How do I into the Russians? i.e which of these is more essential

the 19th century is vastly more essential. you can't really disregard many of the authors there even if you're going for the essentialest of the essential.

i would say maybe ditch chekhov but i might get lynched

>>7386889
Turgenev is less essential than Chekhov, and I love Turgenev.

>>7386885
Start from the top and work you way down. When you're done, here are some others to check out (some duplicates from the chart):

-Anna Akhmatova
-Vasily Aksyonov
-Leonid Andreyev
-Mikhail Artsybashev
-Isaac Babel
-Andrei Bely
-Andrei Bitov
-Ivan Bunin
-Lydia Chukovskaya
-Sergei Dovlatov
-Venedikt Erofeev
-Afanasy Fet
-Vsevolod Garshin
-Aleksander Griboyedov
-Vasily Grossman
-Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov
-Daniil Kharms
-Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
-Mikhail Kuzmin
-Nikolai Leskov
-Vladimir Makanin
-Osip Mandelstam
-Vladimir Mayakovsky
-Yury Olesha
-Nikolai Ostrovsky
-Victor Pelevin
-Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
-Boris Pilnyak
-Andrei Platonov
-Zakhar Prilepin
-Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
-Victor Serge
-Varlam Shalamov
-Mikhail Sholokhov
-Fyodor Sologub
-Vladimir Sorokin
-Tatyana Tolstaya
-Lyudmila Ulitskaya
-Mikhail Zoshchenko

>>7386894
i emphatically disagree and i would go so far as to say that the minor turgenev works are worth more than chekhov

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Start with the Greeks to be honest family.

>>7386885
war and peace to be honest

>>7386885
Read Lermontov and Gogol first.
Then Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Pushkin

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>>7386994
>read gogol and lermontov before pushkin

If you understand Daniil Kharms then you'll understand Russia. So take a guess which of them is the most essential.

>>7386901
This is a great and useful list but it's exactly the opposite of what was asked.

>>7386889
>ditch Chekhov
Nigga you better back the fuck up before you get smacked the fuck up

>>7387029
If you are just going to pick one author, go with Dostoevsky like everyone else.

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Where the fuck is Karamzin? And Radischev? And Goncharov? This list is a sick joke, pidorasy ebanye.

>>7387056
goncharov is 4th in the image you aspie

>>7387066
The other Goncharov, you western degenerate. Every fucking schoolkid has read Oblomov. Do you even speak russian?