Russian literature has a greatly colourful and dynamic past. One might think that with the more immediate history of Russia under the Soviets, authors and poets might not have been allowed to write as they did down through all the ages, not just in the past eighty years or so. However, this is not the case. Up until 1930, the authors and poets of Russia not only were allowed to express themselves freely, but did so, and it is thanks to their doing so that we have such a fine collection of novels, short stories, and poems, with which we can get a good glimpse into the lives of Russians of whatever time periods in which they lived and wrote.
The father of Russian literature is widely said to be Alexander Sergeievich Pushkin, who was born in Moscow in 1799. Before his premature death in 1837 at the age of thirty seven- he died whilst fighting a duel- Pushkin had written (from what I gather) twelve narrative poems, at least one verse novel, and twenty eight other works, including dramas, novels, short stories, and prose. At the time of his writing, he wrote predominantly in the Russian language, whereas most other Russian writers and intellectuals were writing in French. Pushkin had a great effect on Russian literature in general, as not only was he one of the first great authors, but his works did much to influence the Russian language, especially in literary circles, and inspire other great authors.
In the 1800s, during and for a long time after Pushkin's death, the golden era of Russian literature occurred. Famous works written in this period of time cover all the literary genres: drama, poetry, short stories, novels.
In the field of novels, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (born in 1909 in Sorochyntsi, which was then part of the Russian Empire, now part of Ukraine) is considered one of the first of the novelists. At the time of his writing, he was considered to have written largely in the style of literary realism. One of his more famous works was Dead Souls, a novel first published in 1942, wherein the author looks at some of the practices of serfdom and other aspects of Russian society and local government. Gogol died in 1852, at the age of forty-two.
Another, quite famous, Russian novelist was Fydor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), is quite conceivably most famous for his novel Crime and Punishment, which was first published in seralised format in 1866. The novel details the story of an improverished ex-student, who plots and carries through on his plan to murder an old pawn broker, believing that with her money, he can do many other good deeds to counterbalance this one crime. Things, of course, do not go as planned. Other of Dostoyevsky's works include The Idiot, The Gambler, The Brothers Karamazov, and Notes From the Underground. The author also wrote numerous short stories, and it is considered that he served as a pre-cursor 20th century existentialism. Many of his works contain pyschological elements.
And, of course, we must mention the great Leo Tolstoy, author of two invariably great and well known works: War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and numerous other short stories and autobiographical works. Born in 1828 and dying at the age of eighty-two, Tolstoy was orphaned at a young age (his mother died when he was still a baby, and his father died when he was nine years old). He served in the Crimean war, and his experiences travelling with his brother Nicolas' artillery division over the Caucasus Mountains was to form the main part of Tolstoy's 1861 novel The Cossacks. Tolstoy was greatly interested in the philosophical and spiritual side of life, and this comes through in his writings, including War and Peace, which was a novel serialised from 1864-1869. Anna Karenina followed next, a novel based off of a young lady known personally to Tolstoy. At this point in time Tolstoy was questioning various aspects of Russian society life and religion, and it is said that this comes through in Anna Karenina (I myself have not yet read the book, and am going on the thoughts of others here).
While Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are perhaps the two most well known of Russian authors from all time periods, there are indeed many others. While I do not want to bore you with details of all of them (please, feel free to discuss and mention other authors and their works not mentioned here), there are several more I will mention.
Anton Chekhov is one other such author, his talent in writing short stories led him to become internationally known and respected. Born in 1860 and dying in 1904, Chekhov practised medicine parallel to his literary career. He started out writing comic short stories, and by 1886 he was a regular contributor to a St. Petersburg daily. It was during this time that he developed his style.
His most famous works include The Cherry Orchard (published in 1904, the year of his death), and The Three Sisters (published in 1901). He died young, at the age of forty-four, of tuberculosis.
Maxim Gorky, a Soviet author, came in the later part of the Golden age of Russian literature. He was the founder of the Socialist Realism movement, which would later become the bane of other free thinking Russian authors during the Soviet era (for indeed, during the Soviet rule, if an author wanted to be published, he had to write according to the lines of thinking and in ways acceptable to Socialist Realism). In any case, however, Gorky was a dramatist and a novelist, writing a variety of works.
