Shakespeare in the school curriculum. What did Soviet schoolchildren read?

Over the past 100 years, the school literature curriculum has undergone a number of changes. The number of hours spent studying the material changed, the political and ideological vector of the school curriculum shifted, and much more. But the core of the school literary canon always remained approximately the same.

Our review is based on material from the educational resource "Arzamas", which tells what Soviet schoolchildren read.

Literature teacher Anastasia Serazetdinova told us what eternal ideas in each of these works do not allow us to throw the classics off the ship of modernity.

Anastasia Serazetdinova

literature teacher

Why does a men's three-piece suit never go out of style? A schoolboy, an office worker, an ambassador, a president - everyone wears suits. Because this is a sign of good taste, a comfortable cut, and a secret pocket inside. Because with the help of the classic three-piece, you can always be relevant wherever you find yourself: at a gala reception or a parent-teacher meeting. That’s why the suit was called a “classic”. It's the same with literature.
“Dead Souls”, “Woe from Wit”, “Hero of Our Time” - this is a representation of the current structure of the world today, firstly, secondly, it is a cultural code that allows you to distinguish your own from someone else, and thirdly, this wonderful literary language. Doubting Onegin, enterprising Chichikov and cynical Pechorin still meet today. It could be your neighbor, a government official, or a hipster with great taste.
And let’s not forget that this is not real life, but literature. This is an artificially created text that allows you to reflect, read carefully, and practice interpretation.

1. Alexander Griboedov. "Woe from Wit"

In which classes was the work read: Before 1921 and until 1938 - 7th grade. From 1938 to the present day - 8th grade.

“...I would be glad to serve, but being served is sickening...”

This is a story about a young man who, having been abroad, decides to tell everyone around how wrong they are living. They don’t think like that, they love somehow not quite like that, and in general it’s time for everyone to get out of their comfort zone. To which the society of adults, led by Famusov, begins to mock him, and the youth, of which the beauty Sophia is a prominent representative, completely declares the main character, Chatsky, crazy.

The relevance of history lies in the fact that society is not always ready for change. More often than not it’s not even ready at all. Progressive ideas are incomprehensible and painful; society prefers a proven option, in which the wolves will be fed and the sheep will not suffer.

2. Alexander Pushkin. "Eugene Onegin"

“...Whoever lived and thought cannot

Don’t despise people in your soul...”

The Moscow laboratory of director Dmitry Krymov (theater “School of Dramatic Art”) staged an interesting play for schoolchildren - “Eugene Onegin. In your own words." The story of Eugene Onegin is a story about the moment of a late “look back”: you need to be able to turn around in time and try to understand what is happening around.

But the hero does not know this theory and turns around when it is already completely late: a friend has been killed, his beloved girl is with another, his relatives have all died. “Eugene Onegin” is about our crazy world, where there is no time to look back and look around.

3. Mikhail Lermontov. "Hero of our time"

In which classes was the work read: Before 1921 and until 1938 - 7th grade. From 1938 to the present time - 8th grade.

“...The happiest people are ignorant, and fame is luck, and to achieve it, you just need to be clever...”

What we learn about the death of the main character at the beginning of the book gives us the opportunity to look at him under a magnifying glass. And when we look at him so closely (his actions, relationships with other people, decisions made), we understand why Mikhail Lermontov calls him a “hero” of our time.

We begin to see similarities between young Pechorin and those we see every day on the streets. Are we being polite to each other? Maybe we are being generous with women? Are you fair with your rivals and opponents? The answer is becoming obvious. Even despite a decent number of years that have passed since the appearance of this story.

4. Nikolai Gogol. "Dead Souls"

In which classes was the work read: Before 1921 and until 1938 - 7th grade. Since 1938 - 9th grade. From 1960 to the present time - 8th grade.

“... A Russian person does not like to admit to others that he is to blame...”

Chichikov is a modern businessman whose deal did not work out. But it didn’t work out because it was initially dubious, and the people on the path of the enterprising Chichikov were not entirely alive. Needless to say, Chichikov himself is not a completely living character.

5. Ivan Turgenev. "Fathers and Sons"

In which classes was the work read: Before 1921 and until 1938 - 7th grade. From 1938 to the present time - 9th grade.

“...The Russian peasant is that same mysterious stranger about whom Mrs. Ratcliffe once talked so much. Who will understand him? He doesn't understand himself..."

Ivan Turgenev's novel joins the list of teenagers' favorite books on the school list, including a story about the murder of an old woman (Crime and Punishment) and a novel about the devil (The Master and Margarita). What could be better for adolescence than complete denial of everything, eternal arguments with fathers and dissection of dead frogs?

Bazarov is a favorite character, whose nihilism you always want to test in practice: is it really possible to deny everything?

6. Anton Chekhov. "The Cherry Orchard"

In which classes was the work read: Before 1921 and until 1938 - 7th grade. From 1938 to 1960 - 10th grade. From 1960 to the present time - 9th grade.

“...All of Russia is our garden. The earth is great and beautiful, there are many wonderful places on it...”

There is probably no such sad comedy on the school list anymore. The theme of the garden, the world tree, which is so briskly hit with an ax, is sacred, and in Chekhov it is also tragic.

If we talk about relevance, then “The Cherry Orchard” is a kind of testament, it is a story about the end of the world. The story is about how, when talking to each other, people will never hear what is said. About how the past is completely unnecessary for the future. And about where revolutionaries come from.

7. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”

In which classes was the work read: Before 1921 and until 1938 - 3rd grade. From 1938 to 1960 - 8th grade. From 1960 to 1984 - 8th grade. From 1984 to the present time - 8th grade.

“...It’s hard for a head without shoulders, it’s hard for a body without a head...”

We told you, Igor, don’t go to war alone! And there were omens for you, and crows flew, even a sign happened! I didn’t listen and went. I added problems to myself and everyone else.

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is a kind of song that Boyan “sings” to us (written through O, this is a special person who goes on campaigns with the soldiers and describes in his tunes what is happening there, a kind of holder of the ancient Russian Facebook feed). This is a story about how internecine wars do not lead to anything good, and what will happen if you always do things your own way, ignoring the general decision.

8. Alexander Ostrovsky. "Storm"

Until 1921 and 1938 - 7th grade. From 1938 to 1960 - 9th grade. From 1960 to 1984 - 9th grade. From 1984 to the present time - 9th grade.

