Modern writers of the 21st century Russian famous. Modern writers (21st century) of Russia

» Jonathan Franzen, author of "Corrections" and "Freedom" - family sagas that have become events in world literature. On this occasion, book critic Lisa Birger compiled a brief educational program on the main prose writers of recent years - from Tartt and Franzen to Welbeck and Eggers - who wrote the most important books XXI century and deserving the right to be called new classics.

Lisa Birger

Donna Tartt

One novel in ten years - such is the productivity of the American novelist Donna Tartt. So her three novels are " secret history" in 1992, "Little Friend" in 2002 and "Goldfinch" in 2013 - this is a whole bibliography, a dozen articles in newspapers and magazines will be added to it at most. And this is important: Tartt is not just one of the main authors since the novel "The Goldfinch" won the Pulitzer Prize and demolished all the top lines of all the world's bestseller lists. She is also a novelist, keeping an exceptional fidelity to the classical form.

Beginning with his first novel, The Secret History, about a group of antique students who became overly literary games Tartt brings the hulking genre of the big novel into the light of modernity. But the present is reflected here not in details, but in ideas - for us, today's people, it is no longer so important to know the name of the killer or even to reward the innocent and punish the guilty. We just want to open our mouths and froze in surprise, to watch how the gears rotate.

What to read first

After the success of The Goldfinch, its heroic translator Anastasia Zavozova retranslated Donna Tartt's second novel, The Little Friend, into Russian. New translation freed from the mistakes of the past, finally pays tribute to this spellbinding novel, main character who goes too far investigating the murder of his little brother is both a horror tale about the secrets of the South and a harbinger of the future boom of the young adult genre.

Donna Tart"Little friend",
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Who is close in spirit

Donna Tartt is often put on a par with another savior of the big American novel, Jonathan Franzen. For all their obvious difference, Franzen turns his texts into a persistent commentary on the state of modern society, and Tartt is quite indifferent to modernity - both of them feel like the successors of the classic great novel, feel the connection of the centuries and build it for the reader.

Zadie Smith

English novelist, about whom in the English-speaking world there is much more noise than in the Russian-speaking one. At the beginning of the new millennium, it was she who was considered the main hope English Literature. Like so many modern British writers, Smith belongs to two cultures at once: her mother is from Jamaica, her father is English, and it was the search for identity that became main theme her first novel, White Teeth, about three generations of three British blended families. "White Teeth" is notable primarily for Smith's ability to abandon judgments, not to see the tragedy in the inevitable clash of irreconcilable cultures and at the same time the ability to sympathize with this other culture, not to despise it - although this confrontation itself becomes an inexhaustible source of her caustic wit.

In her second novel, On Beauty, the collision of two professors turned out to be just as irreconcilable: one is a liberal, the other is a conservative, and both are studying Rembrandt. Perhaps it is the conviction that there is something that unites us all, despite differences, whether it be favorite paintings or the ground we walk on, that distinguishes Zadie Smith's novels from hundreds of similar identity seekers.

What to read first

Unfortunately, last novel Smith's "Northwest" ("NW") has not been translated into Russian, and it is not known what will happen to the new book "Swing Time", which will be released in English in November. Meanwhile, "North-West" is, perhaps, the most successful and, perhaps, even the most understandable book for us about collisions and differences. In the center is the story of four friends who grew up together in the same neighborhood. But someone managed to achieve money and success, but someone did not. And the further, the more socio-cultural differences become an obstacle to their friendship.

Zadie Smith"NW"

Who is close in spirit

Next to Stoppard one is drawn to put some great figure of the last century like Thomas Bernhard. In the end, his dramaturgy, of course, is very much connected with the twentieth century and the search for answers to difficult questions, put it dramatic history. In fact, Stoppard's closest relative in literature - and no less dear to us - is Julian Barnes, in which, in the same way, through the connections of times, the life of the timeless spirit is built. Nevertheless, the bewildered patter of Stoppard's characters, his love of absurdism and attention to the events and heroes of the past are reflected in contemporary drama, which should be looked for in the plays of Maxim Kurochkin, Mikhail Ugarov, Pavel Pryazhko.

Tom Wolfe

The legend of American journalism - his "Candy-colored orange-petal streamlined baby", published in 1965, is considered the beginning of the "new journalism" genre. In his first articles, Woolf solemnly proclaimed that the right to observe and diagnose society now belonged to journalists, not novelists. After 20 years, he himself wrote his first novel, The Bonfires of Ambition, and today, 85-year-old Wolfe is still cheerful and throws himself at American society with the same fury to tear it to shreds. However, in the 60s he didn’t do just that, then he was still fascinated by eccentrics going against the system, from Ken Kesey with his drug experiments to the guy who invented a giant lizard costume for himself and his motorcycle. Now Wolfe himself has become this anti-systemic hero: a Southern gentleman in a white suit with a wand, despising everyone and everything, deliberately ignoring the Internet and voting for Bush. His main idea - everything around is so crazy and crooked that it is already impossible to choose a side and take this curvature seriously - should turn out to be close to many.

It's hard to miss Bonfires of Ambition - big romance about New York in the 80s and the clash of the black and white worlds, the most decent translation of Wolfe into Russian (the work of Inna Bershtein and Vladimir Boshnyak). But you can't call it simple reading. The reader who is not at all familiar with Tom Wolfe should read "Battle for Space", a story about the Soviet-American space race with its dramas and human casualties, and the latest novel "Voice of Blood" (2012) about the life of modern Miami. Wolfe's books once sold in the millions, but his latest novels have not been as successful. And yet, for a reader who is not weighed down by memories of Wolfe of better times, this criticism of everything should make a stunning impression.

