What to read from Russian classics. List of classic writers of Russian literature and their best books

The article was updated and supplemented in July 2018. We present a selection of 65 books that have become classics of world literature, and 10 online libraries where you can find a lot of fiction, scientific, historical and journalistic literature in the public domain.

1. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” – Gabriel García Márquez (“Cien años de soledad” – Gabriel José de la Concordia “Gabo” García Márquez)

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” is one of the most characteristic and popular works in the direction of magical realism.

2. “Moby-Dick, or The White Whale” – Herman Melville (“Moby-Dick, or The Whale” – Herman Melville)

The story is told on behalf of the American sailor Ishmael, who went on a voyage on the whaling ship Pequod, whose captain, Ahab, is obsessed with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200brevenge on the giant white whale, the killer of whalers, known as Moby Dick.

3. “The Great Gatsby” – Francis Scott Fitzgerald (“The Great Gatsby” – F. Scott Fitzgerald)

The novel takes place near New York, on the “gold coast” of Long Island, among the villas of the rich. In the 1920s, following the chaos of World War I, American society entered an unprecedented period of prosperity: in the “Roaring 20s,” the US economy developed rapidly.

At the same time, Prohibition made many bootleggers millionaires and gave a significant impetus to the development of organized crime. While Fitzgerald admires the rich and their charm, he also decries the unrestricted materialism and lack of morality in America at the time.

4. “The Grapes of Wrath” – John Steinbeck

The novel takes place during the Great Depression. A poor family of tenant farmers, the Joads are forced to leave their Oklahoma home due to drought, economic hardship, and changing farming practices. In an almost hopeless situation, they head to California along with thousands of other Okie families, hoping to find a means of livelihood there.

5. “Ulysses” – James Joyce (“Ulysses” – James Joyce)

The novel tells the story of one day (June 16, 1904, currently celebrated as Bloomsday, “Bloom's Day”) of a Dublin man and a Jew by nationality, Leopold Bloom.

6. “Lolita” – Vladimir Nabokov (“Lolita” – Vladimir Nabokov)

Lolita is the most famous of all Nabokov's novels. The theme of the novel was unthinkable for its time - the story of an adult man who became passionately interested in a twelve-year-old girl.

7. “The Sound and the Fury” – William Faulkner

Main story line tells the story of the decline of one of the oldest and most influential families of the American South - the Compsons. Over the course of the approximately 30 years described in the novel, the family faces financial ruin, loses respect in the city, and many family members end their lives tragically.

8. “To the Lighthouse” – Virginia Woolf (“To The Lighthouse” – Virginia Woolf)

The novel centers on two visits by the Ramsay family to their rented apartment. Vacation home on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 1910 and 1920. To the Lighthouse follows and expands on the modernist literary tradition of Marcel Proust and James Joyce, where plot fades into the background in favor of philosophical introspection.

9. “Anna Karenina” – Leo Tolstoy

“Anna Karenina” is a novel by Leo Tolstoy about the tragic love of the married lady Anna Karenina and the brilliant officer Vronsky against the backdrop of the happy family life of the nobles Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya.

10. “War and Peace” – Leo Tolstoy

"War and Peace" is an epic novel describing Russian society during the era of the wars against Napoleon in 1805-1812.

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11. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” – Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn, who escaped from his cruel father, and the runaway black man Jim raft on the Mississippi River.

12. “1984” – George Orwell (“1984” – George Orwell)

The novel "1984", along with such works as "We" by Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (1920), "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (1932) and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury (1953), is considered one of the most famous works in the dystopian genre.

13. “The Catcher in the Rye” – J.D. Salinger

The novel, on behalf of a 16-year-old boy named Holden, tells in a very frank form about his heightened perception of American reality and rejection of the general canons and morality of modern society.

14. “Invisible Man” – Ralph Ellison (“Invisible Man” – Ralph Ellison)

The Invisible Man is the only completed novel by Ralph Ellison, an African-American writer, literary critic, and literary scholar. The novel is about the search for identity and place in society.

15. “Catch-22” – Joseph Heller (“Catch-22” – Joseph Heller)

1944 On the islet of Pianosa in the Tyrrhenian Sea, a US Air Force bomber regiment (flying North American B-25 Mitchell bombers) is stationed, in which Captain Yossarian, the main character of the novel, and his colleagues serve.

The command of the air regiment over and over again increases the rate of combat sorties, thereby extending the service of pilots who have flown their quota, after which they have the right to return home. Thus, it becomes almost impossible to fly off the norm.

16. “Midnight’s Children” – Salman Rushdie (“Midnight’s Children” – Salman Rushdie)

A multi-faceted, fantastic, “magical” narrative covers the history of India (partly Pakistan) from 1910 to 1976. Political events, presented vividly and biasedly, do not exhaust the whimsical reality of the novel.

17. “On the Road” – Jack Kerouac (“On the Road” – Jack Kerouac)

The book, considered the most important example of Beat Generation literature, tells the story of the travels of Jack Kerouac and his close friend Neal Cassady across the United States of America and Mexico.

18. “In Search of Lost Time” – Marcel Proust (“À la recherche du temps perdu” – Marcel Proust)

In Search of Lost Time is the magnum opus of the French modernist writer Marcel Proust, a semi-autobiographical cycle of seven novels. Published in France between 1913 and 1927.