For the most part, the authors, dramatists and novelists above lived and wrote in the 1800s. However, let us not by any means suppose that Russian literature only started in the 1800s. While it is true, to some extent, that the greatest and most famous Russian authors wrote during this era, and that the golden age of Russian literature occurred then, if it was not for their earlier predecessors, no doubt the golden age would have been different to some extent.
Let us then proceed to take a quick and by no means exhaustive look at some of the authors and poets who preceded the likes of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, and who lived and wrote in the eighteenth century.
Denis Fonvizin was an 18th century playwright, writing plays during the Russian Enlightenment. Alexander Sumarokov, who lived from 1717 to 1777, was another of the Russian playwrights, and in fact is considered to be one of the foremost authors and fathers of classical theatre in Russia. Vasily Trediakovsky was another poet, playwright, essayist, and author who did much to lay the foundations for Russian classical literature. He lived from 1703 to 1768, and was also a prolific translator of foreign works. Ivan Krylov was a fabulist who lived from 1769 to 1844, perhaps being Russia's foremost writer of fables (although ostensibly not the first or only one). Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin was a poet and statesman who lived largely in the eighteen century- he was born in 1743 and died in 1816. Nikolai Karamzin is another such Russian author, he is perhaps most famous for his 12 volume history of Russian history and statehood entitled History of the Russian State. Lastly (although perhaps not lastly per se, just the last I shall mention so I shall not demand your attention any further) is Mikhail Lermontov, (1814-1841) who was a Romantic writer, poet, and painter, and was killed at the age of twenty-six whilst fighting a duel. He is considered to be the greatest Russian author of the Romantic period, and also one of Russia's best poets, a title he co-shares with Alexander Pushkin.
The above paragraphs are, once again, not intended to be an exhaustive essay on Russian authors and their works, so please feel free to add and discuss ones that are not mentioned here. I myself am not a scholar of Russian literature: to be honest I have only read War and Peace by Tolstoy (although it is one of my favourite works of literature, so perhaps that counts for something?). Please also feel free to discuss any film or theatrical adaptations you have seen of any works written by Russian authors.
One last thing, we must, in our discussions on various aspects and authors of Russian literature &c remember to abide by the rules of the Spare Oom and NarniaWeb forums, which can be read in their entirety here and here.
So, to get the discussion going, here are some questions:
What are some of your favourite works by Russian authors?
Who is your favourite Russian author?
Have you seen any film adaptations of Russian novels/works?
If so, which ones? Do you have any favourites?
Dear days of old, with the faces in the firelight,
Kind folks of old, you come again no more.
(Robert Louis Stevenson)
Topic starter
Posted : September 22, 2011 4:42 am
I've read a few of the classic Russian works of literature, but not enough to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination 
. My favorite Russian work (and for that matter my favorite book) of all time is War and Peace by Tolstoy. The reasons I love the book so are probably all the wrong ones to purists...I care little about Pierre's search for spiritual meaning in life, or Tolstoy's long winded reflections on why this happened or what created the problem/s in the first place. I am very much in love with the characters and the setting. Tolstoy created a huge pastiche of characters, ranging from the genteel and loveable Rostovs, to the pure minded and naive Pierre Bezukhov, and finally the despicable Kuragins. There's literally hundreds of characters one can follow in the book 
. And this is all well before one gets to the richly described battles where one can feel the incessant thumping of cannons or get to ride along in a doomed cavalry charge. What a great book!!!
What are some of your favourite works by Russian authors? I honestly haven't read many 
but I love War and Peace. It is my favorite book of all time . I also enjoyed to a somewhat lesser extent Anna Karenina. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky was quite good as well. I harbor dreams of one day visiting St. Petersburg.
Who is your favourite Russian author? Tolstoy!
Have you seen any film adaptations of Russian novels/works? I saw the old version of War and Peace with Audrey Hepburn as Natasha and Henry Fonda as Pierre. I watched parts of a more recent adaptation of Anna Karenina but didn't care for what I saw of it.
To do War and Peace right you'd almost need to do a weeklong miniseries with 2 hours airing each night. It'd end up being as long as LotR if it was going to be done correctly.
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Posted : September 24, 2011 12:22 am
Fear not, Shadowlander, I am by no means an expert at it either, so I know the feeling.
