Tom's comments (member since Aug 09, 2008)

Tom's comments from the White Nights group.

Wow, fascinating stuff, Erma, especially your family connection to this place -- "This is our future." What a chilling line!

Ever read Chekhov's account of his travels to Siberia and the penal colony Sakhalin Island? I've just read snippets in his letters, and it reveals a different side of Chekhov the writer and the man, though the classic Chkhovian observations of character in his fiction is on display here as well.

Oh yeah, I remember watching this when I was in the Army, stationed overseas in the 70s. We grunts all got a kick out of Woody's line near the end, "I got screwed."

I've had Sketches from Hunter's Album on my shelf so long that it's gotten dog-eared from getting pushed around by other Russian books that I pick up often. It'd be the only one from this list I'd have time for these days (teaching keeps me swamped in "official" reading duties). I take it the Complete Edition is larger than the old Penguin edition I have (circa 1987?)

How interesting, Igor. I knew Soviets obviously censored entire literary works, like Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, but didn't know they surgically censored parts of works. This particular example strikes me as odd because as Raskolnik points out there's plenty of other disturbing events in the story, as well,though I can see how Soviet censors might applaud the strangely cheery ending.

Indeed, the shift in tone to optimism, rather unusual in Babel, in my experience, caught me by surprise. Here's how Constantine translates it: "Within a single day I had everyting : clothes, food, work, and conrades true in friendship and death, the likes of which you will not find anywhere in the world, except in our country. That is how, thirteen years ago, a wonderful life filled with thought and joy began for me."
Wow, all this in a country where Jews are arbitrarily castrated and tossed from trains? Perhaps I'm missing some irony here? I read it quickly late at night, so another round is in order.

Just finished the story (titled "The Road" in Constantine translation, but oddly missing altogether from my copy of Morison translation), and I see what you mean by the incidental nature of the event, which of course is what makes it such true Babel moment. I'm still trying to digest the final line, which caught me by surprise. I'll need to reread a few more times.

Thanks, Raskonik! I am eager to read an unknown Babel story but loath to witness such a terrible violence on the page. That's what Babel does to his readers, eh.

In a recent review of Frederick Seidel poems (NYRB 7.16.09), the reviewer mentions a poem with the following reference to an Isaac Babel story: "Like the young bride in the Babel story / Forced to eat her husband's penis."

Anyone know title of this story? Is it from Red Cavalry collection? (the incident of bizarre violence would suggest so) I've read lots of Babel's stories, but never came across this one.

Susan, I can't imagine any translator mangling Bulgakov's marvelous M & M to point of making if "flop" with readers. Mind you, I've read only the Ginsburg translation, and the language caused me no problems whatsoever, but then again, perhaps that's because I was so swept away by the brilliant story-telling. Not to be judgmental, but I suspect your fellow club readers wouldn't have "got it" regardless of the translation.

I don't know Russian, but I found the Mirra Ginsburg translation very readable.

One of these days I'll get around to reading the Pevear / Volokhonsky trans, which got good reviews.

Thanks, Steve. Your comments confirm the general impression I've been getting from reading about HM. (I should just go ahead and read the dang thing myself instead of researching about it! I've had the new Hesperus Press edition on my shelf for long enough.)

Any of you Tolstoy fans ever read his posthumously published novella, "Hadji Murat"? I've not read it but based on the jacket blurb was considering using it in a Law & Lit course I'm teaching next spring. Seems like it might resonate with "war on terror" issues today. Any thoughts on whether "HM" would be a good choice for that theme?

Hey, I've had Erofeev's book on my shelf so long, unread, that I forgot it was there! (too many piles upon piles). Thanks for the reminder, Hamish.

Well, my vote would be for Brothers Karamazov, Pevear and Volohonsky translation. But then I haven't read all of D's work. A good friend who has read all of D says that in some quarters Demons (also P/V) is considered the best.

As for other Russian writers, my personal favorite is Chekhov, the short stories. For poetry, Mandelstam. For essays, Joseph Brodsky's collection "On Grief and Reason."

Ugh, yeah, that's awful! "Enter" is totally wrong choice for that verb -- all the drama of someone "entering" a shoe store -- and "full stop" sounds like instructions for shutting off a lawn mower, but god's sake.