“...No, they say, it’s just his own mind. And, therefore, live a century as someone else’s...”

Of the entire range of works of fiction studied in school, The Thunderstorm is perhaps the most tragically unpopular. According to the candid confessions of schoolchildren, there is nothing more boring (the girls will say that the only thing more boring than the battle scenes in War and Peace) is not and cannot be. But what is “The Thunderstorm” about? And does she have a chance of resurrection?

Mikhail Sverdlov (an outstanding literary scholar and critic) in his work “Why did Katerina die?” gives the reader a wonderful thought: “This is a story about the beauty and greatness of the human soul. Anyone can turn a free person into a slave - Kabanikha, Dikoy and others like them, but no one can chain the human soul. And Katerina’s death is an example when the power of the human soul is capable of destroying the borders of Kalinov.”

M.:1999. - 616 p.

In this book you will find a summary and detailed analysis of all works included in the school literature curriculum, biographical information about the authors, and summaries of critical articles. The book is an indispensable assistant for school students and applicants during classes and when entering a university. The book will be very useful in preparing for the Unified State Exam in literature, writing essays, and also for general development. What is especially valuable about this book is that it provides brief biographical information about the authors (Born, Studied, What and when he wrote, Where and when he died). The book also gives the theory of literature (types of literature, genres, movements, etc.).

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CONTENT
THEORY OF LITERATURE
Types of literature 3
Epic Genres 3
Lyric genres 4
Drama genres 5
Literary movements and currents 8
Classicism 9
Romanticism 10
Sentimentalism 13
Naturalism 14
Realism. . 15
Symbolism 17
Literary movements in Russia in the 19th-20th centuries.
Natural school 18
Acmeism 19
Futurism 19
Imagism 21
OBERIU (Association of Real Art). 21
Structure of a work of art
Artwork idea 22
The plot of a work of art 22
Composition of a work of art 22
Poetics of a work of art, figures of speech 23
Features of poetic speech and versification
Stanza 25
Rhyming. 25
Foot 25
Two-syllable sizes 25
Trisyllabic poetic meters 26
“The Lay of Igor’s Campaign, Igor Svyatoslavich, Olegov’s grandson”
Summary. 28
"Words..." . 29
M.V. LOMONOSOV
Brief biographical information. thirty
Ode “On the Day of Elizabeth Petrovna’s Accession to the Throne”
1747 31
“Evening reflection on God’s Majesty on occasion
great northern lights." 32
G. R. DERZHAVIN
Brief biographical information 33
Ideological and artistic content of Derzhavin’s odes 33
"To Rulers and Judges" .34
I.A.KRYLOV
Brief biographical information 35
"Quartet" 35
"Swan, Pike and Crayfish" .36
"Dragonfly and Ant" 37
"The Crow and the Fox" 38
V. A. ZHUKOVSKY
Brief biographical information 38
"Forest King" 39
“Svetlana” (excerpt) 40
A. S. GRIBOEDOV
Brief biographical information 42
"Woe from Wit"
Summary 43
I. A. Goncharov. “A Million Torments” 55
A. S. PUSHKIN
Brief biographical information. 56
Prose
"Belkin's Tales"
Summary:
"The Station Agent" 58
"Peasant Young Lady" .59
Ideological and artistic originality of “Belkin’s Tales” 60
"Dubrovsky"
Summary.61

"Dubrovsky". 65
"Captain's daughter"
Summary 66
Ideological and artistic originality of the story
"The Captain's Daughter" 71
Dramaturgy
"Little Tragedies"
Summary:
"The Stingy Knight" 72
"Mozart and Salieri". 75
"The Stone Guest" 78
"Feast in Time of Plague" 83
Ideological and artistic originality
"Little tragedies" 85
Lyrics
Genres of Pushkin's lyrics 87
The theme of the poet and poetry in the works of Pushkin 88
Reflection of the ideas of “poetry of reality”
in Pushkin's lyrics (according to Belinsky) 93
The theme of love in Pushkin's lyrics 94
Philosophical lyrics 96
"Eugene Onegin"
Summary 97
Ideological and artistic originality of the novel in verse
"Eugene Onegin" . 111
Belinsky about Pushkin’s novel (articles 8 and 9) 112
Author's digressions and the image of the author in the novel
"Eugene Onegin" 116
M. YU. LERMONTOV
Brief biographical information 126
"Hero of our time"
Summary 127
V. G. Belinsky about the novel “Hero of Our Time” 137
Ideological and artistic originality of the novel
"Hero of Our Time" 139
“A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov...”
Summary 140
Ideological and artistic originality of “Song...” .141
Belinsky about “Song...”. 142
"Mtsyri"
Summary 142
. 144
Belinsky about the poem “Mtsyri” 144
The main motives in Lermontov's lyrics 145
N.V. GOGOL
Brief biographical information.155
"Inspector"
Summary 156
Ideological and artistic originality of the comedy “The Inspector General”. . 163
"Overcoat"
Summary 166
Ideological and artistic originality of the story “The Overcoat”. . 168
"Dead Souls"
Summary 168
Ideological and artistic originality of the poem
"Dead Souls" 183
About the second volume of “Dead Souls” 185
I. S. TURGENEV
Brief biographical information 186
"Fathers and Sons"
Summary 186
D. I. Pisarev. "Bazarov" 200
Ideological and artistic originality of the novel
"Fathers and Sons" 204
N. A. NEKRASOV
Brief biographical information 206
“Who lives well in Rus'”
Summary 207
Ideological and artistic originality of the poem
“Who Lives Well in Rus'” 236
Lyrics
Periodization of creativity 237
“Yesterday at six o’clock...” 238
“Reflections at the Front Entrance” 238
"In memory of Dobrolyubov". 241
"Elegy" 242
A.N. OSTROVSKY
Brief biographical information 243
"Storm"
Summary 243
Ideological and artistic originality of the drama “The Thunderstorm” 252
A. I. GONCHAROV
Brief biographical information. 256
"Oblomov"
Summary 257
N. A. Dobrolyubov. “What is Oblomovism?” 274
F.I.TYUTCHEV
Brief biographical information 278
"Spring Storm" 279
"Spring Waters" 279
“There is in the primordial autumn...” 280
“You can’t understand Russia with your mind...” 280
“When the decrepit forces...” 280
A.A.FET
Brief biographical information 281
“I came to you with greetings...” 282
“Whisper, timid breathing...”. . 282
A. K. TOLSTOY
Brief biographical information 283
“My bells...” 284
“In the middle of a noisy ball, by chance...” 284
From the works of Kozma Prutkov. "From Heine" 285
M.E. SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN
Brief biographical information 285
"Gentlemen Gol Ovlevy"
Summary 286
Ideological and artistic originality of the novel
“Messrs. Golovlevs” 293
Fairy tales
Summary:
"The story of how one man of two generals
fed." 294
“The Wise Minnow” 295
Ideological and artistic originality
tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin 296
F.M.DOSTOEVSKY
Brief biographical information 297
"White Nights"
Required information 298
Summary 299
Ideological and artistic originality of the story 300
"Crime and Punishment"
Required information 300
Summary 300
Ideological and artistic originality of the novel 317
L.N.TOLSTOY
Brief biographical information.....319
"War and Peace"
Summary 320
Ideological and artistic originality of the epic novel
"War and Peace" 416
“War and Peace” as an artistic whole 416
"People's Thought". . 416
“Family Thought” 420
Female images in the novel 422
Spiritual quest of Tolstoy's heroes (Andrei Bolkonsky
and Pierre Bezukhov) 424
“War and Peace” - an epic novel (genre originality) 426
“Dialectics of the soul” (features of psychologism
Tolstoy) 427
"After the ball"
Summary. 428
Ideological and artistic originality of the story 429
A. P. CHEKHOV
Brief biographical information 430
"Ward number 6"
Summary 430
Ideological and artistic originality of the story 435
"Ionych"
Summary 436
Ideological and artistic originality of the story 438
"The Cherry Orchard"
Summary. 438
Ideological and artistic originality of the play 443
A.M.GORKY
Brief biographical information 445
"Old Isergil"
Summary 447
Ideological and artistic originality 450
"Chel kash"
Summary 450
Ideological and artistic originality" 453
“Song of the Petrel” 453
“Song of the Falcon” 454
Ideological and artistic originality of “Songs”
about the Petrel" and "Songs about the Falcon" 456
"At the bottom"
Summary 457
Ideological and artistic originality of the song “At the Lower Depths” 464
A.I.KUPRIN
Brief biographical information 465
"Duel"
Summary 465
Ideological and artistic originality of the story 473
I. A. BUNIN
Brief biographical information 474
Stories
Summary:
"Antonov apples" 476
"Lyrnik Rodion" 477
"Chang's Dreams". 478
"Sukhodol" 479
The originality of realism I. A. Bunin, I. A. Bunin
and A.P. Chekhov. 481
Genres and styles of works by I. A. Bunin; 482
“Eternal themes” in the works of I. A. Bunin 482
Works by I. A. Bunin about the village. Problem
national character, 483
"Cursed Days"
Ideological and artistic originality 484
L.N.ANDREEV
Brief biographical information 484
Stories Summary:
"Bargamot and Garaska". . 485
“Petka at the dacha” 486
Grand Slam 486
“The Story about Sergei Petrovich” 487
The theme of loneliness in the stories of L. Andreev 488
"Judas Iscariot"
Summary 489
Ideological and artistic originality of the story
"Judas Iscariot" 491
S. A. ESENIN
Brief biographical information 492
"Anna Snegina"
Summary 492
The ideological and artistic originality of the poem. . 49 7
Lyrics
“Letter to Mother” 498
“Uncomfortable liquid moonlight...” 499
“The feather grass is sleeping. Dear plain..." 501
A. A. BLOK
Brief biographical information.....; 502
Lyrics
"Factory" 502
"Stranger" 503
"Russia" 505
"On the railway" * . . . . 506
"Twelve"
Summary 508
Ideological and artistic originality of the poem 512
V. V. MAYAKOVSKY
Brief biographical information 514
Lyrics
Satire in the lyrics of V. V. Mayakovsky 515
The theme of the poet and poetry in the works of V. V. Mayakovsky 516
"At the top of my voice" 518
"Fine!"
Summary 524
Ideological and artistic originality of the poem 533
"Silver Age" of Russian poetry
Symbolists
K. D. BALMONT
Brief biographical information 534
"Fantasy" 535
“I caught the departing shadows in my dreams...” 536
"Reeds". 536
V.Ya.BRYUSOV
Brief biographical information 537
“To the young poet” 538
"Creativity" " 538
"Shadows" 539
ANDREY BELY
Brief biographical information 539
"On the Mountains". 540
Futurists
V. V. MAYAKOVSKY
“Could you?” 541
“Violin and a little nervously” 542
V. V. KHLEBNIKOV
Brief biographical information 543
“Freedom comes naked...” 544
“Don’t be naughty!” . 544
IGOR SEVERYANIN
Brief biographical information...."... 545
"It was by the sea" 546
"Overture". 546
"Igor Severyanin". . 546
"Classic roses". . . 547
Acmeists
N. S. GUMILEV
Brief biographical information. 547
"Giraffe" 548
"Worker" 549
O. E. MANDELSHTAM
Brief biographical information 550
“I was given a body - what should I do with it...” 551
“The cloudy air is humid and echoing...” 551
“The bread is poisoned and the air is drunk...”, 552
"Leningrad". 553
“You and I will sit in the kitchen...” 553
“I’ll tell you from the last one...” 553
“For the explosive valor of the coming centuries...” 554
“Armed with the vision of narrow wasps...” 554
“We live without feeling the country beneath us...” 555
A. A. AKHMATOVA
Brief biographical information 555
“I learned to live simply, wisely...”. . . 556
“I had a voice. He called comfortingly..." .556
"Twenty first. Night. Monday..." 557
From "Requiem" * 557
B.L.PASTERNAK
Brief biographical information. . 561
"February. Get some ink and cry...” 562
"Winter Night" 562
“In everything I want to achieve...” 563
M. A. SHOLOKHOV
Brief biographical information 564
"Virgin Soil Upturned"
Summary. 565
Ideological and artistic originality of the novel 597

RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE 18TH CENTURY M.V. Lomonosov “Ode on the day of the accession to the All-Russian throne of Her Majesty Empress Elisaveta Petrovna, 1747” (fragments).

DI. Fonvizin Comedy "Undergrown".

G.R. Derzhavin Poems: “Monument”, “The River of Times in its Aspiration...”, as well as 2 works of your choice.

A.N. Radishchev “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (fragments).

N.M. Karamzin Tale "Poor Liza". In a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction, literature of the 18th century is studied in overview with reading fragments of the above works.

RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE 19TH CENTURY I.A. Krylov 5 fables to choose from.

V.A. Zhukovsky Ballad “Svetlana”, as well as 2 works of your choice.

A.S. Griboyedov Comedy “Woe from Wit” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - separate scenes).

I.A. Goncharov Article “A Million Torments”* (fragments).

A.S. Pushkin Poems: “To Chaadaev”, “Song of the prophetic Oleg”, “To the sea”, “K*” (“I remember a wonderful moment...”), “October 19” (“The forest is dropping its crimson headdress...”), “ Prophet”, “Winter Road”, “Anchar”, “On the hills of Georgia lies the darkness of the night...”, “I loved you: love still, perhaps...”, “Winter morning”, “Demons”, “Cloud”, “I He erected a monument to himself, not made by hands...”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. Poem “Poltava” (fragments) “Belkin’s Tales” (one of the optional stories). Novels: “Dubrovsky”, “The Captain’s Daughter” (in schools with native (non-Russian) language of instruction, both novels are studied in abbreviation). The novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - fragments). V.G. Belinsky Cycle of articles “Works of Alexander Pushkin”. Articles: 8, 9 (fragments). M.Yu. Lermontov Poems: “Sail”, “Death of the Poet”, “Borodino”, “When the yellowing field is agitated...”, “Duma”, “Poet”, “Three Palms”, “Prayer” (“In a difficult moment of life...”), “Both boring and sad”, “No, it’s not you I love so passionately...”, “Motherland”, “Prophet”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. Poems: “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov”, “Mtsyri”. The novel “A Hero of Our Time” (in a school where the native (non-Russian) language of instruction is the story “Bela”). A.V. Koltsov 3 poems of your choice. N.V. Gogol Stories: “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” (1 story of choice), “Taras Bulba”, “The Overcoat” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction, these stories are studied in abbreviation). Comedy “The Inspector General” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - separate scenes). The poem “Dead Souls” (Volume I) (in schools with native (non-Russian) language of instruction - separate chapters). A.N. Ostrovsky Comedy “Our own people - we will be numbered” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - separate scenes). I.S. Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter” (2 stories to choose from). The story "Mumu". The story "Asya"*. Novel “Fathers and Sons” (fragments). “Poems in prose” (3 poems of your choice).

F.I. Tyutchev Poems: “Spring Waters”, “There is in the original autumn...”, “Russia cannot be understood with the mind...”, as well as 3 poems of your choice.

A.A. Fet Poems: “Evening”, “This morning, this joy...”, “Learn from them - from the oak, from the birch...”, as well as 3 poems of your choice.

A.K. Tolstoy Poems: “In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance...”, “You are my land, my native land...”. Ballad “Vasily Shibanov”, as well as 3 works of your choice. ON THE. Nekrasov

Poems: “Reflections at the Main Entrance”, “Peasant Children”, “Railroad”. 3 works of your choice*. Poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (fragments) . N.S. Leskov Stories: “Lefty”*, “Cadet Monastery”(abbreviated). M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin Fairy tales: “The story of how one man fed two generals”, “The Wise Minnow”, as well as 1 fairy tale of your choice.

F.M. Dostoevsky Stories: “Poor People”* or “White Nights”*. Novel “Crime and Punishment” (fragments) . L.N. Tolstoy Stories: “Prisoner of the Caucasus”, “After the Ball”*. Epic novel “War and Peace” (fragments) , the story "Hadji Murat". V.M. Garshin 1 story of your choice. A.P. Chekhov Stories: “Death of an Official”, “Chameleon”, “Gooseberry”, as well as 2 stories of your choice. Stories: “The Intruder”*, “The Man in the Case”*. V.G. Korolenko 1 piece of your choice. RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE XX CENTURY I.A. Bunin 2 stories of your choice. 2 poems of your choice. M. Gorky Story “Childhood” (fragments). “Song of the Falcon”, as well as 1 story of your choice. A.A. Block Poems: “Russia”, “Oh, I want to live madly...”, “About valor, about exploits, about glory...”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. V.V. Mayakovsky Poems: “Listen!”, “Good attitude towards horses”, “An extraordinary adventure that happened with Vladimir Mayakovsky in the summer at the dacha”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. S.A. Yesenin Poems: “Go you, Rus', my dear...”, “Song of the Dog”, “The golden grove dissuaded...”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. A.A. Akhmatova Poems: “...I had a voice. He called comfortingly…”, “Courage”, “Native Land”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. M.I. Tsvetaeva Poems: “To my poems, written so early...”, “With a red brush...”, “Seven hills, like seven bells...”, “Moscow”, as well as 2 poems of your choice. O.E. Mandelstam 3 poems of your choice. B.L. Pasternak 3 poems of your choice. M.A. Bulgakov Tale “Heart of a Dog” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - fragments). MM. Zoshchenko 1 story chosen by A.P. Platonov 1 work of choice. K.G. Paustovsky1 story of choice. MM. Prishvin 1 piece of your choice. ON THE. Zabolotsky 3 poems of your choice. A.T. Tvardovsky Poem “Vasily Terkin” (chapters). M.A. Sholokhov Story “The Fate of a Man” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - fragments). LITERATURE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XX CENTURY F.A.Abramov, Ch.T.Aitmatov, V.P.Astafiev, V.I.Belov, A.A.Voznesensky, E.A.Evtushenko, F.A.Iskander, Yu.P .Kazakov, V.L.Kondratiev, E.I.Nosov, B.Sh.Okudzhava, V.G.Rasputin, N.M.Rubtsov A.I.Solzhenitsyn, V.F.Tendryakov, V.T.Shalamov, V.M.Shukshin. 4 works of your choice. LITERATURE OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA Heroic epic of the peoples of Russia: “Geser”, “Dzhangar”, “Kalevala”, “Maadai-Kara”, “Möge Bayan-Toolai”, “Narty”, “Olonkho”, “Ural-batyr” (1 work according to selection in fragments). R. Gamzatov, M. Karim, G. Tukay, Y. Rytkheu, K. Khetagurov (1 piece of choice). FOREIGN LITERATURE Homer “Odyssey” (fragments). Antique lyrics 2 poems of your choice. O. Khayyam Cycle “Rubaiyat” (3 rubai of your choice). Dante's "Divine Comedy" (fragments). M. Cervantes Roman “Don Quixote” (fragments). W. Shakespeare Tragedies: “Romeo and Juliet” (at a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - fragments) or “Hamlet” (at a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - fragments). 2 sonnets of your choice.

J.-B. Moliere Comedy “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” (at a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - fragments). I.-V. Goethe "Faust" (fragments). F. Schiller 1 piece of your choice. J. G. Byron 1 piece of choice. H.K. Andersen 1 fairy tale of choice. P.-J. Beranger, R. Burns, R. Bradbury, J. Verne, G. Heine, V. Hugo, D. Defoe, A.K. Doyle, R. Kipling, A. Lindgren, M. Reed, L. Carroll, F. Cooper, D. London, S. Perrot, J. Rodari, J. Swift, A. Saint-Exu-Pery, J. Salinger, W. Scott, R. L. Stevenson, M. Twain, G. Wells. 2 works of your choice.

RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE 19TH CENTURY A.S. Pushkin Poems: “Liberty”, “The daylight has gone out...”, “I have outlived my desires...”, “Demon”, “Desert sower of freedom...”, “Conversation between a bookseller and a poet”, “Imitations of the Koran” (III, V, IX ), “If life deceives you...”, “Am I wandering along the noisy streets...”, “To the Poet”, “Elegy” (“Crazy years of faded fun...”), “Autumn”, “It’s time, my friend, it’s time! the heart asks for peace...”, “...Once again I visited...”, “Desert Fathers and blameless wives...”, “From Pindemonti”, as well as 4 poems of your choice. The poem “The Bronze Horseman” The story “The Queen of Spades”. "Little Tragedies" (Mozart and Solebury). The tragedy “Boris Godunov” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - review with analysis of fragments). F.M. Dostoevsky, essay “Pushkin”. Poets of Pushkin's time K.N. Batyushkov, E.A. Baratynsky, A.A. Dahlweg, D.V. Davydov. 4 poems of your choice. M.Yu. Lermontov Poems: “K*” (“I will not humiliate myself before you...”), “Prayer” (“I, the Mother of God, now with prayer...”), “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”, “There are speeches - meaning ...”, “Gratitude”, “Testament” (“Alone with you, brother ...”), “Valerik”, “Dream” (In the midday heat in the valley of Dagestan ...), “I go out alone on the road ...”, and also 4 poems of your choice. Poem “Demon” by N.V. Gogol Stories: “Portrait”, “Nevsky Prospekt”. A.N. Ostrovsky Plays: “The Thunderstorm”, “Forest”. ON THE. Dobrolyubov, “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” (fragments). A.A. Grigoriev, “After Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm”. Letters to I.S. Turgenev" (fragments). I.A. Goncharov Essay “Frigate “Pallada”” (fragments). The novel “Oblomov” by N.A. Dobrolyubov “What is Oblomovism?” (fragments). A.V. Druzhinin “Oblomov”, Goncharov’s novel” (fragments). I.S. Turgenev Roman “Fathers and Sons” D.I. Pisarev “Bazarov” (fragments). F.I. Tyutchev Poems: “Noon”, “Silentium!”, “Cicero”, “Autumn Evening”, “Not what you think, nature...”, “Grey shadows mixed...”, “Day and Night”, “Human Tears, oh human tears...", "Oh, how murderously we love...", "Last love", "These poor villages...", "It is not given to us to predict...", "Nature is a sphinx. And the more true it is...", "K. B." (“I met you - and all the past ...”), as well as 4 poems of your choice. A.A. Fet Poems: “The cat sings, squinting his eyes...”, “With a wavy cloud...”, “Whisper, timid breathing...”, “Pine trees”, “It’s still a May night...”, “The dawn bids farewell to the earth...”, “The night shone. The garden was full of moonlight. They were lying...", "Another forgettable word...", "How poor our language is! “I want and I can’t…”, “With one push I can drive away a living boat…”, “On a swing”, as well as 4 poems of your choice. A.K. Tolstoy Poems: “Me, in the darkness and in the dust...”, “If you love, so without reason...”, “Do not believe me, friend, when, in an excess of grief...”, “Two camps are not a fighter, but only a random guest... ", "A tear trembles in your jealous gaze...", "Against the tide", "I bless you, forests..." (from the poem "John of Damascus"), "History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev", as well as 4 works of your choice. ON THE. Nekrasov Poems: “On the Road”, “Modern Ode”, “Troika”, “Am I Driving Down a Dark Street at Night...”, “You and I are stupid people...”, “Celebration of life - years of youth...”, “Forgotten Village”, “The Poet and the Citizen”, “Under the Cruel Hand of Man...” (“About the Weather”), “I Will Die Soon. A pitiful inheritance...", "Elegy" ("Let changing fashion tell us..."), "To the Sowers", "O Muse! I’m at the door of the tomb…”, as well as 4 poems of your choice. The poem “Who lives well in Rus'” (in a school with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction - review with analysis of fragments). N.G. Chernyshevsky's novel “What to do?” (review). N.S. Leskov The story “The Enchanted Wanderer” or the story “Odnodum”. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City” F.M. Dostoevsky Novel “Crime and Punishment” N.N. Strakhov, Essay on “Crime and Punishment” (fragments). L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel “War and Peace” by A.P. Chekhov Stories: “Jumping”, “Ward No. 6”, “Student”, “House with a Mezzanine”, “Ionych”, “Darling”, “Lady with a Dog”, as well as 2 stories of your choice. Play "The Cherry Orchard". RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE XX CENTURY I.A. Bunin Stories: “Antonov Apples”, “Mr. from San Francisco”, “Dark Alleys” (story), “Clean Monday”, as well as 2 stories of your choice. A.I. Kuprin The story “Garnet Bracelet”, as well as 1 work of your choice. L.N. Andreev 1 piece of your choice. M. Gorky Story “Old Woman Izergil”. The play "At the Bottom". Poetry of the late XIX–early XX centuries. I.F. Annensky, K.D. Balmont, V.Ya. Bryusov, Z.N. Gippius, A. Bely, N.S. Gumilev, N.A. Klyuev, V.V. Khlebnikov, I. Severyanin. Poems by 4 poets to choose from. A.A. Block of Poems: “I have a feeling about you. Years pass by...", "I enter dark temples...", "We met you at sunset...", "A girl sang in the church choir...", "Stranger", "Night, street, lantern, pharmacy...", " Factory”, “She came from the cold...”, “When you stand in my way...”, cycle “On the Kulikovo Field”, “In a restaurant”, “Artist”, “Oh, I want to live like crazy...”, “Before the trial ", "On the Railroad", "Scythians", as well as 4 poems of your choice. Poems: “The Nightingale Garden”, “The Twelve”. V.V. Mayakovsky Poems: “Could you?”, “Here!”, “The violin and a little nervously”, “Lilichka!”, “About rubbish”, “Sessed over”, “Letter to Comrade Kostrov from Paris about the essence of love”, “Anniversary ", "Letter to Tatyana Yakovleva", as well as 4 poems of your choice. Poems: “Cloud in Pants”, “Love”. The first introduction to the poem “At the top of my voice.” The play "The Bedbug". S.A. Yesenin Poems: “The Lord went to torture people in love...”, “Rus”, “Sorokoust” (“Did you see...”), “Do not wander, do not crush in the crimson bushes...”, “I remember, beloved, I remember...” , “The road was thinking about the red evening...”, “Letter to mother”, “Soviet Rus'”, “Now we are leaving little by little...”, “You are my Shagane, Shagane...”, “In the Caucasus”, “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t I’m crying...", "Letter to a woman", "The feather grass is sleeping. Dear plain...”, “Bless every work, good luck...”, as well as 4 poems of your choice. Poem "Anna Snegina". M.I. Tsvetaeva Poems: “Poems to Blok” (“Your name is a bird in the hand...”), “Poems grow like stars and like roses...”, “I am happy to live exemplary and simple...”, “Who is created from stone, who is created made of clay...", the cycle "Apprentice", "Frivolity is a sweet sin...", "Mayakovsky" ("Soviet nobles..."), "I conjure you from gold...", "Don" ("White Guard, your path is high..." ), “Homesickness! A long time ago...", as well as 4 poems of your choice. O.E. Mandelstam Poems: “A body has been given to me - what should I do with it ...”, “Inexpressible sadness ...”, “Notre Dame”, “I don’t know since when ...”, “Insomnia. Homer. Tight sails...”, “I hate the light...”, “Oh, how we love to be hypocrites...”, “Don’t ask: you know...”, “Your image, painful and unsteady...”, “For the explosive valor of the coming centuries...”, “Century”, “I returned to my city, familiar to tears...”, as well as 4 poems of your choice. A.A. Akhmatova Poems: “Song of the Last Meeting”, “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...”, “The Gray-Eyed King”, “Confusion”, “Love”, “Twenty-first. Night. Monday...", "I learned to live simply, wisely...", "I don't need odic armies...", "We have freshness of words and feelings of simplicity...", "Seaside Sonnet", "Prayer", "Muse", and also 4 poems of your choice. Poems: “Poem without a Hero”, “Requiem”. B.L. Pasternak Poems: “February. Get some ink and cry!..”, “About these poems”, “Being famous is ugly...”, “Definition of poetry”, “When things get going”, “I want to achieve everything...”, “Hamlet”, “Miracle”, “ August”, “Garden of Gethsemane”, “Night”, “Only Days”, as well as 4 poems of your choice. M.A. Bulgakov Novels: “The White Guard” or “The Master and Margarita”. I.E. Babel 2 stories of your choice. A.A. Fadeev Roman “Destruction” A.P. Platonov's Tale "The Hidden Man". M.A. Sholokhov Novel-epic “Quiet Don” V.V. Nabokov 1 work of choice. ON THE. Zabolotsky Poems: “The signs of the Zodiac are fading…”, “Testament”, “Reading poetry”, “On the beauty of human faces”, “September”, as well as 3 poems of your choice. A.T. Tvardovsky Poems: “I was killed near Rzhev...”, “The whole essence is in one single covenant...”, “In memory of the mother”, “I know: it’s not my fault...”, “To the bitter grievances of one’s own person...”, as well as 4 poems optionally. A.I. Solzhenitsyn's story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", the story "Matrenin's Dvor". Prose of the second half of the 20th century by F.A. Abramov, Ch.T. Aitmatov, V.P. Astafiev, V.I. Belov, A.G. Bitov, V.V. Bykov, V.S. Grossman, V.L. Kondratyev, V. P. Nekrasov, E.I. Nosov, V.G. Rasputin, V.F. Tendryakov, Yu.V. Trifonov, V.T.Shalamov, V.M.Shukshin. 4 works of choice; one of them is on the theme of the Great Patriotic War. Poetry of the second half of the 20th century B.A. Akhmadulina, I.A. Brodsky, A.A. Voznesensky, V.S. Vysotsky, E.A. Evtushenko, Yu.P. Kuznetsov, L.N. Martynov, B.Sh. Okudzhava, N.M. Rubtsov, D.S. Samoilov, A.A. Tarkovsky. Poems by 4 poets to choose from. Dramaturgy of the 20th century A.N. Arbuzov, A.V. Vampilov, A.M. Volodin, V.S. Rozov, M.M. Roshchin, E.L. Schwartz. 2 works of your choice.

LITERATURE OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA G. Aigi. Poems. R. Gamzatov. The book “My Dagestan”, the legend “The Return of Hadji Murad”, the poem “Mountain Woman”. M. Jalil. The cycle of poems “Moabit Notebook”. M. Karim. Poems of your choice; tragedy "Don't throw fire, Prometheus." D. Kugultinov. Poems. K. Kuliev. Poems. Yu. Rytkheu. Novel “A Dream at the Beginning of the Fog” (the legend of the white Female Progenitor). G. Tukay. Poems of your choice. Poem "Shurale". K. Khetagurov. Poems. Poem "Fatima". Yu. Shestalov. Pagan poem. Two works of your choice. FOREIGN LITERATURE G. Apollinaire, O. Balzac, G. Böll, C. Baudelaire, P. Verlaine, O. Henry, G. Hesse, W. Golding, E. T. A. Hoffmann, V. Hugo, C. Dickens, G. Ibsen, A. Camus, F. Kafka, T. Mann, G. Marquez, P. Merimee, M. Maeterlinck, G. Maupassant, D. Orwell, E. A. Poe, E. M. Remarque, A. Rimbaud, J. Salinger, O. Wilde, G. Flaubert, W. Faulkner, A. France, E. Hemingway, B. Shaw, W. Eco. 3 works of your choice.

