GULAG Archpelago is written in an overly "Russian" style. What I mean is that it uses a lot of uncommon, pseudo-archaic words instead of their normal versions, while its phrases are built with a huge amount of pathos.
The reason is simple: to oppose itself to the USSR and its terminology and to appeal to the nationalistic nature of a reader.
This style feels very artificial. Hell, it IS artificial, since we know for a fact that Solzhenitsyn has daily skimmed the dictionaries for new interesting words or proverbs.
My friend cannot read Archpelago because of this style. I find it beautiful and masterfully crafted, but it's also a masterfully crafted propaganda, aiming to influence you through appeal to emotions and half-truths. It's use of the right words and cultural allusions is wonderfull.
If you know nothing about Russia and USSR or use the translated version, then there's no reason to read this book at all. It wasn't written for you, quite literally.
Wrong. Incorrect. It is artificial precisely because it is NOT Russian. Reading it in English the book feels natural, well-written. But for a Russian the book will seem weird in style. The phrases are NOT Russian. They are what you would expect in an English literary fiction book (pic related). The book was not written by Solzhenitsyn alone. This is a known fact. Either they wrote that paragraph (and many others, too) or Solzhenitsyn was a foreign spy (which is why they arrested him, by the way).
Eh… As a Russian, I cannot agree. His style is strange and not normal, it's not the style you'd expect from an average person, but that's the whole point. This is the style that has been amplified to leave the most emotional impact. Basically, this is the most pompous way of expessing your thoughts in Russian.
It's not normal by any means, but it works, forcing you to either love or hate it.
Your example does sound awkward tho. That's because nobody ever says "any minute of the day" in Russian, but he needed to say it somehow.
Also, make notice of the rare words he uses. Instead of the common "выcaживaют" he says "ccaживaют", and instead of the "yвидeли" he uses "paзвидeли". The intent here is to sound serious and profound, of course.
>Eh… As a Russian, I cannot agree.
I am Russian too. I started reading the English translation because that's the one they sell on Amazon. I was surprised by the prose. It was very good. So, I went and started reading it in Russian.
>This is the style that has been amplified to leave the most emotional impact. Basically, this is the most pompous way of expessing your thoughts in Russian.
The former Minister of Education of Estonia, Arnold Susi, was entrusted with the master copy of the book. I believe that he and others to whom the work was sent "helped" with the writing. And from having interacted with Estonians, some parts of the book read as if they were written by one. It is not weird because it's pompous... because it's not pompous, it's just weird. Many, many parts are weird in a way that only an RSL could make weird. The words he uses are not uncommon, they are just wrong. You just don't say "дocтaвкa" like you would when hangrily complaining about the uzbek with a big yellow backpack who's late, again - you don't say this because it's the incorrect word to use when the context is the transfer prisoners.
Have Russians ever heard of succinctness?
When you are genetically predisposed to moroseness and live in the arctic, what else is there but writing forever to read forever.
Killing yourself when you realize you are in fact and always will be R*ssian.
Are Russians their own worst enemy?
They have a 30% mortality rate before the troops even get to Ukraine. :/
A life in China is a life worth living, you love to see it
We love you Papa Xi, you are the world spirit 🙂
I think Russian just translates really shit to english.
It’s a fantasy just like those Robert Jordan books in the background
Greetings my comradex. My pronouns are xhe/xher.
>not xomrad
Hallo comrades would you like to read some of my trans anarcho communist furry Harry Potter fanfic?
Dude is a huge liar, but everyone just eats it up
Justify this
communists have never recovered
>describes common police procedures
>"reeeee they're mean communists!!!"
>made up shit written by fancy gulager who never seen a shovel but was doing some paper nerd job.
Read Shalamov instead
GULAG Archpelago is written in an overly "Russian" style. What I mean is that it uses a lot of uncommon, pseudo-archaic words instead of their normal versions, while its phrases are built with a huge amount of pathos.
The reason is simple: to oppose itself to the USSR and its terminology and to appeal to the nationalistic nature of a reader.
This style feels very artificial. Hell, it IS artificial, since we know for a fact that Solzhenitsyn has daily skimmed the dictionaries for new interesting words or proverbs.
My friend cannot read Archpelago because of this style. I find it beautiful and masterfully crafted, but it's also a masterfully crafted propaganda, aiming to influence you through appeal to emotions and half-truths. It's use of the right words and cultural allusions is wonderfull.
If you know nothing about Russia and USSR or use the translated version, then there's no reason to read this book at all. It wasn't written for you, quite literally.
Wrong. Incorrect. It is artificial precisely because it is NOT Russian. Reading it in English the book feels natural, well-written. But for a Russian the book will seem weird in style. The phrases are NOT Russian. They are what you would expect in an English literary fiction book (pic related). The book was not written by Solzhenitsyn alone. This is a known fact. Either they wrote that paragraph (and many others, too) or Solzhenitsyn was a foreign spy (which is why they arrested him, by the way).
Eh… As a Russian, I cannot agree. His style is strange and not normal, it's not the style you'd expect from an average person, but that's the whole point. This is the style that has been amplified to leave the most emotional impact. Basically, this is the most pompous way of expessing your thoughts in Russian.
It's not normal by any means, but it works, forcing you to either love or hate it.
Your example does sound awkward tho. That's because nobody ever says "any minute of the day" in Russian, but he needed to say it somehow.
Also, make notice of the rare words he uses. Instead of the common "выcaживaют" he says "ccaживaют", and instead of the "yвидeли" he uses "paзвидeли". The intent here is to sound serious and profound, of course.
>Eh… As a Russian, I cannot agree.
I am Russian too. I started reading the English translation because that's the one they sell on Amazon. I was surprised by the prose. It was very good. So, I went and started reading it in Russian.
>This is the style that has been amplified to leave the most emotional impact. Basically, this is the most pompous way of expessing your thoughts in Russian.
The former Minister of Education of Estonia, Arnold Susi, was entrusted with the master copy of the book. I believe that he and others to whom the work was sent "helped" with the writing. And from having interacted with Estonians, some parts of the book read as if they were written by one. It is not weird because it's pompous... because it's not pompous, it's just weird. Many, many parts are weird in a way that only an RSL could make weird. The words he uses are not uncommon, they are just wrong. You just don't say "дocтaвкa" like you would when hangrily complaining about the uzbek with a big yellow backpack who's late, again - you don't say this because it's the incorrect word to use when the context is the transfer prisoners.
Why are you black?
because of the sun
>It's actually kinda bussin, fr
If you read it as an epic poem it is great
If you read it as history it is awful
Just like Herotodus
Another pleb filtered by Herodotus.