tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post2944011522385019560..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: The Nikolai Chernyshevsky What Is to Be Done? readalong - if I hadn’t warned you, you might have thought that this tale was being told artisticallyAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-37457458035251945292014-04-08T10:55:45.005-05:002014-04-08T10:55:45.005-05:00Bailey has probably scared people away with the qu...Bailey has probably scared people away with the quality of his posts. "Mine won't be that good, so why bother." He has almost scared me away.<br /><br />When we get Dostoevsky and lash him to Chernyshevsky - actually, Dost. gives Ch. forty lashes - it will all seem worth it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47788553952791273132014-04-08T10:49:42.662-05:002014-04-08T10:49:42.662-05:00Is Scott the only other one reading this book? Mus...Is Scott the only other one reading this book? Must say I've enjoyed reading about the reading... though I don't want to read it!Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-33684296369167598782014-01-17T14:46:54.780-06:002014-01-17T14:46:54.780-06:00Good, I hope you join in. This is just why I bene...Good, I hope you join in. This is just why I benefit from more readers - I am philosophically unsophisticated and can use all the help anyone is willing to offer.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-2206174844449277052014-01-17T14:34:43.731-06:002014-01-17T14:34:43.731-06:00I may join in the read-along- I've skimmed it ...I may join in the read-along- I've skimmed it but not read it properly. Mainly because the dialogue kept getting on my nerves. The narration is meta and interesting but the dialogue is tin-eared in the extreme. <br /><br />I'd say (based on that limited experience) that it's more philosophically dubious than ethically dubious.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32001107760771996672014-01-13T11:02:28.649-06:002014-01-13T11:02:28.649-06:00I've heard of this, of course: anyone with an ...I've heard of this, of course: anyone with an interest in 19th century literature has. But a 400 page didactic novel that is "by most aesthetic measures, a bad novel" ... Well, let me say that I'd be interested in what you all have to say about it, and keep it there!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-12075081328232776272014-01-12T17:14:37.145-06:002014-01-12T17:14:37.145-06:00I will just warn you, Jeffry, that the old transla...I will just warn you, Jeffry, that the old translations have substantial cuts, mostly of sexual material.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-49513232895461578832014-01-12T09:05:33.385-06:002014-01-12T09:05:33.385-06:00I'd like to participate! I'll use the arch...I'd like to participate! I'll use the archive.org translation, which has a few odd choices--ie where they change what Ch. wrote to "better conform to the American ideal of manhood". The book isn't so stodgy stylistically as may appear; for example the author provides a preface only after the first few paragraphs. In it, he teases the reader about how he or she has been tricked into sympathy for the characters and interest in their story. jeff househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03308802956949466073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-29893988671923119822014-01-12T08:58:07.640-06:002014-01-12T08:58:07.640-06:00https://archive.org/details/avitalquestion00skidgo...https://archive.org/details/avitalquestion00skidgoogJeffry Househttp://jeffryahouse.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-38117308086451436762014-01-08T21:43:56.660-06:002014-01-08T21:43:56.660-06:00A series of good ideas. Even one of them would be...A series of good ideas. Even one of them would be something.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-10918662568961485222014-01-08T17:31:23.695-06:002014-01-08T17:31:23.695-06:00I'm tempted by this one, for some reason, and ...I'm tempted by this one, for some reason, and quite enjoyed the opening few pages. It also gives me a reason to return to Dostoevsky, which I haven't done in a long time and to read Fathers and Sons, which I have never read. Hmmm...Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7632993252487396172014-01-08T15:25:57.588-06:002014-01-08T15:25:57.588-06:00The title asks a good question, amenable to many c...The title asks a good question, amenable to many contexts.<br /><br />Best of luck with the job search. It is rough out there.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-72433191734030258092014-01-08T15:11:56.230-06:002014-01-08T15:11:56.230-06:00Ah, it sounds seductive: "What is to be Done?...Ah, it sounds seductive: "What is to be Done?" As it turns out, though, I do have some other things to do (e.g., find a job -- see my blog posting today in which I rant and rave about academia's treatment of a friend and myself), so I think I will be taking a pass this time around. And you say the novel is "a bad novel." I cannot get past the endorsement. But I wish you and others well. As for myself -- well, if you read my posting today, you'll know what's to be done in my neck of the woods.R.