The best writers and their works. The best modern books

Modern Russian literature is rich in a variety of names. Many book resources compile their own ratings of the most read authors, best-selling books, top-selling books (RoyalLib.com, bookz.ru, LitRes. Ozon.ru, Labirint.ru, Read-Gorod, LiveLib.ru). We present the “twenty” of the most popular contemporary writers in Russia, whose works can be found in the collection of the Centralized library system Volgodonsk.

Speaking about modern Russian literature, one cannot help but recall the masters of writing novels.

Lyudmila Ulitskaya. A bright representative of Russian literature of the post-Soviet period. She began writing prose when she was already over forty. In her own words: “First I raised children, then I became a writer.” The first collection of stories by the writer, “Poor Relatives,” was published in 1993 in France and was published in French. Ulitskaya’s book “Medea and Her Children” brought her to the finalists for the 1997 Booker Prize and made her truly famous. The “Big Book” prize was awarded to: the collection of stories “Our Tsar’s People”, “Daniel Stein, Translator”, which soon received bestseller status. In 2011, Ulitskaya presented the novel “The Green Tent,” which tells about dissidents and the lives of people of the “sixties” generation. The writer’s autobiographical prose and essays were included in the book “Sacred Trash,” published in 2012. Fans of the writer characterize her work exclusively as bold, subtle, and intelligent.

Dina Rubina. Critics often call her a “women's writer,” although her novel On the Sunny Side of the Street won her third Big Book Prize in 2007, when the first went to Ulitskaya's Stein. The 2004 novel “Syndicate”, which describes with satirical intonation Moscow branch Israeli agency Sokhnut, quarreled her with many in Israel. But Russian readers still remain big fans of her work. Particularly popular I brought the story “When Will It Snow” to the author. The work went through several editions, was filmed, played on theater stages. The writer's books are distinguished by their colorful language, colorful characters, rough sense of humor, adventurous plots and ability to speak clearly about complex problems and things. From latest works- trilogy “Russian Canary”. The plot, the character of the characters, the Rubin language - it’s impossible to tear yourself away from all this!

Aleksey Ivanov.High-quality Russian prose in the genre of realism. The words of one critic that “Alexei Ivanov’s prose is the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Russian literature” are often reproduced on the covers of his books. Ivanov's heroes - be they the mythical Voguls of the 15th century ("Heart of Parma"), semi-mythical raftsmen of the 18th century ("Gold of Rebellion") or mythologized modern Permians ("The Geographer Drank the Globe Away"), speak a special language and think in a special way. All works are very different, but they are united by the author’s subtle humor, which gradually turns into satire. The writer Alexey Ivanov is notable for the fact that, while emphasizing his “provincialism,” he nevertheless carefully ensures that the plot follows all the laws of a Hollywood action movie in any novel. His last novel“Bad Weather” was received ambiguously by the reading public. Some talk about the cardboardness and lifelessness of the characters, the hackneyed nature of the criminal theme, others speak with delight about the writer’s ability to create a portrait of our contemporary - a man brought up during socialism, who received a good Soviet education, and during the global breakdown of society, he was left alone with his conscience and questions. Isn't this a reason to read the novel and make up your own? own opinion about him?

Oleg Roy. Bright name among novelists. He lived outside of Russia for a little over a decade. It was at this time that it began creative career writer. The title of the debut novel, “Mirror,” was presented to post-Soviet readers as “Amalgam of Happiness.” After this book he became famous in book circles. O. Roy is the author of more than two dozen books of various genres for adults and children, as well as articles in popular print publications. The writer's work will appeal to those who simply love good prose. Writes in the genre of urban novel - life stories, slightly seasoned with mysticism, which gives the author’s work a special flavor.

Pavel Sanaev.The book “Bury Me Behind the Baseboard” was highly appreciated by critics and readers - a story in which the theme of growing up seems to be turned upside down and takes on the features of surreal humor! A book in which the very idea of ​​a happy childhood is parodied in a homerically funny and subtly evil way. The continuation of the now cult story was published only in 2010 under the title “The Chronicles of Razdolbay.”

