The Great Russian Author

Akhmatova was a poet, not an author.

Hey, what about us??

What R 2 said.

Dostoevsky will win because that's the one we were all forced to read in our AP English class in high school.

I can't really declare the greatest, but I must say I love Nabokov's writing.

R5 I do too! Lolita is a great book

Akhmatova was brilliant -she's definitely on the list of all-time greats.

To be fair, you have to read these authors in the original -not in translation.

R7 is right.

Bulgakov for me. Not prolific but Master and Margarita is a deliverance.

Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak, Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, and Ivan Turgenev use too many words.

The ninth person on the list wrote a scenario which were embodied by these clever craftsman.

An Australian provided this splendid 90 second overture containing yearning strings for the doomed lovers and jangling Russian bells which evolve into bells of tragedy. And Cecil clothed the lovely Vivien in splendid costumes with flattering bustles.

R4 - lucky you. I didn't read Dostoevsky until college.

Having said that, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov are two of the most compelling novels I've ever read.

Crime and Punishment is completely overrated, although there are lyrical passages and great incites.

Solzhenitsyn is definitely worth reading, too. Probably not high among the greats.

^ Crime and Punishment, read in Russian. Shoulda said. The translations are a garbled shadow of the original words. Convoluted almost.

All translations are unsatisfactory.

As unsatisfactory as being penetrated by a dildo-machine.

Tolstoy > Dostoyevsky

R12

[quote] … lyrical passages and great incites…

Very insightful

Andrei Makine

surprised so many voted for fyodor....

though was disappointed a few pure poets didn't make the list, but then they do deserve to battle out on their own list for their greater influence on the west from the days of nicholas ii and the influence on political teetotalism to the gay liberation, psychiatric and political prisoners.

[quote] political teetotalism

What does that mean?

Google tells me about 'teetotal politicians' but not 'political teetotalism'.

Never understood the love for Chekhov. Give me Dostoevsky, please!

Emile Zola

R6 - pedophile

Tolstoy

r20 "The Lady with the Dog" and "Misery" are both brilliant.

WHET Marina Tsvetaeva, OP? She is the greatest Russian poet after Pushkin.

And Daniil Kharms, the absurdist who came long before Monthy Python.

And "our ideas, your gasoline" Ilf and Petrov.

And great poet of the revolution Vladimir Mayakovskiy, "not a human, but cloud wearing pants".

Pushkin. Eugene Onegin is very witty but very heartbreaking.

I bet none of you are sufficiently confident to transcribe ONE great sentence.

Just ONE great sentence from ONE of the great novels from ONE of the great authors over which you are so proudly boasting!

I'm sure those of you saying that translations can't compare to the originals, but I'm sure as shit not learning Russian in my 40s. Perhaps that's one reason Nabokov appeals to me so much. He was obviously fluent in multiple languages and actually wrote his novels in both English (sometimes, first in English) and in Russian. Brilliant man. I know Lolita is the first thing people think of with him, but I'm partial to Pnin and Pale Fire, too.

I meant to say "I'm sure those of you saying that translations can't compare to the originals ARE CORRECT, but..."

Voted for Turguenev who has so little love and whom il love. And I couldn’t decide between Techkov and Tolstoy. I love Crime and Punishment but i now find it rather adolescent. It is only at a certain age you appreciate a single tale about being stuck in the snow.

R28 perhaps you meant translate? I know the words sorta sound similar, but…

Perhaps you should stick to English language books for the time being.

R28 thinks Proust was trying to remember where he left his dessert. Or that there’s an extremely arid region of north central France?

🤷‍♂️

Все счастливые семьи похожи друг на друга, каждая несчастливая семья несчастлива по-своему.

Tolstoy. That translates (or transcribes, as R28 understands it) very easily and cleanly.

I read Chekhov’s “Mouzhiks” recently and it blew me away totally. What insight into human misery and its causes without being overly sentimental.

He was a poet, but I’m a big fan of Mayakovsky.

R34 «Это были лучшие времена, это были худшие времена

Great Russian poet.

Bulgakov for sheer audacity.

None of you poseurs are sufficiently confidant to take on the challenge posed by R28!

That's because, R42, it is a sucker's bet. No matter what someone might choose, it will be attacked. More to the point, a great novel is greater than the sum of its parts. You cannot take a single sentence from a book -out of context - and by it proclaim the greatness of the novel, or the author. No one here is falling for R28's little trap.

Now, and I mean this in the best-of-all-possible ways, kindly fuck off.

Not on the list: Nobel Prize winner Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

Thank you, DL, for acknowledging that Ukraine-born Bulgakov and Gogol were great RUSSIAN authors.

[quote] You cannot take a single sentence from a book and by it proclaim the greatness of the novel

And you definitely can't take a single sentence which has been cobbled together by a hack-translator and by it proclaim the greatness of the novel.

no Ivan Vivanski option?

Ivan Vivanski is not great.

Ivan Vivanski was not great.

Yes, R47, Poruchik Kizhe was also a Great Russian Author.

[QUOTE] None of you poseurs are sufficiently confidant to take on the challenge posed by [R28]!

Shame you can't read. There's a quote in Russian from Tolstoy at R34.

Dostoevsky prophesied the Woke Brigade

R51 Oh god, the idiots are here. The moron who insists on someone transcribing a single sentence and the troll quoting Dostoyevsky to make a 'point' about the 'woke brigade' (massive wtf).

It's sad to see how far Russia has fallen. Most of these authors are from before Communism or wrote in the early years of it. Where are the 'great' authors since? Communism demanded that artists and writers only write things sanctioned by the state. There hasn't been real creative freedom in Russia since. Only this week I read about how a play about Nureyev has been banned by Russia because it had some homoerotic scenes. Even though the truth that Nureyev was gay.

[quote]Where are the 'great' authors since? Communism demanded that artists and writers only write things sanctioned by the state.

But Communism fell 30 years ago. Where are today's Great Russian Authors?

Most major authors from the 20h Century would say Fyodor. Everyone from Henry Miller to Hemingway cited him as the best. And I agree. His work was amazing. Holds up better than Tolstoy for sure.

But I think The Master and Margarita is the best Russian novel of all time.

Dostoyevski the best author, TM&M the best novel.

R55 Are on first name terms with Fyodor?

I assume they're all dead R56.

As for me? I just hate typing out Dost. I always end up spelling it wrong. And I'm also very tired right now. Which makes my spelling even worse than normal

I hope that doesn't affect you too negatively. Lord knows I'd hate to upset you.

Finding the best of Russian ANYTHING, is a race to the bottom of nihilism, depression and God ordained suffering. Has Russia ever produced a RomCom?

R58 'Cheryomushki' is a happy romantic comedy.

Lots of rollicking happy tunes. The song at 25 minutes introduces the three happy suitors courting the three happy brides-to-be.

Some great dancing at 45 minutes.

OMG, a Soviet propaganda musical!

Let's all get in line and SING!

There's lots of good tunes in 'Cheryomushki'.

Only the condescending intellectual elite bother to boast about their personal favorite Great Russian Author.

These Great Russian Authors are the personal property of the condescending intellectual elite.

R62 yeah, give me a poor Russian beat farmer any day. Subsistence farmers add such depth and character to the cultural record.

Russian beat farmer

Beet

The elite

R55, ok

The Master & Margarita sounds like a BDSM novel.

Hated The Master and Margarita but my brother who loves Terry Pratchett loved it. I recently read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka and it seemed in a very similar style so if you love that book, check out that and Terry Pratchett?

Readers are, ipso facto, intellectuals.

This man is an intellectual.

R20 - dumbass who only ever reads Datalounge and has a massive complex about it.