Well there are Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova. They are poets though.Originally Posted by thelastmelon
Haha, thanks for all the names!
I have plans to read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I've heard a lot of good things about them, but have never gotten around to actually read these books.
Are there any famous or good Russian female authors that anyone knows of? I can only think of male authors.
re www.sovlit.com
``That is a great site! I've really gotten into Soviet Lit and am always looking for new authors and new books so I've bookmarked that page and then I can refer to it when I do my book buying.``
I am thrilled to read your reply. Indeed, this is one of the greatest sites in the Internet.
While many people falsely attribute the decline of the Soviets to the West, it should always be noted that it erupted from within. There were many daring people who contributed to this and Tvardovsky is the one who should be greatly credited for starting it. While his name is largely unknown in the West, those of us who have always oppose Sovietism credit him more than anyone else for exposing the truth that led to its ultimate defeat.
Russian literature is amazing. It was by a million miles the country with the best literary output during the 19th century, but of course there are many Russian lit classics from the 20th century. As someone much earlier said, I'm also studying Russian at university mainly because of its literature. I'm not at the level to start reading it in Russian yet, but hopefully within 2 years or so I will be. I've read:
Pushkin - Eugene Onegin
Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov
Tolstoy - The Death of Ivan Ilyich, War and Peace
Gogol - Collected Short Stories (Pevear & Volokhonsky)
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Heart of a Dog, The Master and Margarita
Loved every one of them.
I've yet to read any Pasternak, Sholokhov, Chekhov, Turgenev, Lermontov, Zamyatin, Gorky, Solzhenitsin, or Akhmatova.
Last edited by superunknown; 02-20-2008 at 11:17 PM.
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine."
- Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
...and Bely.
Et l'unique cordeau des trompettes marines
Apollinaire, Le chantre
(I kept posting this in the wrong place, but I've found you now...)
Here are some Russian historical novels which are hard to put down…
Jack Vosmerkin – The American (Джек Восьмеркин - Американец) and The Land of the Sun (Государство Солнца), by the late author Nikolai Grigorevich Smirnov (1890-1933). These books are ideal due to their simple to follow styles, yet appealing, well-developed plots. Smirnov allows the reader to re-live Russia’s Soviet era in Jack Vosmerkin, as well as the time of the tsars in Land of the Sun.
Some very brief summaries, but be sure to look at the free samples for more details:
JACK VOSMERKIN - THE AMERICAN is an epic tale about a Russian boy who travels around the globe by accident during the early Soviet years, returning to Russia to combine Russian and Western culture in a remarkable, never predictable journey.
THE LAND OF THE SUN lets the reader relive life in exile, starting in Kamchatka, during the age of Imperialism, and then takes its narrator, a Russian youth, far beyond Russia's borders, where he and his fellow countrymen must adapt to a life they'd never imagined, but never losing their Russian spirit.
See more information and free samples at:
I look forward to your comments about these books!
All the best,
Clay Juracsik
Last edited by Scheherazade; 08-31-2008 at 08:27 PM. Reason: url
Reading Russian books is really a matter of joy and they are illuminating immensely. As a matter of fact I like most of Russian writers and all are Russian short stories which are immensely rich in everything.
Tolstoy is really marvellous and I have always enjoyed reading his books from War and Peace to all his short stories.
Russian literature has been my all time favorite and I never got tired of reading.
“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””
“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
Count me in the group of those who love Russian Lit.
You can't go wrong with the classic masters, Pushkin, Chekov, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Almost every year I pick one of the novels of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky and put it on top of my "to read" stack. I always find something new with each reading. I haven't read that much by the contemporary Russian writers but some of the posts have piqued my curiosity about them. I'll be heading to the book store soon to see what I can find.
I read a book called The Anti-Soviet Soviet Union by Vladimir Voinovich and he mentioned Tvardovsky a few times. I haven't read any of his works yet but I am interested. I had a look on amazon and they don't have a lot of books by him but I was able to add one to my wish list along with a book or two by Ivan Bunin, he's another Soviet author I've heard a lot about but never read.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
Russian literature in point of fact great sources and Russian literature others in many respects. For instance I always admire Tolstoy for his famous book war and peace, for this is really a beautiful novel, and I like this book in all respect. Tolstoy has reached a height in literature few others have reached. He was really a serious man, and he has lived his life by setting an example. We know he was from a very prosperous family background, but he has attuned himself to servitude, and he had to suffer a lot owing to his dispute or clash with his family members, for he was living by the ideal they did not want at all.
“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””
“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
I just read Crime and Punishment and I was just 'grabbed' by it!!
I strongly recommend it...
Those of you who know Dostoyevski... which of his books should I read next???
'The past only brings... painful memories... the future, the pains to come' Once Upon the Graveyard by Dark Awake
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Just to whet your appetite a bit read Notes from the Underground. It is an excellent little book. Read it in one sitting and then go for the big ones. The Idiot is far better than Crime and Punishment but it moves slowly. A very slow but extremely rewarding book. Then you can move on to the Dady of them all, The Brothers Karamazov. Only War and Peace comes anywhere near it. Karamazov is a huge book but if you think Crime and Punishment is good, Karamazov would simply sweep you off your feet. Go for it, read Dostoevsky. You will never regret investing time in this one writer.
"The farther he goes the more good it does me. I don’t want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the sh1t the more I am grateful to him..."
-- Harold Pinter on Samuel Beckett
Hi! I'm a newly English teacher here in Philippines and to be honest I discussed LAMENT by Anton Chekhov. I appreciated his short story and it also reflects to the Filipino values here so I can say that Russian literature is great.... I will also read other Russian lits.....
And don't forget The Possessed...or Devils...or Demons, apparently the name had several translations.It ranks right up there as one of my favorite Dostoevsky books along with Crime and Punishment.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
What about lesser known works of Dostoevsky like "The Gambler"? Anyone read his lesser works? By 'lesser' I mean less well known of course.
"You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live."-George Bernard Shaw
I've read several of his short stories and novellas, The Gambler being one of them and it's brilliant.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
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