Evgeny Grishkovets. He started out as a playwright and performer of his plays, but then the dramatic stage seemed not enough for him. He added music studies to this, and then turned to prose writing, releasing the novel “The Shirt.” It was followed by a second book, “Rivers.” Both works, judging by the reviews, were warmly received by readers. Short stories and collections of stories began to be published. Despite the fact that the author works very seriously on each of his works and then proudly notes that his “author’s position” in this book is not at all similar to the “author’s position” in the previous one, one gets the impression that Grishkovets, with his plays, performances, in prose and songs all his life he writes the same text of his name. And at the same time, each of his viewers/readers can say: “He wrote this directly about me.” The author’s best books: “Asphalt”, “A...a”, collections of stories “Plank” and “Traces on Me”.

Zakhar Prilepin.His name is known to the widest circle readers. Prilepin spent his childhood and youth in the USSR, and grew up in the difficult 90s of the 20th century. Hence the frequent reviews of him as the “voice of generations.” Zakhar Prilepin was a participant in the Chechen campaigns of 1996 and 1999. His first novel, “Pathology,” which tells about the war in Chechnya, was written by the author in 2003. The writer’s best books are social novels“Sin” and “Sankya”, in which he shows the life of modern youth. Most of the author’s books were warmly received by the public and critics; “Sin” received rave reviews from fans and two awards: “ National bestseller" and "Loyal sons of Russia." The writer also has the “Supernational Best” award, which is awarded for the best prose of the decade, as well as the All-China “Best Foreign Novel” award. New novel- “Abode”, about life in the Solovetsky special purpose camp, became a bestseller due to its historical and artistic content.

Oksana Robski.She made her debut as a writer with the novel “Casual,” which laid the foundation for the genre of “secular realism” in Russian literature. Books by Oksana Robski - “The Day of Happiness is Tomorrow”, “About LuOFF/ON”, “Oysters in the Rain”, “Casual 2. Dancing with Head and Feet”, etc. caused numerous and conflicting reviews critics. According to some observers, the novels truthfully reproduce the atmosphere of “Rublevka” and indicate the lack of spirituality and artificiality of the world of the so-called Rublevka wives. Other critics point out numerous inconsistencies and say that Robski's works have little in common with reality Everyday life business elite. The artistic merits of her works are generally assessed as low; some critics emphasize that at high artistic tasks Robski, in fact, does not pretend, but sets out the events easily, dynamically and in clear language.

Boris Akunin.Fiction writer. Akunin is a pseudonym, and not the only one. Publishes his works of art also under the names of Anna Borisova and Anatoly Brusnikin. And in life - Grigory Chkhartishvili. The author became famous for his novels and stories from the “New Detective” series (“The Adventures of Erast Fandorin”). He also created the series “Provincial Detective” (“The Adventures of Sister Pelagia”), “The Adventures of the Master”, “Genres”. In each of its “brainchild” creative person amazingly combines literary text with cinematic visuality. Positive reviews readers testify to the popularity of all stories without exception.

Many readers prefer detective genres and adventure literature.

Alexandra Marinina. She is called by critics nothing less than the queen, the prima donna of the Russian detective story. Her books are read in one sitting. They are distinguished by realistic plots, which makes the reader wholeheartedly experience the events that happen to the characters, empathize with them and think about important life issues. Some of the author's new works, which have already become bestsellers: "Execution without malice", “Angels Can’t Survive on Ice,” “Last Dawn.”

Polina Dashkova.The writer gained wide fame after the publication of the detective novel “Blood of the Unborn” in 1997. During the period 2004-2005. The author’s novels “A Place in the Sun” and “Cherub” were filmed. The writer's style is characterized by vivid characters, an exciting plot, and good style.

Elena Mikhalkova. Critics say she is a master of the "life" detective story. The best books of the writer are detective stories in which all the characters have their own story, which is no less interesting to the reader than the main storyline. The author takes ideas for plots for his works from everyday life: a conversation with a supermarket salesperson, leaflet texts, family conversation at breakfast, etc. The plots of her works are always thought out to the smallest details, making each book very easy to read. Among the most popular books: “The Whirlpool of Other People’s Desires”, “Cinderella and the Dragon”.

