Friday, June 1, 2018
How do you say “damn it” in Russian?
Well, I feel like a total slacker. Last post in 2011. Has it really been that long? I could say I was too busy reading the book to write any posts, but in all reality I have to admit I still haven’t finished the book. Oh, I’m sure I’ve read many other books, but life got in the way and I just got distracted. I guess it’s time to revisit the plan, dust off my copy, and finally make a goal to finish it this summer. Check back next week for a fresh start!
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Name Game
Once again, work got the best of me, then the weather had a warm up, now we are back to a cold snap! This year at work is busy, busy, busy, but my thoughts keep drifting back to "Anna." Shakespeare wrote in the play, "Romeo and Juliet"...
"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"
...those words resonate in the harsh clime of Russian aristocracy as portrayed in "Anna Karenina."
The first time I started to read "Anna Karenina" I had to dig out a piece of paper and a pencil and create a family tree of all the characters. My edition of the novel has a list of characters at the front, but it is much easier to block them out as a family tree rather than a linear list.
The hardest thing I think about starting the book is realizing that many of the characters are referred to by 2-3 different names in the novel. Their personal name, their patronymic, followed by their surname and possibly referred to in the novel by an intimate nickname. It can all be very confusing, especially if you don't realize that the men and women in the novel with the same last name do not spell their surnames the same.
Here's a key example:
Anna Arkadyevna Karenina (Anna=first name, Arkadyevna=patronymic comprised of her father's name Arkady + "yevna" tagged on the end to feminize it, followed by her married surname Karenin with "a" again tagged onto it denoting the female form of the surname)
Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky (Stiva) "Anna's brother" (Stepan=first name, Arkadyich=patronymic comprised of father's name Arkady = "yich" tagged on the end to masculinize it, followed by his surname (Anna's maiden name) Oblonsky) and to confuse matters many times he is referred to by his family nickname "Stiva".
That's just one example of how Russian names are long and sometimes confusing, though once you know it you can look at the characters middle "patronymic" name and if the root is the same you pretty much can tell that the characters are some how related by familial blood ties.
For fun you can try it yourself....my father's name was Stefan, so my patronymic might be Stefanyevna or Stefanovna or Stefanichna common endings for a female patronymic form of a male parent's name ending in a consonant.
Honestly though, while you are reading "Anna Karenina" I think the best thing to do is read through the character lists and draw a family tree listing each person with their patronymic and surname with the nickname in parenthesis for quick clarification while reading the novel!
Now back to the book and hopefully another post sooner rather than later this time!
"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"
...those words resonate in the harsh clime of Russian aristocracy as portrayed in "Anna Karenina."
The first time I started to read "Anna Karenina" I had to dig out a piece of paper and a pencil and create a family tree of all the characters. My edition of the novel has a list of characters at the front, but it is much easier to block them out as a family tree rather than a linear list.
The hardest thing I think about starting the book is realizing that many of the characters are referred to by 2-3 different names in the novel. Their personal name, their patronymic, followed by their surname and possibly referred to in the novel by an intimate nickname. It can all be very confusing, especially if you don't realize that the men and women in the novel with the same last name do not spell their surnames the same.
Here's a key example:
Anna Arkadyevna Karenina (Anna=first name, Arkadyevna=patronymic comprised of her father's name Arkady + "yevna" tagged on the end to feminize it, followed by her married surname Karenin with "a" again tagged onto it denoting the female form of the surname)
Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky (Stiva) "Anna's brother" (Stepan=first name, Arkadyich=patronymic comprised of father's name Arkady = "yich" tagged on the end to masculinize it, followed by his surname (Anna's maiden name) Oblonsky) and to confuse matters many times he is referred to by his family nickname "Stiva".
That's just one example of how Russian names are long and sometimes confusing, though once you know it you can look at the characters middle "patronymic" name and if the root is the same you pretty much can tell that the characters are some how related by familial blood ties.
For fun you can try it yourself....my father's name was Stefan, so my patronymic might be Stefanyevna or Stefanovna or Stefanichna common endings for a female patronymic form of a male parent's name ending in a consonant.
