On the eve of World Writer's Day, the Levada Center wondered who, in the minds of the inhabitants of Russia, is worthy to enter list of the most prominent domestic writers. The survey passed 1600 residents of the Russian Federation over 18 years of age. The results can be called predictable: a dozen leaders reflect the composition of the school curriculum in literature.
Almost right next to her was Solzhenitsyn (5%). Kuprin, Bunin and Nekrasov finished at the same time - each scored 4% of the vote. And then new names began to appear among acquaintances from the textbooks, for example, Dontsova and Akunin took a place next to Griboedov and Ostrovsky (3% each), and Ustinova, Ivanov, Marinina and Pelevin stood on the same level as Goncharov, Pasternak, Platonov and Chernyshevsky ( 1%).
10. Lermontov
The top 10 most famous writers of Russia are opened by the misanthropic poet, full of contempt for the soulless light, the creator of demonic characters and the singer of Caucasian exotics in the form of mountain rivers and young Circassians. However, even stylistic errors like the “lioness with a shaggy mane on the ridge” or the “familiar corpse” did not stop him from climbing Parnas Russian literature and occupying the tenth place in the rating with a score of 6%.
9. Gorky
In the USSR, he was considered the founder of Soviet literature and socialist realism, and ideological opponents refused Gorky's writing talent, intellectual scope and accused of cheap sentimentalism. Received 7% of the vote.
8. Turgenev
He dreamed of a career as a philosopher and even tried to get a master's degree, but he failed to become a scientist. But he became a writer. And the writer is quite successful - his fees were among the highest in Russia. With this money (and income from the estate) Turgenev supported the whole family of his beloved Polina Viardo, including her children and husband. The survey scored 9%.
7. Bulgakov
Russia rediscovered this writer only twenty-five years ago, after perestroika. Bulgakov was one of the first to encounter the horrors of communal apartments and the barriers to Moscow registration, which later became reflected in The Master and Margarita. His contribution to literature was estimated by 11% of Russians.
6. Sholokhov
It is still unknown who exactly wrote The Quiet Don — an unknown writer from the “white” camp, or a group of comrades from the NKVD, or Sholokhov himself, who later received the Nobel Prize for the novel. In the meantime, he takes sixth place in the list of outstanding writers with a score of 13%.
5. Gogol
They love him not for moralizing, but for the door to the world of the grotesque and phantasmagoria, fantastically intertwined with real life. Scored the same number of points with Sholokhov.
4. Pushkin
In his youth he liked to play pranks (for example, to shock the inhabitants of Yekaterinoslav with an outfit of translucent muslin pantaloons without underwear), he was proud of his thin waist and tried to get rid of the status of a “writer” with all his might. Moreover, during his lifetime he was considered a genius, the first Russian poet and creator of the Russian literary language. In the minds of current readers, takes fourth place with a score of 15%.
3. Chekhov
The author of humorous stories and the ancestor in Russian literature of tragicomedy in the world is considered a kind of "visiting card" of Russian dramaturgy. The Russians give him an honorable third place, giving him 18% of the vote.
2. Dostoevsky
Five books of a former convict and an inveterate player were included in the list of “One Hundred Best Books of All Time” according to the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Dostoevsky, like no one knows and describes with extreme honesty, the dark and painful depths of the human soul. In the ranking took second place with a score of 23%.
1. Leo Tolstoy
The "Inveterate Man" earned the fame of a brilliant writer and classic of Russian literature during his lifetime. His works were repeatedly published and reprinted in Russia and abroad and appeared on the movie screen many times. One “Anna Karenina” was filmed 32 times, “Resurrection” - 22 times, “War and Peace” - 11 times. Even his very life served as material for several films. Perhaps it was thanks to recent high-profile film adaptations that he earned the glory of the first writer of Russia, receiving 45% of the vote.
