JD Salinger is dead

[Brother None]

Heh, you know I'm only kidding. Oblomov is fairly obscure in the West and justifiably so, it didn't age well, with both its cultural message (Russian nobility being vapid and lazy) and its writing style striking a reader as outdated. It's really only for uber-Russian literature aficionados nowadays. There's obviously no question as to which book had the bigger impact in modern-day writing.

Oblomov was huge in the literary world of the second half of the 19th century, especially in Russia, and that period certainly produced plenty of memorable works. So just sayin', Catcher wasn't first.

PS: all Russian novelists died in Siberia at some point. Fact.

 

[alec]

It's really only for uber-Russian literature aficionados nowadays

Are you implying that you are one of those aficionados?

I know Russian literauture is supposed to be exquisite, but I never really got much further than Gogol (I think it's Gogol, he wrote 'Dairy of a Madman/Lunatic' right?), so I can't judge.

Also: Salinger added a lot to the book by living the life he lived. I once heard a professor say that the books about his life were more entertaining than the books he wrote. And he led a very reclusive life, so it seems.

 

[Brother None]

Are you implying that you are one of those aficionados?

Not really. But enough to know Oblomov.

I know Russian literauture is supposed to be exquisite, but I never really got much further than Gogol (I think it's Gogol, he wrote 'Dairy of a Madman/Lunatic' right?), so I can't judge.

Gogol is awesome. Dead Souls is a masterpiece. But that means you haven't even read the standards? Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn?

Also: Salinger added a lot to the book by living the life he lived. I once heard a professor say that the books about his life were more entertaining than the books he wrote. And he led a very reclusive life, so it seems.

Dude was insane. But most great authors are. Gogol burned the second Dead Souls book in a fit of frenzy on it "not being good enough".

 

[UniversalWolf]

Yes. It's a good book. There's stacks and stacks of better ones tho, if you're just looking in general.

I agree with BN. Good book - definitely worth reading (and fun to read, too) - but let's not go overboard.

Like someone said (can't find it in the Topic review, for some reason) it will be interesting to see whether Salinger has any unpublished material that will come out now.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

It's like what made 'A Confederacy of Dunces' possible. It's a great book, a fine piece of literary history. You should read it pronto.

It's funny you mention Confederacy of Dunces, because it along with Catcher in the Rye are the two books that have failed to live up to the hype for me more than any books I can think of. Given the amount of adulation and word-of-mouth they get, they both fell short for me. More so Catcher in the Rye, because even reading it as a angst-y HSer myself, I just found the protagonist to be a whiny, self-absorbed putz, the kind of soft, privileged wanker my angtsy HS self wouldn't have had any problem giving a whirly to. Confederacy of Dunces, well, I'm sorry to say that the only time a Pulitzer Prize winner hasn't blown my mind into smithereens was this. I held out hope until the very last page, but it never fulfilled the hype for me to the level others seem to reserve for it. Still, if I had to recommend one, I'd go with Confederacy of Dunces without a doubt.

 

[victor]

he wrote 'Dairy of a Madman/Lunatic' right

Man, I'd like to get my hands on that cheese...

 

[fedaykin]

It's a dilemma, really. Should I be sad, because a good writer died and all that, or should I be happy because we may get to read a lot of new Salinger books now? Salinger is dead, long live Salinger.

 

[iii]

PS: all Russian novelists died in Siberia at some point. Fact.

Have you tried reading Fyodor Sologub's "The Petty Demon"... what a chore but somehow really rewarding.

Crazy Russian Symbolists.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

It's really only for uber-Russian literature aficionados nowadays.

... And also still a part of the educational program for middle-high school in many post-Communist countries... But TBH, Goncharov never appeared to be anything special to me. I'd say Gogol is OK, although I do dislike his too-much in-your-face satire, not to mention that his writing style is a nightmare in some of the works - the whole blending Ukrainian and Russian into something impossible to read normally. I don't really like Chekhov much at all. Dostoevsky is great, I really should read more of him. So is Tolstoy, especially when he gets into his philosophical discussions. Solzhenitsyn is also a freaking nightmare to read, I don't think I ever will.

One other author I think everyone should read is Bulgakov. Not to mention the awesome Russian poetry, like Lermontov, Mayakovskiy, Zabolotsky. And of course the Strugatsky brothers, masters of Russain sci-fi.

 

[Professor Danger!]

Since we're kinda on a different side-topic, I was wondering...what are some good Russian authors? I've only read Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. I never really got any more in depth than that. But i'm always looking for more to read.

In honour of Salinger...somehow.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

^ See my post above.