Anna's comments (member since Nov 23, 2007)

Anna's comments from the What can you tell me about....? group.

Good luck to Archipelago books! The percentage of translated fiction read by both American and British readers is pitiful.

Part of the blame, presumably, lies with the publishing industry. But partly it lies with the reader as well. I've frequently heard the objection cited that 'Russian books are so hard, because all the characters have at least sixty-squillion different names.'. True, to some extent. But what about Spanish/ German/ Dutch/ Norwegian/ Albanian fiction? Mostly, no sixty-squillion names.

*sigh*

So many places to start...

Anton Chekhov's stories are classics.

Mikhail Bulgakov's 'Master and Margarita' is a wonderful book - hugely entertaining, and superb writing. However, two caveats: to some extent, it's a satire on Soviet society, and some Western readers find it inaccessible. It's worth reading for the language and sheer imaginative range, even if you don't get the satire, but you need a decent translation - try the Burgin/ O'Connor or the Pevear/ Volkhonsky translations. You might also try Bulgakov's 'Heart of a Dog' which is shorter, but also excellent satire.

For other classics, many of the translations (those by Constance Garnett) are not faithful to the original and are difficult to read, so it's worth seeking out more modern translations (Pevear and Volkhonsky are an acclaimed translation team).

Zamyatin's 'We' is a Russian dystopia, along the same lines as '1984' and 'Brave New World'.

Nikolai Ostrovsky's 'How the Steel was Tempered' is a classic of Soviet literature.

As for more modern authors, I found 'Cancer Ward' to be the most readable and compelling of Solzhenitsyn's books.

Other (relatively) contemporary writers:
Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
Omon Ra - Victor Pelevin. He's written a number of books which have been translated - I found this the most accessible.
Death and the Penguin - Andrei Kurkov. The author is Ukrainian by birth. This book was quite a hit in Europe (although I found the English translation clunky) and he's written some extremely sharp short stories.

Enjoy!

Both 'Boy' and 'Going Solo' are very well written, and give an insight into his life. I do think that 'Boy' was written for an audience which was familiar with his children's books. Some of the material appeared in <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Story_of_Henry_Sugar_and_Six_More>The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar</a> which was aimed at those who were slightly older.

As for his stuff for adults, I guess you mean his short stories. Meticulously written, some of them are very disturbing (amputation, murder, sexual cannibalism), and not to everyone's taste. The collections I grew up with were 'Tales from the Unexpected' and 'More Tales from the Unexpected' which have 20 - 25 stories per volume. Some of these were later republished in other collections.

I'll second, third and fourth all the comments here, and say go with Garp.

Owen Meany I didn't get on with. I'm fond of The Cider House Rules, but I wouldn't suggest it as an introduction to Irving.

Son of the Circus - never got into it. I have a sneaking fondness for The Water Method Man, but most people don't particularly like this, so again, not a good introduction to Irving.