Translating Dostoyevsky

http://www.moscow-russia-insiders-guide.com/dostoevskaya-moscow-metro-station.html

An interesting piece on the Victorian woman who made Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekov, and others accessible to Victorian Anglophones, and several more generations:  Constance Garnett.  It highlights the tradeoff between accessibility and accuracy.  Would they get a crack translation if they hadn't been popularized first?  Or is that a false choice?  Maybe now but not back when?

I got a copy of Crime and Punishment in the original, so I am going to have to read it very very slowly.  I read it breathlessly in translation at thirteen, likely Garnett's translation.  The Classic comic from my Dad's dog-eared collection got me hooked.  There probably isn't a more bowdlerized translation, but it got this reader on the road to learning the language and pursuing rereading several times.  Don't judge a book by its cartoon...

Check out the metro station,  here. 

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Stilyagi/Стиляги

Hipsters (Stilyagi/Стиляги, roughly those obsessed with the latest styles, followers of fashion) is a 2008 Russian musical about youth rebel group centered around djazz and clothing in bright primary colors in the Stalinist '50s.  I got it to work on my ochin plokho Russkii Yzook, but the music and costumes are snazzy and it's very watchable.

Wikipedia says it's fictional, which.is true of the particular charasters. A Russian magazine begs to differ: Stilyagi IRL.  I thought the Hipsters seem a lot like the youth who hung out in the park in the '80s.Hipsters reminded me of Little Vera, from 1989, but much more fun.

Singy Bits and the awesome song "Человек и Кошка" ("Man and Cat")- Yeah.  

I recently read half of White Fever by Jacek Hugo-Bader, a Polish journalist who decided to drive across Siberia, a formidable endeavor as he explains.  Here is a good review explaining the range of topics he covers, from The Guardian. He also has a huge section on the history and ways of Russian hippies and their slang, which is entertaining. Olduvuis should enjoy it... If not, take a Heik back to your Flet...

Also in looking for Stilyagi, I found an interesting set of articles on Russian graffiti/ Post-Soviet Graffiti.

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