Foreign writers contemporaries of the 21st century. Modern writers (21st century) of Russia

At the request of Afisha, Anton Dolin investigated what the books of the author of the novel "11/22/63", the king of horrors, the most important novelist and the most filmed modern writer in the world, consist of.

Photo: SHOSHANNAH WHITE/PHOTO S.A./CORBIS

car accident

Many of Stephen King's characters died in accidents, and on June 19, 1999, it almost happened to him: the 51-year-old writer was hit by a car while walking. In addition to a fracture of the femur and multiple fractures of the right leg, he was injured in the head and right lung. He spent almost a month on an artificial respiration apparatus, his leg was not amputated only by a miracle, but for another year the writer could not sit - and, accordingly, work. However, he gradually returned to his previous activities, reflecting over and over again the experience gained in new books, in particular, in Lisey's Story and Duma Key, and in the seventh volume of The Dark Tower appeared sacred numbers 19 and 99. Some saw in what happened a warning from above (the writer flirted too much in books with the forces of darkness), others - a sign of the writer, who managed to be reborn as a new person. Anyway, King is the one to whom these things happen for a reason. No wonder he wrote so much about disasters and cars with mysterious powers, from "Christine" (1983) to "Almost like a Buick" (2002).

Bachman

Stephen King came up with Richard Bachman in 1977, when he himself had already thundered with Carrie. Why a pseudonym was needed is now not very clear. Either to cope early in his career with the perceived frustrations of the failure of books signed with his own name, or to see if he can shoot a second time. One way or another, Bachman successfully existed for seven whole years until King killed him, by which time the hoax had already been solved, and the cause of death in the press release was "pseudonym cancer." If we talk about style, Bachman, unlike the moderate optimist King, looked at the world gloomily, and the punishment of heroes for
karmic sins interested him much more than refined
psychologism - and in general it was more about the state of society and less about the other world. The first published under this name was the novel "Fury" about an armed schoolboy who took his class hostage - however, criticism of society went sideways there, and later it was not society that was blamed for such a tragedy, but "Fury" itself. The best of Bachmann's signatures are the dystopian The Running Man, later turned into a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the creepy gothic novella Losing Weight. In general, Bachmann's stories were noticeably inferior to those that King signed with his own name. In 1996, Bachman briefly resurrected to take part in an unusual experiment: he "created" the novel The Regulators with King, who wrote another hefty volume, Hopelessness, about exactly the same fictional events. "Regulators" were clearly weaker and secondary. Bachmann's final fiasco was cemented by another posthumous opus, Blaze (2007), one of the most nondescript in the careers of both writers.

Baseball

King is, in many ways, a typical textbook American. That's why he's an avid baseball fan. The team he supports is the Boston Red Sox, and references to it are scattered throughout most of his novels and short stories. The most passionate declaration of love for baseball was the novel "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" (1999), divided not into chapters, but into innings: its nine-year-old heroine Trisha got lost in the forest, in which an imaginary black baseball player became her only friend and helper . In 2007, the book "Cheerleader" was published, completely devoted to one season of the Boston Red Sox. Her King - for the first time in his life - created in collaboration with writer Stuart O'Nan. And between these two texts, King managed to light up in the comedy of the Farrelly brothers "Baseball Fever" (2005) - in the role of finally not a fan, but a player.

Castle Rock

Founded in 1877, the town in Maine, 79 miles from Kingu's native Bangor, is actually fictional. Today, this is hard to believe: hundreds of the writer's heroes lived and died there, and then director Rob Reiner named his company Castle Rock Entertainment in his honor. For the first time, Castle Rock is mentioned in the story "The Night Shift", every second text of King refers to it or its natives in one way or another, and detailed geography, toponymy and social portrait of the city can be extracted from the "Dead Zone", "Cujo" and "Dark Half". ". In the epochal "Necessary Things", Satan himself comes to Castle Rock, and the city is destroyed forever. The incomparable singer of "Little America", King invented a dozen tiny colorful towns, most of which are located in Maine. The most famous after Castle Rock - gravitating under the yoke of the ancient curse of Derry, where the actions of "It", "Insomnia" and "11/22/63" unfold, but there are others: Heaven ("Tommyknockers"), Chester's Mill (" Under the Dome"), Chamberlain ("Carrie") or Ludlow ("Pet Sematary"). The writer himself admits that he was inspired by the fictional cities of Lovecraft - Innsmouth, Dunwich, Arkham and Kingsport.

Criticism and theory

King is famous not only for prose, poetry and dramaturgy, but also for theoretical works, in which he analyzes the heritage of the classics, analyzes cinema and offers recipes creative success. His debut in this field was Dance of Death (1981), a book about the horror genre. Partly autobiographical, it offers a curious typology of nightmares in both books and movies, from The Creature from the Black Lagoon to The Shining. In 2000, a new work, How to Write Books, was published, which became a bestseller around the world: its second part, Tips for Beginning Authors, was especially in demand. In particular, he strongly recommends reading and writing from four to six hours a day and reports that he has set a quota for himself - at least two thousand words per day. In addition, every year King pleases its readers with lists - sometimes controversial, but always interesting - of the best books and films of the past year. For example, in 2013, he put Adam Johnson's "Son of the Lord of Orphans" at the head of his ten, adding to it "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt, both Booker novels by Hilary Mantel - "Wolf Hall" and "Bring in the Bodies", as well as "Random vacancy" Joan Rowling. She, according to King, is one of the most significant writers of recent decades: he even wrote a special petition to her between the publication of the sixth and seventh volumes of the epic about the wizard boy, calling for Harry Potter to be kept alive.

