American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Russian Stories: Russkie rasskazy by Gleb Struve; Stories by Anton Chekhov by Oleg A.Maslenikov; Anton Chekhov; Russian Short Stories by John IwanikReview by: Albert KaspinThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1962), pp. 171-175Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3086111 .

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Norbert Damerau. Russische Lehnwtfrter in der neubulgarischen Literatur- sprache. (Slavistische Vereffentlichungen. Vol. 24.) Berlin, 1960, xx, 148, 26 DM.

This book, published in the Osteuropa-Institut series edited by Val- entin Kiparsky and Max Vasmer, is in fact a 60-page monograph with an 88- page dictionary appended to it. The monograph is divided into five parts: (1) Historical Survey of Bulgarian-Russian Relations, (2) The Influence of Russian Loanwords in the Formation of Modem Literary Bulgarian, (3) Re- view and Explanation of Russian Phonetic Criteria, (4) Organization of Loan- words According to Domains, and (5) Phonetics. The dictionary consists of some 1500 Russian loans into Bulgarian and their meanings.

In his Introduction the author states ( p. ix) that only those Russian loanwords which affect modem Bulgarian and which are characterized by specific Russian shapes are considered; Russian loans having "Old Bul- garian" shapes are excluded, e.g., " oborot " (p. 103) is included, but "zastuplenie" (p. 21) is not.

Transliteration rather than transcription is used for all examples; the latter indicates something about pronunciation, while the former does not. Fora book of this kind transliteration is generally far better than transcrip- tion. Certain problems, however, can arise in areas chiefly devoted to sound phenomena, here, parts three and five of the monograph. Hand in hand with emphasis on transliteration (orthographic substitution) often goes textual emphasis: for Damerau, Old Bulgarian = Old Church Slavonic = Common Slavic. Thus, on p. 31 " -e- aus abg. e = nbg. -ja-, -je-" with respect to Russian is straightforward enough here but highly misleading otherwise.

On the whole, this book is a very serviceable contribution to Slavic literatures and linguistics and represents a good deal of painstaking work in the dictionary section. The Bibliography on pp. xix-xx is excellent and contains a key article on the subject by L. Andrejcin ( "Roljata na ruskija ezik v razvitieto na savremennija belgarski knizoven ezik," Balgarski ezik, II (1952), 173-182.

Harold L. Klagstad, Jr. Indiana University

Gleb Struve, ed. Russian Stories: Russkie rasskazy. (A Bantam Dual- Language Book.) [New York]: Bantam Books, Inc. [1961]. xi, 396, $0.95.

Oleg A. Maslenikov, ed. Stories by Anton Chekhov. (Advanced Russian Readers: 1.) Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961. 72 pp.

John Iwanik, comp. and ed. Russian Short Stories, Boston: D.C. Heath and Co. [1962]. viii, 215 pp.

These three readers, all paperbacks, are intended to provide exten- sive reading material for second or third year students of Russian.

Certainly the most interesting of the three is Professor Struve's book,

Norbert Damerau. Russische Lehnwtfrter in der neubulgarischen Literatur- sprache. (Slavistische Vereffentlichungen. Vol. 24.) Berlin, 1960, xx, 148, 26 DM.

This book, published in the Osteuropa-Institut series edited by Val- entin Kiparsky and Max Vasmer, is in fact a 60-page monograph with an 88- page dictionary appended to it. The monograph is divided into five parts: (1) Historical Survey of Bulgarian-Russian Relations, (2) The Influence of Russian Loanwords in the Formation of Modem Literary Bulgarian, (3) Re- view and Explanation of Russian Phonetic Criteria, (4) Organization of Loan- words According to Domains, and (5) Phonetics. The dictionary consists of some 1500 Russian loans into Bulgarian and their meanings.

In his Introduction the author states ( p. ix) that only those Russian loanwords which affect modem Bulgarian and which are characterized by specific Russian shapes are considered; Russian loans having "Old Bul- garian" shapes are excluded, e.g., " oborot " (p. 103) is included, but "zastuplenie" (p. 21) is not.

