Russian Literature

Discuss the seminal works of one of the best countries in the literary world.

I think the only Russian book I've read all the way through was Doctor Zhivago I learned a lot about the history of the Russian Civil War through that book. Pasternak is great at conveying how far society broke down during that time.

Roadside Picnic was a pretty interesting book, very atmospheric, which inspired a lot of derivative work. It's nice. It's by no means the only good Strugatsky book, but it is definitely the most famous abroad.

>>5440 Roadside Picnic is superb, the emotions the last 2 sections evoked from me put me into an emotional funk for a good few days after finishing the book. I've found it being the most famous depends on the circles you look in, I've seen Hard to Be A God be more well known in certain groups.

I've read a lot of Dostoevsky, some Tolstoy, Nabokov (though I guess that's not consideeed "Russian" ?) and a few others. It was wonderful but so depressing I had to stop reading it, along with Kafka and Hesse. That's a great pic of FD btw.

>>That's a great pic of FD btw. It's pretty standard.

I liked metro a lot. In fact I like russian scifi. Unfortunately I cannot find "The Slynx" on any of the big library sites and I really don't want to pay $20 for it on amazon

I'm 40% through Dostoevsky's The Idiot and never read any russian lit before. What have I got myself in for? Should I have read Don Quixote before reading this?

>>5466 >hat have I got myself in for? Are you liking it so far? What are your toughts on it?

>>5466 A lot of great books including The Idiot stand up on their own, reading inspirations and things they build upon can enhance your enjoyment of the book and often be a prerequisite for serious study and analysis of a book but I wouldn't be concerned. If you're worried then editions that have footnotes explaining cultural and historical references can be very helpful. My edition of Crime and Punishment has them mainly for Russian history and specific details of St Petersburg (e.g. explaining references to specific hat makers) and it made it more approachable.

>>5473 Loving it so far. I've never read something so rich and engrossing. I particularly love how characters were introduced in the beginning - every part of their face represented a characteristic of their being. Then you'd jump back and get a year of backstory about them before being flung to the present narrative. Now I'm into part 2, and the new characters and places feel more like rumors. You'll hear a name a few times, then meet them eventually. But yeah - super dialogue driven, lots of suspenseful drama - but nothing over the top. >>5479 Good to know. I haven't encountered anything which has thrown me off yet. Mostly just seems to be about characters which doesn't require background knowledge. The only thing I was thrown by was some Don Quixote references, but I think I'll just read-up and reflect on that once I finish. Were you Crime and Punishment footnotes referenced by numbers in the text? Or, like appendix notes at the end of each chapter? Also; how was Crime and Punishment?

>>5437 It's been over a decade since I read C&P but it stays with me. The most memorable scene for me was with Rodion and Rahzumin just looking at one another in the dark as they exchanged knowing of what he did. Sadly I don't have an ounce of ability to believe in god, goodness, or even morality so the whole thing was quite wasted on me. It was beautiful though.

>>5440 One of the best books I've ever read, writing style is fluid, words just fit for the genre and the atmosphere is perfect. Everyone here should read it. What are some other Strugatsky books you recommend ?

Hi lainons, looking for recs I like a lot the atmospheric stlaker genre like Metro 2033, and I already plan on reading Roadside Picnic. Do you have recs for other books in the stalker genre?

>>5484 Isn't the consensus that the "god" aspect of Crime and Punishment was a very late addition to the book and predominantly driven by Dostoevskies life becoming more godly as he was finishing the book. Hence why its pretty much purely confined to the epilogue.

My dad was a farty old Commie, and when he ran out on my mother left me with some good Russian SF and children's literature.

>>6195 Polish, not Russian. You've just made an enemy for life!

lolita obviously

>>6198 Which was written in English originally, in America after the author emigrated? and not translated into Russian until afterwards? And "obviously" in what sense exactly?

>>6198 Well, we might as well count Isaac Asimov as a Russian author.

>>6195 Great premise, soykafty execution. A least I felt it was boring af. And the descriptions of those weird eruption things (which they also don't really explain) are too detailed making them hard to read. 2/10

>>5437 I have finally finished The Brothers Karamazov, the last part was extremely good but the pacing was a bit weird by times in my opinion. I really love how I felt like I really knew those characters and the sadness of Dostoevsky was palpable. I still prefered Crime and Punishment but I'm looking forward to reading more of his books. I have "demons" planned next, has anyone read it ? (art by Alice Neel)

>>6205 Well, the point is that Solaris is weird and unexplainable. I agree though, it was pretty boring for the reasons you described. Could have used a little more plot and characterization between the scenery.

>>6194 I would never think these were available in English. I dunno if Krapivin was ever published in US, but here: http://books.rusf.ru/unzip/add-on/xussr_gk/krapv130.htm He's, so to say, a sentimental magical realist for kids. Unique and dreamy.