19. “Pale Fire” – Vladimir Nabokov (“Pale Fire” – Vladimir Nabokov)

“Pale Fire” is a novel by V.V. Nabokov, written in English language in the USA and first published in 1962. The novel, conceived before moving to the United States (the passages “Ultima Thule” and “Solus Rex” were written in Russian in 1939), is structured as a 999-line poem with commentary replete with literary allusions.

20. “Madame Bovary” – Gustave Flaubert (“Madame Bovary” – Gustave Flaubert)

The main character of the novel is Emma Bovary, a doctor's wife who lives beyond her means and starts extramarital affairs in the hope of getting rid of the emptiness and ordinariness of provincial life.

21. “Middlemarch” – George Eliot (“Middlemarch” – George Eliot)

Middlemarch is the name of the provincial town in and around which the novel takes place. Many characters inhabit its pages, and their destinies are intertwined by the will of the author.

22. “Great Expectations” – Charles Dickens

The hero of the novel “Great Expectations,” the young man Philip Pirrip, strives to become a “true gentleman” and achieve a position in society, but disappointment awaits him. Money stained with blood cannot bring happiness, and the “world of gentlemen” on which Philip had placed so many hopes turned out to be hostile and cruel.

23. “Emma” – Jane Austen (“Emma” – Jane Austen)

The daughter of a wealthy landowner and a big dreamer, Emma tries to diversify her leisure time by organizing someone else's personal life. Confident that she will never get married, she acts as a matchmaker for her friends and acquaintances, but life gives her surprise after surprise.

24. “And Destruction Came” – Chinua Achebe (“Things Fall Apart” – Chinua Achebe)

"And Came Destruction" is the story of a tribal warrior who cannot adapt to a new society under the colonial regime. The book has been translated into 45 languages ​​and is today the most widely read and translated book by an African writer among his contemporaries.

25. “Pride and Prejudice” – Jane Austen

Young girls dreaming of marriage, respectable mothers who do not shine with intelligence, selfish beauties who think that they are allowed to control the destinies of other people - this is the world of Jane Austen's heroes - English writer, significantly ahead of its time and ranked among the classics of world literature by subsequent generations.

26. “Wuthering Heights” – Emily Brontë (“Wuthering Heights” – Emily Brontë)

“Wuthering Heights” is a story full of love and hatred of the fatal passion of Heathcliff, the adopted son of the owner of the Wuthering Heights estate, for the owner’s daughter Catherine.

27. “Nostromo” – Joseph Conrad (“Nostromo” – Joseph Conrad)

The novel tells the story of the liberation struggle of the fictional South American state of Costaguana. The author is interested in the problem of imperialism and its corrupting effect on even the best people, such as the main character of the novel, the sailor Nostromo.

28. “The Brothers Karamazov” - F. M. Dostoevsky

"The Brothers Karamazov" - last novel F. M. Dostoevsky. Three brothers, Ivan, Alexey (Alyosha) and Dmitry (Mitya), “are busy resolving questions about the root causes and ultimate goals of existence,” and each of them makes his own choice, trying in his own way to answer the question about God and the immortality of the soul.

29. “To Kill a Mockingbird” – Harper Lee (“To Kill a Mockingbird” – Harper Lee)

The novel depicts the events of the 30s of the 20th century, the period of the Great Depression, which took place in the state of Alabama. The narration is told from the perspective of a child, but the severity of interracial conflicts social problems this does not lose its power.

30. “The Process” – Franz Kafka (“Der Prozess” – Franz Kafka)

"Process" - unique book Franz Kafka, which actually “created” his name for the culture of world postmodern theater and cinema of the second half of the 20th century, or rather, “wove” this name into the idea of ​​postmodern absurdism.

31. “Slaughterhouse-Five” – Kurt Vonnegut (“Slaughterhouse-Five” – Kurt Vonnegut)

Slaughterhouse-Five is an autobiographical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about the bombing of Dresden during World War II.

32. “Mrs. Dalloway” – Virginia Woolf (“Mrs Dalloway” – Virginia Woolf)

The novel tells the story of one day of the fictional heroine Clarissa Dalloway, secular woman post-war England. One of the most famous novels of the writer.

33. “Jane Eyre” – Charlotte Brontë (“Jane Eyre” – Charlotte Brontë)

The book tells about the difficult fate of an orphan with a strong, independent character, about her childhood, growing up, searching for her path and overcoming the obstacles that stand in her way.

34. “The Lord of the Rings” – J. R. R. Tolkien

"The Lord of the Rings" - an epic novel English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, the most famous work of the fantasy genre.

35. “A Passage to India” – Edward Forster (“A Passage to India” – E.M. Forster)

At the center of “A Passage to India” is the relationship between the Indian Aziz and the Englishman Fielding. The twists and turns of the plot, exciting in themselves, help to make these relationships stand out more clearly and reveal themselves to their extreme potential.

36. “All the King's Men” – Robert Penn Warren (“All the King's Men” – Robert Penn Warren)

The main character of the novel is politician Willie Stark. A born leader who rose from the bottom of society sincerely believed that he could make the world a better place. However, the truth of life revealed to him turns him into a cruel, unprincipled politician. His motto: “Good can only be made from evil, because there is simply nothing else to make from it.”

37. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Brave New World is a dystopian satirical novel set in London in the distant future (circa the 26th century of the Christian era, specifically in the year 2541). People all over the Earth live in a single state, whose society is a consumer society, the symbol of the consumer god is Henry Ford, and instead of the sign of the cross, people “sign themselves with the sign T.”

