³the incomplete grandiosity of R ussia ²

[William Ryan]

Grandiosity has a pejorative flavour, but grandeur is rarely now used in 
the sense of greatness (see OED), rather more in the sense of 
'splendour'. I would go for 'unachieved greatness' since 'unrealized 
greatness' would be ambiguous (if unrealized = unrecognized). Or even 
'unachieved destiny', if you believe that Russia's destiny was to be great.
Will Ryan


Olga Meerson wrote:
> Unrealized, possibly. Grandiosity, no. Grandeur. Or greatness. Velichie is NOT a compromised word. In order for the oxymoron to obtain, the words have to retain their respective connotations: the latter, positive, the former, undercutting. But what is important about nesostoiavsheesia is also that it is about something interrupted in time--as if it were almost achieved but in the end, something went wrong. Hence the irony. So I still prefer "aborted grandeur". Plus, then the irony may convey, in English, a little of the sense of turning tables, from Russian nationalists' expression, to Russian nationalism itself.
> o.m.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                     http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>   

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------