The Greatest Literature of Russia
The selection of literature from specific countries or regions is based on the continuing research carried out for our flagship list, The Greatest Literature of All Time, and all our other Greatest lists. It is also informed by the additional literary assessments of local readers, writers, critics and scholars.
On this list are literary works of all types, genres, cultures and periods by authors primarily associated with Russia.
This list focuses on major creative works—such as novels, plays, epic poetry and story collections—although some shorter or nonfiction writing of literary significance may also be included.Latest update: February 17, 2024
The 166 greatest works of Russian literature
In chronological order
1672
The Life Written by Himself
Avvakum
Russia
Autobiography
1792
Poor Liza
Nikolai Karamzin
Russia
novella
1820
Ruslan and Ludmila
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1824
The Fountain of Bakhchisaray
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1825
Woe From Wit
Alexander Griboyedov
Russia
play
Boris Godunov
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1825–1832
Eugene Onegin
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1830
The Tales of Belkin
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
story collection
1836
The Captain's Daughter
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
novel
1837
The Bronze Horseman
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1840
A Hero of Our Time
Mikhail Lermontov
Russia
novel
1842
The Demon
Mikhail Lermontov
Russia
poem
1847
Who Is to Blame?
Alexander Herzen
Russia
novel
1852
Childhood
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
A Sportsman's Sketches
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
story collection
1855–1963
Russian Folk Tales
Alexander Afanasiev
Russia
story collection
1859
Oblomov
Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov
Russia
novel
Home of the Gentry
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novel
1860
The Storm
Alexander Ostrovsky
Russia
play
First Love
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novella
1862
Fathers and Sons
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novel
1864
Notes From Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novella
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Nikolai Leskov
Russia
novel
1866
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
The Gambler
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novella
1870
The History of a Town
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
Russia
novel
King Lear of the Steppes
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novella
1871
The Forest
Alexander Ostrovsky
Russia
play
1872
Demons
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
Torrents of Spring
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novel
1873
The Enchanted Wanderer
Nikolai Leskov
Russia
novella
1874
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia?
Nikolai Nekrasov
Russia
poem
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novel
1878
Without a Dowry
Alexander Ostrovsky
Russia
play
1880
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
The Golovlyov Family
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
Russia
novel
1881
Lefty
Nikolai Leskov
Russia
novel
1886
Motley Stories
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story collection
including The Huntsman, and others
"Vanka"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
1887
At Dusk
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story collection
including Dreams, A Trivial Occurrence, A Bad Business, At Home, A Restless Guest, On the Road, Agafya, and others
1889
The Kreutzer Sonata
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
1891
The Duel
Anton Chekhov
Russia
novella
1896
The Seagull
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
Beyond the Earth
Konstantin Tsiolkovskiy
Russia
novel
1899
"The Lady With the Dog"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
1900
Uncle Vanya
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
1901
Three Sisters
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novel
1902
The Lower Depths
Maxim Gorky
Russia
play
The Power of Darkness
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
play
1903
The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
1905
Summerfolk
Maxim Gorky
Russia
play
1907
Mother
Maxim Gorky
Russia
novel
1908
The Seven Who Were Hanged
Leonid Andreyev
Russia
novel
1912
Hadji Murat
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
1913
Petersburg
Andrei Bely
Russia
novel
My Childhood
Maxim Gorky
Russia
memoir
1915
A Cloud in Trousers
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Russia
poem
1918
The Twelve
Alexasnder Blok
Russia
poem
Memoirs of a Revolutionist
Vera Figner
Russia
memoir
1923
Chapayev
Dmitry Furmanov
Russia
novel
1924
The White Guard
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russia
novella
Cities and Years
Konstantin Fedin
Russia
novel
The Three Fat Men
Yuri Olesha
Russia
novel
The Iron Flood
Alexander Serafimovich
Russia
novel
1925
Heart of a Dog
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russia
novella
Mitya's Love
Ivan Bunin
Russia
novel
The Artomonov Business
Maxim Gorky
Russia
novel
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Russia
novel
1927
Sunset
Isaac Babel
Russia
play
The Twelve Chairs
Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov
Russia
novel
Envy
Yuri Olesha
Russia
novel
1928
Chevengur
Andrei Platonov
Russia
novel
And Quiet Flows the Don
Mikhail Sholokov
Russia
novel
1929
The Bedbug
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Russia
play
1929–1943
Peter the Great
Alexy Tolstoy
Russia
novel
1930
The Life of Arseniev: Youth
Ivan Bunin
Russia
novel
The Foundation Pit
Andrei Platonov
Russia
novel
1931
Odessa Stories
Isaac Babel
Russia
story collection
The Little Golden Calf
Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov
Russia
novel
1935
Soul
Andrei Platonov
Russia
novella
1935
Virgin Soil Upturned
Mikhail Sholokov
Russia
novel
Invitation to a Beheading
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
1937–1945
Stories about Lelya and Minka
Mikhail Zoshchenko
Russia
story collection
1938
The Gift
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
1939
The Old Woman
Danill Kharms
Russia
novella
1940
The on Flows Home to the Sea
Mikhail Sholokov
Russia
novel
1941
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
1943
The Fifth Seal
Mark Aldanov
Russia
novel
1943–1973
Before Sunrise
Mikhail Zoshchenko
Russia
novel
1944
Red Cavalry
Isaac Babel
Russia
novel
Son of the Regiment
Valentin Kataev
Russia
novel
The Two Captains
Veniamin Kaverin
Russia
novel
1946
Dark Avenues
Ivan Bunin
Russia
story collection
The Young Guard
Alexander Fadeyev
Russia
novel
1950
Nervous People and Other Satires
Mikhail Zoshchenko
Russia
story collection
1955
Collected Stories
Isaac Babel
Russia
story collection
1957
Pnin
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak
Russia
novel
Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale
Ivan Yefremov
Russia
novel
1962
Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novella
1963
Requiem
Anna Akhmatova
Russia
poetry collection
1964
Antiworlds
Andrey Voznesensky
Russia
poetry collection
1965
Sofia Petrovna
Lydia Chukovskaya
Russia
novel
1965–2003
Alisa's Adventures
Kir Bulychev
Russia
Novel and story cycle
1967
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russia
novel
The ase of Comrade Tulayev
Victor Serge
Russia
novel
1968
Cancer Ward
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novel
The First Circle
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novel
1969
Ada or Ardor
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
Vladimir Voinovich
Russia
novel
1970
A Dream in Polar Fog
Yuri Rytkheu
Russia
novel
1971
August 1914
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novel
1972
Roadside Picnic
Arkady and Boris Strugatski
Russia
novel
1973
The Gulag Archipelago
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Russia
nonfiction
Moscow-Petushki
Venedikt Yerofeyev
Russia
Prose poem
1975
The Burn
Vassily Aksyonov
Russia
novel
1976
A School for Fools
Sasha Sokolov
Russia
novel
Yawning Heights
Alexander Zinoviev
Russia
novel
1977
A Part of Speech
Joseph Brodsky
Russia
poetry collection
What Is to Be Done?
Nikolay Chernyshevsky
Russia
novel
1978
Pushkin House
Andrei Bitov
Russia
novel
The Faculty of Useless Knowledge
Yury Dombrovsky
Russia
novel
Kolyma Tales
Varlam Shalamov
Russia
story collection
1979
It's Me, Eddie
Eduard Limonov
Russia
novel
1981
Compromise
Sergei Dovlatov
Russia
novel
1982
Rabbits and Boa Constrictors
Fazil Iskander
Russia
novel
Summer in Baden-Baden
Leonard Tsypkin
Russia
biography
1986
The Suitcase
Sergei Dovlatov
Russia
story collection
1990
Russian Beauty
Victor Yerofeyev
Russia
novel
1992
Lines of Fate
Mark Kharitonov
Russia
novel
The Time: Night
Ludmila Petrushevskaya
Russia
novella
Sldeepwalker in a Fog
Tatyana Tolstaya
Russia
story collection
1993
The Life of Insects
Victor Pelevin
Russia
novel
1996
Chapayev and Pustota
Victor Pelevin
Russia
novel
Medea and Her Children
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Russia
novel
1998
The Slynx
Tatyana Tolstaya
Russia
novel
1998–2018
The Fandorin series
Boris Akunin
Russia
novel series
including The Winter Queen, The Turkish Gambit, Murder on the Leviathan, The Death of Achilles, and others
1999
The Taking of Izmail
Mikhail Shishkin
Russia
novel
2000
Hurramabad
Andrei Volos
Russia
novel
2005
Metro 2033
Dmitry Glukhovsky
Russia
novel
The Gold of the Rebellion
Alexey Ivanov
Russia
novel
2006
2017
Olga Slavnikova
Russia
novel
Day of the Oprichnik
Vladimir Sorokin
Russia
novel
Daniel Stein, Interpreter
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Russia
novel
2008
Cranes abd Dwarfsa
Leonid Yuzefovich
Russia
novel
2009
The Gray House
Miriam Petrosyan
Russia
novel
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby
Ludmila Petrushevskaya
Russia
story collection
2010
The Light and the Dark
Mikhail Shishkin
Russia
novel
2011
The Big Green Tent
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Russia
novel
2012
The Mountain and the Wall
Alisa Ganieva
Russia
novel
The Women of Lazarus
Marina Stepnova
Russia
novel
Laurus
Eugene Vodolazkin
Russia
novel
2014
The Monastery
Zakhar Prilepin
Russia
novel
2015
Three Apples Fell From the Sky
Narine Abgaryan
Russia
novel
Bride and Groom
Alisa Ganieva
Russia
novel
Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes
Guzel Yakhina
Russia
novel
2016
The Petrovs in and Around the Flat
Alexey Salnikov
Russia
novel
2017
June
Dmitry Bykov
Russia
novel
2019
Rock, Paper, Scissors: And Other Stories
Maxim Osipov
Russia
story collection
2021
Doctor Garin
Vladimir Sorokin
Russia
novel