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Having been relegated to the second row as unnecessary, with the advent of the “presidential” essay, literature returned to the ranks of the most important subjects in the Russian school. But parents and students are still concerned about the extent to which our education in this area can compete with foreign ones.

Let's see how and what works students of foreign schools study. In each list we included the 10 main authors of the school curriculum.

France

There is no division into two different subjects, “French language” and “French literature”, for schoolchildren. In literature lessons, young French people pay practically no attention to plots, images, or the development of characters in works. The main thing is style! And the style of authors before the 19th century is considered ideal. Schoolchildren often complete tasks to write an excerpt on a given topic in the style of Moliere (Racine, Corneille, etc.). Ancient Greek and Roman authors are seriously studied.

In the compulsory program

Chretien de Troyes. "Lancelot".
Jean Baptiste Moliere. "Stingy".
Pierre Corneille. "Sid."
Pedro Calderon. "Life is a dream."
Victor Hugo. "Les Miserables".
Emile Zola. "Germinal".
Gustave Flaubert. "Madame Bovary."
Honore de Balzac. "Human Comedy".
Antoine de Saint-Exupery. "A little prince".
Albert Camus. "A fall".

USA

As such, there is no single school curriculum in literature in the United States. In English lessons, they read and discuss the works chosen by the teacher. The main selection criteria are: the artistic value of the text, fascinating content, and the ability to learn moral lessons from it. Today it is common to include more books about war, the Holocaust, US history, and democratic values in the list of works studied.

In the compulsory program

Theodore Dreiser. "American Tragedy", "Financier".
William Faulkner. "The Sound and the Fury"
Robert Louis Stevenson. "Treasure Island".
Joseph Conrad. "Heart of Darkness".
George Orwell. "Barnyard".
Terry Pratchett. "Flat world".
Edith Wharton. "The Age of Innocence."
Herman Melville. "Moby Dick".
Daniel Keyes. "Flowers for Algernon."
Edgar Poe. Poems and poems.

Great Britain

The British read at school what is considered to be the classics of English literature. Each class often chooses the form of studying large topics by voting. For example, "19th-Century English Literature" is a topic that students may want to explore through discussion, essay writing, individual study, group project preparation, and so on. Some program works are familiar to Russian graduates from childhood, and the names of many authors are one way or another well-known due to frequent mentions.

In the compulsory program

J. Chaucer. "The Canterbury Tales".
K. Marlowe. "The Tragic Story of Doctor Faustus."
D. Defoe. "Robinson Crusoe".
J. Swift. "Gulliver's Travels", "Letters from a Clothmaker".
S. Richardson. "Clarissa, or the Story of a Young Lady", "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded".
G. Fielding. "The Story of Tom Jones, Foundling."
Charles Dickens. "The Adventures of Oliver Twist", "Dombey and Son".
William Thackeray. "Vanity Fair".
George Eliot. "Mill on the Floss".
S. Coleridge. "The Old Sailor"

Germany

Different types of schools teach literature differently. In ordinary schools, they mainly teach works by German authors. There are many gymnasiums in the country with a humanitarian focus, where works from ancient authors to the most modern are studied in detail. In some educational institutions, the literature course is divided according to the topics raised in the works. For example, “Law and Justice”, “Motherland and Foreign Land”, “Science and Responsibility” and others. Thus, F. Schiller’s drama “The Robbers” belongs to the topic “Law and Justice”, his “Mary Stuart” is studied in the section “The Conflict of Man and History”, and “Cunning and Love” naturally falls into the section “Love Stories”.

In the compulsory program

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. "Nathan the Wise."
Friedrich Schiller. "The Robbers", "Mary Stuart", "Cunning and Love".
Johann Wolfgang Goethe. "The Sorrows of Young Werther."
Heinrich Heine. "Journey through the Harz."
Thomas Mann. "Buddenbrooks", "Magic Mountain".
Heinrich von Kleist. "Marquise d'O".
Friedrich Durrenmatt. "The Old Lady's Visit", "Physicists".
Amadeus Hoffman. “Little Tsakhes”, “Everyday views of the cat Murra”.
Eduard Mörike. “The Artist Nolten”, “Mozart on the way to Prague”.
Georg Buchner. "The Death of Danton"

Japan

In high school in Japanese schools, literature is studied in more or less detail, depending on the chosen direction; textbooks on literature are also very different - there is no single standard. Just as in Russia, Germany and Great Britain, the main attention is paid to the study of domestic literature. The greatest interest for the Japanese - including Japanese schoolchildren - are those works where one can observe and analyze the process of developing the character of the hero.

Murasaki Shikibu. "The Tale of Genji".
Sei-Shonagon. “Notes at the headboard.”
Higuchi Ichiyo. "Peers".
Yukio Mishima. "Golden Temple".
Kobo Abe. "Woman in the Sands"
Soseki Natsume. "Heart".
Ryunosuke Akutagawa. "Rashomon".
Ogai Mori. "Dancer".
Haruki Murakami. "Sheep Hunting"
Shiki Masaoka. Poetry.

Everyone is reading this

Of course, domestic literature always comes first. But there are works of world literature that are included in the advanced school course for high school students from almost all countries. So, the “world ten”:

Homer. "Iliad", "Odyssey".
William Shakespeare. "Hamlet", "Romeo and Juliet".
Harper Lee. "To Kill a Mockingbird".
William Golding. "Lord of the Flies".
Charles Dickens. "Big hopes".
Mary Shelley. "Frankenstein".
Johann Wolfgang Goethe. "Faust".
Franz Kafka. "Transformation."
Lev Tolstoy. "Anna Karenina".
Fedor Dostoevsky. "Crime and Punishment".

None of the countries examined attaches much importance to the main principle by which literature is studied in the senior classes of Russian schools - the historical and artistic method: classicism, romanticism, realism, etc. Meanwhile, it is precisely this approach that is closest to the scientific view of literature - it can be considered an advantage of our education system.

It requires systemic theoretical knowledge. And if school teachers are forced to sacrifice literature lessons while preparing graduates for the Unified State Exam, then a good tutor can fill in the gaps and form in the student’s mind a coherent picture of the entire history of the literary process. After all, this is precisely the knowledge of the subject that will be required during entrance tests in literature at prestigious universities.

The novel gives a broad picture of the socio-political life of Russia at the end of the 19th century. The Russian intelligentsia is one of the main historical problems of our country. Problems in the sense that this social stratum could never find itself, decide on its own ideals. Intellectuals, liberals, terrorists - after reading the novel you will have no questions left about why in the Russian Empire these concepts were synonymous for many.

2. “Uncle Vanya”, Anton Chekhov

After watching the theatrical production of Uncle Vanya, Gorky wrote to Chekhov: “Uncle Vanya and The Seagull are a new kind of dramatic art […]. Other dramas do not distract a person from reality to philosophical generalizations - yours do this.” What can we say, Chekhov’s plays are truly the most powerful in Russian literature.

“Uncle Vanya” is in no way inferior to “The Cherry Orchard” or “Three Sisters”. But for some reason the Ministry of Education excluded the play from the list of required reading books, which affected its current popularity. If you decide to read it, keep in mind that this work is heavy and the narrative in it is told in a serious tone unusual for Chekhov.

3. “Red Laughter”, Leonid Andreev

If “Red Laughter” is mentioned in literature lessons, it is only briefly. The main attention is paid to another story of the author - “Judas Iscariot”. But “Red Laughter” is such a stylistically precise work that you get goosebumps not from the described horrors of war, but from the sonorous, rich syllable.

Nobody wrote about the war like that. No one else ever wrote like that. If you want to clearly and clearly find out what the word “style” means in literature, read Andreev.

4. “The Head of Professor Dowell”, Alexander Belyaev

Belyaev's work is entertaining in nature. That is why, probably, his works were not included in school textbooks. However, the ability to entertain while maintaining a great art style is also worth a lot. Even though Belyaev is now rated as a classic of fiction, we don’t always have to read to think about the problems of the world, right? “The Head of Professor Dowell” is a fascinating experiment in science fiction literature for its time.

5. Collected Works, Daniil Kharms

Kharms is a prankster and daredevil of Soviet literature. His absurdist prose is devoid of an obvious moralizing message, which is why schoolchildren receive certificates without learning anything about the most original Soviet writer. It is quite difficult to single out Kharms’ central work, so we recommend reading the first thing that comes to hand. Here, for example, is the whole story “New Anatomy”:

One little girl grew two blue ribbons on her nose. The case is especially rare, because on one tape it was written “Mars”, and on the other “Jupiter”.

This novel needs no introduction. Ostap Bender’s phrases have long been disassembled into quotes and have become popular. Even if for some reason you did not have a chance to read the legendary novel about the great schemer, you have probably seen one of its many film adaptations. However, this is the case when none of the film incarnations compares with the literary original. After all, these are like Shanghai leopards compared to Mexican jerboas. Infinitely better.

7. “The Living and the Dead”, Konstantin Simonov

The trilogy by Konstantin Simonov is dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. It is based on the author’s personal experience, and perhaps that is why it turned out to be so inspired and sincere. This is a chronicle of the events of 1941–1945, presented through the prism of the views of war participants. The work is fundamental, large-scale, with many deeply written images, strong dialogues and storylines. "War and Peace" of the 20th century.

It’s strange why Soviet classic science fiction writers are still not included in the school curriculum. Almost every one of their books is philosophical and covers a wide range of topics. “Roadside Picnic” is perhaps the authors’ most famous work. The Stalker book series originates here. “The Zone,” even before becoming a popular place for the works of literary epigones, was introduced by the Strugatskys as the deepest metaphor. A metaphor that summarizes all human activity and gives it the universal meaning of the pursuit of happiness.

9. “The Razor’s Edge”, Ivan Efremov

“The Razor's Edge” is a novel in which Efremov expressed his entire worldview. That is why it is so multifaceted and touches on a huge number of different topics: science, philosophy, mysticism, love, yoga. The writer carried out such complex work on the synthesis of materialistic, metaphysical and mystical teachings that his book can be considered not only as a work of art, but also as a kind of philosophical treatise. It is not surprising that after writing the novel, Efremov acquired the status of a spiritual guru.

10. Novels, Vladimir Nabokov

We can understand why there is no Lolita in the school curriculum. But why so little time is given to other works of the author like “The Defense of Luzhin” or “Invitation to Execution” is a mystery. Nabokov discovered a completely new dimension of the Russian language - one that was unknown to either Pushkin or Tolstoy. His words sound, smell, feel on the skin and tongue. This is a synesthetic feast of sounds and colors, where topics that are not the most traditional for Russian literature are raised, such as the relationship between the author and his creation, and the illusory nature of the world.

11. “Generation “P””, Victor Pelevin

“Generation P” is the bible of the nineties. What is the new Russia, what are the values of the emerging world, where are their sources and what is the meaning of the media - Pelevin, of course, digs much deeper than the level of an entertaining story about the adventures of the talented PR specialist Vavilen Tatarsky. The eternal problem “Who can live well in Rus'?” transforms into “What is Rus'? What is good? And what, after all, does it mean to live?

Ideologically, Pelevin’s work is somewhat outdated: there are already different realities in the yard. However, his approach to explaining phenomena, combining postmodern ideas and the metaphysics of Indian and Iranian philosophy, is completely unique. The method of analysis of social phenomena discovered by Pelevin gives his creation timeless meaning.

12. “Boris Pasternak”, Dmitry Bykov

The works of this writer cannot be found in the school curriculum for one simple reason: they have not yet managed to get there. Dmitry Bykov is one of the most prominent representatives of modern literature. This is a writer of the classical school with a good sense of language and a desire for extensive disclosure of character images.

“Boris Pasternak” is a biographical work, but thanks to Bykov’s literary talent, it is read as a work of art and gives a textured understanding of Pasternak’s life path.

What books that remained outside the school curriculum do you remember?