38. “As I Lay Dying” – William Faulkner (“As I Lay Dying” – William Faulkner)

W. Faulkner's novel “As I Lay Dying” is unique. There is no author's speech at all, the book is torn into a chain of monologues, sometimes long, sometimes short, and sometimes even fitting into one or two phrases, and they are led by fourteen characters - mainly the Bundrens, and next to them their neighbors, the same poor farmers.

39. “The Big Sleep” – Raymond Chandler

The Deep Sleep is the first in a series of novels about private detective Philip Marlowe. Classic hardboiled detective.

40. “Stories” – Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

A collection of stories by a classic of world literature.

41. “Crime and Punishment” - F. M. Dostoevsky

“Crime and Punishment” is considered one of the most philosophical books in the world, which “poses the problems of good and evil, freedom and necessity, crime and moral responsibility, revolution, socialism, philosophy of history and the state.”

42. “Molloy,” “Malone Dies,” and “Nameless” – Samuel Beckett (“Molloy,” “Malone Dies,” “The Unnamable” – Samuel Beckett)

“Molla,” “Malon Dies” and “Nameless” are three works that make up a trilogy and represent a separate milestone in Beckett’s creative biography.

43. “The Stranger” – Albert Camus (“L"Étranger” – Albert Camus)

The story is narrated by a 30-year-old Frenchman. His name remains unknown, but his last name is mentioned in passing - Meursault. Three key events in his life are described - the death of his mother, the murder of a local resident and trial, as well as a brief relationship with a girl.

44. “The Tin Drum” – Günter Grass (“Die Blechtrommel” – Günter Grass)

The Tin Drum is Günter Grass's first novel. It was this work, which reflected the history of Germany in the 20th century in a grotesque form, that brought its author world fame.

45. “Sons and Lovers” – David Herbert Lawrence (“Sons and Lovers” – D. H. Lawrence)

The book describes the life of a young man named Paul Morel, born into a coal miner's family in the small town of Bestwood, Nottinghamshire. The love of children for their mother runs through the novel as a red thread. Paul is most attached to her: unlike his brothers and sister, he will never be able to leave his mother’s house until her death.

46. ​​“The Golden Notebook” – Doris Lessing

The story of Anna Wolfe, talented writer and a convinced feminist who, teetering on the brink of madness, writes down all her thoughts and experiences in four multi-colored notebooks: black, red, yellow and blue. But over time, a fifth, golden notebook also appears, the entries in which become a real revelation for the heroine and help her find a way out of the impasse.

47. “The Magic Mountain” – Thomas Mann (“Der Zauberberg” – Thomas Mann)

Immediately after its release, The Magic Mountain received recognition as a key philosophical novel German literature of the new century. It is generally accepted that, using the example of the closed microcosm of a sanatorium, Mann gave a panorama of the ideological life of European society on the eve of World War.

48. “Beloved” – Toni Morrison (“Beloved” – Toni Morrison)

Beloved, Toni Morrison's most famous novel, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and then a Nobel Prize. The book is based on real events that took place in Ohio in the 80s of the nineteenth century: the story of a black slave who kills her daughter, saving her from slavery.

49. “Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy (“Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy)

Booker winner John Banville called the novel "a sort of mixture of Dante's Inferno, The Iliad and Moby Dick." The protagonist of Blood Meridian, a fourteen-year-old teenager from Tennessee known only as “the kid,” becomes the hero of a new epic based on real events and circumstances of the Texas-Mexico borderlands of the mid-19th century, where the market for Indian scalps was booming.

50. “The Man Without Qualities” – Robert Musil (“Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften” – Robert Musil)

An ironic panorama of Austria-Hungary on the eve of the First World War, a partly autobiographical “novel of ideas” written by one of the most brilliant European intellectuals of the first half of the 20th century, is a phenomenon grandiose in concept and execution.

51. “The Sun Also Rises” – Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises is a novel by Ernest Hemingway, written in 1926. Based on real events that happened in the author's life.

52. “Gone With the Wind” – Margaret Mitchell (“Gone With the Wind” – Margaret Mitchell)

A novel by American writer Margaret Mitchell, the events of which take place in the southern states of the United States in the 1860s, during (and after) the Civil War. The novel was published on June 30, 1936 and became one of the most famous bestsellers American literature.

53. “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” – Lewis Carroll (“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” – Louis Carroll)

“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” is a fairy tale written by the English mathematician, poet and writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into an imaginary world inhabited by strange, anthropomorphic creatures.

54. “Heart of Darkness” – Joseph Conrad (“Heart of Darkness” – Joseph Conrad)

“Heart of Darkness” is an adventure story by English writer Joseph Conrad, published in 1902. The story is told from the perspective of the main character, the sailor Marlow, who recalls his journey to Central Africa.

55. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” – Ernest Hemingway

The novel tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American fighter of the International Brigades, sent behind Franco guerrilla lines during the Spanish Civil War. As a demolition expert, he is tasked with blowing up a bridge to prevent Franco reinforcements from approaching Segovia.

56. “An American Tragedy” – Theodore Dreiser (“An American Tragedy” Theodore Dreiser)

In the novel “An American Tragedy,” Dreiser depicts the tragedy of Clive Griffiths - a young man who has tasted all the charm of the life of the rich, so eager to establish himself in their society that he commits a crime for this.

