Contemporary background (why I am presenting this obscure subject)

I accidentally fell into a crevasse between theory (Russian culturology) and life (American song culture) and got intellectually injured. In Russia, it is common knowledge that “bard songs,” with their primary focus on the lyrics, are something special and directly related to the Russian cultural identity. This concept was presented, for example, in lectures of respected culturologist and singer-songwriter Alexander Mirzayan, who has always insisted that development of this special kind of content-focused songs based on good, multi-layered poetry is uniquely Russian and related to literature-centricity of Russian culture. However, it is baffling to me, who lives in both American and Russian cultures thus enjoying, due to my personal preferences, specifically, both Russian and American songs that are surprisingly similar (not in a bad sense), in the lyric and music styles, lyric/music ratio and general approach to life. 

Where I see a fissure is in the mutual perception of both cultures by the general public. What does an American recall when accidentally asked about Russian songs? Some “Kalinka”, maybe, or nothing. What about the Russian folks and American songs? Oh, shit, Kanye West, because he is all over the Russian news right now. Meanwhile, as a Russian I listen to songs that you have never heard of, and not because they are marginal  or unimportant, but because they are not promoted and not easy for a foreigner, and mostly because of who cares… The examples are given below, they are the main subject of this review. Meanwhile, as an American I enjoy live shows of Nick Shoulders, Brother Barnaby, Tejon Street Corner Thieves, Goodnight, Texas, and many similar things that a Russian in Russia has never heard of. I realized not long ago that my choice was not accidental. I  like them subconsciously because the American tradition these groups represent is, in fact, similar to the one special Russian songwriting tradition that I have enjoyed most in that culture. It became abundantly clear recently, when I started following our local, small songwriters collective Jack County Line (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1FRpJygTDc) who present their work to the public regularly. Yes, they are recommended, but it is beyond the point in a review related to foreign culture. What is relevant: I talked to JD, Michael and Norm and found that their approach to the songwriting in general and lyrics in particular was very similar to what I knew about the attitudes and goal setting of Russian “bards.” So, nothing is accidental, it represents independent, parallel development that illustrates to me as a historian a unity of the Western culture. 

Historical background (a few points related to Russian culture over centuries)

First and foremost: you are badly mistaken if you think that we are discussing an obscure subject, just tangentially related to Russian literature that is all Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, and, just maybe, Barkov and Nabokov. The original readership of these authors is the same as the target audience of Russian lyric-centered songs (we will get there), and the attitudes of Russian writers and readers are both significantly, to higher extent than people normally think (if anyone thinks of this subject at all), are affected by music poetry as an integral part of Russian culture.
Historically, the concept of rhyme came to Russian language/poetry from the West via Poland and stuck for a much longer time than in other European languages, to the extent that many Russians recognize only rhymed poetry as such. As in every other culture, rhymed poetry in Russia has been associated with songwriting. A closer look reveals a peculiar and changing way of such association. 

Songs, in general, are normally related to work, military, ritual and recreational activities (collective drinking included) that makes their lyrics of secondary importance. They are considered more as a part of the musical than literature culture in any country. In Russia, starting from the 19th century, this picture has been changing. First, the educated class wanted something deeper and more sophisticated that coincided with explosive development of both local poetry and musical culture. Notice that ballads, popular in the English world, were not noticeably developed in Russia. In Russian language, the prevalent direction in merging high quality music and poetry was creation of “romances” (романсы; it is tempting, but do not translate it as “romantic songs”) by professional composers using lyrics of established poets. This was at a high end, and it became as traditional as “classic Russian literature,” an integral part of the whole image of the Russian 19th century. The examples are so plentiful and easily available that I am tempted to show you something related but different. Speaking of good poetry, Vladimir Nabokov was a wonderful, original poet in Russian, in a direct continuation of the classic tradition. His famous short poem of 1925 describing a dream of returning to Russia and being immediately shot there became a modern song similar in style to “romances” of the 19th century thanks to legendary Peter Starchik, and you may listen to it as performed by a remarkable collector and promoter of Russian folk, Max Krivosheev.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZKIAOf-lPo

At a lower end, Russian nobility invented a completely fake, but highly entertaining “Gypsy music” that was created by Russian professional entertainers and performed at taverns by hired Gypsies. Such two-tier (actually, three-tier; the traditional songs persisted, or four-tier, if we count actual “deep” folk like chastushkas) development continued in the 20th century and, in a transformed way, it continues. 

