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RUSSIAN_PLOT
March 21, 2005
There are many places
where John Dickson Carr UNLIKELY_CONFESSION
sneers at Russian novelists.
A long rant by Dr. Gideon Fell in "The Eight of Swords" (1934),
Chapter 19 "A Highly Probable Story", p.212-213:
"Dr. Fell blinked at his cigar. 'But that's quite right,
nevertheless. It wouldn't be true to life. It wouldn't
be true to life, for instance, if a modern novelist
devoted to motives for murder the same profound and
detailed analysis he devotes to little Bertie's early life
among the dandelions, or the sinister Freudian motives
behind his desire to kiss the housemaid. Humph. When an
inhibition bites a man, it's a fine novel. When a man up
and bites an inhibition, it's only a detective story.'"
"'The Russians--' said J. R."
"'I knew it,' said Dr. Fell querulously. 'I was afraid of
that. I decline to discuss the Russians. After long and
thoughtful reflection, I have come to the conclusion that
the only adequate answer to one who begins rhapsodizing
about the Russians is a swift uppercut to the jaw. ... '"
Now me, I was pleasantly surprised
by "War and Peace": one of the few
"Greatest Novels Ever Written" that
lives up to it's reputation.
WAR_AND_PEACE
"'Besides, I find it absolutely impossible to become
passionately interested in the agonies and misfortunes of
any character whose name ends in 'ski' or 'vitch.' This
may be insularity.'"
Well, could be.
"'It may also be a disturbing sense that, from what I read,
these people are not human beings at all.'"
No, right the first time.
"'Ah, God,' said Dr. Fell musingly, 'if only somebody would
make a bad pun! If only Popoff would say to Whiskervitch, 'Who
was that lady I seen you with last night?' Try to imagine a
conversation, in the after life, between Mark Twain or Anatole
France and any of the leading Russians, and you will have some
vague glimmering of what I mean.' "
Penguin paperback
Tolstoy, "War and Peace", Book I, p. 41": edition translated
by Rosemary Edmunds
" 'They are regular bandits, Dolohov especially,'
replied the visitor. 'He is the son of Maria
Ivanovna Dolohov, such a worthy woman, but there!
Can you imagine it-- the three of them somehow got
hold of a bear, took it in a carriage with them and
set off to visit some actresses. The police hurried
to interfere, and they seized a police officer, tied
him back to back to the bear and then threw the bear
into the Moyka. And there was the bear swimming
about with the policeman on his back!" 'What a
figure the officer must have cut, my dear!' cried
the count, helpless with laughter. "
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