Anna and Sergei Litvinov. They write in the genres of adventure and detective literature. These authors know how to keep the reader in suspense. They have written more than 40 novels together: “The Golden Maiden”, “Sky Island”, “The Sad Demon of Hollywood”, “Fate Has Another Name” and many others. In their reviews, readers admit that the Litvinovs are masters of intrigue and exciting plots. They harmoniously combine a mysterious crime, colorful characters and a love line in their texts.

One of the most popular literary genres among Russian readers is female love story.

Anna Berseneva. This is the literary pseudonym of Tatyana Sotnikova. She wrote her first novel, Confusion, in 1995. Anna Berseneva is the only author who managed to populate modern women's novels with extraordinary male heroes. After all, it is the lack of expressive male characters, according to sociologists, that is the reason that women's novels are practically absent from the domestic book market. A series of novels by A. Berseneva about several generations of the Grinev family - “Unequal Marriage”, “The Last Eve”, “The Age of the Third Love”, “The Catcher of Small Pearls”, “The First, Accidental, Only” - formed the basis of a multi-part series TV movie"Captain's Children"

Ekaterina Vilmont. Her books are loved by readers all over Russia. She wrote her first romance novel at the age of 49 (“The Journey of an Optimist, or All Women are Fools”). Then I tried myself in the children's detective genre. In her women's novels, Vilmont reveals the inner world of modern, mature, independent women who are able to control circumstances, talk about their failures and victories, tragedies and joys, and about what worries every reader - about love. Ekaterina Vilmont's novels are full of humor, cheerfulness and witty titles: “In Search of Treasures”, “The Happiness Hormone and Other Nonsense”, “Incredible Luck”, “With All the Dope!” , "An Intellectual and Two Ritas". It's ironic, light, lively prose, which is read in one breath and charges readers with optimism and self-confidence.

Maria Metlitskaya. Her works appeared on the market of modern women's love literature relatively recently, but have already managed to win the respect of fans. The first novel has been published since 2011. The writer's best books are known for their precision of detail, life-affirming mood and light humor. Feedback from her fans suggests that these books helped them find a way out of difficult life situations. Today, the list of the writer’s works includes more than 20 novels and stories. Among her latest works, it is worth highlighting the following: “Our Little Life”, “Mistake of Youth”, “The Road to Two Streets”, “Faithful Husband”, “Her last Hero" and others.

In Russian modern science fiction there is a whole galaxy of talented writers whose names and works deserve attention.

Sergei Lukyanenko. One of the most widely circulated authors among science fiction writers. The first circulation of his book “The Last Watch” was 200 thousand copies. Films based on his novels have become important factor increasing popularity. Blockbuster releases " The night Watch" and "Day Watch" increased the circulation of books by this author more than seven times.

Nick Perumov.He gained widespread fame after his first publication in 1993 of the epic "The Ring of Darkness", set in the Middle-earth of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. From novel to novel, Nick's style becomes more and more individual and unique, and the initial opinion of critics and him as a Tolkienist is a thing of the past. The best books by Perumov and his series are included in the treasury of the Russian fantastic literature: “The Chronicles of Hjervard”, “Chronicles of the Rift”, “Soul Stealers”, “Black Blood” and many others.

Andrey Rubanov.His fate was not easy: he had to work as a driver and bodyguard in the difficult 90s, and live in the Chechen Republic at the height of the military campaign. But it gave him the necessary life experience and helped me successfully start my journey in literature. The most flattering reviews were earned by the works that are rightly included in the list of the best books of the science fiction writer: “Chlorophylia”, “Plant and it will grow”, “Living Earth”.

Max Fry.The author's genre is urban fantasy. Her books are for people who have not lost faith in fairy tales. Stories about ordinary life and a light syllable can captivate any reader. What makes the image of the main character popular and extraordinary is the attractive contrast: the male external role and behavior and the female motives for action, the way of describing and assessing what is happening. Among popular works: “The power of the unfulfilled (collection)”, “Volunteers of Eternity”, “Obsessions”, “Simple magical things”, “ Dark side", "Stranger".

These are not all the names of modern Russian literature. World domestic works diverse and exciting. Read, learn, discuss - live with the times!