My favorite Russian work (and for that matter my favorite book) of all time is War and Peace by Tolstoy. The reasons I love the book so are probably all the wrong ones to purists...I care little about Pierre's search for spiritual meaning in life, or Tolstoy's long winded reflections on why this happened or what created the problem/s in the first place. I am very much in love with the characters and the setting. Tolstoy created a huge pastiche of characters, ranging from the genteel and loveable Rostovs, to the pure minded and naive Pierre Bezukhov, and finally the despicable Kuragins. There's literally hundreds of characters one can follow in the book
I cannot add anything more to that, it's a good description of how I feel about the book and why I like it too. So that makes two of us. 
When I started learning about history way back when I was really young, the Napoleonic era was one of the first, if not the first, era about which I learned, so there has always been this fascination about it to me, so War and Peace fits perfectly into that category.
I've read a few of the classic Russian works of literature, but not enough to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination
What are some of your favourite works by Russian authors? I honestly haven't read many
Who is your favourite Russian author? Tolstoy!
Have you seen any film adaptations of Russian novels/works? I saw the old version of War and Peace with Audrey Hepburn as Natasha and Henry Fonda as Pierre. I watched parts of a more recent adaptation of Anna Karenina but didn't care for what I saw of it.
To do War and Peace right you'd almost need to do a weeklong miniseries with 2 hours airing each night. It'd end up being as long as LotR if it was going to be done correctly.
But oh, would it be worth it! The 2007 mainly European (I say European as it had a cast and crew of French, Italian, Polish, etc, and a couple British actors) adaptation of the story was eight hours long, and I think they got the casting correct even though they played around with how the beginning of the story/film opened, and changed the ending somewhat. Still, they kept my favourite storyline , so I was happy.
I've seen the Hepburn/Fonda version as well, which was pretty good, for a film of a very long novel. I thought it neat how Jeremy Brett played Nikolai, as of course Brett would go on to play Sherlock Holmes some years later. Although he was obviously older when he did Holmes, in W&P his voice was similiar, so I think once or twice I thought "this is what Sherlock Holmes would look like in Russia in the 1800s..." Probably kind of silly.
Dear days of old, with the faces in the firelight,
Kind folks of old, you come again no more.
(Robert Louis Stevenson)
Topic starter
Posted : September 24, 2011 1:48 am
Fear not, Shadowlander, I am by no means an expert at it either, so I know the feeling.
Good! I always feel guilty when people talk about the philosophical aspects of the book and I tend to keep my mouth shut because I consider it to be an epic act of historical fiction practically drenched with drama and romance. 
There are those that would pick on me for this.
The Hepburn/Fonda one was good, although its pretty much impossible to squeeze a book as enormous as W&P even a 4 hour time frame. I think Hepburn was nicely cast as Natasha, although to do it right one should really cast a teenager to play a teenager. The idea of a woman in her late 20's playing a 14 year old is tough to handle. Fonda, in my opinion, was miscast as Pierre. Pierre is better played by someone who's not only tall (which Fonda was) but they also have to be a bit rotund. Capice? They also have to be kind of socially awkward but have an intrinsic likeability about them. If you can find an actor to fit all of those different aspects then you've got your Pierre. Prince Andrei would be easier to cast I think.
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Posted : September 24, 2011 4:51 am
Well, in the Great Tolstoy/Dostoevski Divide, put me firmly down on the side of Fyodor.
"The Brothers Karamazov" is the greatest novel ever, and with C&P, The Devils(aka The Possessed), The Idiot, and Notes From Underground are the greatest extended collections of works.
Turgenev-most notably "Fathers and Sons"- was also one of the greats, though he was caricatured by Dostoevski in The Devils.
Two moderns who should be included are Solzhenitsyn and Mikhail Bulgakov.
Solzhenitsyn is most famous for "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch" and though his best is probably "Cancer Ward", my favorite is "The First Circle".
Bulgakov lived from 1891 to 1940 and suffered under Stalinist censorship- his greatest work "The Master and Margharita" wasn't published till 1966.
