Where to start with Russian Lit. & tips for beginners (as a beginner myself) // CarolinaMaryaReads

Hi Carolyn,
Thanks to you I am currently reading Onegin and you were right: it is absolutely incredible and beautiful. Words cannot describe what this book achieves on so many levels. I am only half way through, but know for sure this is one of my favourite books of all time. I have read Shakespeare and Goethe, but the only other time that I have found a classic in verse so engaging, so accessible and so beautiful has been when I read Don Quijote.
Anyway, because of your love for Russian Lit, I wanted to recommend to you “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. This is historical fiction, but it is gorgeously written, and evoques feelings very similar as to those you may have, when reading the Russian classics. It is set in Moscow, with an absolutely loveable protagonist and has quite bit of Russian history woven into the story. The protagonist is so loveable so are the side characters. I really think you would enjoy it just for the “Russian atmosphere”, if that makes sense. BTW The audiobook is also really nice. Take care and thank for your videos!

In fact I'm not sure about Griboedov's influence on Pushkin, because he started Onegin before he first heard Griboedov's play read by his friend. And when he got to know about that play he was already the major literature authority in Russia. Though he admired that play much. Pushkin was a very educated man, he perfectly knew several languages and mostly he was influenced by European literature. Maybe that's why he is considered the founder of modern russian language - he was the first writer/poet who connected russian literature tradition with the world's tradition)
Sorry for that comment) but I admire both of them)
Thank you for your vlog!) such a pleasure!)
P. S. An interesting fact: Pushkin loved Griboedov, they were friends. Griboedov also was an ambassador in Persia, where he was killed by mad religious crowd. That time Pushkin traveled across southern parts of Russia where he met a caravan. He asked them what are you transporting and they answered - Griboedov. They transported dead body of Pushkin's friend Griboedov to his native land...

I had an older translation of anna karenina that was terrible, I was hating that book!! Then I saw your videos saying how good the book is and it got me thinking... I bought the most popular translation and I must say, the problem was the translation 100% cause im loving it

I also liked pushkins the tale of tsar salten. That inspired rimsky korsakov to write his tsar salten suite.

I read the Garnett translation where possible. The thing about P&V translations is that their process is to use ghost translation initially, then get more involved in whittling down the final text of what we end up with. What we’re left with in this assembly line affair is something thoroughly modern, yet also stripped of all the music found in superior translations. Like many things today, P&V as an entity is the creation of public relations, clever marketing tactics, and a puppy mill like operation of workers handling the translation process - and that’s the feeling I get through the text.

The idea they are being more faithful to the original Russian is also significantly overstated, and when that claim is made by their promoters it’s done with the understanding that what is considered “faithful” in translation often varies by definition, so they can make t he claim without really being made accountable for the claim.

Love your enthusiasm, reading Russian literature is not a walk in the park. But when you pull through, when you do salami tactics which is one slice at a time…. A whole world will open up.
Reading for instance Turgenev means actually being then and there. Thats what is does, many thanks from the Netherlands.

Таня Гроттер. лол

Not me thinking there was a riot or something outside for the first 30 seconds 😂 I was so confused.

But got half way through the video, I can honestly say this was a great help as someone who’s trying to learn Russian. It’s strange though because I’m not remotely interested in the history or culture honestly as I was viciously robbed of that curiosity early on, but I watched in the pursuit of finding genuine literature as that’s what I’m using to learn. So I did gain a lot of areas to further my knowledge and I appreciate it. I’ve been trying to find audio books and tv series and such so I can have something to listen to that has like combination of historical speaking and modern day because I wanted to make sure my speech wasn’t outdated so to speak or entirely too formal. But it’s rather hard to search for accurate pieces from a different language and culture that doesn’t seem to be widely learned? Or I’m just an idiot and can’t use google properly? Lol I’m not sure but I’ll be definitely checking out your other video about the Russian books specifically. Thank you.

I’ve enjoyed your videos for over a year now, great job!!! Other Audible choices that have a wealth of knowledge to help people out in their Russian lit journey are :
Modern scholar-The Giants of Russian literature-Liza Knapp
Great courses- Classics of Russian Literature-Irwin Weil
Natasha’s Dance-Orlando Figes ( this book talks bout Russian culture and history though the centuries. Puts amazing context into the background of what u are reading in the Russian classics. Anything by Orlando Figes on Russia is very good to give background on Russia :). Hope this helps others :). I’m on my Russian lit journey too :)

I haven’t started the video yet, but I really hope you can help. I am supposed to be in a play in a month and it’s a world premiere called how we buried Josef Stalin. And I’m going to be completely honest I have no idea what the hell is going on

I actually laughed out loud with your first point as the only Russian lit books I’ve got are AK, W&P and c&p 😂 I read W&P last year and I’m halfway through c&p right now, love the realism in RL!

