Russian Literature

It's a joke but it's also the truth—Russians are able to write such long novels so consistently because they spend so much time confined by snow and prison walls. As a people, Russians seem attracted to confinement in general. After the fall of the Soviet Union, even to this day, a large portion of the populace has cried for the return of Communism; before that, the virtually enslaved peasants nevertheless looked on the Czar as a father-figure; and even longer ago, the Orthodox Church ruled with an iron fist and little opposition.

Russia's intellectuals, however, have always been motivated by dreams of freedom and independence. Fyodor Dostoevsky, arguably the Motherland's greatest novelist, spent time in a Siberian prison, but at the center of his masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov comes an extended passage in which the self-actualizing force of freedom is contrasted to the slavery of bread and security. Or, more broadly, one can look to Pierre Bezukhov in Tolstoy's monumental War and Peace, a man who finally finds true peace in a rural existence of his own choosing.

Can we forgive writers like Tolstoy for assuming a romanticized view of the peasants themselves? Old Leo in particular liked to think of them as agrarian workers happy in their ignorance and simple life in the country. His depictions of them working the fields in Anna Karenina are among the most elegiac in all literature, but the reality was much harsher and much less like a good dream. Leo Tolstoy wanted so much to be like the peasants as he perceived them that he dressed like them and had children by them, but that's about as far as it went.

In the end he just wanted freedom, and while he may have imitated peasant fashion, he never would have given up his own liberty. Liberty was an ideal few Russian thinkers could give up, at least for themselves. Many of the world's most ardent defenders of anarchism as a political and social philosophy were Russian, the greatest of which was Michel Bakunin. Leo Tolstoy himself was an anarchist, or at least toyed with it as a viable ideological vehicle for his project of personal liberation.

But anarchism is an inherently godless framework for thought or action. God has a Law which He expects men to live by, and we only ignore that Law at the risk of invoking His wrath. Not all Russian intellectuals have been anarchists, and the long shadow of Russian Orthodox Christianity has stretched through the annals of Russian literature. Nicolai Gogol was a fervent supporter of the Church, and Dostoevsky's version of freedom was one rooted in the Christian Gospel, one that allowed men to pursue moral goodness rather than the evil their superiors intended for them.

And then there was Communism. Perhaps its appeal to the Russians was that it offered the lower classes a rigid system and the upper classes relative freedom. Except that, in practice, Communism squelched all personal artistic creativity that didn't support a specifically Communist program, thus binding writers even tighter than their less fortunate peasant brethren. A few great works sprang from behind the Iron Curtain, like Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago and Mikhail Sholokhov's epic And Quiet Flows the Don, but mostly the output was derivative and ultra-political.

One of the world's greatest writers of the latter half of the 20th century, however, again took up the cause of the Church against Communism, and was awarded exile as a result. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exposed the Communist regime and its hellish prison system in a series of books that ranged from the heartbreaking (Cancer Ward) to the clinical and journalistic (The Gulag Archipelago). The best-known and most accessible is the brief One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich which chronicles in intimate detail a political prisoner's day in a Siberian workcamp.

If you're getting the impression that all Russian literature is political, philosophical and intellectual, you're getting the right idea. If it's not a weighty matter, preferably one of life and death, Russian novelists are unlikely to find it a suitable topic. Even those purporting to write love stories, like Ivan Turgenev, do so with a heavy sense of irony and tragedy. It's as if the perpetually dark skies and deep cold form the stuff of literature for the Russians, that it's not mere words on the pages but something more primal, something spiritual.

Russian literature is not for the faint of heart, and almost none of it is for those looking for light reading or fun diversion. Much of it is beautiful, but it's beautiful because it accurately captures the plight of humans, the universal human situation. The tension between the Church and humanistic philosophy in the Russian context is a microcosm of man's fight between two natures, that of God and that of the flesh. In a real sense, the literature of Russia is the literature of the world, and the literature of every human being in it.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
Did you find this review helpful?
51 Items found Print
Adventures of Menahem-Mendl
by Sholom Aleichem
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Anna Karenina
Signet Classics
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by David Magarshack
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
First Printing from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.00
Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Constance Garnett, illustrated by Barnett Freedman
from Heritage Press
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Anton Chekov: Plays
by Anton Chekhov
from Franklin Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
August 1914
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Brothers Karamazov
Signet Classics
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, edited with an introduction by Manual Komroff
from Signet Classics
Russian Epic Novel for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, introduced by Konstantin Mochulsky and translated by Andrew R. MacAndrew
Reprint from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, introduced and translated by David McDuff
Reprint from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky (translation by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky)
Bicentennial from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$19.00
Crime and Punishment
Signet Classics
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
from Signet Classics
Realistic Russian Novel for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (translation by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky)
Reprint from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.00
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
from International Collectors Library
Realistic Russian Novel for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3rd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett and illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Easton Press
Realistic Russian Novel for 11th-Adult
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Crime and Punishment
Oxford World's Classics
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (translation by Jessie Coulson), introduction and notes by Richard Peace
2008 Reissue from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, unknown translator
from Wordsworth Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Death of Ivan Ilych
by Leo Tolstoy, Translated by Lynn Solotaroff
from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories
by Leo Tolstoy
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$19.00
Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Aylmer Maude and J.D. Duff
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.95
Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories
by Leo Tolstoy
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories
by Nikolai Gogol
from Signet Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Doctor Zhivago
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Boris Pasternak
from Reader's Digest
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Eugene Onegin
by Alexander Pushkin
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Fathers and Sons
by Ivan Turgenev
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
Five Great Short Stories
Dover Thrift Editions
by Anton Chekhov
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00
Forests of the Vampire
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
Gulag Archipelago Volume 1
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, foreword by Anne Applebaum
from Harper Perennial
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$21.99
Gulag Archipelago Volume 2
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, foreword by Anne Applebaum
from Harper Perennial
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$22.99
Gulag Archipelago Volume 3
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, foreword by Anne Applebaum
from Harper Perennial
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$22.99
Kreutzer Sonata
Dover Thrift Editions
by Leo Tolstoy
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Master and Man and Other Stories
Penguin Classics
by Leo Tolstoy
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
from Penguin Classics
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.00 $9.50 (2 in stock)
Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
from Vintage Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.00
Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett
2023 Reprint from Unknown Publisher
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Notes from Underground and The Double
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.00
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Signet Classics
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
from Signet Classics
Classic Literature for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.95
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
from Everyman's Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.00
Plays and Stories of Chekhov
by Anton Chekhov
from International Collectors Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Resurrection
by Leo Tolstoy
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka & The White Duck
by Irina Zheleznova (translator)
from Goznak
for 3rd-6th grade
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Solzhenitsyn Reader
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
2nd Edition from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$22.00
Tales of a Russian Grandmother
by Frances Carpenter, illustrated by I. Bilibine
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
The Idiot
Signet Classics
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
from Signet Classics
Realistic Russian Novel for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Twenty-Two Russian Tales for Young Children
by Leo Tolstoy, selected, translated, and with an afterword by Miriam Morton, illustrated by Eros Keith
from Simon and Schuster
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Two Plays of Anton Chekhov
by Anton Chekhov
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
War & Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
from Vintage Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
War & Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
from International Collectors Library
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
War & Peace
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise & Aylmer Maude
Inner Sanctum Edition from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
War & Peace in Two Volumes
by Leo Tolstoy
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Works of Chekhov
by Anton Chekhov
from Black's Readers Service Company
for Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$4.00 (1 in stock)