I'm looking for recommendation on some good Russian literature. I've already read every Russian author with an American following, so please no Tolstoy, Dostoyefsky, and Gogol stand bys.
Please keep in mind I can read Russian quite well, so if the author is particularly obscure and not translated, but his stuff is really good, list anyway.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I'm a fan of Zamyatin; while he certainly has something of an American following, its not very large. He deserves far more attention.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Does Ayn Rand count? Certainly We, The Living must.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I assume Nabokov doesn't count either . . .
(Or Asimov.)
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
I've sent an email to a Russian friend of mine who reads quite a bit. I'll post her answer when I get it.
Posted by Fusiachi (Member # 7376) on :
At the risk of making the obvious reccomendation, try Pushkin (in Russian) if you haven't already.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
In fact if you go to www.lib.ru (free russian library - totally legal site) you would find most of them there.
She translated those names from the Cyrillic alphabet herself so you might find them spelled differently. I tried to include the Cyrillic here, but it comes out as garbage. Do try the link she sends above.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
David and Sergei Brin
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
Bulgakov? Everyone loves The Master and Margarita. And I suppose Nabokov doesn't count, but he is really a gorgeous writer.
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
David Brin ain't Russian. He's an amazing sci-fi author though. And Sergei isn't an author.
Personally I might sugguest Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I have tended to enjoy their composers MUCH more then their authors.
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Solzhenitsyn? Or is that too obvious?
Posted by Gecko (Member # 8160) on :
Wow, great titles so far.
Karl, I checked out the site: quite nice. There needs to be more sites like it, imo.
Also, some pals are recommending Mikhail Veller, who I think I'll also check out. Anyone familiar with his work?
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
David's "...mother's family was of the Jewish peasant stock of Russia..."
Amongst other works, Surgey coauthored "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine" with Larry Page.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
No one's mentioned Turgenev yet? Little surprising.
Honestly he's the only Russian author I've really done a lot of reading with, but I can recommend Fathers & Sons.
Does Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski (Joseph Conrad) count? He was born in the Ukraine, though it was to a Polish family, and he lived most of his life I believe in England. If he counted, I'd recommend him over any Russian author I've ever read or heard of.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
strugacki brothers. kir bulyczov
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I second Turgenev, as well as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Bulgakov. That's all I've got, sorry. Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
For composers.
Posted by Dark as night (Member # 9577) on :
Wow! You guys are amazing! I am from Russia and when I saw this thread I immediately started thinking of all of my favorite authors, but alas, as I scrolled down I realized most of them have already been listed. This may sound too sentimental, but I'm touched to see that so many of you know and like Russian classics. I guess I shouldn't be surprised: hatrackers are the best!
So Gecko, just to expand on some things already mentioned... How much Gogol have you read? He is by far my favorite Russian writer. If you haven't read "The Dead Souls" yet, I highly recommend it, especially in Russian. If you already have, forgive my redundancy. I love "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov and would highly recommend it.
Now here are some names not yet on this page. Poetry: Blok, Lermontov, Esenin.
Classics: Chehov (probably obvious), Sholohov (I recommend "Tihi Don" - a beautiful story of the cossacks)
Humor: Ilf & Petrov - "12 Chairs". It is an absolutely amazing novel, which envelops pre and post Soviet era. Hilariously honest. Definitely a favorite.
Fantasy: Kama mentioned Kir Bulychev. He was one of my favorite writers growing up. "A million adventures" and "100 years ahead" are great.
Hope this helps!
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
whoever wrote Children of the Arbat.
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
quote:David's "...mother's family was of the Jewish peasant stock of Russia..."
Yeah, so what, if you're gonna go by stuff like that then I could claim that I was all kinds of things I'm not.
quote:# 6 October 1950 - born in Glendale, California
David Brin is an American. He was born in America and he lives in America and that makes him an American author. Not Russian.
quote:Amongst other works, Surgey coauthored "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine" with Larry Page.
I don't think that's quite what he was looking for, but fair nuff. Posted by Diana Bailey (Member # 8313) on :
Anna Akhmatova...over and over again, forever and ever.
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