Russian literature is considered to be among the most influential and developed in the world, with some of the most literary works known worldwide. Russia’s literature dates back to the 10th century, but the peak of its development was in the 18^th century and was boosted by the works of Mikhail Lomonosov followed by the literature of the 19^th century. This period is called “Golden Age of Russian Literature” which began with Alexander Pushkin who is considered to be the founder of the Russian Literature and often called the “Russian Shakespeare” or the “Russian Goethe”.Its fast development continued further in the 19^th century with the poetry of Mikhail Lermontov, world-famous dramas of Anton Chekhov, and the prose of such prominent figures in the literature of all times as  Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and many others. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky in particular are the most eminent writers and often described as the greatest novelists ever.

But this is only one facet of Russian literature. The age of the great novelists was over and short fiction and poetry became the dominant genres of Russian literature for the next several decades. The subsequent era of Russian literature is called “The Silver Age” which began in 1880 and continued till the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Leading writers of this Age include Aleksandr Blok, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky and many others.

But even after the Revolution, throughout the extremely hard period of Stalin’s regime and after it Russian literature did not cease to develop and flourish. Unfortunately, many of the prominent writers, for instance Vladimir Nabokov had to leave the country. By the 1970s and 1980s restrictions on literature were to some extent eased which provided a favourable base for the emergence of myriad of talented Soviet authors as: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Ilf and Petrov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov andAleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Many modern Hollywood and not only films are based on the plots of Russian classical literature such as for example: “Anna Karenina” by Tolstoi, “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky, “Doctor Zhivago” by Pasternak and many others.

 

RussianTeacher, VladKibardin