Bøger af Mark R Pettus

This volume (Book 4) completes the series that began with "Russian Through Propaganda" (Books 1 and 2 in the series), and continued with the first volume of "Russian Through Poems and Paintings" (Book 3 in the series). This series was designed for serious students looking for exhaustive coverage of Russian grammar and immersion in Russian culture - with particular emphasis on learning to enjoy Russian literature in the original, inasmuch as Russian literature is, for many, the chief motivation for learning Russian in the first place. By the end of this volume (Book 4 in the series), students will have every tool at their disposal for enjoying the Russian classics. This book features daily poems by the likes of Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev, and may others, together with extensive vocabulary notes. It concludes with longer reading selections: highlights from Ivan Goncharov's novel Oblomov, and a fascinating narrative poem by Nikolai Nekrasov entitled Red-NosedFrost.Having covered most major grammar topics in the previous volumes (Books 1, 2, and 3), the present volume (Book 4) shifts its attention to Russian word formation, giving students an in-depth look at such topics as roots, prefixation, verb and adjective creation, foreign borrowings, noun suffixes, stress patterns, and more. In the process, we'll hone our ability to analyze a variety of Russian words - both to make sense of new words we encounter, and to consider the literal meaning of Russian words, not just their standard English translation. We'll group words into families - looking first at "verb families" (prefixed forms of a given base aspectual pair), and later at broader word families built from a common root (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.). We'll also look in depth at the suffixes Russian uses to adopt foreign vocabulary, thus greatly enhancing our ability to make sense of the countless borrowed words encountered in contemporary Russian. As in Book 3, examples of the grammar at hand are provided by Russian poems and paintings. Books 3 and 4 both focus on the Imperial era; but, in terms of poetry selections, whereas Book 3 focused heavily on "Golden Age" poets like Pushkin and Lermontov, Book 4 now pushes forward into the Silver Age and even the Soviet era, with more selections from poets like Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, Mandelshtam, Pasternak, and others. By the end of Book 4, students will have been exposed to most of the major names in Russian poetry, and to some of their most well-known poems.Remaining grammar topics include verbs of position, a review of imperfective derivation, and a survey of noun and number declension that includes more unusual forms we have yet to encounter. Declension of numbers is covered in full, along with special noun types. Some of these forms - the declined numbers in particular - may not be encountered on a daily basis, but it is very important to be aware of them, and, for students intent on mastering Russian, to learn them. With these units, the series completes its near-exhaustive coverage of both verb conjugation and noun and adjective declension.The book concludes with a chapter presenting useful vocabulary for talking about life (birth, death, and everything in between - love and marriage, friendship, travel, activities, culture, and more), and, finally, a chapter featuring two outstanding pieces of Russian literature: highlights from Goncharov's novel Oblomov (from a chapter known as "Oblomov's Dream"), and the entirety of Nikolai Nekrasov's long narrative poem "Red-Nosed Frost," which depicts the difficult life of a young peasant woman after her husband's death, with a stunning ending - magical, beautiful, yet deeply disturbing - that is not to be missed! About the author: Mark Pettus is a lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University, where he teaches Russian, Czech, Polish, Church Slavonic, and more.

The novel in verse Eugene Onegin - inarguably the most important work in the entire Russian canon, by its greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin - is simply required reading for anyone interested in Russian literature. Now, it's more accessible than ever in the original: this volume provides the entire Russian text, marked for stress, and with extensive linguistic, historical, and cultural footnotes, to ensure that intermediate to advanced students of Russian can make sense of Pushkin's every word - with the help of a parallel English translation, made expressly for this purpose, that sticks as closely as possible to the meaning of the Russian original. Vocab notes include aspectual pairs and conjugation types for verbs, irregular plurals and other forms for nouns, and contemporary equivalents for all archaic forms found in the text.Combining a conversational tone and digressive structure with a simple but powerful story, Eugene Onegin tells of a jaded aristocrat (Onegin), an idealistic young poet (Lensky), and a provincial girl (Tatyana) who risks her honor for the sake of love. The aftermath of her gamble, culminating in a pointlessly destructive duel, changes everyone involved - until, by the novel's end, the tables are turned in unexpected ways. Along the way, Pushkin meditates on the vanities of high society; on the destructive passage of time (both as a mere elegiac lament, and as a brutal reality); on the relationship between life and literature; on provincial and city life; on inspiration and creativity; and more. The result is a complex and subtle portrait of Russian life - panoramic and dramatic, yet minutely detailed, and intimately told.About the Author...Originally from Franklin, Tennessee, Mark Pettus holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. Altogether, he's spent around six years living, studying, and working in Russia. Today he is a lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton. Mark is the author of the Russian Through Propaganda textbook series (Books 1 and 2), and its continuation, Russian Through Poems and Paintings (Books 3 and 4). He is now working on additional books for students of Russian, including the Reading Russian series of which the present volume is a part.Check out www.russianthroughpropaganda.com for a variety of resources for students of Russian language, literature, and culture.