Lovecraft

The founder of modern American horror - and life role model for King, for all the differences in style, character and biography. The son of a deranged salesman, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, was a child prodigy, a visionary, and a misanthrope. The heir of Edgar Allan Poe, in his masterpiece stories and short stories - "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Ridges of Madness", "Dagon" and others - he explored the nightmares hidden behind the facade of the daily life of the carefree inhabitants of the twentieth century. An almost complete lack of a sense of humor, psychological accuracy and fantasy in the plot (all these qualities are inherent in King) - Lovecraft was a master in the difficult task of creating unknown worlds. King, who discovered the abyss of Jungian images in Lovecraft's short stories, read it at the age of twelve - according to the writer himself, at the ideal age for such literature.

Magic

Ancient Indian sorcery in Pet Cemetery, alien contagion in Tommyknockers, their bizarre combination in It, traditional vampire magic in The Lot and werewolf magic in The Werewolf Cycle, the magic of time itself in The Langoliers. Surprisingly, many books still lack magic - including the most magical ones (Cujo, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Able Student). In others we are talking about phenomena that many consider natural, albeit inexplicable: "Carrie", "Dead Zone", "Inflammatory look". However, in the broadest sense of the word, King - and his reader too - believes that the surrounding universe is permeated with magic, both light and dark. The ability to see, recognize and, let's say, use it is both a gift and a curse, from which many heroes of King's books suffer pretty much. According to King, through every wino who decides to hit his unfortunate wife, a cruel school teacher and a bully, evil manifests itself in the world, and through every attentive, restless, subtle person - perhaps a child or a short-sighted wise guy from the library - on the contrary, good. Their conflict (especially clearly conveyed in the early apocalyptic epic, which is called “Confrontation”) is endless. A classic example is the journey of an agent of good, the arrow Roland, to the Dark Tower, occupied by dark forces.

Dead people

Talking to the dead - in a dream or in reality - is a common thing for the heroes of King's books; sometimes, however, as in the novel "Will", they are all dead from the very beginning. But there are also special texts that are entirely devoted to relationships with those who have passed away. This is the story "Sometimes They Come Back", which deserved a very expressive adaptation, the story "The Body" about four teenagers who found a corpse in the forest (as King himself recalled, such a story actually happened to him - only it was the corpse of a dog, not a man) . After all, who knows if King would have taken ballpoint pen, if not for the death of a friend who fell under the train in front of Stephen, when he was only four years old. Of course, "Pet Cemetery" is also connected with the same topic - perhaps the writer's most terrible and hopeless novel. The moral, which is not difficult to take away from the book, is quite simple: it will not be possible to get rid of longing for departed loved ones for anything - unless one resorts to the help of Indian demons, which, perhaps, is not best idea. So let the dead stay in their graves. This thesis is also confirmed by the later novel "Mobile Phone" - King's variation on the theme of the zombie apocalypse.

Writers

Favorite Stephen King characters. Sometimes just storytellers reminiscing about childhood ("The Body"), or even non-professionals keeping a diary ("Dyuma-Key"), more often people who earn a living by writing. In Misery (1987), best-selling sentimental author Paul Sheldon is in a car accident at the hands of a professional nurse who, a crazy fan of his books, discovers the manuscript of the latest novel in her favorite series in her idol's briefcase. In The Dark Half (1989), Thad Beaumont attempts to rid himself of his alias George Stark, a work of unbridled fantasy that has taken on a life of its own. In "Secret Window, Secret Garden" (1990), Morton Rainey gets charged with plagiarism. In Bag of Bones (1998), Mike Noonan loses his inspiration and ends up in a haunted house. And these are just some of the many writers, graphomaniacs or geniuses, alter egos of varying degrees of accuracy, confirming the hackneyed thesis: every truly talented writer always writes about himself.

Shine

A special psychic talent, invisible to others, but tangible to those who have a similar gift. About him in the novel "The Shining" (1980), one of the fundamental King books, the five-year-old Danny is told by the black giant Dick Halloran. The characters of most of the writer's novels "shine" to one degree or another, from the moving objects of Carrie to the inflaming gaze of Charlie, from the mind-reading and foreseeing the future of Johnny Smith from the Dead Zone to the seven outcast teenagers from It who are able to see hidden underground evil and challenging it. As a rule, the “radiant” is fragile and vulnerable, and therefore the sympathy of the author, along with the reader, is on his side. However, as Doctor Sleep shows, the gift of the "shining ones" can be used in other ways, for example, as food for energy vampires. A kind of absolute "radiance" - John Coffey from the "Green Mile".

Tabitha

The wife of Stephen King, to whom many of his books are dedicated (and there is a special thanks to her in almost every one). They met at university in 1966 and married five years later, today they have three children and four grandchildren. It was she who found the manuscript of "Carrie" thrown there by King in the trash, and insisted that her husband finish the novel and send it to the publisher. Since then, Tabitha has been the first reader of all of King's texts. In addition, she has been writing herself since the early 1980s. None of the eight novels became a bestseller, but almost all received excellent reviews.

Horror

Tradition suggests that Stephen King be considered the king of horror: the surname is favorable, but the writer himself does not mind. But as a consummate virtuoso of scary literature, even unlike the most noble representatives of the genre - from Poe to Lovecraft - King never tries to scare his readers. Moreover, his books often have a psychotherapeutic effect, explaining and analyzing the nature of common phobias and helping to get rid of them. As a real American, King cannot live without catharsis and the final victory over evil, which marked the vast majority of his novels. True, there are significant exceptions to this rule (and most are signed by the name Bachman).

