Russian Literature Reading Challenge 2017

*** At the end of this post I've included a very long list of Russian texts from the 12th Century onwards. 

Since my 2016 Ancient Greek Challenge was a success (both personally and for others - but more on that later) I've been thinking about what challenge I want to host in 2017. Ever since I first picked up One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich many years ago I've been charmed by Russian Literature and I've been reading A LOT of Russian Literature lately so it was a pretty easy decision. I'm currently making my way through Ivan Turgenev's works so this challenge will collide with that project nicely.

I have many, many Russian Lit novels, short stories and plays I want to read in 2017. I want to continue with my Turgenev Project by reading a few of his novels and most of his short stories. I also want to read War and Peace (I've had an eleven month break from Tolstoy and I think that's long enough), the Brothers Karamazov and maybe another Dostoevsky, Demons by Gogol, Chekov's short story collection, some medieval Russian texts and Pushkin's Fairy Tales. I'm sure I'll think of more as it gets closer to 2017. As I said I'm really into Russian Literature at the moment (always).

I'll just be reading Classic Russian Literature (mostly the 19th Century) but I welcome anyone that participates to read 20th century or contemporary Russian Literature and Non Fiction. I'll be listing the books I want to read on my 2017 Challenges Page.

Like with many challenges there will be four levels (going to make it interesting and name them after my favourite Russian writers):

• Level One (Tolstoy): 1-3 books 
• Level Two (Chekov): 4-6 books 
• Level Three (Dostoevsky): 7-11 books
• Level Four (Turgenev): 12+ books

You can count short stories, poetry, novels, novellas and plays in your book count. I don't really mind.

If you are going to join me just leave a comment under this post. I made a couple of buttons which you can use to show you're participating if you so desire:

Russian Literature List:
**this is a constant work in progress but if you have suggestions send them my way
*** this is a rough list that obviously doesn't cover every Russian text but I've done my best to include as many as I can
**** works from the 12th-18th centuries are mostly travelogues/religious texts and hard to locate in English but I've included them mostly for my own interest
****** each category and sub category are in chronological order to the best of my ability

12th-17th C:

• The Tale of Igor's Campaign - Anonymous (12th Century)
• Praying of Daniel the Immured - Anonymous (13th Century)
• Life of Alexander Nevsky - Anonymous (13th-14th Century/s)
• Zandonschina - Unknown (14th Century)
• Physiologist - Unknown (15th Century)
• A Journey Beyond the Three Seas - Afanasiy Nikitin (x)
• Synopsis - Unknown/Innokentiy Gizel (16th Century)

(English translations of some of these can be found HERE)

18th C: 

• The Essence and Root of Worship - Alexander Susskind of Grodno
• Poems - Ekaterina Kniazhnina
• Fables - Ivan Crylov (x)
• Selected Writings - Boris Kurakin
• Selected Works - V.I Makov
• The Comedy of Saint Catherine, Chrysanthus and Darius, Caesar Otto, Saint Evdokia - Tsarevna Natalya Alexeyevna
• Eneida - N.P Osipov
• Journey from St. Petersberg to Moscow - Alexander Radishchev
• Fables, Makbet, Hamlet, Khorev, Dmitry Samozvanets - Alexander Sumarokov

19th C (the Golden Age):

Fyodor Dostoyevsky: (you can read most of these here) 

Novels/Novellas:

• Poor Folk
• The Double 
• The Landlady
• Netochka Nezvanova 
• Uncle's Dream
• The Village of Stepanchikovo
• Humiliated and Insulted 
• The House of the Dead
• Notes from Underground
• Crime and Punishment 
• The Gambler
• The Idiot
• The Eternal Husband
• Demons
• The Adolescent 
• the Brothers Karamazov

Short Stories:

• Mr Prokharchin, 
• Novel in Nine Letters 
• A Jealous Husband
• Another Man's Wife 
• Another Man's Wife and a Husband Under the Bed 
• A Weak Heart, Polzunkov
• An Honest Thief
• A Christmas Tree and a Wedding 
• White Nights
• A Little Hero 
• A Nasty Story 
• The Crocodile 
• Bobok
• The Heavenly Christmas Tree 
• A Gentle Creature
• The Peasant Marey 
• The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

Essay Collections:

• Winter Notes on Summer Impressions
• A Writer's Diary  

Leo Tolstoy: (you can read most of these here)

Novels/Novellas: 

