languagehat.comLanguages, hats, and more.NABOKOV ALOUD.- (Found July 6, 2008 ) Frequent commenter Jim Salant sent me a link a while back to a reading by Mary Gaitskill of Vladimir Nabokovs Symbols and Signs (as they call it) and a discussion with The New Yorkers fiction editor, Deborah Treisman (pronounced TREECE-man). Here's a direct link to the mp3 file, in case you want to download it rather than playing it from the linked page, and here's the story itself, one of the best Nabokov (or anyone) ever wrote (if you don't mind a little metaphysical mystery in your...http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003174.php LINGUISTIC TOLSTOY.- (Found July 6, 2008 ) I've started reading War and Peace in Russian (something I've been wanting to do for many years), prompted by reaching that point in Henri Troyat's biography, and in the very first section I've noticed several items of linguistic interest. The first thing, of course, is the fact that the first paragraph of the Great Russian Novel is almost entirely in French; Tolstoy goes on to talk about "&1090;&1086;&1084; &1080;&1079;&1099;&1089;&1082;&1072;&1085;&1085;&1086;&1084;...http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003175.php |