In the end of the 19th - beginning of 20th century, through the whole “Silver Century” period, the literary element of the music poetry strengthened to its maximum when a short-lived “melodeclamation” art was born. It was poetry reading with some musical background, popular through the beginning of the 20th century and almost disappearing after the bolshevik coup (just if you are not that familiar with local history - because the whole social group that was the audience of such shows was targeted for extermination). Among other interesting things, the Silver Century brought a seed of modern music poetry (“bard songs”); this seed had laid dormant for almost half a century. 

Just look at the following illustration. It is a “contemporary” (in fact, 1980-ish, rare recording) performance by Boris Grebenschikov of  a song written by (late, great) Alexander Vertinsky in the end of 1917 about young cadets who tried to stop the bolshevik coup and were all killed. I guess it is the father of modern Russian “guitar” (underground) songs and the most famous anti-war Russian song ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypLajYlfMiA&t=31s

However, this tradition was soon broken with the establishment of Glavlit (1922-1991), the most important factor affecting Russian culture throughout the Soviet period. All public expression of anything required prior approval of a Glavlit (locally, Gorlit) censor, and unauthorized activities were punishable, severely under Stalin, milder after his death (if we consider denied access to any form of distribution as a mild form of punishment for creative individuals). Anyway, from the late 50th, the control loosened and the interrupted development returned, but in a kind of subdued and neurotic form. Local publications/performances of the Soviet times were perceived by the population as the state talking to you, not individual authors. The people thus were alienated from the local culture that was not trusted. Even classic Russian authors were edited and misrepresented; for example, my copy of the academic (means: scientifically certified) edition of “full” Dostoevsky misses The Writer’s Diary entirely, and the first (magazine) publication of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita was significantly distorted. It is easy to understand then why at the time foreign authors in translation were more popular among Russian speakers than any Soviet author. Everything looked like a fake, and longing for authenticity has always existed. This was a background of post-Stalin unofficial culture, with its own dedicated audience and distribution networks. Surely, it was infiltrated and occasionally manipulated by the police state, but never fully controlled from the mid-20th century. 

Meanwhile, during the blackout period, an additional line of Russian songwriting developed to the extent that at some point it looked like it affected everything else.  This was a massive wave of anonymous songs of criminal underground and labor camps (“blatnyak”), a true folk of the nation that went through the system of Gulag. I do not consider it as a part or even a predecessor of the “bards song movement” that is our immediate subject because of its narrow subject and, mostly, the quality of the lyrics. It is, generally, a low level culture appealing to the Russian general population, not the narrow educated audience of the “bards”.  However, as already mentioned, it was so prevalent in the folk culture that it affected everything, and it produced some remarkable examples. Let me show a couple of them. 

Nobody knows who wrote the famous “Transport to the North” in the end of the 40th that reflected realities of the new, post-war wave of state terror. In the recording below it is performed by already introduced folk collector Max Krivosheev with a friend. Translation? Nothing good happens. “Bye, I will die.” May I mention that I have many times visited sites of “the North” where locals told me that in reality the labor camps there at the times described in the song did not need much guarding: anyone attempting to leave would simply die in the impenetrable woods. The last wooden barracks on the outskirts of a small town nearby were demolished somewhere between my recent visits, in this century. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYUM0rDlziU

Another song in this style gave one of the most memorable memes (as we call them now) of the Soviet times: “Comrade Stalin, you are a great scientist” (the first line of the lyric). Joseph (Yuz) Aleshkovsky wrote it in 1959, when this could not kill him. The song is simple and (black) humorous on purpose; the author was a remarkably good satirical writer (“Nikolai Nikolaevich” was eventually translated in 2016, but I have some reservations regarding translation and understanding of this endemic masterpiece about a Soviet sperm donor and the effect of “Anna Karenina” on masturbation). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Yy66rAjyc

What did eventually rise from these backgrounds? And how?

