What do you think about Russian literature?
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What do you think about Russian literature?
I have heard that Crime and Punishment is a great piece of Russian Literature but I have not experienced it yet.
I know some people who think that Russian Literature is absolutely stunning.
Yes, the Russian literature is among the greatest, whether it be Pushkin or Tolstoy!!!
I'm reading War and peace right now
But i have already read Crime and punishment
Cool, How was "Crime and Punishment"?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pantelej
People have told me that it is a complex read.
well it's quite complex, the most i figuerd out
first after reading it, it was absolutly stunning
Has anyone read "The silent Don"?
I wish I could read Russian lit in Russian instead of relying on translations :confused:
yes, it would be much nicer to be able
to read every book in it's original language
But especialy Russian books, Russian
is a very diferent language, compared
to other languages, i think.
I was reading a Japenese translation today and I wished a lot that somehow I would have known Japanese.
Russian Literature is one of the main reasons why I studied Russian at University. I am absolutely not at the level of reading Dostoevsky and co. in original, but I am reading a novel by a contemporary (is this the word?well he died in 1990) author and I am coping better than I would have ever expected.
Most Russian classics are absolutely huge, it's funny to see how much these guys could write ;) But they're mostly incredibly interesting... like Crime & Punishment, the first time I read it I just swallowed it in like 4 days... The second time took me longer and it was somehow heavier, I guess I was trying to look deeper...
I plan on re-reading Master and Margarita as soon as I've finished my current read (still Russian.. Everything Flows by Vasilij Grossman), cos I havent appreciated that much years ago and I might enjoy it more now that I have a nuch richer historical and cultural background.
Thinking about it, probably a good 70% of what I've read in the past 5 years was Russian...
I can't find anything by Vasilij Grossman anywhere
I'm living on the countryside, there aren't so many bookstores around here.
Have you read anything by Michail Sholokhov
I like very much russian literature. I have just finished to read some short stories by Chekhov.They were very funny and well written.I have also read "The idiot" by Dostoievsky.It is a complex novel where the autor presents some of his experiences and thoughts.I would like to know more about Russia and now I am trying to learn this language( I hope I will succeed).
Russia is very exciting, huge and endless,
sometime i will go there.
Even though it,s cold.
Well pantelej, you're from Sweden, it's cold there too...so you might not suffer too much if you go to Russia ;)
Or just go in the summer... I went to Moscow last August and it wasn't cold at all, just the opposite for a couple of weeks... then it got fresher but still i've never suffered from cold there.
Has anyone read " Doctor Zjivago" ?
Yep I did...if you search the forums, there must be at least one topic about it.
And I remember at least 2 threads about War and Peace.
edit: here you can find something about Zhivago
http://www.online-literature.com/for...ead.php?t=4342
Actualy it's only realy cold in northern Sweden.
But you maybe find it cold, i only know that it's colder in
Russia.
But you're right, i heard it's -70 - +50 in some places.
I think -70 is impossible... if that's celsius...
Siberia is cold, like it can get to -40 I think, but in the summer they have +20 ore even +30.
Maybe the climate affects the writing
actualy, in Jakutsk they got - 70 deegrees celsius.
LOL maybe that's why they write long stuff...they can't go out and spend the time writing ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Pantelej
Actually, one thing that is said to have greatly affected Russian culture and therefore literature is the SPACE. Russia is HUGE, and the distances are immense, even hard to imagine for us European packed in (relatively) small countries. Moscow is impressive, everything is incredibly big and everything is so distant, even by metro, which is very fast, you can take one hour to get to a place... And a lot of the space in Russia is empty...sure Moscow is crowded, but there is a lot of empty countryside, I've seen kilometres of green from the plane while I was getting there...
So all that is part of the mystery of the Russian culture: the extreme distances and the extreme temperatures some places get...
I agree with you
It is very interesting to see how
climate and space affects the writting.
What do you think is the most interesting with Russian literature?
I think it's the details and the characters
Crime and Punishment: Possibly the most boring book I have read. I gave this book multiple chances but it never ceased to be anything more than a tremendous yawn-fest. Organic Chemistry textbooks are more interesting and I have had more fun reading laundry bills.
War and Peace: Did these guys get paid by words? Soap Opera at it's worst.
The Brothers K...: Some more of the above. I just don't get this Dostoevsky loving. He, along with Shakespeare and Joyce, has to be the most overrated fiction author in any language.
Doctor Zhivago: Did I say boring before?
Master and Margarita: Brilliant concept, excellent execution and some of the wittiest dialogue ever penned in speculative literature. Easily the most 'flowing' translation I have ever come across, in any language.