57. “The Adventures of Augie March” – Saul Bellow

Exciting, touching, multifaceted, complete philosophical meaning the story of a boy who is destined to grow up, make discoveries, love and find his place in the world during the most dramatic moments of history.

58. “The Call of the Wild” – Jack London (“The Call of the Wild” – Jack London)

The novel takes place in Yukon, Canada during the Gold Rush. The main character, the dog Beck (a cross between a Scottish Sheepdog and a St. Bernard), brought from a shepherd's ranch in California, finds himself in the harsh reality of life as a sled dog. The novel tells the story of Beck's struggles to survive despite the harsh treatment of his owners, other dogs, and the cruelty of nature.

59. “American Pastoral” – Philip Roth (“American Pastoral” – Philip Roth)

The main character, Swede Leivow, married the beautiful Miss New Jersey, inherited his father's factory and became the owner of an old mansion in Old Rimrock. It would seem that dreams have come true, but one day the leafy American happiness suddenly turns to dust...

60. “Deliverance” – James Dickey

The four embark on a journey into the wilderness and desolation of the Appalachian Mountains. They go down the river in two boats. Their intentions are simply to relax, unwind and see picturesque places... But they did not know that they would be ambushed by illiterate local mountaineers, thugs and sadists.

61. “Lucky Jim” – Kingsley Amis (“Lucky Jim” – Kingsley Amis)

Young teacher at probationary period at a provincial university.
The only “living soul” in a world of dull snobbery and meaningless rules of behavior.
Jim Dixon is sick of this, but he wants to get into the state! So, you have to be like everyone else. But one day love invades Jim's life, and all his conformist endeavors go to hell overnight...

62. “Tropic of Cancer” – Henry Miller (“Tropic of Cancer” – Henry Miller)

The novel takes place in the 1930s in France (mainly Paris). The novel describes the life of struggling writer Henry Miller in Paris.

63. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Strange, scary tale boys who, by the will of fate, find themselves on a desert island. Boys who played with cruelty, hunting, war. A book about the hidden corners of the human soul and the desire for power.

64. “Under the Volcano” – Malcolm Lowry

"At the Foot of the Volcano" is a novel that takes place in a small Mexican town during one day in November 1939 - All Souls' Day. This day is the last in the life of Geoffrey Fermin, a former British consul who finds refuge from life in continuous drunkenness. Fermin's ex-wife Yvonne, his half-brother Hugh and his friend, film director Laruelle, are trying to save the consul, persuade him to stop drinking and start life again...

65. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

The novel, published at the end of the Second World War, subtly captures the characters of the passing era of prosperity of the English aristocracy. The protagonist of the novel, the young artist Charles Ryder, meets Sebastian Flyte, a representative of a famous aristocratic family, while studying at Oxford. After his arrival in Brideshead, family estate Flytov, Charles falls into the whirlpool of bohemian life, and over the next years his fate is inextricably linked with this family.

Libraries with freely accessible literature

2.Project Gutenberg

One of the oldest online libraries where you can download or read online more than 33,000 free e-books.

3. Google Books

If the book you're looking for is out of copyright, you can read it online using Google Books by searching for "full preview books."

4. University of Pennsylvania Books Page

Here you can find over a million free resources to read and download.

5. Open Library

IN library Open The Library also contains more than a million books of classical literature, including the rarest works.

6. eBooks at Adelaide

The University of Adelaide's online library offers classics, science, philosophy and medicine.

7.Bartleby

The free encyclopedia of world history and Harvard classics.

8. Bibliomania

On the site you can find more than 2,000 free classical texts, including scientific works.

9. Internet Archive

The largest digital library with free resources.

10.ManyBooks

Here you will find over 29,000 books available for download.

All the romantic pathos that shrouded the Middle Ages is presented in Ivanhoe. Valiant knights, beautiful ladies, sieges of castles and political subtleties of vassal relations - all this found a place in Walter Scott's novel.

In many ways, it was his creation that contributed to the romanticization of the Middle Ages. The author described historical events that affect the period in English history after the Third crusade. Of course, there were serious artistic improvisations and fiction, but this only made the story more fascinating and beautiful.

It was impossible not to include in this selection the most famous creation of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. For many schoolchildren, studying “Dead Souls” is the highlight of their literature lessons.

Nikolai Gogol is one of the few classics who knew how to write about the problems of bourgeois life and Russia as a whole in such a sarcastic and direct tone. There is neither the epic heaviness of Tolstoy nor the unhealthy psychologism of Dostoevsky. Reading the work is easy and pleasant. However, it is unlikely that anyone will deny him the depth and subtlety of the phenomena he noticed.

The adventure novel “The Headless Horseman” is multi-layered: detective and love motives are intertwined in it. Plot intricacies create intrigue and keep you in suspense until the very last pages of the book. Who is this headless horseman? A ghost, a figment of the heroes’ imagination or someone’s insidious trick? You are unlikely to sleep until you get the answer to this question.

Charles Dickens was extremely popular during his lifetime. People were waiting for him next novels in much the same way as we are now waiting for the release of some “Transformers”. The educated English public loved his books for their inimitable style and plot dynamism.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is Dickens's funniest work. The adventures of English snobs who proclaimed themselves explorers human souls, full of ridiculous and comical situations. Social issues, of course, is present here, but it is presented in such a simple form that one cannot fall in love English classic After reading it, it's simply impossible.

