Reviews for Something about the Author, Vol. 21

The average rating for Something about the Author, Vol. 21 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-04 00:00:00 George Stagnaro Отец Сергий = Otets Sergiy = Father Sergius, Leo Tolstoy Father Sergius is a story written by Leo Tolstoy between 1890 and 1898, and first published (posthumously) in 1911. The story begins with the childhood and exceptional and accomplished youth of Prince Stepan Kasatsky. The young man is destined for great things. He discovers on the eve of his wedding that his fiancée Countess Mary Korotkova has had an affair with his beloved Tsar Nicholas(I). The blow to his pride is massive, and he retreats to the arms of Russian Orthodoxy and becomes a monk. Many years of humility and doubt follow. He is ordered to become a hermit. Despite his being removed from the world, he is still remembered for having so remarkably transformed his life. One winter night, a group of merry-makers decide to visit him, and one of them, a divorced woman named Makovkina, spends the night in his cell, with the intention to seduce him. Father Sergius discovers he is still weak and in order to protect himself, cuts off his own finger. Makovkina is stunned by this act, and leaves the next morning, having vowed to change her life. A year later she has joined a convent. Father Sergius' reputation for holiness grows. He becomes known as a healer, and pilgrims come from far and wide. Yet Father Sergius is profoundly aware of his inability to attain a true faith. He is still tortured by boredom, pride, and lust. He fails a new test, when the young daughter of a merchant successfully beds him. The morning after, he leaves the monastery and seeks out his cousin Pashenka (Praskovya Mikhaylovna), whom he, with a group of other boys, had tormented many years ago. He finds her, now in all the conventional senses a failure in life, yet imbued with a sense of service towards her family. His path is now clearer. He begins to wander, until eight months later he is arrested in the company of a blind beggar who makes him feel closer to God. He is sent to Siberia, where he now works as the hired man of a well-to-do peasant, teaching the gentleman's young children and working in the gardens. عنوانها: «پدر سرگیوس»؛ «پدر سرگی»؛ نویسنده: تولستوی؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و دوم ماه ژوئن سال 2011میلادی عنوان: پدر سرگیوس؛ نویسنده: تولستوی؛ مترجم: هوشنگ اسماعیلیان، اصفهان، کتاب آینه، نقش مانا؛ 1379؛ در 63ص؛ شابک 9649123660؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان روسی - سده 19 م عنوان: پدر سرگی؛ نویسنده: تولستوی؛ مترجم: مهناز صدری؛ تهران، نسیم دانش، 1386؛ در 93ص و 31ص؛ شابک 9789647145282؛ عنوان: پدر سرگی؛ نویسنده: تولستوی؛ مترجم: سروش حبیبی؛ تهران، نشر چشمه، 1389، چاپ دوم 1390؛ در 81ص؛ شابک 9789643625887؛ هشدار: اگر میخواهید داستان را خود بخوانید، از خوانش ادامه ی این ریویو پرهیز فرمائید داستان «پدر سرگی»، داستان شاهزاده ی جوانى است، که آینده‌ اى درخشان، در پیش روی خویش دارد، و درست یکماه پیش از ازدواج، با یکى از ندیمه‌ هاى ملکه، پس از آگاهی از اینکه، نامزدش پیشتر، معشوقه ی «تزار» بوده است، نامزدى‌ خویش را به هم مى‌زند، و وارد صومعه مى‌شود؛ اما او که در لباس رهبانیت نیز، همچنان جاه‌ طلب، عاشق شهرت و افتخار است، نمى‌تواند بر شهواتى که، قلب و روحش را تیره مى‌دارند، پیروز شود؛ ایشان پس از زندگی در صومعه‌ هاى گوناگون، دلمشغول عبادت مى‌شوند؛ شهرت تقدسش، در همه جای مى‌پیچد، و مردمان از هر سو، به زیارتش مى‌آیند؛ زنى جوان، زیبا، و عاشق ماجرا، به بهانه ی اینکه، در راه گم شده، و ناگهان ناراحتی به او روى آورده، شبى در زاویه ی عابد مى‌ماند؛ «پدر سرگى» که مى‌بیند، نزدیک است تسلیم وسوسه‌ ی خویش شود، براى دوری از ارتکاب گناه، با تبر یکى از انگشتان خویش را مى‌برد؛ زن که دگرگون شده، فرار مى‌کند، و او نیز، چندى بعد، به صومعه‌ اى دیگر پناه مى‌برد؛ شهرت تقدس عابد، در سرتاسر «روسیه» پیچیده، و حتى نسبت معجزه، به ایشان داده مى‌شود؛ اما او هرگزی بر جسم خویش پیروز نشده است؛ هنگامىکه مى‌خواهد دخترى را، که دچار بیمارى عصبى ست، شفا دهد، دخترک او را به گناه سوق می‌دهد؛ آن‌گاه «سرگى مقدس»، حجره ی خود را، ترک مى‌کند، و پس از رؤیایى، که آنرا، الهام خداوند مى‌شمارد، پیاده به شهر دوردستى مى‌رود، که زنى از آشنایان دوران کودکى‌ او، در آنجا زندگى مى‌کند، و اینک، براى فراهم کردن زندگى بچه‌ هایش، به کارى سخت مشغول است؛ «سرگى مقدس» با خود مى‌گوید «من به بهانه ی اینکه براى خدا زندگى مى‌کنم، براى انسانها زندگى کردم، و این زن براى خدا زندگى مى‌کند، و حال آنکه، گمان دارد براى انسانها زندگى مى‌کند».