We: The predecessor of works like 'Brave New World' and 'Slaughterhouse Five', it is considered the first modern sci-fi dystopia and a huge influence on Orwell's seminal '1984'. I consider it better than just about any dystopian novel I have read with the exception of Philip K. Dick's 'Do Andriod's Dream of Electric Sheep' and Orwell's 'Animal Farm.'
Russian non-fiction, on the other hand, I have found to be almost uniformly entertaining and thought-provoking, be it spine-tingling accounts of escape from Gulag's, descriptions of German seiges, memoirs of deserter soldiers, political shifts within the Communist Party or tales of manned exploration and taming the frosty siberian whiteness.
what exactly do you like
Does Not Compute.
Error: Insufficent parameters to come up with a tangible hypothesis. Please try again in a few years.
I actually agree on this: I found it terribly similar to a soap opera, and though I endured the whole thing, I appreciated let's say 20% of it. However I'm glad of having done that and having seen with my eyes what's it all about, especially being a student of Russian I couldnt really miss this part of its culture... Appreciating, well, that's another thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
I did like Anna Karenina though, it's possibly less soap-opera, and I was particularly surprised of how well Anna's feeling were described, even by a male writer.
Crime and Punishment, well, I've already claimed my love for it... What actually got me into Russian Lit. is actually another novel by Dostoevsky, The Demons, which I adored. I havent tried the Karamazov Brothers yet, possibly soon next year.
Funnily enough, what EAP liked, ie Master & Margarita, was the one I liked less...too much fantasy, too many people flying... but as I said I'll give it another chance soon.
I'm also looking forward to reading We, I'm surprised it's so famous cos when we were meant to read it for an exam, it was impossible to find it, book shops didnt even know about its existance, and a copy was finally found at a library of an obscure village where one of my course mates lived. However I didnt get to read it and I bought a copy in Moscow, which is waiting in line to be my next Russian original read, though I suppose it's going to be extremely challenging...
well whatever, you like what you like and i like what i like.
Can we agree to these terms?
The lines above are mentioned for EAP.
I can't tell if war and peace is to much of a soap opera
since i'm still reading it.
But the Russian aristocracy was much like a soap opera.
I was born in the USSR, so I can read all the Russian Classics in Russian.
I LOVE Russian Literature!
Bulgakov and Dostoevsky are amongst my absolute favourites!
I've started reading Dostoevsky when I was 11. It was a little early, but even then I liked it. Of course now and then I reread some of his work and suddenly see more than I used to. It's great.
I had the Brothers Karamazov as one my finals' books at high school and it was amazing to have the task to dive into a novel that deep.
At the beginning it was hard (over 1200 pages!) to find something to start with, but then everything, every sentence, every word fitted, everything had a meaning.
Of course, there are many, many other great Russian novellists.
I absolutely adore: Puschkin, Lermontow, Gogol, Turgenew and Tschechov
and if you count him as a Russian too: One of my absolute favourites is also Nabokov! Now, he's really great.
What do you think about Sholokhov,Gorki and Tolstoy?
I'm reading War and peace right now.
It's a bit like a soap, but, on the other hand
the Russian aristocracy was much like a soap.
feasts, silly secrets, overwelming wealth while the
porr starve
War and Peace isn't that great because of the plot, but because it's written wonderfully. At least, that's what I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pantelej
I've read War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection and The Kreutzer Sonata. I must say, the Kreutzer Sonata had the biggest impact on me, it was the one novel, that was nearest to the reader, but of course, that's because the plot is set in a train and mostly there's just one person talking.
Gorki didn't write bad, but there's that slight shadow of the communistic propaganda writing over his work...
Until now, I've never read Sholokhov. Is he good?
Actualy i agree with you, In War and Peace it's more the writing than
the plot that effects me.
I think i read something about Gorki being forced by the Soviet regim
to write comunist-friendly.
Sholokhov is very interesting, He dosen't write so much like Dostoyevsky,
more like Tolstoy, though not realy as good ,but still good.
The characters are very interesting. In "The silent Don" the characters
change with the time, wich is very interesting.
The content is a bit different to, becouse most of his books are about the
Don-Cosacks. The inviorment is different to, sience the Cosacks were
living on the stepp. They also had their own laws, not caring to much
about the higher authorities. In most of Sholokhovs books you
can also see the changes each generation brings with it.
What exactly do you think makes Russian literature so special?
I think it's mostly the details and the characters.
Everything is always described so beautifully and the characters
are always very interesting and realistic.
Another thing , i think, is the fact that most Russian writers
make great things out of pretty simple plots.
Russian literature is too realistic. I think that makes it so special. Not just literature, Russian culture in general is realistic: even a naked woman body or an erotic scene in Russian movie is quite different – I mean quite realistic -than what we get use to see in Hollywood production.
Chehkov , Lermontov is my favorites. Nothing can be compared with Gogol's works.
I gave up read Dostoyevsky at all after reading (actually I couldn’t finish it) one of his longest boring story. I’ve already listed “Master and Margerita” among my boring books.
I advise to read Anatoly Ribakov and Valentin Rasputin.
I think Dostoyevky is very interesting, he describes the characters
so well, he did know things in the human nature long before any
scientist. He dives deep into the minds of the characters and
describes their feelings and emotions on a hole new level.
It's true, Russian literature is very realistic.Mostly there are no
heroes, more the anti-hero.
I plan to read Dostoyevsky before the end of the year, after receiving quite a few recommendations.Formerly, I had only read Tolstoy's War and Peace, and Anna Karenina.Has anyone read all of his works?
Heavy, serious and emotional stuff. But I know a 2-yr. old adopted girl from the Motherland, and she is light as a feather, happy-go-lucky.
There are some extremely interesting opinions and suggestions here. (Note to self: read Bulgakov or Nabokov soon) .
Woah, War and Peace needs to be read together with readers notes - a list of characters (and all their alternative names) and who they are - it's so confusing. I am still 'reading' it as I moved house, mid-read, and (hoped) thought I'd lost it. I will start again/continue though, as I remember really enjoying it. Soap opera? If only Eastenders was written by Tolstoy.
Have read some Dostoevsky, very enjoyable, but find the important bits (the religious philosophy) a bit heavy going.
I thoroughly recommend - 'The First Circle' by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The depiction of a paranoid Stalin is just great. Also (EAP is probably referring to) 'A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich' by same Author. I'm actually reading 'Victory Parades' by him at the moment! I think he is the only modern Russian author I've read.
Thanks forumkins
I've seen alot of references on here for War and Peace and some of the other well knowns. But, unless I missed it somewhere scrolling through the postings, has anyone read, "Petersburg" by Andrei Bely??? Just curious if anyone has any remarks on that work.
Hi, I like russian literature too, and I'd also rather read in the original lenguage instead of translations, but russian... it's too much for me. The last russian book I have read is Moscú-Petuchki; English translation must be Moscow to the end of the line. It's author is Venedict Erofeiev, and the subject is the last travel of an always drunk man -Vénitchka Erofeiev- who reachs the Kursk station every time he tries to find the Kremlim.
I am triying to get material to write an essay about Samizdat; suggestions will be gratefully accepted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Seis
I have just written my graduation thesis about Samizdat!!!
The best material I can give you is this brilliant article
http://www.slis.ualberta.ca/issues/sbalazs/samizdat.htm
It compares samizdat to the Internet and provides a good summary of some main aspects of Samizdat...using it as a source gave a great touch of originality to my work.
Then, my main sources were books that you probably don't have available since they are written in Italian and are probably not translated anywhere (I suppose you're Spanish, by how you wrote Moscù...), the main one was written in 1976 by Jurij Mal'cev and it's called L'altra letteratura ("the other literature")...
You can find an interview to this guy here, it's in Italian but if you are Spanish as I think, you might get the idea of what it says...
http://www.instoria.it/home/MalcevI.htm
I suggest you also look for books about 'dissidents' and Russian emigration, they may give you some small idea..
You should also have a look at Solzhenytsin "The oak and the lamb" (actually I have no idea of the title in English, the Russian title would literally translated as something like "Tha lamb hit the oak", especially the first chapter when he talks of how he worked to hide his stuff...
And you have to know that just this year in Moscow was published an Anthology of Samizdat, though I dont know if you can find anything about it in languages that are not Russian...
http://antology.igrunov.ru/
http://www.pravda.ru/culture/2005/4/..._samizdat.html
If you need more advice feel free to contact me, my work was a masterpiece ;););)
I too love Russian lit, particularly that of the 19th century. War and Peace is fun for a while, but it does gets too tedious. My favorites: Anna Karinina, Brothers Karamazov, Fathers and Sons. I don't know what makes the 19th century novelists so good. They have this combination of excruciating detail and yet holding a tremendous intensity. Quite unlike the French and English realists of the 19th century. Plus they have ideas, religious and sociatal. One thing that always struck me about the 19th century Russian novelists is that they are carrying medevil conventions and views but forced to confront the modern world. That's what may make them so intense. Plus they are just great writers.
I guess I agree with you Virgil... it's that intensity that can leave you speechless in some parts of the books...
I'm trying to read again Master and Margarita, and just as the other time(s) I just can't concentrate on it. There's something in it that makes my mind wander instead of paying attention to the words (almost like reading War & Peace's historical parts where the same concept is expressed 300 times...almost but not quite like it obviously)... especially in the Pontius Pilatus chapter, It's the 3rd time I read it in my life, and every time I find it kinda tedious... I think I just don't understand Bulgakov...