Great book. I hope you like it. Nabokov is an amazing writer; he's very conscious about the language he uses, which is part of what makes me him so great. Which translation are you using? I took a look at an online version but didn't really like the translation. It looked like the translator had gone for a more literal translation and in the process had really screwed up the readability.
"Bhagavad-Gita As It Is" by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The translation is pretty decent as regards readability and it also includes information for the non-Hindu for whom certain names, events, myths, histories, cultural concepts, etc. won't be something that can be taken for granted.
You guys are just trying to outbrain the rest of us. Right? I kind of want to take revenge on you by reading something dumb.
I took a look through some of the reviews on Amazon, and some of the folks had an issue with the translation. Apparently, there's too much of the translator's interpretation in the translation. The Classics of Indian Spirituality version seems to be the most popular and got good reviews. It's also a lot shorter, which I'm assuming is because it doesn't have as many notes (though it is a bit more expensive). I may have to just make a side-by-side comparison and see which one I would prefer to read.
He really is brilliant. His mastery of language (and not just English) is superb! I love his philosophy on writing too. He basically says a books only value is to the artist and the individual reader as a piece of art. It doesn't have to teach anything. A bad novel is simply bad art, not necessarily because of what it's saying.
Hmm... I was just reading through some of those reviews, and yes. Troubling. Krishna Consciousness and Krishna centered monotheism are definitely part of the Hindu landscape, but by no means representative of Hinduism as a whole. That sucks. It came recommended because of the explanatory text (probably why it is such a popular edition in the West). I'm going to get the other as well. I'm much more interested in Brahman expansiveness.
So A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada decided to focus on the parts of the Bhagavad Gita that deal with Krishna? Is that an abridged version? Or does the original Bhagavad Gita simply focus on Krishna over the other gods? I know that the Mahabharata tends to come in abridged versions (as far as I know, there isn't a complete English translation), so I was wondering if the translations of the Bhagavad Gita are abridged as well.
No, it goes like this: Krishna is the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, so they are one and the same. In some texts, Vishnu is given the place of Supreme God and since Krishna is Vishnu he gets the same treatment in Krishnaism. Krishnaism is all about devotion (bhakti). It's why Krishna is often referred to by his nickname, Govinda. Govinda means cow-herder, but in the context of Hinduism it means the one who protects the innocent. It's much more like what you think of when you think of Western Religions like Christianity and Islam. The author of the book I have has swapped out Brahman (the 'all thing') in the original Sanskrit text with Krishna. He's also heavily tweaked the meaning in some passages so that they align better with bhakti idiology than with the broader ideologies of Hinduism as a whole. It's kinda' like in Christianity where The Lord's Prayer is known to have a particular word that is incorrectly translated from the original. In the original prayer, the word father (Our Father, who art in Heaven...) is Aba. Aba is not father, it's daddy. It's a word that comes from the vocabulary of children. It's a little kid's words. Replace father with daddy in that prayer and the tone changes utterly.
Ah, OK. Reading all that made me realize how ignorant I am about Hinduism. I haven't read much about it, and my only knowledge of it comes from my Indian friend. So I know about some of the beliefs and some of their popular festivals like Diwali but that's about it. By the way, did you grow up practicing Hinduism, or was it something you adopted later in life? I'm just curious because I don't see many (any actually) Westerners who practice Hinduism.
Later in life, though practice is probably a strong word. It's something I'm studying and trying on for size. Of all religions to which I have been exposed, this is the one that so far makes the most sense for me. I come from a secular family. Not card carrying atheists, but we just didn't do religion.
Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. Probably the best fantasy book I've read so far... and I've read a lot of fantasy.
Child of a God by Cormac McCarthy. Rather disturbing to say the least but his use of language is amazing.
I've never read this book before or heard much about it. Let me know what you think after you've finished it because I'm a huge McCarthy fan. Also, if you're looking for a really good McCarthy book, check out Blood Meridian.
I'm also reading that it's beautiful but extremely violent and disturbing. I also have The Road next to read which I tried reading before but that didn't work out that well.
COWS - Matthew Stokoe Picked it up and this was the synopsis: 'Mother's corpse in bits, dead dog on the roof, girlfriend in a coma, baby nailed to the wall, and a hundred tons of homicidal beef stampeding through the tube system. And Steven thought the slaughterhouse was bad...' I'm sold!
I've just returned to Don Delillo's White Noise having put it aside to read Alex Ferguson's autobiography. Priorities.
Oh, come on, Delillo isn't that good. I'm currently reading alongside The Iliad (the Robert Fagles translation) Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. I read Slaughterhouse 5 very recently and I'm quite fond of that book, so I hope I like this book just as much.
Marvellous stuff, Lemex. If you get on with Breakfast of Champions and want some more Vonnegut I reckon Deadeye Dick his most accomplished novel (alongside Mother Night perhaps).
Currently reading Emperor by Conn Iggulden. A wonderful series of 5 books (I think), that's more or less the biography of Julius Caesar written as fiction (with modifications of course). Other recommendations: - All books by Clive Barker. I haven't read all of them, but this I have were amazing. He specializes in combining our world with the world of fantasy, and does so in so many new ways! - Left Hand of God trilogy by Paul Hoffman. The most odd and different fantasy story I've read, definitely worth a look for those looking for new experiences.