Who is close in spirit

The New Journalism, unfortunately, gave birth to a mouse - on the field where Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and many others once ran rampant, only Joan Didion and the New Yorker magazine, which still prefers emotional stories in present tense in the first person. But the comics became the real successors of the genre. Joe Sacco and his graphic reports (so far only Palestine has been translated into Russian) - the best of what literature has managed to replace free journalistic chatter.

Leonid Yuzefovich

In the minds of the mass reader, Leonid Yuzefovich remains the man who invented the genre of historical detective stories, which so comforted us in recent decades, - his books about the detective Putilin came out even earlier than Akunin's stories about Fandorin. It is noteworthy, however, not that Yuzefovich was the first, but that, as in his other novels, the hero of detectives becomes a real man, the first head of the detective police of St. Petersburg detective Ivan Putilin, stories about famous cases which (perhaps written by him) were published as early as the beginning of the 20th century. Such precision and attention to real characters - distinguishing feature Yuzefovich's books. His historical fantasies do not tolerate lies, and they do not appreciate fiction. Here, starting from the first success of Yuzefovich, the novel "The Autocrat of the Desert" about Baron Ungern, published in 1993, there will always be a real hero in real circumstances, speculated only where there are blind spots in the documents.

However, in Leonid Yuzefovich, what is important for us is not so much his loyalty to history as the idea of how this history grinds absolutely all of us: whites, reds, yesterday and the day before yesterday, tsars and impostors, everyone. The further in our time, the more clearly the historical course of Russia is felt as inevitable, and the more popular and significant is the figure of Yuzefovich, who has been talking about this for 30 years.

What to read first

First of all - the last novel "Winter Road" about the confrontation in Yakutia in the early 20s of the white general Anatoly Pepelyaev and the red anarchist Ivan Strod. The clash of armies does not mean a clash of characters: they are united by common courage, heroism, even humanism, and, ultimately, a common destiny. And Yuzefovich was the first who could write a story civil war without taking sides.

Leonid Yuzefovich"Winter road"

Who is close in spirit

Historical novel found today in Russia fertile ground, and on it for recent years ten a lot of good things have grown - from Alexei Ivanov to Evgeny Chizhov. And even if Yuzefovich turned out to be a pinnacle that cannot be taken, he has wonderful followers: for example, Sukhbat Aflatuni(under this pseudonym the writer Yevgeny Abdullaev is hiding). His novel "The Adoration of the Magi" about several generations of the Triyarsky family is about the complex connections of the eras of Russian history, and about the strange mysticism that unites all these eras.

Michael Chabon

An American writer whose name we will never learn to pronounce correctly (Shibon? Chaybon?), so we will stick to the mistakes of the first translation. Growing up in a Jewish family, Chabon heard Yiddish from childhood and, along with what normal boys usually feed on (comics, superheroes, adventures, you might add), he was fed by the sadness and doom of Jewish culture. As a result, his novels are an explosive mixture of everything that we love. There is Yiddish charm and the historical heaviness of Jewish culture, but all this is combined with entertainment of the truest kind: from noir detectives to escapist comics. This combination proved to be quite revolutionary for American culture, clearly sawing the audience on smart and fools. In 2001, the author received the Pulitzer Prize for his most famous novel"The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay", in 2008 - the Hugo Award for the "Union of Jewish Policemen" and since then somehow calmed down, which is a shame: it seems that Chabon has not yet said the main word in literature. His next book Moonlight will be released in English in November, but this is not so much a novel as an attempt to document the biography of the entire century through the story of the writer's grandfather, told to his grandson on his deathbed.

Chabon's most deservedly famous text is "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" about two Jewish cousins who invented the superhero Escapist in the 40s of the last century. An escapist is a kind of Houdini on the contrary, saving not himself, but others. But miraculous salvation can only exist on paper.

Another well-known text by Chabon, "Union of Jewish Policemen", goes even further into the genre alternative history- here the Jews speak Yiddish, live in Alaska and dream of returning to the Promised Land, which never became the State of Israel. Once upon a time, the Coens dreamed of making a film based on this novel, but for them there is probably too little irony in it - but just right for us.

Michael Chabon"The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay"

Who is close in spirit

Perhaps it is Chabon and his complex search for the right intonation for talking about escapism, roots, and one's own identity that are to be thanked for the emergence of two brilliant American novelists. This Jonathan Safran Foer with his novels "Full Illumination" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" - about a journey to Russia in the footsteps of a Jewish grandfather and about a nine-year-old boy who is looking for his father who died on September 11th. AND Juneau Diaz with the intoxicating text "The Short Fantastic Life of Oscar Wao" about a gentle fat man who dreams of becoming a new superhero, or at least a Dominican Tolkien. He will not be able to do this because of the family curse, the dictator Trujillo and the bloody history of the Dominican Republic. Both Foer and Diaz, by the way, unlike poor Chabon, are perfectly translated into Russian - but, like him, they explore the dreams of escapism and the search for identity of not the second, but, say, the third generation of emigrants.