As an author, I also like to read other people's books sometimes too. I wrote a short Russian novel, but I am American, and the book is in English. I tried to read some from Russian writers, but I had a problem with how sad and hopeless some of it was, but I may try again with different authors. Also, Christmas is coming for 2022 so happy Holidays from Hollie

This is so well done. Thank you for the effort put into preparing and executing this.

huge tip for master and margarita: read it after your are well versed in the writers that came before bulgakov, like Pushkin and Griboyedov, he mentions them relentlessly and I had a very hard time keeping track of all the references, much lass understanding them.

read master and margarita when I was 17. obsessed with bulgakov and just russian lit in general ever since

Love the vid and the shirt. My start and one of my top favorites is Notes from the underground- FD. Very powerful and very convicting.

Thank you for this awesome video!

I adore you, really. I never would have trusted myself reading humongous books and also even just classics, thinking they'd be far too complex/intellectually difficult for me. Your descriptions of the epics and the shorter stories endear me because the thoughts you share are so relatable and they feel very accessible. I feel like the things you convey and also how you convey them are all your very individual own and that makes me so excited to read the Russian classics. Like really, a new world of happiness has opened up to me!!! Thank you so much:')

Thanks for sharing

Is LOTR considered a classic? If so I’ve read a classic lol

umm I love your t-shirt! Also, this video was highly informative. Do you mind telling me where you got this shirt from?

I like your t shirt. I would like to have one of Poe.

I love the books in the back ah, I can’t wait to get this book as I wanted to get into modes russian classics even french this year b

Hello Carolyn,

Have you read Gogol's novels?

Plaseeba!

Awesome channel!!which book should I start reading in russian literature?from india.

...I made the fortunate mistake of starting my journey with "The Brothers Karamazov". I liked it a lot, but I really should have started small though.

So much lucky cz I found ur video 😍❤️

Will you please stop talking to me?
Now you've got me going to the library to get four books and a movie.
"First Love" by Ivan Turgenev
"Poor Folk" and "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Ward Six" by Anton Chekhov
And, finally, that "Onegin" movie.

Now please stop talking to me...

Where did you get that Tshirt? So cute.

The operatic version of Eugene Onegin is really good too -and has so many great tunes that it's easy to appreciate even if you're not normally into opera.

Alexander gribo-yedov which means the eater of mushrooms
Grib is mushroom
Yedov is eater
☺️

I usually read my books in English
And as an artist I enjoy book covers
But as someone who was born in Ukraine
And knows Russian perfectly
It is a sin to read any of the Russian lit In English
Does somebody know about a good publisher that has decent looking Russian classics?

I have never been a bookworm, I don't even remember what the last book I read was. I have not even read more novels than I have fingers on one hand! And yet...I dared to ask for crime and punishment in a bookstore about a month ago. (I am not even shure why. Maybe I just wanted to pride myself in having read at least one classic in my life) so thank you for complimenting my ambition😅. I am almost done, and holy moly have I been missing out! I was hooked immediadiatly. I am currently living in St.Petersburg the summer of the 1860s. My heart is pounding, I'm weeping...

I have decided to read notes from underground next, and then mayyybeee brothers karamasov. If I am still hooked I will move on to tolstojs anna karenina. Subbing, but I think I'll be putting the anna karenina videos on hold until I catch up. I welcome any pointers anyone might have in my journey.

If you're interested in relatively recent Russian history you should read Solzhenitsyn's The Red Wheel.

I have classic Russian books on my Christmas wish list, and I can’t wait to bring in the new year reading them! Thank you for the tips about where to start! I’m excited to start my Russian literature journey soon!

I just got a collection of Dostoevsky. I haven’t read any classics but want to get into them so this should be a great help!

As a russian, who was obliged to read all these books during school, I find it so inspiring to watch videos like this and discover people, who love russian classics. I’m so happy that you truly enjoy reading them! Found this channel 10 minutes ago and it’s already one of my fav❤️

would love if you delved into Indian literature (especially Bengali writers like Rabindranath Tagore) I promise you won't be disappointed . Due to India's colonial history, we have amazing English literature written by Indians.

Where are you. I truly miss your videos

Peterson does a decent job explaining some of dostoevsky's text, but i can't help but feel he's using it more to further his work than to explain the intent of the author. I think that's unfortunately shown in comments as the very highly top voted comment on that video is a discussion having almost nothing to do with doestoevsky's commentary

The cutest prof. I've ever had.

Always so happy to hear how passionate you are about Russian literature, about Tolstoy and Pushkin! It is so inspiring! And I agree, watching adaptations definitely helps with huge books and also makes you want to re-read them ("War and Peace" definitely does, it's one of my favourites!). "Woe from Wit" is amazing, can't wait to hear your thoughts about it, and so are Bulgakov's books ("Heart of a Dog" and "A Young Doctor's Notebook" are two short ones, that I could definitely recommend to anyone who wants to start reading Bulgakov with something smaller than "Master and Margarita"). From Russian non-fiction, I can recommend Andrey Zorin's biography of Tolstoy - it was actually written in English, it's small and a very interesting look at his biography and works!

First video that I am watching from your channel, very excited to watch the rest :)

I need a break from Russia as I am getting addicted to it - time to look around in France, Spain, Italy and Norway, Japan for me. :)