1. Gabriel José de la Concordia "Gabo" García Márquez(b. March 6, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia) - famous Colombian prose writer, journalist, publisher and politician; winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1982. Representative of the literary movement of “magical realism”. World fame The novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Cien años de soledad, 1967) brought him.

2. Umberto Eco(b. January 5, 1932, Alessandria, Italy) - Italian scientist-philosopher, medievalist historian, semiotics specialist, literary critic, writer. Most famous novels- "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum".

3. Otfried Preusler(b. October 20, 1923) - German children's writer, by nationality - Lusatian (Lusatian Serb). Most famous works: “Little Baba Yaga”, “Little Ghost”, “Little Waterman” and “Krabat, or Legends of the Old Mill”.

4. Boris Lvovich Vasiliev(born May 21, 1924) - Soviet and Russian writer. Author of the story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” (1969), the novel “Not on the Lists” (1974), etc.

5. Ion Druta(b. 09/03/1928) - Moldavian and Russian writer and playwright.

6. Fazil Abdulovich Iskander(03/06/1929, Sukhum, Abkhazia, USSR) - an outstanding Soviet and Russian prose writer and poet of Abkhaz origin.

7. Daniil Alexandrovich Granin(b. January 1, 1919, Volsk, Saratov province, according to other sources - Volyn, Kursk region) - Russian writer and public figure. Knight of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, Hero of Socialist Labor (1989), President of the Society of Friends of the Russian national library; Chairman of the Board of the International Charitable Foundation. D. S. Likhacheva.

8. Milan Kundera(b. April 1, 1929) is a modern Czech prose writer who has lived in France since 1975. He writes in both Czech and French.

9. Thomas Tranströmer(b. April 15, 1931 in Stockholm) is the largest Swedish poet of the 20th century. Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the way his brief, translucent images give us a renewed view of reality."

10. Max Gallo(b. January 7, 1932, Nice) - French writer, historian and politician. Member of the French Academy

11. Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa(b. 03/28/1936) - Peruvian-Spanish prose writer and playwright, publicist, politician, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.

12. Terry Pratchett(b. April 28, 1948) - popular English writer. The most popular is his satirical fantasy series about Flat world(eng. Discworld). The total circulation of his books is about 50 million copies.

13. Yuri Vasilievich Bondarev(b. 03/15/1924) - Russian Soviet writer. Author of the novel " Hot Snow", the story "Battalions Ask for Fire", etc.

14. Stephen Edwin King(b. September 21, 1947, Portland, Maine, USA) - American writer, working in a variety of genres, including horror, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, drama.

15. Victor Olegovich Pelevin(born November 22, 1962, Moscow) - Russian writer. The most famous works: “The Life of Insects”, “Chapaev and Emptiness”, “Generation “P””

16. Joan Rowling(b. July 31, 1965, Yate, Gloucestershire, England) is a British writer, author of the Harry Potter series of novels, translated into more than 65 languages ​​and sold (as of 2008) more than 400 million copies.

Modern writers also write books that critics recognize, if not as masterpieces of literature, then as very good and interesting works worthy of their popularity. Let's talk about some of these authors.

Contemporary foreign writers

Modern writers and their works are not only Janusz Wisniewski or the Twilight saga. We have chosen the TOP 5 internationally recognized foreign authors, whose popularity truly corresponds to the content of their work.

Haruki Murakami is one of the famous writers modernity, as well as a Japanese translator. Murakami's books often describe the modern tragedy of all humanity - loneliness. Themes of love and death, time and memory, the nature of evil, journeys into the unknown, and changes in traditional Japanese society are also addressed in the works.

A feature of Murakami’s work is an interesting mixture of styles in his works, where he uses elements of detective fiction, dystopia, and even science fiction.

You can start your acquaintance with the work of Haruki Murakami with the novel “Wonderland without Brakes and the End of the World.” It contains two storylines, the connection between which is not immediately apparent. This is a book about immortality, about consciousness and subconsciousness, perhaps the most mysterious and mysterious among the writer’s books, which, nevertheless, can be read in one sitting.