Madame Bovary is rightfully considered one of the greatest novels of the world classics. This title in no way detracts from the fascination of Flaubert's creation - the provocative story of Emma Bovary's love adventures is bold and daring. After the publication of the novel, the writer was even brought to justice for insulting morality.

The psychological naturalism that permeates the novel allowed Flaubert to clearly reveal a problem that is relevant in any era - the convertibility of love and money.

Oscar Wilde's most famous work touches a nerve with its deeply nuanced portrayal of its protagonist. Dorian Gray, an esthete and a snob, has extreme beauty, which contrasts with the internal ugliness that develops throughout the plot. You can spend hours reveling in watching Gray's moral decline, allegorically reflected in the visual change in his portrait.

"American tragedy" - the wrong side of the American dream. The desire for wealth, respect, position in society, and money is common to all people, but for most, the path to the top is closed by default for various reasons.

Clyde Griffiths is a man from the lower classes who is trying with all his might to break into high society. He is ready to do anything for his dream. But society, with its ideals of success as an absolute life goal, is itself a catalyst for moral violations. Clyde ends up breaking the law to achieve his goals.

To Kill a Mockingbird is an autobiographical novel. Harper Lee described her childhood memories. The result is a story with an anti-racist message, written in simple and accessible language. Reading the book is useful and interesting; it can be called a moral textbook.

Not long ago, a continuation of the novel entitled “Go Set a Watchman” was published. In it, the images of the characters in the writer’s classic work are so turned inside out that cognitive dissonance cannot be avoided when reading.

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Many of us have school days There remains the conviction that for the most part Russian classics are rather boring and unimaginably drawn out works of several hundred pages about the hardships of life, mental suffering and the philosophical quests of the main characters. We have collected Russian classics that are impossible not to read to the end.

Anatoly Pristavkin “The golden cloud spent the night”

“The golden cloud spent the night” by Anatoly Pristavkin is a piercingly tragic story that happened to the orphaned twin brothers Sashka and Kolka Kuzmin, who were evacuated along with the rest of the orphanage pupils to the Caucasus during the war. Here it was decided to establish a labor colony to develop the land. Children turn out to be innocent victims of government policies towards the peoples of the Caucasus. This is one of the most powerful and honest stories about war orphans and deportation. Caucasian peoples. “The Golden Cloud Spent the Night” has been translated into 30 languages ​​of the world and is rightfully one of the best works of Russian classics. 10th place in our ranking.

Boris Pasternak "Doctor Zhivago"

Novel Boris Pasternak "Doctor Zhivago", which brought him world fame and the Nobel Prize - in 9th place in the list of the best works of Russian classics. For his novel, Pasternak was sharply criticized by representatives of the official literary world countries. The book's manuscript was banned from publication, and the writer himself, under pressure, was forced to refuse to receive the prestigious award. After Pasternak's death, it was transferred to his son.

Mikhail Sholokhov " Quiet Don»

In terms of the scale and scope of the period of life of the main characters described in it, it can be compared with “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy. This is an epic story about the life and destinies of representatives Don Cossacks. The novel covers three of the country's most difficult eras: the First World War, the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War. What was going on in the souls of people in those days, what reasons forced relatives and friends to stand on opposite sides of the barricades? The writer tries to answer these questions in one of the best works of Russian classical literature. “Quiet Don” is in 8th place in our ranking.

Stories by Anton Chekhov

A generally recognized classic of Russian literature, they occupy 7th place on our list. One of the most famous playwrights in the world, he wrote more than 300 works of various genres and died very early, at 44 years old. Chekhov's stories, ironic, funny and eccentric, reflected the realities of life of that era. They have not lost their relevance even now. The peculiarity of his short works is not to answer questions, but to ask them to the reader.

I. Ilf and E. Petrov “Twelve Chairs”

Novels by writers with a wonderful sense of humor I. Ilf and E. Petrov “The Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf” take 6th place among the best works of Russian classics. After reading them, every reader will understand that classical literature is not only interesting and exciting, but also funny. The adventures of the great schemer Ostap Bender, the main character of the books by Ilf and Petrov, will not leave anyone indifferent. Immediately after the first publication, the writers' works were received ambiguously in literary circles. But time has shown their artistic value.

In fifth place in our ranking of the best works of Russian classics - "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This is not only a great novel about one of the most difficult and terrible periods in the history of the country - repressions in the USSR, but also an autobiographical work based on the author’s personal experience, as well as letters and memoirs of more than two hundred camp prisoners. The release of the novel in the West was accompanied by a loud scandal and persecution launched against Solzhenitsyn and other dissidents. Publication of The Gulag Archipelago became possible in the USSR only in 1990. The novel is among best books of the century.

Nikolai Gogol “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a universally recognized classic of world significance. The crowning achievement of his work is considered the novel " Dead Souls", the second volume of which was destroyed by the author himself. But our ranking of the best works of Russian classics includes the first book Gogol – “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”. It’s hard to believe that the stories included in the book and written with sparkling humor were practically Gogol’s first experience in writing. Pushkin left a flattering review of the work, who was sincerely amazed and fascinated by Gogol’s stories, written in a living, poetic language without feigned affectation and stiffness.

The events described in the book take place in different time periods: in XVII, XVIII XIX centuries.

