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Most difficult Russian author to read?

 Language Learning Forum : Русский Post Reply
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Omenapuu00
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 Message 1 of 22
30 November 2010 at 6:59am | IP Logged 
Hello there, I am at the point in my Russian studies where I am reading original works from several of the prolific Russian authors. I am curious as to which authors other learners of Russian believe are some of the most difficult to understand, whether it be Checkov and his liberal use of particles, Pushkin and his use of extremely rich/dense vocab, or any other author for any other reason. I've been flipping through some Mendelshtam and find it a bit more difficult than some other poets.
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Gusutafu
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 Message 2 of 22
30 November 2010 at 9:42am | IP Logged 
I've tended to focus on Dostoyevsky, Gogol and some Tolstoy, and of these Gogol is certainly the most difficult in terms of language, but this is mostly due to all the rural, colloquial or dialectal words he uses.
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Andrey_92
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Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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 Message 3 of 22
30 November 2010 at 2:05pm | IP Logged 
Do you read Vladimir Mayakovsky? He is a poet-futurist. I think he is one of the difficult to understand among russian poets.
http://www.litera.ru/stixiya/authors/mayakovskij/all.html
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Omenapuu00
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 Message 4 of 22
30 November 2010 at 6:19pm | IP Logged 
Yes I just finished Checkov's play "Tri Cestrie" and found the language much easier to grasp than much of the other (older) Russian authors whose works I've read. I find Pushkin to be fairly difficult, but I actually enjoy learning all the archaic vocab that he peppers his literature with so liberally. I do quite enjoy what I've read of Gogol.

I have not read any Vladimir Mayakovsky, however I think I'll have to pick up something of his. Do you recommend anything in particular?

Also, is there anything within the last twenty years or so that you recommend? I've been reading so much of the Russian "classic" authors and poets lately, and would like to get into some more modern authors since I know next to nothing about them.

Thanks!
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milaneva
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 Message 5 of 22
30 November 2010 at 7:50pm | IP Logged 
I mean it's special gift not only to understand but to feel and enjoy works by foreign authors, if you could do, that's great!
Not sure which modern authors to recommend you.Many popular writers appeared now, especially in detective jenre, but in my opinion, most of them are commercial writers.
Have you read Bulgakov? Try "Sobachye sertse"- (Dog's heart) You will enjoy!
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masha_light
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Russian Federation
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 Message 6 of 22
30 November 2010 at 8:49pm | IP Logged 
Try to read Pelevin (Ника, Жёлтая стрела, Зомбификация, ГКЧП как тетраграмматон), Strugatskie brothers (Понедельник начинается в субботу), Grishkovets, Sanaev (Похороните меня за плинтусом).
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Omenapuu00
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 Message 7 of 22
01 December 2010 at 12:24am | IP Logged 
Thanks for all the recommendations! I look forward to finding these books and having a stab at reading them. Masha light, what genre are the authors classified as that you mentioned? And which one do you think would be a good one to start with? Thanks! :)
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TixhiiDon
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Japan
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 Message 8 of 22
01 December 2010 at 4:23am | IP Logged 
Omenapuu00 wrote:
Also, is there anything within the last twenty years or so that you recommend? I've been reading so much of the Russian "classic" authors and poets lately, and would like to get into some more modern authors since I know next to nothing about them.


Although a little older than twenty years, I can heartily recommend the Moskovskie Povesti by Trifonov and Nedelya Kak Nedelya by Baranskaya for a glimpse of daily life in the Soviet Union of the 60s and 70s, i.e. after all the turbulence of the war and the Stalin period had ended and people settled down to stability and relative affluence. Neither of these works is at all difficult to read in the original, but that doesn't take away from their brilliance.


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