Status Updates From A History of Russian Litera...

“Chekhov though Lermontov’s Taman was the best short story ever written, and this partiality was well founded. Taman forestalled Chekhov’s method of lyrical construction. Only its air is colder and clearer than the mild and mellow ‘autumnal’ atmosphere of Chekhov’s world.”

“To compare [Tolstoy] to Chekhov is as impossible to a level-headed Russian as it is to say that Brussels is a bigger city than London.”

“Turgenev was the first Russian writer to charm the Western reader. There are still retarded Victorians who consider him the only Russian writer who is not disgusting. But for most lovers of Russian he has been replaced by spicier food.”

“Pushkin is as much the greatest Russian letter-writer as he is the greatest poet. His ‘postal prose’ is an ever fresh source of delight to all who love good Russian.”

“In 1802 Zhukovsky sent to Karamzin’s Messenger of Europe a translation of Gray’s Elegy. The publication of that poem has more than once been declared to be the birthday of Russian poetry.

Thought provoking insights on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, particularly the former's evolution from literary realism to spirituality.