Michel Houellebecq

If not the main one (the French would argue), then the most famous French writer. We seem to know everything about him: he hates Islam, is not afraid sex scenes and constantly asserts the end of Europe. In fact, Houellebecq's ability to construct dystopias is polished from novel to novel. It would be dishonest for the author to see in his books only momentary criticism of Islam or politics or even Europe - society, according to Houellebecq, is doomed for a long time, and the causes of the crisis are much scarier than any external threat: it is the loss of personality and the transformation of a person from a thinking reed into a set of desires and functions.

What to read first

If we assume that the reader of these lines never discovered Houellebecq, then it’s worth starting not even with the famous dystopias like “Platform” or “Submission”, but with the novel “Map and Territory”, which received the Goncourt Prize in 2010, an ideal commentary on modern life, from its consumerism to its art.

Michel Houellebecq"Map and Territory"

Who is close in spirit

In the genre of dystopia, Houellebecq has wonderful associates among, as they say, living classics - an Englishman Martin Amis(also repeatedly opposed Islam, which requires a total loss of personality from a person) and Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, interfering with genres for the persuasiveness of its dystopias.

A wonderful rhyme to Houellebecq can be found in the novels Dave Eggers who headed new wave American prose. Eggers started with huge size and ambition with a coming-of-age romance and a manifesto new prose“A heartbreaking creation of a stunning genius,” founded several literary schools and magazines, and recently pleases readers with biting dystopias, such as “Sphere”, a novel about an Internet corporation that has taken over the world to such an extent that its employees themselves are horrified by what they have done.

Jonathan Coe

British writer, brilliantly continuing the traditions of English satire - no one better than him knows how to smash modernity to shreds with pinpoint blows. His first major success was What a Swindle (1994), about the dirty secrets of an English family from the time of Margaret Thatcher. With an even greater feeling of painful recognition, we read the dilogy “The Rakali Club” and “The Circle is Closed” about three decades british history, from the 70s to the 90s, and how modern society became what it was.

The Russian translation of Number 11, the sequel to What a Swindle, which takes place in our time, will be released early next year, but we still have a lot to read: Coe has a lot of novels, almost all of them have been translated into Russian. They are united by a strong plot, impeccable style and everything that is commonly called writing skill, which in the reader's language means: you take the first page - and do not let go until the last.

What to read first

. If Coe is compared to Lawrence Stern, then Coe next to him will be Jonathan Swift, even with his midgets. Among the most famous books of Self are “How the Dead Live” about an old woman who died and ended up in parallel London, and the novel “The Book of Dave”, never published in Russian, in which the diary of a London taxi driver becomes a Bible for the tribes that inhabited the Earth later 500 years after the ecological catastrophe.

Antonia Byatt

The philological grand dame, who received the Order of the British Empire for her novels, it seemed that Antonia Byatt always existed. In fact, Possessing was only published in 1990, and today it is being studied in universities. Byatt's main skill is the ability to talk to everyone about everything. All plots, all themes, all eras are connected, a novel can be simultaneously romantic, love, detective, chivalrous and philological, and according to Byatt one can really study the state of minds in general - her novels somehow reflected every topic that interested humanity in the last couple of hundred centuries.

In 2009, Antonia Byatt's "Children's Book" lost the Booker Prize to "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel, but this is a case in which history will remember the winners. In some ways, The Children's Book is a response to the boom in children's literature in the 19th and 20th centuries. Byatt noticed that all the children for whom these books were written either ended badly or lived an unhappy life, like Christopher Milne, who until the end of his days could not hear about winnie the pooh. She came up with a story about children living on a Victorian estate and surrounded by fairy tales that a writer-mother comes up with for them, and then bam - and the First World War begins. But if her books were described so simply, then Byatt would not be herself - there are a thousand characters, a hundred microplots, and fabulous motifs intertwined with the main ideas of the century.

Sarah Waters. Waters started out with erotic Victorian romances with a lesbian twist, but ended up with historical love books in general - no, not really. romance novels but to try to unravel the mystery human relations. Her best book to date, The night Watch”, showed people who found themselves under the London bombings of World War II and immediately after they lost. Otherwise, Byett's favorite theme of the connection between man and time is explored by Keith Atkinson- the author of excellent detective stories, whose novels "Life after life" and "Gods among men" try to embrace the entire British twentieth century at once.

Cover: Beowulf Sheehan/Roulette

Yes, I gave.

There are many remarkable writers, in form and content not inferior to the writers of the past, another question is whether they will ever be recognized as "great"?

In general, I am against such loud epithets, such as "great" in relation to writers, because literature is too subjective, which is majestic for one, for another - vulgarity and mediocrity. It must be understood that writers become great largely because of tradition.

Remember the ones you know important writers and mentally divide them by country of origin. Get a limited list European countries: France ( for a long time center of political and military power), England (replacing France as the world hegemon), Germany (one of the main players in the European arena), and, of course, great and beautiful Russia. Something like this, 5-10 names come to mind for the rest of the world. And here is the dilemma - either most of the peoples of the Earth are worthless and devoid of talent, or "great" writers can only appear in the great Western countries, who were, so to speak, tough guys in the class and in front of whom everyone was in awe and to whom there was special attention, including their culture and their writers, while no one cared about conditional Poland and conditional Mickiewicz was of little interest to anyone. Now, if Mickiewicz were French and would be in the right crowd... Even now, we watched the US elections with more excitement than our own, is it any wonder that films and TV series are made according to the stories of American writers, and remain in history with they have much more chances than the creator from the outskirts of civilization. Shakespeare was born in 16th(!!!) century and did not write for contemporary literary scholars, and for the motley audience of contemporaries, for the most part very rude. Known on the other side of the English Channel, he became only later two hundred years, when English became the dominant language of the world empire. If Great Britain remained an outlying island country, would anyone remember Shakespeare except herself? By the way, here is a critical essay by the "great" Tolstoy about the "great" Shakespeare - where Leo completely denies any talent of William and denounces his work as bad taste. The inconsistency comes out - how can one great talk about something else great What is that mediocrity? Can't great so mistaken, then someone here is clearly small. And this is not a unique situation, but a typical, "great" writers of round dances did not lead and often did not like each other:

