Lines everyone knows
These are quoted so often that they have become ordinary phrases. A Russian will recognise every one, and many will finish the line for you.
The writers
Russian names have three parts: first name, patronymic (from the father’s name) and surname. Russians often refer to classic writers by first name and patronymic: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич means Pushkin to everyone.
The founder of modern literary Russian. Killed in a duel at 37. Every Russian city has a Pushkin street.
Born in Ukraine. Comic, grotesque and strange: noses walk off faces and clerks freeze for want of a coat.
Pushkin’s heir, also killed in a duel, at 26. Wrote the first Russian psychological novel.
Clear, calm, beautiful prose. Lived much of his life in France and was the first Russian writer famous in Europe.
Faith, guilt and freedom, at fever pitch. Survived a mock execution and four years of hard labour in Siberia.
A count who gave away his estate and preached simple living. His novels are vast and very human.
A doctor who wrote hundreds of short, precise, funny and sad stories. The best place to start reading in Russian.
The great voice of the Silver Age, and later of those who suffered under Stalin.
Satire, fantasy and the devil visiting Soviet Moscow. Banned in his lifetime, now among the most loved writers in Russia.
What to read in Russian, level by level
The language of the classics is surprisingly readable once you know the grammar. A route from your first story to reading verse in the original:
- B1 CHE-khaf, RAN-ni-ye ras-SKA-zy Chekhov, early comic stories Two or three pages each, everyday vocabulary, simple sentences. Try «То́лстый и то́нкий» (TOL-sty i TON-kiy, Fat and Thin) and «Хамелео́н» (kha-mi-li-ON, The Chameleon).
- B2 PUSH-kin, PEE-ka-va-ya DA-ma Pushkin, The Queen of Spades A short, gripping ghost story in clean, classical prose. About 30 pages.
- C1 LYER-man-taf, gi-ROY NA-shi-va VRYE-mi-ni Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time Five linked stories with adventure, duels and the Caucasus. A full novel, but a short one.
- C1 bul-GA-kaf, MAS-tir i mar-ga-REE-ta Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita Modern vocabulary and very funny. Many Russians’ favourite novel.
- C2 tal-STOY, das-ta-YEF-skiy, a-NYE-gin f sti-KHAKH Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Onegin in verse Long, dense and rich. Reading these in the original is the reward for reaching fluency.
Talking about books
Check yourself: who wrote it?
«Война́ и мир»
War and Peace «Евге́ний Оне́гин»
Eugene Onegin «Ма́стер и Маргари́та»
The Master and Margarita «Преступле́ние и наказа́ние»
Crime and Punishment «Вишнёвый сад»
The Cherry Orchard «Мёртвые ду́ши»
Dead Souls