Why not go all in and read War and Peace? (Otherwise known as War: What is it Good For?). There’s a reason it’s so famous, it’s a great story. (The historical setting, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, was well known to contemporary readers, you may want to brush up if it’s unfamiliar to you).
skybluepink77 on
How about getting into the water gently, and starting with a small slim Russian classic?
So many people begin with War and Peace or Anna Karenina, have to DNF, and are put off Russian novels for life.
Start with A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn – short, pacy, interesting; it’s a bleak subject but there is humour, even hope, in the book.
Common_sense15 on
How any of these are Russian novels? What about Dostoevsky or Tolstoy or Gogol?
> The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, discussing Russian realist writers, said: “We all came out from under Gogol’s Overcoat” (a quote often misattributed to Dostoevsky). Writing in 1941, Vladimir Nabokov described “The Overcoat” as “The greatest Russian short story ever written”.
RealThingOne on
The Death of Ivan Ilyich , Tolstoy
Diary of a Madman and other stories, Gogol
Notes from the Underground, Dostoevsky
5 Comments
Why not go all in and read War and Peace? (Otherwise known as War: What is it Good For?). There’s a reason it’s so famous, it’s a great story. (The historical setting, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, was well known to contemporary readers, you may want to brush up if it’s unfamiliar to you).
How about getting into the water gently, and starting with a small slim Russian classic?
So many people begin with War and Peace or Anna Karenina, have to DNF, and are put off Russian novels for life.
Start with A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn – short, pacy, interesting; it’s a bleak subject but there is humour, even hope, in the book.
How any of these are Russian novels? What about Dostoevsky or Tolstoy or Gogol?
Try russian short stories https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13437/13437-h/13437-h.htm
Start with Gogol’s *The Overcoat*
From its wikipedia:
> The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, discussing Russian realist writers, said: “We all came out from under Gogol’s Overcoat” (a quote often misattributed to Dostoevsky). Writing in 1941, Vladimir Nabokov described “The Overcoat” as “The greatest Russian short story ever written”.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich , Tolstoy
Diary of a Madman and other stories, Gogol
Notes from the Underground, Dostoevsky
Also the Master and Marguerita, Bolgakov