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13220814349193561823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-51333348195096170782014-01-08T13:44:54.207-06:002014-01-08T13:44:54.207-06:00Talk about reading against the grain! But I admir...Talk about reading against the grain! But I admire the spirit of the exercise. Why else am I going to revisit the book if not to press against my received ideas about it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13547494743480700342014-01-08T13:33:48.933-06:002014-01-08T13:33:48.933-06:00Count me in for the readalong! I may also try a bo...Count me in for the readalong! I may also try a book I've been curious about for a while (but haven't read yet) called <i>Chernyshevskii's “What Is to Be Done?”: A Reevaluation</i> by Andrew Drozd, where according to <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3650197" rel="nofollow">this review</a>, Drozd argues that Chernyshevskii sets a trap by making the novel appear to be badly written and didactic, when in fact he wasn't (until the end of the book) preaching the utilitarian and materialist ideas his characters believe in, but describing their 1860s milieu. One chapter is described as "a healthy intervention amid the Nabokov-inspired tendency to see Chernyshevskii as a plodding bore." The reviewer, Russell Valentino, isn't fully convinced, though.Erik M.http://xixvek.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13926621324743069482014-01-08T09:49:21.378-06:002014-01-08T09:49:21.378-06:00Two good choices - neither the timing nor any actu...Two good choices - neither the timing nor any actual participation matter much here.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86926893701496879282014-01-08T08:42:40.536-06:002014-01-08T08:42:40.536-06:00Hm, I'll pass, thanks, don't really want t...Hm, I'll pass, thanks, don't really want to burden my busy schedule with a shoddy novel, have lots of those on my pile already. But I can't wait to read everyone's comments on it, it should produce entertaining writing.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6389463906647707272014-01-08T08:34:23.444-06:002014-01-08T08:34:23.444-06:00I hope to be able to join in if everything else go...I hope to be able to join in if everything else going on allows it. I take that back…I will do it, even if not in the same time frame. Thanks for all the notes and recommendations!Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-20784937528651323602014-01-08T08:19:07.088-06:002014-01-08T08:19:07.088-06:00Without the Katz book (or a similarly good edition...Without the Katz book (or a similarly good edition in another language), honestly I would skip Chernyshevsky. Or read around it. Or - now this is almost a good idea - just read the excerpt included in the <i>Notes from the Underground</i> Norton Critical Edition (also trans. and edited by Michael Katz).<br /><br />Spring is a time of Utopian hope and renewal. Thus appropriate. Sure, why not. Yes, <i>Notes</i> is quite short.<br /><br />The <i>Clarel</i> event was a smashing success with two readers. Will Chernyshevsky actually top that? If so, how exciting. If not, also exciting. <br /> Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66664432642679935212014-01-08T07:34:27.830-06:002014-01-08T07:34:27.830-06:00I can read it for April — I tried already and, wit...I can read it for April — I tried already and, without any serious aim, let it drop slowly around the seond third. So I'll try again in my French translation. And I'll take again The Notes From Underground, nice reading for winter.catherine darleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693132012083884186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-21373184258342058592014-01-08T00:38:06.312-06:002014-01-08T00:38:06.312-06:00I am in, and April sounds appropriate. I'll se...I am in, and April sounds appropriate. I'll seek out the Katz translation. You'll be reading <i>Notes From Underground</i> alongside? That sounds amusing, though <i>Notes</i> is what? only 85 pages or so in mass-market paperback? <br /><br />Thank heavens I have plenty of vodka in the house. I think I'll need to fortify myself for this one.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-5387253693938262972014-01-08T00:26:07.076-06:002014-01-08T00:26:07.076-06:00I would actually love to do this, but do you know ...I would actually love to do this, but do you know of any free e-books, or anything? As far as I've been able to see, I'll need to spend some money if I want to read Chernyshevsky, but I don't claim to have done all the research yet. Even an ILL might be tricky, esp. since it's <br />pretty long.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14247515387599954817noreply@blogger.com