Dark tower

Stephen King's Magnum opus currently consists of eight novels written between 1982 and 2012 (the cycle also includes a multi-volume comic book epic and several short stories). Sources for inspiration - the poems of Thomas Eliot " barren land"and Robert Browning's "Childe Roland Went to the Dark Tower", as well as the screen image of Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum. Shooter Roland Deskeyn, a knight-errant from a post-apocalyptic future, in the company of several satellites - our contemporaries, inhabitants of America of the twentieth century - goes through the Wasteland to the center of the worlds, captured by the forces of Darkness, the Dark Tower. The King cycle mixes fantasy, science fiction, western, horror and fairy tale in a free proportion. Some consider The Dark Tower to be his masterpiece, others
most monumental failure. One way or another, complexly organized
the mythology of the cycle directly and indirectly influenced everything that King wrote from the mid-1980s to the present. For example, children from "It" resort to the help of the ray keeper - the Turtle, in "Insomnia" the demonic Scarlet King appears, and in "Hearts in Atlantis" central character trying to hide from his servants. And retrospectively, this rule works no worse: Father Callahan from The Lot is inscribed in the fifth book of The Dark Tower, and in the fourth book the heroes enter the world described in Confrontation. Simply put, the Dark Tower is the center of the entire Stephen King universe.

Screen adaptations

More than a hundred films have been made based on King's works - he is one of the most filmed writers in the world, largely due to the step taken at the very beginning of his career: any film school graduate can make a film based on any of his stories (but not novels) for a symbolic one dollar. It is impossible to see a single trend behind the history of his film adaptations. But it is worth highlighting from the general series, perhaps, the expressive “Carrie” by Brian De Palma (the debut novel and was filmed first), hated by the author, but the great “The Shining” by Stanley Kubrick, a kind of “Dead Zone” by David Cronenberg and the chilling “Able Student” Brian Singer - a film that stubbornly does not want to lose relevance. At the same time, two other directors - Rob Reiner ("Stay with Me", "Misery") and Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile", "The Mist" and several short films) are legally recognized as the best screenwriters of King's texts: neat and diligent authors, they manage to convey to the viewer the drive of primary sources without spilling. There are a number of films based on King, and those for which he himself wrote the script right away, not based on any book. Among these are the series “Royal Hospital” created jointly with Lars von Trier, the mystical “Red Rose Mansion” and scary tale The Storm of the Century is probably the best of the three.

Modern domestic literature rich in variety of names. Many book resources make their own ratings of the most widely read authors, best-selling books, and top-selling books (RoyalLib.com, bookz.ru, LitRes. Ozon.ru, Labyrinth.ru, Chitai-gorod, LiveLib.ru). We present the "twenty" of the most popular contemporary writers of Russia, whose works can be found in the fund of the Centralized library system Volgodonsk.

Speaking of modern Russian literature, one cannot help but recall the masters of writing novels.

Ludmila Ulitskaya. A bright representative of Russian literature post-Soviet period. She began writing prose when she was over forty. According to her own words: "First raised children, then became a writer." The first collection of short stories of the writer "Poor Relatives" was published in 1993 in France and was published on French. Ulitskaya's book "Medea and Her Children" brought her to the finalists of the Booker Prize in 1997 and made her truly famous. The "Big Book" awards were awarded to: a collection of short stories "The People of Our Tsar", "Daniel Stein, Translator", which soon received the status of a bestseller. In 2011, Ulitskaya presented the novel The Green Tent, which tells about dissidents and the lives of people of the generation of the "sixties". Autobiographical prose and the writer's essay was included in the book Sacred Garbage, published in 2012. Admirers of the writer characterize her work exclusively as bold, subtle, intelligent.

Dina Rubina. She is often referred to by critics as a "women's writer", although her novel On the Sunny Side of the Street won the third prize. big book"In 2007, when the first went to "Stein" Ulitskaya. The 2004 novel Syndicate, which satirically describes the Moscow branch of the Israeli agency Sokhnut, quarreled her with many in Israel. But Russian readers are still big fans of her work. The story "When it snows" brought the author particular popularity. The work went through several editions, was filmed, played on theater scenes. The writer's books are distinguished by colorful language, vivid characters, a rude sense of humor, adventurous plots and the ability to talk about complex problems and things in an accessible way. Of the latest works - the trilogy "Russian Canary". The plot, the character of the characters, the ruby ​​language - it's impossible to tear yourself away from all this!

Aleksey Ivanov.High-quality Russian prose in the genre of realism. The words of one critic that "Alexei Ivanov's prose is the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Russian literature" are often reproduced on the covers of his books. The heroes of Ivanov, whether they are the mythical Voguls of the 15th century (“The Heart of Parma”), the semi-mythical rafters of the 18th century (“The Gold of Riot”) or the mythologized modern Permians (“The geographer drank away his globe”), speak a special language and think in a special way. All works are very different, but they are united by subtle author's humor, gradually turning into satire. The writer Aleksey Ivanov is notable for the fact that while emphasizing his “provinciality”, he nevertheless carefully ensures that the plot follows all the laws of a Hollywood action movie in any novel. His last novel, Bad Weather, was ambiguously received by the reading public. Some talk about the cardboard and lifelessness of the characters, the hackneyedness of the criminal theme, others speak with enthusiasm about the writer's ability to create a portrait of our contemporary - a man brought up during socialism, who received a good Soviet education, and during the global breakdown of society left alone with his conscience and questions. Isn't this a reason to read the novel and write your own? own opinion about him?

