The Diary of a Madman

Suzanne · Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:20 pm

"The Diary of a Madman"

WildCityWoman · Mon Mar 08, 2010 9:05 am

OK - I'm ordering it from the library now - hope I can get it in time for this discussion.

GaryG48 · Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:39 pm

Russian short stories. You have to love them, you can't help yourself. But, you always feel like you are missing the most important parts.

"The Diary of a Madman" looks like a diary. The diarist seems to grow madder (crazier) with each entry. Even the dates grow more and more insane. Have to love that inverted "February. "There is little doubt that he is in an asylum by the end of the story. There is much more I haven't figured out yet. I wonder if that wart under the nose (last word in the story in the Russian version) is a clue?

I look forward to other reader's insights.

--Gary

President Camacho · Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:12 am

Something about noses in Russia is an indication of fooling someone or making someone out to be a fool. That's what Penguin suggested.

geo · Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:35 am

I thought we were going with the Signet version? No matter. That's what I bought.

The Signet edition has:

Diary of a Madman
The Nose
The Carriage
The Overcoat
Taras Bulba

I assume we are reading Diary of a Madman first?

etudiant · Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:38 pm

I've found a Penguin version in a musty old book store for $4. Quite a deal.

Suzanne · Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:42 pm


	geo wrote: I thought we were going with the Signet version? No matter. That's what I bought.

This is the book I bought too. When I set up the story threads, I did not have my copy yet, so I posted two stories that are not in the Signet version. When I "opened" the Signet version on Amazon, the table of contents were written in Russian. So, there are two stories included in the "Diary of a Madman" discussion forum, that are not included in the Signet version. The table of contents in the Penguin version were written in English. I took those two missing stories from there believing that both versions would contain the same stories. Whew! Did you get all that? Bottom line, I screwed up, sorry. :cry:

President Camacho · Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:18 pm

Gave us Penguins an opportunity to post about the stories that aren't in the Signet. =)

geo · Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:48 pm


	President Camacho wrote: Gave us Penguins an opportunity to post about the stories that aren't in the Signet. =)

Penguins? Cygnets? You have a bird avatar? I have a bird avatar? Something weird is going on here.

geo · Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:52 pm


	Suzanne wrote: I took those two missing stories from there believing that both versions would contain the same stories. Whew! Did you get all that? Bottom line, I screwed up, sorry.

No biggie. I like that the Signet is so short because I'm seriously overextended at this point. Reading two books concurrently, not including Gogol!

geo · Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:53 pm


	etudiant wrote: I've found a Penguin version in a musty old book store for $4. Quite a deal.

And no shipping charges either!

Suzanne · Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:30 pm


	President Camacho wrote: Gave us Penguins an opportunity to post about the stories that aren't in the Signet. =)

Looking forward to it

Heck, I'll join the march myself! My only request is that these posts be made in the appropriate story threads.

The Signet version includes:
Diary of a Madman
The Nose
The Carriage
The Overcoat
Taras Bulba

Threads have been created for these stories.

The missing stories from the Signet version, which appear in the Penguin version includes:
Nevsky Prospekt
Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and his Aunt
How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovitch

Threads for these stories have been created.

All story threads are in the "Diary of a Madman" fiction discussion forum.


	geo wrote: I assume we are reading Diary of a Madman first?

Geo, we have discussed collections of short stories in the past. There really is no order to them. Readers jump in where ever they happen to be. It is typical that many readers are not on the same page. As a short story reader myself, I tend to jump around a bit when making my way through a collection. It may take some time for everyone to catch up to each other.

Again, I apologize for the confusion.

Suzanne · Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:35 pm


	geo wrote: Penguins? Cygnets? You have a bird avatar? I have a bird avatar? Something weird is going on here.

You guys are priceless!

President Camacho · Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:05 am

Hahaha. That's the reason I put a 'don't feed the birds' avatar. I can't remember when but there was a time when several users on here all had bird avatars and it was driving me bananas.

President Camacho · Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:49 am

What are you reading now geo?

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