Tolstoy a Russian?

[galonia]

Could someone please tell me, is Leo Tolstoy Russian?

Coz I always thought he was.

But then I noticed my Russian piano teacher (or maybe her Russian husband) is reading an English translation of a Tolstoy book.  Why would that be?

See, I can read English, Chinese and German, and I can say that I prefer to read literature from these three languages in the original, not in translation.  Although I'm often amused by translations of the official prefaces to things written by government officials.  But I wouldn't want to read the translation of literature for the amusement of reading a funny translation.

[Regulus Medtner]

Indeed he is.

[claudio]

maybe he wants to improve his english and reads a text he is comfortable
with (my guess is, he has read it before in russian).

which book is it anyway? "war and peace" is my absolute favourite. 

[Floristan]

Could someone please tell me, is Leo Tolstoy Russian?

Yes, Russian in every fiber of his being!

[Ziggy]

Ana Karenina pwns War and Peace     

[Floristan]

Ana Karenina pwns War and Peace

Agreed!

[Ziggy]

It was my favorite book until I read David Copperfield. 

[galonia]

Thanks everyone, now I know for sure he is Russian (I also looked it up in an encyclopedia) - I won't feel silly asking my teacher why on earth someone in her very Russian household is reading an English translation of a Russian novel.

[Daevren]

You can read ('real') literature in three languages? Thats impressive. I guess you mean mandarin chinese. How beautiful that is compared to german. I actually live near the german border and my parents speak a dialect kind of similar to german. But I never managed to really learn it. I also find it a very ugly language.

I read Nietzsche's Also Sprache Zarathustra in english(actually victorian english, or Elizabethan english, middle english, hmm no idea really) and I really liked the choice of works Nietzsche made. I never imagined I would like poetry. But I still cannot imagine it being nice in german. I really considered it reading in geman though. I am kind of happy I didn't.

What if Nietzsche had a really beautiful mother language?

 

[Rez]

Agreed!

Ditto on Ana Karenina.

Tolstoy was an interesting figure.  Though he was a fairly wealthy landownder, his "christian anarchism" prompted him to work in the fields next to his peasants and live on black bread and porridge.

Personally, I like Doestoevsky much better.  He truly explored the deep and hidden parts of the human soul.

[Floristan]

You can read ('real') literature in three languages? Thats impressive. I guess you mean mandarin chinese. How beautiful that is compared to german. I actually live near the german border and my parents speak a dialect kind of similar to german. But I never managed to really learn it. I also find it a very ugly language.

I read Nietzsche's Also Sprache Zarathustra in english(actually victorian english, or Elizabethan english, middle english, hmm no idea really) and I really liked the choice of works Nietzsche made. I never imagined I would like poetry. But I still cannot imagine it being nice in german. I really considered it reading in geman though. I am kind of happy I didn't.

What if Nietzsche had a really beautiful mother language?

 

German can be a beautiful language, especially when used in poetry.  Here's the great "Drunken Song" from Nietzsche's "Also Spracht Zarathustra," which Mahler set beautifully to music in his 3rd Symphony:

O Mensch! Gib acht!
Was spricht, die tiefe Mitternacht?
"Ich schlief, ich schlief -,
Aus tiefem Traum bin ich erwacht: -
Die Welt ist tief,
Und tiefer als der Tag gedacht.
Tief ist ihr Weh -,
Lust - tiefer noch als Herzeleid:
Weh spricht: Vergeh!
Doch alle Lust will Ewigkeit -,
- Will tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit!"

O Man! Take heed!
What does the depth of midnight say?
"I was asleep -
 From depths of dreaming was I awakened:
The world is deep,
And deeper than day had ever thought.
Deep is its pain -
Joy - even deeper than heart's grief!
Pain says: Pass away!
But joy needs all eternity,
Needs deep, deep eternity."

Now that's beautiful German!

[Floristan]

Personally, I like Doestoevsky much better. He truly explored the deep and hidden parts of the human soul.

Yes, me, too.  Especially "The Brothers Karamazov".

[TheHammer]

German can be a beautiful language, especially when used in poetry. Here's the great "Drunken Song" from Nietzsche's "Also Spracht Zarathustra," which Mahler set beautifully to music in his 3rd Symphony:

Not to forget all operas by Wagner, the huge amount of Lieder by Schubert, the "Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (original by Clemens Brentano) as well as "Lieder eine fahrenden Gesellen" and the 8th Symphony of Mahler ( the second part being taken from the end scene of "Faust", one of, if not the greatest dramatic works of European literature, and coincidentally written in, eh, German ), and so endlessly more.
Sorry, but everytime I hear Dutch I have to laugh

[Daevren]

I am not saying the german language hasn't any good literature. Its just that the language itself is so incredible ugly. This probably also explains the great number of german composers ( ).

When I hear dutch I have to laugh too, but then again, I am dutch.

[Floristan]

 

[galonia]

You can read ('real') literature in three languages? Thats impressive. I guess you mean mandarin chinese. How beautiful that is compared to german. I actually live near the german border and my parents speak a dialect kind of similar to german. But I never managed to really learn it. I also find it a very ugly language.

I read Nietzsche's Also Sprache Zarathustra in english(actually victorian english, or Elizabethan english, middle english, hmm no idea really) and I really liked the choice of works Nietzsche made. I never imagined I would like poetry. But I still cannot imagine it being nice in german. I really considered it reading in geman though. I am kind of happy I didn't.

What if Nietzsche had a really beautiful mother language?

 

I can't read Nietzsche in German.  Not yet.  I can't even read Nietsche in English, which is my preferred reading language.

All Chinese dialects are written in the same script, but I do speak Mandarin, as well as Cantonese, and I can understand an obscure rural dialect which my grandparents sometimes revert to.

I wish I could read Tolstoy in Russian.  But I can't read anything in Russian, so I may have some work to do before I get there!