Saturday, July 24, 2004
A Schoolboy Opposes the Classics
Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, X, 5 (tr. David Magarshack):
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"The classical languages, if you want to know what I really think of them, are nothing but a police measure. That's the only reason why they have been introduced," Kolya was beginning to get breathless again. "They were introduced because they are boring and because they stunt one's intellectual abilities. It was boring before, so what could they do to make it even more boring? It was senseless before, so what could they do to make things even more senseless? So they thought of classical languages. That's my frank opinion of them and, I hope, I shall never alter it," Kolya concluded sharply, two red spots appearing on his cheeks.
