Dostoyevsky | Guy Portman's Blog

Russian Literature

Feb 12 2016

I am an eclectic reader. Hopefully my varied reading experiences will prove beneficial to my own writing endeavours (3 novels to date). This week’s blog post is dedicated to the Russian literature that I have read. The following 6 books are presented in chronological order. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1877)

Anna Karenina

Tolstoy’s opus is set against a backdrop of the emancipation of the serfs, the Pan Slavism movement, political change and technological advancement. The story follows three interrelated families — the Oblonskys, Levins and Karenins. Divided into 8 parts, this eight hundred plus-page classic…(more)

My Rating: Good

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1880)

The Brothers Karamazov

Landowner and unapologetic voluptuary Fyodor Pavlovich is the neglectful father of three very different sons. There is the intellectual atheist Ivan, the self-destructive, amoral, passionate and guilt-ridden Mitya, and the youngest, Alyosha, a deeply spiritual and modest individual, who resonates…(more)

My Rating: Turgid

My Childhood by Maxim Gorky (1915)

My Childhood

My Childhood is the first volume of Russian author Maxim Gorky’s autobiographical trilogy. The book begins with the young Maxim viewing the dead body of his father, who has just died of cholera. axim is then sent to live with his grandparents. With an errant mother, abusive grandfather and quarrelling uncles…(more)

My Rating: Average

Novel with Cocaine by M. Ageyev (1934)

Novel with Cocaine

Set in the years immediately before and after the Russian Revolution, Novel with Cocaine follows the life of Vadim, a Moscow adolescent and student. Vadim is prone to self-loathing and disdainful of others, none more so than his mother, whose aged appearance and shabby clothes he finds acutely…(more)

My Rating: Good

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1962)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is a former POW serving a 10 year term in a Gulag on the Kazakh steppe for being a spy. He is innocent. The book chronicles a single day of his existence, beginning with a 5 a.m. reveille. Our protagonist, having been deemed not to have risen from bed on time…(more)

My Rating: Excellent

Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1968)

Cancer Ward

Oleg Kostoglotov, whose last name translates as ‘bone-chewer’, has been exiled in perpetuity to a village by the name of Ush-Terek, located on the steppe in Kazakhstan, a long way from home. Kostoglotov’s bad luck does not end there. Suffering from stomach cancer, he arrives at the cancer hospital in Tashkent…(more)

My Rating: Good

I look forward to reading some Gogol, Chekhov and Pushkin in the not too distant future.

The Tortoise And The Hare

Aug 29 2014

No doubt like many writers I find there are days when I can effortlessly write several thousand words, and others when I struggle to write anything of note. This has often led me to wonder how long it has taken famous authors to write their novels.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac – The defining text of The Beat Generation was written in only three weeks, on a 120-foot scroll of paper. In this largely autobiographical account of Kerouac’s adventures in America and Mexico, the speed of the journey is mirrored by the frenzied pace of the prose. Click here to read my review.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne – This contemporary Irish novelist claims to have written his best selling fictional account of a boy living through the Holocaust in only two and a half days, which left him very little time to eat or sleep.

The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – The iconic Russian author purportedly wrote this novella in only twenty-six days, which is all the more impressive when one considers that he was also working on Crime and Punishment at the same time.

The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins – This largely autobiographical account of the author’s romantic relationship with a man, who refused to leave his wife, was written in only three weeks. Jenkins has stated publicly that she has never looked at the book since.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Based on Heller’s own experiences as a bombardier in WWII, this best-selling, satirical, anti-war novel, took the American author eight years to write. Catch-22 is frequently cited as one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – The Russian-American author’s seminal work took five years to pen. This highly controversial novel is about a man’s (Humbert Humbert) infatuation with a twelve-year-old girl called Lolita. Click here to read my review.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – Published in 1989, The Pillars of the Earth is a popular historical novel, about the building of a cathedral. The story, which is set primarily in the 12th century, took the former thriller author ten years to write.

And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer – This story about a group of women, who start a study club, in a fictional town in Ohio, took its author fifty years to write. The eighty-eight year old Santmyer achieved critical acclaim when it became a best seller in 1984.

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Russian Literature

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