Tag Archives: russian literature
Reading Poetry in Russian Posted by Maria on Jun 11, 2015
A couple of weeks ago we read famous passages from Russian literature (see Part I and Part II here). These works were mostly realist novels written by male authors well known abroad. I would like to wrap up this series with something a little different — poetry by authors lesser known internationally, one of whom…
Read Famous Opening Lines in Russian – Part II Posted by Maria on May 28, 2015
We are continuing from last week’s post on reading famous Russian book beginnings. This time, let’s look at books likely to be known by Russian literature aficionados. Eugene Onegin (Евге́ний Оне́гин) Eugene Onegin is a famous rhymed novel by Alexander Pushkin (Алекса́ндр Пу́шкин). Several English translations have been done. While Pushkin tends to trail Tolstoy and Dostoevsky…
Read Famous Opening Lines in Russian – Part I Posted by Maria on May 21, 2015
I’m sure a few of our readers became interested in Russian thanks to their love of Russian literature. Whenever Russian literature comes up, people immediately respond with the name of their favo(u)rite Tolsotyesky 😉 book. At the same time, very few of these Russian lit buffs have read these books in Russian. This is understandable — fiction…
Territorial Disputes in Russian Literature Posted by Maria on Mar 9, 2015
Some of you might have seen the film “Leviathan” (Левиафа́н) by Andrei Zvyagintsev. This film won several awards and was nominated for an Academy Award. While there are several themes in the film, a land dispute between a working-class man and the mayor of the city, who wants the man’s property, is what precipitates the…
Russian Classics in Movie Format Posted by Jenya on Oct 1, 2014
The world has seen its share of great writers. Some of them happen to be Russian. If you are at the point where you can read great literary works in Russian, pat yourself on the back – you have come a long way! However, if you are not at that point yet, reading the translated…
How to Say “I am Single” in Russian Posted by yelena on Aug 28, 2013
Superstitious Russian young ladies know that May is the worst month to tie the knot. As the saying goes, в мае выйти замуж – век маяться (to get married in May is to throw life away). Which sounds like a perfect excuse for single men to stay холостой just a bit longer. And the adjective…
Sympathy for the Devil (or: A Look at Bulgakov’s Word Choices) Posted by Rob on Apr 9, 2013
During the recent Easter season, I found myself dipping into certain chapters from Bulgakov’s «Мастер и Маргарита» — after all, the master’s novel-within-a-novel retelling of key events from Страсти Христовы (“The Passion”) is quite central to the story . And, in fact, Bulgakov’s masterpiece was originally conceived as a short sketch in which the Devil…