The Russian literary canon is virtually devoid of sex, so this collection of stories reads almost like erotica. Each could be adapted into a version of 9½ Weeks with a touch of mysticism. But the restraint that they show is beautiful. They'll make
This novella depicts, in graphic anatomical detail, the slow death of a sick civil servant. He led the life of a righteous
Writer Vladimir Nabokov considered this to be Tolstoy's most perfect work.
The moral of this book is that good deeds are never in
Everything changes and turns upside down when the peaceful life of a Cossack village is upset by the Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War. Brace yourself for four volumes of a fascinating read about how a husband leaves his wife and then returns, how a brother is prepared to kill his brother, how people are torn between the Communists and the White Guard, betraying one another.
Sholokhov is another Russian winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. However, for a long time academics debated the authorship of And Quiet Flows the Don, arguing that all other works by the same author were of much poorer quality. Yet, an expert assessment concluded that the novel was indeed written by Sholokhov.
This novel has everything: sea, mountains, love, destiny, and, of course, a riveting plot. Grigory Pechorin is young but he has already seen much of life. He has grown tired of the hypocritical conventions of high society and is disappointed in women. It seems that his soul has grown cold and is no longer capable of strong feelings.
Seeking thrills, he goes to war, abducts the daughter of a Circassian prince risking a blood feud, gets involved in a night operation run by smugglers, starts an affair with a noble young woman just out of boredom. In short, he is a true enfant terrible of the 19th century!
A divorced man is looking for extra work and gets a job as a guide in a remote rural museum devoted to the poet Alexander Pushkin. Most museum staff are women, who soon start falling over
Proletarian writer Maxim Gorky, a man of very humble origins, was one of the first authors to portray the life of homeless children, beggars
Incidentally, the play is still often staged in Russia and in
Landowner Ranevskaya is selling her estate and discovers that her cherry orchard will be cut down. She is upset by the news because she's convinced that without the orchard, life will lose all meaning. Yet, it is not all about the orchard – the fact is that she's not ready for change and is attached to the past. Be inspired by Chekhov's legendary play and change something in your life, or failing that, at least in your wardrobe.
10. To fall in love Stockholm syndrome-style – Guzel Yakhina's Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes
A young woman in a Muslim Tatar village lives under the yoke of a domineering husband and mother-in-law. They treat her like a slave. When the Bolsheviks come to power, the husband is killed, and the woman is sent to a labor camp. There, she feels more freedom than in her previous life, discovers that she has hidden talents and forms a close personal bond with one of the guards…
This is the only 21st-century book on our list. Immediately upon its release, it was translated into more than 20 languages.
Take our quiz: 10 films based on Russian books that became Hollywood classics
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