Crime and Punishment and Sex Work

[JakeSims420420]

I actually read a Joseph Conrad novel from beginning to end without understanding a single fucking word. Although Polish, I believe, he was said to be a master of the English language. Lord Jim, I think it was. Another one that failed me, or I failed it was James Joyce's Ulysses. Haven't a fucking clue what it was about.
So much for literature. Maybe I'll check out woodworking.

Well Ulysses is famous for being the kind of book people read at least twice to really understand. It's the kind of book that people write guidebooks for reading it.

I've read Gravity's Rainbow and felt I was losing my mind because I had no idea what was going on. On the other hand, I really loved Infinite Jest.

 

[oral.com]

I read Crime and Punishment during the summer when I was 19. I remember the dark and depressing mood of the novel, the way guilt made Raskolnikov physically sick. Nothing I’ve read from Dostoevsky was as visceral as C&P

 

[that6969]

Was this in Canada? Out of curiosity, how did they handle the n-word in To Kill a Mockingbird?

If the teacher made a few students read a few lines in class some said it out in the open or some said just "n-word". This was back in the early 2000s for me in Toronto. And a lot of people of different backgrounds would drop the n-word while talking to their friends outside of class and people got along as it's very common in Toronto and high schools. Not sure how things are now compared to then. Nobody blew up and made a big deal out of it.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

Well Ulysses is famous for being the kind of book people read at least twice to really understand. It's the kind of book that people write guidebooks for reading it.

I've read Gravity's Rainbow and felt I was losing my mind because I had no idea what was going on. On the other hand, I really loved Infinite Jest.

This is me now second from the left.

I read Crime and Punishment during the summer when I was 19. I remember the dark and depressing mood of the novel, the way guilt made Raskolnikov physically sick. Nothing I’ve read from Dostoevsky was as visceral as C&P

Wait till Putin's biography comes out if you want dark and depressing, without the pangs of guilt. Actually the book kind reflects the vibe of Russia today.

 

[Insidious Von]

That's before SJWs took over school curriculum.

When I was in the 8th Grade, my English teacher was stooopid hot. She made us read both The Adventures of Huck Finn and The Merchant of Venice. We were to discuss what we read in class, raging hormones being what they were, none of the guys wanted to disappoint her.

She was also the girls psy-ed teacher. She used to make the girls run cross country in winter...you can't do that today. Her sex education class was strictly for the girls.

Of course you couldn't make children run the snow today, parents would scream.

 

[Grist]

Interesting. I have read Crime and Punishment, 9 or 10 times. For anyone interested in it, be careful with the translations, as most are terrible, and will both bore you, and make you want to vomit. This issue isn’t restricted to Dostoevsky, as many Russian novels are poorly translated.
Look for translations by Avsey or Michael Katz.
Pevear and Volokhonsky are very popular now, but their translations are dry.
Anything translated by Garnet, Magershak etc, should be avoided despite being the works most educators and publishers recommend.

 

[JakeSims420420]

Interesting. I have read Crime and Punishment, 9 or 10 times. For anyone interested in it, be careful with the translations, as most are terrible, and will both bore you, and make you want to vomit. This issue isn’t restricted to Dostoevsky, as many Russian novels are poorly translated.
Look for translations by Avsey or Michael Katz.
Pevear and Volokhonsky are very popular now, but their translations are dry.
Anything translated by Garnet, Magershak etc, should be avoided despite being the works most educators and publishers recommend.

I liked David McDuff's translation of C&P. Mostly I've read Pevear and Volokhonsky for the other Russian works I read. I agree they can be dry, but one thing I like is how they keep the original French passages in Tolstoy's books. Other translators tend to just translate everything into English.

 

[Ahri]

Was this in Canada? Out of curiosity, how did they handle the n-word in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Yeah it was in Canada, they really didn’t do much about it they just said it was a different time and place back then. To be honest I’m surprised they still use it as one of the mandatory readings.