colonel@gloria.UUCP (George Sicherman) (07/28/84)
[warm apricot juice] I think _The Master and Margarita_ was first published in the U.S. in the '60s. It was a best-seller too. I enjoyed it very much, but I'll bet that Soviets and Soviet emigres enjoyed it a lot more. -- Col. G. L. Sicherman ...seismo!rochester!rocksanne!rocksvax!sunybcs!gloria!colonel
simon@psuvax1.UUCP (Janos Simon) (08/01/84)
There's another, very enjoyable book by the same author. I forgot the exact title, but it's something like "a dog's life", and it's available in paperback. It is a haunting story of a dog that becomes human and turns out to be the ideal "Soviet person" during the stalinist era. You have to read a bit between the lines, but it's great stuff. js
keesan@bbncca.ARPA (Morris Keesan) (08/02/84)
-----------------------------
One of the problems with reading books which were written in a language
one doesn't know is finding good translations. There have been at least two
English translations of "The Master and Margarita". I recommend the one by
Mirra Ginsburg (sp?). Sorry, I don't know who the publisher of that version
is, but I have it in paperback. The other translation I have is also in
paperback. Both copies are packed away in a box since my last move.
Having read both, I find that the Ginsburg translation reads much
more naturally for me as a native English speaker, and at the same time the
feel of the language seems to match the feel of the plot, characters, and
setting better.
--
Morris M. Keesan
{decvax,linus,ihnp4,wivax,wjh12,ima}!bbncca!keesan
keesan @ BBN-UNIX.ARPA