Summer Time and the Reading is Russian Posted by yelena on Jun 10, 2011 in language
Finally, «наступило лето» [summer is here]! There are lots of not so good things that are associated with summer – «ураганы» [hurricanes], «лесные пожары» [forest fires], «жара» [heat], «засуха» [drought] and such. But let’s look at the bright side! Summer, above all, is time for «каникулы» [summer break] and «отпуска» [vacations].
Many Russians will be spending their vacations at various «курорты» [resorts]. And as it happens, some will have «курортный роман» or several, depending on their length of stay and the amount of time they spend by the pool or on the beach. The more the better I say!
You see, in Russian the word «роман» can mean either an affair or a novel. I figure, reading a few novels «загорая на пляже» [while sunbathing on the beach] isn’t such a bad way to spend one’s summer.
The question, in my mind, is not «читать или не читать» [to read or not to read], but «что читать» [what to read]. On one hand, there’s light reading, both in terms of «содержание» [content] and «вес книги» [book’s weight].
These usually tend to be easy-flowing pieces such as «любовные романы» [romance novels], «детективы» [crime fiction], «научная фантастика» [science fiction] and various other «книжный ширпотреб» [books that are popular, but not necessarily substantial; run-of-the-mill books].
The compound word «ширпотреб» means «широкого потребления» [items of popular consumption] and is frequently used disparagingly with the meaning of “rubbish” as in
«Я не читаю Коэльо, так как это не интеллектуальная литература, а ширпотреб какой-то»
[I don’t read Coelho because it’s rubbish and not intellectual literature]
(to all Coelho fans out there – it is just an example and does not reflect my personal opinion on the author)
But I digress… Let’s get back to our question of «что читать этим летом» [what to read this summer]. If light reading «вам не по вкусу» [isn’t your cup of tea] then how about choosing some heavier books, both in terms of substance and «число страниц» [page count]?
May I suggest the following:
- «История государства Российского» [History of the Russian State] by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (if lugging 12 tomes around with you doesn’t sound very appealing, you can always watch its animated version, all 500 episodes of it).
- «Борис Годунов» [Boris Godunov] by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (or watch its subtitled version on YouTube)
- «Мёртвые души» [Dead Souls] by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (the writer, not the fictional KGB general from James Bond movies)
- «Отцы и дети» [Fathers and Sons] by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (just in time for Father’s Day too)
- «Преступление и наказание» [Crime and Punishment] by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (reading this is a rite of passage for all Russian learners, but if you must watch a movie, here’s a link to a BBC adaptation)
- «Анна Каренина» [Anna Karenina] by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (either that or «Война и мир» [War and Peace], although why not both?! And yes, you can watch movies as well – Anna Karenina and War and Peace)
- «Мастер и Маргарита» [Master and Margarita] by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (especially if you it’s on your unfinished reading list from last summer)
- And for a healthy dose of humor nothing beats «Золотой телёнок» [Golden Calf] by Ilya Ilf and Evgeniy Petrov (yes, there’s a movie here as well)
This list is by no means all-inclusive as there’s lots more great Russian literature, both prose and poetry, classical and contemporary, with movies and without. The list above is an excerpt from a list of so-called «летнее чтение» [summer reading] for high school students in Russia (grades 9 through 11).
Now, you might note that reading all these books (or even watching all the movies) is very time-consuming. You might argue that reading everything on the list would take up all your free time and none would be left for «курортный роман» in its meaning of a summer fling.
You’re right, of course! But let me tell you, it is so worth it. Remember, «русская литература лучше секса» [Russian literature is better than sex]! BTW, let’s add «Доктор Живаго» [Doctor Zhivago] to the summer reading list.
Whatever you choose to do this summer in terms of «курортный роман», remember to use sufficient protection. Considering the length of these books, I think SPF 100 should do the trick.
So what’s on your summer reading list?
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Comments:
Markk:
Any winter reading suggestions for the Southern Hemisphere dwellers here? Or is that the same as the summer reading list?
yelena:
@Markk Well, there’s so much going on with the winter holidays in Russia that I don’t think it leaves much time for reading. Something shorter than War and Peace? Ok, how about The Captain’s Daughter by A.S. Pushkin? Other options might include Anton Chekhov’s stories and plays, Alexandr Kuprin’s “The Garnet Bracelet” and well, too many others to list 🙂 Or you might try to forgo prose and instead concentrate on poetry. Let us know what you decide to do 🙂
Ken:
This is a great basic reading list. But how about something more modern? How about Vassily Aksyonov’s Generations of Winter, a brilliant and highly readable novel about a Moscow family’s life during the Stalin years? Or Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate, an epic about WWII? Or the brilliant stories in Andrey Platonov’s Soul? The stories The River Potudan and The Return will break your heart. The first two of these books are very long. For a very short novel, try Venedikt Erofeev’s Moscow to the End of the Line, which is only 164 pages in the English translaton but which will challenge you more than an 800-pager!
yelena:
@Ken Ken, these are all excellent books. I didn’t include anything more modern than the Golden Calf mostly because it’s a whole separate list. Also, there are a few that I have hard time reading because they are so heart-wrenching (like “Возвращение” [The Return] by Platonov). It’s probably selfish of me though. Another reason was that with the old classics it’s easier to find them translated and also many of the older movies come with English subtitles. But you’re so right – I definitely need to write another post in the near future with a different, more contemporary, list.
Richard:
I’ve just started reading “Смерть Ивана Ильича” Толстого, it’s a dual-language book with Russian on the left page and the corresponding English on the right hand page – a great way to learn a language!
