Reading Russian Literature 2020 discussion
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A Hero of Our Time
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"Concerning the stone cross, there exists the strange ,but wide-spread, tradition that it had been set up by Emperor Peter the First when travelling through the Caucasus. In the first place, the Emperor went no farther than Dagestan; and in the second place, there is an inscription with large letters on the cross itself, to the effect that it had been erected by order of General Ermolov, and that too in the year 1824. Nevertheless, the tradition has taken such firm root, in spite of the inscription, that really you do not know what to believe; the more so, as it is not the custom to believe inscriptions."
I feel like this custom of not believing the written word, be it warning signs or labels on the cigarette packaging, is still at large in Russia after all these years.
Most likely this disparity between tradition and inscription comes from the fact the overwhelming majority of people in Russia couldn't read at the time.
Mod
From what I have noticed, the fact that people ignore the warning signs or labels is not restricted to Russians. It is a worldwide phenomena. I feel that it has very little to do with literacy of people. There are thousands of literate people who smoke cigarette despite the warning on the packages.
Let me give you an example. Here in India where majority of the population follow hindu religion. Many religious scriptures prohibits the consumption of non-vegetarian food. And there are several other rules one is suppose to follow. But due to several reasons like droughts, floods there used to be scarcity of food grains. So even though the written rules forbid non-veg many people choose to eat it. And even when the times were prosperous they continued eating non-veg because they got used to that taste.
Therefore, I feel that people believe whatever makes their life convenient and not what is written in some holy book. Also our belief evolves with time. You may believe something whole-heartedly at the age of 20 and dismiss the same thing as ridiculous at the age of 50.
Mod
Please let me know which translation of the book you are reading.
I'm reading the one translated by Vladimir Nabokov and Dimitri Nabokov. Happy reading :)
Mod
Mikhali Lermontov (15 October 1814 - 27 July 1841)
MIHAIL YURIEVICH LERMONTOV was born in Moscow in 1814. At sixteen he entered the University of Moscow but two years later switched to the School of Cavalry Cadets in St. Petersburg, and in 1834 received a commission in the Hussars of the Guard. In 1837 he was transferred to the Nizhegorodski Dragoons and sent to the Caucasus as punishment for the composition and circulation (in MS.) of a violent poem directed at the Court clique responsible for driving Pushkin into fighting his fatal duel (January 1837). He was back in the Guards by the end of the year.
Between 1838 and 1841 he wrote his best verse and prose and was acclaimed by the reviewers as Pushkin’s successor. An incident at a St. Petersburg ball in the spring of 1840 resulted in a duel with the son of the French Ambassador. Lieutenant Lermontov was transferred again, this time to an infantry regiment in the Caucasus, where he took part in dangerous expeditions against the natives. A trivial quarrel with a fellow officer, one Martinov, led to another duel. The meeting took place on July 15, 1841, near Pyatigorsk, and Lermontov was shot through the heart at the first fire.
He lived only for 26 years but his works in the field of poetry and literature still resonates with us today. We remember this great soul for his contribution to the world of literature.
The Russian literary critic and westernizer Vissarion Belinsky wrote this about "A hero of our time":We won't praise this book, since for it praise is just as useless as it is safe its denial. Nothing and no one is going to hinder its distribution until the last copy is sold... and so it will go on as long as the Russian people speak Russian.
Tried my best at translating it from the Book "Рассказы о русских писателях"(Tales about Russian writers) since I was unable to find the original quote.
Mod
We won't praise this book, since for it praise is just as useless as it is safe its denial. Not..."
Thank for translating it for us. The critic does make sense.
Lets enter the secong month of February by reading a great book 'A Hero of our Time' by Mikhali Lermontov.
Read
Discuss
Enjoy:)