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Tips for Russian literature? | ||
Tags: Literature | Russian | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| tricoteuse Pentaglot Senior Member Norway littlang.blogspot.co Joined 6669 days ago 745 posts - 845 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian | Message 1 of 24 01 May 2009 at 10:09am | IP Logged |
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Hello all,
I am going to Russia in not too long, and while there I thought I'd go crazy in some book stores. However, I'd really appreciate some tips for Russian literature that is NOT among the super classics, that is Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, etc. Those will never be hard to find (and I'm not talking about online texts, I know where to find those). I would like to discover something new, something interesting, something I would probably not discover unless someone told me about it. If you have any ideas or want to recommend your favourite books, please just state the name and author, and suuuper shortly what it's about (just a sentence or half a sentence) and/or why you like it. I love old literature, old obscure language is no problem, I am NOT concerned about only learning "modern" Russian. Anyone who has seen my "Russian through literature" log will probably have understood this. Books of the Harry Potter/Da Vinci Code type are of absolutely no interest to me, and it doesn't matter if EVERYONE in Russia reads this book or if you are the only one who have ever noticed it. Also, if you know of any non-fiction books on history or the Russian language that are just awesome, please tell me about those as well! I'm going to buy such books anyway, but in case there are 20 different ones to choose from on the shelf, it's always good to have a recommendation ;) Thanks in advance :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lindley Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Ukraine Joined 6062 days ago 104 posts - 109 votes Speaks: Russian*, Ukrainian*, English Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 2 of 24 01 May 2009 at 11:51am | IP Logged |
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Hi!
I've not been suuuuper short in descriptions, but hope you'll excuse me for that :) Илья Ильф и Евгений Петров Двенадцать стульев Classics of Russian humour and sarcasm. Definitely a must-read - half of the phrases of this book are regularly used in speech. Brilliant language, captivating plot. Storyline - a man finds out that his relative has hidden veeeery expensive jewellery in a chair. He goes looking for it and encounters an adventurist Bender. Mayhem ensues. А. Солженицын Бодался теленок с дубом A story of writer's fight with the totalitarian government. Shows what was happening in literary circles during the censorship period. Mакс Фрай Okay, I confess here - it's one of my all-time favourite authors. I just LOVE his books! In fact, the author is a female, she writes under a psydoname. It's fantasy, but the "created" world is so realistic and detailed that you begin to believe in it, and wish that some of its features were real. Even if you don't like fantasy books - just try these ones. At least read one on the internet. The best series is "Chronicles of Echo" = "Хроники Ехо". Trust me, they're amazing - when I begin reading one of the books, I can't put it down until I've read the whole series. They're rich in humour, sarcasm, adventures, you name it. Дина Рубина На солнечной стороне улицы A book about life, relationships, fate, struggle for something good. Brilliant descriptions, live and bright images, lots of details of everyday life, very "tasty" book to read. It shows you a picture of life in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), and many Russian people can identify with it. When my mom was reading this book, she said that it's like her childhood was described in it. Nice reading plus insight into Russians' past and present. Борис Акунин Highly recommend his series about Эраст Фандорин. It's a very well-written detective, setting - end of 19th century. It's not a modern detective, but more of an intellectual one. The books are serious, but with a grain of humour and are very easy to read. Ю. В. Откупщиков К истокам слова Interesting book on etymology В. В. Колесов История русского языка в рассказах Subj, actually. Easy to read, interesting, but sometimes can be too detailled. Нора Галь Слово живое и мертвое Highly recommended. Written by a distinguished interpreter (translator), this book shows you the most common mistakes in speech and helps to avoid them by using correct, clear, pure Russian language (can be also found in the web). Петр Вайль, Александр Генис Родная речь. Уроки изящной словесности Basically, a book about Russian classics. It's been named an "anti-textbook" for high-school literature classes. Edited by Lindley on 01 May 2009 at 11:51am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tricoteuse Pentaglot Senior Member Norway littlang.blogspot.co Joined 6669 days ago 745 posts - 845 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian | Message 3 of 24 01 May 2009 at 3:19pm | IP Logged |
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Большое спасибо! They seem like absolutely excellent recommendations, except for Bunin, whom I have read and strongly disliked in Swedish ;)
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Russianbear Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6766 days ago 358 posts - 422 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, Ukrainian Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 24 01 May 2009 at 5:47pm | IP Logged |
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I would like to second the recommendation of Ilf&Petrov - not just The 12 Chairs, but also its sequel, The Golden Calf. These two books are really beloved in Russia, and, they have to be read not just because of their literary value, but also due to the fact that people make a huge number of references to these books in their writing/speech, and someone who hasn't read them could often get confused by those references. Also, their "One-Story America" travelogue is pretty good, too.