What is the main feature of “bard songs” that proliferated in the second half of the 20th century? In Russian analytical literature, you may find that it is one person writing the lyrics, composing the music, and performing. There are many remarkable exceptions though, and I still think that the main issue is a focus on the quality of the lyrics, but let us take it as a first approximation. 
It is tempting to guess that Alexander Vertinsky, who did exactly that in the beginning of the century, brought his art from emigration after the war, and locals picked it up. No, he was allowed to perform in far provincial towns only and did not develop any noticeable following just because people were afraid to be around him; he was let live but not promoted in the USSR in any way. What about Aleshkovsky? After several years in jail? He was lucky to get a professional job, but was not a part of the “Moscow creative class.” 

Meanwhile, it all indeed started with one name that was (luckily for him) not obvious back then and (unfortunately for history) is not sufficiently recognized now. The person who happened to be integrated in the system and, at the same time, creative and understanding his country, and willing to stretch the limits, was Michael Ancharov. He had proper Soviet credentials as a writer and war veteran, was a part of Moscow creative circles and happened to have professional training in both writing and music. He started writing songs as a teenager, before WWII. And he was good, in both his writing and his ability to move between the raindrops. Just listen to his song from 1955. This is a clear example of what we consider great lyrics: the meaning is beyond words, direct translation does not deliver much. By the way, this integral feature of poetry, known since the 9th century (Anandavardhana), happened to be helpful in the post-Stalin times of cannibalism-light. Everybody feels what the author means that makes him popular, but nothing specific to indict him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH1hk13Jjqg

This is a contemporary, enhanced performance of the classic song; the author originally used just a guitar and the (psychotic) protagonist specifically talked about balalaika (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5IHuoYBTog - notice the magnetic tape recorder, a technical means that allowed “unauthorized” songs to spread in the late Soviet times).

All three most popular and influential singers-songwriters of the time, Alexander Galich, Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava, got a clue from Ancharov, first two directly, they observed how the public reacted at informal concerts and were impressed by the value of this, new to them, form of artistic expression. Okudzhava did not know Ancharov at the time, but considering how narrow and interconnecting was the circle of Russian creative class and also timing of the development, I would be very surprised if he was completely independent. Why are these three always considered as founding fathers of the post-Stalin “bard song”, and Ancharov is almost forgotten?  He was a good, but still second-tier writer as compared to Galich and Okudzhava, and nobody could have such a public appeal as Vysotsky who was a great actor and performer. 

With this period and authors, we are lucky to have a good presentation that, somewhere in the middle of my review, eventually gives to an English speaker an idea of what it is all about. 
Dan Kahn (joined by Vanya Zhuk) — “Bulat Okudzhava’s Songs”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp3qWPHdZ8w&t=467s

Normally, we are suspicious of translations, especially in poetry. However, a quality translation of an important set of Russian songs does exist, and I like the author as a singer-songwriter on his own (I talked to him). The guy moved from Detroit to Berlin on a mission of collecting and reviving pre-war European Jewish songs. He succeeded spectacularly (sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFVVKFxr60), bringing this dead music to life. Meanwhile, doing this work, he befriended some strange and interesting people and moved in a direction far away from his initial project. He authored good, original songs (samples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XRZAWk8Jc; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh7d-g_uVMg) and prepared a collection of Russian songs in translation that are an important part of Russian culture but not related to his Jewish studies at all. Bulat Okudzhava was ethnic Georgian and an important poet and historical novelist in Russian language. His (for many years, underground) songs are a part of local culture at the level of “everybody knows”. Bulat’s parents were Georgian revolutionaries killed by Stalin, and he as a young man served in the army through WWII and miraculously survived. This and later Soviet experiences are reflected in his songs, but not directly.