Fyodor Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"

Novel “Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky takes third place in the list of the best works of Russian classics. It has received the status of a cult book of world significance. This is one of the most frequently filmed books. This is not only a deeply philosophical work in which the author poses to readers the problems of moral responsibility, good and evil, but also a psychological drama and a fascinating detective story. The author shows the reader the process of turning a talented and respectable young man into a killer. He is no less interested in the possibility of Raskolnikov’s atonement for his guilt.

Great epic novel Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy "War and Peace", the volume of which has terrified schoolchildren for many decades, is actually very interesting. It covers the period of several military campaigns against the strongest France at that time, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. This is one of the brightest examples of the best works of not only Russian, but also world classics. The novel is recognized as one of the most epic works in world literature. Here every reader will find his favorite topic: love, war, courage.

Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"

Topping our list of examples of the best classical literature is the amazing novel. The author never lived to see the publication of his book - it was published 30 years after his death.

The Master and Margarita is such a complex work that not a single attempt to film the novel has been successful. The figures of Woland, the Master and Margarita require filigree accuracy in conveying their images. Unfortunately, no actor has yet managed to achieve this. The film adaptation of the novel by director Vladimir Bortko can be considered the most successful.

Surely many people believe that classical works, by their definition, are long, boring, have been written for many years, and therefore are not always understandable to the modern reader. This is a common mistake. After all, in fact, classics are everything that is not subject to time. The themes revealed in such works are relevant for any century. And if a 19th century author wrote such a book now, it would again become a bestseller. We bring to your attention the best classic ones. They captivated millions of readers. And even those who claim that they are dissatisfied with the author’s creation, believe me, did not remain indifferent.

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The novel consists of two different but intertwined parts. The first one is set in modern Moscow, the second one is in ancient Jerusalem. Each part is filled with events and characters - historical, fictional, as well as scary and amazing creatures.

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What forces move people? They are the result of the actions of individuals - kings, generals - or a feeling such as patriotism, or there is a third force that determines the direction of history. The main characters are painfully searching for the answer to this question.

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The novel is based on the experience that Dostoevsky received in hard labor. Student Raskolnikov, who has vegetated in poverty for several months, is convinced that a humane goal will justify the most terrible act, even the murder of a greedy and useless old money-lender.

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A novel that was ahead of its time and came out long before the emergence of such a cultural phenomenon as postmodernism. The main characters of the work - 4 sons born from different mothers - symbolize those irrepressible elements that can lead to the death of Russia.

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Should she stay with her husband, who was always indifferent to her inner world and never loved her, or should she give herself with all her heart to the one who made her feel happy? Throughout the entire novel, the heroine, the young aristocrat Anna, is tormented by this choice.

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The poor young prince returns home to Russia by train. On the way, he meets the son of one of the rich merchants, who is obsessed with a passion for one girl, a kept woman. In a metropolitan society obsessed with money, power and manipulation, the prince finds himself an outsider.

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Despite the title, the work itself is in no way connected with the mysticism that is mainly inherent in the work of this writer. In the tradition of “harsh” realism, the life of landowners in the Russian province is described, where a former official comes to carry out his scam.

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A young St. Petersburg rake, fed up with love and social entertainment, leaves for the village, where he strikes up a friendship with a poet who is in love with one of the daughters of a local nobleman. The second daughter falls in love with the rake, but he does not respond to her feelings.

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A famous Moscow surgeon decides to conduct a very risky experiment on a stray dog ​​in his large apartment, where he receives patients. As a result, the animal began to turn into a human. But at the same time he acquired all human vices.

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People come to the provincial town who, it would seem, cannot be connected by anything. But they know each other, since they belong to the same revolutionary organization. Their goal is to create a political riot. Everything goes according to plan, but one revolutionary decides to quit the game.

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Cult work XIX century. At the center of the story is a student who does not accept traditional public morality and opposes everything old and non-progressive. For him, only scientific knowledge is valuable, which can explain everything. Except love.

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He was a doctor by profession, a writer by vocation, whose talent was fully revealed when creating short humorous stories. They quickly became classics all over the world. In them, in an accessible language - the language of humor - human vices are revealed.

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This work is on a par with Gogol's poem. In it, the main character is also a young adventurer who is ready to promise everyone something that, in principle, cannot be done. And all for the sake of a treasure that several other people know about. And no one is going to share it.

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After a three-year separation, young Alexander returns to the house of his beloved Sophia to propose to her. However, she refuses him and says that she now loves someone else. The rejected lover begins to blame the society in which Sophia grew up.

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What should a real nobleman do if the life of a young noble girl depends on him? Sacrifice yourself, but not lose your honor. This is what guides the young officer when the fortress in which he serves is attacked by the impostor king.

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Terrible poverty and hopelessness are strangling the old resident of Cuba. One day, as usual, he goes to sea, not hoping for a big catch. But this time he catches a large prey on his hook, with which the fisherman fights for several days, not giving it the opportunity to escape.

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Ragin selflessly serves as a doctor. However, his zeal is fading; he sees no point in changing the life around him, because it is impossible to cure the madness that reigns around him. The doctor begins to visit the ward daily where the mentally ill are kept.

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What is more destructive - to do nothing and just indulge in dreams about how to live, or to get off the couch and start implementing your plans? The young and lazy landowner Ilya Ilyich initially occupied the first position, but after he fell in love, he woke up from his sleepy state.

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Write magnificent works you can talk not only about the life of a big city, but also about the life of a small Ukrainian farm. During the day, the usual rules apply here, but at night, power passes to supernatural forces that can both help and at the same time destroy.

