Roger’s biographical sketch of Tolstoy
‘my Tolstoy essay – typed version
my Tolstoy essay – TRANSLATION
I am posting it again.
I am very proud of it. It was written in the 1970s.
I told my therapist, Dr. Colp, that I was taking an advanced Russian evening course at NYU. l said that based on my previous study, I belonged in the intermediate course, but I wanted to be challenged. Made sense to him.
The paper was based on oral presentation in class. Dr, Colp wasn’t given to fulsome praise. But when I told him I gave a talk in Russian, he was impressed — “in Russian?” he said.
I learned Russian script in the introductory course I took, but I have forgotten it mostly and could not do as I did then: produce a handwritten paper.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
November 2021
An eventful life, and you managed to capture it all in one page!
Thanks so much, Elisabeth! I appreciate this comment. Reading my essay over again, I thought that, yes, despite my limited knowledge of Russian and the fact that it was a short essay, I chose interesting details. Thanks again for the positive response.
In Dutch we call it ‘the art of leaving things out’, not many people are good at it!