Any suggestions for somebody new to Russian Literature?
I have recently become interested in Russian literature, but have no idea where to start. So far the only Russian work I have ever read is a collection of short stories by Chekhov. Once at age 15 I tried reading "The Double" by Dostoevsky but found it too boring an was unable to finish it. I was wondering whether anybody could suggest a good place to start, preferably novels that aren't too long. Perhaps somebody could post 5 books best for beginners to Russian Lit? Thanks.
The Dostoevsky enthusiasts on here will probably recommend something very long. I'd recommend starting with something shorter - like his Eternal Husband or The Gambler.
Or, maybe A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Tolstoy :War and Peace and Anna Karenina
Fyodor Dostoievski : Crime and Punishment,The Idiot,The Gambler
Nikolai Gogolead Souls,Taras Bulba
Anton Chekhov :Plays
Sergei Yeseninoems
Boris Pasternak : Doctor Zhivago
Alexander Solzhenitsyn :The Gulag Archipelago
Gogol
about Yesenin : poems
you shall read Crime and Punishment of Fyodor Dostoevsky. it is lengthy but it is interesting.
"Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev? I think this was the first Russian novel I read and its gentle sadness set the stage for me to appreciate other, more fiery authors such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Upon doing research about Turgenev my initial impression was confirmed. Here is a man who has much to say and who says it gently, even doubtfully, but with penetrating clarity.
Tolstoy's short story "The Death of Ivan Ilyitch" is an amazing study of death and life, readable and a managable length.
Also I would agree with the Chekhov recommendations.
Good luck! I have a long list yet to read and re-read, but can attest to the worth of the Russian works I have read so far.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
I would start with Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky. I started with that just recently and it's left me wanting to read more of him and other Russian writers.
"...You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?..." E. A. Poe
preferably novels that aren't too longOriginally Posted by jadrianne
Crime and Punishment is very accessible.
I know
that she said not too long but those two novels are amongst the greatest treasures of the Russian literature .These novels help us establish a special bound between our own cultural world and that special Russian world of emotions.
There are two things I am eagerly waiting to read in Russian, apart from War and Piece:
Lieutenant Kijé by Tynyanov. That looks absolutely hilarious! About a fictitious lieutenant 'created' by a spelling mistake!
and
The Nose by Gogol about a nose that walks away from an official's face and starts a life on its own.
One has to laugh before being happy, because otherwise one risks to die before having laughed.
"Je crains [...] que l'âme ne se vide à ces passe-temps vains, et que le fin du fin ne soit la fin des fins." (Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Acte III, Scène VII)
I found "The Gambler" the least impressive of his works - enough to put me off reading his other minor works (like The Double
I agree with that choice. I found the Gulag Archipelago too long and too detailed, and gave up after a hundred page or so (and I'm usually happy to read long Russian novels!) There's an abridged version out there that I might attempt... I thought "The First Circle" was great...
But why not read the best? Forget about the length. So that's:
Tolstoy :War and Peace and Anna Karenina
Fyodor Dostoievski : Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov
and more Chekhov short stories... a nice handful...
Pushkin is also a good start. Not Onegin of course, but his small short stories as The Queen of Spades and The Comandant's Daughter.
You can also read the unfinished ones...
One has to laugh before being happy, because otherwise one risks to die before having laughed.
"Je crains [...] que l'âme ne se vide à ces passe-temps vains, et que le fin du fin ne soit la fin des fins." (Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Acte III, Scène VII)
I think that if you really want
to read something wonderful one must not look too much at the lenght of the novel: that would mean that long novels such as let's say Les Miserables or Forsyte Saga shouldn't be read because they're too long?
Master and Margarita by Bulgakov - sublime.
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
Yes Pushkin
and also Gorki
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