Dostoevsky in the novel "Demons" portrayed Turgenev in the form of "the great writer Karmazinov" - a noisy, petty, scribbled and practically mediocre writer who considers himself a genius and sits out abroad. A similar attitude towards Turgenev by the ever-needy Dostoevsky was caused, among other things, by the secure position of Turgenev in his noble life and by the highest literary fees at that time: “To Turgenev, for his“ Noble Nest ”(I finally read it. Extremely well), Katkov himself (from whom I ask for 100 rubles from a sheet) gave 4,000 rubles, that is, 400 rubles from a sheet. My friend! I know very well that I write worse than Turgenev, but not too worse, and finally, I hope to write not worse at all. Why am I, with my needs, taking only 100 rubles, and Turgenev, who has 2,000 souls, 400 each?

So, returning directly to the question - yes, I gave it, but they will be considered "great" at least in 30 years, and then if many circumstances develop, people who consider conditional Pelevin, Palankin, King, Rowling will create circles / parties, write articles V literary magazines and related resources, enter into school programs desired writers thereof and thereby form mass opinion.

Modern Russian writers continue to create their excellent works in this century. They work in various genres Each one has its own individual and unique style. Some are familiar to many dedicated readers from their writings. Some surnames are on everyone's lips, as they are extremely popular and promoted. However, there are also such modern Russian writers that you will learn about for the first time. But this does not mean at all that their creations are worse. The fact is that in order to highlight true masterpieces, a certain amount of time must pass.

Modern Russian writers of the 21st century. List

Poets, playwrights, prose writers, science fiction writers, publicists, etc. continue to work fruitfully in this century and add to the works of great Russian literature. This:

Alexander Bushkov.
Alexander Zholkovsky.
Alexandra Marinina.
Alexander Olshansky.
Alex Orlov.
Alexander Rosenbaum.
Alexander Rudazov.
Alexey Kalugin.
Alina Vitukhnovskaya.
Anna and Sergei Litvinov.
Anatoly Salutsky.
Andrey Dashkov.
Andrey Kivinov.
Andrey Plekhanov.
Boris Akunin.
Boris Karlov.
Boris Strugatsky.
Valery Ganichev.
Vasilina Orlova.
Vera Vorontsova.
Vera Ivanova.
Viktor Pelevin.
Vladimir Vishnevsky.
Vladimir Voinovich.
Vladimir Gandelsman.
Vladimir Karpov.
Vladislav Krapivin.
Vyacheslav Rybakov.
Vladimir Sorokin.
Darya Dontsova.
Dina Rubina.
Dmitry Emets.
Dmitry Suslin.
Igor Volgin.
Igor Huberman.
Igor Lapin.
Leonid Kaganov.
Leonid Kostomarov.
Love Zakharchenko.
Maria Arbatova.
Maria Semyonova.
Michael Weller.
Mikhail Zhvanetsky.
Mikhail Zadornov.
Mikhail Kukulevich.
Mikhail Makovetsky.
Nick Perumov.
Nicholas Romanetsky.
Nikolay Romanov.
Oksana Robsky.
Oleg Mityaev.
Oleg Pavlov.
Olga Stepnova.
Sergei Mohammed.
Tatiana Stepanova.
Tatiana Ustinova.
Edward Radzinsky.
Edward Uspensky.
Yuri Mineralov.
Yunna Moritz.
Yulia Shilova.

Moscow writers

Modern writers (Russians) never cease to amaze with their interesting works. Separately, it is necessary to single out the writers of Moscow and the Moscow region, who are members of various unions.

Their writing is excellent. Just gotta get through certain time to highlight true masterpieces. After all, time is the most severe critic, which cannot be bribed by anything.

Let's highlight the most popular.

Poets: Avelina Abareli, Petr Akaemov, Evgeny Antoshkin, Vladimir Boyarinov, Evgenia Bragantseva, Anatoly Vetrov, Andrei Voznesensky, Alexander Zhukov, Olga Zhuravleva, Igor Irteniev, Rimma Kazakova, Elena Kanunova, Konstantin Koledin, Evgeny Medvedev, Mikhail Mikhalkov, Grigory Osipov and a lot others.

Playwrights: Maria Arbatova, Elena Isaeva and others.

Prose writers: Eduard Alekseev, Igor Bludilin, Evgeny Buzni, Genrikh Gatsura, Andrey Dubovoy, Yegor Ivanov, Eduard Klygul, Yuri Konoplyannikov, Vladimir Krupin, Irina Lobko-Lobanovskaya and others.

Satirists: Zadornov.

Modern Russian writers of Moscow and the Moscow region created: wonderful works for children, a large number of poetry, prose, fables, detective stories, fiction, humorous stories and much more.

