Why Read Russian Literature

The person, be it a gentleman or lady, who has no pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid [Jane Austin]. People nowadays have hardly time for quality pursuit. They prefer Netflix as there is always something new. Why bother and why not watch Facebook or Instagram? People are not always big on reading books or being bookworms. Readers; after years of seeing misery and human suffering everywhere start to escape the world and dwell in books and literature. Reading books and escaping reality any time they want is a blessing. That’s when Russian Literature comes into being. Some great works of Russian Literature are Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘CRIME AND PUNISHMENT’, ‘BROTHERS OF KARAMAZOV’, and ‘WHITE NIGHTS’. And Leo Tolstoy’s ‘WAR AND PEACE’ and Anton Chekov’s ‘THE LADY WITH THE DOG’. It’s a never-ending list. After you read some of these, you experience an unexpected addiction.? There is a lot more quality literature from Bunin and Alexander Pushkin. Some gems are barely even mentioned. You see, the thing is that Russian Literature is very deep, dark, and depressing. It’s entirely about suffering.

?Sometimes the author is suffering, sometimes the character, and sometimes the reader is suffering. But when every one of them suffers, it becomes a masterpiece. It comes with a lot of life experience too. Self-actualization is what we get from it, who we are, what we are capable of, our needs, and our role & obligation to others. We don’t always find closure in it, not every wish is fulfilled, not every love gets its destiny and not all questions are answered.

The character's behavior may be irritating, and their goals unclear but it’s a depiction of simple day-to-day life, love, death, loyalty, betrayal, war, and pain, it’s a never-ending list. Russian Literature tells you that it’s okay to be in pain and romanticize it rather than being in the delusion that everything will be fine. Good people don’t always win, or I would say they hardly ever do. They suffer so much and achieve so little. We meet people like Oblomov. They self-sabotage and get overwhelmed when they come to know about the reality around them. And while there is hope, that hope gets destroyed and crushed mercilessly.

There is also a sense of right and wrong. Despite having unhappy endings and miserable tragedies, Russian Literature gives a lesson and the difference between right and wrong. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky wrote about humanity, the difficult choices they face, the things people don’t speak about, the battles they fight within themselves and don’t even win, and the sacrifices they make. One can’t let go of the feeling of inkling that every Russian author had faith in humans, in the hope to act morally. They were showing the dark and depressing side so that the readers could understand how to be better. That’s what hits a person and it’s the biggest takeaway one can have.

?What I recommend:? If you have never explored Russian Literature, I recommend you to give a try. I won’t go straight to Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment but you should start with his ‘Brothers of Karamazov’ and ‘The Idiot’ and then for Tolstoy and Anton Chekov. I believe the journey will be worthwhile

GOOD LUCK!!

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