You may wonder why such songs were considered underground. Damn, good for you. Because they were spontaneous, authentic, not made on the state order and often not authorized for public performance.  The Russians used “to read between the lines”, and the authorities had this skill, too, so all this looked suspicious to them, no matter how formally innocent it was. It was somehow tolerated, but not promoted, and the authors (who mostly knew their limits), often had problems. It could change for the worse immediately if the limits were broken in terms of approaching, even in a poetical form, real issues and events in the society. This is why Alexander Galich, the only absolutely fearless author of the time, is considered as a monumental figure in Russian music poetry; his songs became a reflection of the Soviet times as powerful as the prose of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, just without special attention to the Gulag issue. Not surprisingly, he, earlier a famous playwright, was banned, forced into exile and eventually killed in Paris. If you think about that, when your music poetry is strong and important enough for someone to kill you for it, isn’t this the highest distinction? Sorry, you cannot fully appreciate any of his songs without not just a full command of the Russian language, but also sufficient local background. Here are a couple examples.

“Silence is golden” (1963; and yes, it is a Russian proverb, too - I noticed, that many historical “Russian sayings” are, in fact, translations from Latin; they were introduced to the local culture in the 19th century by students of gymnasiums, where Latin was studied)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwR6ICL4kmE

“To the memory of Boris Pasternak” (“...how proud we, scoundrels, are that he died in his own bed… and no, we will never forget what happened and who was doing what…” Do you remember the story? A Nobel Prize, “Doctor Zhivago”, all the stuff around?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYRQIr6pTRQ

Where it all arrived, eventually 

As you may see from this short review, current Russian music poetry has deep roots in Russian culture and a meaningful history on its own. It should be remembered though (we started from there) that similar development at the same time could be found in different countries. It is not like some American culture is similar to some Russian culture; we can easily find related examples in Spanish, French, Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian and German. Have you ever heard of Sarajevo by Jaromír Nohavica? Kaczmarski? Balasevic? Well, I better stop here. We all live in the same culture since time immemorial, and similarities are expected. 

Let us look now at where this continuous development in Russia brought us by the end of 20th - beginning of 21th century; the examples are not exactly new but, generally, belong to our era (they are all tested by time though and could be considered as modern classics).

Adrian&Alexander (Scherbina) — Kronstadt
It is the story of an idealist who realized in 1921 that something went wrong with the revolution and was killed, with hundreds of other revolting sailors, as a result — he is dying in the song full of his last thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgjpvqs17QQ

Michael Elisarov — We are on the train — JEDEM DAS SEINE
The author is an accomplished novelist whose songs are so controversial that some are already taken off YouTube. He has lived in Germany and in his songs often mixed Nazi Germany and modern Russia. Like, “we are on the train” in Russian sounds exactly like German “jedem” that is a part of the sentence that you can see on the gate of the (in)famous concentration camp. At the time of writing, not everyone understood what it was all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS4JGToewj8

Rostislav Chebykin “Dairymaid and Vampire”
The plot: in Soviet time, the milk productivity targets at a collective farm (named “Red Twilight”) could not be achieved because a local tractor driver was a vampire and drank cow blood at night. Once he was caught in the act by a dairymaid who was also a werewolf and could tear him apart if not the intervention of a local wise man who predicted that everything would end fine if the farm reaches some target productivity numbers. They worked hard and got it. Happy end. This author is not famous but really good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqoE6nUEuU4

An Accident (Alexei Kortnev) — “Sasha was walking along a highway”
They made a very meaningful, touchy song from just a senseless phrase used by speech therapists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud_2_ket04A

Ebonite Axe (Vasia Lozhkin) — Forward, Russia!
Russian speakers understand that the name of the band means “Fucking Axe” that shows: this is a political satire of high quality and predictive power. Lozhkin is a popular artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=586eyeY3To0

Mihei Nosorogov (means Mike Rhino) — Fuck it!
A Russian language singer-songwriter from Belarus. Do not show this video to Russian speakers without asking. Not many printable words there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GyWyhT02Vk

“Silver Wedding” cabaret band — Black River
They are appealing to the great Russian writer Alexander Pushkin on his last night in 1837, trying to convince him to abandon the next day’s duel where he was killed (on the bank of the Black River). At the time, it was a Russian language band from Belarus; the lead singer works successfully in Western Europe now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYCRNGikr50