First among the best

Tatyana Ustinova, Daria Dontsova, Yulia Shilova are modern writers (Russians), whose works are loved and read with great pleasure.

T. Ustinova was born on April 21, 1968. With humor refers to his high growth. She told that in kindergarten she was teased "Herculesina". There were certain difficulties in connection with this at school and institute. Mom read a lot in childhood, which instilled in Tatyana a love for literature. It was very difficult for her at the institute, since physics was very difficult. But I managed to finish my studies, I helped future husband. I got on television quite by accident. Got a job as a secretary. But after seven months went up career ladder. Tatyana Ustinova was a translator and worked in the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. After the change of power, she returned to television. However, this job was also fired. After that, she wrote her first novel, Personal Angel, which was immediately published. They returned to work. Things went up. She gave birth to two sons.

Prominent satirists

Everyone is very familiar with Mikhail Zhvanetsky and Mikhail Zadornov - modern Russian writers, masters of the humorous genre. Their works are very interesting and funny. The performances of comedians are always expected, tickets for their concerts are sold out immediately. Each of them has its own image. The witty Mikhail Zhvanetsky always takes the stage with a briefcase. The public loves him very much. His jokes are often quoted as being insanely funny. In the theater of Arkady Raikin, Zhvanetsky began a great success. Everyone said: "as Raikin said." But their union eventually fell apart. The performer and the author, the artist and the writer had different tracks. Zhvanetsky brought with him to society a new literary genre, which at first was mistaken for an ancient one. Some are surprised why "a man without a voice and an actor's presentation enters the stage"? However, not everyone understands that in this way the writer publishes his works, and not just performs his miniatures. And in this sense, variety art as a genre has nothing to do with it. Zhvanetsky, despite the misunderstanding on the part of some people, remains a great writer of his era.

Bestsellers

Below are Russian writers. Three most interesting historical adventure stories are included in Boris Akunin's book "History Russian state. Fire finger." This amazing book that will please every reader. Exciting plot, bright heroes, incredible adventure. All this is perceived in one breath. "Love for Three Zuckerbrins" by Viktor Pelevin makes you think about the world and human life. At the forefront, he puts questions that concern many people who are able and eager to think and think. His interpretation of being corresponds to the spirit of modernity. Here the myth and tricks of creatives, reality and virtuality are closely intertwined. Pavel Sanaev's book Bury Me Behind the Baseboard was nominated for the Booker Prize. She made a real sensation in the book market. This magnificent edition occupies a place of honor in modern Russian literature. This is a true masterpiece modern prose. Easy to read and interesting. Some chapters are filled with humor, while others move to tears.

Best Novels

Modern novels by Russian writers captivate with a new and amazing plot, make you empathize with the main characters. In the historical novel "Abode" by Zakhar Prilepin, an important and at the same time sore subject of the Solovetsky camps is touched upon. special purpose. In the writer's book, that complex and heavy atmosphere is deeply felt. Whom she did not kill, she made stronger. The author created his novel on the basis of archival documentation. He skillfully inserts monstrous historical facts into the artistic context of the essay. Many works of modern Russian writers are worthy examples, excellent creations. Such is the novel "Darkness Falls on the Old Steps" by Alexander Chudakov. It was recognized as the best Russian novel by the jury members of the Russian Booker competition. Many readers have decided that this essay is autobiographical. The thoughts and feelings of the characters are so authentic. However, this is an image of true Russia in a difficult period of time. The book combines humor and incredible sadness, lyrical episodes smoothly flow into epic ones.

Conclusion

Modern Russian writers of the 21st century are another page in the history of Russian literature.

Daria Dontsova, Tatyana Ustinova, Yulia Shilova, Boris Akunin, Viktor Pelevin, Pavel Sanaev, Alexander Chudakov and many others won the hearts of readers all over the country with their works. Their novels and stories have already become real bestsellers.

Russian classics are well known to foreign readers. And how contemporary authors managed to win the hearts of a foreign audience? Liebs compiled a list of the most famous contemporary Russian writers in the West and their most popular books.

16. Nikolay Lilin Siberian Education: Growing Up in a Criminal Underworld

Opens our rating greedy cranberry . Strictly speaking, "Siberian Education" is not a novel by a Russian author, but by a Russian-speaking one, but this is not the most serious complaint against him. In 2013, this book was filmed by the Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, leading role John Malkovich himself played in the film. And thanks bad movie With a good actor The book of Nikolai Lilin, a dreamer-tattoo artist from Bendery, who moved to Italy, did not rest in Bose, but entered the annals of history.

Are there Siberians among the readers? Get your hands ready for the facepalms! "Siberian Education" tells about the Urks: an ancient clan of harsh, but noble and pious people, exiled by Stalin from Siberia to Transnistria, but not broken. The lesson has its own laws and strange beliefs. For example, it is impossible to store noble weapons (for hunting) and sinful ones (for business) in the same room, otherwise the noble weapon will be "infected". The infected cannot be used, so as not to bring misfortune to the family. The infected weapon should be wrapped in a sheet on which the newborn baby was lying, and buried, and a tree should be planted on top. Urks always come to the aid of the destitute and weak, they themselves live modestly, they buy icons with the stolen money.

Nikolai Lilin was presented to readers as a "hereditary Siberian Urka", which, as it were, hints at the autobiographical nature of the immortal. Several literary critics and Irvine Welsh himself praised the novel: "It's hard not to admire the people who opposed the tsar, the Soviets, Western materialistic values. If the values of the lesson were common to all, the world would not be faced with an economic crisis generated by greed." Wow!