Oleg Roy.A bright name among novelists. He lived outside of Russia for a little over a decade. It was at this time that the beginning of his creative career as a writer falls. The name of the debut novel, Mirror, was presented to post-Soviet readers as an Amalgam of Happiness. After this book, he became famous in book circles. O. Roy is the author of more than two dozen books of various genres for adults and children, as well as articles in popular print media. The writer's work will appeal to those who love just good prose. He writes in the genre of an urban novel - life stories, slightly seasoned with mysticism, which gives the author's work a special flavor.

Pavel Sanaev.The book "Bury Me Behind the Plinth" was appreciated by critics and readers - a story in which the theme of growing up seems to be turned upside down and acquires the features of surreal humor! A book in which the very idea of happy childhood. The continuation of the cult story was published only in 2010 under the title "Chronicles of Gouging".

Evgeny Grishkovets. He began as a playwright and performer of his plays, but then the dramatic scene seemed to him not enough. He added music lessons to this, and then went into prose writing, releasing the novel "The Shirt". It was followed by the second book - "Rivers". Both works, judging by the reviews, were warmly received by readers. Short stories and collections of short stories followed. Despite the fact that the author works very seriously on each of his works and then proudly notes that the “author’s position” in this book is completely different from the “author’s position” in the previous one, it seems that Grishkovets, with his plays, performances, prose and songs all his life he writes the same text named after himself. And at the same time, each of his viewers / readers can say: “He wrote it right about me.” The best books of the author: "Asphalt", "A ... a", collections of stories "Plank" and "Footprints on me."

Zakhar Prilepin.His name is known to the widest circle of readers. Prilepin's childhood and youth passed in the USSR, and growing up took place in the difficult 90s of the 20th century. Hence the frequent reviews of him as the "voice of generations." Zakhar Prilepin was a participant in the Chechen campaigns of 1996 and 1999. His first novel, Pathology, about the war in Chechnya, was written by the author in 2003. The best books of the writer are social novels"Sin" and "Sankya", in which he shows the life of modern youth. Most of the author's books were warmly received by the public and critics, "Sin" received rave reviews from fans and two awards: "National Bestseller" and "Faithful Sons of Russia". The writer also has the “Supernational Best” award, which is given out for the best prose of the decade, as well as the all-China award “Best foreign novel». New romance- "Abode", about the life of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp, became a bestseller due to its historical and artistic content.

Oksana Robsky.She made her debut as a writer with the novel "Casual", which marked the beginning of the genre of "secular realism" in Russian literature. Books by Oksana Robski - "Day of Happiness - Tomorrow", "About LoveOFF / ON", "Oysters in the Rain", "Casual 2. Dance with Head and Feet", etc. caused numerous and conflicting reviews criticism. According to some observers, the novels faithfully reproduce the atmosphere of Rublyovka, testify to the lack of spirituality and artificiality of the world of the so-called Rublyov's wives. Other critics point to numerous inconsistencies and say that Robski's writing has little to do with the realities of everyday life of the business elite. The artistic merits of her works are generally not highly valued; At the same time, some critics emphasize that Robsky, in fact, does not pretend to high artistic goals, but sets out events easily, dynamically and in clear language.

Boris Akunin.Fiction writer. Akunin is a pseudonym, and not the only one. He also publishes his works of art under the names of Anna Borisova and Anatoly Brusnikin. And in life - Grigory Chkhartishvili. The novels and short stories from the New Detective series (The Adventures of Erast Fandorin) brought fame to the author. He also owns the creation of the series "Provincial Detective" ("The Adventures of Sister Pelagia"), "The Adventures of the Master", "Genres". In each of his "brainchild" a creative person miraculously combines literary text with cinematic visuals. Positive reviews Readers testify to the popularity of all stories without exception.

Many readers prefer detective genres, adventure literature.

Alexandra Marinina. She is called by critics none other than the queen, the prima donna Russian detective. Her books are read in one breath. They are distinguished by realistic plots, which make the reader feel with all his heart the events that happen to the characters, empathize with them and think about important life issues. Some of the new works of the author, which have already managed to become bestsellers: "Execution without malice", "Angels on Ice Don't Survive", "Last Dawn".

Polina Dashkova.Wide popularity came to the writer after the publication of the detective novel "Blood of the Unborn" in 1997. During the period 2004-2005. the author's novels "A Place in the Sun", "Cherub" were filmed. The style of the writer is characterized by bright characters, an exciting plot, a good style.

Elena Mikhalkova. Critics say that she is a master "life" detective. The best books of the writer are detective stories in which all the characters have their own own history, which is interesting to the reader no less than the main storyline. The author takes plot ideas for his works from everyday life: a conversation with a supermarket clerk, leaflet texts, a family conversation at breakfast, etc. The plots of her works are always thought out to the smallest details making each book very easy to read. Among the most popular books: "Whirlpool of other people's desires", "Cinderella and the Dragon".

Anna and Sergei Litvinov. They write in the genres of adventure and detective literature. These authors know how to keep the reader in suspense. They have over 40 novels to their credit: golden maiden”, “Sky Island”, “The Sad Demon of Hollywood”, “Destiny has a different name” and many others. In their reviews, readers admit that the Litvinovs are masters of intrigue and an exciting plot. They harmoniously combine in their texts a mysterious crime, vivid characters and a love line.

One of the most popular literary genres among Russian readers is the female love story.

