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Russian reading·C1 to C2

Reading Russian literature: five famous openings

The first lines of five classics, in the authors’ own words: Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pushkin, Gogol and Lermontov. Read each one straight through first. Then tap any sentence you are unsure of to hear it and see it unpacked word by word.

5 texts·11 sentences·Audio and gloss for every sentence
А́нна Каре́нина Да́ма с соба́чкой Пи́ковая да́ма Толсто́йЧе́ховПу́шкин
Five classics, five styles: Tolstoy’s long balanced sentences, Chekhov’s plain narration, Pushkin’s brisk clauses, and below, Gogol’s teasing narrator and Lermontov’s travel diary. All are out of copyright and quoted exactly.
1834ПушкинPushkinThe Queen of Spades1840Ле́рмонтовLermontovA Hero of Our Time1842Го́гольGogolThe Overcoat1878Толсто́йTolstoyAnna Karenina1899Че́ховChekhovThe Lady with the DogAll five use modern spelling here; first editions before 1918 used ъ after final consonants and the letter ѣ.
Sixty-five years separate the first and last text. The grammar is the same as today; what changes is vocabulary (older words for ranks, money and clothing) and sentence length, which grows with Tolstoy and shrinks again with Chekhov.
C1 · Novel · Лев Толсто́й, 1877

А́нна Каре́нина

Anna Karenina: the opening
Key vocabulary
Grammar spotlight. Sentence 3 has 19th-century instrumental endings: бы́вшею and францу́женкою instead of today’s бы́вшей and францу́женкой. The meaning is the same; only the ending is older. See the instrumental case guide.
Did you understand?
What do all happy families have in common?
Whose house is in confusion?
What did the wife tell her husband?
C1 · Short story · Анто́н Че́хов, 1899

Да́ма с соба́чкой

The Lady with the Dog: the opening
Key vocabulary
Grammar spotlight. Sentence 1 starts with a “they” verb and no subject, Говори́ли, “people were saying”: gossip with no named source. Sentence 2 stacks two past active participles, проживши́й and привы́кший, where English uses “who had…”. See the participles guide.
Did you understand?
Where did the new face appear?
How long had Gurov been in Yalta?
What is the lady known by?
C1–C2 · Novella · Алекса́ндр Пу́шкин, 1834

Пи́ковая да́ма

The Queen of Spades: the opening
Key vocabulary
Grammar spotlight. в пя́том часу́ means “in the fifth hour”, so between 4:00 and 5:00, not at five. Russian counts the hour that is running. See the telling the time guide.
Did you understand?
Where were the cards played?
What time of year is it?
When did they sit down to supper?
C1–C2 · Story · Никола́й Го́голь, 1842

Шине́ль

The Overcoat: the opening
Key vocabulary
Grammar spotlight. Ничего́ нет + comparative + genitive means “there is nothing more … than”: серди́тее (angrier) is the short comparative, and everything compared goes into the genitive. Gogol starts, stops and hides the name: the narrator’s voice is part of the joke. See the comparatives guide.
Did you understand?
Does the narrator name the department?
What is “touchier” than anything?
What does сло́вом do here?
C1 · Novel · Михаи́л Ле́рмонтов, 1840

Геро́й на́шего вре́мени

A Hero of Our Time: the opening
Key vocabulary
Grammar spotlight. был наби́т запи́сками is a passive with a short participle: the thing filling the suitcase goes into the instrumental, with no preposition. Тифли́с is the old Russian name for Tbilisi. See the passive voice guide.
Did you understand?
Where is the narrator travelling from?
What luggage does he have?
What is the suitcase filled with?

Related guides

Graded reading Fifteen shorter texts climbing from A1 to C1. Russian literature Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov and how to start reading them. Advanced reading News, essay and feature texts at B2–C1. Participles проживши́й, привы́кший: the “who had…” forms Chekhov uses. Instrumental case The modern endings behind Tolstoy’s бы́вшею. Telling the time в пя́том часу́ and other ways Russian counts hours.