Posted by PS on July 28, 2004 at 15:56:37:
In Reply to: school stuff and more... posted by giveawayboy on July 25, 2004 at 12:06:06:
(: = Bill)
: I still have yet to read CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.
When you are done, I will send you read my essays on it if you like.
: I also read FATHERS AND SONS Turgenev.
I liked Fathers and Sons. Turgenev was misunderstood by both sides (traditionalists and nihilists) regarding his intentions in writing it. It is an interesting story.
Did you know Turgenev was challenged to a duel by Tolstoy? They did not get along. 19th century Russian authors were notorious for dueling. Pushkin and Lermontov were both killed in duels, and Lermontov had been exiled for one duel before the one that finally killed him. Lermontov's most famous work, A Hero of Our Time, features a duel in the Caucasus, where he himself was killed later. Almost prophetic. And of course Pushkin wrote about duels also, for instance, in Eugene Onegin and the short story The Shot. Turgenev's Fathers and Sons features a duel--actually more a parody of a duel; it is pretty silly.
: Tolstoy always left me with this strange Gibran feeling. Not sure why.
Are you perhaps talking about The Kingdom of God is Within You? That is the work that is said to have inspired Ghandi.
Here are a couple of the short Tolstoy stories that have spiritual/religious themes regarding vanity in life, the imposition of death and responses to it, including strange last-minute repentances, and the hope of an afterlife:
The Death of Ivan Ilych
Master and Man
Have you read any of Gogol or Chekhov's short stories? Gogol is the most baroque, romanticist, supernatural, and bizarre. Chekhov is the master of realism, using impressionism rather than symbolism in his exhaustive portrayal of relationships, which are much less plot-based. So in many ways, they are opposite sides of the coin. I love them both.
The definitive Gogol short story to read is The Overcoat, also available here, and here.
More Gogol sites:
The Nose
Taras Bulba and Other Tales (includes The Nose)
Gogol at Univ. of Adelaide Library
Gogol at Literature Classics
For a great Chekhov short story, I recommend The Black Monk.
Chekhov's plays brought him the most initial recognition. One of his great plays is Uncle Vanya.
You can find most Chekhov short stories here:
201 Stories by Anton Chekhov -- Check out the last 2 blocks of stories, which are the ones late in life and especially good. The more famous are Neighbours, Ward Number Six, The Black Monk, The Murder, Ariadne, The Man in a Shell, Gooseberries, About Love, Lady with the Dog, In the Ravine, and The Betrothed.
: I liked Solzhenitsyn's THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO, but read it so long ago.
Still have to read that one!
: My Russian claim to fame would be Marc Chagall, the Jewish artist, who loved to paint Jesus as if he were the Messiah. I think Marc had an inner sensitivity to spiritual reality. His works are powerful and haunting.
I love Chagall. Thanks for the link to Marc Chagall's Jesus images. Chagall did a number of etchings for Gogol's novel Dead Souls you can find on 4 pages (scroll down on each): Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4.
Ciao!