I could totally see that.
That was what made my first big russian novel (Brothers Karamazov) so hard for me. But people shouldn’t let that discourage them, because once you’ve read one and put in the work to figure it out the next ones become easier.
It’s a grand book - in all senses. The problem with the Russian names I found was the patronyms - it means that people can be referred to by one of three different names. I think if I read it again, I might take notes. But in terms of length, it’s pretty much exactly the same length as Lord of the Rings (LOTR is apparently 576,459 words and W&P 587,287) and lots of people have read LOTR.
I haven’t read it in about 20 years but I remember thinking that it had more genuine and believable character development than most any other story I’d read.
The English version in The Project Guttenberg is the public domain translation by Louise and Aylmer Maude.
Don’t waste your time with Infinite Jest-just read Pynchon.
War and Peace is brilliant. I read it over twenty years ago and still remember the feeling of missing the characters once I finished it.
One of the best books by one of the best authors - yeah, it’s worth your time.
I bought a cheap paperback and cut it apart into the separate books it comprises for easy carrying, and read it during my commutes (on the Moscow Metro, batch).
Try not to think of it as this huge, imposing tome, but as a book series, or a few seasons of prestige TV. Take your time, approach it in parts.
Got to disagree.
Dostoevsky is massively overrated.
Pearl clutching and finger wagging on page after page without offering much of an alternative. Just a general sense “all this sinfulness must stop, people should really begin to pull themselves together”.
I’ll get round to it eventually. I mean I enjoyed The Gormenghast Trilogy (where Peake spends five pages describing a wall) and Illuminatus! (which is really three books). But “the Russian Name Problem” is a thing: have read five of the six Night Watch books and keeping track of who’s who is a pain. At least Song of Ice & Fire has genealogies to help you out.
Maybe clarify the butter first to be extra chef-y?
I found the murder scene itself shocking - my heart was racing through the whole section. Raskalnikov’s long fugue state after the murder felt like an appropriate counterpoint to that emotional climax.
Or you could use ghee?
Gravity’s Rainbow and Infinite Jest both rock (though I’ve only read the DFW once yet).
I haven’t read it, but a few years ago a friend was reading it while visiting and we made a game of trying to emulate the expressions described. There are some really detailed ones. I know there are better ones, but the first one I ran across on the Gutenberg site was:
As she named the Empress, Anna Pávlovna’s face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with sadness, and this occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious patroness.
It was like reverse charades.
People looking at the original Russian text of War and Peace may be surprised to find out that considerable stretches of dialogue are in fact in French. Back at the time the Russian nobility preferred to talk French among themselves, and used Russian only to speak to their servants.
I used to for omelettes actually. But I stopped keeping it for cooking a long time ago when my partner developed a problem with dairy. I occasionally clarify butter for my odd luxury omelette but it has to be summer to be worth it. If I have the fresh herbs to hand. I enjoyed how the video trolled me!
I think it’s less a pronunciation issue and more about the Russian naming conventions, including patronymics and gendered surnames.
I love my Russian novels, but have only read them in English translations.
Sometimes the text will emphasise something along the lines of "… Vladimir broke off the conversation and turned towards the in-keeper, speaking to him in Russian… " which makes you realise that in the original you would have been reading a French dialogue for the last three pages.
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