Hello! Me and my mom are bother Ukrainian, living in Canada. We are from a Russian speaking area so that's our native language, and my mom reads a lot of stuff by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Saharov, and Solzhenitsyn. We got onto the topic of feminism, and I found that she seems to interpret the movement as being a "women are better than men" movement instead of a fight for equality. (I do understand where she gets this view from, there's a lot of people that give the movement a bad name by acting as if that's exactly what the movement is about.)

I noticed she doesn't seem to read any books written by women, and I wanted to reccomended her some. I'm looking for books by influential female authors with literature on feminist or women empowering topics (that don't claim that women are better than men)

Also, I'm not going to be engaging in any comments that aren't answering my inquiry. I'm not here to argue or debate, so you can shout into the void all you want.

Thank you for anyone who actually suggests things!

Hi Everyone, I am selling some works by famous authors and I think you guys would appreciate them as this is the Russian Literature Spot. All of these books are in Russian and most were published in Soviet times.

Konstantin Simonov: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285621301020

Mikhail Lermantov: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285717769036

Ilya Ehrenburg: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285835233480

Sergein Yesenin: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285621303408

Paol Anderson https://www.ebay.com/itm/285718509568

Theodore Dreiser: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285827186749

Ernest Hemingway: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285730238208

Victor Hugo: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285839918531

Arkadiy Gaidar: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285729268753

English/Russian Physics Dictionary: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285729119662

I was about 10 and I was addicted to read [dostoevsky]. I could spend hours learning about all sorts of stuff, staring at the illustrations and photos, and of course, smelling the books. However, I could get my fix at my local library only as my parents could barely afford food for us, let alone buying fancy books. So, I became a regular guest at the kids/teenager section of the library.

One day I couldn't get there in time, so I only had about half an hour to spend before closing time. Not just that, but they also had a brand new, 400 page copy of C&P waiting for me on the shelf. It was love on the first sight. I felt awful, because I knew that I couldn't do much reading in such a little time, and then there was this lovely smelling book with a montage of a skull and a cross (vintage books edition) on the front cover just begging me to read it. Sadly, books like those were not borrowable and time was ticking.

I thought about 'taking it', but it was just enormous and I wasn't. I wasn't a bad boy either, I told myself. But what if I just take a few pages? That surely won't hurt anyone, and noone will notice it missing. That's what I did. The book was binded in a way, that I could carefully rip about 5 pages out in one go. I wrapped the pages around my foot, slipped them in my socks, covered my socks with my pants and I just casually walked out. The first time I actually said 'Thank you very much' with a big smile to the librarian and she gave me that awkward 'What the heck are you talking about?' look. My 10 years old mind quickly realised how stupid I was to say that and I, maybe even my parents could be in jail for this, so I just rushed out, sweating and with my heart jumping out of my chest.

Originally I wanted to return the pages at the next visit to the library. But as I was sitting on my bed at home, reading about Petersburg and Raskolnikov (the only content I got at the time), I came up with the masterplan of repeating the process until I get every page. And the plan was working! Not just that, but I improved on the technique. I wrapped pages around my feet, around my arms (had to wear long sleeve for that) and also kept a stack on my back, tucked carefully in my pants. I could get about 20-25 pages in just one day. I remember walking slowly like a robot on my way out as I didn't want to crush the pages too much. I couldn't bend in any direction because the pages were holding my limbs tight.

After several visits to the library the book began to visibly shrink. So I got some paper from the photocopy room and replaced the missing pages with blank ones. My last visit was the sketchiest, because I had to take the trophy somehow. By trophy I mean the hard cover with the astronauts on. There was no way to wrap it like I did with the pages and it was too big to hide it anywhere on me. But I was so close to victory, I couldn't let it go. I had the shiny cover in its full glory, in my hand. I put it under my t-shirt, on my back. Hands in my pocket, trying to hold the cover with my elbows. I was scared to the bone that they will catch me and send me to jail. I checked my reflection in the window. I looked like a terrified Lady Gaga with fake shoulderpads. But I was also shameless by this time, I knew I was an awful person. It was nearly 5 o'clock and every librarygoer left, the librarians were doing their closing up routines so the front desk was abandoned. I just walked out without anyone noticing me.

Note: Original post https://www.reddit.com/r/offmychest/s/8iudyf1OL5 I found this so hilarious. I couldn't stop myself from making a Russian parody of this.