Lord Pneumatic Elephant — Fuck it, I will mount my horse…
It is a slightly different music style but a common feeling about life. You do not want me to translate anything from this great song. How relevant? If you are in Albuquerque, just walk along Central.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNz5el3seR8

Venya D’rkin (Alexander Litvinov) - I recall you in unclear century; A cat 
He was a unique talent who died in 1999 at age 29. No point in translating or even re-telling his excellent, deep romantic poetry that never has any direct meaning. The recording immerses you in the atmosphere of private, limited-audience presentations that were an integral part of the “bard song” movement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJT_ZmILjZs

Alexander Levin - On birds and fish
“The fish also sings, just very quietly, so only the other fish hears…horses are silent and girls just drink beer…” It is a song about fear, death (of modern Icarus) and continuous transformation - good subjects for a song, right?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvzVSLw9rNw

Future Corpses - Hunters on the snow 
“Hunters on the snow” is a famous painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, probably the most popular Middle Ages painter in the USSR - he was considered highly relevant, however, not prohibited. The lyrics just describe the painting, but you always feel the lurking deeper meaning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxyxngAZSPw

Alexander Gorodnitsky - Waltz of 1939
The Stalin-Hitler treaty of 1939 that paved the road to WWII; it did not start yet, but it is clear where it would go. A famous song by a patriarch singer-songwriter, and it is not a historical lecture at all, everything is right with the music and poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOVI-SpflhY

Alex Paperny - Life is easy, isn’t it?
They sit on the clouds like in God's hands, far from the sky though, watching life, and smoke, and snow, forever together. Enough? People say it is one of the best songs of nostalgia for Russian good times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPkmntpMK5k

Olga Chikina - Ballerina 
It is about the famous Russian ballet, in early Soviet time, when the former audience was all killed or sent to forced labor, and the theaters were filled with common folks who were sent there “for education.” Whom are you dancing for and what is your life now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbPuaE-KB90

Michael Scherbakov - I will be killed in a war 
A forever pressing problem of the decline of the Roman Empire in a series of anticipated wars, when the author expects himself to be killed. Do I need to explain that the Roman Empire has always been considered as an allegory for the USSR/Russia (read Joseph Brodsky, for example)? This is a relatively old song, no connection to any current events. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZequcX4TX7o

Michael Kochetkov - Get out of here…
…until it is too late. Close the door, read some prayers. They will not let you live in your homeland anyway. Get out… 
It is about the first wave of exiles in the 20th century, but Russian history goes in circles, so this song never dies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyCuwqKJdLo

So, what?

You have an idea now, right? When you read Russian fiction in translation, you may either enjoy it as is or, for deeper understanding, keep in mind what is the attitude and general understanding of life for the target audience of this literature; the authors themselves were always aware. 

To finish this review properly, with the right after-taste, we may look at the recent masterpiece of a legendary group NOM that starts from a classic literature reference: “The Russian Story” by Arkady Averchenko. However, I think, the title is slightly misrepresented in YouTube: the song is not directly related to the reference; the right title based on the content is “The Russian History”. This is why we give it as the last sample. The lyric is not very multi-layered, though a little bit deeper than it seems at a first glance, and it makes a good conclusion to all our culturology. As an exercise in humility I would suggest the reader to translate and then try understanding the refrain:
“Чай, чемодан, чай, чемодан,
Чебуреки,Чебоксары,
Из Вавилона текут все реки
В Гуммолосары.”
Well, just kidding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNKgirFFnuw

By some accounts I’ve come across, what he did (prior to being arrested) was fairly benign and the group he was a part of didn’t seem so bad, but the Russian state during that time was extremely oppressive which is why he was arrested, went through a mock execution, and ended up being sent to Siberia. However, I have also seen or heard other accounts that depict him as a true radical and threat to the Russian state.

Can anyone answer that, and also, if he would be considered a radical by today’s standards (say in the America and/or Russia of today), and/or perhaps another European country of his own day, say France or Germany?

Additionally, it’s my understanding that Dostoevsky ended up a Russophile after everything he went through. Is that potentially indicative of him of having been brainwashed/just being scared into loving Russia like Winston in 1984?