On the other hand, though, Hamish, I am not without sympathy (there's a backhanded, indirect phrase, eh) for your complaint re B's density. At times, I think B. indulges the offbeat, even bizarre, image at the cost of basic clarity. Some times it's lyrical, other times just strange. (Hemingway, he ain't! But then again, Papa was no Isaac.) Although there's no avoiding such stylistic quirks on B's part regardless of the translation, I do think you'd find Constantine smoother reading overall.

Good point, Hamish. Each of those words evokes notably different tones and images, at least to my ear and eye.

Although Babel is probably better known for the Red Cavalry stories, I'd also recommend others from different periods in his career. In particular, I'd be curious to know how McDuff translates that great line from "Guy de Maupassant":

"No iron spike can pierce a human heart as icily as a period in the right place." (Constantine)

"No iron can stab the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place." (Morison)

I like Constantine's version much more than Morison's -- naming the "spike," the verb "pierce" over "stab" and the adverb "icily" over the wordy "with such force." Much more immediate.

Thanks for the tip about McDuff! I'll have to look for it.

Forgive me for recommending a book I haven't actually read (but do have on my shelf), but David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire," received lots of critical and popular acclaim when it was first published. (Remnick is now the editor of the NYer)

I would also recommend "Sakhalin Island," by Chekhov, his first-hand account of life in the infamous Siberian penal colony. I've read only excerpts, not the whole thing, but they were quite good. His powers of observation are as impresssive in nonfiction as in fiction.

Not to digress, but I, too, noticed that Pevear has moved on to French Lit. Never read Dumas, but based on P's (and V's, too, of course) wonderful Russian translations, I've been considering getting 3 Musketeers. Glad to hear you found it enjoyable.

The question about Dostoevsky translations got me thinking about different editions of one of my favorite Russian writers, Isaac Babel.

In Babel's case, though, the choice appears to be much more limited. As far as I'm aware, there are only two translations -- Walter Morison and Peter Constantine. The intriguing thing I find about different versions is that the one I read first often strikes me as the "original," regardless of quality, and therefore, it can take me awhile to warm up to a newer one. (In some strange way, it almost feels like I'm "cheating on" or betraying the first translator -- such are the obsessions and eccentric symptoms of reading literature in translation.)

Morison's version, published in 1960, was my first reading of Babel. I'm not even sure it's still in print. I found a copy in a used book store. C's came out in 2002.

Here's a brief comparison from one of my favorite B. stories, "The Death of Dolgushov." (WM) Even the different titles are revealing, as C. uses "Dolgushov's Death," suggesting a directness and spareness missing in M.

This is from opening description of Commander Korochaev and the setting:

(M): "His cloak floating about him, he galloped away -- black from head to foot, his pupils like live coals.
The brigades were forming on the board-flat plain. The sun was traveling through purple haze. In ditches wounded men were taking a bite. Lying about on the grass were nurses, singing softly. Afonka's scouts were beating the fields in search of dead and equipment."

(C): "And off he charged -- fluttering, black, with eyes of coal.
On the plain, flat as a board, the brigades were regrouping. The sun rolled through the crimson dust. Wounded men sat in ditches, eating. Nurses sang on the grass and sang in hushed voices. Afonka's scouts roamed over the field, looking for dead soldiers and ammunition."

I find C's spareness less effective in the description of Korochaev riding off because he leaves out the "cloak." Interestingly, though, C. mentions K's cloak in the previous paragraph, with the first appearance of K., whereas M. does the opposite.
M's "cloak floating about him" strikes me as much more evocative and dramatic.

In the following description of setting, though, I think C's directness through strong active verbs is much more effective than M., who relies on too many helping verbs for my ear.

So, I'm still torn in picking a favorite version, but just in typing up this brief comparison, I find myself moving a little closer to C. than before.

I just discovered this group. I'm wondering if any of your are aware of a similar group on Goodreads, Russian Readers Club?

In that group, we're in process of organizing a monthly reading activity. I wanted to invite anyone who's interested to participate. We're currently compiling nominations under thread "Let's start monthly reading ..." and then going to vote. The only thing we've agreed on so far is to start with something fairly short. You can check out our nominations so far. We hope to conduct a vote in another day or so.

We're not looking to compete with anybody, but rather to make connections with other lovers of Russian Lit. My guess is the other folks in that group don't know about this one either.

Tom