I'm looking for suggestions to add to my reading list. I'm sticking to mostly the classics.

Here's what I've read so far:

Dostoyevsky: Notes From Underground, Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment

Tolstoy: Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilych, War and Peace

Gogol: Dead Souls

Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago

Currently reading: Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago Volume 1

On Deck. : Dostoyevsky's The Idiot

My favorite writer is Dostoyevsky by far.

What's worth checking out

Edit: Spacing issues

Heyhey,

my sister-in-law is a psychotherapist for children in Germany. One of her newer patients, a 13 yo girl, is on the neurodivergent spectrum and obsessed with some russian fantasy-like stories in or in relation to the sowjet union. The girl lived in Russia for the first years of her life and her mother tongue is russian. My sister-in-law asked me to try and find some of her inspirations, since the girl uses mostly russian sites.

We already succesfully found a more unknown german book series. The protagonists are called Olga (she often refers to an olya) and Boris (which appears equally often). Another name is Karin, that's dropped quite often. If anyone here knows some other russian stories of that genre with protagonists of that name, I gladly check them out.

The girl also refers to a figure she calls "Creator of the forest" (создатель леса according to google or Schöpfer des Waldes in german). The children in the stories need to be protected from the creator of the forest.

I wasn't able to find something with that figure and searching the russian web via ai translator was kinda tough. Also it's not 100% limited to books, but it's the most propable option. I would love to hear about stuff from other things. Games, TV series, etc.. So if anyone has read or heard of anything about such a creator, my sister-in-law would be very happy to be able to connect better with the kid.

Thx in advance!

"We" is one my favorite books from Soviet literature, and I realized I didn't have a copy in my personal (physical) library. I looked online, and came across this. I love the art design of this particular copy but the word vomit is sort of a deal breaker for me..

Obviously translation type is important and a forward is nice, but does it need to be on the cover?

What are your thoughts?

So happy there's a sub for this.

There's a quote I'm trying to remember fully that's driving me crazy. I'm pretty sure it's from a early-to-mid-twentieth century Russian or Communist bloc writer. It goes something like: If you want to have a secret network for messages, you need only associate regularly with three other people, who associate regularly with three other people, and no [Stasi], no secret police can [investigate/arrest] them all.

That's definitely paraphrasing, no Googling with quote syntax has yielded no matches. If any of y'all could help, I'd be so grateful!

Hi Everyone, I am selling some works by famous authors and I think you guys would appreciate them as this is the Russian Literature Spot. All of these books are in Russian and most were published in Soviet times.

Konstantin Simonov: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285621301020

Sergein Yesenin: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285621303408

Romain Rolland: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285717712944

Mikhail Lermantov: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285717769036

Paol Anderson https://www.ebay.com/itm/285718509568

Theodore Dreiser: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285827186749

Ernest Hemingway: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285730238208

Victor Hugo: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285729141777

Arkadiy Gaidar: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285729268753

English/Russian Physics Dictionary: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285729119662

Thank you!

(From Chapter 13 of the Glenny translation)

“'What's your job? '

'I'm a poet,' admitted Ivan with slight unwillingness.

This annoyed the man.

'Just my bad luck! ' he exclaimed, but immediately regretted it, apologised and asked : ' What's your name? '

'Bezdomny.'

'Oh . . .' said the man frowning.

'What, don't you like my poetry? ' asked Ivan with curiosity.

'No, I don't.'

'Have you read any of it? '

'I've never read any of your poetry! ' said the visitor tetchily.

'Then how can you say that? '

'Why shouldn't I? ' retorted the visitor. ' I've read plenty of other poetry. I don't suppose by some miracle that yours is any better, but I'm ready to take it on trust. Is your poetry good?'

'Stupendous! ' said Ivan boldly.

'Don't write any more! ' said the visitor imploringly.

'I promise not to! ' said Ivan solemnly.”

It’s always puzzled me. What point was Bulgakov trying to make?

(Edit: Formatting)

Hello everyone,

I’m currently reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “Cancer Ward”. On page 93, it is written that “Ludmila Afanasyevna believed it was Leo Tolstoy who had said about his brother: he had all the abilities but none of the defects of a real writer.” Does anyone know if Tolstoy actually said this (the quote makes the source uncertain) and if so where did he say it?