Would love to learn more from an expert!

I've mentioned before that I enjoy audiobooks. As a mod, I like keeping up with new and upcoming releases so I can recommend titles worth mentioning to the community. My biggest complaint has always been the limited selection of Russian literature on Audible. There used to be only a handful of titles, but over the past year or two, that number has exploded (in a bad way)

The problem? They're still mostly the same handful of books. I'm just "thrilled" we now have 100 different A.I. narrations of Crime and Punishment and White Nights... I wouldn't have an issue with Virtual Voice narrations if they explored lesser-known areas of Russian literature. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of titles I'd love to listen to, but instead it's the same books over and over.

Hi! Without giving me any spoilers, can anyone please tell me how to get over the praise of the Revolution? I'm at 10%, Serioja just volunteered to digging trenches and I feel that's a turn towards the most dramatic stuff, but man the ideology bursting through every caracther's speech or inner thought is nauseating. Is this going to be a tragic piece of propaganda after all?! I'm willing to give this novel its deserved chance, but not to read 1000+ pages of praise for the Revolution... Thanks in advance!

Don't think me rude, but I have read literature from many nations—until I tried reading the bylina (oral epic) of Ivan Godinovich.

Can someone explain why things are so cruel and devoid of morality? The princess had her arms and legs severed by the "hero" while she was still alive—all because she "tried" to return to her lawful fiancé. And how exactly does reasoning along the lines of "a talking bird suddenly flies in" or "an arrow boomerangs back to pierce and kill him" sound logical, noble, or profound?

I understand that narratives involving the oppression of women and such brutality exist in every culture; at least in those cases, there is a rationale behind them, and the story resolves with retribution—where the wrongdoer is punished. But that is not the case here at all.

I’m looking for scholarly articles on the concept of Theosis and Transfiguration, particularly the Eastern Orthodox understanding of becoming like Christ, in "The Brothers Karamazov." So far, I haven’t found much scholarship on this in English. But, the more I’ve thought about the novel, though, the more convinced I’ve become that Theosis is incredibly important to understanding its plot.

I think Zosima’s final days portray a kind of breaking down of the self and a radical realization of active love and joy. His teaching that every person is responsible for everyone else suggests that human spiritual perfection does not happen in isolation, but through community, responsibility, and shared suffering. Alyosha’s speech at Ilyusha’s grave then carries this teaching forward. His words unite the young boys in a community of memory and love, almost serving as a living preview of communal transfiguration here on earth.

I also wonder if a misunderstanding of Theosis contributes to the disappointment surrounding Zosima’s death. His followers seem to expect his holiness to manifest itself in a more obvious, bodily way. Instead, his body decays and begins to stink, confronting them with the corruption and mortality of earthly life. Perhaps Dostoevsky is deliberately contrasting the transformation of the person with the glorification of the corpse. Zosima’s transfiguration is not demonstrated through an incorruptible body, but through the love and spiritual transformation he leaves behind in others.

I’m curious what others think. Are there Orthodox scholars who have written about Theosis or Transfiguration in "The Brothers Karamazov"? And does this reading of Zosima, Alyosha, and Ilyusha’s funeral hold up?

It's completely understandable why Dostoevsky and Tolstoy dominate every conversation, and perhaps most of us reading this will have read them first as a way into Russian literature - I forced myself to read Notes from Underground during high school; I rushed it, didn't 'get it', and didn't enjoy it, but many years later that's thankfully changed.

I digress. So aside from Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, who's the writer you think English-language readers most unfairly overlook?

My vote goes for Shchedrin. I just finished The Golovlyov Family and though it was a masterpiece.

In other words, which translators are best at matching prose, language, dialogue, storytelling, etc… to the author they’re translating?

I’m not sure if Robert Chandler has translated anyone else’s work, but his translation of Vasily Grossman’s Everything Flows is absolutely phenomenal.

This is probably a stupid question, but I don't get why Grossman is considered a Russian writer when he was Jewish and born in Ukraine, and lived in a Ukrainian city (Donetsk). So why isn't he considered a great Jewish or Ukrainian writer?

