Russian accent: investment in footbal

[Lemelin, Christopher W]

In my mind, the works that made it (more or less) successfully into
English translation are precisely that type.  Perhaps Russian humor is
simply too difficult to translate, or maybe this can be said about humor
in general.  Maybe Russian humor is just too unlike humor in
anglo-speaking cultures (and maybe this can be said about translating
any humor).  (By the way, my American college students rarely understood
my amusement with Monty Python.  Some of it they got; most of it, most
of them didn't.  And of course there may be political factors in play in
the less frequent translation of Russian "humorous" works.)  In any
case, the consequence is that what we get as the masterpieces of Russian
literature are Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.  To quote:  " 'nuf said."
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Christopher W. Lemelin
Language Training Supervisor, Russian Section/Tajiki Section Department
of Slavic, Pashto, and Persian School of Language Studies National
Foreign Affairs Training Center 4000 Arlington Boulevard Arlington,
Virginia  22204

lemelincw at state.gov
703-302-7018



This email is UNCLASSIFIED

||-----Original Message-----
||From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list 
||[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of amarilis
||Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:40 AM
||To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
||Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russian accent: investment in footbal
||
||On 12/10/2010 9:41 AM, John Dunn wrote:
||> Some thoughts on recent postings.
||>
||> Olga Meerson raises an interesting point: has anyone given any 
||> consideration to
||the question why Russian literature, taken generally, has a reputation

||for being particularly gloomy, at least among English-speaking 
||non-specialists (if not non- readers)?
||>
||
||I have taught Russian Short Stories four times at my university.
||Inevitably, by the midterm, the students look up to me and say:
||"Why does everybody always die in the end?"
||
||They have Jane Austin. We have Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. 'nuff said.
||
||Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz
||Lecturer, Howard University
||
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