Sign in with Facebook
Fionnuala's Reviews > The Duel
The Duel
by
by
Fionnuala's review
bookshelves: loved-this-but-no-time-to-review, translated-from-russian, chekhov, short-story-novella
Dec 31, 2019
bookshelves: loved-this-but-no-time-to-review, translated-from-russian, chekhov, short-story-novella
It appeared that of all the people present not one had ever in his life been at a duel, and no one knew precisely how they ought to stand, and what the seconds ought to say and do. But then Boyko remembered and began, with a smile, to explain.. "Gentlemen, who remembers the description in Lermontov?"
Hey! I do!
And so, on this last day of 2019, The Duel rounds off my Russian season perfectly since it references the duel scenes in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time which I read in early November, but also recalls to my mind the duel in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin which I read soon afterwards. And in the course of his tale, Chekhov mentions Tolstoy and Leskov whose stories were part of my 2019 Russian winter too. Plus, The Duel is set in the same place as Vodolazkin's Solovyov and Larionov which I just finished. I've come full circle.
Other quotes I liked:
"I understand Von Koren very well. His is a resolute, strong, despotic nature. You have heard him continually talking of 'the expedition,' and it's not mere talk. He wants the wilderness, the moonlit night: all around in little tents, under the open sky, lie sleeping his sick and hungry Cossacks, guides, porters, doctor, priest, all exhausted with their weary marches, while only he is awake, sitting like Stanley on a camp-stool, feeling himself the monarch of the desert and the master of these men. He goes on and on and on, his men groan and die, one after another, and he goes on and on, and in the end perishes himself, but still is monarch and ruler of the desert, since the cross upon his tomb can be seen by the caravans for thirty or forty miles over the desert."
That description by one of the characters about another reminded me of Patrick White's Voss. Voss was just such a one as Van Koren.
"The mole has a powerful thorax, just like the bat," Van Koren went on, shutting the box; "the bones and muscles are tremendously developed, the mouth is extraordinarily powerfully furnished. If it had the proportions of an elephant, it would be an all-destructive, invincible animal. It is interesting when two moles meet underground; they begin at once as though by agreement digging a little platform; they need the platform in order to have a battle more conveniently. When they have made it they enter upon a ferocious struggle and fight till the weaker one falls...
Hey! I do!
And so, on this last day of 2019, The Duel rounds off my Russian season perfectly since it references the duel scenes in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time which I read in early November, but also recalls to my mind the duel in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin which I read soon afterwards. And in the course of his tale, Chekhov mentions Tolstoy and Leskov whose stories were part of my 2019 Russian winter too. Plus, The Duel is set in the same place as Vodolazkin's Solovyov and Larionov which I just finished. I've come full circle.
Other quotes I liked:
"I understand Von Koren very well. His is a resolute, strong, despotic nature. You have heard him continually talking of 'the expedition,' and it's not mere talk. He wants the wilderness, the moonlit night: all around in little tents, under the open sky, lie sleeping his sick and hungry Cossacks, guides, porters, doctor, priest, all exhausted with their weary marches, while only he is awake, sitting like Stanley on a camp-stool, feeling himself the monarch of the desert and the master of these men. He goes on and on and on, his men groan and die, one after another, and he goes on and on, and in the end perishes himself, but still is monarch and ruler of the desert, since the cross upon his tomb can be seen by the caravans for thirty or forty miles over the desert."
That description by one of the characters about another reminded me of Patrick White's Voss. Voss was just such a one as Van Koren.
"The mole has a powerful thorax, just like the bat," Van Koren went on, shutting the box; "the bones and muscles are tremendously developed, the mouth is extraordinarily powerfully furnished. If it had the proportions of an elephant, it would be an all-destructive, invincible animal. It is interesting when two moles meet underground; they begin at once as though by agreement digging a little platform; they need the platform in order to have a battle more conveniently. When they have made it they enter upon a ferocious struggle and fight till the weaker one falls...
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
The Duel.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
December 30, 2019
–
Started Reading
December 30, 2019
– Shelved
December 31, 2019
–
31.25%
"Or he would begin a long rigmarole about Onegin, Pechorin, Byron's Cain and Bazarov of whom he would say: 'They are our fathers in flesh and in spirit.' So we are to understand that it was not his fault that envelopes lay unopened in his office for weeks together and that he drank and taught others to drink, but Onegin, Pechorin and Turgenev who had invented the failure and the superfluous man were responsible for it"
page
40
December 31, 2019
–
93.75%
"It appeared that of all the people present not one had ever in his life been at a duel, and no one knew precisely how they ought to stand, and what the seconds ought to say and do. But then Boyko remembered and began, with a smile, to explain.. "Gentlemen, who remembers the description in Lermontov?"
Hey! I do!
And so my last three months reading has come full circle :-)"
page
120
Hey! I do!
And so my last three months reading has come full circle :-)"
December 31, 2019
–
Finished Reading
