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The Giants of Russian Literature

Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov

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The Giants of Russian Literature

By: Prof. Liza Knapp
Narrated by: Liza Knapp
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About this listen

 Russian literature of the 19th century is among the richest, most profound, and most human traditions in the world. This course explores this tradition by focusing on four giants: Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov. Their works had an enormous impact on Russian understanding of the human condition. And, just as importantly, these works have been one of Russia's most significant exports: Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov have become part of our literary heritage. And our understanding of the novel is based in large part on the masterpieces of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, while Chekhov has defined modern notions of the short story. In this course, Knapp acquaints you with the authors, their lives and their times, and their most important works.©2006 Liza Knapp (P)2006 Recorded Books Literary History & Criticism Russian & Soviet World Literature Classics Russia Tradition Literature Study Guide
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The narrator is pleasant to listen to and the content is good. No prior knowledge of Russian literature is assumed but the author gives the info without being patronizing. It's a good introduction and helps the listener get a bit more out of the novels.

Interesting and Informative

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refreshing recap on some of Russia 's greats and an inspiration to read Turgenev!

useful

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Insightful biographical introduction with some solid literary explorations of each writers importance. The reading is a bit bumpy, but doesn’t really matter.

Excellent background on 4 magnificent writers

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Almost all of the Russian literary classics either focus on or have silently in the background the conditions of Russian society during the period.
The 19th century was a time of great change, upheavel, progression and entrenchment of beliefs, societal structure and culture.

Therefore no Russian novel can completely ignore or exclude the impact of these conditions on the story and the characters.

Awareness of these conditions greatly helps the reader to understand and appreciate the author's perspective, the behaviour of characters and the overall zeitgeist.

This course is a compact tour through these issues how they impact on a collection of the greatest authors and some of their major works.
A useful, although very introductory approach to the pillars of Russian literature.

The narrator stumbles somewhat through the text which can be off-putting..

Essential tools to understand & read Russian literature effectively

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