

>>23220356
If you are alluding to Dostoevsky’s worst novels, then, indeed, I dislike intensely The Brothers Karamazov and the ghastly Crime and Punishment rigamarole. No, I do not object to soul-searching and self-revelation, but in those books the soul, and the sins, and the sentimentality, and the journalese, hardly warrant the tedious and muddled search. Dostoyevsky’s lack of taste, his monotonous dealings with persons suffering with pre-Freudian complexes, the way he has of wallowing in the tragic misadventures of human dignity – all this is difficult to admire. I do not like this trick his characters have of ”sinning their way to Jesus” or, as a Russian author, Ivan Bunin, put it more bluntly, ”spilling Jesus all over the place." Crime and Punishment’s plot did not seem as incredibly banal in 1866 when the book was written as it does now when noble prostitutes are apt to be received a little cynically by experienced readers. Dostoyevsky never really got over the influence which the European mystery novel and the sentimental novel made upon him. The sentimental influence implied that kind of conflict he liked—placing virtuous people in pathetic situations and then extracting from these situations the last ounce of pathos. Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment—by this reader anyway. Dostoyevsky seems to have been chosen by the destiny of Russian letters to become Russia’s greatest playwright, but he took the wrong turning and wrote novels.

[Anonymous No.23221751]

>>23220356
not at all, I found it quite enjoyable

[Anonymous No.23222772]

>>23220356
At times it is easy and engaging, and at others it can be dense and slow. I took a large break about half way through, but when I eventually came back I blew through the rest

[Anonymous No.23222923]

>>23221132
Moby Dick is: 1/2 whale encylcopedia, 1/4 whale hunting, 1/4 Ahab's crazy ramblings.