How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin

[kleenexwoman]

Humanities nerdiness is harvesting every book in the library that you can find that has anything to do with Russian folklore, then getting irked enough to yell because you still can't find an English translation of the right book anywhere, even on Amazon, despite the fact that the story you're doing all this research for is already plotted out very tightly in your head and you're not sure if you're even going to change it according to what you find or not.

I wonder if I can squeeze some pearls of wisdom and/or rare books out of Ari Berk. I don't even know if he's hanging around on campus this summer.

ETA: Holy crap, I love university libraries. Only the one Propp book, but there are a few "Everyday life in Soviet Russia!" type of books, and even one about black ex-pats in "Red Russia," which answers a really weird question I'd had kicking around.

Comments

[cortocorto.livejournal.com]

I hate it when you can't find an English translation of something good and important...A couple of months ago I almost went out of my gourd because I couldn't find an English translation of a French naval officer's memoirs of the 19th century war in Vietnam...I can relate, and I sympathize with you...

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

I think I take having English translations of everything for granted, almost. So frustrating, I wish I could translate things myself, but it takes so long to learn a language well enough and I'm so impatient.

[cortocorto.livejournal.com]

I wish science (super-science!) could come up with a chip or an implant we could just plug into our brains to help us translate anything we wanted, instantly... *sigh*...

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

The Babel Fish! Oh, for a real-life Babel Fish that wasn't an imperfect web page...

[drworm.livejournal.com]

I love libraries, even when I suck at finding shit.

I mean, I brought home an encyclopedia of espionage. That has to make everything worthwhile.

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

That is definitely awesome.

I found out that my library has a bunch of stuff authored by the Soviet Union. I know about the "death of the author," but that's almost ridiculous...

[josephwaldman.livejournal.com]

I have a horrible confession to make. One of the reasons I decided on the college I attended (well, aside from the scholarship $$$ they poured on me -- seriously, they drove up to my house with a dump truck and almost smothered me in it) was because when I went there for my first visit during spring of my senior year of high school, I naturally wandered off to the library and discovered that they had -- get this -- the collected works of Joseph Stalin! Wow! Primary sources! And a bunch of other old books, too! Well, that settles it for me! All the Southfield library has is automotive books and Judaica! Ohio Wesleyan, here I come! (Big mistake.)

[josephwaldman.livejournal.com]

*swoons*

I am Nostradamus. I was in the stacks at about the same time as you were, this time in 2001. I recall particularly thinking "(a) this is fun, (b) but it ain't gonna go anywhere, so (c) better just use the translation. God bless the Babelfish!