Untranslatable

"Each language strikes a different balance between what is communicated and what is silent. Each nation remains silent on some things in order to tell other things, because it is impossible to tell everything. That's why it is so difficult to translate: it means to say in a certain language that which this language is inclined to be quiet about." -- Ortega y Gasset

This quote served as our introduction to our seminar with Michael Epstein, "Untranslatable Russia," in which we are charged with the task of "staging a dialogue" between Anglophone (mostly American) writers and Russian culture.

First thing I have learned: Even now, in what seems like the twilight of the nation-state, it is still possible to speak sensibly about "the Russian spirit," a mode of being that is uniquely "Russian."