Well, I’ve done the unthinkable twice today: first I posted
a piece to the wrong blog, for which I apologize, now I’ve skipped the letters N
(Н) and O in my “Favorite Russian
Writers” series. I don’t mean to disappoint fans of Nabokov, Nekrasov,
Odoevsky, or Okudzhava but I don’t have any real, true favorites among those
letters… despite enjoying Nabokov’s Gogol
and some of Ostrovsky’s plays. Beyond a dearth of N and O favorites, the
letter P (П) is so much more fun
that I’m happy to jump N and O…
The letter P, of course, has to start with Alexander Pushkin, who would be a
favorite just for his Повести Белкина (Belkin
Tales) (previous
post) and the short story “Пиковая
дама” (“Queen of Spades”). They get better for me with each rereading. And
then there’s all the poetry…
Moving into the Soviet era, I can’t not mention Boris Pasternak, whose Доктор Живаго (Doctor Zhivago) I read multiple times in
grad school. Even if I didn’t enjoy Zhivago
as much when I read it four years ago (previous
post), I still have a deep sentimental attachment to my experiences (re)reading
and talking about the book in school, trying to figure out the meaning of the rowan
tree and gathering references to sources of light so I could write a
paper. Plus there’s the Pasternak dacha, which I visited regularly when I lived
in Moscow.
 |
| Platonov's grave, Moscow. |
Then we have Andrei
Platonov, whose “Возвращение”
(“The Return”) is one of the most perfect short stories I’ve ever read. I think
“Родина электричества” (“The Motherland of Electricity”) was my introduction to
Platonov, though, followed by his difficult Котлован
(The Foundation Pit) (previous
post) and his wonderfully disorienting Ювенильное
море (Juvenile Sea or Sea of Youth) (previous
post). I think disorientation is what I love so much about Platonov: his
word choices, word order, and word inventions create texts that jar me
linguistically and emotionally. Platonov may be my favorite of these favorites.
Another favorite is Vera
Panova, whose novella Серёжа
(translated as Seryozha and Time Walked and A Summer to Remember) is a beautiful account of a child’s life with
his mother and new stepfather. My previous
post generated lots of very enthusiastic comments from people who first read
Seryozha in Tamil, Bengali, and other
languages. I thought Panova’s Спутники,
(The Train), about people who work on
a hospital train during World War 2, was also very good.
Among contemporary writers, Zakhar
Prilepin is probably my closest to a favorite, thanks to his Грех (Sin) and a few short stories that I also thought were very good; I
enjoyed his political novel Санькя (San’kya) far less.
Bonus! Daniel
Kalder, who writes a weekly column for RIA Novosti, sent the link to his interview with Russian critic Lev Danilkin; it’s in English. Danilkin mentions
Prilepin and another P writer—Victor Pelevin—as popular, even naming Pelevin when
asked “Who are the great authors of today?” I was particularly happy to see
Danilkin mention books that discuss the October events of 1993… Enjoy!
Up next: Andrei
Rubanov’s Жизнь удалась (All That Glitters, on his literary agency’s page). And more soon
about Read Russia and BookExpo America…
Photo: SreeBot, via Wikipedia.
Just curious: what have you read by Nabokov in Russian?
ReplyDeleteThat's a very fair question, languagehat... Let's just say I haven't made any progress since the last time this topic came up! Which means Король, дама, валет is still staring at me. (I did read some poetry long ago.)
DeleteI would suggest you start with Защита Лужина, unless of course chess gives you hives.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Languagehat! Chess doesn't give me hives, though I haven't played since I was a child and don't remember much about the game. I see, though, that Nabokov said the book "contains and diffuses the greatest 'warmth'"... definitely a point in the book's favor!
Delete