A classic 19th century novels, horror sci-fi bestsellers and a Soviet dystopian tales, Russia has a steady stream of great new works being produced all the time! Take a look at some recently published books in English.
Ivan Goncharov – A Serendipitous Error and An Evil Malady
Translated by Stephen Pearl, Alma Classics
Goncharov is most famous for writing his timeless ‘Oblomov’ novel, an anthem of laziness and living the quiet life. His earlier works, ‘A Serendipitous Error’ and ‘An Evil Malady’, are not very well known, even in Russia, and were lost in translation for a long time. This year, the first ever English translations of these books saw the light of day.
In ‘A Serendipitous Error’, Goncharov tried his hand on the, at that time, fashionable genre, the ‘secular novella’. The plot revolves around a young nobelman’s life in St. Petersburg. While ‘An Evil Malady’ is a kind of ‘domestic novella’, where the author ponders about epilepsy. Goncharov didn’t mean these novellas to have a huge success, but, rather, he considered them his literary exercises. However, a character in the second novel has some traits of the future Oblomov, as literary scholars note.
Andrey Platonov – Chevengur
Translated by Elizabeth Chandler and Robert Chandler, New York Review Books
Joseph Brodsky once put Platonov on a par with Proust, Kafka and Beckett. ‘Chevengur’ is a behind-the-scenes look at Soviet life during the ‘NEP’ (New Economic Policy) period. Chevengur is a utopian city, where communism is being built at a record pace. The result is an impending catastrophe.
The novel was actually scheduled for publication, but banned by the censors at the last minute for ideological reasons, stating that Platonov was “rocking the boat” by endangering the very notion of building socialism. The novel was not published in full until 1988.
Alexander Pushkin – Letters
Translated by Professor J. Thomas Shaw, Alma Classics
When you ask a Russian who their favorite poet is, they would most likely say it’s Alexander Pushkin. “Pushkin is our everything,” Russians used to say. The author, who died in a duel aged 37, however, managed to succeed in all the possible genres and create hundreds of timeless poems, novels, plays and short stories.
At the same time, Pushkin is also famous for his brilliant sense of humor. And his letters are an incredible source of witty notes and of sincere descriptions of Russian life. The letters were translated and compiled by J. Thomas Shaw, an internationally renowned Pushkin scholar and translator.
Editor’s Note: There are many great books in Russian that are free online, and with the power of modern translators you really have access to read anything you want. But of course reading in the original is a great way to learn the language, just start off with something simpler like Chekhov before making the big jump to Pushkin!