But it was not possible to deceive all readers. For some time, foreigners who pecked at the exotic bought the novel, but when they discovered that the facts described in it were fabricated, they lost interest in the book. Here is one of the reviews on the book site: "After the first chapter, I was disappointed to realize that this is an unreliable source of information about the Eastern European underworld. In fact, "urka" is a Russian term for "bandit", not a definition ethnic group. And this is just the beginning of a series of vague, meaningless fabrications. I wouldn't mind fiction if the story were good, but I don't even know what irritates me more in the book: the narrator's flatness and mary-sushness or his amateurish style.

15. Sergey Kuznetsov ,

Psychological thriller Kuznetsov "" was presented in the West as "Russia's answer to" "". A cocktail of death, journalism, hype and BDSM, some book bloggers hastened to include, no less, in the top ten best novels of all time about serial killers! Readers also noted that through this book they got acquainted with Moscow life, although the conversations of the characters about political parties, about certain events: "Cultural differences immediately make this book stand out and make it somewhat refreshing."

And the novel was criticized for the fact that the scenes of violence were presented through the killer's stories about what had already happened: "You are not with the victim, you do not hope to escape, and this reduces tension. Your heart does not flutter, you do not wonder what will happen next." "A strong start for inventive horror, but clever storytelling gets boring."

14. ,

With all the book publishing activity of Yevgeny Nikolaevich / Zakhar Prilepin in his homeland, he seems to be little concerned about translating his books into other languages. "", "" - that, perhaps, is all that can be found right now in bookstores West. "Sankya", by the way, with a foreword by Alexei Navalny. Prilepin's work attracts the attention of foreign audiences, but reviews are mixed: "The book is well written and engaging, but suffers from the writer's general post-Soviet uncertainty about what he is trying to say. Confusion about the future, confused views of the past, and a widespread lack of understanding of what is happening in life today are typical problems. Worth reading, but don't expect to get too much out of the book."

13. , (The Sublime Electricity Book #1)

Recently, a Chelyabinsk writer published good news on his personal website: his books "" and "" were republished in Poland. And on Amazon, the most popular noir cycle is All-Good Electricity. Among the reviews of the novel "": "A great writer and a great book in the style magical steampunk ", "Good, fast developing history With a large number plot twists." "An original combination of steam technology and magic. But the most important advantage of the story is, of course, its narrator Leopold Orso, an introvert with many skeletons in the closet. Sensitive but ruthless, he is able to control other people's fears, but with difficulty his own. His supporters are a succubus, a zombie, and a leprechaun, and the latter is quite funny."

12. , (Masha Karavai Detective Series)

9. , (Erast Fandorin Mysteries #1)

No, don't rush to look on the bookshelves detective Akunina "The Snow Queen". Under this name on English language the first novel from the cycle about Erast Fandorin was published, that is, "". Introducing it to readers, one of the critics said that if Leo Tolstoy had decided to write a detective story, he would have composed Azazel. That is The Winter Queen. Such a statement ensured interest in the novel, but in the end, reader reviews varied. Some were delighted with the novel, they could not tear themselves away until they had finished reading it; others were reserved about the "melodramatic plot and language of the novellas and plays of the 1890s".

8. , (Watch #1)

"Patrols" are well known to Western readers. Someone even called Anton Gorodetsky the Russian version of Harry Potter: "If Harry were an adult and lived in post-Soviet Moscow." When reading "" - the usual fuss around Russian names: "I like this book, but I can't understand why Anton always pronounces full name his boss - "Boris Ignatievich"? Has anyone guessed? I've only read half of it so far, so maybe there's an answer later in the book?" recent times Lukyanenko did not please foreigners with novelties, so today he is only in 8th place in the rating.

7. ,

Those who have read the novel "" by the medievalist Vodolazkin in Russian cannot help but admire titanic labor translator Lisa Hayden. The author admitted that before meeting with Hayden he was sure that the translation into other languages of his skillful stylization under Old Russian language impossible! It is all the more pleasant that all the hard work paid off. Critics and ordinary readers met unhistorical novel very warm: "Quirky, ambitious book", "Uniquely generous, layered work", "One of the most touching and mysterious books you will read."

6. ,

Perhaps it will come as a surprise to Pelevin's fans that the cult novel "" in the writer's homeland has been pressed abroad early writing" ". Western readers put this compact satirical book on a par with "" Huxley: "I strongly recommend reading it!", "This is the Hubble telescope facing the Earth."

"In his 20s, Pelevin witnessed glasnost and the emergence of hope for a national culture based on the principles of openness and justice. At 30, Pelevin saw the collapse of Russia and the unification<…>the worst elements of wild capitalism and gangsterism as a form of government. Science and Buddhism Pelevin became a support for the search for purity and truth. But combined with the outgoing empire of the USSR and the raw materialism of the new Russia, this led to a shift in tectonic plates, a spiritual and creative upheaval, like a magnitude 9 earthquake, which was reflected in Omon Ra.<…>Although Pelevin is fascinated by the absurdity of life, he is still looking for answers. Gertrude Stein once said, "There is no answer. There will be no answer. There has never been an answer. This is the answer." I suspect that if Pelevin agrees with Stein, his tectonic plates will freeze, the shock wave of creativity will go out. We, the readers, would suffer because of this."