Anna Berseneva. This pseudonym Tatyana Sotnikova. She wrote her first novel, Confusion, in 1995. Anna Berseneva is the only author who managed to populate modern women's novels with outstanding male characters. After all, it is precisely the absence of expressive male characters, according to sociologists, that is the reason why the female novel is practically absent on the domestic book market. A cycle of novels by A. Berseneva about several generations of the Grinev family - “ Unequal marriage”,“ The Last Eve ”,“ The Age of the Third Love ”,“ The Fisher of Small Pearls ”,“ The First, Random, The Only ”- formed the basis of the serial TV movie"Captain's Children"

Ekaterina Wilmont. Her books are loved by readers all over Russia. She wrote her first love story at the age of 49 (“The Journey of an Optimist, or All Women are Fools”). Then I tried myself in the genre of children's detective story. In her novels for women, Wilmont reveals the inner world of modern, mature, independent women who are able to control circumstances, talk about their failures and victories, tragedies and joys, and about what excites every reader - about love. The novels of Ekaterina Vilmont are humor, cheerfulness and witty titles: “In Search of Treasures”, “The Hormone of Happiness and Other Nonsense”, “Incredible Luck”, “With all the foolishness!” , "An intellectual and two Ritas". This is an ironic, light, lively prose that is read in one breath and charges readers with optimism and self-confidence.

Maria Metlitskaya. Her works appeared on the market of modern women's love literature relatively recently, but have already managed to win the respect of fans. The first novel was published in 2011. The best books of the writer are known for the accuracy of details, life-affirming mood and light humor. Feedback from her fans suggests that these books helped them find a way out of difficult situations. life situations. To date, the list of the writer's works includes more than 20 novels and short stories. Among her latest works, it is worth highlighting the following: “Our Little Life”, “Mistake of Youth”, “Two Street Road”, “Faithful Husband”, “Her last Hero" and others.

In modern Russian science fiction there is a whole galaxy of talented writers whose names and works deserve attention.

Sergey Lukyanenko. One of the most circulated authors among science fiction writers. The first print run of his book The Last Watch was 200,000 copies. Films based on his novels have become an important factor increasing popularity. The release of the blockbusters "Night Watch" and "Day Watch" increased the circulation of books by this author by more than seven times.

Nick Perumov.He became widely known after his first publication in 1993 of the epic "Ring of Darkness", which takes place in John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's Middle-earth. From novel to novel, Nick's style becomes more and more individual and unique, and the initial opinion of critics and him as a Tolkienist has remained in the past. The best books of Perumov and his series are included in the treasury of Russian science fiction literature: Chronicles of Hjervard, Chronicles of the Rift, Soul Thieves, Black Blood and many others.

Andrey Rubanov.Fate was not easy: he had to work as a driver and bodyguard in the difficult 90s, live in Chechen Republic in the midst of a military campaign. But this gave him the necessary life experience and helped him successfully start his journey in literature. The most flattering reviews deserved the works that are rightly included in the list of the best science fiction books: "Chlorophilia", "Plant and it will grow", "The Living Earth".

Max Fry.The author's genre is urban fantasy. Her books are for people who have not lost faith in fairy tales. Stories about ordinary life and light syllable capable of capturing any reader. An attractive contrast makes the image of the protagonist popular and extraordinary: male external role and behavior and female motives for actions, a way of describing and evaluating what is happening. Among popular works: "The Power of the Unfulfilled (compilation)", "Volunteers of Eternity", "Obsession", "Simple Magical Things", " Dark side"," Stranger.

These are far from all the names of modern Russian literature. The world of domestic works is diverse and fascinating. Read, learn, discuss - live in step with the times!

With the advent of the Internet, writers have had a chance to as soon as possible gain worldwide recognition. The work of their predecessors took much longer to spread across the planet. For example, Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind is on the same level as 50 Shades of Grey.

In the 17 years that have passed since the onset of the millennium, new stars have lit up in the literary firmament. The works of the classics of the 21st century are produced on an industrial scale and distributed like hot cakes. I present to your attention the TOP of the best-selling books in order of increasing sold circulation.

20. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni

Many consider the book "The Kite Runner" a poignant story about the friendship of two guys belonging to different social groups, but the sacred meaning of the work is completely different. In the debut novel American writer of Afghan origin touched on the topic of sexual abuse of minors in Islamic countries.

In Afghanistan, a tradition called "bacha-bazi" is still widespread, which is a kind of child prostitution. Boys between the ages of 9 and 12 are dressed in women's clothes and forced to satisfy the sexual desires of adult men.

Khaled Hosseni took part of his creation to describe the relationship between Amir and Hassan. However, in my opinion, the true main character is Sohrab, given to the amusement of his father's offender. The novel "The Kite Runner" is still included in the rating of the most read books.

19. The Dukan Diet by Pierre Dukan

Who does not dream of losing weight quickly and keeping the result for a long time? In 2000, for the first time, the world got acquainted with a new approach to getting rid of excess weight. The famous dietitian Pierre Dukan skimmed the cream off his 40 years of experience and formulated the author's technique, called the "Dukan Diet".

The book, which has sold 10 million copies, describes the 4 stages of modeling the ideal body. On the first - you attack the fat layer and start the mechanism of losing kilograms. As you follow the instructions of the second stage, you achieve your goals. The third and fourth stages are designed to consolidate and stabilize the result.

