Hey guys, long story short, money is tight so I can only pick one between the two, and I'm pretty sure they won't be there at my local Library since they rarely get these secondhand books. So which one shall I go with, I care about the prose more than anything else so I hope none of them have a dated or dull language. Also I know this sub is Tolstoy's so answers might be biased but I'm keeping good faith
IMO Ressurection is his greatest work. No idea what Middlemarch is though
I read few pages and other than first pzge, I absolutely hated the rest, too descriptive from my liking
I honestly can't remember any heavily descriptive chapters in the book except the very start. And even then, that description is not a description for description's sake (like many classical authors' or early Tolstoy work (I too hate pointless descriptions)), it's meant to get one of Tolstoy's main points across - prison is a bad and pointless institution, and it's not right to cut people off from outside world.
Most of the book he's straight to the point.
It's just that I had a similar experience with w&p which I ended up dropping after 200 pages. Check this extract from resurrection:
At the time Maslova, exhausted after the long walk with her guards, was nearing the court-house, Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, the nephew of her patronesses and the man who had seduced her, was still lying on his high crumpled bed with its springs and down mattress. He had unbuttoned the collar of his fine white linen night-shirt with the well-pressed pleats over the chest, and was smoking. His eyes gazed vacantly into space while he considered what he had to do that day and what had happened the day before. He sighed as he thought of the previous evening spent at the Korchagins – people of some wealth and social importance whose daughter everyone expected he would marry – and throwing away the butt of his cigarette was about to take another from his silver case but changed his mind, put down his smooth white legs, felt for his slippers with his feet, threw his silk dressing-gown over his broad shoulders and, stepping heavily, hurried into his dressing-room, where the air was oppressive with the artificial odours of elixirs, eau de Cologne, pomatum and perfumes. There, with a special powder, he cleaned his teeth, many of which had gold fillings, rinsed his mouth with scented water and then began to wash his body all over, drying himself with various different towels. Having washed his hands with scented soap, he carefully cleaned his long nails with a nail-brush
Pointless description to empathize pointlesness of rich people's lifestyle. I read these in deadpan ironic tone and they are amazing imo
MiddleMarch is a masterpiece …agree it’s better than Resurrection.
It’s structured similar to War and Peace in the sense that it follows a cast of characters who are frequently overlapping. On a certain level, the stakes are lower…because there isn’t a war. But, there are very interesting plots…most of which revolve around a doctor who wants to build a new hospital in a provincial town and use the latest medical research, which collides with the existing vested interests of the town. He ends up getting financial support from different sources, but that creates its own conflicting obligations and backstories of the people who support the new hospital, some who earnestly support the hospital and some who cynically support it as a way of showing up others in the community.
My favorite subplot involves Dorothea and Casaubon (Dorothea is a smart, energetic, aspirational young woman…like Marya) and is attracted to an older man doing research on “the ancient common source of all mythologies”, which Dorothea is drawn to and they get married. Then problems arise because Casaubon is failing in his research, and can’t bring himself to admit it, and when Dorothea wants to help, he defensively won’t accept her help, which she resents…
The level of introspection that Elliot has for all the characters is on a level with Tolstoy, would highly recommend.
Resurrection is good…but it’s like an 8/10 in my mind while MiddleMarch is 10/10, classic for a reason
Thanks for your recommendation, I ended up getting middlemarch. I checked few pages from resurrection but I didn't like the writing
Middlemarch. But save Resurrection for another time.
Middlemarch is eliot's masterpiece whereas resurrection is one of tolstoys worst (obv because it's tolstoy it's still good but I mean compared to his other books).
Middlemarch will transform you
What about the prose? I hope it's not dated or challenging to get through
the prose is definitely beautiful and sets up characters and their complexities quite well. if you’re expecting page turners or exciting eureka moments, that’s not what you’ll find. this book is more about patience and reward in my opinion. the more patient you are with understanding the themes and the characters in the novel, the more you’ll appreciate what the prose offers.
if you’re asking whether it’s difficult or old school, i personally don’t think so. it was a comfort read for me, there were difficult words every so often but nothing that’ll irritate you
Okay, I think I will bite even tho I'm still skeptical because so far, the summaries and reviews didn't convince me. It seems it's appreciated for the time it was written at much like Shakespeare
I haven’t read Middlemarch yet but Resurrection is really good. I loved reading it and I posted about it back in the summer…
How's the prose? My problem with Tolstoy is that he tends to be overly descriptive which put me off in the past, but that was a long time ago
You think Tolstoy is overly descriptive? Never read Doestevsky 😂 ok but honestly Resurrection is not that bad as far as 19th century novels go. I think it’s a pretty engaging and well paced novel.
I thought that was a famous take
I would spend the money on a good translation of the Tolstoy book and read a free version of Middlemarch online.
Middlemarch was written in English so the translation of any free version won’t be an issue as it may be for something translated from Russian.
This assumes your first language is English as mine is. This is what I would do if I wanted to read both but only had enough money for one
English is my third language but it feels natural for me so I'm not concerned about that. As for your suggestion, while I appreciate it, I can only read physical
Unrelated but I’m impressed with your English. Would have had no idea it wasn’t your first language.
I appreciate that, thank you! English always felt more natural to me than my native language, even the way I learned it was mostly through listening. Nobody at home spoke it at the time. Yet, I still found a way to learn it before I even got to the age where they teach it at school.
What’s your native language?
It's Darija, the Moroccan dialect. You could think of it as a knock off Arabic with some French words due to colonization.
May be cheaper versions of middle March out there even so if you’re reading in English?
I came to say MiddleMarch just because it’s more bang for your buck :)
English books aren't that available here which explains why they tend to be unaffordable. I was gonna go with middlemarch but was afraid the language will be dated. Happened to me with some classics before and since then I started doing my homework before every purchase.