I can see the argument for him being a 'Soviet' writer, because it seems he supported the initial Revolution in Russia. But even if he was a communist and pro-Soviet, that would have meant he was anti Russian Chauvinism right? And of course there were communist Jewish and Ukrainian people who supported the Soviet regime.

And he would later run afoul of Soviet censors in his life. So basically, why is I see his works included in the Russian canon?

Hey guys,I really want to read Dostoevsky his books sound amazing but I'm struggling with Notes from Underground. The narration feels so rambling and disconnected sometimes that I keep losing interest even though it's short.Any suggestions for other authors (or books) with similar vibes that might help me get used to his style before tackling the bigger ones like Crime and Punishment or Brothers Karamazov?

I have read the following books. Looking for next recommendation

The brothers karamazov
Crime and punishment
Oblomov
Quiet Flows the Don

Raskolnikov may be the obvious one, but I always felt for Marmeladov and his detailed description of Katerina, Sonya and his life of drunken poverty.

Smerdyakov from The Brothers Karamazov is also the perfect example of being shaped by external experience into the man he became.

I am a big reader of contempory fiction but feeling very burnt out on it. I am not very smart so worried about how I will be able to access Russican literature but willing to try. Where should I start?

Hi all, just wanted to share this analysis of Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and how examples from Dostoevsky, Nabokov, and Proust shine some light on its themes. It's a little long, but basically, all four writers parallel each other in the divinity of memory as the mechanism for the revelation of consciousness, ultimately facilitating Ivan Ilyich's redemption in death. Proust is the most obvious writer when it comes to discussions of memory, but there are some fascinating connections between Tolstoy and scenes from Lolita, The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov (spoiler-free!).

Thanks, and lmk what you think!

Hi everyone,

I have a collection of vintage Soviet science fiction books in Russian that I’m gradually selling, and I thought some people here might be interested.

A few I currently have available:

Иван Ефремов — Час Быка (Hour of the Bull)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/287398451560

Кир Булычев — Миллион приключений (A Million Adventures)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/287322567649

Фантастика-87 (Science Fiction 1987)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/287325174763

Румбы фантастики
https://www.ebay.com/itm/287521610895

Темная охота (Dark Hunt)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/287522504971

I also have other Russian and Soviet books available.

Full eBay store:
https://www.ebay.com/usr/glensidel61

Hi everyone,

I have two Russian-language books related to Vladimir Vysotsky that I’m currently selling and thought there might be some Vysotsky fans here interested in them.

**Владимир Высоцкий — Четыре четверти пути (Four Quarters of the Way)**

https://www.ebay.com/itm/287028507827

**Марина Влади — Владимир, или Прерванный полёт (Vladimir, or The Interrupted Flight)**

https://www.ebay.com/itm/287322611752

For anyone interested in Vysotsky, Soviet music, poetry, theater, or cultural history, these are both interesting books to have in Russian.

Sorry if this post will result a bit pointless. I’ve just finished reading Demon by Dostoevskij, I’ve got this passage in mind where a character talks about how when someone is trying to explain they’re not crazy the more they feel like it (Me right know btw). Does any of you remember the context, a character who is present or else? Even if it has existed at all!
Thanks

Я не понимаю смысл диалога Разумихина и Зосимова из конца первой главы третьей части "Преступления и наказания". Разумихин сначала теряет голову от того, что Зосимова привлекает Дуня, но через несколько строчек диалога он уже убеждает его завоевать её сердце. Он это делает, потому что считает, что у него всё равно нет шансов и просит Зосимова не оттягивать неизбежное или я что-то не понял? Вполне вероятно, что я просто что-то невнимательно прочитал и полностью потерял смысл фрагмента.

Last fall, I read Anna Karenina and fell in love with it. Since, I’ve gone nuts and read over 11,000 pages of various Russian lit. I didn’t think anything could top the big favorites of mine (Anna K, Brothers K, Dead Souls, A Hero of Our Time, etc.) but I was wrong. For the first time in MONTHS I haven’t picked up a book in 2 full days, it feels almost disrespectful to begin another book so soon! Anyone else feel the same??