The best modern writers cannot do without this name on their list, because Stephen King is a truly remarkable figure in the field of literature. It was Stephen who was dubbed the King of Horror, because in his genre he is truly considered the best of the best. The name of King is known all over the world, his books always sell successfully, and films based on his works are chosen among the best by both Runet and foreign users (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and others).

He began writing in this genre as a teenager. The characters in the works are ordinary people, with which, however, out-of-the-ordinary and chilling stories begin to happen. Although not everyone knows that Stephen King writes not only in the horror style - the author also writes westerns and historical fiction.

It is perhaps impossible to choose the best book by King, but one of the most famous (in particular, thanks to the popular film adaptation with Jack Nicholson, which King himself was not very happy with) can be called “The Shining.”

The novel tells the story of a writer who got a job as a watchman for the winter at the remote Overlook mountain hotel and came there with his family - his wife and little son. Psychic abilities The boy is helped to understand that the hotel is inhabited by ghosts, and terrifying things are happening in it, but even more terrible is how it influences its inhabitants and what kind of monster it can turn even a loving father into.

About ten years ago, no one had even heard of such a writer as Dan Brown, but now this name is thundering throughout the world. Having released the book “The Da Vinci Code”, the writer hardly imagined that such a resounding success would await him.

Dan Brown was born into the family of a mathematics professor and a musician, and since childhood he loved to solve riddles, solve puzzles and assemble puzzles. Years later, this inclination, as well as his interest in religion and philosophy, allowed him to begin a writing career, and subsequently create one of the most published and popular books in the world.

In fact, the main character of The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon, already appeared in the novel Angels and Demons, written by Brown in 2000, but the circulation was not large enough and did not attract public attention to the writer’s person.

The abundance of secret messages, mystical codes and signs instantly attracted readers all over the world, even though the Church began to protest against this novel, and critics began to notice inaccuracies. The excitement after the publication of The Da Vinci Code could be compared, perhaps, only with the release of JK Rowling's books about Harry Potter.

After the release of The Da Vinci Code, they even began to talk about the emergence of a new genre - an intellectual detective story. Brown's latest book, Inferno, logically continues the story begun in the author's previous novels.

Most recently, the young American author in the genre of Young-adult fiction (books for young people), John Green, has shone among contemporary writers.

In 2006 he won literary prize under called The Michael L. Printz Award for his first novel, Looking for Alaska, and the most last book Green's The Fault in Our Stars became a number one bestseller in the United States. This novel and another, Paper Towns, were filmed in Hollywood, and Greene served as a guest screenwriter for both films.

The best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars tells the story of Hazel, a sixteen-year-old girl who was long ago diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She attends a support group with the same sick guys, and at one of the sessions she meets a new guy named Augustus. They fall in love, but what awaits them next? Read this book if you want to know why teenagers choose to read it, why it captivated thousands of readers and brought John Green such fame.

Winner of the Somerset Maugham Collection Prize short stories"First Love, Last Anointing" and six-time Booker Prize nominee, one of the best writers of his generation, and also one of the most controversial.

Known primarily as a novelist and author short stories McEwan also wrote three television plays published under the title Imitation, a children's book, the libretto for Or Shall We Die?, the screenplay for the film The Ploughman's Lunch, and the successful film adaptation of Timothy Meaux's novella Sweet and Sour.

McEwan's work is focused on the theme of human misunderstanding, man's inability to sympathize, empathy, unwillingness to put himself in someone else's place and feel responsible for the suffering of another.

McEwan's most famous book is Atonement, written in 2001, which tells the story of how the slightest misunderstanding can lead to tragic consequences. The popularization of the novel was facilitated by a fairly accurate film adaptation in 2007 starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

Modern Russian writers

Worth mentioning Russian literature— there are also modern Russian writers whose works should please those who like to read. Here are a few of them.

Victor Pelevin

Modern writers in Russia they are now multiplying like mushrooms after rain, but for many years now, Viktor Pelevin has been at the top of honor. During my creative activity he was awarded numerous awards, and French Magazine recognized Pelevin as one of the thousand most influential cultural figures peace.

The popularity of Pelevin’s work is great even abroad, and almost all of his works have been translated into the main languages ​​of the world.

