asking for recommendations of Russian literature (fiction + non-fiction) & poetry

[Comic Book Guy]

Both Russian classics & acclaimed contemporary Russian literature -- involving stories (novels, short stories, plays) & poetry, and life-writing & non-fiction & philosophy essays.

I also appreciate any commentary on specific translation to look out for to procure or avoid.

Russian authors already in my personal library in alphabetical order by last name:

- Anna Akhmatova
- Mikhail Bulgakov
- Anton Chekhov
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Nikolai Gogol
- Ivan Goncharov
- Mikhail Lermontov
- Vladimir Nabokov
- Alexander Puskin
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Leo Tolstoy
- Ivan Turgenev
- Yevgeny Yevtushenko

[Marcus1]

Hey there, seeing as you have Akhmatova on your list have you tried the poetry of Osip Mandelstam and Marina Tsvetaeva?

[Comic Book Guy]

Hey there, seeing as you have Akhmatova on your list have you tried the poetry of Osip Mandelstam and Marina Tsvetaeva?

No, I haven't read either.

Which translations & books would you suggest?

[wreade1872]

I really liked We by Zeygeny Zamyatin not sure what translator it was.

Mess Mend, Yankees In Petrograd by Marietta Shaginyan is also on my to-do list.

[North Star]

I can't say I've read all that much Russian literature, but a famous poet and novelist missing so far here is Boris Pasternak.

[Ecurb]

Mikhail Bulgakov. "Master and Margarita" is his most famous novel.

[Josephine_de_B]

I know you already put him on the list, but he IS one of my favorite Russian writers. I'm talking about Dostoyevsky. I was left speechless after reading his Crime and Punishment. It is a well written piece. But I'm sure you've already read it.

[mortalterror]

1973 The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
1973 The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1965 Rabelais and His World by Mikhael Bakhtin
1961 Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
1957 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1955 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Luzhin Defense by Vladimir Nabokov
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Vladimir Nabokov
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
1921 We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
1904 The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov
1902 The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky
1880 The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1869 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
1862 Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
1859 Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
1859 The Storm by Aleksandr Ostrovsky
1842 Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol
1841 A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov
1837 Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
1792 Poor Liza by Nikolai M. Karamzin
1200 The Tale of Igor's Campaigne by Anonymous

[Comic Book Guy]

I can't say I've read all that much Russian literature, but a famous poet and novelist missing so far here is Boris Pasternak.

Noted.


Mikhail Bulgakov. "Master and Margarita" is his most famous novel.

I have that already (one of my favourite Russian novels) and also Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog"


I really liked We by Zeygeny Zamyatin not sure what translator it was.

Forgot to mention We. Have that.


Mess Mend, Yankees In Petrograd by Marietta Shaginyan is also on my to-do list.

Noted.


I know you already put him on the list, but he IS one of my favorite Russian writers. I'm talking about Dostoyevsky. I was left speechless after reading his Crime and Punishment. It is a well written piece. But I'm sure you've already read it.

Yep.


1965 Rabelais and His World by Mikhael Bakhtin
1961 Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
1957 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

1902 The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky

1859 The Storm by Aleksandr Ostrovsky

1792 Poor Liza by Nikolai M. Karamzin
1200 The Tale of Igor's Campaigne by Anonymous

These particular books, I don't have. Will take note.

[Victoria1211v]

If you like Russian poetry, I can recommend you Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet, Sergei Yesenin, and Alexander Blok.
If you are interested in modern Russian literature, I can name you Zakhar Prilepin. A very strong Russian novelist. One of his best novels - "The Abode" (Обитель). I'm sorry if my translation is a bit inaccurate. I don't know about translation of this novel into English.
Recently a very interesting book of one Russian author was published . It's called "Finding Yourself in the Town of Geniuses: Climbing the Road to Self Realization ". I suggest it to you, because this book was published in english, although the author is from Russia. I got great pleasure from this book. It can be purchased, for example, on Amazon and other sales channels.

[Whifflingpin]

If you can read Russian script then the "Penguin Book of Russian Verse" would be an excellent introductory anthology. It contains poetry from late mediaeval to mid-C20th. The poems are in Russian, with a prose translation below.
More recently, there is a "Penguin Book of Russian Poetry." I've not seen it, but I have read that it contains poetic translations of Russian poetry up to the present time. It does not, I understand, have the original Russian.