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A talented surgeon settles illegally in Paris, but is not prevented from practicing medicine. Before moving, he lived in Germany, from which he fled, but at the same time allowed his beloved to die. In a new place, he quickly begins another romance.

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A Russian tutor goes on a trip with the family in which he serves. At the same time, he is secretly in love with the girl Polina. And so that she understands all his nobility, he begins to play roulette in the hope of getting big money. And he succeeds, but the girl does not accept the winnings.

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The world of family comfort, nobility and true patriotism is breaking under the onslaught of social catastrophe in Russia. The escaped Russian officers settled in Ukraine and hoped that they would not fall under the rule of the Bolsheviks. But one day the city's defenses weaken and the enemy goes on the offensive.

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A series of small works written in different artistic styles. Here you can find a romantic duelist, sentimental stories about eternal love, and a harsh picture of reality in which money rules, and because of it a person can lose the most important thing.

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What Pushkin failed to do in his time, Dostoevsky did. The work is entirely a correspondence between a poor official and a young girl who also has a small income. But at the same time, the heroes are not poor in soul.

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A story about the invincibility and perseverance of a man who does not want to be someone's faithful soldier. For the sake of freedom, Hadji Murat goes over to the side of the imperial troops, but does this in order to save not himself, but his family, which is captured by the enemy.

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In these seven works, the author takes us through the streets of St. Petersburg, which was built with the help of strength and ingenuity on swampy terrain. Beneath its harmonious façade lies deception and violence. The inhabitants are confused by the city itself, giving them false dreams.

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This collection of short stories is the first major work to gain recognition for the author. It is based on personal observations while hunting on his mother's estate, where Turgenev learned about the mistreatment of peasants and the injustice of the Russian system.

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The main character is the son of a landowner, whose property was confiscated by a corrupt and treacherous general. After the death of his father, the hero becomes a criminal. To achieve the ultimate goal - revenge - he resorts to more cunning means: he seduces the daughter of his enemy.

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This classic war novel is written from the perspective of a young German soldier. The hero is only 18 years old, and under the pressure of his family, friends and society, he enters military service and goes to the front. There he witnesses such horrors that he dares not tell anyone about.

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Mischievous and energetic, Tom enjoys childhood pranks and games with his friends. One day, at the city cemetery, he witnesses a murder committed by a local tramp. The hero makes a vow that he will never talk about it, and so begins his journey into adulthood.

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The story of a pathetic St. Petersburg official whose expensive overcoat was stolen. No one wants to help him return the item, which eventually makes the hero seriously ill. Even during the author’s lifetime, critics adequately appreciated the work from which all Russian realism was born.

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The novel is on a par with another work of the author - “The Call of the Wild”. Most of White Fang is also written from the point of view of the dog whose name appears in the title. This allows the author to show how animals see their world and how they see humans.

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The novel tells the story of 19-year-old Arkady, the illegitimate son of a landowner and a maid, as he struggles to improve his situation and “become a Rothschild,” despite the fact that Russia remains tied to its old value system.

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The novel is about how the hero, who is very broken and disillusioned due to a failed marriage, returns to his estate and finds his love again - only to lose her. This reflects main topic: a person is not destined to experience happiness except something ephemeral.

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A dark and engrossing tale that follows the struggle of an indecisive, alienated hero in a world of relative values. The innovative work introduced the moral, religious, political and social themes that would dominate the author's later masterpieces.

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The narrator arrives in Sevastopol, which is under siege, and makes a detailed inspection of the city. As a result, the reader has the opportunity to study all the features of military life. We find ourselves at a dressing station, where horror reigns, and at the most dangerous bastion.

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The work is partly based on the life experience of the author, who took part in the war in the Caucasus. A nobleman, disillusioned with his privileged life, enlists in the army to escape superficiality Everyday life. A hero in search of a full life. 38.$
The author's first social novel, which is partly an artistic introduction for those who belonged to the previous era, but lived at a time when political and social movements began. This era has already been forgotten, but it is worth remembering.

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One of the greatest and most successful dramatic works. A Russian aristocrat and her family return to their estate to oversee the public auction of their house and huge garden for debt. The old masters are losing in the struggle to new trends in life.

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The hero was sentenced to death on charges of murdering his wife, but was subsequently exiled to Siberian penal servitude for 10 years. Life in prison is hard for him - he is an intellectual and experiences the anger of other prisoners. Gradually he overcomes his disgust and experiences a spiritual awakening.

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On the eve of his wedding, a young aristocrat learns that his bride was having an affair with the king. This was a blow to his pride, so he renounces everything worldly and becomes a monk. This is how many years of humility and doubt pass. Until he decides to become a hermit.

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The editor falls into the hands of a manuscript that tells about a young and depraved man who worked as a forensic investigator. He becomes one of the “corners” in a love triangle in which a married couple is involved. The outcome of the story is the murder of his wife.

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A work banned until 1988, in which, through the fate of one military doctor, the story of a people who perished in the turmoil of the revolution is told. From the general madness, the hero, together with his family, flees into the interior of the country, where he meets someone whom he does not want to let go.

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The main character, like all his friends, is a war veteran. He is a poet at heart, but he works for a friend who runs a small tombstone manufacturing business. This money is not enough, and he earns additional income by giving private lessons and playing the organ at a local mental hospital.

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In someone else's war, Frederic falls in love with a nurse and tries to seduce her, after which their relationship begins. But one day the hero is wounded by a fragment of a mortar shell, and he is sent to a Milan hospital. There, far from the war, he heals - both physically and mentally.

