Explorations

[stoutfellow]

I've been trying out some different stuff on my Kindle. I'm normally reading four books there at a time, cycling among them and replacing them as I finish - usually two fiction (broadly construed) and two non-fiction. The latest two fiction works I read there were Pushkin's "Boris Godunov" and a collection of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, "A Few Figs from Thistles"; neither belongs to my usual fare.

"Boris Godunov" was interesting; Pushkin presents matters from the viewpoints of Boris, pseudo-Dmitri, and several lesser figures such as Kurbski and Shiuski. The main thing I came away with was that I don't know enough Russian history. I know bits and snatches from different periods: Kievan Rus, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, what there is to be extracted from Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and some twentieth-century stuff, but no coherent overall picture. I shall have to rectify that. (Anyone have any suggestions?)

The Millay was nice, overall; a couple of poems had echoes of Yeats for me, and several presented non-traditional love poetry. (Why am I in love with you? I know many better and kinder men!) I think my favorite was "How shall I know, unless I go". One thing, though: the collection was short - more than half the download was Project Gutenberg boilerplate!

(My current Kindle fiction works are Voltaire's "Candide" and Durrell's "Justine".)

Comments

[ndrosen]

You seem to know more Russian history than most Americans, which probably isn’t saying much. 8-;

I took a Russian history course in college; to the extent that I can claim to know much about the subject, or could have claimed to thirty years ago, I credit a variety of books and Professor Czap’s lectures, not one single source. Still, you might want to read Richard Pipes’s RUSSIA UNDER THE OLD REGIME. Pipes had an interpretation that not everyone would agree with, which you may want to keep in mind; still, his book is informative and accessible.

[stoutfellow]

That one I have, and I think I've read it; if so, though, it didn't stick. Maybe I'll try it again.