Russian essentials

Don't forget Tolstoy's short novels. In many respects they are his finest works:
The Death of Ivan Illych
Master and Man

Although I haven't read it, Idril has recommended, The Kreutzer Sonata.

Nabokov claimed that Andre Bely's novel Petersburg was one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and it indeed a remarkable Joyce-esque novel, which, unfortuneatly suffers greatly in translation.

Another work not mentioned yet is Gogol's short story "The Overcoat", as Dostoevskii said, "We all came out of Gogol's Overcoat." Other notable novelists from the golden period of Russian literature are Goncharov (Oblomov), Leskov, Saltykov (The Golovlyov Family).

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Originally Posted by Boris239

I haven't been on this forum for a while.

I've read "The Kolyma Tales" and like them much better than anything Solzhenitsyn ever written .

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Which translation and edition did you read? I'm still looking for a hardcover edition!

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Originally Posted by Boris239

Vassily Grossman

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I've read A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945. Although very different from any other books of war I've read, I found it very engaging and interesting. It's remarkable to read what everything looked like in a journalists eyes, and all the small details he picked up along the way.

I've always wanted to read Life & Fate.

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Originally Posted by Nico87

Which translation and edition did you read? I'm still looking for a hardcover edition!

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I'm originally from Russia so I read it in original

Anyone read Nabokov? I'm currently looking at Lolita and Pnin.

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Originally Posted by Nico87

Would this be the one I'm looking for in this case?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Nov...3023265&sr=8-4

It contains The Steppe, The Duel, The Story of an Unknown Man, Three Years, and In My Life.

I'm going to the army/Afghanistan in the beginning of January, so I need alot of reading material!

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This is what I have: Selected Stories (Signet Classics).

It's probably one of the cheapest versions out there.

Hm, yes, but I'm not a huge fan of paperbacks.

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Originally Posted by Nico87

Anyone read Nabokov? I'm currently looking at Lolita and Pnin.

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There is a thread dedicated to Lolita and Nabokov here.

from Nabokov Russian books I would recommend "the Luzhin Defense" and "The Gift"

Thanks to you both!

I found an interesting book on abebooks - http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Bo...x%3D60%26y%3D6
has anyone read any of these short stories? I like short stories alot, but haven't read any shorties from any of these authors.

Nevermind, link doesn't work because I already purchased it, but it contains the following;

Authors: A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoyevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, M.T. Saltykov, V.G. Korlolenko, V.M. Garshin, A.P. Chekov, F. Sologub, I.N. Potapenko, S.T. Semyonov, M. Gorky, M.P. Artybashev, A.I. Kuprin, L.N. Andreyev

Stories: The Queen of Spades, The Cloak, The Christmas Tree and the Wedding, God Seeks the Truth but Waits, The Darling, The Bet, Vanka, One Autumn Night, The Red Laugh, The Gentleman from San Francisco, Lazarus. There's bound to be more stories as the list shows more authors than stories.

I don't know which stories belong to which authors.

I already read some short stories by Garshin and Korolenko, and they were VERY good.

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Originally Posted by Nico87

I found an interesting book on abebooks - http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Bo...x%3D60%26y%3D6
has anyone read any of these short stories? I like short stories alot, but haven't read any shorties from any of these authors.

Nevermind, link doesn't work because I already purchased it, but it contains the following;

Authors: A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoyevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, M.T. Saltykov, V.G. Korlolenko, V.M. Garshin, A.P. Chekov, F. Sologub, I.N. Potapenko, S.T. Semyonov, M. Gorky, M.P. Artybashev, A.I. Kuprin, L.N. Andreyev

Stories: The Queen of Spades, The Cloak, The Christmas Tree and the Wedding, God Seeks the Truth but Waits, The Darling, The Bet, Vanka, One Autumn Night, The Red Laugh, The Gentleman from San Francisco, Lazarus. There's bound to be more stories as the list shows more authors than stories.

I don't know which stories belong to which authors.

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I've read a few of those, The Queen of Spades, that's Pushkin; The Cloak...Gogol has a short story called The Overcoat, I'm wondering if that might be the same one and God Seeks The Truth But Waits is Tolstoy and a great short story. I've read several of Dostoevsky's short stories but I don't recongnize any of the titles, unless there are different translations of the names and I've read a handful of Chekhov stories as well but I don't see any of those listed either. All in all, I think you have a really good collection there. A great place to start.

The Darling and The Bet is Chekhov. The Christmas Tree and the Wedding is Dostoevsky.

I'm in the midst of "Demons" by Dostoevsky right now, and enjoying it immensely. I think I said somewhere before that my knowledge of Russian literature is extremely lacking (basically, only Tolstoy's "Ressurection" and some of Solzhenitsyn's speeches and short stories), however reading this thread I see that no one has even mentioned Isaac Babel yet. I would definately reccomend tracking down his complete works and immersing yourself in them (especially if you've just come from being more or less punished by Dostoevsky's novels).