Why aren't the French as widely read as the Russians?

[mande2013]

Does anyone have any idea as to why the major French novelists like Balzac, Stendhal, and Flaubert don't have as wide a readership beyond their borders as major Russian figures like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov do beyond theirs? Just wondering. Also, I've heard people say that in France Balzac is significantly lower ranked than the other two aforementioned Frenchman, but living in France myself, I've never had that impression and have gotten the sense on the contrary that many French intellectuals see Balzac as their greatest literary glory, at least with respect to prose writers. He certainly gets mentioned more than Stendhal or Zola it seems.

[redfox1111]

One fact worth considering about Dostoevsky, there were a great deal of common people at this funeral.....

Through reading a great deal of his personal correspondence and his major works (minus the Idiot) I think it's safe to say that he was a genuinely compassionate person. I don't have the knowledge I would to on the above French authors but can the same be said for them?

I'm not going to argue that compassion is the primary reason an author is read more than others but I think it's a fact worth considering.

[mande2013]

Who would be your idea of a great writer who lacked compassion besides Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot of course?

[Pompey Bum]

Who would be your idea of a great writer who lacked compassion besides Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot of course?

De Sade? Hee hee.

[Danik 2016]

Does anyone have any idea as to why the major French novelists like Balzac, Stendhal, and Flaubert don't have as wide a readership beyond their borders as major Russian figures like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov do beyond theirs? Just wondering. Also, I've heard people say that in France Balzac is significantly lower ranked than the other two aforementioned Frenchman, but living in France myself, I've never had that impression and have gotten the sense on the contrary that many French intellectuals see Balzac as their greatest literary glory, at least with respect to prose writers. He certainly gets mentioned more than Stendhal or Zola it seems.

It depends to which readership you are refering. In Brazilian Literature, which follows largely the traditions of the Portuguese and the French Literature, Balzac is considered the most important reference of French realism.

[OrphanPip]

I think French writers are more widely read in general in English than Russian writers. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are widely read in English but I think a wider range of French authors are available in translation and read in English. French poetry is also a lot more popular in English than anything Russian (partly due to the relative ease of translating French to English in comparison with Russian to English).

[desiresjab]

You funny rascal, Pomp.

But to answer the original question: the Russians are more readable. Try reading Sentimental Education to see what I mean, if you haven't already, for a taste of Flaubert. Balzac cannot really compare to Dostoyevsky, and I did not find Stendahl as readable as Solzhenitzyn, Turgenev, Gogol or any number of Russians. I loved many Russian novels and liked very few of the French classics I tried. I was wild about a long short story of Sartre's called The Wall, however.

[desiresjab]

I liked a couple of novels by Camus, in particular The Stranger, and really enjoyed his essays as well. He was less a technical philosopher than Sartre.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

"...don't have as wide a readership beyond their borders"
Hugo anyone?

[JCamilo]

I think French writers are more widely read in general in English than Russian writers. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are widely read in English but I think a wider range of French authors are available in translation and read in English. French poetry is also a lot more popular in English than anything Russian (partly due to the relative ease of translating French to English in comparison with Russian to English).

I have no idea why the OP come with this conclusion French novelists are less read than russian. As you said, French literatura is probally the most translated literature in the world alongside english, but also the russian trio were readers of french novelists, not only the trio balzac, flaubert, and stendhal, but also Hugo, Voltaire, Maupassant... heck, Dreyfuss case was part of Chekhov correspondence, so popular Zola was. If anything, it is the english novelists who were way behind the russians in the begining of XX century, as E.M.Foster noted when he said there were no novel writen in english as good as Dostoievisky and Tolstoy novels. (He ignored Melville or that Ulysses was published one year before he said that and didnt gave much credit to Dickens and Austen, but still).

p.s. forgot to mention the most popular of them all, Dumas.

[Dreamwoven]

Sholokhov And Quiet Flows the Don must be one the the all-time greats -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Quiet_Flows_the_Don

[desiresjab]

"...don't have as wide a readership beyond their borders"
Hugo anyone?

True enough. In high school I was was devouring Hugo. Critically, is he really as acclaimed as the first-perch French authors, though? That does not matter. He crosses borders. Two of his books are still regularly remade as films.

[JCamilo]

Hugo is the first perch french author of XIX century. The question is if the others are acclaimed as him.

[mande2013]

Hugo is the first perch french author of XIX century. The question is if the others are acclaimed as him.

That probably depends largely on who you speak to. "Leftist intellectual" types may opt for Balzac and Stendhal while the dandies may primarily go for Flaubert and Hugo.

[Aylinn]

I don't know how it looks in other countries, but in Poland if someone is interested in classics, she or he is bound to hear about French literature rather sooner than later. I remember that I had to read Balzac's Le Père Goriot and The Plague by Camus in high school. Also, over 100 classics of French literature were translated in the first half of the 20th century by one of the best Polish translators and his translations are still around. I have recently seen Stendhal and Flaubert's books which he translated in Carrefour along with stuff written by Danielle Steel, so I don't think French literature is less popular than Russian.