What Russian novelists are the greatest?

Question by John Murphy: What are the greatest Russian novelists?
So far I know of or have read:
Dostoyevsky
Tolstoy
Gogol (not sure if he is Russian though)

Also do they have a dark and dreary approach to literature like ‘The Idiot’ or ‘Dead Souls’

Answers and Views:

Answer by Kelley
Of the ones I’ve read, they’re all similar in the dreariness.

In addition to the ones you’ve mentioned, a few I’ve read (and not a comprehensive list): Turgenev, Zamyatin, Pasternak, Chekov, Pushkin, Bulgakov

Edit: Though much better known for his poetry, Pushkin was also a novelist. The Captain’s Daughter is the novel I’ve read to which I’m referring. Granted it’s a short novel at less than 200 pages, but still a novel. Most, if not all, of his other novels remained unfinished, thus largely unknown. He may not be prolific, but he certainly qualifies as great.

Answer by MavistheMaven
A more modern Russian (actually Soviet) great is Aleksandr Solzhenitsen. Some of his books are The Gulag Archipelago, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and Cancer Ward.

And yes, Nikolai Gogol was Russian.

Read all the answers in the comments.

What do you think?