I've always considered myself pretty well-read -- a requirement for anyone who wants to write for a living -- but I have yet to conquer the great Russian literature of the 19th Century ... or of any century, for that matter. So last week I was feeling ambitious, and picked up Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky at the library. Well, let me tell you people, it is nothing like I thought great Russian lit would be. Granted I'm only in about 100 pages, but it's boring! And the language is awkward! I've decided that the biggest stumbling block for me is that I don't read Russian, because something seems to be lost in the translation. The people in the story are supposed to be incredibly poor, yet they speak like aristocrats. That's what bothers me the most. But perhaps in the Russian text, the language style fits the culture better ... or maybe I'm just being ignorant ... it's possible. So far, though, it ain't no Dickens.
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