Honestly though, while you are reading "Anna Karenina" I think the best thing to do is read through the character lists and draw a family tree listing each person with their patronymic and surname with the nickname in parenthesis for quick clarification while reading the novel!
Now back to the book and hopefully another post sooner rather than later this time!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Keira as Anna
It's solstice and winter always makes me think of Russia, Romance, Royalty sipping champagne and eating toast points with caviar.
I was busy in the summer with travel to Washington, DC [Dave Matthews Band concert staying with friends, shopping at Benetton, service at The National Cathedral] and taking graduate classes, then busy with classes and work this autumn...now it's solstice and I find I am longing to sink my teeth once again into Anna Karenina. It's time and now there is a challenge....
I hear that Keira Knightley has signed on to play Anna in a new movie adaptation of the book. It's always best to read the book before the movie.
So with today being the longest night of the year...snow on the ground...a chill in the air...I shall be curling up with Anna Karenina again this evening to really try to delve into the world of Russian high society, politics, and desire for a life worth living.
I was busy in the summer with travel to Washington, DC [Dave Matthews Band concert staying with friends, shopping at Benetton, service at The National Cathedral] and taking graduate classes, then busy with classes and work this autumn...now it's solstice and I find I am longing to sink my teeth once again into Anna Karenina. It's time and now there is a challenge....
I hear that Keira Knightley has signed on to play Anna in a new movie adaptation of the book. It's always best to read the book before the movie.
So with today being the longest night of the year...snow on the ground...a chill in the air...I shall be curling up with Anna Karenina again this evening to really try to delve into the world of Russian high society, politics, and desire for a life worth living.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Channeling Faulkner
It's hot...and it's not even summer yet. All I can say is that the oppressive humidity started yesterday, but at least then there was a wicked breeze (like a föhn wind rather than the Mistral)to keep the warm air flowing...oppressive...like a communist regime, yet bearable.
What does this have to do with Anna K.? Well, aside from it being crunch time at work and having several irons in the fire that need immediate attention at my work place, it also means I have been distracted by lighter fair of late. It's spring ennui. Chalk it up to the second book in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larrson (The Girl Who Played with Fire) and the latest Jen Lancaster book (My Fair Pretty).
I promise once work is done I have a weekend vacation planned to go climb a mountain and as the usual side passenger in any vehicle with family on vacation, I am taking Anna K. with me and shall deeply delve into psyche of the Russian aristocracy.
In the meantime if possible I will try to at least post some initial thoughts on the characters and use of names and family trees in trying to decipher the characters of this great novel.
Now back to work, silly autobiographical non-fiction, and suspenseful Swedish thrillers...I'm telling you...it's all because of the weather! Peter Mayle back me up on this!
What does this have to do with Anna K.? Well, aside from it being crunch time at work and having several irons in the fire that need immediate attention at my work place, it also means I have been distracted by lighter fair of late. It's spring ennui. Chalk it up to the second book in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larrson (The Girl Who Played with Fire) and the latest Jen Lancaster book (My Fair Pretty).
I promise once work is done I have a weekend vacation planned to go climb a mountain and as the usual side passenger in any vehicle with family on vacation, I am taking Anna K. with me and shall deeply delve into psyche of the Russian aristocracy.
In the meantime if possible I will try to at least post some initial thoughts on the characters and use of names and family trees in trying to decipher the characters of this great novel.
Now back to work, silly autobiographical non-fiction, and suspenseful Swedish thrillers...I'm telling you...it's all because of the weather! Peter Mayle back me up on this!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Sheer genius! This man, in one sentence, the very FIRST sentence, sums up all of marital living! And it is ever so true! In the words of George C. Scott channeling Patton,..."Tolstoy, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD, I read your book!"
Well, at least I've begun it, but honestly after a first line like that, summing up all of humanity and the fragility of marriage and family and human connections, anything after that is just the cherry on top of the sundae!
It has begun....
Well, at least I've begun it, but honestly after a first line like that, summing up all of humanity and the fragility of marriage and family and human connections, anything after that is just the cherry on top of the sundae!