It's a fantastical 'magic realist' style romp through Moscow:
The novel begins with Satan visiting Moscow in the 1930s, joining a conversation between a critic and a poet debating the existence of Jesus Christ and the Devil. It then evolves into an all-embracing indictment of the corruption, greed, narrow-mindedness, and widespread paranoia of Soviet Russia. Published more than 25 years after Bulgakov's death, and more than ten years after Stalin's, the novel firmly secured Bulgakov's place among the pantheon of great Russian writers.
There is a story-within-the-story dealing with the interrogation of Jesus Christ by Pontius Pilate and the Crucifixion
Absolutely wonderful!
The difference is that people wanted to hear the stories, whereas I never met anyone who wanted to read the essays
Posted : September 24, 2011 6:03 am
Good! I always feel guilty when people talk about the philosophical aspects of the book and I tend to keep my mouth shut because I consider it to be an epic act of historical fiction practically drenched with drama and romance.
I can sympathise. While I personally would love to be able to be philosophical and write philosophically inclined posts about War & Peace, I find that talent escapes me almost altogether completely (is that a redundant statement? Hmm...). To be sure, I enjoy the sweeping historical aspects of the book, but to me primarily it is a grand story with all those aspects as you have so mentioned.
I think Hepburn was nicely cast as Natasha, although to do it right one should really cast a teenager to play a teenager. The idea of a woman in her late 20's playing a 14 year old is tough to handle. Fonda, in my opinion, was miscast as Pierre. Pierre is better played by someone who's not only tall (which Fonda was) but they also have to be a bit rotund. Capice?
I wonder if filmmakers have actually thought of casting a different, and younger, actress to play Natasha as a young girl. In the 2007 mini-series version they did not make too huge a deal of Natasha's younger years, although throughout the film as she was older they subtly matured her. In the 1960s Soviet production, they had the same actress play young Natasha (which they showed) and older Natasha, or, as she is through the rest of the story. Perhaps the idea of casting a younger actress to play the younger role and an older one to play the older role was not quite thought of back then? But perhaps not.
In regards to Pierre, yes, I see from where you are coming. I was going to say that Sergei Bondarchuk played a fairly well Pierre, but now I recall that a) he didn't look as young as Pierre was, and b) he certainly wasn't tall, if I recall it correctly. He did portray that social awkwardness of which you speak, though.
Thank you, Graymouser, for adding into the discussion the names of those authors. The book of which you speak, The Master and Margharita, sounds quite good, I shall have to check it out.
Dear days of old, with the faces in the firelight,
Kind folks of old, you come again no more.
(Robert Louis Stevenson)
Topic starter
Posted : September 29, 2011 1:59 pm
Russian literature is something I grew up with. My favorite author would probably be Leo Tolystoy. I never read War and Peace, though I read a lot of his other works. His kids stories are amazing.
Solzhenitsyn is another of my favorite writers. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (goodness does it feel weird to write these names in English 
) is probably my favorite, Cancer Ward was amazing though, I enjoyed reading it.
Alexader Pushkin wrote a lot of poems for children, he has whole fairy tales written in poetic from, I grew up reading those.Yevgeny Onegin, his verse novel, is really awesome, and beautifully written, and so very sad. Of his drama, there is an opera put to it. Of his drama, A Feast in Time of Plague (Pir vo vremya chumy) is probably my favorite, though I had to read it a couple times to get the point of it . I didn't read a lot of his prose, but my favorite of what I did read is The Squire's Daughter (Baryshnya-krestyanka) and The Captain's Daughter (Kapitanskaya dochka). I hated The Blizzard (Metel) and didn't particularly care for Peter the Great's Negro (Arap Petra Velikogo).
Sergei Yesenin also wrote some nice poems, I'm not really a big fan of his, but he was talented.
I've seen a lot of film adaptions of many of these author's works. Though all of them were Russian films. Come to think of it, I don't think I've every seen a foriegn movie to any Russian work, though I did see a trailer to an old Hollywood War and Peace movie, never got around to watching it though, I have wanted to, but can't seen to get myhands on it 
always be humble and kind
Posted : September 30, 2011 7:48 am
Please note that this Special Feature will be closing on Monday, November 14, and a huge shout-out to ForeverFan who wrote a fantastic Intro!
Signature by Narnian_Badger, thanks! (2013)
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Posted : November 9, 2011 8:12 am
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