A great writer and some other Russian masters!

I couldn't let Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's death go by without posting a little message. I was lucky enough to read some of his work at university and have to say he is an incredible author who will be missed by many. I read his book A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich twice (once in my first year and again in my fourth year) but regret never reading Cancer Ward. I had an amazing lecturer who took our module on Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn and thoroughly enjoyed the lectures and seminars on Cancer Ward but having just ploughed my way through Doctor Zhivago and under pressure to meet numerous deadlines I just did not feel I had the time to read another major novel, not when I could get away with not reading it and still pass the module. Hearing of Solzhenitsyn's death has made me want to climb up into our loft and bring down my copy (yes I did buy a copy!!) and read it now - as a memorial for one of the great Russian authors.

One of the things I truly enjoyed about my university degree was the introduction to some amazing authors. I'm not really a classical novel kind of person, so I found many of the Russian classics hard to get into - so don't ask me about Karenina, A Hero of Our Time or any of the more famous pieces to come from there. But the modern Russian novels, particularly those written during the time of the Soviet Union's power, just enthrall me. Many of these were completely dangerous to the authors and were handwritten and passed between friends and eventually smuggled out of the country to be published in other nations long before they would ever be known to the general public. This form of publishing such risqué pieces of work was known as Samizdat and is something that interests me greatly - it proves how powerful art can be and how strong people under hard circumstances can still find hope and even see the funny side of life. Let's just say that I never thought a module entitled "Soviet Comic Prose" would actually amuse me!!

And so, for those of you unaware of how wonderful Russian writing can be, I share with you some of my favourites (some of which are readily available to buy and some of which need to be searched for).

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita and The Heart of a Dog

Who could possibly resist the humorous take on the changing face of Russian life as portrayed in The Heart of a Dog? A professor transplants the pituitary gland and testes of a human into a stray dog and sees it turn into a human so unlike him and yet so loved by those around him that his whole life begins to fall to pieces.

And who couldn't love the depth to what is perhaps my all-time favourite book? The Master and Margarita tells the tale of the Devil's visit to Moscow, where he simultaneously creates havoc whilst also reuniting Margarita with her beloved Master so that he can continue telling the tale of Jesus' trial and death and the effects that had on Pontius Pilate. As humorous as the Devil's antics are, it is still the scenes of Jesus' death which moved me in such a haunting way (whether you agree with Bulgakov's interpretation it is stil very emotive!)

Ilf and Petrov's Twelve Chairs

This is such a farce - a man hears from his dying relative that she hid several jewels in one of the chairs they used to posses but which were taken away and split between people across the whole of Russia. What follows is a race between the protagonist and his amusingly competent new companion, Bender, and the priest who also heard the dying confession to see who can find the jewels first. There are 12 chairs in all and each one must be searched - whenever they come close something else happens. A laugh from start to finish!

Gogol's The Nose and The Undercoat

Both of these short tales are quite ridiculous in nature you might wonder where you left your head - how could a man's nose leave his face and become a well-respected member of society, above his own rank? And who could not feel sorry for poor Akaki, Akakiavich Bashmashkin - the man who lives to copy out other people's words and whose overcoat is his prized possession. Weird but fun, quick reads.

Yevgeny Zamyatin's We

This is the first dystopian novel - written before Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell even commented he was inspired by this book) and long before Brave New World and all the others that followed. How does one cope in a world where letters and numbers replace names and sex is something you are given an allotted time for - a time when the glass walls can be covered - and where daily marches can be compared to a great machine moving fluidly through the streets? This book follows one man as he begins to realise there is another world out there and that this may not be the perfect world he once thought it to be. A gripping read!

Well - I hope that whets your appetite a bit - let me know what kinds of books you love to read!

A last note - many of these works are available at Project Gutenberg