translation of Dostoevsky's "Rasskazy Uspenskogo"

[Olga Meerson]

Re:'born out of real life and tested against it'.  ??

The problem with this version for "vyzhitaia SAMOIU zhizniiu mysl'", as well as with Boris's rendering, is that the act of getting the thought is now not that of life itself but though of snatched or wrought out of life by us. The sentence matters not because of the verb (analogous to "vystradat'", for example) but because of the fact that it emphasizes life itself as the main agent, thinker, and teacher here. Perhaps "...it is an idea life itself came up with, while being lived by us" ??
o.m.

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