Hi, Eugene
That's a challenge. I've never done such things before, but I'll make a
try.
"We don't have the power to hear
Our words echoing in other minds and souls, --
And Lord gives us the gift of compassion
As He gives His amazing Grace."
F.I.Tyutchev
Does it make any sense to an American ear?
A French poet who translated A. Pushkin's verses once said “ To read poetry
in translation is just the same as to contemplate the corpse of a beautiful
woman: the body is still here but the soul has already gone”
Russian psycholinguists like to reffer to the first lines of this poem when
discussing the theory of word meaning.
And thank you, Eugene, for pleasant moments I had translating the poem and
for helping me to break my silence.
Tatiana
----------
> От: Eugene Matusov <ematusov@udel.edu>
> Кому: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Тема: RE: Rules not to call me a dummy
> Дата: 25 февраля 2000 г. 18:45
>
> Hi Tatyana and everybody--
>
> You asked
> > P.S. Eugene, would you mind such a variant " We can't foresee how our
word
> > will echo in your souls"?
>
> Sure -- I like it alot! Can you provide the entire poem in English,
please,
> so other xmca-ers can appreciate? As Rachel correctly pointed out, it is
> Tutchev's poem (below the poem in Russian fonts),
>
> ??? ?? ???? ???????????,
> ??? ???? ????? ?????????,--
> ? ??? ?????????? ??????,
> ??? ??? ?????? ?????????....
>
> 27 ??????? 1869.
>
> Tatyana wrote,
> > I once read somewhere, that it is impossible to hurt somebody until
s/he
> > wants to be hurt. It's kind of exaggeration, of couse,still...
>
> I think that although it may be true in some (I'd say very rare)
> circumstances but it can be a very dangerous statement blaming a victim
of
> violence for inviting/provoking the violence.
>
> >I would
> > never believe that people gathered om XMCA-list wanted deliberatly hurt
or
> > offend somebody.
>
> Me neither. However, sometimes some considerations in debates can take
over
> concerns about other people well-being. For example, to win an
intellectual
> argument, I may cross line of respectful disagreement with my opponent by
> mocking his/her point or making some inappropriate personal remarks.
> Academic (and non-academic) debate such an interesting and strange
> discourse. Sometimes it implies that truth and happiness will come to the
> Earth if only people with whom I disagree (and, thus, who are obviously
> wrong or even evil :-) disappear. There is nothing far from the truth as
we
> now know from the history of totalitarian regimes.
>
> >Friendly teasing is a way to provoke further discussion
> > and sometimes even rudeness is meant to attract attention.
>
> Sure. What is allowed among friends is not allowed among strangers (or
just
> non-friends). One Russian (i.e., Russian-Russian) colleague of mine (as a
> Russian Jew) complained that he was called Anti-Semite for telling a joke
> about Jews that he overheard in a company of Russian Jews. Many black
people
> in US use n... word but would strongly object non-black people using it
> (unless they are very close friends, probably).
>
> >One should only
> > believe that it was not aimed at him/her personally and s/he won't feel
> > offended.
>
> I wish it always worked...
>
> >And I know that scientists and teachers are very vulnerable
> > people.
>
> Some time ago, Dianne made a sad joke (maybe it was not a joke?!) that
all
> academicians are dysfunctional in their/our own way. My first reaction
was a
> strong protest but after careful observation on myself and ... Oh yes,
we
> are vulnerable (Dianne, I like better the word "vulnerable" than
> "dysfunctional :-)
>
> What do you think?
>
> Eugene
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sazonova [mailto:sazon@kursknet.ru]
> > Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 12:58 AM
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > Subject: Re: Rules not to call me a dummy
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Eugene Matusov wrote:
> >
> > > However, I do not believe that rules prevent from hurting
> > others and from
> > > being hurt. Moreover, there is no way for me to make sure that my
> > postings
> > > won't hurt somebody.
> >
> > I once read somewhere, that it is impossible to hurt somebody untill
s/he
> > wants to be hurt. It's kind of exaggeration, of couse,still... I would
> > never believe that people gathered om XMCA-list wanted deliberatly hurt
or
> > offend somebody. Friendly teasing is a way to provoke further
discussion
> > and sometimes even rudeness is meant to attract attention. One should
only
> > believe that it was not aimed at him/her personnaly and s/he won't feel
> > offended. And I know that scientists and teachers are very vulnerable
> > people.
> >
> > Tatiana Sazonova
> >
> >
> > P.S. Eugene, would you mind such a variant " We can't foresee how our
word
> > will echo in your souls"?
> >
> >
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