"Pelevin never allows the reader to find balance. The first page is intriguing. The last paragraph "Omon Ra" may be the most accurate literary expression existentialism ever written."

5. , (The Dark Herbalist Book #2)

Next, several representatives Russian LitRPG . Judging by the reviews, Mikhail Atamanov, a native of Grozny, the author of the Dark Herbalist series, knows a lot about goblins and gaming literature: "I strongly recommend giving this really unusual hero a chance to impress you!", "The book was excellent, even better." But not yet strong in English: "An excellent example of LitRPG, I liked it. As others have already commented, the ending is hasty, and the translation of argot and colloquial speech From Russian into English. I don't know if the author got tired of the series or fired the translator and relied on Google Translate for the last 5% of the book. Didn't really like the Deus ex machina ending. But still 5 stars for a big boo. I hope the author will continue the series from level 40 to 250! I will buy".

4. , he is G. Akella, Steel Wolves of Craedia(Realm of Arkon #3)

Have you opened the book? Welcome to the online game "World of Arkon"! "I love it when an author grows and improves, and the book, the series, becomes more complex and detailed. After completing this book, I immediately began to reread it - perhaps the best compliment I could give the author."

"Very, very highly recommended reading and complimenting the translator (despite the enigmatic Elven Presley!). The translation is not just a replacement of words, and here the translation of the content from Russian into English is done extremely well."

3. , (The Way of the Shaman Book #1)

"" Vasily Makhanenko collected a lot of positive reviews: "Excellent novel, one of my favorites! Treat yourself and read this series!", "I am very impressed with the book. The story and character progression are well written. I can't wait for the English version next book", "I've read everything and I want to continue the series!", "It was a great read. There were grammatical errors, usually a missing word or not quite accurate wording, but they were few and they were insignificant."

2. , (Play to Live #1)

The "Play to Live" cycle is based on a stunning collision that will leave few indifferent: the terminally ill guy Max (in the Russian version of the book "" - Gleb) goes to virtual reality in order to feel the pulse of life again in the Other World, find friends, enemies and experience incredible adventures.

Sometimes readers grumble: “Max is ridiculously over-gifted. For example, he reaches level 50 in 2 weeks. He is the only one who creates the necessary item in a world with 48 million experienced gamers. But I can forgive all this: who wants to read a book about a gamer stuck on level 3 killing rabbits? This book is popcorn to read, pure junk food, and I enjoy it. From a Female Perspective, I would give the book a 3 out of 5: Everyday Misogyny. Max does some derogatory, supposedly funny , remarks about women, and the only female character then cries, then has sex with Max. But overall, I would recommend this book to gamers. She is pure pleasure."

"I have not read the author's biography, but judging by the book and the references, I am sure that he is Russian.<…>I have worked with many of them and have always enjoyed their company. They never get depressed. That's what I think makes this book amazing. The main character is told that he has an inoperable brain tumor. However, he's not overly depressed, doesn't complain, just evaluates options and lives in VR. A very good story. It is dark, but there is no evil in it."

1. , (Metro 2033 #1)

If you are familiar with modern Russian science fiction writers, it is not difficult to guess who will be at the top of our rating: translation of books into 40 languages, sales of 2 million copies - yes, this is Dmitry Glukhovsky! Odyssey in the scenery of the Moscow subway. " " is not a classic LitRPG, but the novel was created to symbiosis with a computer shooter. And if once the book promoted the game, now the game promotes the book. Translations, professional audiobooks, a website with a virtual tour of the stations - and a logical result: the "population" of the world created by Glukhovsky is growing every year.

"It's a fascinating journey. The characters are real. The ideologies of the various 'states' are believable. Unknown in the dark tunnels, the tension is to the limit. By the end of the book, I was deeply impressed by the world created by the author and how much I cared about the characters." "Russians know how to write apocalyptic, nightmarish stories. You only need to read The Strugatsky brothers' Roadside Picnic, Hansovsky's Day of Wrath, or see Lopushansky's amazing Letters from a Dead Man to feel: they understand well what it means to live on the edge of the abyss. Claustrophobia and dangerous, frightening dead ends; Metro 2033 is a world of uncertainty and fear, straddling the line between survival and death."

Humanity of the 21st century is avid for following global trends. Even literature has not escaped the fate of striving for mass consumption.

With the advent of Internet technologies, writers have a chance to gain worldwide recognition in the shortest possible time. The work of their predecessors took much longer to spread across the planet. For example, Margaret Mitchell's novel gone With the Wind"in terms of sales is on the same level as the" 50 shades of gray ".

In the 17 years that have passed since the onset of the millennium, new stars have lit up in the literary firmament. Artworks classics XXI centuries have been produced on an industrial scale and distributed like hot cakes. I present to your attention the TOP of the best-selling books in order of increasing sold circulation.

20. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni

2003
10 million copies

Many consider the book "The Kite Runner" a poignant story about the friendship of two guys belonging to different social groups, but the sacred meaning of the work is completely different. The debut novel by the American writer of Afghan origin touches on the topic sexual abuse over minors in Islamic countries.

In Afghanistan, a tradition called "bacha-bazi" is still widespread, which is a kind of child prostitution. Boys aged 9-12 are dressed in women's clothing and forced to satisfy the sexual desires of adult men.

Khaled Hosseni took part of his creation to describe the relationship between Amir and Hassan. However, in my opinion, true main character this is Sohrab, given to the amusement of the offender of his father. The novel "The Kite Runner" is still included in the rating of the most read books.