Transliteration rather than transcription is used for all examples; the latter indicates something about pronunciation, while the former does not. Fora book of this kind transliteration is generally far better than transcrip- tion. Certain problems, however, can arise in areas chiefly devoted to sound phenomena, here, parts three and five of the monograph. Hand in hand with emphasis on transliteration (orthographic substitution) often goes textual emphasis: for Damerau, Old Bulgarian = Old Church Slavonic = Common Slavic. Thus, on p. 31 " -e- aus abg. e = nbg. -ja-, -je-" with respect to Russian is straightforward enough here but highly misleading otherwise.

On the whole, this book is a very serviceable contribution to Slavic literatures and linguistics and represents a good deal of painstaking work in the dictionary section. The Bibliography on pp. xix-xx is excellent and contains a key article on the subject by L. Andrejcin ( "Roljata na ruskija ezik v razvitieto na savremennija belgarski knizoven ezik," Balgarski ezik, II (1952), 173-182.

Harold L. Klagstad, Jr. Indiana University

Gleb Struve, ed. Russian Stories: Russkie rasskazy. (A Bantam Dual- Language Book.) [New York]: Bantam Books, Inc. [1961]. xi, 396, $0.95.

Oleg A. Maslenikov, ed. Stories by Anton Chekhov. (Advanced Russian Readers: 1.) Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961. 72 pp.

John Iwanik, comp. and ed. Russian Short Stories, Boston: D.C. Heath and Co. [1962]. viii, 215 pp.

These three readers, all paperbacks, are intended to provide exten- sive reading material for second or third year students of Russian.

Certainly the most interesting of the three is Professor Struve's book,

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The Slavic and East European Journal

which is suitable as a text at the fourth-semester or third-year level, as well as for the independent reader. In its scope it becomes not merely an- other collection, but a survey of the Russian short story. Professor Struve made his own task more difficult, but the result much more rewarding for the reader, by his selection of less-known but nonetheless characteristic works of important Russian writers. The brief Foreword describes with amaz- ing succinctness the major aspects in the development of the Russian short story. The two-page introductions preceding each story provide biographi- cal data and brilliant critical interpretations of the individual authors. The authors represented are Puskin (Stancionnyj smotritel'), Gogol (Nos), Turgenev (Zivye moci), Dostoevskij (Bobok) , Tolstoj (Tri starco), Leskov

(Stopal'sik) , Cexov (Spat' xocetsja), Sologub (V plenu), Bunin (SolneCny udar) , Zamjatin (Pescera) , Babel' (Smert' Dolgusova), and Zoscenko

(Svjatocnaja istorija). The basic characteristic of this series, of course, is that English

translations run parallel with the original on facing pages. In this volume of Russian stories, the translations, all but two of which were made by Pro- fessor and Mrs. Struve, are of a high order and make the book rewarding even forthose not interested in the Russian language as such. The bi-lingual presentation can be of inestimable value, because it provides the mature student with an example of literary translation and provokes him into an ap- preciation of English as well as Russian idiom.

In addition to a vocabulary that properly excludes the simpler words, there are copious scholarly notes dealing with historical and topical items, as wellas with idioms, obscure usage and obsolete forms, which contribute to the student's understanding and enjoyment. One should not miss the hors-d'oeuvre: "A Note on Some Particles and Conjunctions, a masterly though brief handling of an ever-vexing problem. A Questionnaire is pro- vided that treats the student like an adult. Instead of the usual pedestrian drill questions that are all too frequently concerned with trivial details, these questions direct the student's attention to problems of style, literary structure, and ideas.

It is unfortunate that such excellent material is notmorehandsomely attired. In keeping with other volumes in the Bantam Dual-Language series, the paper is poor, the margins pinched, and the cover drab.