18. Life of Pi, Yann Martel

Thanks to the creation of the novel Life of Pi, Yann Martel was awarded the highest award literary world. In 2002, the author received the Booker Prize. The book was considered an honor to be published by the world's largest publishing houses. Critics compared it to the works of Hemingway and Marquez.

The author-narrator met an old Hindu who told him about the unforgettable adventures experienced in his youth. At birth, the main character was given the name Pisin, but he preferred to be called simply Pi (after a well-known mathematical number). By the will of fate, he ended up on the high seas on the same boat with a tiger. He not only managed to survive, but also turned the story of his life into a real parable with a metaphorical ending.

17. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

The author of The Lovely Bones was herself a victim of a rapist. As the police dared to put it, “the girl can be considered lucky, because she is alive.” Alice Sebold helped find the culprit by spotting the attacker in the crowd. The incident prompted her to write two whole books. The first was a biography that helped her get out of her depression. The second work became a world-famous bestseller.

The story is told in the first person. The girl Suzy was lured into a deserted place, raped and killed by a maniac. The body of the victim was dismembered by the bastard and hidden. The soul of the deceased goes to his own paradise, from where he observes the life of loved ones and, as far as possible, interacts with them. It took Suzy's family 10 years to recover from the consequences of the tragedy.

16. Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

10-year-old Daniel was destined to associate his life with weighty volumes. His father was selling tomes and one day he took his son to an amazing place. The old mansion kept thousands of copies of forgotten books. The boy had to choose one of them and be faithful to her until the end of his days.

The boy's gaze turned to the tattered cover, which bore the author's name "Julian Carracas." For 20 years, Daniel will spend unraveling the secret of the cursed book. He will meet with eccentric people and fall into the intricacies of intrigue.

15. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

In 2012, John Green's novel, which tells the story of two teenagers opposing the injustice of fate, took pride of place in the book sales ranking. Hazel has thyroid cancer that has metastasized to her lungs. Every breath hurts the girl, for every breath of air she has to fight. Augustus lost his leg, his disease did not make itself felt for 14 months.

The main characters meet in a support group, which they reluctantly attend. They exchange books and fall in love with each other. Further events revolve around the novel "Royal Ailment". Hazel wants to talk to the author and find out about the future fate of the characters. Augustus contacts the writer and organizes a trip to Amsterdam for his beloved. A trip to the Free City will finally finish off the guy.

14. Wolf Totem, Jiang Rong

On Earth, corners have been preserved where a person continues to follow the precepts of his ancestors and lives in harmony with nature. The central character of the book "Wolf Totem" was born in Beijing, from childhood he was drawn to the knowledge of the world around him. Chen Zhen was delighted to see the beauties of sparsely populated regions such as Siberia or Inner Mongolia.

Due to a series of circumstances, the main character from the stronghold of civilization was transferred to the steppe of Elun. There, he met a group of nomads who were opposing, on the one hand, the onslaught of technology, and on the other, the attack of wolf packs.

13. The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

Now I will reveal to you the Great Secret of being - your thoughts materialize. Positive thinking attracts good events, while negative thinking inevitably leads to financial, social and moral decline. In two sentences, I fully revealed the essence of the book "The Secret".

In my opinion, the pseudo-scientific opus of Rhonda Byrne and her colleagues on the monetization of empty promises is not worth a damn. However, millions of readers disagree with me.

12. The Cabin, William Paul Young

What are the feelings of a father whose child is allegedly the victim of a maniac? Is he capable of believing in God? Can an inconsolable parent find happiness again? William Young will try to answer these questions.

The outing into the forest turned around tragic events. Mac has lost his little daughter. A search team in an abandoned hut found indisputable evidence of the baby's death. 4 years have passed, and the family of the protagonist has not been able to relieve grief. Suddenly, Mac receives a letter from the Lord himself, in which the Father strongly recommends that the man return to the scene.

11 The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

For many years now, teenage literature has been removing fat tops of popularity. And the age limits target audience are continuously expanding. For example, the Hunger Games trilogy was originally intended for kids aged 14 to 18. Today, the name Katniss Everdeen is known to both old and young.

The author was inspired to create a novel by a combination of seemingly disparate plots. Let's start with the fact that Susan Collins was fond of ancient Greek myths and was indignant at the cruelty of the inhabitants of Athens, who sent their children to the Minotaur to be torn to pieces. Her father, a former military man, introduced his daughter to the history of battles and talked a lot about gladiator fights. All this resulted in a bestseller, sold with a total circulation of 23 million copies.

Two lists of books appeared on the magazine's website: the first one was compiled by readers by voting on Facebook, and the second one was compiled by the publication's experts.

Among the members of the competent jury are writers, critics and journalists who turned out to be unanimous on many rating points with ordinary readers. It can be seen that integers appeared in both lists.

"The Short and Wonderful Life of Oscar Wo" by Junot Diaz

("The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz)

A 2007 semi-autobiographical novel by Dominican-American Junot Diaz follows the fate of a fat and deeply unhappy child who grows up in New Jersey and dies untimely in early adolescence. The work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2008. A notable feature of the book can be considered a mixture of literary English, "spanglish" (a mixture of English and Spanish) and street slang of Hispanics who settled in America.

"2666" Roberto Bolagno

2666 Roberto Bolano

Posthumously published novel by Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003). The novel consists of five parts, which the author, for economic reasons, was going to publish as five independent books, in order to ensure the life of his children after his death. Nevertheless, after his death, the heirs appreciated the literary value of the work and decided to publish it as a single novel.

