Lectures on Russian Literature
The author's observations on the great nineteenth-century Russian writers-Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Gorky, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. "This volume... never once fails to instruct and stimulate. This is a great Russian talking of great Russians" (Anthony Burgess). Edited and with an Introduction by Fredson Bowers; illustrations.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
3mentions
3people
2013–2024years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- “Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment—by this reader anyway.” V. Nabokov, [0]
I really recommend Nabokov's full lecture on Dostoyevsky [1], plus obvs all the of the lectures in the series are brilliant.
[0] https://lithub.com/on-dostoevskys-199th-birthday-heres-nabok...
[1] Lectures on Russian Literature, Vladimir Nabokov, https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/lectures-on-rus...
- I forgot that they were split into two: Lectures on Literature and Lectures on Russian Literature. They're all terribly entertaining.
- In general when one writer says snotty things about another, it can simply mean, "I don't see anything here that I can use." As for this list, it is worth mentioning that Nabokov wrote a short book on Gogol, and gives him about 50 pages in the Lectures on Russian Literature.