A foundational text of existentialism that has influenced writers from Franz Kafka to Ralph Ellison to Imre Kertész, Dostoevsky's snow-covered Notes from the Underground - presented here in its entirety, in both the original Russian and a new, facing English translation - is bitingly sarcastic, intellectually provocative, and emotionally wrenching. Composed by an anonymous "Underground Man," it consists of two parts: first, of a radical philosophical manifesto in defense of human freedom at its most irrational; and, second, of an uncomfortably honest account of a life paralyzed by hyper-reflexivity, endless daydreaming, petty resentment, and a total lack of any meaningful human contact. When a chance at something resembling love suddenly appears where least expected - and with it, an opportunity to break free from his hellish, self-imposed "underground" - our hero struggles to accept it, and gives us what is surely one of the most repulsive finales in all of literature.Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified.About the Author... Originally from Franklin, Tennessee, Mark Pettus holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. Altogether, he's spent around six years living, studying, and working in Russia. Today he is a lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton. Mark is the author of the Russian Through Propaganda textbook series (Books 1 and 2), and its continuation, Russian Through Poems and Paintings (Books 3 and 4). He is now working on additional books for students of Russian, including the Reading Russian series of which the present volume is a part.Check out www.russianthroughpropaganda.com for a variety of resources for students of Russian language, literature, and culture.

Presented here together, in their entirety - in the original Russian and in a facing English translation, new for this edition - are two masterpieces of Russian literature by Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), both set in the Caucasus: The Demon, a narrative poem, and A Hero of Our Time, a novel. The Demon was deemed so scandalous at the time it was written that it was first published in Russia only in 1856 - and then only in a handful of copies for the royal family! It tells of a beautiful Georgian princess, Tamara, who awakens long-forgotten feelings of love in a Demon when he sees her dancing on the eve of her wedding. After the untimely death of her would-be husband, Tamara enters a convent, but a voice continues to tempt her. At last the Demon appears to her, to profess his love... and Tamara''s soul hangs in the balance...A Hero of Our Time is many things at once: a travelogue documenting the astounding natural beauty of the Caucasus and the spirit of its many peoples; an adventure novel with everything from kidnappings to duels; a catalogue of tragic romantic encounters; a novel of (bad) manners; and a disturbing psychological study of its infamous anti-hero, Pechorin, the first (alongside Pushkin''s Evgeny Onegin) of many deeply conflicted - if not demonic - figures in Russian literature. As Lermontov himself makes clear, the idea that Pechorin is "heroic" is to be taken with a great deal of irony!Mirroring each other in many ways, these two works are productively read together, with The Demonproviding a fantastical poetic overture to the realist prose of A Hero of Our Time. Together, they make for captivating reading.Book 4 in the "Reading Russian" series, this edition provides the original text and facing English translation, together with all the vocabulary notes and reference tables you need to make sense of the original. Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified.

This second volume in the Russian Through Propaganda series provides a second semester''s worth of intensive college-level Russian language learning. It presents all plural forms of noun and adjective case endings, introduces basic verbs of conveyance and basic prefixed forms, deals extensively with numbers and time expressions, and introduces comparative forms. It concludes with two special chapters dedicated to practical everyday conversation (for those heading to Russia), and an introduction to unadapted Russian poetry and prose from the Soviet era. Like Book 1, it is richly illustrated with Soviet propaganda posters whose slogans highlight each lesson''s grammar. It is supplemented with a learner''s Russian-English dictionary, an answer key, and useful grammar tables for reference. This new series of Russian language textbooks will continue with Books 3 and 4, entitled "Russian Through Poems and Paintings." For more information and video lessons, visit www.russianthroughpropaganda.com.

A pure delight to read, the four major "Petersburg Tales" of Nikolai Gogol - strange and fantastical, ludicrously absurd, by turns harrowing and hilarious - are among the foundational texts of modern Russian literature. In this volume designed specifically for Russian learners, "The Overcoat," "The Nose," "Diary of a Madman," and "Nevsky Prospekt" are presented in their entirety, in the original Russian and in a facing English translation, together with all the vocabulary notes and reference tables you need to make sense of the original. Photographs of important sites will help orient you in Gogol''s Petersburg. Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified.In "The Overcoat," a petty copy clerk scrimps and saves to purchase a new overcoat; once acquired, it fills his life with a dubious sort of meaning... until tragedy strikes. In "The Nose," a conceited official wakes up one morning to find an empty, flat spot where his nose used to be! Worse yet, when he finally tracks down his runaway nose, he finds it praying in church, and - O horror! - wearing a uniform of a rank higher than his own! In "Diary of a Madman," a clerk obsessed with his boss''s daughter tries to find the answers he seeks by intercepting her dog''s correspondence, as he gradually loses all touch with reality. Finally, in "Nevsky Prospekt," two friends follow two different women down the famous Petersburg boulevard - with radically divergent consequences.

This is the revised edition of Book 3 in a series of Russian language textbooks that began with Russian Through Propaganda (Books 1 and 2). This volume shifts its attention from the Soviet era to the Imperial era, illustrating its discussions of intermediate grammar with paintings depicting Russian history and culture. Classical poems by the likes of Pushkin and Lermontov provide examples of the grammar, which includes such topics as advanced aspect, prefixed verbs of motion, and deverbal forms - all of which are essential for reading real Russian literature. The book culminates with a reading selection that includes Pushkin''s "The Bronze Horseman," two short stories by Chekhov ("Death of a Clerk" and "A Little Joke"), and one by Tolstoy ("Alyosha the Pot") - all of them extensively glossed to allow students to begin reading real literature without constantly using a dictionary. This series, which is geared toward ambitious students who wish to learn Russian culture along with the language, continues with Book 4. For more information, see www.russianthroughpropaganda.com.