"Middle Sex" Jeffrey Eugenides

"Middlesex" Jeffrey Eugenides

The story of the life of a hermaphrodite, sincerely and frankly told in the first person. A novel written by an American Greek origin Jeffrey Eugenides in Berlin, won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. The novel is a story of several generations of one family through the eyes of a hermaphrodite descendant.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas is like a mirror maze in which six voices overlap each other: a mid-nineteenth-century notary returning to the US from Australia; a young composer forced to trade soul and body in Europe between the world wars; a female journalist in 1970s California uncovering a corporate conspiracy; a small publisher - our contemporary, who managed to break the bank on the bandit autobiography "Blow with brass knuckles" and fleeing from creditors; clone servants from the enterprise fast food in Korea - the country of the victorious cyberpunk; and the Hawaiian goatherd at the end of civilization.

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

The book by Komrak McCarthy, whose works are distinguished by harsh realism and a sound look at our human nature, without masks, without hypocrisy, without any romance. A father with a young son wander through a country that has survived a monstrous catastrophe, desperately trying to survive and preserve the human appearance in a post-apocalyptic world.

"Atonement" by Ian McEwan

"Atonement" by Ian McEwan

"Atonement" is a "chronicle of lost time" striking in its sincerity, which is led by a teenage girl, in her bizarre and childishly cruel way, reevaluating and rethinking the events of "adult" life. Having witnessed the rape, she interprets it in her own way - and sets in motion a chain of fatal events that will come around in the most unexpected way after many, many years.

The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon

Two Jewish youths during World War II become comic book kings in America. With their art, they try to fight the forces of evil and those who keep their loved ones in slavery and want to destroy them.

"Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen

"The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen

This is an ironic and deep understanding of the eternal conflict of fathers and children in the era of the bravura "end of history", impenetrable political correctness and the ubiquitous Internet. Following the sad and funny life collisions of the family of the former railway engineer Alfred Lambert, who is slowly losing his mind, the author builds a multi-figured novel about love, business, cinema, "haute cuisine", the dizzying luxury of New York and even about the lawlessness in the post-Soviet space. The book is billed as "the first great novel of the 21st century".

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

The novel takes place in 1956 in the town of Gilead, Iowa. The book consists of letters written in the form of a diary by a 76-year-old priest and addressed to his 7-year-old son. Accordingly, the novel is a series of inconsistent scenes, memories, stories, moral advice.

"White Teeth" Zadie Smith

"White Teeth" Zadie Smith

One of the brightest and most successful debut novels that appeared in last years V British literature. A brilliant comic tale that follows friendship, love, war, an earthquake, three cultures, three families over three generations, and one very unusual mouse.

"Kafka on the Beach" by Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

In the center of the work is the fate of a teenager who ran away from home from the gloomy prophecy of his father. The amazing destinies of the heroes, residents of Japan in the second half of the 20th century, are influenced by prophecies, messengers from the other world and cats.

The Wind Runner Khaled Hosseini

"The Kite Runner" Khaled Hosseini

Amir and Hassan were separated by an abyss. One belonged to the local aristocracy, the other to a despised minority. For one, the father was handsome and important, for the other, lame and pathetic. One was a drunken reader, the other was illiterate. Everyone saw Hassan's cleft lip, but Amir's ugly scars were hidden deep inside. But there are no people closer than these two boys. Their story unfolds against the background of the Kabul idyll, which will soon be replaced by formidable storms. Boys are like two kite that this storm picked up and scattered into different sides. Everyone has their own fate, their own tragedy, but they, as in childhood, are connected by strong ties.

"Don't Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

From Japanese-born Literary Seminar alumnus Malcolm Bradbury, Booker Prize winner for The Remains of the Day - Most Astonishing English novel 2005. Thirty-year-old Kathy reminisces about her childhood at the privileged Hailsham School, full of strange omissions, half-hearted revelations and hidden threats. This is a novel-parable, this is a story of love, friendship and memory, this is the ultimate embodiment of the metaphor “to serve all life”.

"Austerlitz" W. G. Sebald

"Austerlitz" W.G. Sebald

Jacques Austerlitz, who devoted his life to studying the structure of fortresses, palaces and castles, suddenly realizes that he knows nothing about his personal history, except that in 1941 he, a five-year-old boy, was taken to England. And now, decades later, he is rushing around Europe, sitting in archives and libraries, bit by bit building his own "museum of lost things", "a personal history of catastrophes" within himself.

Empire FallsRichard Russo

Novel by Richard Russo, in a comedic vein, tells about the life of "blue collars" small town Empire Falls, Maine. The main character is Miles Roby, who runs a grill bar that has been considered the most popular institution in this place for over 20 years.

"Runaway" by Alice Munro

A collection of short stories by a well-known Canadian writer, based on which films are already being made in Hollywood, and in 2004 the book won the Giller Prize.

"The Master" Colm Toibin

Book Irish writer Colm Toibin's The Master, about the life of famous 19th-century novelist and critic Henry James, won the world's largest literary award for a work of fiction in the English language.

"Half yellow sun» Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda

"Half a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Full of tense drama, the novel tells the stories of several people - stories that are intertwined in the most amazing way. Readers called Adichie's novel "African's Wind Runner", while British critics awarded it the most prestigious award"Orange".

"Unusual Earth" by Jhumpa Lairi

Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

"Unusual Earth" is a book by an American writer of Indian origin -Jumpa Lairi. In it, he directly continues the theme of Indian emigrants, which he also began in his first book, The Interpreter of Diseases.

"Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Suzanne Clark

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" Susanna Clarke

Magical England of the Napoleonic Wars. An England where wizards are in the secret service of the government and defend the British Empire in their own way. But, fighting with the "ordinary" enemy and using their Strength as another weapon in the "human" war, the wizards forgot about their true, eternal enemy and adversary - the Ancient People, who remember how they once ruled over human lands and souls. And now, when the magic began to weaken and dry up, from the depths of beyond antiquity the faeries are returning, led by their New Hope - the changeling Raven King.

In addition to the books mentioned above, experts included in the list of the best books of the planet of the XXI century such works as The Known World by Edward P. Jones, Pastoralia. Ruin in the park civil war» George Saunders, It’s Time to Lead the Horses by Per Petterson, Bastion of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link’s collection of short stories It’s All Very Strange, and Alice’s untranslated books Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Munro, Twilight of the Superheroes: Stories by Deborah Eisenberg, Mortals by Norman Rush, Varieties of Disturbance: Stories by Lydia Davis, American Genius: A Comedy by Lynne Tillman.

Connoisseurs of literature express themselves ambiguously about the work of modern Russian writers: some seem to them uninteresting, others - rude or immoral. One way or another, in their raise actual problems of the new century, therefore young people love and read them with pleasure.

Directions, genres and contemporary writers

Russian writers of the current century prefer to develop new literary forms, completely unlike Western ones. In the last few decades, their work has been represented by four directions: postmodernism, modernism, realism and post-realism. The prefix "post" speaks for itself - the reader should expect something new that followed to replace the old foundations. The table shows various trends in the literature of this century, as well as books by the most prominent representatives.

New ideas of Sergey Minaev

"Duhless. The Tale of a Fake Man" is a book with an unusual concept that contemporary writers of the 21st century in Russia have not previously touched upon in their work. This is the debut novel by Sergei Minaev about the moral flaws of a society in which depravity and chaos reign. The author uses swearing and obscene language to convey the character of the protagonist, which does not bother readers at all. Top manager large firm for the production of canned food turns out to be a victim of swindlers: he is offered to invest a large amount in the construction of a casino, but is soon deceived and left with nothing.

"The Chicks. A Tale of Fake Love" talks about how difficult it is in an immoral society to keep human face. Andrei Mirkin is 27 years old, but he is not going to get married and instead starts an affair with two girls at the same time. Later, he learns that one is expecting a child from him, and the other turns out to be HIV-positive. Quiet life is alien to Mirkin, and he constantly seeks adventures in nightclubs and bars, which does not lead to good.

Popular and critics do not favor Minaev in their circles: being semi-literate, he achieved success in the shortest possible time and made Russians admire his works. The author admits that his fans are mainly viewers of the reality show "Dom-2".

Chekhov's traditions in the work of Ulitskaya

The heroes of the play "Russian Jam" live in an old dacha near Moscow, which is about to come to an end: the sewerage system is out of order, the boards on the floor have long since rotted, electricity has not been supplied. Their life is a real "nail", but the owners are proud of their inheritance and are not going to move to a more favorable place. They have a constant income from the sale of jam, which gets either mice or other muck. Modern writers of Russian literature often borrow ideas from their predecessors. So, Ulitskaya follows Chekhov's tricks in the play: the dialogue of the characters does not work out because of their desire to shout down each other, and against this background, the crack of a rotten floor or sounds from the sewer are heard. At the end of the drama, they are forced to leave the dacha, as the land is bought for the construction of Disneyland.

Features of the stories of Viktor Pelevin

Russian writers of the 21st century often turn to the traditions of their predecessors and use the technique of intertext. Names and details are deliberately introduced into the narrative, which echo the works of the classics. Intertextuality can be traced in Victor Pelevin's story "Nika". The reader feels the influence of Bunin and Nabokov from the very beginning, when the author uses the phrase " easy breath". The narrator quotes and mentions Nabokov, who skillfully described the beauty of the girl's body in the novel "Lolita". Pelevin borrows the mannerisms of his predecessors, but opens up a new "trick of deception." Only at the end can one guess that the flexible and graceful Nika is actually a cat. Pelevin brilliantly manages to deceive the reader in the story "Sigmund in a cafe", where the main character turns out to be a parrot.The author drives us into a trap, but we get more pleasure from this.

Realism by Yuri Buida

Many modern writers of the 21st century in Russia were born decades after the end of the war, so their work is focused mainly on Yuri Buida was born in 1954 and grew up in the Kaliningrad region - a territory that previously belonged to Germany, which was reflected in the title of the cycle of his stories.

"The Prussian Bride" - naturalistic sketches about the difficult post-war period. The young reader sees a reality that he had never heard of before. The story "Rita Schmidt Anyone" tells the story of an orphaned girl who is brought up in terrible conditions. The poor thing is told, "You are the daughter of the Antichrist. You must suffer. You must redeem." A terrible sentence has been passed for the fact that German blood flows in Rita's veins, but she endures bullying and continues to remain strong.

Novels about Erast Fandorin

Boris Akunin writes books differently than other modern writers of the 21st century in Russia. The author is interested in the culture of the past two centuries, so the action of the novels about Erast Fandorin takes place from the middle of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th. The protagonist is a noble aristocrat who investigates the most high-profile crimes. For valor and courage, he is awarded six orders, but he does not stay long in public office: after a conflict with the Moscow authorities, Fandorin prefers to work alone with his faithful valet, the Japanese Masa. Few contemporary foreign writers write in the detective genre; Russian writers, in particular Dontsova and Akunin, win the hearts of readers with crime stories, so their works will be relevant for a long time to come.