Russian literature

I think you miss understand what I'm saying though, I'm not saying I don't like the book, I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't like it. I loved the book and I grew to love the character of Oblomov very much despite being luke warm about him in the beginning. There is much more depth to the character than is originally evident. There is a bigger picture that I didn't see in the beginning and that's a comment I've heard often when discussing this book so I was just pointing out that while it may seem light and fluffy to someone who is used to reading the heavy works of Dostoevsky, if you stick with it, you will be richly rewarded.

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Originally Posted by Bitterfly

Bulgakov wrote easier novels than The Master and Margarita, which is interesting but quite heavy-going; ditto for Dostoievsky's The Brothers Karamazov. I don't know whether it's a matter of personal taste, but I found Crime and Punishment far more accessible.
And do try Notes from the Underground - I really loved that book. Or A day in the Life of Ivan Denissovitch, a good place to start for Solyenitzyn. Or The Kreutzer Sonata, a beautiful (long) novella by Tolstoi, ifyou don't feel like starting straight off with Anna Karenina or War and Peace.

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Notes are probably the hardest to start with, in my opinion; that's not even typical Dostoevsky. You should start with something from realism, and that would exclude Bulgakov and Solzhenitsyn. If you insist on Dostoevsky, start with C&P, and Anna Karenina is not hard; if you want Tolstoy.

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Originally Posted by Basil Valentine

I'm now looking to expand my Russian reading as apart from lots of Dostoevsky and some Gogol (and Nabokov, don't know if he counts though...), I haven't read much else in the field. I keep thinking about giving 'War & Peace' a go, but am currently reluctant to commit myself to one big novel for ages... Any thoughts on other 'must read' Russian masters?

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Turgenev - Fathers and Sons
Pushkin - Eugene Onegin; novel in verse
Tolstoy - Anna Karenina, War and Peace
Goncharov - Oblomov
Lermontov - Here of our times
Pasternak - Dr Zhivago
Bulgakov - Master and Margarita

Thanks for all the recommendations- I'll try some of the novels you all recommended as being slightly easier and we'll go from there!!

Sometimes the reason for not being able to fully understand or accept a piece of Russian literature, unfortunately, is that the reader is not a native Russian. The Russian Literature is very specific, and very often translators just can't transfer some particular notions, an atmosphere of the book to an interpreted text.

Russian literature is the reason I live.

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Originally Posted by Dr. Hill

Russian literature is the reason I live.

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I think we have the same problem: what to read after reading all Russians? I have no clue.:(

I'm dying to read Andrei Bely's Petersburg, but can't find it anywhere!! To the internet!

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Originally Posted by bazarov

I think we have the same problem: what to read after reading all Russians? I have no clue.:(

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Exactly! Someone with my dilemma.

My problem seems to be, that after reading all of Dostoevsky, some Gogol, Resurrection by Tolstoy and some Turgenev, nowadays it takes a long time until I find a book which matches the tremendous quality these books have. Until recently I kept myself from reading Anna Karenina because I wanted to read it whenthere is nothing to do for university, but I just couldn't wait any longer, and now it's like I'm waiting the whole day to continue reading it. Absolutely amazing novel.

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Originally Posted by Bumbeli

My problem seems to be, that after reading all of Dostoevsky, some Gogol, Resurrection by Tolstoy and some Turgenev, nowadays it takes a long time until I find a book which matches the tremendous quality these books have. Until recently I kept myself from reading Anna Karenina because I wanted to read it whenthere is nothing to do for university, but I just couldn't wait any longer, and now it's like I'm waiting the whole day to continue reading it. Absolutely amazing novel.

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I'm reading Resurrection by Tolstoy right now. What a great book!

Read some Pushkin! Or perhaps some Chekhov. Pasternak?
Just throwing names out there. :D

Any recommendations on literature relating to or pertaining to the the February and October revolutions of 1917? If not those specific Revolution(s) what about the 1905 Revolution?

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Originally Posted by semi-fly

Any recommendations on literature relating to or pertaining to the the February and October revolutions of 1917? If not those specific Revolution(s) what about the 1905 Revolution?

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Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. :)

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Originally Posted by semi-fly

Any recommendations on literature relating to or pertaining to the the February and October revolutions of 1917? If not those specific Revolution(s) what about the 1905 Revolution?

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The White Guard by Mikhail Boulgakov is outstanding.

For the two books mentioned above (The White Guard by Mikhail Boulgakov & Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak) are there specific translations I should be on the lookout for that are true to the original language?

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Originally Posted by semi-fly

For the two books mentioned above (The White Guard by Mikhail Boulgakov & Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak) are there specific translations I should be on the lookout for that are true to the original language?

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I'm not sure. I own the Max Hayward / Manya Harari translation. "The Poems of Yurii Zhivago" are translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney.