Modern Russian literature is not that known beyond Russia as Russian classic literature. However, there are many names and books to be discovered. If you study Russian or are interested in Russian culture in general, discovering Russian modern literature is a must; it is very diverse and offers a great variety of genres, plots, and ideas. Let’s talk about three famous modern authors today. If you don’t feel like reading them in Russian, these authors are translated into many foreign languages.
Viktor Pelevin
Viktor Pelevin is a very popular modern Russian writer. He started to publish books in early 90-s and gained fame as a very talented author. In his novels, he describes Russian life in a grotesque and absurd manner. Some of the novels have features of fantasy or science fiction. Although the author is extremely famous, he hasn’t appeared in public for two decades, so aside from being one of the most famous contemporary Russian writers, he is also the most enigmatic one. Some of his books we recommend to check are: “Generation P” dedicated to Moscow “creative” circles and “Chapayev and Void” that the author called the first Buddhist novel in the world.
Boris Akunin
Another extremely famous Russian author who was born in Georgia. Boris Akuin is a writer, translator and a great specialist in Japanese culture. Although the author has experimented with genres, he is most famous for his detective series about Erast Fandorin — a 19th-century Russian aristocrat who is a talented detective investigating a great variety of cases. The series is extremely popular and counts with more than 15 books, and connected to the universe side stories.
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
In our list, Lyudmila Ulitskaya is a representative of modern Russian “big” prose and most likely we won’t be a mistake if we call her a living classic. Lyudmila Ulitskaya is an internationally acclaimed novelist and short-story writer. She has graduated from the biological faculty of Moscow State university and has started her writer’s career relatively late. She creates vivid characters putting them in modern Russia and USSR time period. Her novels are translated to 25 languages. Some of her most famous books we’d recommend you to try are “The Big Green Tent” and “Sonechka”.
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