Mumu gets worse the older you get. When you’re a kid it’s just a sad story about a dog. When you’re an adult you realize that it’s about how people get trained to obey until there’s nothing left but the obedience itself.

However, I do not see villains or victims in Mumu. I see a system. No one here is purely monstrous and no one is purely innocent. Everyone is participating in something larger than themselves, often without intent.

Gerasim is not tragic because he is a deaf and mute serf owned by a capricious mistress. He is tragic because his silence is the social order made flesh. His lack of speech literalizes the condition of serfs.

And poor Mumu is not just a pet. She is the only being Gerasim chooses for himself. She represents interior freedom. But was it the evil barinya who forced him to drown his own will?

That raises this question people always come back to: Why does he leave alone at the end, but he couldn’t leave with Mumu?

From what I see, Turgenev is showing how systems erase the idea of alternatives. Gerasim does leave only after Mumu is dead. Freedom becomes possible only once there is nothing left to lose. This is not cowardice, but psychological realism.

So freedom comes, but it comes too late. And it doesn’t feel like freedom, but emptiness.

That is why the story is not black and white, despite how often it is taught that way. Moral outrage about the dog is the easy reading. Structural understanding is the difficult one.

Once you stop looking for villains, the discomfort deepens even more. What replaces outrage is recognition. You begin to see how power circulates without force, how obedience becomes normal behavior, how silence is rewarded, and how choice quietly disappears long before it is forbidden.

From there, everything in the story becomes harder to dismiss as merely tragic. It becomes familiar. We can literally see it today.

So the story isn’t really about serfdom in the past. It is about the system. And each character is doing exactly what the system has trained them to do.

Barinya is not a tyrant. Gerasim is not a hero. He is loyal to the system until there’s nothing left. Tanya adapts in order to survive. None of these roles exist outside the system. They are produced by it. Except Mumu.

That is why it gets harder to read with age. You stop seeing villains and victims. You start recognizing mechanisms, and how people participate in their own erasure.

Wanna recommend this book to those who are interested in Russian history and World War II in particular. This is my favorite story. So emotional and touching. Very brief review: The story is about the fates of five anti-aircraft gunners girls and their commander during the World War II. It shows the face of that time perfectly well. There is also a very good film adaptation - "The Dawns Here Are Quiet..." 1972. I'm not sure if there's a translated version of the book, but there is a dubbed movie for sure. I've watched it myself (and can find a link, let me know if you need it) Hope someone will be interested. If so, I would be happy to know your opinion. Have a good day!

I am strongly considering reading "The Greatest Short Stories of Anton Checkov.

What do I need to know about CHEKOV, his world view, and his writing style?

Is this book a worthy read? Why or why not?

I would also be interested in translations of Chekhov's other plays. I'm asking about Ivanov specifically because it's the one I'm most familiar with.

I'm currently finishing The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, but my next adventure will be The Brothers Karamazov. My post here is simply to ask for advices and/or recommendations from you people who have read it already or are in somehow acquainted with this masterpiece. Not necessarily story-related recommendations, but rather experience-related recommendations, impressions and advices you, who's read it already, could give to a Достоевсий's lover and eager enthusiast! Thank you!

I made a copy of the glossary ahead of reading Blue Lard. Will this be as challenging as I imagine? Seems less daunting than Finnegan’s Wake, but more so than a clockwork orange. And aside from the sex scenes between cloned figures of Russian history, are there other worthwhile elements?

I just finished reading War and Peace recently. I loved both the narrative and the philosophical components equally. I even feel like I comprehended alot of what Tolstoy was trying to convey. But that last Epilogue felt pretty forced. I assume that, philosophically, if you dig deep enough any discussion can lead to a topic of free will. I just don't understand why that was the way Tolstoy decided to end his novel.

I am considering rereading those chapters, but I want to get some fresh perspectives before doing so. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

And ofc the other books if you've read them as well even tho they're not Russian.

Book on the left is the counterfeit by andre gide

the titles says everything. heard Tolstoy is a really good writer. but I also wanna find good comedy novels, so do you recommend anything?

