Talk:Petersburg (novel)

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Plot introduction

The second half of the final paragraph is confusingly worded:

"The differences are also notable: the English translation of Bely remains more accessible, his work is based on complex rhythm of patterns, and, according to scholarly opinion, does not use such a wide variety of innovations. But these innovations, which subvert commonplace literary rhetoric, are necessary to conveying Petersburg at such a tumultuous time."

Differences between the English translation and what? It's not entirely clear if this is comparing the English translation of Petersburg to Ulysses or to Petersburg in the original Russian. "His work" is unclear. (Bely's work? If so, why not just say Petersburg?) And then it asserts both that Petersburg (in English?) has fewer innovations, but also that the are necessary, without describing what the innovations are.

And what this has to do with the "Plot" is also all beyond me.

--Lobotomy42 (talk) 19:34, 2 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Prevalence of Joyce in the article

I understand the importance of both Bely and Joyce to the Modernist movement, and I've read both Petersburg, and Ulysses. The thing I fail to understand is just the prevalence that Joyce takes in an article that is not about him. Admittedly I'm not the biggest Ulysses fan in the world, I much preferred A Portrait, but nevertheless I read certain lines like: "The comparison of Petersburg to Ulysses has been made for both its symbolist style and for the centrality of the city within the narrative." And I think to myself, I fail to see the enduring relevance to this especially when one can easily replace Ulysses with Crime and Punishment in this regard, and the statement holds more true, and bears a stronger relevance for the evolution of Russian Literature, as the influence of Dostoyevsky on Belly is plain for all to see who are literate in both. So I already cut one small tidbit of Joyce out, who cares when he became relevant in comparison with the release of an english translation of Petersburg? But I think distancing the article from him a bit more would be good. Petersburg does not need Ulysses to shine as the incredible piece of art which it is. Edit: If you'd like to accuse me of a bias toward Russian Literature, you are correct: I love 18th/19th Cent. Russian Lit and Southern Gothic. I think my points carry weight, however, even with such being the case. (Alcibiades979 (talk) 10:24, 12 May 2016 (UTC))[reply]