19. The Dukan Diet by Pierre Dukan

year 2000
10.4 million copies

Who does not dream of losing weight quickly and keeping the result for a long time? In 2000, for the first time, the world got acquainted with a new approach to getting rid of excess weight. Renowned dietitian Pierre Dukan skimmed off his 40 years of experience and formulated his own method, called the "Dukan Diet".

The book, which has sold 10 million copies, describes the 4 stages of modeling the ideal body. First, you attack fat layer and start the mechanism of losing kilograms. As you follow the instructions of the second stage, you achieve your goals. The third and fourth stages are designed to consolidate and stabilize the result.

18. Life of Pi, Yann Martel

year 2001
10.5 million copies

Thanks to the creation of the novel Life of Pi, Yann Martel was awarded the highest award in the literary world. In 2002, the author received the Booker Prize. The book was considered an honor to be published by the world's largest publishing houses. Critics compared it to the works of Hemingway and Marquez.

The author-narrator met an old Hindu who told him about the unforgettable adventures experienced in his youth. At birth, the main character was given the name Pisin, but he preferred to be called simply Pi (after a well-known mathematical number). By the will of fate, he ended up on the high seas on the same boat with a tiger. He not only managed to survive, but also turned the story of his life into real parable with a metaphorical ending.

17. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

2002
10.9 million copies

The author of The Lovely Bones was herself a victim of a rapist. As the police dared to put it, “the girl can be considered lucky, because she is alive.” Alice Sebold helped to find the criminal, noticing the attacker in the crowd. The incident prompted her to write two whole books. The first was a biography that helped her get out of her depression. The second work became a world-famous bestseller.

The story is told in the first person. The girl Suzy was lured into a deserted place, raped and killed by a maniac. The body of the victim was dismembered by the bastard and hidden. The soul of the deceased goes to his own paradise, from where he observes the life of loved ones and, as far as possible, interacts with them. It took Suzy's family 10 years to recover from the consequences of the tragedy.

16. Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

year 2001
15 million copies

10-year-old Daniel was destined to associate his life with weighty volumes. His father was a tome dealer and one day he took his son to amazing place. The old mansion kept thousands of copies of forgotten books. The boy had to choose one of them and be faithful to her until the end of his days.

The boy's gaze turned to the tattered cover, which bore the author's name "Julian Carracas." Daniel will spend 20 years unraveling the secret damn book. He will meet with eccentric people and fall into the intricacies of intrigue.

15. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

year 2012
18.5 million copies

In 2012, John Green's novel, which tells the story of two teenagers opposing the injustice of fate, took pride of place in the book sales ranking. Hazel has thyroid cancer that has metastasized to her lungs. Every breath hurts the girl, for every breath of air she has to fight. Augustus lost his leg, his disease did not make itself felt for 14 months.

The main characters meet in a support group, which they reluctantly attend. They exchange books and fall in love with each other. Further events revolve around the novel "Royal Ailment". Hazel dreams of talking to the author and learning about future fate characters. Augustus contacts the writer and organizes a trip to Amsterdam for his beloved. A trip to the Free City will finally finish off the guy.

14. Wolf Totem, Jiang Rong

2004
20.2 million copies

On Earth, corners have been preserved where a person continues to follow the precepts of his ancestors and lives in harmony with nature. The central character of the book "Wolf Totem" was born in Beijing, from childhood he was drawn to the knowledge of the world around him. Chen Zhen was delighted to see the beauties of sparsely populated regions such as Siberia or Inner Mongolia.

Due to a series of circumstances main character from the stronghold of civilization was transferred to the Elun steppe. There, he met a group of nomads who were opposing, on the one hand, the onslaught of technology, and on the other, the attack of wolf packs.

13. The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

2006
20.7 million copies

Now I will reveal to you the Great Secret of being - your thoughts materialize. positive thinking attracts good events, and the negative inevitably leads to financial, social and moral decline. In two sentences, I fully revealed the essence of the book "The Secret".

In my opinion, the pseudo-scientific opus of Rhonda Byrne and her colleagues on the monetization of empty promises is not worth a damn. However, millions of readers disagree with me.

12. The Cabin, William Paul Young

2007
21 million copies

What are the feelings of a father whose child is allegedly the victim of a maniac? Is he capable of believing in God? Can an inconsolable parent find happiness again? William Young will try to answer these questions.

The outing into the forest turned around tragic events. Mac has lost his little daughter. A search team in an abandoned hut found indisputable evidence baby's death. 4 years have passed, and the family of the protagonist has not been able to relieve grief. Suddenly, Mac receives a letter from the Lord himself, in which the Father urges the man to return to the scene.

11 The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

2008
23 million copies

For many years now, teenage literature has been removing fat tops of popularity. Moreover, the age limits of the target audience are constantly expanding. For example, the Hunger Games trilogy was originally intended for kids aged 14 to 18. Today, the name Katniss Everdeen is known to both old and young.

The author was inspired to create a novel by a combination of seemingly disparate plots. Let's start with the fact that Susan Collins was fond of ancient Greek myths and was indignant at the cruelty of the inhabitants of Athens, who sent their children to the Minotaur to be torn to pieces. Her father, a former military man, introduced his daughter to the history of battles and talked a lot about gladiator fights. All this resulted in a bestseller, sold with a total circulation of 23 million copies.