by Grace Golby, Third year, German, Russian, and Spanish
Calling all literature lovers and curious linguists, I present to you the reason my sofa has a permanent indent. As a languages student, I have come across a variety of works during my degree and these have been some of my highlights. They can all be read in translation and make a great pastime as we move into the colder months.
Spanish
Don Quixote — Miguel de Cervantes
¡Hola, lectoras y lectores! Have you ever been intimidated by a long word count? Well do I have the novel for you.
«El hacer bien a villanos es echar agua al mar.»
To do good to villains is to throw water into the sea.
Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, is a parodic tragicomedy of illusion, misadventure and honour, enabling the reader to gaze through cracks of realism in the façade of chivalric fantasy. This two-part novel surrounds Don Quixote de la Mancha, an ageing man disillusioned to his own nobility, and the reader is taken on his pursuit of a heroism idealised to the point of negation. His comedic hopelessness is emphasised in his accompaniment by the contrastingly pragmatic Sancho Panza, contributing to heteroglossia in the work. Don Quixote is iconic amongst Bristol’s hispanists for having pioneered the modern novel, achieved in its evolving characterisation and its use of metafiction. It is even said to have inspired prominent creators such as Dostoevsky and Flaubert. Just be prepared to encounter the befriending of criminals, giants that are actually windmills and the futile seduction of imaginary women.
German
Effi Briest — Theodor Fontane
Hallo, Leser*innen! If you are looking for something with a more realist edge, many Bristol Germanists are fond of the late nineteenth-century novel Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane.
„Wir müssen verführerisch sein, sonst sind wir gar nichts.“
We must be seductive, otherwise we are nothing.
Duty and desire collide as 17 year-old Effi von Briest enters an arranged marriage with Baron Geert von Innstetten, a Prussian Landrat a mere twenty years her senior. Initial, picturesque, pastoral imagery of the family home in Hohen-Cremmen, symbolic of youthful exuberance and freedom, is lost upon her move to Innstetten’s estate in Kessin, and the reader fears for what could be Effi’s tragic downfall away from home. Expect affairs, duels and the loss of innocence in Fontane’s powerful critique of constraining societal expectations.
Kashvi Cox
Russian
The Stationmaster — Alexander Pushkin
Здравствуйте, читатели! In contrast to the sprawling Don Quixote, I bring you Alexander Pushkin’s The Stationmaster, a short piece from The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin. This work comes as an early introduction to Russian literature for many ab-initio Russianists.
«Что такое станционный смотритель? Сущий мученик четырнадцатого класса, огражденный своим чином токмо от побоев, и то не всегда»
What is a stationmaster? A true martyr of the fourteenth class, protected by his rank only from beatings and even then not always.
Set in 19th century Russia, the reader is quickly introduced to stationmaster Samson Vyrin and his beautiful daughter Dunya in a pleasant visit from the story’s narrator. It was the job of the stationmaster to update internal records of travel throughout Russia and to care for weary travellers. Years pass from this point and the narrator later returns, yet Samson appears aged and the enchanting Dunya is nowhere to be seen. We learn of a new visitor and that Dunya never returned home from church. This is a story of pain, betrayal and powerlessness with Pushkin exploring the incompatibility of social hierarchy and happiness.
Here are three recommendations to enjoy a global literary journey this autumn. Enjoy!
Featured Image:Unsplash
Which book will you try first?