>>6228 I'm currently reading TBK, but ignoring it, I would say Demons is my favorite when compared to The Idiot and C&P.

can you please recommend new russian literature which I can read as a student-beginner of this language?

>>6781 maybe somebody will be able to help you but when people speak of reading russian lit usually they're reading it translated to english.

reading crime and punishment right now (first russian novel) and loving it so far. a little over 100 pages in (or the beginning of "part two" of the book; after reading the last 20 pages of part 1 i had to put it down and process what i'd just read, i'd never been sucked into a book so hard as that. truly some great soykaf. i'll come back to this thread after i finish the book.

>>5466 The Idiot is one of my favorite books. When I was reading it the characters felt so real, like people I knew in real life.

>>6781 “new” as in contemporary? Don’t know about that, but if I were learning the language I’d first try children’s literature like Viktor Dragunsky or Nikolai Nosov. You can also try finding 2-3rd grade (класс / кл.) literature class (литература) textbooks.

>>6834 just finished it, that was awesome. the themes were great, the psychological profile of the characters were fantastic, all around just a great book. very surreal, will definitely either read the idiot or BK at some point after i read a couple of non-fiction books i've been meaning to get around to.

I got maybe halfway through The Brothers Karamazov and got bored. Far too much religious ideology is the main issue for me. It was years ago but that is what I remember I liked Notes from Underground

>>6228 I've been reading Dostoyevsky chronologically this year, I'm currently in The Adolescent. My suggestion is you read The Idiot and Crime and Punishment before Demons.

>>7033 > My suggestion is you read The Idiot and Crime and Punishment before Demons. why? t. read demons but not the other two, do you miss something that way?

>>7047 No but it is clear how certain characters in Dostoyevsky 'evolve' if you read him chronologically. The novels aren't related.

Svidrigaïlov is literally weirdest and sympathetic (sensual) character of Dostoevsky. Any thoughts? btw. did anyone try live-adaptation on his works?

>>7066 I know The Idiot series is decent https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366028/ I might watch the film adaptation of Brothers Karamazov soon https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062757/

>>5437 The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol

>>5437 An Ordinary Story by Goncharov is really great.

I wrote some 'Russian Literature' before. I took a GE class in college that was called FOLKLORE. Turns out it was Russian Folklore taught by a Russian Jew that grew up in soviet Lithuania. By chance I took this in the winter term so on the second day of class being there was a heavy (for an area) flurry and when the teacher arrived, she bellowed out in her think Russian accent, 'Welcome to Mother Russia." We learned all about Vladimir Propp and his deconstructionist approach to wonder tales but my favorite part was just reading from Alexander Afanas'ev collection of Russian Fairy Tales. One of the projects in the class was to write our own 'Proppian Fairy Tale'. My first attempt was just to take Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and meld it with Proppian functions. It turned out alright but the end was a bit rushed since we were supposed to keep it under 700 words and I took almost 600 just to do the first two acts. I ended up just wrapping it up as fast as I could and slapped on a "I was there. I drank mead and bear; it went over my mustache and none went into my mouth." I still ended up a bit over 800 word but my teacher seemed to love it specially the queen's line "There will be no more foolish talk of love...you shall be married henceforth." But my proudest Russian fairy tale didn't come until after I finished the course. I was making a Pathfinder character for a three man party and wanted to play a halfling wizard that rode my peacock familiar but the DM wanted me to play a healer to make sure we had one (the other players ended up being a paladin and a summoner). So we compromised and I ended up playing a halfling witch that sat atop a goat. The problem I had was there was no CHARACTER just mechanics so I ended up writing a little tale about a girl, a goat and Baba Yaga to figure out the personality. I never ended up showing this tale to anyone who has actually read a Russian fairy tale so I was hoping you guys would enjoy it and give me some feed back since you have probably read at least a few. So without further ado: Inna and the Shaggy Goat, A Proppian Fairy Tale In a certain village, in a certain country, there lived a woman with her daughter, Inna. They lived far from the daily commotion of the village in a small cottage by an old forest. One day the woman sent her daughter to gather mushrooms, telling her, “Be mindful to stay on the road, there are dark magics deep within the trees.” Inna followed the path in search of mushrooms, just as her mother told her. She looked low then high; she looked left then right; but there were no mushrooms in sight. Inna knew that she would be safe if she could see the path so she began to search farther off it. Sooner a tale is spun that is the deed done. When her basket was full, she could no longer see the road. She had twisted and turned so much she no longer knew which way was backwards; all that she could do was walk forwards. Whether it was a short time or a long time; Inna walked and walked until she found a house on stilts that spun round and round. Knowing that Baba Yaga, the Boney-legged, dwelt within, Inna called out, “Little hut, little hut, do as you mother did to thee, turn your back to the forest and your front to me!” Its legs creaked and groaned to a stop in front of Inna. “Fie, fie, fie, here has neither seen nor smelled the Russian bone, yet here it comes all on its own.” cried Baba Yaga, “What brings such a thing here?” Inna told Baba Yaga of how she had lost her way and asked the witch, “Do you know how to get back to the road?” “Why of course I do,” the witch replied, “but you must be tired from your journey. Come rest and watch the fire while I prepare for supper.” With that, Baba Yaga flew off in her mortar and pestle, leaving Inna alone to tend the oven which was just the softest ember. She searched all through the house for wood but all she could find was a small pile of sticks underneath a shaggy goat. She asked the goat to move, but he didn’t respond. She offered some of her mushrooms, which he ate, but still he did not move. She tried to pull him; she tried to push him; but the goat wouldn’t budge. Inna began to worry, “If I do not get that wood, I cannot nurse the fire. Then Baba Yaga will surely eat me!” To which the goat replied, “She will eat you anyway.” “Then please, help me escape!” Inna begged. The goat shook his head saying, “If I help you escape then she will eat me.” Knowing that goats are just as stubborn as they are lazy, Inna began to goad the animal, saying, “I doubt you could even help me find the path, let alone get me away from Baba Yaga.” “Of course I could,” the goat replied, “get on my back and I will show you.” When Baba Yaga returned, she found the oven cold while Inna sat on the goat and began to fume, “Why is the oven cold? Did I not tell you to watch it? Come goat, bring me the girl and we will eat her as punishment.” “The oven is cold,” the goat replied, “if you start the oven and open the door, I will bring her over.”. So Baba Yaga started the fire and opened the door. But before she could call out to the goat, he had already sprung up and charged towards the witch. He knocked Baba Yaga into the oven and kicked the door shut as he passed. The goat ran into the forest as the witch cooked, he ran and ran until he reached the road and ran until he took Inna all the way home. Inna brought her mother the mushrooms she had gathered and was praised greatly for it. There they lived happily and no more evil times were had.

