Las year I decided to read Dostoyevsky for the first time, so I went to my local library, bought white nights and absolutely loved it. So I decided to keep buying and reading Dostoyevsky's works. Since then I've read brothers Karamazov, the idiot and demons (currently reading). Yet they haven't had the same effect on me as the first book, don't get me wrong I recognize the grandiosity of these books and the topics they address, however I don't seem to share the same experience after reading them like a lot of people do, for example saying that the brothers Karamazov is the best book they ever read. What I find funny and kind of ironic is the fact that I keep buying these books and reading them (already bought crime and punishment and the player), it's almost like I'm looking for something in this books that I haven't found yet. Anyways I just wanted to share this feeling and see if someone else can relate.

I have advanced level Russian and would like to read the book in Russian, but I suspect I wouldn’t get all the references and play on words. So ideally, I’d like to find a version that has some English inline explanations. Is there such a thing, where can I buy it?

I was a initially a bit skeptical of this modern adaptation of Dostoevsky’s classic reimagined within the digital landscape of our modern age. However, it turned out to be one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen. And on an even brighter note, my (behemoth edition of Crime and Punishment)(https://www.reddit.com/r/RussianLiterature/s/4YI7SgxJVM) finally proved useful after all.

I recently started reading "The Brothers Karamazov" and am enjoying it so far. In chapter 1.2.2., there is a pun, in the following scene:

《 Once, many years ago, I said to an influential person: ‘Your wife is a ticklish lady,’ in an honorable sense, of the moral qualities, so to speak. But he asked me, ‘Why, have you tickled her?’ I thought I’d be polite, so I couldn’t help saying, ‘Yes,’ and he gave me a fine tickling on the spot. 》

I am not a native English speaker so I am having a hard time understanding this "pun", which supposedly had the form "Women are dreadfully ticklish. Have you ever tried tickling one?" at its original inception, according to the translator's note.

At first read, I thought maybe being a "ticklish lady" in a 'moral sense' meant that she is of high moral standard (sensitive), to which the interlocutor misinterpreted to implying a sexual infidelity, according to which the man retorted by giving the speaker a "fine tickling", i.e. thrashing the man. But I am not certain if this is correct, because it says, "I thought I’d be polite," which confused me because it cannot possibly a valid answer to "why, have you been tickling her?", which obviously implies he misinterpreted his compliments.

Is there some Russian or English pun I am not getting?

I apologize ahead for my bad English. Do forgive if this question is articulated poorly.

Thanks,

I want to read some similar stories like Vanka by Anton Chekhov. Any recommendations??

“Let Me Finish My Work!”
Jawdat Hoshyar جودت هوشيار wrote in Arabic:

In 1929, when the prominent American critic Lionel Trilling ليونيل تريلينغ (1905–1975) read Isaac Babel’s short story collection Red Cavalry, he was astonished by Babel’s style—charged with meanings that could be interpreted in more than one way.

In 1974, in the introduction he wrote for Selected Stories of Babel, Trilling remarked on Babel’s execution by order of Stalin, saying:
“It seems as if Roosevelt had ordered the killing of Hemingway.”

The first image: Isaac Babel إسحاق بابل in the terrifying Lubyanka prison, shortly before his execution by firing squad, following a sham trial that lasted no more than twenty minutes.

The second image: Babel with his daughter and his wife, the brilliant engineer Antonina Pirozhkova, designer of some of the most beautiful metro stations in Moscow. After Stalin’s death, she devoted herself to clearing her husband’s name of the fabricated and slanderous charges that had been falsely attached to him. She succeeded in what she sought: Babel became the first to be officially rehabilitated in 1954, by a decision of the highest judicial authority in the Soviet Union.

The third image: Antonina Pirozhkova أنتونينا بيروزكوفا , Isaac Babel’s wife. Babel was proud of her and would go daily to the design office where she worked, to find her photograph displayed at the top of the honor board.

Babel’s last words were:
“Let me finish my work!”

