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I've run into both sides of this. Some people dislike Germans due to WWII memories. Others go farther back in history, and say that Germans have made wonderful contributions to Russian society and science/technology.
Yes of course. And they continue to do so. The Germans is northern people, they are easily assimilated with the Russians. As and Russians in Germany.
I am from the older generation of course, and when Ruth here mentioned with surprise kinda that Russians were aware of the existence of the "Wizard of OZ," I wanted to respond that it was one of the "staples" when I was growing up, along with many other foreign-written books - be that of French or German authors. And for younger children, the "Oliver Twist" and "Sherlock Holmes" were staples too. It was cultural shock for me, when I was trying to find these particular books for my son in the US ( since he didn't know any Russian.) They told me in the library that they were not suitable for children ( because of the outdated language, supposedly.) Of course it has been all translated and adapted for us, ( i.e. put in more modern and comprehensive style of language,) so the end result was that we were probably more familiar with European literature ( the variety of it) since our childhood than most of European children were))) ( Ditto - quite a few books from American literature has been translated for us too, that's why I started with the "Wizard of Ozz" here.)
I think everyone knows the "Wizard of Oz" in Russia.
The popularity of British and American writers (Oz, Holmes, Tom Sawyer, etc.) is due to very high level interpreters (translators). For example, one of my favorite songs:
Heather Ale: A Galloway Legend
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Spoiler
From the bonny bells of heather,
They brewed a drink long syne,
Was sweeter far than honey,
Was stronger far than wine.
They brewed it and they drank it,
And lay in blessed swound,
For days and days together,
In their dwellings underground.
There rose a King in Scotland,
A fell man to his foes,
He smote the Picts in battle,
He hunted them like roes.
Over miles of the red mountain
He hunted as they fled,
And strewed the dwarfish bodies
Of the dying and the dead.
Summer came in the country,
Red was the heather bell,
But the manner of the brewing,
Was none alive to tell.
In graves that were like children’s
On many a mountain’s head,
The Brewsters of the Heather
Lay numbered with the dead.
The king in the red moorland
Rode on a summer’s day;
And the bees hummed and the curlews
Cried beside the way.
The King rode and was angry,
Black was his brow and pale,
To rule in a land of heather,
And lack the Heather Ale.
It fortuned that his vassals,
Riding free upon the heath,
Came on a stone that was fallen
And vermin hid beneath.
Roughly plucked from their hiding,
Never a word they spoke:
A son and his aged father –
Last of the dwarfish folk.
The king sat high on his charger,
He looked down on the little men;
And the dwarfish and swarthy couple
Looked at the king again.
Down by the shore he had them:
And there on the giddy brink –
“I will give thee life ye vermin,
For the secret of the drink.”
There stood the son and father
And they looked high and low;
The heather was red around them,
The sea rumbled below.
And up spoke the father,
Shrill was his voice to hear:
“I have a word in private,
A word for the royal ear.
“Life is dear to the aged,
And honour a little thing;
I would gladly sell the secret”,
Quoth the Pict to the King.
His voice was small as a sparrow’s,
And shrill and wonderful clear:
“I would gladly sell my secret,
Only my son I fear.
“For life is a little matter,
And death is nought to the young;
And I dare not sell my honour,
Under the eye of my son.
Take him, O king, and bind him,
And cast him far in the deep;
And it’s I will tell the secret
That I have sworn to keep.”
They took the son and bound him,
Neck and heels in a thong,
And a lad took him and swung him,
And flung him far and strong
And the sea swallowed his body,
Like that of a child of ten;
And there on the cliff stood the father,
Last of the dwarfish men.
“True was the word I told you:
Only my son I feared;
For I doubt the sapling courage,
That goes without the beard.
But now in vain is the torture,
Fire shall not avail:
Here dies in my bosom
The secret of the Heather Ale.”
Translation:Samuil Yakovlevich Marchak
Song: band "Wallace band"
The popularity of British and American writers (Oz, Holmes, Tom Sawyer, etc.) is due to very high level interpreters (translators). For example, one of my favorite songs:
I like more Melnitsa version on the basis of Borodzilowsky filmstrip
Truth to be told - Russians ARE closer to Germans among all Europeans than to anyone else, in a strange, twisted way.
Russians are as close to Germans as to any other European nation, but they would be much closer to Serbians or other Slavic nation, than to Germans for sure.
I've run into both sides of this. Some people dislike Germans due to WWII memories. Others go farther back in history, and say that Germans have made wonderful contributions to Russian society and science/technology.
Germans had started both World Wars, what to like about them? They also host several russophobic media channels such as Radio Freedom, DW in russian and such.
There were lot of Germans and French in Russia before 1917 revolution, because pay was much better than in Europe.
They mostly worked as handymen, doctors and babysitters - that's their "contribution". Though it's true that some Russians with German ancestry have become high profile military commanders.
I think everyone knows the "Wizard of Oz" in Russia.
The popularity of British and American writers (Oz, Holmes, Tom Sawyer, etc.) is due to very high level interpreters (translators).
Yes it's true.
The translations into Russian ( from different languages by the way, not only English) were of excellent quality.
Of course it helped a lot that Marshak and Pasternak ( the author of "Doctor Zhivago") were writers themselves, but there were other, less famous translators that did a great job back in Soviet times, be that prose or poetry.
That's the reason that Russians were so widely exposed to foreign literature from early childhood on.
Russians are as close to Germans as to any other European nation,
Absolutely not. I found French for example to be quite different from Russians and Britons are on the opposite end of a specter all together. There ARE some commonalities with Italians ( because of history of church I'd think,) but overall if you move in Western direction - Germans are indeed the closest to Russians because of a number of things.
Quote:
but they would be much closer to Serbians or other Slavic nation, than to Germans for sure.
Serbs in particular - I consider them more or less the same thing as Russians. The only thing that probably makes the difference is their culture being under the Ottomans. But overall if you move Serbia somewhere close to Caucasian mountains, they'd be nothing else but yet one more "Southern Russia" variation, along with Ukrainians.
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( Ditto - quite a few books from American literature has been translated for us too, that's why I started with the "Wizard of Ozz" here.)
Melnitsa is a higher level of performance (in my opinion it is the world level).