Speaking of a people who are quoted A LOT, Vladimir Mayakovsky is one of the most cited people in the Russian language, so you may want to check him out. Before the revolution, he was a poet/performance artist, and made a career of pissing (respected middle class) people off with his antics, like painting his face or wearing weird clothes or using expletives in his poetry, mocking the Church, etc. He was quite enthusiastic about the October Revolution, and his writing was often extremely political and polemic, especially in post-revolution years, so, he can be a hard read in that respect, but nevertheless, his importance cannot be overstated. His immense talent was acknowledged even by those who don't share his political views. Also, he was often quite funny - both in the anecdotes/memoirs written about him and in much of his actual poetry, which was different from an otherwise gloomy/melancholic mood of most of the Russian poets. Also, he and his avantgardist friends sought to broaden the Russian language by the way of creating new words out of existing roots and using word forms that were considered to be incorrect or low-brow. In a way, his gags and his desire to broaden the language make him one of the most original poets in the whole of Russian literature. A guy like Pushkin can be described as the Russian Byron (whenever he is not the Russian Shakespeare), but Mayakovsky is probably too original to compare him to anyone in the West. But of course, his usage of words that are often not completely correct/academic means he can be hard to read as you can't always expect a dictionary to explain things. But if you can read Mayakovsky and understand him, I imagine there is little in Russian literature that you won't be able to understand. Also, I am not sure whom you consider to be the super classics of the Russian literature, but in Russia, they widely consider Pushkin the most super of all the Russian classics. His 'Eugene Onegin', a novel in verse, is probably as essential as anything else in Russian literature. While Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky do not (or at least should not) lose much in translation, the poetry of a guy like Pushkin is bound to lose quite a bit. I would recommend Daniil Kharms, too, but one would have to have a soft spot for the absurd to enjoy Kharms. If you do, Kharms can be quite funny. Edited by Russianbear on 03 May 2009 at 9:16pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tricoteuse Pentaglot Senior Member Norway littlang.blogspot.co Joined 6669 days ago 745 posts - 845 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian | Message 5 of 24 01 May 2009 at 8:03pm | IP Logged |
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Russianbear: I actually read Mayakovsky in Swedish class in High School! (And Dostoevsky) I had my mother as a teacher, and I think she makes all her students read him. It was quite some time ago though, and I should have a look at him again now that I actually know some Russian.
Is Kharms absurd in a Kafkaish way? Thanks for the tips! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Russianbear Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6766 days ago 358 posts - 422 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, Ukrainian Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 24 01 May 2009 at 8:38pm | IP Logged |
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I only read The Metamorphosis and that was a while ago, so I don't remember it well. But my impression is that Kharms is way higher on the absurd scale.
Here is a typical example: 1. ГОЛУБАЯ ТЕТРАДЬ N% 10 ЖИЛ один рыжий человек, у которого не было глаз и ушей. У него не было и волос, так что рыжим его называли условно. Говорить он не мог, так как у него не было рта. Носа тоже у него не было. У него не было даже рук и ног. И живота у него не было, и спины у него не было, и хребта у него не было, и никаких внутреннос- тей у него не было. Ничего не было! Так что не понятно, о ком идет речь. Уж лучше мы о нем не будем больше гово- рить. Edited by Russianbear on 01 May 2009 at 8:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| rekenavri Pentaglot Newbie Belarus Joined 5904 days ago 14 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English, Belarusian, Russian*, Polish, Spanish Studies: French, German | Message 7 of 24 04 May 2009 at 2:40pm | IP Logged |
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Виктор Пелевин - "Generation П"
Very fun book written in very modern language. Варшавский Sci-fi stories. Something like Sheckley. Стругацкие The classics of sci-fi. They are strange and perfect. The language of this authors is very close to common speech, without ponderous style of 19th century or mournful style of USSR-time scientific books. BTW, I hate Нора Галь even more then Бунин. The book resembles a collection of forgotten style mistakes from forgotten newspapers. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tricoteuse Pentaglot Senior Member Norway littlang.blogspot.co Joined 6669 days ago 745 posts - 845 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian | Message 8 of 24 04 May 2009 at 3:16pm | IP Logged |
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I actually have Generation P in Danish, but I never really got very interested in the book :/ And I've already read Стругацкие. Thanks for commenting though!
1 person has voted this message useful |
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