There are surprisingly few errors in spelling and stress (usually omis- sions). Some of these are: kakoj by... ni byl (p. 12) for kakoj by... rf byl; pozvolft'( p. 16) for pozv6lit'; delal ( p. 38) for ddlal; trudom (p. 80) for trudom; bezymennyj ( p. 170) for bezymennyj, as it is correctly given in the vocabulary at the end of the book; dovelos' (p. 216) for dovelos'; podkupil (p. 216) forpodkupfl; semej (p. 238) for semej; tosklivd (p. 250) for tosklfvo; zvenja ( p. 280) for zvenjd; the carry-over stek-kla (p. 296) should have one k removed; the entry " lafork obs. for ladfrok" (p. 394) should be "slafrok obs. for s-lafrok. "

It is to be hoped that this book will soon have a sequel in which Pro- fessor Struve will present a selection from the authors he mentions in his preface and whom he had to omit for lack of space in this admirable first volume.

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The collection of Cexov's stories prepared by Professor Maslenikov is the second edition of a work that appeared in 1943. The Foreword indi- cates that the book is intended "for studying Russian at an upper level of

proficiency." To the thirteen titles in the first edition, four more have been added. Three of these-Zinocka, Du'eika, and Nevesta -add adimension that was missing earlier. Among the seven selections written before 1886 are Iz dnevnika pomosonika buxgaltera, Tolstyj i tonkij, Repetitor, and Smert' 6inovnika, Of the later period, when Cexov had begun to take lit- erature seriously, there are, in addition to the new selections mentioned above, Vyigrygnyj bilet, Talant, Spat'xotetsja (from which, incidentally, is deleted Varja's dream of home and her father's death), Student, and others, giving a desirable emphasis to the more important period of Cexov's literary production.

It is to be regretted that a vocabulary section, included in the first edition, has been abandoned. With the general availability of dictionaries this lack would not be serious had explanatory notes been provided. In ad- dition to idioms and word problems, there are many elements in the world described in Cexov's works that are so far removed from us as to be puz- zling or meaningless to the student unless explained. Thus the usefulness of the book as a text is restricted to the classroom. One hopes that the other books in this series will be equipped with glosses.

In format the book is a great improvement on the unwieldy 8k" x 11" first edition. The offset printing of the typescript, on the whole, is clear. Errors in accent and spelling are few. Some of these are: Efialtom (p. 3) for Efial'tom; za spfnu ( p. 3) for za spinu; kbe-kak (p. 3) for koe-kak; na zlo (p. 22) for nazlo (or nazl6) in keeping with current practice; k dverl ( p. 25) for k dv6ri; pjatno (p. 38) for pjatn6; d6vno (p. 39) for davno; zeblesteli ( p. 25) for zablesteli; ddsjat ( p. 50) for desjat'.

The present collection does, however, give the advanced student an introduction to the rich and varied world to be found in Cexov's stories, as well as giving an indication of Cexov's path to literary mastery.

The book compiled and edited for intermediate classes by Professor Iwanik is the most attractive in physical aspect. It is printed on good paper, has decent margins, the print is clear, the lines are numbered, and idioms and more difficult words are explained in translation at the foot of each page. Although larger in format, it follows the organizational pattern of the earlier Heath-Chicago Russian Series. The end of the book contains a full series of exercises in Russian for each story (questions, a drill on words, a list of idioms and words for translation, and a true-or-false section) and a vocabulary. This apparatus is useful for self-directed study as well as in the classroom.

The thirteen stories, each introduced by a one-page biography of the respective author, include serious and humorous works from the 1870's (L. N. Tolstoj's Bog pravdu vidit, da ne skoro skazet) to the late 1940's

(Fraerman's NaEalo) One of the criteria for selecting the stories was ap- parently length. Except for Kuprin's Slon, which is twelve pages long, all the other stories are no longer than nine pages; seven selections are six

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The Slavic and East European Journal

pages or less. This is a distinct advantage in a textbook, as most of the stories can be handled in one lesson. Since this is primarily a textbook, it is perhaps excusable that more attention has been paid to the stories' peda- gogical than literary value, which is quite uneven. It is undoubtedly use- fulto acquaint the student with examples of current Soviet prose and styles, but as literature the stories by Fraerman, Kassil' (Vtoraja polovina pesni), and even Paustovskij (Sneg) are weak.

