Cancel 2018.1 (07-05-2017)
Great point. I have been making it a point to improve my atrophied Russian by conversing with my Russian relatives here in North America, and leveraging my trips to Belarus.
To follow up on this tangent, those 18th and 19th century scientists strike me as renaissance men and women in every sense of the word. I just read a book about Alexander Humboldt, and his breadth and scope of knowledge seems astonishing, simply beyond comprehension. To this day, when I read classic scientific papers from the 19th century, I am struck by how well-spoken and literate they were, and how keen their powers of observation were in the absence of the technology we have readily at hand.
Cancel 2018.1 (07-05-2017)
Do you travel to Belarus on business? Yes, it's great if you have opportunities to use the language.
I have a half-Russian sister-in-law, but I almost never see her....
Not many people read classic scientific papers from long ago. Are you a student of the history of science? As it happens, I did a master's in history and philosophy of science at Univ. Toronto.
If need be, we could take this discussion to a new thread....
I have no opinion on movie versions--have not seen one yet--but one of the most remarkable parts of the book, for me, was the passage describing her mind during her final trip from home. Starting with where she sees herself in the mirror and doesn't recognize herself.
It seems to me that Tolstoy brilliantly described the psychological implosion of a human mind. Not that I'm an expert on e.g. madness or the like, but it rang true to me.
And, of course, the scene in which Levin proposes to Kitty (...the second time!) is wonderful...and much else besides......
Not business. Family is from Belarus, and cousins throughout Belarus and Russia. The only thing I dread is the constant vodka drinking, I am a lightweight! I am afraid I am not putting in a good showing for Uncle Sam with my vodka soaked Slavic relatives.
Re: your background -- Holy smoke, check out the brain on kflaux! Impressive. That is the kind of scholarly endeavor I can respect. Parents I know are always telling their kids to major in engineering, computer science, or something that supposedly makes a lot of money. My advice? Study what you like, and what interests you as long as you feel you can excel in it.
My career involves a scientific research, and it just so happens that in the course of literature review I sometimes run across old scientific papers, and my curiosity leads me sometimes back into the earlymost 20th century and late 19th century. Interesting stuff, someday I would like to take a gander at Darwin's original published work!
Regarding the question on movies, I cannot stand movies made by americans and british that purport to be an adaptation of a great Russian novel. The Americans and the Brits just don't get it right, they do not understand the nuance and the intangibles of the Russian soul. Which gets back to your earlier comment about translation. A translation from the original Russian has to be authentic and culturally relevant. Which is why I appreciated your comment on the Prevear-Volokonsky translation team which bring both the native Russian and the native English speaker perspectives to the work.
Cypress (07-05-2017)
Aha. I can relate, to an extent. My wife is Japanese, and on trips to Japan, sake and etc. are part of every meal with friends. Sometimes it's not something I'm real keen on--I must be getting old--but as in Russia, it's part of the culture.
His Origin is an interesting read. He did a very good job of gradually making the malleability of species something people could accept, by talking about e.g. pigeon breeding and the like.My career involves a scientific research, and it just so happens that in the course of literature review I sometimes run across old scientific papers, and my curiosity leads me sometimes back into the earlymost 20th century and late 19th century. Interesting stuff, someday I would like to take a gander at Darwin's original published work!
Most of what I did was in history of physics and math, however. Master's dissertation on Faraday's discovery of E-M induction.
I guess they are both translations, so to speak, aren't they. And any "translation" of a book into a movie will be imperfect, in the same way that there is no such thing as a perfect translation into another language. "To translate is to traduce".Regarding the question on movies, I cannot stand movies made by americans and british that purport to be an adaptation of a great Russian novel. The Americans and the Brits just don't get it right, they do not understand the nuance and the intangibles of the Russian soul. Which gets back to your earlier comment about translation. A translation from the original Russian has to be authentic and culturally relevant. Which is why I appreciated your comment on the Prevear-Volokonsky translation team which bring both the native Russian and the native English speaker perspectives to the work.
Last edited by kflaux; 07-06-2017 at 09:50 AM.
Cypress (07-06-2017)
True dat. Some are tolerable. Many are not.
A very few however rise above their textual origins, transcend them. My favorite example of this is Rashomon, the film that first got Akira Kurosawa noticed. Based on two interesting but not widely known or appreciated short stories by R. Akutagawa.
Phantasmal (07-06-2017)
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