WSJ: Every culture thinks its literature will stand the test of time. What is it about the Russian novelists that makes us come back to their work again and again?
Mr. Pevear and Ms. Volokhonsky: I think there’s the phrase “the accursed questions” attributed to Dostoyevsky: What is the meaning of life, the existence of God, the mystery of death, the big metaphysical spiritual questions? Those questions were central to Russian literature in the 19th and 20th centuries in a way that they had all but ceased to be in Western European literature. The Russians were engaged in portraying a fully human destiny rather than one dictated by class, social position, personal ambition and so on — which is a vision similar to what we find first of all in Homer, as well as Dante and Shakespeare. We thirst for that vision and are grateful to find it in the great Russians. The aliveness of Tolstoy’s heroes may come ultimately from the same wholeness of vision, which is not generalized and abstract, but deep in detail.
It’s an amazing, clear, sunny, 61º today in Rochester. And I’m spending the day in the library and anatomy lab. I’m glad I grew up in Miami where there was lots of warm sun; otherwise, I might be just a little tempted to bask outside rather than study.
A big part of HSF block III is learning the intricacies of the 12 cranial nerves, those nerves which begin in your brain rather than in your spinal cord.
Also a big part of HSF block III is learning the surface anatomy and function of the brain, which we removed from our cadavers week before last. We won’t actually dissect the brains until next year during the Mind, Brain, Behavior course, but focus now on the skull and all its bones (yes, there are MANY), the layers of tissue surrounding the brain, those 12 cranial nerves, the arterial blood supply to the brain, the veinous drainage from the brain, and the cerebral spinal fluid in which the brain sits/floats. I have a particular appreciation of this latter aspect of the brain, as it historically hasn’t worked quite right in my own body.
Back to the cranial nerves, three of them—III, IV, and VI—relay signals to and from the eyes and eye muscles, controlling all aspects, from their movement to pupil dilation to lens acommodation to sensations to tear production to transmitting the information about what you actually see. About 6 muscles control the movement of your eyeball within the orbit; rather than learning the distinct action of each muscle, we must learn how to test the actions in our patients, thereby determining which nerve may be out of service. You’ve probably done such a test at the doctor—certainly if you’ve visited a neurologist, and most likely at an ophthalmologist, too. The doctor asks the patient to follow her finger, and starting superior and lateral to the eye, draws an “H” shape in the air. If the patient is able to follow the finger through all the movments, all the muscles, or more significantly, nerves function correctly; if the patient cannot, the doctor can determine which nerve is out of service.
Which brings me back to me: I woke up with the start of a migraine this morning (the first since I’ve been in med school—hurrah for none before!), took the magic pill, went back to sleep for several more hours, and woke up feeling ok. Except that, as always happens with my migraines, my vision is somewhat disturbed. In particular, I cannot move my eyeballs upward in my orbit. So if the doctor did the “H” test, I wouldn’t be able to follow her finger superiorly. By way of reviewing information I must know for next week’s test, I have determined that my superior obliques and/ or inferior rectus muscles aren’t fully functional; the muscles connect to CN IV and CN III respectively. Since CN III also controls the lateral, medial, and downward movement of my eye, which I can do just fine, I can rule out an issue with that nerve; so I think it must be my CN IV (aka the trochlear nerve) somehow affected, perhaps by some kind of localized pressure in my brain from the migraine. From past experience, I know that my eye movement and vision will return to normal soon, so I’m not concerned; but I do think it’s pretty great to know (sort of) what’s going on. I’m working hard on that “physician, heal thyself” charge.
In closing, I leave you with this review of the parts of the brain, brought to you by Brain of Pinky and the Brain/Animaniacs fame (we need to know a few more details than this, but it’s a good and fun gloss of the subject):
The many hours I spend with a cadaver these weeks make me contemplate death more than I might otherwise, and make me think of—and appreciate—John Donne’s view on the subject all the more:
DEATH, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so: For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me. From Rest and Sleep, which but thy picture be, Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow; And soonest our best men with thee do go— Rest of their bones and souls’ delivery! Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell; And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!
I went 5/5 with the morning runs this week. Tuesday was the warmest, all the other mornings hovered at 30.º I think my subconscious must be fan, because I woke up just before my alarm sounded each morning, even though my weariness increased as the week progressed.
Meanwhile, I feel slightly less on top of my game in the med school world. I think they have crammed more more to learn in this third block than earlier blocks. We’ve had 4 anatomy lab dissections just this week. Yes, 4. And I think we have 3 more next week before our next exam. And we’re up in the head/neck/brain/face area, which is just a little complex. And the pulmonary physiology is not the most intuitive of systems. And have I mentioned the “self study” modules they expect us to complete this block, too—on the histology of the ear and the bones of the skull and face? Do you have any idea how many distinct bones and foramen and fissures and fossa are your skull?
But I digress. It’s Friday! And in three weeks I’ll be with the family in Austin!
early morning runs. I’m 2 for 2 this week: monday the run started at 29º at 6.15 am; today, same time, 49º and drizzly. It feels good so far, and provides a little more study time in the evening when I previously took a break for a run. I’m slightly concerned how this will go once the snow commences, but I’m pretty sure I’ll beat winter with my gore-tex trainers and reflective jacket. Pretty sure.