The usefulness of the book is seriously marred by various defects. There are numerous errors in stress, some of which are: 6em-nibdd' (p. 5) for cem-nibud'; totcas (p. 6) is less common than totcas; kuvyrkajutsja (p. 8) for kuvyrkajutsja; derza ( pp. 31, 57) for derza', as it is correct-

ly given on page 11; za nim (p. 11) for za nim; us? (p. 12) for usi; glazkf (p. 14) for glazki; v6los (p. 14) for vol6s; maly ( pp. 20, 34) for maly; sledovdlo (p. 22) for sledovalo; tira'ej (pp. 29, 30) for tirazej; p6slezavtra (p. 31) for poslez6vtra; illjustrir6vannyj (p. 32) for illjus- trfrovannyj; Saradve (p. 36) for Saraeve; pereZit6 ( p. 39) for p6reZito; ldptjax ( p. 40) for laptjdx; propali bez vesti (p. 40) for propdli bez vesti; na pol ( p. 44) for nd pol; na n6gi (p. 46) for na nogi; stenax (p. 49) for

stenax; na kraju ( p. 50) for na kraju; so dnja na den' ( p. 51) for so dnja naden'; lisa'jami ( p. 51) for lisajami; ca'jkom (p. 53) for cajk6m; vedrami (p. 54) for vedrami; rukave (p. 55)for rukave; vesny (p. 61) for vesny; caril (p. 79)for carfl; dusiu (p. 82) for dusu; sude (p. 82) for sude; trjasli (p. 88) for trjas f; podvfgami (p. 114) for p6dvigami, etc. No explanation is made of the obsolete form derev, which incidentally is incorrectly given as derev (p. 91). There are two spellings given on one page (p. 70) foricert .

There is a lack of consistency in transliteration. Thus, the city Gor'kij appears as Gorki (p. 18) and as Gorky (p. 108); Xadii Muradap- pears as Hadgi Murad (p. 18); Visnevyj sad appears as Vishnovy sad ( p. 28); Saska Zegulev appears as Sashka Zhegulev (pp. 68-69). More care- less is Djuzina which appears as Dyuzhinu (p. 42).

Some of the translations are unsatisfactory. The allei of the title Tyomnye allei(p. 36) should be rendered as "avenues, lanes,or paths, "

and not "alleys." Vystup?t' v lazaretaxis explained as meaning "to vol- unteer for work in the hospitals" (p. 49). The meaning is more likely to be connected with the idea expressed in vystupat' na scene, i. e., "to appear or perform on the stage," especially since the heroine worked in a Moscow theater and plays the piano. Thus the meaning is "to participate or appear in theatrical performances or concerts in the hospitals. "

In the vocabulary krylecko is given as "flight of stairs" instead of "small porch. " "Vegetable" is incorrectly given as 6vosc'. The gender of rojil' is given as both masculine and feminine, without indication that the latter is obsolete. The translation of kolpak as "glass cover" is too limiting: the cover need not be of glass. In general, in several instances the meaning given is solely thle particular one that applies to the text, when it would have been so easy to add the general term also and thus spare the student confusion later. Many errors in accent that appeared in the stories are repeated in the vocabulary. The vocabulary gives no indication of the plurals of nouns that are irregular, nor of accent shifts. The vocabulary could have been more selective and many common words, introduced in the first year, could well have been omitted.

It is indeed unfortunate that a book so well conceived, with such a

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wide selection of stories, so many useful exercises and informative biogra- phies should fail in details that could have been eliminated in careful edit- ing. This is even more regrettable since there is a real need for books at this level.

Albert Kas pin University of Wisconsin, Madison

Joseph C. Doherty and Roberta Lander Marcus. First Course in Russian: Part Two. Boston: D.C. Heath and Co., 1961. ix, 245 pp.

This textbook is intended for students who have finished Part One of First Course in Russian. Part Twocontains Lessons Seventeen to Twenty- Nine of a three-volume text that consists of forty-one lessons. The three volumes constitute, according to the Foreword of the volume under review, eithera three yearhigh-school course or a three semester university course. There is no indication as to when Part Threewill be published.