[wordeater]

The only classic author that hasn't been mentioned yet seems to be Nikolai Leskov. His best-known novel is "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District".

A recent crime author is Boris Akunin. He writes historical detective fiction set in the second half of the nineteenth century. "The Winter Queen" is the first novel about Erast Fandorin, who starts his career as a police clerk.

[ennison]

The Life and Adventures of Private Chonkin
The White Guard
The Red Wheel
Resurrection
Moscow to the End of the Line

Plus all the others already mentioned

[Comic Book Guy]

If you can read Russian script then the "Penguin Book of Russian Verse" would be an excellent introductory anthology. It contains poetry from late mediaeval to mid-C20th. The poems are in Russian, with a prose translation below.
More recently, there is a "Penguin Book of Russian Poetry." I've not seen it, but I have read that it contains poetic translations of Russian poetry up to the present time. It does not, I understand, have the original Russian.


The only classic author that hasn't been mentioned yet seems to be Nikolai Leskov. His best-known novel is "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District".

A recent crime author is Boris Akunin. He writes historical detective fiction set in the second half of the nineteenth century. "The Winter Queen" is the first novel about Erast Fandorin, who starts his career as a police clerk.


If you like Russian poetry, I can recommend you Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet, Sergei Yesenin, and Alexander Blok.
If you are interested in modern Russian literature, I can name you Zakhar Prilepin. A very strong Russian novelist. One of his best novels - "The Abode" (Обитель). I'm sorry if my translation is a bit inaccurate. I don't know about translation of this novel into English.
Recently a very interesting book of one Russian author was published . It's called "Finding Yourself in the Town of Geniuses: Climbing the Road to Self Realization ". I suggest it to you, because this book was published in english, although the author is from Russia. I got great pleasure from this book. It can be purchased, for example, on Amazon and other sales channels.


The Life and Adventures of Private Chonkin
The White Guard
The Red Wheel
Resurrection
Moscow to the End of the Line

Plus all the others already mentioned

All noted.

Much appreciated.

[lichtrausch]

1961 Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

This is Polish literature.

[Danik 2016]

1965 Rabelais and His World by Mikhael Bakhtin

Just a link about the non fictional Rabelais and His World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabelais_and_His_World

[EmptySeraph]

Daniil Kharms
Vasily Rozanov
Lev Shestov
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Aleksey Remizov
Vlas Doroshevich
Boris Zaytsev

[ennison]

That list is perhaps more Russian than any of the other lists but it includes a few right nutters. I have never taken to poster-boy Mayakovsky. Remizov is interesting. But Rozanov and Kharms are on the fringes of sanity. I don't know much about the others.

[Eiseabhal]

I've just come in from the lambing, Ennison. I am too tired to sleep. The North East wind is bitter today. I turned this on and saw your comment about Kharms. He was an absurdist not a lunatic. You should try him again.

[ennison]

Ok Eiseabhal. I take your point but take Shestov. Now that's a cove who influenced Bataille. A f----r who believed in human sacrifice! Now we are on the fringes of normal human behaviour surely. My own lambing finished two weeks ago but you with your massive flocks are no doubt out till all hours just now. I was sorry you didn't make it to the DM memorial. I had left before Mr McCallum's sad demise.

[EmptySeraph]

The thing is Shestov had a great influence on the whole Eastern Europe, not merely Paris and its literary circles. You can find in Exercices d'amiration, by E.M. Cioran, in the essay dedicated to Benjamin Fondane, that the poet, whom had studied Shestov intensively, was surprised to find out the Romanians read Shestov even more than the French do, and that his ideas were assimilated by a far larger public than the popular opinion (usually formed in Paris) thought.

[ennison]

Interesting. Could you tell a bit more about the last two on your list.

[Goodman Brown]

you can consider ,,,,, Dimitry Gregorovitsh, The Fisherman ,,,, 370 Pages excellent reading

[mtpspur]

I read Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment online here and liked C&P very much, Brothers less so mostly due to a dislike for almost all of the characters and the ending was rather strange. Have also read War and Peace and Anna Karenina online. To be frank I felt War and Peace was overrated and wildly uneven in the writing. I think Tolstoy simply bit off more then he could chew. There are some brilliant chapters and fine writing then extended sections -especially the 'war' portion that seemed flat and aimless. However with Anna he has a smaller plot and firm hand on things and definitely liked this book a lot. Just one man's opinion--I dislike Hamlet for similar reasons but fond of Macbeth so go figure.