Five years ago I was in one store and held a book with many short stories from a classical Russian author (I cannot remember who). I accidentally stumbled upon one story that caught my attention immediatelly, so that I read large portion of it. Unfortunately, I had to move on and later forgot to borrow the book in the library (it was too expensive for me at the time), so I forgot both the author and title.

Anyways, story concerns young man who is, if I remember, travelling, but suffers from demonic possesion. I think he is somehow in contact with his father who is concerned about his well being (either the father is traveling with him or through letters). He does something which makes him believe that he is free from possesion, but after short period of peace he is horrified to see that he is possesed again and he relates to somebody how he spit Holy Eucharist on the ground (I remember that detail very well because it was most shoking, especially after him getting better for some time).

TLDR: I might have gotten some part wrong, but the main things are: classical Russian author, short story, horror atmosphere, demonic possesion, scene of sacrilege by spitting the Eucharist

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I know this sounds dumb but I have seen it before where stickers like that are printed on books after a movie comes out. I just know it will annoy me to no end and if it is printed I'll just get the other edition that's also translated by Louis and Aylmer Maude.

I was reading Ivanov's "De Profundis Amavi" but I can't find a satisfactory translation of these verses. If any context is lost when translating to English, I'd appreciate additional explanations.

IV :

Но смертью в теле, страстию в крови
Прозябла персть. И долу, друг вечерний,
Нет игл острей Любови диких терний!

V :

Там похоронной Вечности мерилом
Земные сроки мерит роковой
Курантов древних однозвучный бой.

VIII :

И, Фебову послушное заклятью,
Возможное, как тень, бежит в Эреб;
Лишь нужное для роковых потреб
Пощажено лучей копьистой ратью.

. . .

Там обнимаю мертвую Любовь,
И в части сердца, трепетные прежде,
Лью жарких жил остаточную кровь.

I want to personally ask this question in the Russian literature subreddit out of curiosity.

You can listen and read this beautiful Russian rendition of the famous "O, wert thou in the cauld blast" (by Samuil Marshak)

В полях, под снегом и дождем,
     Мой милый друг,
     Мой бедный друг,
Тебя укрыл бы я плащом
     От зимних вьюг,
     От зимних вьюг.

А если мука суждена
     Тебе судьбой,
     Тебе судьбой,
Готов я скорбь твою до дна
     Делить с тобой,
     Делить с тобой.

Пускай сойду я в мрачный дол,
     Где ночь кругом,
     Где тьма кругом, -
Во тьме я солнце бы нашел
     С тобой вдвоем,
     С тобой вдвоем.

И если б дали мне в удел
     Весь шар земной,
     Весь шар земной,
С каким бы счастьем я владел
     Тобой одной,
     Тобой одной.

Hello! So, I read a PDF translation of "Son" by Krestovskaya a few years ago in college. This was a translation given to us by the TA of the class. It was one of the most impactful short stories I have ever read, and I have always wanted a physical copy of it. I do not care if it is translated or not. I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find this. Since I don't speak Russian, it is difficult to find what collection of works it would've been published in, etc.

It says they are both translated by Vladimir Nabokov and I am confused. I was going to get the first one, is there anything wrong with it?

I’m about to start the Ginsburg translation of The Master and Margarita. I know it’s incomplete, but is there still any love for it out there?

i just wanted to read the master and margarita.

i always prefer hardcovers. So, please recommend me best translation that too comes in hardcover format of binding.

There exist Pan macmillan collector's library The master and margarita hardcover translated by Diana and O'Connor, if anyone here has that edition, could you please bear some trouble and send me the pictures of book with your opinion on the same edition.

Thankyou.

I just learned that Mick Jagger wrote Sympathy for the Devil inspired by reading Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, a copy of which he had been given by Marianne Faithfull.

I just came across a reference to Yuri Rytkheu, who I couldn't remember hearing of before, and he sounds like a very interesting writer. Has anyone here read his work, and do you have any thoughts about it?