Combining reality, unreality and deep philosophy in his works, Pelevin, who is fond of Eastern mysticism, managed to interest the general public, especially young people, in his phantasmagoric creativity. He often uses stories from mythology in his books.

You can start getting acquainted with Pelevin with one of his most famous works - “Generation “P””. Few people have been able to depict so well the modern consumer society, the power of advertising and the cult of objects, when the first and most important thing with which people strive to surround themselves is things.

Boris Akunin

The real name of this writer, literary critic and Japanese scholar is Grigory Chkhartishvili. And although the author’s works have often been criticized by art historians and philologists, Boris Akunin’s popularity in the domestic literary arena is very great.

Akunin's works have been translated into 35 other languages, and some of them have even been filmed, some of which can ultimately be called one of the best modern Russian films.

The most famous books This writer includes books from the series “The Adventures of Erast Fandorin”, written in the style of a historical detective story. From the very beginning, it will be difficult not to be captivated by the decisive, brave and intelligent protagonist, not to mention the adventures that await him further.

Under this bright pseudonym hides the artist and philologist Svetlana Martynchik (and at first it was a tandem of Svetlana as the author of the texts with the artist Igor Stepin, who is the author of many ideas). The writer’s first series of books was published back in 1996, but the identity of the author was kept secret until 2001.

Initially, readers were often attracted by the pseudonym and mysterious person the writer, and subsequently the content itself was invariably captivating. Original book plots, amazing realism fantasy worlds, the curious author's philosophy and the special writing style of Max Frei add more and more people to the army of devoted admirers of the writer every year.

The first and still biggest success for Max Fry was a series of eleven books, united under the general title “Labyrinths of Exo,” which tells about the adventures of the author’s alter ego, Sir Max, in parallel world. These books have been translated into English, German, Spanish, Czech, Lithuanian and Swedish.

If you want to unwind, cheer yourself up and plunge into a completely new magical world, then try to pick up these books - and you will be guaranteed an easy, pleasant reading.

Find out which modern children's writers children and teenagers will like in the following video:

“Russian literature is the only unhindered guide in the West’s desire to understand the secrets of the Russian soul, its culture and identity. No restrictions or prohibitions, political hostility or sanctions for you. I bought a volume of a Russian classic and you get to know yourself quietly, dosing it - sitting, lying down, standing, in the subway, at home... Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov... Be careful with Chekhov - you can go on a drinking binge...”

Abroad began to become thoroughly acquainted with Russian literature through the writer Ivan Turgenev, who settled in Baden-Baden in 1863. Having become close to the most famous Western writers, cultural and artistic figures, with the intelligentsia and politicians of that time, Turgenev very quickly became the most famous and most widely read Russian author in Europe. It was with the works of Turgenev that the Western reader began to comprehend the full depth and richness of the Russian language.

In 1878, at the international literary congress in Paris, the writer was elected vice-president; in 1879 he was awarded an honorary doctorate Oxford University. Chancellor of the German Empire Clovis Hohenlohe called Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev the best candidate to the post of Prime Minister of Russia. He wrote about Turgenev: “Today I spoke with the smartest man in Russia.”

But Ivan Turgenev’s main merit is propaganda. Throughout his entire life abroad, he tirelessly “promoted” Russian literature as the most undervalued within Russia itself. Thus, Europe met Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol...

They say that people become interested in the literature of a particular country when they show interest in the country itself. This is partly true. In relation to Russia, this interest on the part of the West never ceased and reached its peak in the 21st century. It is noteworthy that once having discovered Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov and many other prolific masters of Russian literature, the West never ceases to associate Russian literature and Russia itself with these great names. Of course, in this regard modern writers it’s not easy, and oddly enough, Russian writers of the 21st century have to compete with Russians classics of the 19th century century. After all, there is still a huge demand for the export of Russian classics. The facts speak about this:

The film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” speaks of the popularity of the Russian classic abroad - there are more than 7 different versions of the film. Another example is “Anna Karenina” - in different countries it has been filmed about 18 times.

Chekhov still remains the leader in the number of foreign film adaptations of Russian classics - his works became the basis for film/television versions about 200 times. He is one of the 3 most screened writers in the world.

“In the galaxy of great European playwrights... the name of Chekhov shines like a star of the first magnitude,” wrote George Bernard Shaw at the beginning of the 20th century.

