Contemporary Russian Authors

I thought this list of 20 contemporary Russian authors by a Russian author and scientist, Grigory Ryzhakov, was worth sharing. I've read books by 3 of the authors on this list - how about you?

http://www.ryzhakov.co.uk/modern-russian-literature-raising-the-ignorance-curtai...

Interesting list; thanks for posting the link. I've only read Vladimir Sorokin, whose Ice Trilogy is stunning (Day of the Oprichnik less so), and a one or two early Akunins, which I didn't warm to.

But I'll look for some of the others.

Thank you for posting this. More books to add to my reading list.

I have Pelevin, Lukyanenko, and Pelevin on my TBR piles. I've read Sorokin (with mixed feelings), and Akunin (likewise).

But now I have even more to look into, thank you. :)

I've read Ulitskaya (love her), Pelevin (not so much) and Lukyanenko (enjoyed). I'm adding Tolstaya to my wishlist today. Great article, and too bad more isn't available in English.

Thank you for the list.

I have read Living Souls by Dmitry Bykov and enjoyed it greatly. On the basis of my enjoyment I have acquired Dead Souls by Gogol as I believe Living Souls is modern twist on this work. (Correct me if you think I am wrong.)

I am well aware of, but have not read, Sergey Lukyanenko's Night Watch series, but did see the film version of Night Watch.

As per other posters on this thread, I will be adding more books to my wish list thanks to you. I don't know whether to thank you or curse you. ;)

6, the movie version of Night Watch is so. bad. The book is a totally different experience and so good!

Thanks, everyone - glad you found this useful! (Or maddening, according to taste.)

pgmcc, I don't know about Living Souls, but that connection certainly sounds plausible from the title.

My favourite contemporary Russian author - well, favourite along with Pelevin - wasn't on Grigory Ryzhakov's list. She's Ludmilla Petrushevskaya: http://www.belletrista.com/2011/Issue14/features_1.php

I've had There Once Lived A Woman on my shelf for a long time now. I need to revisit it soon! I'm glad to hear positive things about it.

#8 timjones

My initial investigations of Dead Souls indicate that Gogol was writing a commentary on the Russian society of the time. Living Souls does this for modern Russia. I look forward to my reading of Dead Souls in the not too distant future and the discovery of how wrong my preconceptions are. :)

#7 bostosnbibliophile

I had not intended reading Night Watch but am now tempted to having read your comment.

Hi Diana, welcome to LT.

But, before you go on, please check out : http://www.librarything.com/about/authors. Otherwise your posts will simply get flagged into oblivion.

Ooh thanks for the list! I've read the first of the Erast Fandorine series (by Boris Akunin) ~2 years ago, just haven't picked up any more yet but I quite enjoyed it (though I do generally prefer my books a tad longer), and I recently purchased Lukyanenko's Watch series but haven't broken into them yet, but I enjoyed both movies and am sure the books will be far better (as books always are). Will have to keep eyes open for the rest of these now!

Does anyone know which of those books/authors on the list, if any, would be read-able for an intermediate-level student of Russian?

Of the list, I've read in English Pelevin's Omon Ra, which I loved, and Sorokin's Day of the Oprichnik, which I hated. I've also read Petrushevskaya's "scary stories" volume - it was ok, but mostly forgettable. I own some Tolstaya and Ulitskaya volumes that I haven't gotten to just yet, but I'm looking forward to them.

I can recommend Alexei Nikitin - his novel Istemi is going to come out in English translation in January 2013. He's been shortlisted for numerous literary prizes in Russia over the past few years. I should mention that there is a strong element of self interest here as this is my first translation of a novel from Russian into English, but it really is a good work! Warning: the blurb on Amazon is not quite right, although the blurb for the Kindle edition (which says it is in English but isn't really) is correct.

I can also recommend Maxim Osipov, arguably the finest writer of short fiction in Russia today. So far he's just had a few stories published in English - hopefully a collection in English translation will soon follow - but in the meantime, you can read his story "Moscow - Petrozavodsk" online at The White Review (http://www.thewhitereview.org/) from sometime today (3 Sept - but it's not up as of writing - and yes, it's my translation again) and a couple of pieces from his three-story cycle Kilometre 101 were published in Chtenia in May (but I believe you need to subscribe to Chtenia to have access). "Moscow - Petrozavodsk" won the Yuri Kazakov prize for short fiction, i.e. top honours.

I've heard a lot of good things about Maidenhair by Mikhail Shishkin which is being published next month.

Has anyone read it? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I haven't read it, but "Lizok" loves it - she reviews it here (in orig Russian):

http://lizoksbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/ah-sweet-mysteries-of-life-shishkins.h...

The translator, Marian Schwarz, is one of the top American translators.

Thanks very much for the recommendation of Maxim Osipov; I'll add him to the pile of future reading!

Here's a list (in Russian) of what a group of experts deemed the 100 best (prose) Russian books of the 21st century so far:
https://polka.academy/materials/748
I especially recommend Alla Gorbunova, whom I wrote about here:
http://languagehat.com/alla-gorbunova/

Since I see this thread has been resurrected recently, I'll chime in here.

Seconding the recommendation for Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin, although the writing style was not great (could be the translation) I loved the off-the-wall premise, black humor, and overall "personality" of the book.

From Penguin's Short Stories in Russian collection, I really liked the stories "The Tattoo" by Evgenii Grishkovets, "Hands" by Yuly Daniel, "The Beast" by Ludmila Ulitskaya, and "The Swim" by Vladimir Sorokin. Haven't read anything else by those authors but I'd like to eventually.

>19 languagehat: Thank you for the list; a lot there look interesting.

Of the books there, I have read, and would heartily recommend Andrei Rubanov's Сажайте, и вырастет, which has been published in English as Do Time, Get Time and The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Pelevin.

I have also read Day of the Oprichnik from that list, but I feel its satire is a bit more strident, by comparison.