Sometimes it can really help to have a professor guide your reading. This was one of those times. I was well over halfway through Anton Chekhov’s novella My Life translated by Constance Garnett before I could decide just how satirical it was. To be honest before I could decide if it satirical or not. There is a lot of Russian literature from Mr. Chekhov’s day dealing with the … Continue reading My Life by Anton Chekov
I was surprised by how this book touched me. Translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell, Gustave Flaubert’s A Simple Heart tells the story of Félicité , a lifelong servant, and her search for someone to love. Félicité lives a very limited life, only rarely leaving the home of Madame Aubain her employer for over fifty years. In her youth, Félicité has one great love who abandons her … Continue reading A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert
Nikolai Gogol cracks me up. Our senses of humor are so in-tuned that I think we’re kindred spirits. Maybe we’re even related somehow. It could be true. I’ve heard it argued that comedy once came from those on the lower rungs of the social ladder looking upwards at the antics of their social betters. You can see this in Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, even … Continue reading How the Two Ivans Quarrelled by Nikolai Gogol
I think Willa Cather gets men. During her life, and in the critical response to her work after her death, she took her fair share of heat for not writing often enough from a woman’s point of view. Even when the book was about women, like My Antonia, her narrator had a male voice. I think it’s fair to ask why she made this choice, it may … Continue reading Alexander’s Bridge by Willa Cather
Russian writer Alexander Kuprin (1870-1938) based his 1905 novel The Duel on his experience in the Russian infantry where he spent four years in a provincial outpost in the Ukraine. I’m guessing he didn’t have a very good time. Kuprin was drummed out of the infantry after an altercation with a local police officer over an insult. He then turned full-time to writing. Living in Kiev … Continue reading The Duel by Alexander Kuprin Translated by Josh Billings
Most people, even people who know Thomas Hardy, aren’t aware of just how much he wrote. While he was no Anthony Trollope, Hardy really cranked them out in his day. 18 novels and over 50 “short stories” according to Wikipedia’s list. I say “short stories” because The Distracted Preacher comes in at 98 pages in my edition making it a novella in my book. Add his … Continue reading The Distracted Preacher by Thomas Hardy
Samuel Cramer, a “passionate atheist” circa 1820 Paris, meets a kindred spirit who happens to be a married woman. She tells him of her husband’s affair with a popular dancer, Fanfarlo. As a favor to her, Cramer begins to pan the popular actress/dancer in his daily newspaper column. After several months he finally meets Fanfarlo who insists he explain himself. After he tells her that … Continue reading Fanfarlo by Charles Baudelaire
May Contain Spoilers 