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Tips for Russian literature?

  Tags: Literature | Russian
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading Post Reply
24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Anya
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5784 days ago

636 posts - 708 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, FrenchC1, English, Italian, Spanish
Studies: German, Japanese, Hungarian, Sanskrit, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin
Studies: Ancient Greek, Hindi

 
 Message 17 of 24
20 December 2009 at 8:07pm | IP Logged 
I've already recommended in the forum the short stories by Nadezhda Teffi (Надежда Тэффи)
http://lib.ru/RUSSLIT/TEFFI/

I may also suggest:
the first book of Boris Akunin (Борис Акунин "Азазель"), detective story, the action is in 19th century
http://lib.ru/RUSS_DETEKTIW/BAKUNIN/azazel.txt

"The Defense" by Nabokov ("Защита Лужина")- the tragic story of chess player
http://lib.ru/NABOKOW/luzhin.txt

Tatyana Tolstaya "Kys"
http://lib.ru/PROZA/TOLSTAYA/kys.txt
2 persons have voted this message useful



Stryozyk
Newbie
United States
Joined 5461 days ago

39 posts - 44 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 18 of 24
21 December 2009 at 1:09am | IP Logged 
I am so happy to have found this thread and thank everyone for the great recommendations. I would add:

Аркадий и Борис Стругацкий
Пикник на обочине - a short science fiction novel about the aftermath of an alien landing on Earth. Even if
you don't think you like science fiction, this novel is amazing. It is told mainly in rough language from the
perspective of a man who retrieves dangerous alien artifacts from the zone where they landed. It questions
the true nature of desire and the human soul.

I would include, indeed, anything written by the Strugatskys, as well as other excellent science fiction works
by Kirill Bulychev, Dmitri Bilenkin, and Yevgeny Zamyatin.
2 persons have voted this message useful



iltoen
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Germany
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 Message 19 of 24
21 December 2009 at 4:20am | IP Logged 
everything from gogol or chekhov i suggest
1 person has voted this message useful



TixhiiDon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Japan
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Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian
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 Message 20 of 24
21 December 2009 at 9:21am | IP Logged 
Well, I'm very late to this thread, but my very favorite Russian works of literature haven't been mentioned yet so here goes.

Natalya Baranskaya: Nedelya kak nedelya (A Week like any other) - a brilliant portrait of a harried working mother in 60s Soviet Russia.

Yuri Trifonov: Any of the Moskovskie Povesti, but in particular Dom na Naberezhnoe - a biting critique of the Stalin period and the moral disintegration it produced in Soviet citizens right through to the 70s under Brezhnev.

Solzhenitsyn: Rakovii Korpus (Cancer Ward) - an allegory of Soviet society but also a beautiful portrait of humanity. He writes female characters incredibly movingly.

If you have any interest at all in Soviet society these works are vital. They are also relatively easy to read in the original Russian.

Russian literature is truly extraordinary. Once you get started you'll realize nothing else can compare.

Edited by TixhiiDon on 21 December 2009 at 9:22am

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nadia
Triglot
Groupie
Russian Federation
Joined 5505 days ago

50 posts - 98 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English, French
Studies: Hindi

 
 Message 21 of 24
22 December 2009 at 11:35am | IP Logged 
TixhiiDon wrote:
Solzhenitsyn: Rakovii Korpus (Cancer Ward) - an allegory of Soviet society but also a beautiful portrait of humanity. He writes female characters incredibly movingly.

Oh yes, I remember loving this book when I read it.

However, to anyone who only starts learning Russian I would recommend reading something easier than classics. Some children's stories usually are the best thing to start with.

Виктор Драгунский "Денискины рассказы" can be found here at http://www.lib.ru/. They are short, funny stories and I was very fond of them as a child.

Николай Носов and his short stories "Мишкина каша", "Фантазеры" and others
here Another fave -- Nosov's storie are very short, humorous and easy to read.

I also love "Вредные советы" by Григорий Остер -- these are short humorous verses for kids -- anti-advice on how to behave.
here

They run like this:

Никогда не мойте руки,
Шею, уши и лицо
Это глупое занятье
Не приводит ни к чему.
Вновь испачкаются руки,
Шея, уши и лицо,
Так зачем же тратить силы,
Время попусту терять.
Стричься тоже бесполезно,
Никакого смысла нет.
К старости сама собою
Облысеет голова.


2 persons have voted this message useful



staf250
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Belgium
emmerick.be
Joined 5688 days ago

352 posts - 414 votes 
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Studies: Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 22 of 24
22 December 2009 at 1:33pm | IP Logged 
I totally agree with TixhiiDon on Solzhenitsyn. Cancer Ward was my first book of Alexander S. I loved it so much.
2 persons have voted this message useful



rahdonit
Bilingual Tetraglot
Groupie
Ukraine
Joined 6605 days ago

50 posts - 87 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, Ukrainian*, English, German

 
 Message 23 of 24
22 December 2009 at 2:40pm | IP Logged 
I would recommend anything by Фазиль Искандер, in particular a set of stories "Сандро из Чегема" - full of humour and an interesting piece of reading about life in Abkhazia in the Soviet time.

Вaсиль Быков is not actually a Russian writer, but a Belorussian one, anyway, "Карьер" is worth reading, the action takes place both in the eighties of the 20th century and in the time of the 2nd WW

If you like "The Good Soldier Švejk" by Hašek, you will also certainly like "Жизнь и необычайные приключения Ивана Чонкина" by Владимир Войнович
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