It has begun....
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
It All Began w/Shaun Cassidy and a Play
The first time I ever heard of Anna Karenina I was 15 years old. I was still in love with Shaun Cassidy and he was going to be starring in a play on PBS's "American Playhouse" series. The play was "Breakfast with Les and Bess" written by Lee Kalcheim and it starred Cloris Leachman and Dick Van Dyke as a couple who lived in 1960s New York City with their two children and had a job as a pair of radio talk show hosts. There were a few other actors playing the daughter, the son-in-law, narrator, etc, but I was in it for Shaun Cassidy. Back then we didn't have a VCR so I stayed up and watched it with a tape player recorder the sound for later playback of dreamy Shaun Cassidy's voice and the play itself.
I thought the play was okay, oh back then I thought it was great because Shaun Cassidy was in it, but honestly it was an okay play. Somewhere along the way Dick Van Dyke's character mentions a book...a long book..that he's always meant to read from cover to cover, but always gets distracted and never finishes it. At the end of the play he pulls the book down and decides that for the last days that their radio show is on the air, he is going to read this book to the listening audience...the book was "Anna Karenina".
It stuck with me and I always wondered about that book. One day I chanced upon it in a little independent book store while on vacation up at Lake Okoboji in Iowa and I decided to buy it, this beautiful looking book, this big book, by this man I knew from being an English Literature major was one of the finest writers of the world, Leo Tolstoy. I bought that book, I bought it SEVERAL years ago, and ever since then I have been trying to read it, just like Dick Van Dyke's character, Les, in "Breakfast with Les and Bess". I pick it up, I start it, I get distracted, I put it down, weeks go by, months go by, I notice it again and pick it back up, but always feel like I need to start back at the beginning there are so many characters to remember, it's such a dense read. Every summer for the last few years, I pull it out again and say "This is the summer I'm going to read AND FINISH 'Anna Karenina'" and it starts with good intentions, but I never finish it.
Well, this year I vow will be the year that I shall read every bittersweet word of Anna's ill-fated love for Vronsky. This is the year I shall finish and so to encourage myself to read and analyze and fall into the spell of love, I am starting this blog to give encouragement to my reading, to urge me on to continue reading and write down my thoughts about Vronsky's lover-Anna Karenina.
Yes, this is the year I plan to start and finish and revel in the beauty that is "Anna Karenina".
Won't you join me...
I thought the play was okay, oh back then I thought it was great because Shaun Cassidy was in it, but honestly it was an okay play. Somewhere along the way Dick Van Dyke's character mentions a book...a long book..that he's always meant to read from cover to cover, but always gets distracted and never finishes it. At the end of the play he pulls the book down and decides that for the last days that their radio show is on the air, he is going to read this book to the listening audience...the book was "Anna Karenina".
It stuck with me and I always wondered about that book. One day I chanced upon it in a little independent book store while on vacation up at Lake Okoboji in Iowa and I decided to buy it, this beautiful looking book, this big book, by this man I knew from being an English Literature major was one of the finest writers of the world, Leo Tolstoy. I bought that book, I bought it SEVERAL years ago, and ever since then I have been trying to read it, just like Dick Van Dyke's character, Les, in "Breakfast with Les and Bess". I pick it up, I start it, I get distracted, I put it down, weeks go by, months go by, I notice it again and pick it back up, but always feel like I need to start back at the beginning there are so many characters to remember, it's such a dense read. Every summer for the last few years, I pull it out again and say "This is the summer I'm going to read AND FINISH 'Anna Karenina'" and it starts with good intentions, but I never finish it.
Well, this year I vow will be the year that I shall read every bittersweet word of Anna's ill-fated love for Vronsky. This is the year I shall finish and so to encourage myself to read and analyze and fall into the spell of love, I am starting this blog to give encouragement to my reading, to urge me on to continue reading and write down my thoughts about Vronsky's lover-Anna Karenina.
Yes, this is the year I plan to start and finish and revel in the beauty that is "Anna Karenina".
Won't you join me...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)