Question by forester: Did you read a books of Russian authors? What could you say about?
Russian immigrants, please, don’t answer.
Russian people, please, don’t answer
Answers and Views:
Answer by sasquatch jr.
i have read the book “the kingdom of god is within you” by leo tolstoy. i thought he was right on track, but the book was very wordy.
Answer by scruffycat
I have read and have tremendous respect for Tolstoy and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Answer by vanamont7
Turgenev. Verrrry interesting. Sounds almost Kubrickian, with a generous dose of David Lean, of all people!!! Very incisive into the human condition. I’ll read this guy before I read Tolstoy.
Answer by Question 1
Read “Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It’s an interesting book.
Answer by Soul Rebel
One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhynytsyn and The Brothers Karamzov by Fyodor Doestoyevsky. Russian writes are great. Their novels present a very vivid picture of what their life and times were like at the same time they made a clear description and psycological profile of the characters in their books. They are also known as socio-political protest writers which made them a target for arrests and imprisonment.
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
lotuseater says
I’ve read short stories by Anton Chekov.Funny yet thought provoking.
msmiligan says
Tolstoy, Turgenjev, Gogol, Lermontov, Tschechov, Dostojewsky, Gontscharov, Pasternak, Pushkin, Gogol, Gorki are the authors everyone who’s interested in Russian Literature should read (particularly of course Tolstoy and Dostojewsky). And I guess there are many, many more I haven’t read. And: The ‘name problem’ isn’t that much of a problem, you’ll get used to it!
All of these authors have a deep knowledge of human tragedy and liabilities. In some books you will find the saddest humour you may imagine, in some unprecedented descriptions of landscapes or extravagant companies, irony, drama, prejudice, death, love, hate.
Great Russian literature is, like every great literature, the whole world of emotions, distortions, tragedy in a nutshell (which may contain a 1000 page book).
olracd89 says
I have read War & Peace and The Death of Ivan Ilyich ,both by Leo Tolstoy, and I have a very deep respect for his control over his writing. He is wordy but it adds a greater depth to his work that I really enjoy.
Who cares says
If you can wrap your brain around the tongue twister names they are FABULOUS.
I love Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn best. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is outstanding as stated above but if you really want to appreciate Solzhenitsyn read The Gulag Archipelago. Not a novel but absolutely incredible writing.
gallinae says
I love Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina…tears my heart out every time. The trick I think is to pick a good translation of any foreign book. I really enjoy the translation of Anna Karenina done by Pevear and Volokhonsky.
I usually make flashcards to help me keep everyone’s different names, nicknames and patronyms straight! 🙂
ElOsoBravo says
Yes, there was a period when I read all & any. My favorate book is The Brothers Karamazov. Most may seem daunting, but they are worth the effort, and once you are involved you are swept into the story. I don’t know another literary movement that deals so keenly with the human condition.
casey54 says
I’ve tried a couple of times to read “War and Peace” and “Brothers Karimozov” and “anna Karenina” but they seem too complicated to me. I get lost with all the diferent names and places. It makes me feel stupid because I know they are great books and I have loved the movies made from them and I should be able to read them.