#hayward translation is fine p&v is fine too but nobody has done much of note with the poetry—i do appreciate the effort | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

deadpanwalking · 8 months

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Good evening, why do you think americans are obsessed with Doctor Zhivago and what do you think of the novel?

I'm being charitable when I say that there are maybe five Russian books that John Liquor American can readily name, and all of them have been made into movies and/or musicals. With Zhivago, part of the reason it became a cultural touchstone so quickly has to do with the circumstances of its publication in the United States during the Cold War, closely followed by the epic David Lean film, in which Omar Sharif is so hot that it hardly matters that the movie itself is mid.

In regards to Zhivago's specific appeal to American sensibilities, I think a lot of it has to do with that adage about how an English language romance begins with a kiss and ends in a wedding, while a Russian language romance will begin with a kiss and end in Siberia. The weddings are fun but after all that stale cake, you want to want, and you want to be left wanting.

My relationship with Doctor Zhivago is that it's fundamental to my understanding of human dignity and human frailty. It is also a very nice love story.

#raised by atheists who told me pushkin created the world and tolstoy populated it #but pasternak sighed and exhaled all the stars into a vast night sky to make the loneliness sweeter to bear #i find that it's difficult to quantify the breadth and depth of certain kinds of beauty in english #i'm fluent but sometimes i'll be reaching for a sentiment and an angel appears to redirect my hand to a hot coal on which to burn my tongue #hayward translation is fine p&v is fine too but nobody has done much of note with the poetry—i do appreciate the effort #people should keep trying. i certainly will. that's what we do!!#russian literature #boris pasternak #doctor zhivago #assbox #anonymous

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