Showing titles in Russian & Soviet

Chekhov’s masterpiece in a full-cast performance starring Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Westfeldt, Sarah Zimmerman and Jon Hamm. Meet Olga, Masha, and Irina, warm and cultured young sisters who were reared in the exciting hubbub of Moscow, but have been living in the dull, gossipy backwaters of Russia for far too long.

One of Russia's most iconic poets, Alexander Pushkin is often described as the 'father of Russian literature'. A gambler, playboy and social reformer, he was exiled by the Tsar for his controversial poetry and died aged 37 in a duel defending his wife's honour. This BBC Radio anthology includes dramatisations and readings of Pushkin's most famous works - plus biographical programmes and an original play based on his life.

From sweeping tales of war and philosophy to darkly comic journeys through bureaucracy and haunting visions of dystopia, this collection gathers some of the most profound and provocative works ever written. Each novel offers a unique window into the complexities of the human condition, set against the backdrop of Russia's rich and turbulent history.

Partisan de la position allongée, Oblomov ne trouve le bonheur que dans le sommeil. Ni son ami Stolz, incarnation de l'énergie et de l'esprit d'entreprise, ni la belle Olga avec qui se nouera l'embryon d'une idylle, ne parviendront à le tirer de sa léthargie. Entreprendre et aimer sont décidément choses trop fatigantes. Grand roman de mœurs, Oblomov offre une satire mordante des petits fonctionnaires et des barines russes.

A beautiful society wife from St. Petersburg, determined to live life on her own terms, sacrifices everything to follow her conviction that love is stronger than duty. A socially inept but warmhearted landowner pursues his own visions instead of conforming to conventional views. The adulteress and the philosopher head the vibrant cast of characters in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's tumultuous tale of passion and self-discovery. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

This collection brings together stories and reflections in which Leo Tolstoy turns inward. Stripped of grandeur, these works offer something more intimate: the inner noise of conscience, the weight of faith, the silence before death. A servant's silence, a horse's memory, a dying man's doubt—these are not performances. They are questions, waiting quietly for whoever dares to ask the same. Tolstoy isn't offering answers. He's writing toward something deeper. And the questions haven't aged a day.

“BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE 20TH CENTURY.” —Time Volume 3 of the Nobel Prize winner’s towering masterpiece: Solzhenitsyn's moving account of resistance within the Soviet labor camps and his own release after eight years. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum. “The greatest and...

“BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE 20TH CENTURY.” —Time Volume 2 of the Nobel Prize-winner’s towering masterpiece: the story of Solzhenitsyn's entrance into the Soviet prison camps, where he would remain for nearly a decade. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum. “The greatest and most...

A central theme of Ostrovsky's plays is the inevitable struggle between the demands of personal morality and and those dictated by social propriety. In this grim drama, the dramatist sketches a tragic incident arising from the conflict of two social classes: the petty tradesmen and the nobility. From the coarse environment of the first emerge honest, upright natures like Krasnov, the earnest shokeeper; from the superficial, dawdling culture of the second come weak-willed triflers like the ineffectual landowner, Babayev.

We (Russian: Мы, romanized: My) is a dystopian novel by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, written 1920–1921. The novel was first published as an English translation by Gregory Zilboorg in 1924 by E. P. Dutton in New York. The novel describes a world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state. It is believed that the novel had a huge influence on the works of Orwell and Huxley, as well as on the emergence of the genre of dystopia.

Una de las mas amargas creaciones de Dostoyevsky, El Jugador es una novela autobiografica que describe tristes experiencias que tuvo el gran escritor. Los protagonistas son todos fanaticos del juego, en este ganan, pierden y ponen todas sus esperanzas, no tanto por la ganancia economica sino por la emocion.

Anton Chèjov (1860-1904) - Dramaturgo y autor de relatos ruso, es una de las figuras más destacadas de la literatura rusa. Chèjov nació el 29 de enero de 1860 en Taganrog y estudió medicina en la Universidad Estatal de Moscú. Casi no ejerció su profesión debido a su éxito como escritor y porque padecía tuberculosis. Casi a finales de siglo conoció al actor y productor Konstantín Stanislavski, director del Teatro de Arte de Moscú.

This is a story from the In the Ravine and Other Stories collection.

By the time Dostoevsky was 40, he had spent four years in prison and a further four years in the army as punishment for his part in a political conspiracy. His health was broken. He was gaunt, fervid, anxiety-ridden, and close to bankruptcy. It was in this state he wrote Notes from the Underground, a masterpiece of the psychology of theoutsider.

Many of the greatest Russian authors, including Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Pushkin, produced crime and mystery fiction, a type of literature that was largely suppressed during the Soviet era because it did not glorify the state, but rather, gave significance to individual characters. With the fall of the Soviet Union, mystery writers have become some of the most successful novelists in Russia, and there is a renewed interest in, and appreciation of, the great crime classics of an earlier era. This volume is the first collection ever devoted entirely to Russian crime fiction. 

Although his work has somewhat fallen into obscurity, Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886) is considered to be one of the greatest of Russian dramatists. He was one of the pioneers of a realistic style, which later found exponents in celebrated European dramatists like Ibsen and Strindberg. Of Ostrovsky's 47 plays, one of the best known is The Storm, the portrait of an idealistic young woman trapped in a world of crushing and venal orthodoxy. The Storm formed the basis of Janacek's opera, Katya Kabanova.

In this moody Russian drama, Ivanov is a melancholic impoverished landowner whose wife is dying of tuberculosis. However, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the beautiful Sasha, the daughter of his wealthy neighbors. Augmented by a diverse array of colorful supporting characters and intrigues, this play provides a glimpse of master dramatist Anton Chekhov's early work.

Somewhere in Germany is the sequel to the acclaimed Nowhere in Africa, which was turned into the Oscar-winning film of the same name. This novel traces the return of the Redlich family to Germany after their nine-year exile in Kenya during World War II. In Africa, Walter had longed for his homeland and dreamed of rebuilding his life as a lawyer, yet ultimately he and his family - wife Jettel, daughter Regina, and baby Max - realize that Germany seems as exotic and unwelcoming to them in 1947 as Kenya had seemed in 1938.

The Cherry Orchard is Chekhov's final play, first performed in 1904 at the Moscow Art Theatre and directed by Konstantin Stanislavski. It takes place on the Ranevsky family's country estate, which boasts a large cherry orchard that is in bloom as the play opens. The family is gathering at the estate for a reunion but also to decide how to handle their debts, which have reached a crisis point.

Nine classic works by the Russian literary giant, adapted for BBC Radio Ivan Turgenev stands alongside Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as one of the three great Russian novelists of the 19th century. He was also a consummate short story writer, poet and playwright, and the first Russian author to become...