• Childhood
• Boyhood
• Youth
• Family Happiness
• The Cossacks
• War and Peace
• Anna Karenina
• The Death of Ivan Illych
• The Kreutzer Sonata
• Resurrection
• The Forged Coupon
• Hadji Murat

Short Stories: 

• The Raid
• The Snowstorm
• Albert
• Three Deaths
• God Sees the Truth
• But Waits
• The Prisoner in the Caucasus
• What Men Live By
• Quench the Spark
• Where Love Is, God Is
• Ivan the Fool
• Wisdom of Children
• The Three Hermits
• Promoting a Devil
• How Much Land Does a Man Need?
• The Grain
• Repentance
• Croesus and Fate
• Kholstomer
• A Lost Opportunity
• Master and Man
• Too Dear!
• Father Sergius
• Work, Death and Sickness
• Three Questions
• Alyosha the Pot
• the Devil

Plays: 

• The Power of Darkness
• The Light Shines in the Darkness
• The Fruits of Enlightenment
• The Living Corpse

Ivan Turgenev (you can read most of these here):

Novels/Novellas: 

• A Sportsman's Sketches
• Rudin
• Home of the Gentry 
• On the Eve
• Fathers and Sons 
• Smoke
• Spring Torrents
• Virgin Soil

Short Stories: (you can read them all HERE)

• The Diary of a Superfluous Man
• Yakov Pasynkov
• Faust
• Asya
• First Love
• Mumu
• King Lear of the Steppes
• The Song of Triumphant Love
• The Mysterious Tales 

(a complete list can be found HERE)

Plays:

• A Rash Thing to Do
• It Tears Where It is Thin
• Breakfast at the Chief's
• A Conversation on the Highway
• Lack of Money
• A Provincial Lady
• Fortune's Fool
• A Month in the Country
• An Evening in Sorrento

Alexander Pushkin: 

• Eugene Onegin (only verse novel)

Narrative Poems: 

• Ruslan and Ludmila
• The Gabrieliad
• The Fountain of Bakhchisaray
• The Gypsies
• Poltava
• The Bronze Horseman

Fairy Tales: 

• The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan
• The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights
• The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish
• The Tale of the Golden Cockerel

Prose: 

• The Tales of Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin
• Dubrovsky
• The Queen of Spades
• The Captain's Daughter

Plays:

• Boris Godunov
• A Feast in Time of Plague
• Mozart and Salieri
• The Stone Guest  

Mikhail Lermontov:

Novels/Novellas:

• Princess Ligovskaya
• A Hero of Our Time

Plays: 

• Menschen und Leidenschaften
• A Strange Man
• Masquerade

Collected Poetry  


Nikolai Gogol:

Novels: 

• Dead Souls
• Taras Bulba 

Plays:

• The Government Inspector
• Marriage
• The Gamblers
• The Order of Vladimir
• Third Class

Short Stories:

• The Fair at Sorochyntsi
• St. John's Eve
• May Night, or the Drowned Maiden
• Christmas Eve
• A Terrible Vengeance
• A Bewitched Place
• The Old World Landowners
• Viy
• The Portrait
• Nevsky Prospekt
• Diary of a Madman
• The Nose
• The Carriage
• The Overcoat

Ivan Goncharov: 

Novels: 

• A Common Story
• Oblomov
• The Precipice 

Anton Chekov: 

Plays: 

• Platonov
• On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco
• Swansong
• Ivanov
• The Bear
• A Tragedian in Spite of Himself
• The Wedding
• The Wood Demon
• A Marriage Proposal
• The Festivities
• The Seagull
• Uncle Vanya
• Three Sisters
• the Cherry Orchard

Novellas: 

• The Steppe
• The Duel
• The Story of an Unknown Man
• Three Years
• My Life

Short Stories: 

• The Bet
• Ward No. 6
• The Black Monk
• Rothschild's Violin
• The Darling
• The Lady With the Dog

20th C: (alphabetical order): **still working on this list (I haven't read loads from the 20th Century) 

• The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
• Heart of a Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov
• Moscow to the End of the Line - Venedikt Erofeev
• Mother - Maxim Gorky
• Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman
• Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
• Invitation to a Beheading - Vladimir Nabokov
• Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
• The Gift - Vladimir Nabokov
• Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
• And Quiet Flows the Don - Mikhail Sholokhov
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Cancer Ward - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• August 1914 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Roadside Picnic - Arkady Strugatsky
• We - Yevgeny Zamyatin