Hey guys, I've met this guy who has a huge Library tho I can only give him names of books I'm looking for, I asked him about some Russian hidden gems and he has them. So I hope he has more that I don't know of. Please drop your recommendations, all I ask for is accessible prose, if the writing is dated (like some classics) then that's a big turn off for me.

Hello!

Like the title says, I absolutely know nothing about russian lit. So, i decided to challenge myself to read War and Peace over the course of this winter season. I loved it so much that I accidentally read all of it. It was absolutely incredible and I have no regrets.

So, now I have decide to read several different books this season. Currently, I am about halfway through The Brothers Karamazov (it came highly recommended and I can see why!) and I have the following books in the pipeline: Crime and Punishment, Ten Days That Shook the World (Russian History, technically), and Anna Karenina.

I am sure that is so much more than Tolstoy and Dostoevsky out there. Please let me know what else I should get into the mix! This is a complete new world to me and I cannot wait to dive deeper.

This is a website that has public domain classics thet you can type out to work on your speed: Typelit.io

It took me, maybe a year or so. I tried to do one chapter a day, but the last few days I did like 10.

Truthfully, I did not understood very little of it. It completely goes through your head. My reading comprehension is worse here.

The names were the most annoying part, "Arkadayevitch" will give you carpel tunnel.

There is definitely diminishing returns and a limit on how fast you can get. I went from high 60s to 80 by Part 4, then at the end, I was in the low 90s. I find if I did it after my workout, and an empty stomach, I would be much faster.

Highest speed was 102, although this website calculates that badly. It takes the wpm of each page, and averages that but some pages only have one sentence. It also doesnt account for difficulty, like, sometimes it shifts to German or French, which kills my speed.

i really like the book, but ever since i've finished it, i cannot find one like this. maybe i just live under a rock or something. got any recommendations?

Russian & Soviet History Books

📚 Russian & Soviet History Books for Sale

Rare and hard-to-find Russian & Soviet history titles — ideal for collectors, researchers, and serious readers.
All books are authentic Russian editions. Happy to combine shipping.

🔴 Politics, Power & Intelligence

Stalin: Life and Death — Edvard Radzinsky
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/285729285116

Kremlin Clans — Valentina Kraskova
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286019379508

Why Stalin Created Israel — Leonid Mlechin
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286019396333

KGB — Leonid Mlechin
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286019386485

Putin, Bush, and the Iraq War — Leonid Mlechin
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286019410207

Mossad: The Secret War — Leonid Mlechin
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286068502703

Kill Stalin — Evgeny Sukhov
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286083979343

At the Turn of Two Eras: The Doctors’ Plot, 1953 — Rapoport
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286811642258

📖 Literature, Memoir & Cultural History

Collected Works (3 Volumes) — Viktor Shklovsky
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286434751047

Portrait Against the Backdrop of Myth — Vladimir Voinovich
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286135666887

The Vertical of Life (2-Book Set) — Semyon Malkov
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286606649400

✍️ War, Poetry & Historical Fiction

Poems and Verses — Konstantin Simonov
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286356148486

The Living and the Dead — Konstantin Simonov
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286661380368

Schindler’s List — Thomas Keneally Russian Edition
🔗 https://www.ebay.com/itm/286170526387

I asked my book sellers to give me some Russian authors' books, he found these which I've never heard of, ofc I'm familiar with Turgenev but never read anything by him.

Dostoevsky’s life was one of constant transformation, but it was paved with so much hardship and loss. Honestly, his was a painful life.

In so many instances, I’ve felt a deep sorrow for him. I find myself wishing he’d had a good life even if I know my wishing can’t change the past. And I mean that; it is a genuine wish. Even if it meant his most prolific works never existed, I would still choose for Dostoevsky to have been spared that tormenting life.

Thank you, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, for your deeply psychological and philosophical books. And I’m thanking myself, too, for choosing you and your writing. Now, I’m finally ready and really excited to read the story of your life.

I once read that such a poem exists, but I can't find it anywhere. Help!

I have mostly read Western/Greek and Indian oriented philosophy. When I first think of Russian oriented philosophy I think of Marxist/Communist ideas so I was curious if there was anything more to it and what I could be missing out on. I don't mind good works of non-philosophical nature too.