Russian+Literature

Considered the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature, all of Pushkin's writings are actually representative of Russia. His works are said to be "a blend of Old Slavonic with Russian vernacular creating a rich, melodic language. Pushkin was also the first to use everyday speech in his poetry. The legend was born in Moscow, his first poem written and published when he was 14, and was already widely known for his literary talents by the time he graduated from the Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo (a town that was renamed Pushkin in his honor 100 years after his death).
 * Aleksander Pushkin (1799-1837)**:

It is said that Pushkin is untranslatable, but Igor feels that these verses at least capture the spirit of Pushkin's style: @http://www.neo-kids.ru/archives/2765

Here is one example:

Птичка
В чужбине свято наблюдаю Родной обычай старины: На волю птичку выпускаю При светлом празднике весны. Я стал доступен утешенью; За что на бога мне роптать, Когда хоть одному творенью Я мог свободу даровать! 1823

A little bird
In alien lands devoutly clinging To age-old rites of Russian earth, I let a captive bird go winging To greet the radiant spring’s rebirth. My heart grew lighter then: why mutter Against God’s providence, and rage, When I was free to set aflutter But one poor captive from his cage! -- **Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)** Growing up in a trilingual (Russian, English, and French-speaking) family in St. Petersburg greatly affected Nabokov's writings, which started out in Russian but earned the most prestige in English. Nabokov moved to America because of political dangers in Russia. He taught at Wellesley College and Cornell University, at both institutions contributing to their Russian culture and literature departments. Nabokov is most famous for his novel; "//Lolita"// which talks about a man's love for a twelve-year-old girl, and he also earned some fame for translating many Russian works into English. Nabokov's work is quite risque, perhaps illustrated by the fact that a 5,000 word except from his "//The Original of Laura"// was printed in Playboy magazine.  What chance has a lonely surfer boy For the love of a surfer chick,  With all these Humbert Humbert cats  <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;">Coming on so big and sick? <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;">For me, my baby was a woman, <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;">For him she's just another nymphet. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">-- <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">**Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873)** <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"Silentium! is an archetypal poem by Tyutchev. Written in 1830, it is remarkable for its rhythm crafted so as to make reading in silence easier than aloud. Like so many of his poems, its images are anthropomorphic and pulsing with pantheism. As one Russian critic put it, "the temporal epochs of human life, its past and its present fluctuate and vacillate in equal measure: the unstoppable current of time erodes the outline of the present." <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"> Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal the way you dream, the things you feel. Deep in your spirit let them rise akin to stars in crystal skies that set before the night is blurred: delight in them and speak no word.How can a heart expression find? How should another know your mind? Will he discern what quickens you? A thought, once uttered, is untrue. Dimmed is the fountainhead when stirred: drink at the source and speak no word. Live in your inner self alone within your soul a world has grown, the magic of veiled thoughts that might be blinded by the outer light, drowned in the noise of day, unheard... take in their song and speak no word.

trans. by Vladimir Nabokov <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"You wouldn't understand Russia just using the intellect / You couldn't measure her using the common scale / She has a special kind of grace / You can only believe in her."


 * Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)**

"You wouldn't understand Russia just using the intellect / You couldn't measure her using the common scale / She has a special kind of grace / You can only believe in her."