I’ve always thought that the best novels come from Russia and France. I dunno why, it just seems that way.
Some of my suggestions for summer (or winter) reading would be:
-“Notes from Underground” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
-“Demons” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
-“We” – Yevgeny Zamyatin
-“The Master and Margarita” – Mikhail Bulgakov
-“Life and Fate” – Vasily Grossman
-“Stories” – Vladimir Nabokov
-“August 1914” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Я книголюб и мне очень нравится история и политика! 😀
Richard:
Markk, are you an Aussie or a Kiwi? Just curious!
Richard:
Regarding the word “ширпотреб”, could this word be used as a less offensive word in place of “пошлость”? The meaning seems to be similar…
Rob McGee:
Allow me to put in a plug for Liya Geraskina’s В стране невыученных уроков (“In the Land of Unlearned Lessons”). You can find the entire text online here and transfer it onto a Kindle or similar device in order to take it with you to the beach.
It’s an adventure story for elementary-school children, with an uncomplicated plot but full of modern, colloquial Russian dialogue — and thus is good practice for foreign learners.
The print edition is just under 140 pages with colorful illustrations and quite obviously looks like a children’s book — but if you’re reading the text-only version on a Kindle, everyone at the beach will be super-impressed that you know Russian, and no one need be the wiser that it’s actually a book for kids!
The basic concept is somewhat like The Phantom Tollbooth — a schoolboy who doesn’t pay attention in class is magically transported to a land where school subjects such as Geography, Grammar, and Arithmetic exist as anthropomorphic, talking characters.
And, as you can probably guess, they all mercilessly quiz the poor kid on the lessons he was supposed to have learned in school — like, where exactly should the запят’а’я (comma) go in the sentence “Казнить нельзя помиловать“?
(Actually, there are two places where the comma can properly go — but answer one way and you’ll be pardoned; answer the other way and you’ll be executed!)
A.:
Richard, you are wrong! They are not similar.
Markk:
Richard, I’m an Aussie! Lucky guess 🙂
I started reading War and Peace in winter, but because of its length I didn’t get into it until summer. My Russian friends told me NOT to read it as they think it dull. Certainly I could have done without the 100-page epilogue.
I haven’t read any Pushkin or Chekhov yet so I might take up yelena’s suggestions!
yelena:
@Markk Markk, I totally disagree with your friends. W&P is not dull (it has its moments, but those are but interludes to an otherwise fast-paced and gripping story or, rather, several stories). The one reason I think many think of this as a dull book is because it’s forced on Russians way too early, in high school. It took me three readings, at 14, 16 and 26, to really “get into” this book. Now being a bit older, I think I’m going to re-read it.
Richard:
A, thanks for clearing that up, I just took a shot in the dark…
Richard:
Mark, pleased to meet ya, I’m a Canuck, hope you folks Down Under have a good winter, summer’s just getting underway here…finally!
Try some of Chekhov’s short stories, he was a master of the genre!
Alex:
Richard, ширпотреб basically means trash, low quality stuff, but пошлость has a more negative connotation and it characterizes the author him/herself more: something between ‘bad taste’ and ‘vulgarity’. By the way, the word ширпотреб seems to be falling out of use these days and almost not used at all by the younger generation as it’s one of the remnants of the Soviet ‘Newspeak’.
yelena:
@Alex Ah, what do these young kids know about great words. Ширпотреб is such a convenient word! But what is an alternative word to “ширпотреб”?
Richard:
Alex, thanks for the explanation. Languages are living things, they change over time, from generation to generation, sounds like this is the case with “ширпотреб”. Still, it’s good to keep words even if they may seem a bit dated to the younger generation.
Richard:
Yelena, your experience with “War and Peace” sounds like my experience with Shakespeare. I was force-fed Shakespeare in high school and, as a result, learned to hate it. It wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I got out some of my old books and learned to appreciate Shakespeare.
I think that all school really teaches kids is how to live in a structured environment so that they’ll make good office workers and factory workers. 😉
Alex:
What is an alternative? Беллетристика is a common word, although it sounds quite complementary compared to ширпотреб. Бульварная литература or бульварное чтиво is an old phrase which is still in use (in a rather negative sense). There must be something more informal which youngsters use but I can’t think of anything on the spur of the moment.
Richard:
Alex, I’m trying to sort out the nuances of these words and phrases.
Беллетристика means “fiction”, frivolous fiction, and бульварная литература means cheap, melodramatic fiction, the kind that you find in airport bookstores. “Ширпотреб” means mass-produced consumer junk, think Walmart. Sound right to you?
yelena:
@Richard Richard, that sounds about right to me. Although in defense of the airport bookstores, I did buy “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” there once 🙂 Ah, will I ever read David Baldacci now that he’s been classified into “бульварная литература”? LOL.
Bob:
I recall one summer semester when I did the ‘grand tour’ of Russian literature (Idiot, Eugene Onegin, Fathers and Sons, Hero for Our Time, and Anna Karenina). What made it cool were: 1) A Russian professor who really WAS from Russia, and 2) A class size of 1 🙂
Anyway, besides the 10^23 space books that are on my reading list, for Christmas I received a copy of Метро 2033 by Дмитрий Глуховский. With it’s post-apocolyptic sci-fi theme, it’s not for everyone, but it looks promising.
Rob – thanks for the link to “Unlearned Lessons”
Richard:
Thanks Yelena.
Hard to say what you’ll find in the airports of the world!