Your response points out to me that i was being "Americocentric" in my interpretation of the LJ question, when in fact it might have been written by a German or Russian person, then translated to English.
You're right: given LJ's ownership it's more likely that it was written by a Russian person. I know no Russian and can't speak to its translation, but it does make me ponder on how, if it were written by a German, then the original word was probably Sehnsucht, which is usually translated as "nostalgic" but which i always understood as having a rather different connotation--"nostalgia" is usually something we think of as a fond, rose-colored remembrance, whereas when Germans talk about having the emotion of Sehnsucht, it's got a bit more depth, complexity, and fatalism or resignation about it. If you translate it literally, it means something along the lines of "languishing while searching," or "yearning while searching," perhaps.
I know Germans who feel Sehnsucht for the days of the DDR; it doesn't surprise me. The DDR days were their punishment and absolution as a people for the perpetration of the Holocaust, if you will. In fact, I think the similarities of the Holocaust/two-Germanies with slavery/Reconstruction made pairing my Southern American high school with a German Oberschule for an exchange program a particularly interesting cross-cultural experience.
Again, i have no experience with Russian culture or language, so i won't speculate on their take on the prompt, though i'd be interested to read some Russian responses...except that i can't read Russian! :)
Thanks for your comment, which spurred me to think more about Germanic perspectives on the prompt.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-10-04 03:13 pm (UTC)You're right: given LJ's ownership it's more likely that it was written by a Russian person. I know no Russian and can't speak to its translation, but it does make me ponder on how, if it were written by a German, then the original word was probably Sehnsucht, which is usually translated as "nostalgic" but which i always understood as having a rather different connotation--"nostalgia" is usually something we think of as a fond, rose-colored remembrance, whereas when Germans talk about having the emotion of Sehnsucht, it's got a bit more depth, complexity, and fatalism or resignation about it. If you translate it literally, it means something along the lines of "languishing while searching," or "yearning while searching," perhaps.
I know Germans who feel Sehnsucht for the days of the DDR; it doesn't surprise me. The DDR days were their punishment and absolution as a people for the perpetration of the Holocaust, if you will. In fact, I think the similarities of the Holocaust/two-Germanies with slavery/Reconstruction made pairing my Southern American high school with a German Oberschule for an exchange program a particularly interesting cross-cultural experience.
Again, i have no experience with Russian culture or language, so i won't speculate on their take on the prompt, though i'd be interested to read some Russian responses...except that i can't read Russian! :)
Thanks for your comment, which spurred me to think more about Germanic perspectives on the prompt.