Russians, help me out!

[Schadenfreude]

Well, I've been on this big reading kick lately, and having no knowledge of books outside of the US public school system (a system of nationalistic isolationist ignorance, if you ask me), I've decided to read up on the "classics" of literature.

Anyhow, I've started, and finished reading "Master and Margarita", and I've started a book on Pushkin and Gogl - which I adore.

But my question, after all this verbal meandering, is this: why does it seem like there are many names for one character? Or am I just imagining things? 😕

 

[SuperTool]

Master and Margarita is a weird book. It's weird in Russian too.

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Well, I've been on this big reading kick lately, and having no knowledge of books outside of the US public school system (a system of nationalistic isolationist ignorance, if you ask me), I've decided to read up on the "classics" of literature.

Anyhow, I've started, and finished reading "Master and Margarita", and I've started a book on Pushkin and Gogl - which I adore.

But my question, after all this verbal meandering, is this: why does it seem like there are many names for one character? Or am I just imagining things? 😕

Are you refering to the patronymical and diminutive names?

 

[kami333]

Partonimic and shortened names are the reason I hated reading Russian books, I would have to keep a list on the first page so I knew who they were talking about. Then they have even more forms of names on top of that, they probably make sense if you know Russian though.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Master and Margarita is a weird book. It's weird in Russian too.

Best. Book. Evar. Of course to really appreciate it, you have to read it in its original language, if you can. I'll take anything written by Bulgakov.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Master and Margarita is a weird book. It's weird in Russian too.

Best. Book. Evar. Of course to really appreciate it, you have to read it in its original language, if you can. I'll take anything written by Bulgakov.

I'm bretty damn close to agreeing with you - but then again, I'm pretty used to obscure references due to my phi background, and the translation, even with the mutiple titles, never really lost track of who it was referencing, so it made sense - after I read all of it.

As far as Bugokov is concerned - I was thrilled after Master and Margarita, and rushed out and got Heart of a Dog. Unfortunately, I wasn't so impressed.

I am, however, enjoying the heck out of Gogol. Currently reading a compendium of his short stories. And I do agree about the language differences as a barrier to their full comprehension - but alas, what can I do? I'm not about to spend god knows how many long years so I can learn Russian, let alone to the level where I can understand all the slang and obscure cultural references lost in time and translation.