Posted on 05/04/2024 1:39:50 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Every semester, the largest classroom at Northwestern University in Chicago is filled with hundreds of students who are eager to take a course devoted to Russian literature. The answer as to why comes down to the who. That says something not only about the class, but about the professor who happens to be my guest today.
Professor Gary Saul Morson, welcome to Thinking in Public.
Gary Saul Morson:
Oh, it’s my pleasure to be here.
Albert Mohler:
Professor, I just want to tell you right up front, this was one of the most significant reading experiences I have had in a very long time. I say that with appreciation, but I also have to tell you, I’m worn out by this book.
Gary Saul Morson:
Tell me why.
Albert Mohler:
Because you are dealing with literature that deals with the deepest, most intense experiences of humanity, the deepest moral questions. Whereas I would say in comparison, in English or French literature, even in major writers, you find lighter, darker moments, forms of literature, experiences and issues discussed. I say this with great appreciation. I hope you hear it that way. Reading Wonder Confronts Certainty, it’s an emotional experience. I find that even in just thinking about portions of it.
Gary Saul Morson:
Well, I’m glad to hear because that’s what attracted me to Russian literature to begin with, the fact that it takes the world so seriously and asks the Russians call them the accursed questions, проклятый вопрос, meaning accursed because they will never have a final answer, ultimate questions, which are always of relevance everywhere, the universality to them. Well, Tolstoy is like this. You feel like you’re being held by the throat. No, you must think about this. You can’t live without it.
I find that absolutely thrilling...
(Excerpt) Read more at albertmohler.com ...
I did used to love Russian lit, the problem about rereading old favorites now is the cost of rebuying old favorites.
True of Dostoyevsky.
Tolstoy? meh!
I do use Internet Archive on occasion but mostly for old and obscure trapper and pioneer books, I bought another copy of War and Peace though.
“The Mind of Modern Russia: Historical and Political Thought of Russia’s Great Age.” Edited by Hans Kohn. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 1955. Pp. xii, 281. $5.50.) - …
Had a course from Hans Kohn. It was truly memorable and led to a lifetime romance with 19th Century Russian literature.
Thanks I have added this title to my book list.
I’m sure Tolstoy would’ve been devastated by your opinion…
As I am of yours. ;)
Thanks for posting this.
You’re welcome!
His mommy was a Commie.
It’s nice that he outgrew it.
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