Anyone read And Quiet Flows the Don (Тихий Дон) by Solohov? I tried to read it at 14 but stopped for some reason, my mom recommend it. It's quite long but these days I have became more comfortable with long books as I read +1000 page books in regular basis. Has anyone read it, or even enjoyed it? The rural atmosphere was pretty comfy from what I can remember.

>>7758 ugh i can't read this, reads like a simulation of a crappy translation of our folklore

>>7067 >not 2008 film Petra Zelenky českými polskich русского Karamazovi

>>6187 Yeah the metro 2033 series was great, I recently finished it. I wish they had more meaningful inclusion of hunter though I'm going to read this roadside picnic. Have you found anything else with the taste of metro since your last post?

Does anyone have recs for the more recent books to have come out of Russia? Does Russia have its equivalent of American alt-lit or German popliteratur?

>>7763 sadly, no (didn't look much into it though). But I plan to read Metro-inspired books too (the ones in Paris and the ones in Saint Petersbourg) so I guess I'm not in a hurry or anything.

>>7793 >more recent books to have come out of Russia? Yeah, about that... There are plenty of modern books sure, but they weren't come from a place you would expect.

>>5466 Russian here. Read Tolstoy, not this pale infirmity.

I suggest you to read Ivan Goncharov's "Oblomov". It basically tells about a shut-in, who is used to this life, but suddenly gets pulled out of such life

>>7793 I'm not a big /lit/ guy, so I can suggest only a few contemporary writers. Victor Pelevin (haven't read him, but people say he's great, is very popular, most likely has translations to English), Vladimir Sorokin (I've read "The Norm" (or "Норма" in russian - cool stuff and I strongly advise you to read it. He's less popular, hard to find or no translations), Ilya Masodov (not known to general public, I read "The Darkness of Your Eyes" - enjoyed every single word of it. I can almost 100% guarantee his books have no translations, but if you can find someone to translate you or you're learning Russian - read him, he's great.)

Notes from underground is so based, he's literally writing about me

Currently halfway trough "The house of dead" by Dostoevsky. Might be his best in my opinion.

>>8091 second half of the book resurfaced similar memories and had me asking myself what the fuarrrk my problem was. book caused insight, so it checks out

>>7807 What's wrong with Dostoevsky?

>>8012 The ending is devastating.

I've just finished Crime and Punishment. Very interesting and had me invested the whole read. I was surprised at the contents of the book, varied yet all connecting in the end. I really loved the characters. Razumihin was such a brother and Raskolnikov was literally me. Looking forward to reading more Dostoevesky.

>>7807 russian here don't listen to this baka gaijin azeirbaijanin tolstoy uses too many letters