This paragraph, taken from War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy, Modern Library Paperback Edition, 2002:"The Rostovs' son-in-law, Berg, was by now a colonel, with the orders of Vladimir and Anne on his neck, and was still filling the same comfortable and agreeable post of assistant to the head of the staff of the assistant of the chief officer of the staff of the commander of the left flank of the infantry of the first army."
Huh? Soooooo, he was a staff grunt, basically, despite his rank and commendations? And THAT, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, coupled with the fact that every one has AT LEAST 4 different names, is why this stupid book is twice as long as it ought to be... Will I ever finish it, now that I am over the 1000-page mark? Will I ever care one iota about any single part of it? That remains to be seen. Check back in another month or so...
If Multiply decides to cooperate today, these pics OUGHT to be clickable to take you to the All-Knowing Wikipedia :) If they DON'T, well, then, I can't help you - I tried...
3 comments:
Wow! I didn't know you were tackling War and Peace?! That is one of the books I want to tackle as well, but I'll start it in the fall. As for the 4-5 different names for Russians, they use not only patronymic names, but nicknames as well. Anne, my name has four: Annya, Annushka, Annutka and Anna. My Babushka would lovingly call me all four of those! Loads of fun!! Good luck with the book :D
Wow, Karen. Wordy is right!! I think I would go crazy trying to decipher everything!
There was a time, way back in high school, when I had to translate Shakespeare's Julius Caesar into modern street English, to help my BFF follow it for our Humanities class. That was fun - I wish I'd recorded it, because I am sure it was every bit as hilarious (to myself) as I remember it :) I could probably whittle this stupid book down to a nice respectable 700-750 pages :)
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