؛ از آن‌پس، براى جبران گناهانش، سرگردان به راه مى‌افتد؛ نویسنده در آخرین سطور داستان مى‌گوید: که «...؛ در سیبرى به کار در زمینهاى دهقان توانمندی پرداخت؛ اکنون در آنجا در خانه ی اربابش به سر مى‌برد، کشت و کار مى‌کند، به بچه‌ ها نوشتن مى‌آموزد، و از بیماران پرستارى مى‌کند.»؛ تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 30/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Review # 2 was written on 2018-12-23 00:00:00 Cailla Marie Thomas ''Father Sergius,'' the 1978 Russian film that opens today at the Film Forum, is like its title character -sorrowfully handsome, passionate and unworldly. It's Leo Tolstoy's posthumously published novella, adapted and directed by Igor Talankin, about a fearfully self-righteous aristocrat, Prince Stepan Kasatsky (Sergei Bondarchuk), and his lifelong search for spiritual perfection. As a young officer in the service of Czar Nicholas I, the prince is as demanding of others as he is of himself. He places honor above all and, as he says, worships the Czar as a god. On the eve of his marriage to a beautiful, equally young countess, whom he idealizes as an earthly representation of purity, she confesses that she was once the mistress of the Czar. Other ambitious officers might accept this as a kind of blessing, an unexpected advantage at court. Kasatsky, instead, is horrified. He abandons his fiancee, his estate and the worldly life to enter the church. Most of the film is concerned with the efforts of the prince, now Father Sergius, to understand the roots of his behavior, which, he eventually sees, was prompted by anger instead of faith. Still, he has the need to be the best at whatever he does. Over the years, Father Sergius becomes famous as a holy man, a hermit who lives the ascetic life and, at the door of his cave, dispenses wisdom to pilgrims - to the church's satisfaction and financial profit. He finally realizes that this life, too, is as false as the one he gave up as a young man. The Tolstoy text is translated to the screen with almost paragraph-by-paragraph fidelity, which gives the film a curious, uncinematic stateliness. The pacing is deliberate, more at the speed one reads than the way one expects to follow things on the screen. Mr. Bondarchuk is majestic rather than moving, but this is probably inevitable because the furies that are attacking Father Sergius are, with two exceptions, unseen. Only toward the end does Mr. Bondarchuk, one of the most popular Russian directors (''War and Peace'') as well as actors, have an opportunity to dramatize the character in a way the screen understands. Among the members of the supporting cast, the standout is Alla Demidova, who plays the small but important role of Father Sergius's aristocratic, once beautiful cousin, whose life becomes a sort of object lesson for the former prince. ''Father Sergius'' is a film that's entirely at the service of written literature. *The Cast FATHER SERGIUS, directed by Igor Talankin; screenplay (Russian, with English subtitles) by Igor Talankin, based on a novel by Tolstoy; photography, Georgi Rerberg and Anatoly Nikolayev; music by Alfred Shnitke; produced by the Mosfilm Studio. At the Film Forum 2, 57 Watts Street. Running time: 99 minutes. This film is not rated. Prince Stepan Kasatsky-Father Sergius . . . . . Sergei Bondarchuk Countess Mary . . . . . Valentina Titova Emperor Nicholas 1 . . . . . Vladislav Strzhelchik Seductress . . . . . Ludmila Maksakova Pashenka . . . . . Alla Demidova Lady at Court Ball . . . . . Irina Skobtseva