However, if Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in the West are known more from books, then Chekhov is more likely not read, but “watched”: the writer is little known as an author humorous stories, but is rightfully considered a playwright of the first magnitude along with Shakespeare, Shaw and Wilde. His plays are some of the most popular in the world. But Chekhov himself did not imagine his future glory. He told his friend Tatyana Shchepkina-Kupernik: “They will read me for seven, seven and a half years, and then they will forget.”

One more thing is surprising. Fame in writing career directly depends on its “promotion”. Writing with talent or genius is not enough. You need to invest in advertising and self-PR. And the best PR is a scandal. Take, for example, Nabokov’s world fame, having written the scandalous “Lolita,” he might not have written anything else. The scandalous plot itself, and all the attempts to ban the publication of the novel, made its publication an event and provided the book with huge circulations. Solzhenitsyn talentedly made his name “in politics” and the propaganda machine helped him.

Now it’s already difficult to play politics. It is almost impossible to realize a political intrigue on which you can “take off.” There is money left.

Nowadays, few Russian names are noticeable in the West - of course, primarily due to the language barrier. In pre-revolutionary Russia there was not much difference between the bearers of Russian culture and European culture. All educated people in Russia they spoke English, French, and German well. Tolstoy almost received the first Nobel Prize for Literature, Turgenev was absolutely recognized in Paris as a writer, Dostoevsky had a huge influence on Freud and many others. Then there was a single multilingual culture. Now it’s the other way around: globalization has led to a situation where English alone dominates. So it turns out that cultures are different, but all writers have the same language. At the same time, it cannot be said that bearers of Russian culture became victims of any special discrimination. There's just one dominant culture and she is English speaking.

But we digress.

And yet, which Russian writers, by modern standards, are the most famous abroad?

Leo Tolstoy - “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”;
Fyodor Dostoevsky - “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov”;
Anton Chekhov - “Uncle Vanya”, “Lady with a Dog”, “Kashtanka”;
Alexander Pushkin - “Eugene Onegin”;
Nikolay Gogol - " Dead Souls»;
Ivan Turgenev - “Fathers and Sons”;
Michael Bulgakov - " Fatal eggs", "Master and Margarita";
Vladimir Nabokov - “Lolita”;
Alexander Solzhenitsyn - “The Gulag Archipelago”, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”;
Ivan Bunin - “Sukhodol”, “Village”;
Alexander Griboedov - “Woe from Wit”;
Mikhail Lermontov - “Hero of Our Time”, “Demon”;
Boris Pasternak - Doctor Zhivago.

With modern Russian literature everything is much more complicated. Nevertheless, quite popular: Polina Dashkova, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Zakhar Prilepin, Mikhail Shishkin, Victor Pelevin, Sergei Lukyanenko, Boris Akunin.

In the 90s, the only modern Russian author whose books could be easily obtained in English was Pelevin - despite the fact that this was still a specific reading. Over the past ten years, however, some things have changed, others have also been transferred - greatest success Boris Akunin had: in England his detective stories still sell well... In the West they like a Russian writer to be bearded and serious.

In England it’s clear, but what about in the USA? According to the famous publicist Owen Matthews(Owen Matthews), “the literature of modern Russia cannot offer the American reader, brought up on the philosophical novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, anything that can return them to the “magical land” open to them in the books of the classics.” That is why the percentage of Russian literature in modern America does not exceed 1-3%.

Deputy Head of Rospechat Vladimir Grigoriev believes:

“The fact that our writers have not been making stars lately is largely due to extra-literary issues.” Remember the growing popularity of Mikhail Shishkin in Western European countries after he spoke out against the Kremlin’s policies... And vice versa - as soon as Zakhar Prilepin, who was quite successfully translated and published in English-speaking countries, began to speak out in support of the so-called Novorossiya, we began to experience certain difficulties in its promotion."

We've really gone backwards. First, sport turned into a tool of political pressure, now literature. You look and Grand Theatre will stop touring the world. Perhaps the excitement for Russian painting will even subside. But nothing. But we began to export twice as much gas, oil, tanks and Kalash rifles...

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