Many thanks

I was born in Cananda but grew up speaking Russian. I have recently read the witcher (Vedmak) first book of the series in russian and had little to no issue with the language, just the pace of my prose reading.

Considering my level, could anyone here recommend me some poetry that I can challenge mself with and enjoy but not feel completely discouraged by? I'd really like to take advantage of knowing this language by getting to know the best of its literature through small steps. Thanks in advance!

I came across Father and Sons by Ivan Turgenev during my search for a novel which would be able to introduce me to some basic ideas of nihilism. Earlier I had tried to read Nietzsche's-"Thus Spoke Zarathustra", but I lost my motivation halfway through it because of it being different from many other books I had read.

Back to Father and Sons, I understand that Turgenev wanted to show the conflict in ideologies of two different generations and he did show the philosophy of every character in a clear way. But the problem started as I progressed further into the novel. Bazarov, who is the central figure in the novel, talks about nihilism as a "force to destroy"(I believe this is really what he said) and compared to what I read from Nietzsche, he meant nihilism as a philosophy where man should surpass his own limits and become something greater, that is the Ubermensch. And this clearly does not falls in line with Bazarov views where is driven by anger, which he himself admits, and most of the time what he does is just trying to show how much wrong others are.

I recall another instance where Bazarov implies that feelings like love and beauty are meaningless, but from what I had interpreted during my reading of Zarathustra, I believe it is rather said to love everything and everyone regardless of those whom you want to and feel beauty even in the places which you may find ugly. I think my interpretation of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" does not aligns much with nihilism, but even then Bazarov's way of thinking about it seems. I wanted to know what other people think about his ideas of nihilism because I am confused in the struggle with his notion of nihilism and mine.

Can someone give me an order of authors I should read to fully understand the development of Russian literature in the 1800s? I’m currently reading Orlando Figes’ book on Russia and he says that Gogol was the first major realist Russian fiction writer who then inspired other famous Russian writers. Any help would be great!

I am wracking my brain trying to remember a Russian short story I read in college. The course was “Golden Age of Russian Literature” so the date would have been 19th century. I remember it was about one woman who was the main character of the story and another woman who were both exiled to Siberia for a crime. I believe I remember there being a love triangle of some sorts with a man who was also exiled, and that the story ended with the main woman murdering someone. I remember most of the story took place on the road to Siberia and at some point there was a boat crossing of a river on the journey. My apologies for such a vague description, but if anyone knows what story it was that I’m remembering please let me know!

I’m just starting to watch part 1 of Sergey Bondarchuk’s adaptation of War and Peace. In the opening credits, they credit Tolstoy as something similar to ‘Лев Толсмоǔ’ which does not make any sense to me. I’m just starting to learn the Russian language, but this seems to be the only word in the credits that doesn’t fit. I’ve exhausted my Google searches, and I feel like I can’t keep watching until I know the answer. Thanks for any insight!

EDIT:

https://youtu.be/bIij-KQ0jYU?si=ejSwWBZyKC03r7Ic The frame in question is at the 0:2:43 mark!

Hi. Please help! I really want to read Dostoevsky's translation of Edgar Allan Poe: "Three Tales of Poe" in Russian. I can't find it anywhere. Can you help? I can PAY!

I've enjoyed the little Chekhov that I've read so far, but my favorite was a close reading of The Cart with George Saunders*. I would love to read more of Chekhov's work with additional insight.

Do you have any favorite editions? Do you have any go-to publishers for annotated works? I'm finding a lot online, but I don't want to go with just anything when there's something good out there.

PS I hope the "help" flair is proper here. I figured that since I am not giving a recommendation, that one would not be the right flair.

*/A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Masterclass on Writing, Reading, and Life/

For perspective, the Leo Tolstoy Complete Collection was 186 hours, and the Holy Bible is 85 hours (on average).

I took a brief hiatus away from Reddit and Russian literature, but it looks like it's time to dive back in with this Fyodor Dostoevsky rabbit hole 🕳

I'm currently writing an essay for a Russian literature class I am in.

For the argument I am making I need different author's versions of The Prophet. For example I know the Shevchenko has taken the idea and put it into his own version and words. I know that there are more -- it doesn't have to be exact just anything in Russian Literature where the author carries the same idea of essentially being a literary prophet/great. If anyone has anymore examples of this in Russian or Ukrainian Literature I would greatly appreciate you dropping the title and author!

​

Thank you !