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osprey_archerFrom today in Russian class: “Not even the rain has such small feet.”
It’s a quote, or rather misquote, from poem e. e. cummings wrote which was inspired by a Russian expression. It’s odd and enchanting and I love it; it’s for these things that I’m studying Russian.
The big question this year, even in Russian class, has been why are you studying Russian?—because there isn’t an easy reason, like the high percentage of Spanish speakers in the US or the strategic importance of China or the generally accepted awesomeness of French and Japanese.
I don’t have a good answer. I’m studying Russian mostly—no, more or less entirely—for aesthetic reasons; and not aesthetic reasons as in “I love Tolstoy and Chekov,” but aesthetic reasons like I love onion domed churches and pysanky eggs; I love fairy tales that revolve around swans and bears and houses that walk on chicken legs; I love pictures of Russia and the Russian skies.
In the Americas, especially on the plains, the sky goes on forever; we have the biggest sky of anywhere but Australia and the sea. But the Russian sky is deeper and bluer than anywhere else, like you could reach out and touch it.
Even I think this is a flaky reason to study a language.
It’s a quote, or rather misquote, from poem e. e. cummings wrote which was inspired by a Russian expression. It’s odd and enchanting and I love it; it’s for these things that I’m studying Russian.
The big question this year, even in Russian class, has been why are you studying Russian?—because there isn’t an easy reason, like the high percentage of Spanish speakers in the US or the strategic importance of China or the generally accepted awesomeness of French and Japanese.
I don’t have a good answer. I’m studying Russian mostly—no, more or less entirely—for aesthetic reasons; and not aesthetic reasons as in “I love Tolstoy and Chekov,” but aesthetic reasons like I love onion domed churches and pysanky eggs; I love fairy tales that revolve around swans and bears and houses that walk on chicken legs; I love pictures of Russia and the Russian skies.
In the Americas, especially on the plains, the sky goes on forever; we have the biggest sky of anywhere but Australia and the sea. But the Russian sky is deeper and bluer than anywhere else, like you could reach out and touch it.
Even I think this is a flaky reason to study a language.
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Date: 2008-10-15 10:23 pm (UTC)