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During breakfast, the barber discovers a human nose in his bread. With horror, he recognizes him as the nose of a regular visitor who holds the rank of collegiate assessor. In turn, the injured official discovers the loss and submits an absurd advertisement to the newspaper.

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The main character, a boy, seeking independence and freedom, escapes from his alcoholic father by faking his own death. And so begins his journey through the south of the country. He meets a runaway slave and they float down the Mississippi River together.

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The plot of the poem is based on the events that actually took place in St. Petersburg in 1824. The political, historical and existential questions that the author articulates with dazzling force and brevity continue to be the subject of controversy among critics.

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To save his beloved, who was forcibly taken away by an evil sorcerer, the warrior Ruslan will have to go on an epic and dangerous journey, encountering many fantastic and terrible creatures. This is a dramatic and witty retelling of Russian folklore.

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The most famous play describes a family of aristocrats who have difficulty finding any meaning in their lives. Three sisters and their brother live in a remote province, but they struggle to return to the sophisticated Moscow where they grew up. The play captures the decline of the “masters of life.”

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The hero is obsessed with an all-consuming love for one princess, who is unlikely to know about his existence. One day, a society lady receives an expensive bracelet for her birthday. The husband finds a secret admirer and asks him to stop compromising a decent woman.

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In this classic literary representation gambling the author explores the nature of obsession. Secret and otherworldly clues alternate with the story of the passionate Herman, who wants to make his fortune at the card table. The secret of success is known to one old woman.

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Muscovite Gurov is married and has a daughter and two sons. At the same time, he is not happy in his family life and often cheats on his wife. While vacationing in Yalta, he sees a young lady walking along the embankment with her small dog, and is constantly looking for opportunities to get to know her.

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This collection is in some ways the culmination of the work he did throughout his life. The stories were written on the eve of a terrible world war in the context of collapsing Russian culture. The action of each work concentrates on a love theme.

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The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous narrator who recalls his youth, in particular his time in a small town west of the Rhine. Critics consider the hero to be a classic “superfluous person” - indecisive and undecided of his place in life.

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Four laconic plays, later known as "Little Tragedies", were written at the time of the rise creative forces, and their influence is difficult to overestimate. Being the author's adaptation of plays by Western European authors, "Tragedies" offers readers current problems.

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This story takes place in Europe, in a hedonistic society during the Roaring Twenties. A rich girl with schizophrenia falls in love with her psychiatrist. As a result, a whole saga of troubled marriages, love affairs, duels and incest unfolds.

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Some scholars identify three poems in the work of this author, which embody one original idea. One of them is, of course, “Mtsyri”. The main character is a 17-year-old monk who was forcibly taken away from his village as a child, and one day he escapes.

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A completely young mongrel runs away from his permanent owner and finds a new one. He turns out to be an artist who performs in a circus with acts in which animals participate. Therefore, a separate number is immediately invented for the smart little dog.

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In this story, among its many themes, such as Europeanized Russian society, adultery and provincial life, the theme of a woman, or rather, planning a murder by a woman, comes to the fore. The title of the work contains a reference to Shakespeare's play.

61. Leo Tolstoy - Fake coupon
Schoolboy Mitya desperately needs money - he needs to repay his debt. Depressed by this situation, he follows the evil advice of his friend, who showed him how to change the denomination of a banknote. This act sets off a chain of events that affects the lives of dozens of other people.

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Proust's most important work, known for its length and theme of involuntary memories. The novel began to take shape back in 1909. The author continued to work on it until his last illness, which forced him to stop working.

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The lengthy poem tells the story of seven peasants who set out to ask various groups of the village population if they were happy. But wherever they went, they were always given an unsatisfactory answer. Of the planned 7-8 parts, the author wrote only half.

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The story is about the sad life of a young girl who lived in extreme poverty and suddenly became an orphan, but she is adopted by a rich family. When she meets her new stepsister, Katya, she instantly falls in love with her and the two soon become inseparable.

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The main character is a classic Hemingway hero: a violent guy, an underground liquor dealer who smuggles weapons and transports people from Cuba to the Florida Keys. He risks his life, dodges the Coast Guard's bullets and manages to outsmart them.

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While traveling on a train, one of the passengers overhears a conversation going on in the compartment. When one woman argues that marriage should be based on true love, he asks her: what is love? In his opinion, love quickly turns into hatred, and tells its own story.

67. Leo Tolstoy - Notes of a Marker
The narrator is a simple marker, a person who keeps score and places the balls on the billiard table. If the game turns out well and the players are not stingy, then he gets a good reward. But one day a very gambling young man appears at the club.

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The main character is looking for peace in Polesie, which should invigorate him. But in the end he ends up with unbearable boredom. But one day, having lost his way, he comes across a hut where an old woman and her beautiful granddaughter are waiting for him. After this magical meeting, the hero becomes a frequent visitor here.

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The focus is on a tall and powerfully built janitor. He falls in love with a young washerwoman and wants to marry her. But the lady decides differently: the girl goes to the always drunk shoemaker. The hero finds his solace in caring for a small dog.

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One evening, three sisters shared their dreams with each other: what they would do if they became the wives of the king. But only the third sister’s pleas were heard - Tsar Saltan took her in marriage and ordered her to give birth to an heir by a certain date. But envious sisters begin to play dirty tricks.