The lessons of First Course in Russian: Part Two are arranged in a traditional manner. Each lessonconsists of a reading selection, vocabulary, explanatory comments on the new grammar, and exercises. Each reading selection is faced by a photograph showing a pertinent scene from Soviet life. Some of the vocabulary sections treat peculiarities of declension. The sections on grammar illustrate the items under discussion with numer- ous examples. The exercises are varied. They include fill-ins, questions and answers in Russian, translation, and supplementary readings. The book concludes with a Russian-English and English-Russian Glossary.

The text being reviewed is a welcome addition to the present stock of beginning grammars. First Course in Russian: Part Two has been prepared competently. It seems to be especially appropriate for high-school needs. The exercises and reading material (much of the latter describes Soviet life) are well suited to conversation. In general, this textbook achieves a happy balance between traditional grammar on one hand, and spoken Russian on the other. On the whole, the grammar is correctly explained. The photo- graphs of Soviet life are well chosen and will stimulate interest.

Several syntactic errors and a few miscellaneous minor defects were noted. Examples follow: ".... my izu6ali kak sprjagat' budusee vremja" (p. 5) should be "my u6ilis' sprjagat' budusdee vremja"; "Masterstvo in- ostrannogo jazyka-delo praktiki" (p. 14) is impossible in Russian and should be "Usvoenie inostrannogo jazyka-delo praktiki"; "Ivan Petrovic doexal domoj v metro" (p. 26) should end up with "na metro"; the stress ofgaraSem (p. 128) should begarao6m. The number of misprints noted was very small. One example is degjax (p. 128 for detjax.

wide selection of stories, so many useful exercises and informative biogra- phies should fail in details that could have been eliminated in careful edit- ing. This is even more regrettable since there is a real need for books at this level.

Albert Kas pin University of Wisconsin, Madison

Joseph C. Doherty and Roberta Lander Marcus. First Course in Russian: Part Two. Boston: D.C. Heath and Co., 1961. ix, 245 pp.

This textbook is intended for students who have finished Part One of First Course in Russian. Part Twocontains Lessons Seventeen to Twenty- Nine of a three-volume text that consists of forty-one lessons. The three volumes constitute, according to the Foreword of the volume under review, eithera three yearhigh-school course or a three semester university course. There is no indication as to when Part Threewill be published.

The lessons of First Course in Russian: Part Two are arranged in a traditional manner. Each lessonconsists of a reading selection, vocabulary, explanatory comments on the new grammar, and exercises. Each reading selection is faced by a photograph showing a pertinent scene from Soviet life. Some of the vocabulary sections treat peculiarities of declension. The sections on grammar illustrate the items under discussion with numer- ous examples. The exercises are varied. They include fill-ins, questions and answers in Russian, translation, and supplementary readings. The book concludes with a Russian-English and English-Russian Glossary.

The text being reviewed is a welcome addition to the present stock of beginning grammars. First Course in Russian: Part Two has been prepared competently. It seems to be especially appropriate for high-school needs. The exercises and reading material (much of the latter describes Soviet life) are well suited to conversation. In general, this textbook achieves a happy balance between traditional grammar on one hand, and spoken Russian on the other. On the whole, the grammar is correctly explained. The photo- graphs of Soviet life are well chosen and will stimulate interest.

Several syntactic errors and a few miscellaneous minor defects were noted. Examples follow: ".... my izu6ali kak sprjagat' budusee vremja" (p. 5) should be "my u6ilis' sprjagat' budusdee vremja"; "Masterstvo in- ostrannogo jazyka-delo praktiki" (p. 14) is impossible in Russian and should be "Usvoenie inostrannogo jazyka-delo praktiki"; "Ivan Petrovic doexal domoj v metro" (p. 26) should end up with "na metro"; the stress ofgaraSem (p. 128) should begarao6m. The number of misprints noted was very small. One example is degjax (p. 128 for detjax.

Morton Benson University of Pennsylvania Morton Benson University of Pennsylvania

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