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| My Pevear and Volokhonsky edition. |
I love classics. Of course I've run across a few unsatisfying classics, but for the most part I enjoy them...or more so the challenge of them. Last year I tackled
The Count of Monte Cristo and the year before that
Les Miserables, loving both. Both of them were imposing classics for me, so this year I had to up the ante, so to speak. An author whose books I have, but have not yet read: Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The Brothers Karamazov and
The Idiot among the two I've heard discussed the most. However, a friend of mine just read
Crime and Punishment, so I figured I might as well read one I can discuss with someone personally and picked it up instead of
The Brothers Karamazov. And, what better timing for a decision than while picking books for the
TBR Pile Challenge last December?! It's extra satisfying to have it read from my TBR pile.
Crime and Punishment is a murder story. Afterward, murderer Raskolnikov endures fits of guilt induced illness and paranoia. His story becomes one of cat-and-mouse, where neither he nor the reader is quite sure who knows what or how much. Will Raskolnikov completely unravel?
I can't tell you how it ends, but I can tell you I enjoyed the story and was relieved to find it easy to follow. I may have to credit this to the translators, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. All of my Russian translations come from this pair, who have won numerous awards for their excellence in keeping so closely to the original meaning in their translations.
Crime and Punishment is another positive checkmark on my classics list. Any tough classic you are proud to have read?
I'm currently working through The Idiot on audio. I love C&P, but I might look for your translators when I pick up Thr Bros. K. I've tried and failed at that one several times. :)
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine has tried both The Idiot and Bros K. unsuccessfully. Bros K probably intimidates me more than the other Dosteovsky works. Another friend had read Anna Karenina previously and then read it done by these translators and said she saw a definite difference.
DeleteYay!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on finishing this one. It is on my list to read...some time. But I'll be taking a break from the heavies for a while. I read Brothers Karamazov a couple of years ago, and though it took me forever, I really liked it. The ending wasn't what I was hoping but still exciting. A little dull at times in the middle. My edition was translated by the same couple. It actually is in my top ten books that I read on the LOST list.
Glad you conquered and enjoyed Crime and Punishment!!
I'm glad to hear you liked Bros K - that's within the top of my intimidation list. Makes me feel better about it.
DeleteI'm a "lurker" reader that is coming out to let you know that I nominated you for the Liebster Award. If you're interested, you can drop in to my blog to see the questions that I posted.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing this classic! I was so proud of how I finished both the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Thanks :) If I get a chance I'll hop on over and take a look. Iliad and Odyssey are definitely accomplishments!
DeleteKudos to you for reading this in the summer! I can never seem to take on the challenge of big reads in the summer. But I am more intrigued by this book because of your post than I ever have been before!
ReplyDeleteCool! I figured school would make me read slower and I'd already be reading it slowly as it is during the summer. But it is a commitment because it stops all other reading usually.
DeleteWe read this my sophomore year of high school. I remember being frustrated by the long Russian names, but all in all it wasn't a complete chore, which is saying something for assigned reading!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine teaching this to a class, unless they were AP. Then again, maybe that says something about where education was and where it is now. But wouldn't you know, I walked into my classroom closet last week and there was a stack a brand new C&P sitting on the shelf. I don't know who uses them.
DeleteThe names get me because they are so alike and they have a formal name and a couple nicknames. Hard to follow that at first.
I haven't read anything by Dostoyevsky (yet) but I'm pretty proud of my Gogol and Chekov. This year I got through Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was different (and better) than all the movies.
ReplyDeleteHeck ya! There's one I hadn't considered - Dracula! I know nothing of the original.
DeleteCongrats on finishing! I read it last year. I have The Brothers Karamazov on my shelf, but I'll have to be in a challenging mood to read it.
ReplyDeletePS I read Crime and Punishment last year and loved it.
DeleteExactly, it's gotta be when the mood strikes. The Bros K intimidates me more than C&P did..
DeleteSince I'm a native Russian speaker, I actually read Russian classics in the original. So I'm a bit afraid to advice you something, since, as I see, there's always a risk of stumbling upon a bad translation.
ReplyDeleteFrom the obvious Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Brothers Karamazov, and Idiot, I would strongly recommend reading Anton Chekhov. Everything he has is amazing.
But of course, if you really want to learn about Russian literature, you should read Pushkin's Eugene Onegin - that's like our literary Bible.
Thank you so much for the recommendations! "Literary Bible" is a very high recommendation too, so I will definitely be reading it! I wish I knew another language...I'd love to read something in original and in translation to see the differences.
DeleteI've read Crime and Punishment, but I didn't like it all. It was just too dark and depressing for me! I did love Anna Karenina though, so I'll probably give some more Russian classics a chance in the future.
ReplyDeleteYes, nowhere near Anna Karenina or The Count of Monte Cristo (although French) in how good the story was. I think I enjoyed it as I did because I was expecting the worst and I didn't find that worst!
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