# "Great Books" that no one seems to like...what are we missing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 29, 2021, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575 "2021-07-29T06:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/424 "2021-08-14T23:58:03Z")
I’d really have to read the Russian text before I could comment. I might have a better translation of my own. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/425 "2021-08-15T00:26:58Z")
for the first sentence, only so many ways it could be translated. BTW I was a project manager in translations for almost 20 years. It seems that Briggs is partially trying to explain what happened, but anyone reading at that time would be very well aware of what it meant. And I just like the Maudes phrasing of “infamies and horrors”; for that, many ways it could be translated ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/426 "2021-08-15T00:40:48Z")
I’ve been a translator for almost 40 years now, and I still agonize over the best way to convey meaning fairly often. I found that teaching English as a foreign language helps a lot. (Reading works by good writers does too, of course.) I’d like to teach a course in translation sometime. In my experience, many professional translators seem to think all you have to do it take a word from one language and plug it into another. As I’m sure you know, it’s not that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/427 "2021-08-15T00:50:20Z")
One of my old History profs had a list of 50 books you needed to read to be a Human Being. Or was it 100? No, I think it was 50. Never did ask him for the full list like I intended, but he would mention novels such as _Don Quixote_. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/428 "2021-08-15T04:10:53Z")
Have you seen the 1975 staged version? Like Shakespeare and opera, it’s much better that way! The video resolution and sound quality are not the greatest, but the staging is great and very funny in spots. [Carmina Burana , Carl Orff (Ponnelle) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj-tBVq61as) ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/429 "2021-08-16T13:27:15Z")
perhaps he shakes hands like mr trump? [Trump’s awkward handshakes with world leaders - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T84se4fc4KU) ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/430 "2021-08-16T15:09:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve been a translator for almost 40 years I’m puzzled by this from Zoshchenkos’ _The Bathhouse_ " I went bathhouse last Saturday (after all, I can’t go to a for a bath). " ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/431 "2021-08-16T16:01:29Z")
Context? FWIW, a Russian _banya_ is like a Finnish sauna. You go there for the steam, not to take a bath. Maybe he was Jewish and worried about going to a _banya_ on the Sabbath? I have no idea. Do you have the Russian text? ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/432 "2021-08-16T16:18:52Z")
I could not find it in Russian, [**this**](https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr9Gi_VjRphQXoAihJXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1629158998/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fsoviethistory.msu.edu%2f1924-2%2fworkers-clubs%2fworkers-clubs-texts%2fzoshchenkos-bathhouse%2f/RK=2/RS=XwjyJLrIyu0k_ydpv4z8AIkAB.Y-) is the text. The author comments on the odd usage. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/433 "2021-08-16T16:20:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. I was an English lit major and I have never even heard of “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Is this just a big blind spot for me or do others also find it obscure. (I think I had read everything else, though half in high school, minus “The Story of an Hour.” I’m not really familar with that one, either, although the name rings a bell.) I think I read “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a short story in a big anthology of psychological horror tales when I was a kid. I remember a woman locked in a room who saw figures moving in the patterns in the wallpaper, but I probably did not get any of the feminism in the story at the time, I just thought it was a creepy tale. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/434 "2021-08-16T16:33:40Z")
I don’t get it either. FWIW, translations by people (even professional translators) who are not native English speakers can really suck. I suspect this is the case here. There are public bathhouses in Russia where you can clean up with soap. They were needed earlier when most people had no baths or showers in their homes. Nowadays, everyone does (unless they’re living out in the country) so it’s no longer common. You go to a _banya_ to sweat, whip and scour your buddies with birch leaves, take a quick dip in cold water, and then sit back for a beer and some vodka. The Sandusky baths in Moscow are well known. I think they go back to tsarist times. Out in the country, of course, there are lots of _banyas_, just like in Finland and Scandinavia. They’re often old log huts on the shores of a lake. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/435 "2021-08-16T16:46:24Z")
The phrase “_S legkim parom!_” literally means “With light steam!” It’s how you congratulate someone _after_ he’s had a _shvits_. This scene (starts around the 21 second mark) is from a very popular movie that’s shown on TV every New Year’s Eve. The translation is okay, but not exactly what I’d write. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lVpmZnRIMKs/maxresdefault.jpg "Ирония судьбы, или С легким паром, 1 серия (комедия, реж. Эльдар Рязанов, 1976 г.)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs) _ **THE IRONY OF FATE or s legkim parom!** _ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/436 "2021-08-16T16:59:47Z")
Sorry, 21 _minute_ mark. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/437 "2021-08-16T17:14:48Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t get it either An English equivalent would be: " I went dancehall last Saturday (after all, I can’t go to a for a dance). " Doesn’t translate. I’ll bet there are many colloquialisms and puns from 20s Russia that do not survive. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/438 "2021-08-16T17:45:29Z")
I’d have to see the original text to make sense of it. Maybe he means “I went to the bathhouse last Saturday. (After all, I can’t take a bath at home.)” BTW, the Russian word _kupat’sya_ can mean either “take a bath” or “go swimming.” When my daughter was tiny, she used to confuse the English and Russian meanings all the time. _Myt’sya_ is how you say “wash up (with soap).” ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/439 "2021-08-16T17:49:14Z")
Surely there’s a word missing in the English translation? ‘I went bathhouse last Saturday (after all, I can’t go to a \_\_\_\_\_ for a bath).’ Fill in the blank with whatever place he normally goes to on a Saturday. A bar probably? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/440 "2021-08-16T17:51:26Z")
Entirely possible. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/441 "2021-08-16T17:57:44Z")
[Михаил Зощенко - Баня: читать рассказ, текст полностью онлайн - РуСтих](https://skazki.rustih.ru/mixail-zoshhenko-banya/) ? ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/442 "2021-08-16T18:06:40Z")
Shakespeare had great stories, and great usage of language, but he’s a pretty awful historical source. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575/443 "2021-08-16T18:13:44Z")
> Прошлую субботу я пошел в баню (не ехать же, думаю, в Америку) [DeepL translator](https://www.deepl.com/en/translator) renders it as “I went to the bathhouse last Saturday (I don’t think I’m going to America)”. That makes sense because he’s just been talking about baths in America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-that-no-one-seems-to-like-what-are-we-missing/947575.md?page=23)